Background: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for the majority of all lung cancer cases. Causes of NSCLC are typically identified through molecular testing for EGFR and other mutations. Around half of Asian patients with NSCLC, particularly non-smoking women, have EGFR mutations. Most patients with ipsilateral NSCLC typically have a single common EGFR mutation in exons 18-21. It is extremely rare for patients with bilateral primary NSCLC to harbor two different EGFR mutations. Case summary: We present a 70-year-old non-smoking Vietnamese patient diagnosed with early bilateral primary NSCLC with the presence of EGFR in both exon 18 and exon 19. The complexities of diagnosis and treatment for this case resulted in surgical intervention on the left lung and targeted therapy with afatinib for the right lung. Progression arrest was observered in a period of 12 months. Conclusion: This case highlights a rare instance of synchronous bilateral NSCLC in a non-smoking, 70-year-old Vietnamese woman with complex management, underscoring the challenges of treating synchronous primary tumors with different genetic profiles.

In order to solve the problem of water pollution caused by the accumulation of ammonia nitrogen, the fungus can degrade ammonia nitrogen efficiently and tolerate salt was isolated from the saline land of Shanyin County, Shuozhou, Shanxi Province, China. The fungus was identified as Fusarium sp. and named X-8 by morphological observation and ITS sequence homology analysis, and further analysed the effects of single and multi factors on the degradation of ammonia nitrogen under different environmental conditions (temperature, pH, inoculum amount, initial ammonia nitrogen concentration, salt concentration, C/N), and carried out three-factor, three-level orthogonal tests. The results showed that the degradation rate of ammonia nitrogen by X-8 could reach 93.47% when the temperature was 37.37℃, pH was 8.12, and the inoculum amount was 4.72 g/L.

The release of synaptic vesicles (SVs) at the synaptic junction is a complex process involving various specialized proteins that work in unison. Among these, Bassoon has emerged as a significant protein, particularly noted for its association with various neurological and aging-related diseases. Due to its structural and functional roles, Bassoon has become a focus of recent research, especially in understanding its implications in neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. In this narrative review, we explore Bassoon’s structure, function, and its role across a spectrum of neurological disorders. Neurotransmission is a tightly regulated process that relies on specialized structures within the presynaptic terminal, such as the presynaptic active zone (AZ), to precisely control SV release in response to incoming signals. The AZ comprises a complex network of large, multidomain proteins, with Bassoon playing a crucial role in this arrangement. Bassoon facilitates the tethering and reloading of SVs, ensuring responsiveness to high-frequency signals, while also maintaining proteostasis at the presynapse. This involves orchestrating the localization of proteins essential for neuronal development and plasticity. Bassoon’s large size and unique structural features enable it to interact with and regulate the function of multiple proteins, making it integral to presynaptic functioning. Variants in the Bassoon gene have been linked to a variety of neurodegenerative and psychiatric conditions, including Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, multiple system atrophy (MSA), epilepsy, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and Parkinson’s disease. This review delves into Bassoon’s pivotal role in preserving presynaptic integrity and how disruptions in its functions may contribute to these disorders.

In this paper, we discuss the development and deployment of a robust autonomous system capable of performing various tasks in the maritime domain under unknown dynamic conditions. We investigate a data-driven approach based on modular design for ease of transfer of autonomy across different maritime surface vessel platforms. The data-driven approach alleviates issues related to a priori identification of system models that may become deficient under evolving system behaviors and/or shifting, unanticipated, environmental influences. Our proposed learning-based platform comprises a deep Koopman system model and a change point detector that provides guidance on domain shifts prompting relearning under severe exogenous and endogenous perturbations. Motion control of the autonomous system is achieved via an optimal controller design. The Koopman linearized model naturally lends itself to a linear–quadratic regulator (LQR) control design. We propose the C3D control architecture “Cascade Control with Change Point Detection and Deep Koopman Learning”. The framework is verified in station keeping tasks on an ASV in both simulation and real experiments. The approach demonstrated a consistent improvement in mean distance error across all test cases compared to the methods that do not consider system changes.

