Morphological Analysis Research Articles

Adzuki bean [Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H. Ohashi] is a high-value legume crop widely cultivated globally, primarily in Asia, for its nutritional benefits and economic importance. In 2023, an epidemic outbreak of stem rot disease was observed in commercial adzuki bean fields in Shangzhi City, Heilongjiang Province, China. Through tissue isolation and fulfillment of Koch's postulates, nine pathogenic fungal isolates were obtained from diseased stems. Morphological, molecular, and phylogenetic analyses identifiedFusarium graminearumSchwabe andF. oxysporum f. sp.glycinesas the causal agents,representing the first report of these fungi causing stem rot on adzuki bean in China. Pathogenicity testingof nine plant species (seven legumes and two cereals: corn and wheat)revealed thatall tested crops commonly cultivated in Northeast China were susceptible to infection byF. graminearumandF. oxysporum.In vitro screening identified high sensitivity ofF. graminearumto tebuconazole, with 80.0% mycelial growth inhibition at 4.3 × 10⁻⁴ g·mL⁻¹, and high sensitivity ofF. oxysporumto ethylicin, with 82.7% inhibition at 8.0 × 10⁻⁴ g·mL⁻¹. This study provides a comprehensive characterization of the pathogens, defines their host range, and identifies tebuconazole and ethylicin as effective candidates for field control, offering management strategies to protect adzuki bean production in Heilongjiang Province.

ABSTRACT Accurate 3D building reconstruction is crucial for advancing urban digital twinning, city planning, and sustainable development. As a key architectural component, rooftops facilitate urban energy management and inform urban morphological analysis. Consequently, achieving precise and scalable rooftop reconstruction has emerged as a key research focus in recent years. Point clouds, with their ability to preserve detailed geometric structures, are well suited for this task. However, existing methods predominantly target synthetic rooftop datasets, which lack architectural diversity and often require high-quality point clouds as input. These limitations hinder their applicability to large-scale, real-world urban environments characterized by varied rooftop designs and noisy or sparse data. To address these challenges, we propose a novel end-to-end framework for rooftop wireframe reconstruction from airborne laser scanning (ALS) point clouds. Our approach introduces a multi-scale local feature descriptor optimized for rooftops to enhance per-point geometric feature extraction. Then, a hypergraph-based attention fusion module integrates these features. After comprehensive feature learning by a robust backbone, initial corner detection is followed by a Transformer- and EdgeConv-enhanced edge classification mechanism that models topological relationships through long-range dependencies. Experiments on the large-scale real-world Building3D dataset demonstrate significant improvements over the baseline, with corner accuracy improved by 35% on the Entry-level subset and 41% on the Tallinn subset. Qualitative comparisons further reveal superior wireframe fidelity, underscoring the method’s potential to support digital twinning, urban management, and economic development in smart city initiatives.

Surface functionalization strategies to replicate extracellular matrix (ECM) properties often rely on chemical modification. However, issues such as cytotoxicity, poor degradation control, and sensitivity to physiological conditions limit their applicability in long-term and translational contexts. To address this, we report a material-independent, chemically inert approach that uses biomimetic surface topographies to direct cell behavior using physical cues alone. While natural surfaces offer a wealth of hierarchical micro/nano architectures, the functional distinctions among topographies derived from different phenotypes of the same biological origin remain underexplored. Here, we present a systematic comparison of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) replicas inspired by lotus leaves, red rose petals, and yellow rose petals to examine their influence on fibroblast behavior. Using soft lithography and UV-assisted replication, we fabricate high-fidelity surfaces and characterize them via atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Cellular responses were assessed through proliferation assays, morphological analysis, fluorescence imaging, and mechanosensing behavior. Our results reveal that each surface elicits distinct cell-substrate interaction profiles, with the yellow rose petal-inspired topography showing superior support for adhesion, spreading, and proliferation. This behavior is attributed to its unique topographical density and orientation. The study offers a novel framework for harnessing natural geometries in the design of reproducible and cytocompatible platforms for regenerative and in vitro biomedical applications.

