Large Segments Research Articles

Theatre of the Absurd, Pre-Election Matters and the Future of Democracy in Nigeria: Reflections on APC V Machina

The practice of theatre of the absurd is more present and popular with politicians in Africa than with playwrights. Particularly in Nigeria, the grotesque images and ridiculousness in the utterances of those saddled with the responsibilities of governance can only be viewed as characters in any known absurdist’ play. Nigeria is a nascent democracy, and the 2023 general elections are fraught with inadequacies right from the moment of selection of party candidates through the election proper. Candidates, political parties executives and the court have engineered these inadequacies. The concern of court being the last hope of common man, is on the administration of justice as perceived by parties involved in a case and the society. Therefore, a flawed judgment can only serve to dampen the peoples’ belief in the sanctity of the judiciary. On 28th May 2022, Bashir Machina contested and won the All Progressive Congress’s Yobe North Senatorial primary election unopposed, and in June the same year, the political party submitted the name of Ahmad Lawan to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its candidate for the main election into the Senate. In the ensuing litigation, both lower court and court of appeal affirmed the authentic candidacy of Machina, however, the Supreme Court in its judgment, affirmed Ahmad Lawan as the APC candidate for the election to the Senate. It is against this background that this study examines APC v Machina and argued that in this particular case, justice has been perceived not to have been done by the large segment of the society based on the peoples reaction in the media. We conclude that the five justices of the Supreme Court with divided resolution of three against two, and other participants in the litigation, merely represent different characters of an absurd drama fit only for the stage.

Placing Behavior in Context: Political Interpretations of Individual Behavior in Countering Information Warfare in Finland

Malign information influence often targets large segments of the population, with the intent to manipulate individual behavior for the benefit of the actors disseminating this harmful information. However, in a liberal society like Finland, individual behavior is closely tied to personal freedoms and liberties, making the commentary and regulation of individual behavior for the sake of security a complex endeavor. This paper investigates how Finnish politicians and officials perceive individual behavior within the context of information warfare. We examine the emergence of particular discourses that interpret, critique, and potentially seek to influence individual behavior. Our research draws from parliamentary debates and legislative documents, as well as executive branch materials, providing insight into contemporary political thought. By exploring the evolving landscape of political discourse in Finland, our paper contributes to a better understanding of the environment in which countermeasures against information warfare are developed and the roots of national security policy. It underscores the intricate challenges of safeguarding cognitive security while respecting individual freedoms in a modern democratic society.

Arbitrariness of bibliometric parameters: a case study on leading scientists in the German Society for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology (DGPT).

Bibliometric rankings of researchers are increasingly important for academic hiring and for making grant application decisions in the biomedical sciences. As a case study, we performed a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of German pharmacology and toxicology. The 42 members of the German Society for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology (DGPT) represented in the German 'best scientist' ranking in biology and biochemistry on www.research.com for the year 2022 were analyzed according to various aspects. The scientist ranking on Research.com is based on the Hirsch Index (h-Index). In the comparatively small field of pharmacology, which accounts for only 4.2% of the scientists in the ranking on Research.com, there are only two women. This shows that female pharmacologists are highly underrepresented in elite pharmacology. To achieve a high h-Index, a pharmacologist must publish more papers than a biochemist or biologist. Furthermore, German elite pharmacology was compared in the three sub-societies of the DGPT. There are no significant differences between elite pharmacologists and toxicologists in terms of productivity. Two large German pharmacology schools (Günter Schultz and Franz Hofmann) are similar in all bibliometric parameters except for number of total publications. Age-specific factors were also defined for the analysis: 'academic age' and the quotient of the h-Index by 'academic age'. Any given bibliometric parameter (or combination of parameters) yielded different rankingresults. This became even more evident when additionally considering the highly popular and widely used Laborjournal ranking of top pharmacology and toxicology researchers with only very few DGPT members listed. We unmasked 7 types of publication patterns of pharmacologists, an age-dependent publication peak at around 55 years and different trajectories for high- and low-volume publishing pharmacologists. In the future, less emphasis should be paid to bibliometric parameters in academic hiring and grant decisions than to the authentic societal and scientific impact of the research. Bibliometric parameters are very arbitrary within a very large segment of pharmacologists. Studies according to the paradigm of this account should be made for other countries, other learned societies, and other scientific fields. The different cultures among related scientific fields must be considered in bibliometric analyses as exemplified here for pharmacology versus biochemistry. Conversely, the bibliometric similarities between pharmacology and toxicology show that both fields belong together and have a very similar culture.

