The objective of this systematic review was to establish an overview of changes in body composition as a result of early breast cancer treatment. Patient/material and methods: Five databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library) were used for identifying studies and papers. Selection criteria included: > 18 years, early breast cancer stage 0-III and measurement of body composition with either dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT). Studies using only bioelectrical impedance were excluded. A total of 734 studies were screened; 29 studies were full-text reviewed, and 10 studies were included in this systematic review, with a total of n = 1,062. Included studies were published from 2018 to 2024. This review found consistent increases in fat mass between 3.3 and 9.2% across the studies. Results for lean body mass were less consistent. Two studies examined visceral fat mass, yet both found statistically significant increases. This systematic review identified consistent increases in total fat mass and visceral fat across the included studies, regardless of whether the treatment involved chemotherapy, endocrine therapy or a combination of both. In contrast, findings related to lean body mass were considerably less consistent. The results highlight the potential implications following breast cancer treatment and emphasise the importance of metabolic monitoring, diet and exercise to increase quality of life and prevent recurrence. This review also highlights the need for more research on the topic, as the included studies exhibit substantial heterogeneity, making it difficult to draw definitive conclusions.

The global energy demand, combined with concerns about sustainable alternatives, has driven extensive research into renewable energy sources. This paper focuses on the production of solid fuel from mahogany biomass waste and carries out microstructural analysis of its energy content. The determination of moisture, volatile matter, ash, and fixed carbon was carried out at temperatures of 275 and 285 °C with retention times of 30 minutes and 1 hour using proximate analysis. The elemental analysis provided insights into the chemical composition changes induced by thermal treatment, with carbon content exhibiting significant alterations. The results revealed varying compositions across treatments, indicating the impact of thermal treatment on moisture, volatile matter, ash, and fixed carbon content. Higher temperatures and longer durations led to decreased moisture and volatile matter, increased ash content, and higher fixed carbon, suggesting enhanced carbonization. Bulk density results showcased the influence of treatment conditions on wood density. Thermal treatment decreased bulk density, highlighting the potential for altering wood density by varying treatment conditions. The findings suggest that thermal treatment can influence the suitability of mahogany wood for specific applications in biomass processing and energy generation. Calorific value results demonstrated that thermal treatment significantly increased both the higher heating value (HHV) and lower calorific value (LCV) of the mahogany wood chips torrefied in this study. The results of tests and energy analysis, conducted using Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (SEM-EDX), provided valuable insights into the microstructural changes induced by thermal treatment in this study. This finding suggested that the torrefaction process influences the material's morphology. The longer the torrefaction duration, the higher the calorific values, indicating improved energy potential of the considered biomass sample for combustion or other energy conversion processes.

Systematic proteomic organelle profiling methods including protein correlation profiling and LOPIT have advanced our understanding of cellular compartmentalization. To manage the complexity of organelle profiling data, we introduce C-COMPASS, a user-friendly open-source software that employs a neural network-based regression model to predict the spatial cellular distribution of proteins. C-COMPASS handles complex multilocalization patterns and integrates protein abundance to model organelle composition changes across conditions. We apply C-COMPASS to mice with humanized livers to elucidate organelle remodeling during metabolic perturbations. Additionally, by training neural networks with co-generated marker protein profiles, C-COMPASS extends spatial profiling to lipids, overcoming the lack of organelle-specific lipid markers, allowing for determination of localization and tracking of lipid species across different compartments. This provides integrated snapshots of organelle lipid and protein compositions. Overall, C-COMPASS offers an accessible tool for multiomic studies of organelle dynamics without needing advanced computational skills, empowering researchers to explore new questions in lipidomics, proteomics and organelle biology.

Anthropogenic activities cause the accumulation of biologically reactive nitrogen in ecosystems worldwide, leading to substantial changes in plant community structure and function, particularly in nitrogen-limited grasslands. Responses of plant communities and primary productivity vary depending on the magnitude of eutrophication and climate of the ecosystem, yet the exact form of these relationships is largely unknown. Here, we report results from the first 5years of an experiment in which nitrogen was added at eight levels, ranging from 0 to 30gm-2 at two grassland sites bookending the broad precipitation gradient of the US Central Plains: (1) semi-arid shortgrass steppe and (2) mesic tallgrass prairie. This allowed us to examine the mediating effects of climate on short-term aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and plant community responses to nitrogen addition. Although nitrogen addition caused a decrease in plant species richness at both grassland sites, the two sites differed in their responses in ANPP and plant composition. At the shortgrass site, we found no effect of nitrogen addition at any level on ANPP, but compositional change occurred starting at 5gm-2. In contrast, ANPP at the tallgrass site increased at 5gm-2 then saturated, but no significant compositional change was observed. Collectively, these results provide two key insights: (1) ANPP and plant community responses can be decoupled with short-term nitrogen addition and (2) site-level water limitation can result in contrasting responses of grasslands to 5years of nitrogen addition, but with these effects manifesting at the same critical load of addition.

Chemical reactions can influence convective dissolution arising from density changes when a solute A dissolves into a host phase containing a reactant B. In this theoretical study, we examine the conditions that optimize the convective dissolution of A into the host phase when A reacts with B via an A + B → C reaction and the compositional change by the reaction reduces the solubility of A in the solution. Through numerical simulations, we explore how this variable solubility affects the reaction-diffusion-convection (RDC) concentration distributions and the flux of A at the interface. We classify the different density profiles based on key parameters such as the ratio of the initial concentration of B and the initial solubility of A, the individual contributions of each species to the total solution density and a parameter quantifying the influence of the reaction on the solubility of A. Taking into account the variable solubility of A allows to reach new regimes where, for instance, there is no longer any influence of the initial concentration of B on the mass transfer when B is in excess. We also show that, if C strongly decreases the solubility of A, the flux can even be lower than its nonreactive counterpart. These results contribute to understand the conditions where reactions can enhance or reduce the transfer of solutes into a host phase, a question relevant to many applications such as carbon dioxide storage in geological formations.

