Minimal Risk Research Articles

Conceptual approach to the assessment of the economic effect from the implementation of digital economic forensics

Introduction. Digital economic forensics as a system of collecting and analyzing information about economic operations at enterprises using digital information systems and modern technologies of big data, artificial intelligence and digital learning allows timely detection of suspicious actions containing economic security risks and timely resolution of crisis situations, minimizing losses and appeal to law enforcement agencies. Currently, the implementation of such tools has not gained significant scale at Ukrainian enterprises, primarily due to the lack of awareness of the management of enterprises about the benefits of forensics, the lack of readily available standard software tools for the rapid implementation, the lack of the necessary training, and, in particular, the enterprise management’s lack of ability to assess the economic effect such tools. The purpose of the paper is to develop an approach to the assessment of the economic effect of the implementation of digital economic forensics at enterprises, which would take into account the key sources of such an economic effect at the level of the enterprise and the state, as well as the main probabilistic characteristics of correct identification, successful minimization and implementation of risks. Results. The paper has analyzed the key sources of economic effect from the implementation of digital economic forensics. For enterprises, that includes the minimization of losses and costs associated with filing claims with law enforcement agencies, the costs of responding to risks, improving reputation, preventing downtime and interruptions in activity, increasing the trust of counterparties, employee productivity, etc. For the state, that includes reducing the burden on law enforcement agencies, improving the economic indicators of enterprises and increasing tax revenues, reducing the level of economic crime, general improvement of the economic situation, etc. An approach to the calculation of the economic effect is proposed, which, thanks to taking into account the probabilities of correct identification, successful minimization and realization of risks, allows increasing the accuracy of the assessment of the actual and potential economic effect from the use of economic forensics tools. Conclusion. By taking into account the probabilities of correct identification, successful minimization and materialization of risks, the approach developed in the paper allows increasing the accuracy of the assessment of the actual and potential economic effect from the use of economic forensics tools. This, in turn, is a key to promoting the implementation of such tools at enterprises by creating the visibility of digital economic forensics value in enterprise management.

Business activity and risks of trading enterprises: the dialectic of the relationship

The paper defines the content of the definition of «business activity» in a broad and narrow sense, the components of its assessment are indicators of logistical, commercial, financial, and investment activities. It is shown that regular assessment and analysis of the business activity of a trading enterprise allows timely detection of problems, optimization of the use of resources, increasing the efficiency of its activity and making informed management decisions. It is shown that risk is an integral part of the economic activity of trading enterprises, which requires special attention and management efforts to ensure the stability and development of enterprises. Approaches to the creation of a complex risk management system with the selection of individual components, the integration of which will ensure the stability and sustainability of trading enterprises in conditions of uncertainty and rapid changes in the market environment, are proposed. A set of measures that will contribute to improving the competitiveness of trade enterprises and increasing their ability to adapt to changes in the economic environment are substantiated. Implementation of the proposed tools will allow trade enterprises to better understand and analyze the needs of their customers, thereby ensuring more efficient work in a risk-oriented environment. The principles of the use of digital technologies in the economy of a commercial enterprise are proposed, including such elements as big data analytics, marketing automation, personalized communications and the integration of various sales channels. This provides the ability to quickly adapt to changes in the market situation, reducing risks and increasing the efficiency of business processes of a trading company. It has been proven that the intensification of business activity and the reduction of risks of trade enterprises require a systematic approach, which includes strategic planning, innovation, effective management of resources and risk minimization. Implementation of the proposed strategies will help trading enterprises to increase their competitiveness, reduce risks and ensure stable development in conditions of market uncertainty.

222Rn and 220Rn levels in drinking water, emanation, and exhalation assessment, and the related health implications in the U-bearing area of Poli-Cameroon.