General Equilibrium Model for Monetary Policy Responses to Macroeconomic Instabilities in Developing Economy: A Ghanaian Perspective

The study develops a standard New Keynesian model to examine how monetary authority reacts to both domestic and external shocks as well as how its policy decision impacts the general macroeconomy in developing African economy. Using Bayesian estimation techniques and a Ghanaian dataset, the article also seeks to determine the best-suited monetary policy rule for Ghana and countries with similar characteristics. The basic finding is that a forward-looking Taylor rule—where authority reacts to one-period-ahead inflation deviation from target alongside the current output gap—is the most appropriate monetary policy rule for Ghana. Another salient finding is that variations in output are mainly driven by price markup, labour supply, monetary policy and productivity shocks across the forecast horizons. In addition, the dominant determinants of inflation are exchange rate risk premium and price markup shocks. Collectively, the article also unveils that monetary policy responses to macroeconomic shocks are broadly in line with conventional economic theory. There is also conspicuous evidence that the general equilibrium model with representative consumers is practically suitable for monetary policy analysis in Ghana, as contractionary monetary policy impulse is able to contemporaneously induce disinflation and output contraction. Given the strong evidence of a large segment of the unbanked population in Ghana, the findings in this study could be verified based on a model that allows for the co-existence of optimizing and non-optimizing consumers. JEL Classification: B41, C5, C11, D11, D21, D41, D42, E2, E12, E43, E52, E58, F31, F41

Experience with a novel high frequency optical coherence tomography device for intracoronary imaging: a case series.

Intravascular imaging, especially optical coherence tomography (OCT), has significantly improved percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), yet its routine clinical application faces challenges. This case series introduces the Gentuity® High-Frequency Optical Coherence Tomography (HF-OCT), a novel device designed to enhance intracoronary imaging with a significantly faster pullback and smaller catheter size, potentially offering enhanced navigability in complex lesions. We aimed to assess the image quality of Gentuity® HF-OCT in complex vessel conditions, as well as presenting a case series to illustrate the application of the device in various clinical scenarios. In this case series, we included all patients who underwent intracoronary HF-OCT imaging at our center. The primary endpoint was image quality assessed by clear image length (CIL). Image quality was assessed in relation to (1) lesion severity assessed by minimum lumen area (MLA); (2) vessel size, differentiating between larger (diameter ≥ 4 mm) and smaller vessel segments; (3) pre- vs. post-PCI conditions, and (4) vessel tortuosity, categorized into none, moderate, and severe. Twenty-four HF-OCT runs from 14 patients were included. No significant differences in CIL were observed across lesion severity terciles (p = 0.449), between small and large vessel segments [mean CIL% difference 1.3%; confidence interval (CI), -9.3 to 11.8; p = 0.802], and pre- vs. post-PCI conditions (mean CIL difference -3.9 mm; CI, -14.0 to 6.1; p = 0.373). Vessel tortuosity significantly impacted image quality, with clear reductions in CIL observed in cases of moderate (74.8; CI, 73.5 to 76.0; vs. 63.9; CI, 56.2 to 71.5; p = 0.043) and severe tortuosity (74.8; CI, 73.5 to 76.0; vs. 65.0; CI, 62.1 to 67.9; p = 0.002) compared to vessels with no tortuosity. Overall, the HF-OCT demonstrated excellent catheter deliverability and crossability, with very satisfactory image quality and no significant adverse events. The Gentuity® HF-OCT is a new OCT device capable of navigating both small- and large-diameter vessels, with similar image quality, but vessel tortuosity seems to have an impact on image quality. It appears to be as usable as conventional OCT for pre-PCI diagnosis and OCT-guided PCI, potentially bringing additional benefits in terms of deliverability, lesion crossover and ease of use in routine clinical practice.