ABSTRACT This study investigates morphological and ecological variation among skink populations across diverse habitat types within the landscape of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Nigeria. Morphological differences, particularly in body size and limb length, were observed among skinks from the Directorate of University Farms (DUFARM), works and services, and plantation areas, potentially reflecting species composition, age structure, or sex-based traits rather than direct environmental influences. Interspecific comparisons among Trachylepis affinis, T. quinquetaeniata, and Lepidothyris fernandi revealed significant trait differences, suggesting niche partitioning and adaptive divergence. Although species distribution was not statistically linked to habitat type, patterns of abundance indicated habitat preferences, with T. quinquetaeniata exhibiting generalist tendencies and L. fernandi showing specialization for undisturbed forested areas. Temporal activity patterns and dietary analyses further highlighted species-specific ecological strategies, with ants being the most common prey across habitats. Strong correlations among morphological traits suggest coordinated growth supporting locomotor efficiency. These findings show the role of habitat heterogeneity and anthropogenic disturbance in shaping skink morphology, behaviour, and distribution, and point to the need for further research incorporating demographic and environmental data to clarify underlying drivers.

A next-generation solar cell technology is developed by harnessing the broadband optical properties of novel hybrid plasmonic nanoparticles. Plasmon-sensitized photovoltaic (PV) cells are fabricated by integrating a hybrid heterostructure consisting of silver nanocubes surrounded by gold nanorods, which act as broadband sensitizing agents. These nanostructures are precisely deposited onto a TiO2-coated Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) counter electrode, enabling efficient light harvesting and enhanced PV performance. The fabricated photoactive layer is characterized using optical, morphological, and spectroscopic analyses and through the evaluation of photothermal and photoelectric effects. The photoelectric and photothermal responses of the PV cells are assessed under white and solar light irradiation. This design supports light absorption across the visible and near-infrared ranges, enabling efficient photoelectric conversion under broadband light sources such as white and solar light. Furthermore, it improves the device's long-term stability and efficiency compared to conventional dye-sensitized solar cells. As a proof of concept, the excellent response to direct solar energy is exploited to power the liquid crystal display directly.

Pepper southern blight, caused by Agroathelia rolfsii (Sacc.) Redhead & Mullineux (syn. Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc.), is a serious soil-borne fungal disease. The overuse of chemical pesticides to control this disease has led to pathogen resistance and environmental pollution, making biological control methods a more sustainable alternative. In this study, a strain SEC-482 with significant antagonistic effect against A. rolfsii was isolated from the rhizosphere soil of peppers. It was identified as Bacillus velezensis through morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular analyses. The strain showed a high inhibition rate of 76.44% ± 0.37% against A. rolfsii in vitro and a control effect of 72.73% on pepper southern blight in pot experiments. Furthermore, it was observed to have a favourable impact on the growth of pepper plants. The genome sequencing and analysis revealed many genes related to antibiosis and growth promotion, as well as 14 secondary metabolite synthesis gene clusters. The strain's volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as 2,6-diethylpyrazine, isobutyric acid and 3,4-diaminophenol, 3,5-dimethyl-1-prop-2-ynyl-pyrazole, were identified as the main antimicrobial substances. This study demonstrates that B. velezensis SEC-482 has potential for the biological control of pepper southern blight, laying a foundation for subsequent field trials to confirm its practical application value. The identification of VOCs and the exploration of the strain's fermentation conditions provide valuable insights into its potential applications in sustainable agricultural practices.

Citrus rust mite (Phyllocoptruta oleivora Ashmead) (Acari: Eriophyidae) (CRM) is a significant biotic stressor affecting citrus fruit quality by damaging the peel and inducing physiological and chemical alterations. This study explores the dual impact of mite infestation on the pomological traits and peel phytochemistry of Citrus sinensis (orange), with a focus on polymethoxyflavones (PMFs), a class of secondary metabolites associated with plant defense. Oranges with varying levels of visible CRM injury (INJ1 to INJ3) were compared to uninjured controls. Morphological analysis revealed significant reductions in fruit weight, size, peel thickness, and juice content with increasing injury severity, while total soluble solids (TSS) increased moderately. Phytochemical profiling of peel extracts obtained by subcritical water extraction and supercritical CO₂ extraction indicated a notable rise in PMFs content-from 3.8% in control samples to 9.5% in the most severely injured group. These biochemical and morphological changes together represent distinct stress fingerprints associated with CRM. Our results demonstrate that CRM infestation elicits a multifaceted plant response, simultaneously impairing physical fruit traits and activating secondary metabolism. The accumulation of PMFs in damaged peel suggests an induced defense mechanism that may serve as a biochemical marker of herbivore stress. These findings underscore the importance of integrating chemical ecology perspectives into citrus pest management and provide new insights into host-arthropod interactions in perennial crop systems.