The inherent radioactivity of radon gas presents potential exposure risks to human beings through ingestion and inhalation of its radioisotopes 222Rn (radon) and 220Rn (thoron) from water sources. Recent studies have been conducted to assess radon concentrations in different environmental matrices such as water, air, and soil, due to their detrimental impact on human health. As the main cause of lung cancer in non-smokers and an acknowledged contributor to stomach cancer when ingested, the present study aimed to preliminarily assess radon and thoron levels in the Uranium bearing area of Poli in the Faro division of Cameroon, known for its significant U-deposits. The assessment included measuring 220, 222Rn concentrations in drinking water, emanation, and exhalation, with a specific focus on evaluating the exposure of different age groups within the local population. The radon/thoron levels in water and their related exposure and cancer risk dataindicated no immediate health hazards. However, continuous monitoring and prospective measures are deemed essential due to the area's abundant U-minerals. The emanation measurements showed sparsely distributed data with a singularity at Salaki, where the equipment recorded values of 8.14 × 1012 Bqm-3 and 3.27 × 1012 Bqm-3 for radon and thoron, respectively. Moreover, radon/thoron transfer coefficients from thesoil to theair indicated levels below unity. While the calculated doses suggest minimum potential risk in line with WHO and UNSCEAR guidelines, the obtained results are expected to significantly contribute to the establishment of national standards for radon levels in drinking water, emanation, and exhalation. Furthermore, these findings can play a crucial role in monitoring radon/thoron levels to ensure public health safety.

Pattern of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology of Head and Neck Swelling in Patients Attending a Tertiary Health Care Center: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

Fine needle aspiration cytology is a simple, rapid, cost-effective method in diagnosis of head and neck swelling with minimal risk of complications. Head and neck swellings include a broad spectrum of diseases with different management for each. Fine needle aspiration cytology is a suitable and useful method for assessment of these swelling. This study was done with the objective to study the frequency and distribution of various head and neck lesions detected by fine needle aspiration cytology. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of Pathology in a tertiary care center from February 1 to July 31, 2023 after obtaining ethical approval from Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: IRC-PA-191/2078-79). All the patients presenting with head and neck swelling during the study period were included in this study. Total sampling was done. Fine needle aspiration was done and cytological diagnosis was made. Descriptive analysis was done where frequency and percentage were calculated. Out of 112 cases included in the study, 43 (38.40%) were of lymph nodes, 36 (32.14%) of thyroid, 22 (19.64%) of skin and soft tissue and 11 (9.82%) of salivary glands. Among the lymph nodes cases, there were 11 (25.57%) metastases. In thyroid lesions, beingn lesions were seen in 24 (66.68%). This study found that lymph nodes were the most common site for head and neck swellings, frequently involving metastatic lesions.

Constrained Off-policy Learning over Heterogeneous Information for Fairness-aware Recommendation

Fairness-aware recommendation eliminates discrimination issues to build trustworthy recommendation systems. Existing fairness-aware approaches ignore accounting for rich user and item attributes and thus cannot capture the impact of attributes on affecting recommendation fairness. These real-world attributes severely cause unfair recommendations by favoring items with popular attributes, leading to item exposure unfairness in recommendations. Moreover, existing approaches mostly mitigate unfairness for static recommendation models, e.g., collaborative filtering. Static models can not handle dynamic user interactions with the system that reflect users’ preferences shift through time. Thus, static models are limited in their ability to adapt to user behavior shifts to gain long-run user satisfaction. As user and item attributes are largely involved in modern recommenders and user interactions are naturally dynamic, it is essential to develop a novel method that eliminates unfairness caused by attributes meanwhile embrace the dynamic modeling of user behavior shifts. In this article, we propose Constrained Off-policy Learning over Heterogeneous Information for Fairness-aware Recommendation (Fair-HINpolicy) , which uses recent advances in context-aware off-policy learning to produce fairness-aware recommendations with rich attributes from a Heterogeneous Information Network. In particular, we formulate the off-policy learning as a Constrained Markov Decision Process (CMDP) by dynamically constraining the fairness of item exposure at each iteration. We also design an attentive action sampling to reduce the search space for off-policy learning. Our solution adaptively receives HIN-augmented corrections for counterfactual risk minimization, and ultimately yields an effective policy that maximizes long-term user satisfaction. We extensively evaluate our method through simulations on large-scale real-world datasets, obtaining favorable results compared with state-of-the-art methods.