Golden jackals (Canis aureus) have rapidly expanded their range across Europe, raising ecological and socioeconomic concerns. As a highly vocal species, jackals can be monitored using acoustic surveys, such as howl surveys or passive acoustic monitoring (PAM), to estimate population sizes and habitat preferences. A recent advancement in PAM is acoustic localisation, which estimates the source of sounds by measuring the time differences of their arrival at multiple synchronised recorders. This technique can improve the accuracy of population and density estimates by more precisely calculating distances between jackals and recorders. However, GPS-synchronised acoustic recorders are costly, which limits their broader use. In this study, we tested the efficacy of a low-cost recorder, the CARACAL, for acoustic localisation of golden jackals. We deployed ten CARACALs over a 10km2 area of the Lunca Mureşului Natural Park, Romania for seven nights. Alongside passively recording jackal howls, we also conducted howl surveys. We recorded jackal howls on every night of the survey and successfully localised 27 jackal and 16 human howl events, with human howls being localised to within an average of 41 m of their actual location. The average distance between the recorders and localised jackal howls was just under 1 km, with howls being detected from as far as 2.5 km away. However, some jackal howls were not detected by active recorders that were as little as 0.9 km away. Based on these results, we recommend a conservative spacing of 0.8-1 km between recorders in future deployments. Overall, this study highlights acoustic localisation as a valuable tool for improving monitoring efforts and gathering more detailed data on jackal ecology. This information could significantly contribute to understanding their expanding range across Europe, while informing the development of effective monitoring and management strategies for golden jackals.

Text-to-speech (TTS) models have expanded the scope of digital inclusivity by becoming a basis for assistive communication technologies for visually impaired people, facilitating language learning, and allowing for digital textual content consumption in audio form across various sectors. Despite these benefits, the full potential of TTS models is often not realized for the majority of low-resourced African languages because they have traditionally required large amounts of high-quality single-speaker recordings, which are financially costly and time-consuming to obtain. In this paper, we demonstrate that crowdsourced recordings can help overcome the lack of single-speaker data by compensating with data from other speakers of similar intonation (how the voice rises and falls in speech). We fine-tuned an English Variational Inference with adversarial learning for an end-to-end Text-to-Speech (VITS) model on over 10 hours of speech from six female Common Voice (CV) speech data speakers for Luganda and Kiswahili. A human mean opinion score evaluation on 100 test sentences shows that the model trained on six speakers sounds more natural than the benchmark models trained on two speakers and a single speaker for both languages. In addition to careful data curation, this approach shows promise for advancing speech synthesis in the context of low-resourced African languages. Our final models for Luganda and Kiswahili are available at https://huggingface.co/marconilab/VITS-commonvoice-females.

Ballistic seed dispersal (ballochory) involves the autonomous explosive release of seeds from adult plants. The unconventional physical mechanism of this strategy has understandably drawn scientific attention. There has been a bias toward researching physiological and physical aspects of ballistic plants, with the evolutionary ecology being comparatively neglected. Although ballochory is represented in 23 plant families, it has never become common. This fact should invite curiosity regarding the selective pressures that encourage its evolution. As a stimulus to this, we collate existing evidence into an initial hypothesis regarding ecological situations in which ballochory would be selected in the context of costs that can explain its rarity. We suggest that ballochory might be selected for in plants experiencing high predation from specialised predators on and/or directly underneath the parental canopy. Moving forward, we suggest experimental manipulations to test this hypothesis and promote a research agenda in the field of ballistic seed dispersal that illuminates its intriguing evolution.

Abstract:

INTESTINAL PERFORATION SECONDARY TO BORTEZOMIB INDUCED AUTONOMIC NEUROPATHY

IntroductionNLP is an inflammatory, relatively rare disorder involving mainly the nail matrix, frequently having its onset in adulthood and generally involving one or more nails or toenails [1]. The management of NLP is not easy due to a high rate of failures after therapy and few therapeutic options, especially when the process reaches the stage of dorsal pterygium [1]. Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors are potential therapeutic targets for inflammatory skin diseases. They have been demonstrated to suppress both type-1 and type-2 cytokines and decrease the immune response, leading to inflammation [2]. This paper reports a case of severe NLP showing a good response to the JAK inhibitor (Tofacitinib).

This case report describes a Thoroughbred broodmare presented for colic and pyrexia. The mare had a history of repeated urinary tract infections, placentitis, abortion and endotoxaemia. A diagnosis of bilateral subcapsular renal haematoma was made by ultrasonography and standing laparoscopy and confirmed on post-mortem. Trauma, clotting disorder, and neoplasia were ruled out as a cause of the bleeding. However, histopathology revealed severe, diffuse, acute fibrinosuppurative tubulointerstitial nephritis with degeneration of vascular walls, suggesting that this has caused renal bleeding and development of subcapsular hematomas.