Unveiling the Uncommon: Gastrointestinal Basidiobolomycosis of the Colon and its Distinctive Splendore-Hoeppli Phenomenon

Background Basidiobolomycosis is a rare fungal infection caused by Basidiobolus ranarum. Case Presentation A 53-year-old man from Saudi Arabia with a known history of diverticulosis presented with severe abdominal pain and diarrhea. A CT scan revealed circumferential wall thickening of the descending and sigmoid colon with surrounding fat stranding, suggesting a diagnosis of complicated diverticulitis. Additional thick fluid was observed around the affected area. Surgical excision was pursued. A gross examination of two received large bowel segments disclosed marked ulcerated mucosa and wall thickening with exudate-covered serosal surfaces and adhesions. Microscopic examination unveiled significant infiltration by eosinophils, polymorphonuclear leukocytes, and granulomatous inflammation. Thin-walled, broad fungal hyphae of Basidiobolus, surrounded by eosinophilic material, were identified. Granulomas displayed abundant multinucleated giant cells and palisading histiocytes around central necrosis or abscess formation. Thin-walled, broad fungal hyphae of Basidiobolus, with sparse septations, are surrounded by a radiating, intensely eosinophilic cuff (Splendore-Hoeppli phenomenon). These hyphae, visible with hematoxylin and eosin staining, were further highlighted with periodic acid-Schiff and Gomori methenamine silver staining. Discussion Basidiobolomycosis may mimic neoplastic lesions. Histologically, the characteristic features include broad, thin-walled septate hyphae surrounded by eosinophilic material, a finding that is accentuated by the Splendore-Hoeppli phenomenon. Microscopic examination, along with special stains such as periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) and Gomori methenamine silver, is essential for accurate diagnosis. Conclusion Prompt recognition and appropriate antifungal therapy are vital for favorable patient outcomes. This report highlights the distinctive features of Basidiobolomycosis to raise awareness and understanding of this infrequent yet clinically significant fungal infection.

Spatial variation and predictors of composite index of HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitude and behaviours among Ethiopian women: A spatial and multilevel analyses of the 2016 Demographic Health Survey.

Although the dissemination of health information is one of the pillars of HIV prevention efforts in Ethiopia, a large segment of women in the country still lack adequate HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitude, and behaviours. Despite many studies being conducted in Ethiopia, they mostly focus on the level of women's knowledge about HIV/AIDS, failing to examine composite index of knowledge, attitude, and behaviour (KAB) domains comprehensively. In addition, the previous studies overlooked individual and community-level, and spatial predictors. Hence, this study aimed to estimate the prevalence, geographical variation (Hotspots), spatial predictors, and multilevel correlates of inadequate HIV/AIDS-Knowledge, Attitude, and Behaviour (HIV/AIDS-KAB) among Ethiopian women. The study conducted using the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey data, included 12,672 women of reproductive age group (15-49 years). A stratified, two-stage cluster sampling technique was used; a random selection of enumeration areas (clusters) followed by selecting households per cluster. Composite index of HIV/AIDS-KAB was assessed using 11 items encompassing HIV/AIDS prevention, transmission, and misconceptions. Spatial analysis was carried out using Arc-GIS version 10.7 and SaTScan version 9.6 statistical software. Spatial autocorrelation (Moran's I) was used to determine the non-randomness of the spatial variation in inadequate knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Multilevel multivariable logistic regression was performed, with the measure of association reported using adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with its corresponding 95% CI. The prevalence of inadequate HIV/AIDS-KAB among Ethiopian women was 48.9% (95% CI: 48.1, 49.8), with significant spatial variations across regions (global Moran's I = 0.64, p<0.001). Ten most likely significant SaTScan clusters were identified with a high proportion of women with inadequate KAB. Somali and most parts of Afar regions were identified as hot spots for women with inadequate HIV/AIDS-KAB. Higher odds of inadequate HIV/AIDS-KAB was observed among women living in the poorest wealth quintile (AOR = 1.63; 95% CI: 1.21, 2.18), rural residents (AOR = 1.62; 95% CI: 1.18, 2.22), having no formal education (AOR = 2.66; 95% CI: 2.04, 3.48), non-autonomous (AOR = 1.71; 95% CI: (1.43, 2.28), never listen to radio (AOR = 1.56; 95% CI: (1.02, 2.39), never watched television (AOR = 1.50; 95% CI: 1.17, 1.92), not having a mobile phone (AOR = 1.45; 95% CI: 1.27, 1.88), and not visiting health facilities (AOR = 1.46; 95% CI: 1.28, 1.72). The level of inadequate HIV/AIDS-KAB in Ethiopia was high, with significant spatial variation across regions, and Somali, and Afar regions contributed much to this high prevalence. Thus, the government should work on integrating HIV/AIDS education and prevention efforts with existing reproductive health services, regular monitoring and evaluation, and collaboration and partnership to tackle this gap. Stakeholders in the health sector should strengthen their efforts to provide tailored health education, and information campaigns with an emphasis on women who lack formal education, live in rural areas, and poorest wealth quintile should be key measures to enhancing knowledge. enhanced effort is needed to increase women's autonomy to empower women to access HIV/AIDS information. The media agencies could prioritise the dissemination of culturally sensitive HIV/AIDS information to women of reproductive age. The identified hot spots with relatively poor knowledge of HIV/AIDS should be targeted during resource allocation and interventions.