Mesenchymal stem cell-derived small extracellular vesicles enhance the therapeutic effect of retinal progenitor cells in retinal degenerative disease rats.

Our previous study demonstrated that combined transplantation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells and retinal progenitor cells in rats has therapeutic effects on retinal degeneration that are superior to transplantation of retinal progenitor cells alone. Bone marrow- derived mesenchymal stem cells regulate and interact with various cells in the retinal microenvironment by secreting neurotrophic factors and extracellular vesicles. Small extracellular vesicles derived from bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, which offer low immunogenicity, minimal tumorigenic risk, and ease of transportation, have been utilized in the treatment of various neurological diseases. These vesicles exhibit various activities, including anti-inflammatory actions, promotion of tissue repair, and immune regulation. Therefore, novel strategies using human retinal progenitor cells combined with BMSC-derived small extracellular vesicles may represent an innovation in stem cell therapy for retinal degeneration. In this study, we developed such an approach utilizing retinal progenitor cells combined with bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell-derived small extracellular vesicles to treat retinal degeneration in Royal College of Surgeons rats, a genetic model of retinal degeneration. Our findings revealed that the combination of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell-derived small extracellular vesicles and retinal progenitor cells significantly improved visual function in these rats. The addition of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell-derived small extracellular vesicles as adjuvants to stem cell transplantation with retinal progenitor cells enhanced the survival, migration, and differentiation of the exogenous retinal progenitor cells. Concurrently, these small extracellular vesicles inhibited the activation of regional microglia, promoted the migration of transplanted retinal progenitor cells to the inner nuclear layer of the retina, and facilitated their differentiation into photoreceptors and bipolar cells. These findings suggest that bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell-derived small extracellular vesicles potentiate the therapeutic efficacy of retinal progenitor cells in retinal degeneration by promoting their survival and differentiation.

Evaluation of BTEX Pollution and Health Risk for Sustainable Use of a Typical Chemical Pesticide Industrial Site

BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes) are widely used in pesticide manufacturing industries. Due to their high volatility and toxicity, BTEX compounds often leak during production, storage, and transportation, posing significant threats to human health and the environment. In this study, soil and groundwater samples at a chemical pesticide industrial site in southern China were collected and analyzed. Soil concentrations ranged from 0.05–142 mg/kg for benzene, 0.05–315 mg/kg for toluene, 0.05–889 mg/kg for ethylbenzene, 0.05–2800 mg/kg for m-&p-xylene, and 0.05–668 mg/kg for o-xylene. Groundwater concentrations were 0.7–340,000 μg/L for benzene, 0.9–4070 μg/L for toluene, 0.5–1900 μg/L for ethylbenzene, 1.6–6000 μg/L for m-&p-xylene, and 0.6–1500 μg/L for o-xylene. While the average concentrations were relatively low, there were numerous locations where BTEX levels significantly exceeded national soil and groundwater standards. Despite the minimal health risks from soil BTEX pollution, utilizing groundwater for drinking or bathing could result in unacceptable cancer and non-cancer risks. These findings underscore the urgent need for remediation efforts, particularly concerning benzene contamination in groundwater, to ensure the sustainable utilization of the industrial site in question.

Secondary reduction mammaplasty techniques and outcomes: Cleveland Clinic experience