Recurrence related to poor prognosis is a leading cause of mortality in patients with breast cancer (BC). The MammaPrint (MP) genomic assay is designed to stratify recurrence risk and evaluate chemotherapy benefits for early-stage HR+/HER2- BC patients. However, MP fails to reveal spatial tumor morphology and is limited by high costs. In this study, a BC MP cohort is established and CPMP is developed, a weakly supervised agent-attention transformer model, to predict MP recurrence risk from annotation-free BC histopathological slides. CPMP achieves an AUROC of 0.824±0.03 in predicting MP risk groups. CPMP is further leveraged for spatial and morphological analyses to explore histological patterns associated with MP risk groups. The model reveals tumor spatial localization at the whole-slide level and highlights distinct intercellular interaction patterns of MP groups. It also characterizes the diversity in tumor morphology and uncovers MP high-specific, low-specific, and colocalized morphological phenotypes that differ in quantitative cellular composition. Prognostic evaluation in the external cohort exhibits significant stratification of distant metastasis risk (HR: 3.14, p-value=0.0014), underscoring the prognostic power of CPMP. These findings demonstrate the capability of CPMP in MP risk prediction, offering a flexible supplement to genomic risk assessment in early-stage BC.

Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal classification plays an important role in myocardial infarction (MI) detection and screening. Despite that much progress has been made, the interpretation of ECG signals is still extremely time-consuming, and heavily relies expertise of clinical cardiologists. In this paper, an automated classification method is developed based on cardiac time-frequency features and 3D convolutional neural networks for MI detection. First, an ECG feature representation scheme based on time-frequency spectrograms without complicated signal segmentation and morphological analysis, is proposed to elaborate the dynamical characteristics underlying time-varying ECG signals. Second, a new 3D convolutional neural networks (C3D) is adopted for in-depth feature learning underlying the extracted time-frequency features. The proposed 3D deep network can take advantage of the encoded spatial characteristics extracted from convolutional neural network and the full use of cardiac characteristics underlying all twelve leads. For the goal of two-class classification (MI or HC), a classification accuracy of 94.20%, 96.20% and 97.32% are achieved on the public PTB database under two-fold, five-fold and ten-fold cross-validation, respectively.

ABSTRACT Native to South America, moth plant (Araujia hortorum, Apocynaceae) is an invasive vine that threatens natural ecosystems and agriculture in many parts of the world. Biological control studies involving fungal pathogens have primarily focused on the rust Puccinia araujiae, but other aggressive pathogens exist that may show potential as complementary agents. In its native range in Argentina, plants were quite frequently observed with severe leaf and fruit damage caused by a fungal disease. The pathogen associated with this disease was isolated and identified as Septoria araujiae based on morphological analyses. Multilocus analyses allowed the first phylogenetic placement of this species within the genus. Koch’s postulates were fulfilled through inoculation experiments, confirming S. araujiae as the causal agent. The pathogen exhibited a hemibiotrophic life cycle, with an extended asymptomatic phase followed by a necrotrophic stage that led to severe defoliation. Host specificity experiments revealed a narrow host range, with susceptibility largely confined to species within the subtribe Oxypetalinae. These findings contribute new insights into the diversity, ecology, and host interactions of Septoria species and highlight the potential of S. araujiae as a biological control agent for A. hortorum.

Ethanol induces neuroimmune dysregulation and soluble TREM2 generation in a human iPSC neuron, astrocyte, microglia triculture model.

CBCT-Based Multilevel Analysis of Canal Morphology and Predictors of Variation in Mandibular Incisors of Thai Population.

Some intertidal corals, known as microatolls, have a distinct morphology that reflects changes in local relative sea level. While past observations have shown that the top surface of these corals may be killed by subaerial exposure, little is known about the exact oceanographic or environmental conditions that cause a coral to die down to a particular level. Here, we combine field surveys, tide-gauge data and analysis of microatoll morphology to investigate the survival limits of Porites spp. microatolls on Singapore's intertidal reefs. Unponded Porites spp. microatolls on the Pulau Biola reef reach a 'highest level of growth' between mean low water springs and mean low water neaps. Diedowns on the highest microatolls during 2023 and 2024 suggest the survival of these corals depends on the duration of subaerial exposure. By comparing the estimated highest level of survival after a diedown to water levels recorded at local tide gauges, we show that intertidal corals on the Biola reef and nearby Siloso Point reef can survive more than 2 h of continuous subaerial exposure per day. However, Porites spp. corals may not have survived more than 3.5h of daily partial exposure without dying down.