Use of Computer Navigation for Optimal Acetabular Cup Placement in Revision THA: Case Reports and Surgical Techniques

The outcomes of revision total hip arthroplasty (rTHA) have become increasingly important as their volume increases. Computer navigation, a reliable method to improve component positioning during primary total hip arthroplasty (THA), is not well studied in the rTHA setting. Given that dislocation rates following rTHA are significantly higher than those of primary THA, component positioning becomes paramount in these cases. Here, we present two case reports and surgical techniques, one of a 77-year-old man undergoing rTHA for recurrent hip instability following primary THA, and one of a 61-year-old woman undergoing rTHA for severe iliopsoas bursitis who was at increased risk for instability and dislocation given her history of large segment spinal fusion. Both patients achieved optimal acetabular component positioning after rTHA with imageless computer navigation. The use of imageless computer navigation in rTHA provides accurate and reproducible component positioning during acetabular rTHA.

Pediatric obesity in the United States: Age–period–cohort analysis

The rates of obesity among American children aged 2–5 years has reached a historic high. It is crucial to identify the putative sources of population-level increases in obesity prevalence among preschool-aged children because early childhood is a critical window for obesity prevention and thus reduction of future incidence. We used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data and hierarchical age–period–cohort analysis to examine lifecycle (i.e., age), historical (i.e., period), and generational (i.e., cohort) distribution of age- and sex-specific body mass index z-scores (zBMI) among 2–5-year-olds in the U.S. from 1999 to 2018. Our current findings indicate that period effects, rather than differences in groups born at a specific time (i.e., cohort effects), account for almost all of the observed changes in zBMI. We need a broad socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental strategy to counteract the current obesogenic environment that influences children of all ages and generations in order to reach large segments of preschoolers and achieve population-wide improvement.

A Rapidly Reconfigurable DC Battery for Increasing Flexibility and Efficiency of Electric Vehicle Drive Trains

Traditional electric vehicle (EV) battery drive trains comprise hard-wired batteries forming a fixed high-voltage DC link, and a main inverter. This paper proposes a novel topology to break hard-wired batteries into smaller subunits interfaced by low-voltage field effect transistors (FET). The new DC link, named <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">reconfigurable DC battery</i> , can offload a great portion of the switching duty from the main inverter. Several benefits follow: <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1)</i> The proposed topology reduces the total loss despite the added components. The net loss is reduced because the reconfigurable DC battery can generate an optimal high-frequency voltage waveform to spare up to 2/3 of the switching actions of the main inverter—i.e., delegating the modulation duty from the main inverter to the reconfigurable DC battery. The added semiconductor loss is negligible compared to that of the main inverter, thanks to small voltage steps of multilevel conversion and the latest low-voltage transistors. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2)</i> The main inverter’s output waveform has less distortion, e.g., down to 50% compared to conventional space-vector modulation. This distortion reduction is a consequence of large segments of the overall output voltage (particularly the apex) being entirely formed by the reconfigurable DC battery with multilevel precision. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3)</i> The multilevel output qualities substantially reduce the voltage transients d <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">v</i> /d <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">t</i> of the inverter output, which is known to reduce insulation and bearing stress in motors. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4)</i> The topology eliminates the vulnerability of large hard-wired battery packs to the weakest cells. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">5)</i> The constant presence of the high voltage in conventional hard-wired batteries and the associated issues, e.g., during manufacturing, maintenance, and crashs are avoided because of normally-off FETs. We demonstrate the proposed motor drive on a 3-kW setup with eight battery modules.