BackgroundInformation on optimal techniques and outcomes following secondary reduction mammaplasty remains sparse with only 280 patient cases reported in the literature to date. Methods7,179 medical charts of patients who underwent non-oncological breast reduction at the Cleveland Clinic Health System from January 2001 to October 2023 were screened to identify whether the procedure was a secondary reduction. Patient charts were then reviewed to extract demographic, surgical, and outcome data. Patients were also contacted through the electronic medical record to fill out the BREAST-Q V2 questionnaire about post-operative satisfaction. Surgical techniques and satisfaction were compared for patients with complications versus those without. ResultsOne hundred and twenty-two (1.7%) patients underwent secondary breast reduction. An inferior pedicle was the most used for both primary (n=59, 48.4%) and secondary (n=64, 52.5%) surgeries. The primary pedicle was re-created in 62 of the 84 (73.8%) re-reductions where a primary pedicle was known. A total of 15 patients (12.3%) completed the BREAST-Q questionnaire. BMI was significantly and negatively associated with satisfaction with outcome (R=-0.66, p=0.01), sexual wellbeing (R=-0.58, p=0.04), and physical wellbeing (R=-0.69, p=0.006). No patients experienced nipple-areolar-complex (NAC) necrosis following secondary reduction. However, 21 (17.2%) of patients experienced complications or breast fat necrosis following re-reduction. Unmatched secondary pedicles showed a trend towards higher complication rates than matched secondary pedicles (31.3% vs. 12.9%, p=0.051). ConclusionWhen known, the primary pedicle can be safely used for secondary reduction mammaplasty with minimal risk of NAC necrosis or complication.

Causality-inspired Domain Expansion network for single domain generalization

Most existing single domain generalization (SDG) methods focus on extending the distribution of the training data to achieve good generalizability in the target domain by synthesizing out-of-domain data. However, in practice, the generated data are insufficient to cover all possible shifts. When the target distributions are not covered, the spurious associations between irrelevant features and labels captured by a model will deteriorate the generalization performance. To alleviate this problem, in this paper, we first analyze that augmenting the source domain with samples of new styles (e.g., different backgrounds) can mitigate spurious associations between irrelevant features and labels from a causal perspective, which can reduce the interference of non-causal features on the classification labels then propose a novel Causality-inspired Domain Expansion Network (CDEN) for SDG. Specifically, CDEN contains a domain augmentation subnetwork and a representation learning subnetwork. The former uses a special style generator module AdaIN∗ to generate out-of-domain data with the same semantic information but different styles from the source domain data to help the model capture true associations between discriminative features and labels. The latter introduces a novel class-level contrastive learning, instance-level contrastive learning, and invariant risk minimization to help the model further eliminate spurious associations. CDEN progressively generates diverse style data and learns domain invariant representations containing few spurious associations by optimizing the two subnetworks in an adversarial learning manner. We conduct extensive experiments on three benchmark datasets to evaluate the superiority of CDEN, comparing it to fifteen state-of-the-art methods.

Medium vessel occlusion thrombectomy: Single center experience using the 3 MAX catheter.

Thrombectomy for medium vessel occlusion is a topic of great interest. We describe a single-center experience with the Penumbra 3-MAX aspiration catheter in stroke thrombectomy of medium vessel occlusion(MeVO). We investigated the use of 3-MAX as a de-novo first pass catheter and as a rescue aspiration device following attempted thrombectomy with other devices. This is the first description of the first pass effect and successful recanalization rate of the 3-MAX catheter in de-novo vs. rescue use of this catheter. From January 2017 to January 2023, 84 patients underwent mechanical thrombectomy with use of a Penumbra 3MAX aspiration catheter at our comprehensive stroke center. Patient charts were retrospectively reviewed. Primary efficacy outcome was successful recanalization following mechanical thrombectomy. Primary safety outcome was intracerebral hemorrhage. A total of 84 patients underwent MT with the 3MAX device. It was used as a de novo catheter in 27(32.1%) and as a rescue catheter in 57(67.9%) patients. 35(41.6%) patients achieved angiographic TICI grade ≥ 2c. De novo 3MAX use led to 68.18% successful recanalization and rescue use led to 72.22% recanalization (p = 0.67) as measured by TICI score of 2c or better. Parenchymal intracerebral hemorrhages (PH) were present in 8 patients (9.5%). The Penumbra 3MAX catheter is safe and effective when used as a first pass or a rescue device in mechanical thrombectomy. We found similar rates of successful recanalization and minimal hemorrhagic risk when comparing the 3MAX as a rescue or de novo aspiration catheter.