Investigations of material collected by one of us (CS) between May 2017 and November 2023 from 70 localities in Thailand further increases our knowledge of the diversity of the genus Labiobaetis Novikova & Kluge, 1987 in Thailand and Southeast Asia in general. Eleven species have been identified using a combination of morphological and molecular analysis (COI). Nine are new to science, they are described and illustrated based on their larvae, and in one case, complemented by the male imago. Two of the new species belong to the L. batakorum species group, L. mon sp. nov. , L. lahu sp. nov. ; three to the L. numeratus species group, L. tenasserimensis sp. nov. , L. angularis sp. nov. , L. tonsator sp. nov. ; one to the L. operosus species group, L. nisaratae sp. nov. , and three to the L. sumigarensis species group, L. karen sp. nov. , L. septem sp. nov. , L. ranongensis sp. nov. A key to all species of Labiobaetis from continental Southeast Asia is provided. Additionally, the genetic distances (COI; Kimura-2 parameter) including all species treated in this study are discussed. The total number of Labiobaetis species worldwide is augmented to approximately 170.

ABSTRACT With the exponential rise in global energy demand, waste-to-energy conversion has attracted significant scientific interest. In this context, the present study investigates the combustion characteristics, kinetics, and thermodynamics of petroleum pitch, an underutilized refinery byproduct, using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and SEM-EDS. This is the first comprehensive kinetic and thermodynamic study focused solely on petroleum pitch combustion, establishing foundational data essential for its integration into industrial combustion systems. TGA experiments were conducted at 1.5, 1.75, 2.4, and 2.5 °C/min to evaluate combustion kinetics. The mechanistic understanding of petroleum pitch combustion was captured using model-free (Starink, KAS, FWO, Friedman) and model-based (Coats-Redfern, Criado) kinetic methodologies. The Starink, KAS, and FWO methods showed a variation in activation energies (Eaα) of 74.6–173.2,74.1–172.8, and 82.7–175.5 kJ/mol, with an average of 101.4, 94.0, and 94.5 kJ/mol. The Friedman method showed the variation in activation energy (Eaα) of 13.6–196.3 kJ/mol with an average of 94.3 kJ/mol. The petroleum pitch combustion followed an order-based chemical reaction model, f(α) = 3/2(1-α)1/3, as obtained from model-based Coats-Redfern (C-R), Ciado’s methods, and comparison of activation energy with model-free methods. Thermodynamic parameters (ΔHα, ΔGα, ΔSα) indicated a non-spontaneous but energetically feasible reaction, with well-ordered product formation. Surface morphology and elemental analysis of residues further confirmed intermediate processes such as dehydrogenation, cross-linking, and coke formation. The findings support the feasibility of petroleum pitch as a viable alternative fuel, contributing to energy recovery and sustainable waste management in petroleum refining.

Morphological and Elemental Characterization of Fine and Ultrafine Particulate Matter Generated from Fires.

Sea cucumbers are marine deuterostomes possessing a complex innate immune system composed of a wide diversity of immune cells—coelomocytes—making them compelling models for exploring the evolution of immunity. This study investigates the functional specialisation of coelomocytes within the two main echinoderm body fluids, namely, the perivisceral fluid (PF) from the perivisceral cavity and the hydrovascular fluid (HF) from the hydrovascular–ambulacral system. Given their distribution restricted to the HF, haemocyte-like cells (HELs) are particularly investigated. In echinoderms, haemocytes have been described as reddish cells containing haemoglobin and thus presenting a function in oxygen transport. Using an integrative approach that combines cell morphological analyses, pigment profiling, and multi-omics technologies, we demonstrate in the sea cucumber Holothuria forskali that HELs harbour exceptionally high concentrations of carotenoids, primarily canthaxanthin and astaxanthin, potent antioxidant molecules responsible for their pigmentation. Transcriptomics and proteomics analyses reveal that HELs express candidate genes involved in the carotenoid metabolism pathway as well as catalase, an antioxidant enzyme. Additionally, spectral flow cytometry assays reveal that HELs do not produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) in contrast to most coelomocyte types, reinforcing the hypothesis of their antioxidant function. HELs also contribute to the formation of large red bodies (i.e., coelomocyte aggregates) and increase in concentration following lipopolysaccharide injections, indicating an active role in immunity. Given these results, we hypothesise that these cells act after the culmination of the immune response, forming an antioxidant shell around the cellular aggregates to mitigate oxidative stress from ROS produced while encapsulating pathogens, thus protecting the host tissues. The discovery of carotenoid-carrying coelomocytes constitutes the first report of pigmented coelomocytes in sea cucumbers (except respiratory pigments), challenging the long-standing assumption that these cells contain haemoglobin. Therefore, we propose renaming haemocytes into carotenocytes, at least in this species. However, we believe that this newly described coelomocyte type has been misidentified as haemoglobin-containing cells in many previous studies and may be present in many other holothuroid species. Our findings thus establish a new paradigm in the study of coelomocytes in echinoderms, as well as in the function of the hydrovascular system, which is unique to this phylum.

Airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure has been epidemiologically linked to increased risk of cardiovascular complications, thrombosis, and hypoxia-related disorders. Quinones, prevalent constituents of PM2.5, are suspected mediators of these health effects. Yet, the molecular mechanisms underpinning these associations remain poorly understood. Red blood cells (RBCs) have a central role in oxygen transport and vascular physiology. Thus, we investigated the effects of four environmentally relevant quinones (70 μg/mL), such as methyl-p-benzoquinone (MBQ), 1,4-naphthoquinone (NQ), 9,10-phenanthrenequinone (9,10-PQ), and 9,10-anthraquinone (9,10-AQ), on human RBCs. MBQ, NQ, and PQ significantly depleted intracellular glutathione, subsequently elevated reactive oxygen species, and triggered lipid peroxidation. Morphological analysis revealed membrane blebbing and surface protrusions of RBCs, indicative of impaired deformability and altered rheology. MBQ and NQ exposure further disrupted membrane proteins, impairing membrane fluidity and compromising membrane integrity. Tandem mass spectrometry confirmed covalent binding of MBQ and NQ to the βCys93 residue of hemoglobin via Michael addition. Native mass spectrometry revealed reduced stability of the α2β2 tetramer of hemoglobin. These findings were further corroborated by altered hemoglobin structure, methemoglobin formation, and hemoglobin aggregation. Mechanistically, MBQ and NQ induce RBC damage via both one-electron redox reaction and Michael addition to thiol groups, while PQ acts primarily through redox cycling without direct thiol binding. In contrast, AQ exhibited negligible effects, likely due to its low electrophilicity and steric hindrance. Our findings reveal distinct mechanistic pathways by which environmental quinones compromise RBC structure and function. This study offers a novel molecular link between airborne quinone exposure and pollution-driven health pathologies.

Minimizing unintended granulocyte activation while measuring functional responsiveness is essential, as the use of external probes, antibodies, or fluorescent dyes can potentially alter cellular responsiveness. To address this, we employed an antibody-free flow cytometry approach that measures forward scatter (FSC) to detect variations in cell-size, morphology, and shape; some key indicators of neutrophil and eosinophil activation. Human peripheral blood neutrophils, containing contaminating eosinophils, were isolated using discontinuous Percoll gradients and pre-treated with receptor antagonists [e.g., cyclosporin-H (an FPR1 antagonist) and CP105696 (a BLT1 receptor antagonist)] prior to stimulation with agonists such as fMLF (an FPR1 agonist) and LTB4 (a BLT1 agonist). Furthermore, fMLF stimulation resulted in a loss of CD62L and an increase in CD11b expression along with an increase in intracellular ROS production compared to control, as analysed using flow cytometry. Imaging flow cytometry, together with FSC analysis, enabled assessment of cell polarization and associated morphological changes. Importantly, autofluorescence-based gating allowed for the identification of contaminating eosinophils within the mixed granulocyte population, allowing parallel assessment of shape-change in both neutrophils and eosinophils in response to the same ligands. Stimulation of neutrophils with fMLF resulted in distinct FSC shifts compared to unstimulated controls across all flow cytometers tested, which were inhibited by cyclosporin-H, but not CP105696. Morphological analysis confirmed these changes corresponded with increased cell area and perimeter and decreased circularity, hallmarks of cell polarisation. Additionally, selective activation of eosinophils (but not neutrophils) by eotaxin, and dual activation of both cell types by the arachidonic acid metabolite 5-oxo-ETE, were confirmed through specific gating strategies. Taken together, these findings support the use of FSC-based flow cytometry as a rapid, scalable and effective method for evaluating granulocyte polarisation and screening candidate therapeutics targeting immune cell activation in disease contexts.

A new Alexandrium ostenfeldii strain from Peru: First report of 13-desmethyl spirolide C, and a unique paralytic shellfish toxin profile.