What is the most profitable targeting strategy from mass marketing to personalization? Results from a simulation in tourism

ABSTRACT Scholars know that setting the right target, from the aggregated market to personalization, raises a cost-benefit trade-off, but we found little research on this topic. Personalization is very popular, but it may be costly. Using broader market segments can be affordable but less accurate. We did a simulation analysis in the tourism industry based on a case-study. We compared the profits of four different targets, aggregated market, large segments, micro-segments, individuals, in different conditions by varying consumers’ attitudes, price, and scale/scope economies. Our findings show that micro-segmentation is the most profitable strategy on average, but the comparison strongly depends on the business conditions.

Assessing seromuscular layer and serosa removal on intestinal permeability measurements in weaned piglet everted sac segments.

The integrity of the intestinal barrier is crucial for regulating the passage of pathogens and toxins, while facilitating nutrient absorption. The everted gut sac technique, an ex-vivo technique, can be used to study interventions on barrier function. This cost-effective approach utilizes relatively large gut segments to study specific intestinal regions. Typically, intact (non-stripped) intestinal segments are used, but their use may underestimate permeability due to the medial positioning of blood vessels relative to the seromuscular layer and serosa. However, removing these layers risks physical damage, resulting in an overestimation of intestinal permeability. Therefore, we investigated the impact of stripping jejunal segments on permeability to fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran (FITC, 4kDa) and tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate-dextran (TRITC, 40kDa), and on the absorption of glucose, lysine, and methionine in jejunal segments from 80 piglets at 8 d postweaning. Piglets were subjected to either high or low sanitary housing conditions and diets provoking intestinal protein fermentation or not, expected to influence intestinal permeability. Stripping of the seromuscular layer and serosa increased the passage of 4kDa FITC-dextran (stripped vs. non-stripped; 1.1 vs. 0.9 pmol/cm2/min, P < 0.001), glucose (40.0 vs. 19.1 pmol/cm2/min, P < 0.001), lysine (2.5 vs. 2.0 nmol/cm2/min, P < 0.001), and methionine (4.1 vs. 2.7 pmol/cm2/min, P < 0.001). As permeability increased, the differences in methionine passage between stripped and non-stripped intestinal segments also increased (slope = 1.30, P = 0.009). The coefficients of variation were comparable between stripped and non-stripped intestines (over all treatments, stripped vs. non-stripped 38% vs. 40%). Stripping, by isolating mucosal processes without introducing additional variation, is thus recommended for studies on intestinal permeability or absorption.

Exploring Sustainable Urban Transportation: Insights from Shared Mobility Services and Their Environmental Impact

The transportation landscape is witnessing profound changes due to technological advancements, necessitating proactive policy responses to harness innovation and avert urban mobility disruption. The sharing economy has already transformed ridesharing, bicycle-sharing, and electric scooters, with shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs) poised to reshape car ownership. This study pursues two objectives: firstly, to establish a market segmentation for shared ride services and secondly, to evaluate the environmental impact of ridesharing in different contexts. To mitigate potential biases linked to stated preference data, we analysed the navette service, utilized by a research institute in Europe, closely resembling future SAVs. The market segmentation relied on hierarchical cluster analysis using employee survey responses, while the environmental analysis was grounded in the 2019 navette service data. Our analysis revealed four unique employee clusters: Cluster 1, emphasizing active transportation and environmental awareness; Cluster 2, showing openness towards SAVs given reliable alternatives are available; Cluster 3, the largest segment, highlighting a demand for policy support and superior service quality; and Cluster 4, which places a premium on time, suggesting a potential need for strategies to make the service more efficient and, consequently, discourage private car use. These findings highlight a general willingness to adopt shared transport modes, signalling a promising transition to shared vehicle ownership with significant environmental benefits achievable through service design and policy measures.