Uptake of ultra-hypofractionated radiation therapy following breast-conserving surgery among patients with early-stage breast cancer: a multi-institutional questionnaire survey.

In patients with early-stage breast cancer following breast surgery, ultra-hypofractionated (UHF) breast/chest wall radiation therapy (RT) has been shown to be non-inferior to a moderate-hypofractionated (MHF) regimen, with a minimal risk of breast induration, in the FAST-Forward trial, and UHF is now becoming the standard regimen in Europe. Herein, we aimed to investigate Japanese patients' attitudes toward the UHF regimen. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted at 13 RT centers in nine prefectures across Japan. All patients underwent breast-conserving surgery, followed by either conventional fractionation (2Gy/fr) or MHF (2.66Gy/fr) whole-breast irradiation (WBI) with or without a tumor bed boost. The questionnaire consisted of 13 questions mainly addressing quality-of-life during RT. Key questions included an 11-point scale (0-10) for rating the patients' enthusiasm for the UHF regimen and prioritization of the following treatment-related effects: treatment efficacy, acute/late adverse effects, physical/emotional/financial burden, and breast cosmesis. The patient and treatment characteristics were assessed by a physician. In total, 247 questionnaires were administered between November 2022 and June 2023. The age distribution was as follows: < 50:50s:60s: ≥ 70 = 59 (24%):76 (30%):63 (26%):49 (20%). Sixty-nine percent of patients rated their enthusiasm for the UHF regimen at ≥ 6 out of 10 points (45% rated 10/10). Treatment efficacy was the highest priority for most patients (89%), whereas breast cosmesis the lowest priority (53%). Patients' enthusiasm for UHF-WBI was observed across the cohort. These results could motivate researchers and clinicians to introduce UHF regimens in clinical practice.

Drug-related problems among breastfeeding patients treated for depressive spectrum disorders.

Depressive spectrum disorders are common and can hinder breastfeeding success. While medications typically pose minimal risk, the concerns persist. This is the first study that investigates the prevalence and characteristics of drug-related problems among breastfeeding mothers with depressive spectrum disorders. We analyzed those problems to understand their nature, severity, and contributing factors. Additionally, we evaluated the outcomes of pharmacist-led interventions in reducing them. Understanding drug-related problems is crucial for informing evidence-based practices to optimize both maternal mental health and breastfeeding success. This prospective observational study was conducted at a specialized pharmacy office in Poznan, Poland, which focuses on lactation support and medication consultations. 47 breastfeeding patients were enrolled. Pharmaceutical consultations were conducted according to Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners Pharmacists' Patient Care Process standards. Novel MILC Questionnaire was used for efficient and optimal pharmaceutical interview. Drug-related problems were assessed basing on PCNE Classification System version 9.1. For adverse events in lactation, MedDRA v27 nomenclature was used; for causality, Naranjo Scale and LCAT were utilized. CTCAE was used for grading. Among the 47 patients, pharmacist identified 49 medication-related problems, with inadequate treatment effect due to underdosing or not taking the medication at all being the most common (57.1%). Pharmacist interventions focused on medication safety information and counseling. Overall, 78.7% of patients accepted these interventions, resulting in problem resolution for 71.4%. Twelve mothers (25.5%) reported adverse events in their infants, but after causality evaluation, only four (8.5%) might have been linked to maternal medication. None required medical intervention beyond one hospitalization for a serious adverse event possibly connected to maternal medication. The study identified high rates of drug-related problems among breastfeeding mothers with depression, primarily due to non-adherence. Pharmacist interventions significantly improved DRP outcomes. Adverse events were reported, but most were mild and did not require intervention. Our findings suggest that lactating mothers with depressive spectrum disorders may benefit from pharmacist-led support to optimize treatment adherence and address medication safety concern.