The study introduces a computational method that combines Legendre polynomials with Gauss-Lobatto points to solve nonlinear coupled differential equations, focusing on the Williamson fluid model with the existence of mixed convection and permeability under mixed boundary conditions. The nonlinear governing equations were transformed to ordinary differential equation (ODE) from partial differential equation (PDE), applying the appropriate similarity conversions. By using Legendre polynomials as trial functions and collocating residual equations with Gauss-Lobatto points, the system is solved with Mathematical software. The technique was validated by comparing the obtained solution with an existing literature and further validation was done with Runge-Kutta of order 4 via shooting method. Validation against the Shooting Runge-Kutta method showed minimal discrepancies, confirming the method’s accuracy. Graphical analysis indicated that an increase in the Grashof number enhances velocity, while higher porosity raises temperature but reduces fluid velocity. This approach offers an efficient and precise solution for complex nonlinear equations, with broader potential applications in fluid dynamics.

Kidney diseases, characterized by renal dysfunction, are among the leading causes of death worldwide. Preventing and treating kidney diseases is important for reducing their associated morbidity and mortality. Moderate physical exercise has been recognized to be advantageous for kidney health. Irisin is an exercise-induced myokine identified in 2012. It plays an important role in energy and bone metabolism, oxidative stress reduction, anti-inflammatory processes, prevention of cell death, and cardiovascular protection. However, the relationship between irisin and kidney disease has not been fully elucidated. This review explores the role of irisin as a biomarker in the diagnosis of kidney diseases and their associated complications, elucidating the mechanisms through which it participates in various cell death pathways, such as apoptosis, autophagy, pyroptosis and ferroptosis. Furthermore, the levles of irisin secretion are discussed to provide a basis for the preventing and treating kidney diseases, as well as therapeutic guidance for developing new and promising intervention strategies.

Traditional trans-critical CO 2 refrigeration cycles are energy-intensive, and their efficiency is influenced by outdoor conditions. This study presents a novel technique to enhance the efficiency of these cycles by integrating a thermoelectric sub-cooler tailored to Jordan’s climate. The trans-critical CO 2 refrigeration cycle, with a nominal refrigeration capacity of 14 kW, was modeled using Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software. A key aspect of this study is the incorporation of solar energy through a custom-designed photovoltaic (PV) system to power the refrigeration cycle, contributing to sustainable cooling technology. Key performance indicators, including refrigeration capacity, power consumption, and coefficient of performance (COP), were thoroughly investigated across varying parameters such as gas cooler pressure (8,000–13,000 kPa), evaporation temperature (-15 to 15°C), ambient temperature (28–40°C), current supply (5–15A), and the number of thermoelectric pairs (50–150). Results showed that increasing gas cooling pressure increased refrigeration capacity by approximately 79%. At a gas cooling pressure of 9,000 kPa, the thermoelectric sub-cooler increased refrigeration capacity by 55%. Increasing the evaporation temperature improved the COP by approximately 125% and reduced power consumption by 67%. At an evaporation temperature of -15°C, the thermoelectric sub-cooler improved performance by 7.5%. Lowering the ambient temperature also enhanced COP by 60% and reduced power consumption by 33%. At a 40°C ambient temperature, the sub-cooler improved COP by 7.6%. Experimental validation showed a 6% average deviation between simulation and experimental results for COP. The on-grid PV system designed with PVsyst software successfully met the cycle’s energy demands, achieving 45.3% energy savings.

This research highlights the possibility of increasing the thermal efficiency of evacuated tube solar collectors by adding fins to the factory fin without changing it. The goal is to harness solar energy at the lowest cost, smallest area, and best thermal performance by using a solar collector with evacuated tubes and heat pipes. The evacuated tube consists of two concentric glass tubes with a vacuum between them. The inner tube contains a carefully selected absorbing layer to obtain the highest absorption. The collector also contains an aluminum fin connected to the absorbing surface on one side and the heat pipe on the other side. Adding additional fins fixed between the fin on the evacuated tube side and the side of the fin connected to the heat pipe, and this addition leads to increasing the heat transfer efficiency because aluminum has a higher conductivity than air, and holes in adding fins get more turbulent, leading to cracking boundary layer and increase heat transfer. Aluminum discs with holes of different diameters were added. The diameters of the holes were calculated as follows (4, 6, 8, and 10) mm, with the number of discs fixed at ten discs for each of the five evacuated tubes in each case, as the experiment consists of two solar collectors, each of which consists of five tubes, the first within the factory specifications and the second to which the above discs were added. To validate the results of the experiment, SPSS was used under identical conditions for the two devices above, and the data were analyzed. The output of the experiment was Tout, and the readings used were the results of the two devices at a flow rate of (0.5, 1.0, 1.5) l/min. The significance criterion was 95%, which was used to evaluate the results of the study and the effectiveness of the additives by comparing the significance calculated at a threshold of 0.05. The model is ranked if the two elements on which the reliability depends are less than a point or 0.05. It is effective in terms of flow rate and type of improvement. If the estimated value exceeds the point or 0.05 limits, no improvement or data analysis will be based on the flow rate and type of increase.