CCAT1 lncRNA is chromatin-retained and post-transcriptionally spliced

Super-enhancers are unique gene expression regulators widely involved in cancer development. Spread over large DNA segments, they tend to be found next to oncogenes. The super-enhancer c-MYC locus forms long-range chromatin looping with nearby genes, which brings the enhancer and the genes into proximity, to promote gene activation. The colon cancer-associated transcript 1 (CCAT1) gene, which is part of the MYC locus, transcribes a lncRNA that is overexpressed in colon cancer cells through activation by MYC. Comparing different types of cancer cell lines using RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (RNA FISH), we detected very prominent CCAT1 expression in HeLa cells, observed as several large CCAT1 nuclear foci. We found that dozens of CCAT1 transcripts accumulate on the gene locus, in addition to active transcription occurring from the gene. The accumulating transcripts are released from the chromatin during cell division. Examination of CCAT1 lncRNA expression patterns on the single-RNA level showed that unspliced CCAT1 transcripts are released from the gene into the nucleoplasm. Most of these unspliced transcripts were observed in proximity to the active gene but were not associated with nuclear speckles in which unspliced RNAs usually accumulate. At larger distances from the gene, the CCAT1 transcripts appeared spliced, implying that most CCAT1 transcripts undergo post-transcriptional splicing in the zone of the active gene. Finally, we show that unspliced CCAT1 transcripts can be detected in the cytoplasm during splicing inhibition, which suggests that there are several CCAT1 variants, spliced and unspliced, that the cell can recognize as suitable for export.

Direct transmission of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus from farm-raised fur animals to workers in Weihai, China.

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease. SFTS virus (SFTSV) is transmitted by tick bites and contact with the blood or body fluids of SFTS patients. Animal-to-human transmission of SFTS has been reported in Japan, but not in China. In this study, the possible transmission route of two patients who fed and cared for farm-raised fur animals in a mink farm was explored. An epidemiological investigation and a genetic analysis of patients, animals and working environment were carried out. It was found that two patients had not been bitten by ticks and had no contact with patients infected with SFTS virus, but both of them had skinned the dying animals. 54.55% (12/22) of the farm workers were positive for SFTS virus antibody. By analyzing the large, medium and small segments sequences, the viral sequences from the two patients, animals and environments showed 99.9% homology. It is suspected that the two patients may be directly infected by farm-raised animals, and that the virus may have been transmitted by aerosols when skinning dying animals. Transmission by direct blood contacts or animal bites cannot be ignored.

Biomimetic bone-periosteum scaffold for spatiotemporal regulated innervated bone regeneration and therapy of osteosarcoma

The complexity of repairing large segment defects and eradicating residual tumor cell puts the osteosarcoma clinical management challenging. Current biomaterial design often overlooks the crucial role of precisely regulating innervation in bone regeneration. Here, we develop a Germanium Selenium (GeSe) co-doped polylactic acid (PLA) nanofiber membrane-coated tricalcium phosphate bioceramic scaffold (TCP-PLA/GeSe) that mimics the bone-periosteum structure. This biomimetic scaffold offers a dual functionality, combining piezoelectric and photothermal conversion capabilities while remaining biodegradable. When subjected to ultrasound irradiation, the US-electric stimulation of TCP-PLA/GeSe enables spatiotemporal control of neurogenic differentiation. This feature supports early innervation during bone formation, promoting early neurogenic differentiation of Schwann cells (SCs) by increasing intracellular Ca2+ and subsequently activating the PI3K-Akt and Ras signaling pathways. The biomimetic scaffold also demonstrates exceptional osteogenic differentiation potential under ultrasound irradiation. In rabbit model of large segment bone defects, the TCP-PLA/GeSe demonstrates promoted osteogenesis and nerve fibre ingrowth. The combined attributes of high photothermal conversion capacity and the sustained release of anti-tumor selenium from the TCP-PLA/GeSe enable the synergistic eradication of osteosarcoma both in vitro and in vivo. This strategy provides new insights on designing advanced biomaterials of repairing large segment bone defect and osteosarcoma.