Research on Model Selection-Based Weighted Averaged One-Dependence Estimators

The Averaged One-Dependence Estimators (AODE) is a popular and effective method of Bayesian classification. In AODE, selecting the optimal sub-model based on a cross-validated risk minimization strategy can further enhance classification performance. However, existing cross-validation risk minimization strategies do not consider the differences in attributes in classification decisions. Consequently, this paper introduces an algorithm for Model Selection-based Weighted AODE (SWAODE). To express the differences in attributes in classification decisions, the ODE corresponding to attributes are weighted, with mutual information commonly used in the field of machine learning adopted as weights. Then, these weighted sub-models are evaluated and selected using leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) to determine the best model. The new method can improve the accuracy and robustness of the model and better adapt to different data features, thereby enhancing the performance of the classification algorithm. Experimental results indicate that the algorithm merges the benefits of weighting with model selection, markedly enhancing the classification efficiency of the AODE algorithm.

Evaluating the Efficacy and Safety of Perirectal Sclerotherapy with 50% Dextrose Injection as a Primary Surgical Procedure for Rectal Prolapse in Pediatric Patients: A Clinical Trial

Background: Rectal prolapse is a condition where the rectum protrudes through the anus. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of perirectal sclerotherapy using a 50% dextrose injection as a primary surgical procedure for rectal prolapse in children under 14 years of age. Objectives: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and advantages of perirectal sclerotherapy using a 50% dextrose injection as a primary surgical procedure for rectal prolapse in pediatric patients. Methods: This clinical trial involved 40 patients diagnosed with rectal prolapse, who were treated with perirectal sclerosant (dextrose 50%) injection. All patients had grade III or grade IV rectal prolapse. Three injections of 50% dextrose were administered into the area around the anus and the submucosa, 2 - 3 cm above the dentate line, while the patient was in the lithotomy position. Injections were given at the 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions around the anus (1 cc/kg at the 6 o'clock position and 0.5 cc/kg at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions). The patients were followed up for recurrence and complications at three-month and six-month intervals, respectively. Results: The patients had an average age of 5.62 years, with the majority being male (77.5%). The average time between symptom onset and sclerotherapy administration was 6.60 ± 1.73 months. Five patients experienced edema around the anus and injection site on the first day of observation. At the second examination (one week later), only one patient had cellulitis. At the three-month visit, eight patients exhibited symptoms of rectal mucus discharge, which were considered mid-term complications. In the final examination at six months, four patients experienced prolapse recurrences. Conclusions: Based on the findings, it can be concluded that perirectal sclerotherapy using a 50% dextrose injection is an effective primary surgical procedure for rectal prolapse in children under 14 years of age. The treatment is simple, inexpensive, and associated with minimal risk of complications and short recovery times compared to open surgery.

Toxic Metal Element Concentration in 31 Food Fishes from River Ganga: Risk Assessment on Human Consumption.

Consumption of toxic metal contaminated fish is a significant risk to human health. The Ganga river is one of the vital river systems in India, and it nurtures a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna. In the present study, screening of potential toxic metal elements (Cd, Cr, Mn, Cu, Pb, Ni, Zn, and As) was undertaken in 31 food fishes, especially the small indigenous fishes (SIFs) from the lower stretch of river Ganga by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The concentration of toxic metal elements varied among different fish species. Among the toxic metal elements studied, Cr, Zn, and As were found to be dominant in Eleotris fusca; Cd, Ni, and Pb were highest in Securicula gora; Cu was highest in Cabdio morar; and Mn was highest in Coilia dussumieri. The average pollution load index values (APLI) for all the fishes analyzed were less than one except for Eleotris fusca, which indicated no serious toxic metal element pollution load. The estimated daily intake values (EDI) for the toxic metal elements were found to be within the permissible maximum tolerable daily intake (MTDI). Among the fishes studied, only a few species showed hazard index (HI) greater than one, indicating non-carcinogenic health risks. Similarly, the target carcinogenic values (TCR) for most of the toxic metal elements were below the permissible limit (10-4) in the fishes that assures minimal cancer risk. This study provides a comprehensive data on the composition of potential toxic metal elements of 31 food fishes from the lower stretch of the river Ganga, the first of its kind, and suggests the necessity of periodic monitoring of these in the aquatic ecosystem.

