Research works

Physician Perceptions of Particulate Versus Non-Particulate Steroids in Epidural Steroid Injections

Background Epidural steroid injections (ESIs) are widely used for the treatment of chronic spinal pain, particularly in cervical and lumbar radiculopathy. Corticosteroids used in ESIs are broadly classified as particulate or non-particulate formulations, each with distinct safety...

Serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D, calcium, phosphate, and magnesium levels in association with bone mineral density at the hip and lumbar spine in African breastfeeding women: a longitudinal evaluation

The relationship between vitamin D status and serum calcium, phosphate, and magnesium levels, as well as bone mineral density, in African breastfeeding women remains understudied. Bone resorption is essential for maintaining mineral balance when demand for calcium, phosphate, and...

Safety and Tolerability of Chronic Carvedilol in Pediatric Dilated Cardiomyopathy: A Report from the Pediatric Cardiomyopathy Registry

Long-term studies on safety of beta-blockers in pediatric heart failure (HF) are scant. We describe the safety profile, dose ranges, and tolerability of carvedilol in pediatric dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). The Pediatric Cardiomyopathy Registry (PCMR) was used to identify patient...

Is #Woke a Lifestyle? Examining “Woke Culture” in Three Magazines, 2015–2020

The African American Language word “woke,” which means being awake to social injustices, is an important part of the discourse surrounding the evolving Movement for Black Lives. While the concept has a long history in the Black freedom struggle, its recent uses have been politici...

Substrate-AssistedRedox-Neutral Formal [4 + 3] Annulationof Alkynyl Aldehydes with 9,10-Phenanthrenequinones via N-HeterocyclicCarbene Catalysis

Abstract Medium-sized oxygen-containing heterocycles are important structural motifs in natural products and functional molecules, yet their efficient synthesis remains challenging. Herein, we disclose a N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-catalyzed redox-neutral formal [4 + 3] annulati...

A hybrid CNN-BiLSTM edge-cloud intrusion detection system with online incremental learning and SHAP explainability for smart city IoT

Abstract Smart city IoT deployments interconnect safety-critical infrastructure across millions of heterogeneous devices, creating an attack surface that signature-based intrusion detection systems (IDS) cannot defend against zero-day exploits, polymorphic malware, or concept dri...

A Novel Framework for the Robust Implementation of the 3D Hoek–Brown Criterion in Shear Strength Analysis

Abstract The shear strength of rock masses is a critical parameter in assessing the stability of rock engineering structures. Although the three-dimensional (3D) generalized Hoek–Brown (H-B) criterion captures the nonlinear strength of rock masses, including the influence of the...

Predicting rainfed and irrigated yield responses under drought with soil-hydrological modelling and variety trials for economic evaluation

Abstract Agricultural droughts in many humid regions such as Southern Germany are projected to become more frequent and severe, leading to a substantial rise in irrigation demand to secure crop production. As a result, irrigation is becoming an increasingly important factor in ag...

Identification of SKI-II as a host-protective immunomodulator against Staphylococcus aureus infection

ABSTRACT Antibiotic resistance threatens the effectiveness of conventional antimicrobial agents, underscoring the need for host-directed therapies that enhance immune defense. Here, we present a cross-species discovery pipeline that couples a Caenorhabditis elegans–Staphylococcus...

Effect of Low-Frequency Alternating Magnetic Field-Assisted Liquid Fermentation on Extracellular Polysaccharides Structural Characteristics and Biosynthesis of Pleurotus citrinopileatus

Low-frequency alternating magnetic field (LF-AMF) was applied to liquid fermentation of Pleurotus citrinopileatus for the production of extracellular polysaccharides (EPS). Two types of EPS (POL1 and POL2) were secreted by P. citrinopileatus under normal fermentation conditions,...

Contrastive Learning Network based on Multi-Scale Transformer (CLMT-net): EEG decoding for fine-grained motor imagery of movements within the same limb

Motor imagery (MI)-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) decode EEG signals into control commands. However, fine-grained MI decoding within the same limb remains challenging due to highly similar neural patterns. This paper proposes a Contrastive Learning Network based on a Mult...

A New Cosmeceutical Approach for Mature Skin: Antioxidant Activity, In Vitro Permeation, and Preliminary Clinical Efficacy of Melatonin–N-Acetylcysteine Creams

Skin ageing is associated with oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, extracellular matrix alterations, and impaired barrier function, supporting interest in antioxidant cosmeceuticals for mature skin. This study investigated the antioxidant activity of melatonin and N-acet...

Ternary Core–Shell NiCoMnPB-Based MicroneedleSensor for Continuous Detection of Creatinine

Abstract Continuous creatinine monitoring is essential for the precise diagnosis, treatment, and personalized management of chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, existing diagnostic strategies suffer from invasive procedures and fail to capture dynamic profiles. In addition, the...

Technical note: Design, construction, automation, and first-principles calibration of a low volume He measurement line

Abstract. A noble-gas analysis line capable of accurate and precise measurements of small absolute amounts of 4He released from crystals is a key analytical step in the production of (U-Th)/He chronologic data. He analysis lines that are custom-built in-house can be optimized for...

Effect of visual stimulation on quantitative light-touch assessment using the active von Frey filament test

Quantitative assessment of light-touch sensation is essential in the evaluation of peripheral nerve disorders. Although the active von Frey filament test (AvF) provides objective and continuous tactile threshold measurements, the influence of testing conditions on AvF values rema...

Use of a nanosecond Q-switched 1064 nm Nd: YAG laser for photoaging management in Asian skin: a retrospective study

Facial wrinkles are a major concern in aesthetic dermatology, particularly in patients with darker phototypes, in whom laser treatments require careful parameter selection to minimize pigmentary adverse events. This retrospective study evaluated the effectiveness and tolerability...

Fatigue behavior of ultrasonically welded CF/PPS single-lap joints compared with bulk PPS using entropy-based finite element analysis

In this study, carbon-fiber-reinforced polyphenylene sulfide (CF/PPS) laminates were joined by ultrasonic welding using a PPS interlayer to form single-lap joints, and their temperature-dependent fatigue behavior was investigated within an entropy-based fracture framework. A fati...

Static Ground Validation of an AI-Assisted Acoustic Target Detection and Azimuth Estimation Framework on a Flying-Wing VTOL UAV

Autonomous acoustic sensing systems are increasingly investigated for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based surveillance and environmental monitoring applications due to their passive operation and relatively low computational requirements. However, the integration of acoustic clas...

Impact of structured reporting on interpretability of PSMA PET/CT in prostate cancer staging—towards standardised clinical implementation

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the impact of structured reporting (SR) compared with conventional free-text reporting (FTR) on report quality for PSMA PET/CT for diagnosis and staging of prostate cancer (PC) using a dedicated template. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty consecutive pat...

Mammalian responses to agricultural cycles in Brazilian Atlantic Forest croplands

Abstract This study investigated how mammal communities responded to crop type, crop development stage, and distance from forest fragments in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We examined mammal diversity in annual crops (corn and soybeans) in Southern Brazil, testing three hypothes...