Iterative feedback-based models for image and video polyp segmentation

Accurate segmentation of polyps in colonoscopy images has gained significant attention in recent years, given its crucial role in automated colorectal cancer diagnosis. Many existing deep learning-based methods follow a one-stage processing pipeline, often involving feature fusion across different levels or utilizing boundary-related attention mechanisms. Drawing on the success of applying Iterative Feedback Units (IFU) in image polyp segmentation, this paper proposes FlowICBNet by extending the IFU to the domain of video polyp segmentation. By harnessing the unique capabilities of IFU to propagate and refine past segmentation results, our method proves effective in mitigating challenges linked to the inherent limitations of endoscopic imaging, notably the presence of frequent camera shake and frame defocusing. Furthermore, in FlowICBNet, we introduce two pivotal modules: Reference Frame Selection (RFS) and Flow Guided Warping (FGW). These modules play a crucial role in filtering and selecting the most suitable historical reference frames for the task at hand. The experimental results on a large video polyp segmentation dataset demonstrate that our method can significantly outperform state-of-the-art methods by notable margins achieving an average metrics improvement of 7.5% on SUN-SEG-Easy and 7.4% on SUN-SEG-Hard. Our code is available at https://github.com/eraserNut/ICBNet.

Judicial precedent in the Romano-Germanic legal family

The article is devoted to the study of the institution of judicial precedent in the Romano- Germanic legal family. It is established that the countries of the Romano-Germanic legal family, unlike the countries of the Anglo-Saxon legal family under the influence of Roman law, in the context of codification of law, have determined for themselves the priority source of law - law, not precedent. However, there is a gradual increase in the role of judicial precedent in continental law countries due to a number of factors that contribute to the intensification of judicial rulemaking. First, in these countries, there are still branches of law that, for various reasons, either do not have legal regulation or are regulated only by general reference rules or framework provisions. For objective reasons, the legislator cannot foresee the entire variety of real-life phenomena. This pushes the courts to adopt legal provisions that can fill in the gaps in the legal regulation of social relations. Secondly, there is a noticeable lag between legislation and dynamically changing social relations, resulting in the formation of large segments of social life regulated by legal acts that have lost their relevance. The current realities, which are largely full of unpredictable events, highlight the need for legal systems to adapt. All of this contributes to the use of judicial precedents, which serve not only as a tool for resolving specific disputes, but also as a means of developing law, allowing to fill existing «gaps in law». In the Romano-Germanic legal family, the real legal force of a judicial precedent is determined not so much by its formal enshrinement in legal acts as by actual life circumstances. Real-life situations, as well as the practical necessity and demand for precedent as a source of law, play a key role in determining its true legal status and legal force. Judicial precedent in continental law countries is becoming increasingly important, becoming an integral element of dynamic and adaptive legal regulation over time, and the rules establishing the generally binding force of precedents and the discretionary powers of authorized bodies are increasingly common in both public and private law in these countries. Judicial precedent in these countries should be considered as a source of law from a practical point of view, focusing on solving problems arising in the process of law enforcement.

Projecting future critical material demand and recycling from China's electric passenger vehicles considering vehicle segment heterogeneity

Critical factors like electric vehicle market penetration, battery chemistry, and battery capacity determine future critical material demand and recycling potential from electric vehicles. However, current studies largely ignored the heterogeneity among vehicle segments. This study introduces a vehicle-model-based big-data driven approach to unveil electric vehicle characteristics at fleet-wide and vehicle-segment levels. Further, a bottom-up model was built to project the battery material flow dynamics in 8 scenarios, identifying middle and large vehicle segments as primary contributors. In the Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario, demand for lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese by 2050 will reach 182, 447, 61, and 44 kt, respectively, with recycled materials meeting 59 %, 58 %, 60 %, and 57 % of demand. The demand and recycling of critical materials have significant inherent uncertainty, with demand potentially fluctuating from one-quarter to twice the BAU level. Policies can greatly reduce primary resources for critical materials by guiding battery usage preferences and promoting recycling.

Novel protein ligase based on dual split intein

Inteins are unique single-turnover enzymes that can excise themselves from the precursor protein without the aid of any external cofactors or energy. In most cases, inteins are covalently linked with the extein sequences and protein splicing happens spontaneously. In this study, a novel protein ligation system was developed based on two atypical split inteins without cross reaction, in which the large segments of one S1 and one S11 split intein fusion protein acted as a protein ligase, the small segments (only several amino acids long) was fused to the N-extein and C-extein, respectively. The splicing activity was demonstrated in E. coli and in vitro with different extein sequences, which showed ∼15% splicing efficiency in vitro. The protein trans-splicing in vitro was further optimized, and possible reaction explanations were explored. As a proof of concept, we expect this approach to expand the scope of trans-splicing-based protein engineering and provide new clues for intein based protein ligase.