Mesenchymal cells: Update on mechanisms of action and their relationship with autoimmune diseases.

"Mesenchymal cells (MSCs) are a type of multipotent progenitor cells that have the ability to differentiate into mesodermal layer cells and can modulate multiple types of immune cells. Objective: Analyze the functions of mesenchymal cells, their mechanisms of action at the cellular level as immunomodulatory therapy for multiple autoimmune diseases and the adverse effects in each of these. Methods: A bibliographical review of review articles, meta-analyses, retrospective studies, field studies in humans, experimental studies in mice and controlled clinical trials was carried out, in which the effect of therapy with mesenchymal cells in humans is described. The following online scientific databases were used: PubMed y SciELO, between the years 2016- 202. Results: The therapeutic potential of MSCs has been widely studied finding compromising benefits to treat autoimmune diseases; their use is safe in this type of diseases, and they have a minimal risk of rejection; few studies mention the appearance of mild adverse effects, this being an important advance in the practical clinical field of Medicine of the XXI century. Conclusion: MSCs as a possible therapeutic method are of wide importance in the medical field, since they have multiple mechanisms of cell regeneration in various types of tissues; it is also stated that their use is safe in the vast majority of patients, and they carry a minimal risk of rejection."

Microbiome of psyllids of the family Aphalaridae, including Aphalara itadori, a biocontrol agent against Reynoutria spp.

AbstractSeveral European and North American countries have started releasing the Japanese knotweed psyllid, Aphalara itadori (Shinji) (Hemiptera: Aphalaridae), to control the Japanese knotweed, Reynoutria japonica Houtt. (Polygonaceae), and its relatives, which are among the worst invasive exotic plants. However, establishing populations of the currently released strains in the field has not been successful, desiring newly collected lineages. Moreover, little is known about the microbiome of the current strains, which potentially impacts properties as biocontrol agents. Hence, this study analyzed the microbiota of an A. itadori strain newly collected on Honshu Island, Japan, along with related species of the family Aphalaridae, using amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA genes. The localization of symbionts identified in A. itadori was further analyzed using fluorescence in situ hybridization. The results demonstrated that the A. itadori bacteriome, a specialized organ for microbial symbiosis, maintains a dual symbiotic system with the primary symbiont “Candidatus Carsonella ruddii” (Gammaproteobacteria: Oceanospirillales: Halomonadaceae) and the secondary symbiont Sodalis sp. (Gammaproteobacteria: Enterobacterales: Pectobacteriaceae), suggesting that they are evolutionarily stable obligate mutualists for A. itadori. The central area of the bacteriome containing Sodalis comprised uninucleate bacteriocytes with nuclei larger than those of bacteriocytes harboring Carsonella. This observation contrasted previous reports on various psyllid lineages in which secondary symbionts are housed in a central syncytium with nuclei smaller than those of bacteriocytes for Carsonella. No known plant pathogens or parasitic manipulators of insect reproduction were identified in the analyzed A. itadori strain, indicating its suitability as a biocontrol agent, posing a minimum risk to the ecosystem. Besides distinct Carsonella lineages, Sodalis independently acquired by Craspedolepta miyatakeai Klimaszewski and an ambiguous Enterobacterales symbiont in Epheloscyta kalopanacis Loginova were identified. Only Carsonella was found in Togepsylla matsumurana Kuwayama. These results indicate repeated infections and replacements of bacterial symbionts during the evolution of Psylloidea, providing deeper insights into the microbe‐psyllid interactions.

Robust weighted fuzzy margin-based feature selection with three-way decision

Feature selection has shown noticeable benefits to the tasks of machine learning and data mining, and an extensive variety of feature selection methods has been proposed to remove redundant and irrelevant features. However, most of the existing methods aim to find a feature subset to perfectly fit data with the minimum empirical risk, thus causing the problems of overfitting and noise sensitivity. In this study, a robust weighted fuzzy margin-based feature selection is proposed for uncertain data with noise. Concretely, a robust weighted fuzzy margin based on fuzzy rough sets is first introduced to evaluate the significance of different features. Then, a gradient ascent algorithm based on the noise filtering strategy and three-way decision is developed to optimize the sample and feature weights to further enlarge the fuzzy margin. Finally, an adaptive feature selection algorithm based on the robust weighted fuzzy margin is presented to generate an optimal feature subset with a large margin. Extensive experiments on the UCI benchmark datasets show that the proposed method could obtain high-quality feature subsets and outperform other representative methods under different noise rates.