Lung cancer during pregnancy is exceptionally rare, with only 93 reported cases from 1953 to 2024. Our study identified 40 cases of lung cancer during pregnancy from a 9 million patient database, contributing to a total to 133 documented instances in the literature, and the only powered case series. Using the HCUP-NIS database (2004-2014), we conducted a retrospective analysis comparing maternal and fetal outcomes in women with and without lung cancer. Results showed that pregnant women with lung cancer were older and had higher rates of smoking, chronic hypertension, and pregestational diabetes (P<0.01, all). Significant risks included placenta previa (OR: 5.67, 95% CI:1.36-23.65, p=0.017), abruptio placenta (OR: 4.99, 95% CI: 1.49-16.74, p=0.009), operative vaginal delivery (OR: 4.88, 95% CI: 2.14-11.11, p<0.001), and transfusion (OR: 8.92, 95% CI: 3.28-24.28, p<0.001). They also have markedly higher odds of venous thromboembolism (OR:21.83, 95% CI: 2.92-163.47, p<0.001), disseminated intravascular coagulation (OR:  8.45, 95% CI: 1.14-62.42, p=0.04), and maternal death (OR: 195.02, 95% CI: 40.61-936.55, p<0.001), highlighting the necessity for specialized care and further research into this rare and complex condition.

Background Over ten years since the first qualitative evidence synthesis (QES) was published in the Cochrane Library, QES and mixed-methods reviews (MMR) with a qualitative component have become increasingly common and influential in healthcare research and policy development. The quality of such reviews and the completeness with which they are reported is therefore of paramount importance. Aim This review aimed to assess the reporting quality of published QESs and MMRs with a qualitative component in the Cochrane Library. Methods All published QESs and MMRs were identified from the Cochrane Library. A bespoke framework developed by key international experts based on the Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC), Enhancing Transparency in Reporting the Synthesis of Qualitative Research (ENTREQ) and meta-ethnography reporting guidance (eMERGe) was used to code the quality of reporting of QESs and MMRs. Results Thirty-one reviews were identified, including 11 MMRs. The reporting quality of the QESs and MMRs published by Cochrane varied considerably. Based on the criteria within our framework, just over a quarter (8, 26%) of the reviews achieved a score of at least 80%, 18 (58%) required fuller detail in their reporting (scoring between 65%-79%) and 5 (16%) achieved a score of less than 65%. Conclusion This assessment offers important insights into the reporting practices prevalent in these review types and underscores the need for ongoing surveillance. The variability in reporting quality within QESs and MMRs reinforces the need to develop Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) specifically for QES.

Microevolutionary processes shape adaptive responses to heterogeneous environments, where these effects vary both among and within species. However, it remains largely unknown to which degree signatures of adaptation to environmental drivers can be detected based on the choice of spatial scale and genomic marker. We studied signatures of local adaptation across two levels of spatial extents, investigating complementary types of genomic variants–single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and polymorphic transposable elements (TEs)–in populations of the alpine model plant species Arabis alpina. We coupled environmental factors, derived from remote sensing digital elevation models at very high resolution (0.5m), with whole-genome sequencing data of 304 individuals across four populations. By comparing putatively adaptive loci detected between each local population versus a regional assessment including all populations simultaneously, we demonstrate that responses of A. alpina to similar amounts of abiotic variation are largely governed by local evolutionary processes. Furthermore, we find minimally overlapping signatures of local adaptation between SNPs and polymorphic TEs. Notably, functional annotations of candidate genes for adaptation revealed several symbiosis-related genes associated with the abiotic factors studied, which could represent selective pressures from biotic agents. Our results highlight the importance of considering different spatial extents and types of genomic polymorphisms when searching for signatures of adaptation to environmental variation. Such insights provide key information on microevolutionary processes and could guide management decisions to mitigate negative impacts of climate change on alpine plant populations.