COVID-19 containment measures in Japan, characterized by intermittent states of emergency (SE) without strict lockdowns from April 2020 to September 2021, may have significantly impacted lifestyle, weight, and body composition in individuals with diabetes. This study examines changes in glycemic management, body weight, and body composition before, during, and after SE in adults with diabetes. This retrospective study included individuals with diabetes aged 20 years or older whose HbA1c and body composition were measured in three periods of pre-SE (April 2019-March 2020), SE (April 2020-September 2021), and post-SE (October 2021-September 2022). Hospitalized individuals were excluded. Participants were divided into subgroups by age (young: <65 years, older: ≥65 years) and gender for analysis. A total of 673 subjects were analyzed. No significant changes in HbA1c were observed in any period. Body weight remained constant during SE but decreased post-SE. Continuous decreases in skeletal muscle mass were noted in all groups. In the total analysis, body fat mass initially increased during SE but decreased post-SE. However, due to weight loss in the post-SE, the overall body fat percentage rose. Notably, in older males, body fat mass increased during SE and remained unchanged post-SE, resulting in a continuous increase in body fat percentage throughout observational periods. The study highlights a continuous decline in muscle mass and body weight changes, with body fat percentage fluctuations differing by age and gender. The impact was most significant in older males, underscoring the need for targeted health interventions.

Lightning frequency in tropical forests has been increasing for decades and lightning is a major agent of forest biomass mortality, but the implications of increased lightning frequency are unclear. Here, we provide a species- and spatially explicit implementation of lightning in a mechanistic forest dynamics model. We evaluated the model's ability to reproduce current-day observations in a Panamanian tropical forest, and the sensitivity of model outputs to plausible changes in lightning frequency. The lightning-enabled model simulated aboveground biomass (AGB), carbon flux, and stem densities that were consistent with observations. As expected, AGB declined with increasing lightning frequency. However, the magnitude of AGB decline was greatly reduced when trees were assigned empirically derived, species-specific lightning tolerances. Changes in species composition weakened the sensitivity of AGB to increasing lightning: the AGB of a small number of large-statured, lightning-tolerant species increased with increasing lightning frequency. In addition, the effect of lightning on AGB tended to saturate at high lightning frequencies because of the combined effect of changes in size structure and composition. Specifically, the number of large, lightning-susceptible trees was relatively small at high lightning frequencies. Overall, this study shows that an empirically informed representation of lightning captures the contemporary effects of lightning on forests, indicates that changes in lightning frequency will change forest AGB, species composition, and size structure, and shows that forests can partially acclimate to higher lightning frequency through changes in composition. Thus, more widespread inclusion of the lightning into global ecosystem models would be an important step toward improving simulations of forest responses to global change.

Research on novel carbon aerogel and eutectic salt hydrates as composite phase change materials: Heat capacity, leakage and cycle reliability for thermal energy storage.

Longitudinal changes in tumor morphology and body composition following neoadjuvant chemotherapy predict progression-free survival in adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction: A multi-center study.

Abstract This study explores the impact of pre-existing stacking fault defects on the mechanical behavior and microstructural evolution of Cu–Zn alloys under uniaxial tensile loading through Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. It further examines the influence of varying zinc concentrations (6 at %, 12 at %, and 24 at %) on the alloy’s mechanical properties. The MD simulations are used to evaluate key mechanical parameters, including Young’s modulus, ultimate tensile strength (UTS), and toughness. A detailed comparison of these properties is carried out to identify inherent trends associated with changes in composition. Additionally, the temperature dependence analysis conducted over the range of 200 K to 800 K shows that higher temperatures accelerate failure, reduce UTS, and lower toughness, while system size has a stabilizing effect on stress–strain response. Zn concentration further amplifies these effects, particularly in alloys with pre-existing stacking faults. Complementary to these analyses, Common Neighbor Analysis (CNA) is performed to investigate atomic structural changes within the predominantly FCC solid solution under varying conditions. The results indicate that increasing Zn content in defect-free Cu–Zn alloys leads to a decline in mechanical performance. However, the introduction of pre-existing stacking faults results in a reduction in UTS but an increase in Young’s modulus, suggesting improved resistance to elastic deformation.

Biomass and valve length of diatoms living on tree bark as novel indicators of atmospheric environment changes.

Mixing and fermenting chickpea and almond milk analogues to produce probiotic yoghurt analogues.

Study on real time response of live cells to lentivirus infection monitored by Raman spectroscopy.

Unraveling gelation in ultra-high-temperature sterilized milk: compositional changes and proteomic characterization.

Exploring the Impact of Citalopram on Human Colon Cells: Insights into Antidepressant Action Beyond the Brain.

Phospholipid composition changes in bacterial membranes: A molecular mechanism of antibiotic resistance.

Calcium-loaded activated carbon microtubes as a structural framework of aerobic granules: crosslinking networks overcome native framework limitations.

The effect of a multimodal prehabilitation programme on preoperative physical fitness and nutritional status of women with gynaecological cancer.

Integrated breeding strategies for blue lotus based on petal pH, anthocyanin profiling, and gene expression analysis.

Association between gut microbiota and pediatric obesity: A systematic review.