Enhancing Hydraulic Lime Mortar with Metakaolin: A Study on Improving Restoration Materials for Historic Buildings.

This study investigates the enhancement of hydraulic lime mortar (HLM) using varying contents of metakaolin (MK) to improve its application in the restoration of historic buildings. Samples from historic structures were analyzed, and the effects of different MK contents on the physical and mechanical properties of HLM were examined. The reaction mechanism and microstructural changes were evaluated using XRD and SEM analysis. The results indicated that increasing MK levels in HLM led to a decrease in fluidity, with fluidity reducing by 4.8% at 12% MK. The addition of MK increased water consumption for standard consistency by 5.4% and shortened the final setting time by 10.2%. MK consumption promoted secondary hydration, enhancing compressive strength by up to 98.1% and flexural strength by up to 55.1%, and increasing bonding strength by 26.9%. The density of HLM improved with MK addition, slightly reducing moisture content by 4.5% and water absorption by 4.6%, while the water vapor transmission properties decreased by 50.9%, indicating reduced porosity. The elastic modulus of the mortar increased significantly from 2.19 GPa to 7.88 GPa with the addition of MK, enhancing rigidity and crack resistance. The optimal blend for restoration materials was found to be 9.0% MK and 25.0% heavy calcium carbonate and was characterized by moderate mechanical strength, enhanced early strength, commendable permeability, minimal risk of cracking, and ease of application. This blend is highly suitable for the rehabilitation of historic structures.

Hybrid Virtual Screening Approach to Predict Novel Natural Compounds against HIV-1 CCR5.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection continues to pose a major global health challenge. HIV entry into host cells via membrane fusion mediated by the viral envelope glycoprotein gp120/gp41 is a key step in the HIV life cycle. CCR5, expressed on CD4+ T cells and macrophages, acts as a coreceptor facilitating HIV-1 entry. The CCR5 antagonist maraviroc is used to treat HIV infection. However, it can cause adverse effects and has limitations such as only inhibiting CCR5-tropic viruses. There remains a need to develop alternative CCR5 inhibitors with improved safety profiles. Natural products may offer advantages over synthetic inhibitors including higher bioavailability, binding affinity, effectiveness, lower toxicity, and molecular diversity. However, screening the vast chemical space of natural compounds to identify novel CCR5 inhibitors presents challenges. This study aimed to address this gap through a hybrid ligand-based pharmacophore modeling and molecular docking approach to virtually screen large natural product databases. A reliable pharmacophore model was developed based on 311 known CCR5 antagonists and validated against an external data set. Five natural product databases containing over 306,000 compounds were filtered based on drug-likeness rules. The validated pharmacophore model screened the databases to identify 611 hits. Key residues of the CCR5 receptor crystal structure were identified for docking. The top hits were docked, and interactions were analyzed. Molecular dynamics simulations were conducted to examine complex stability. Computational prediction evaluated pharmacokinetic properties. Three compounds exhibited similar interactions and binding energies to maraviroc. MD simulations demonstrated complex stability comparable to maraviroc. One compound showed optimal predicted absorption, minimal metabolism, and a lower likelihood of interactions than maraviroc. This computational screening workflow identified three natural compounds with promising CCR5 inhibition and favorable pharmacokinetic profiles. One compound emerged as a lead based on bioavailability potential and minimal interaction risk. These findings present opportunities for developing alternative CCR5 antagonists and warrant further experimental investigation. Overall, the hybrid virtual screening approach proved effective for mining large natural product spaces to discover novel molecular entities with drug-like properties.