Variation In Size Research Articles

Effect of community based health insurance on healthcare services utilization in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundCommunity based health insurance (CBHI) is characterized by voluntary involvement, pooling of health risks and of funds occur within a community. It is becoming increasingly popular way to increase the use of healthcare services in low- and middle-income nations. Understanding the effect of CBHI on the level of health services utilization is a paramount for evidence based decision making. Hence, this study aimed to estimate the pooled effect of CBHI on health services utilization in Ethiopia.MethodsStudies were searched from PubMed, Google scholar, Web of Science, Research4life, Science Direct, African Journal Online and national websites for grey literatures. We were adhered to the PRISMA guidelines. Cross sectional and quasi experimental studies were included. Studies were screened, and critically appraised for quality using Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal tools. The data were extracted using Microsoft excel and exported to STATA 17 and RevMan 5.4.1 for further analysis. Heterogeneity between studies was assessed using Cochran’s Q statistic and quantified with I2. A random-effects model was used to estimate the pooled effect size. Subgroup analysis was done to show variations of the effect sizes across study years.ResultA total of 1501 studies were identified, out of which only 14 of them were included in the final meta-analysis. Health services utilization among CBHI members and non-members was 69.1% [95%CI (57.1–81.1%)] versus 50.9% [95%CI (40.6–61.3%)] respectively (difference in the effect was 18.2%). The CBHI members were nearly three folds more likely to utilize health services as compared with their counterparts [OR = 2.54, 95%CI: (1.81, 3.57). On average, CBHI users had 1.14 increased health facility visits as compared to non-insured, mean difference (MD) = 1.14 visits with 95% CI (0.65–1.63).ConclusionThe CBHI has a significantly increased health service utilization in Ethiopia. Hence, it will have a great contribution to meet the health for all agenda in resource limited countries.

An in-situ three-dimensional study of the dynamic and mechanism during spark plasma sintering of aluminum alloys

An in-situ plasma spark sintering (SPS) apparatus, coupled with laboratory X-ray microscopy, was utilized to three-dimensionally investigate the dynamic evolution process of 7055 aluminum alloy during SPS process. The influences of sintering temperatures and particle morphology on the sintering kinetics were discussed in detail. It was observed that elevating the sintering temperatures enhanced both the rate of densification and the final compactness of the alloy. Furthermore, three-dimensional quantitative analysis of pore evolution indicated that greater discrepancies in powder size between neighboring particles facilitated pore elimination during sintering by increasing available interstitial spaces. Mechanistic analysis rationalized these observations by attributing the enhanced sintering kinetics to the greater particle size disparity, which resulted in higher necking curvature and accelerated densification. The present study therefore provides a comprehensive three-dimensional in-situ quantitative analysis on the dynamic SPS process, and is expected to advance the current comprehension of sintering mechanisms at the micron scale.

Shape-Scale Co-Awareness Network for 3D Brain Tumor Segmentation.

The accurate segmentation of brain tumor is significant in clinical practice. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)-based methods have made great progress in brain tumor segmentation due to powerful local modeling ability. However, brain tumors are frequently pattern-agnostic, i.e. variable in shape, size and location, which can not be effectively matched by traditional CNN-based methods with local and regular receptive fields. To address the above issues, we propose a shape-scale co-awareness network (S2CA-Net) for brain tumor segmentation, which can efficiently learn shape-aware and scale-aware features simultaneously to enhance pattern-agnostic representations. Primarily, three key components are proposed to accomplish the co-awareness of shape and scale. The Local-Global Scale Mixer (LGSM) decouples the extraction of local and global context by adopting the CNN-Former parallel structure, which contributes to obtaining finer hierarchical features. The Multi-level Context Aggregator (MCA) enriches the scale diversity of input patches by modeling global features across multiple receptive fields. The Multi-Scale Attentive Deformable Convolution (MS-ADC) learns the target deformation based on the multiscale inputs, which motivates the network to enforce feature constraints both in terms of scale and shape for optimal feature matching. Overall, LGSM and MCA focus on enhancing the scale-awareness of the network to cope with the size and location variations, while MS-ADC focuses on capturing deformation information for optimal shape matching. Finally, their effective integration prompts the network to perceive variations in shape and scale simultaneously, which can robustly tackle the variations in patterns of brain tumors. The experimental results on BraTS 2019, BraTS 2020, MSD BTS Task and BraTS2023-MEN show that S2CA-Net has superior overall performance in accuracy and efficiency compared to other state-of-the-art methods. Code: https://github.com/jiangyu945/S2CA-Net.

Sedimentary provenance and paleoenvironmental evolution since the Last Glacial Maximum off the Xisha Platform, northern South China Sea

The complexity of retrieving paleoenvironmental variability from hemipelagic sedimentary archives in the marginal seas has been exacerbated by intricate interactions between sedimentary sources and climatic fluctuations, modulated by sea-level shifts and oceanic currents. These challenges are particularly pronounced in the northern South China Sea (SCS). This study introduces new data, incorporating SrNd isotopic, clay minerals, grain-size, and calcareous nannofossil proxies, to assess the sedimentary provenance and paleoenvironmental changes in the northwestern SCS since the Last Glacial Maximum. The sedimentary provenance highlights the primary source from the northern SCS, particularly the Red River drainage system, with potential contributions from the Indochina drainage systems. The combined analysis of multiple proxies suggests that sedimentary processes and biotic activity in the examined core were mainly influenced by sea-level fluctuations, concerning global ice dynamics. Variations of grain sizes and kaolinite / (illite + chlorite) (K/(I + C)) ratio largely correspond to the terrestrial flux variation from northern SCS associated with sea-level changes during glacial-interglacial cycles. Furthermore, the smectite / (illite + chlorite) (S/(I + C)) ratio in this study appears to have been primarily influenced by the activity of the Kuroshio current in the northern SCS. The possible interference of intensified northeastward warm currents during relatively warm intervals caused the depletion of the S/(I +C) ratio and was responsible for the depletion of soluble calcareous nannofossils. Additionally, this study deduces that sedimentary processes and biotic activity in the northern SCS, in response to mainly sea-level changes and surface currents, were largely controlled by global ice dynamics and solar radiation. This study also underscores the need for further interdisciplinary research, combining various proxies, to enhance our understanding of paleoenvironmental assessments in hemipelagic sediments in marginal seas.

SwinPA-Net: Swin Transformer-Based Multiscale Feature Pyramid Aggregation Network for Medical Image Segmentation.

The precise segmentation of medical images is one of the key challenges in pathology research and clinical practice. However, many medical image segmentation tasks have problems such as large differences between different types of lesions and similar shapes as well as colors between lesions and surrounding tissues, which seriously affects the improvement of segmentation accuracy. In this article, a novel method called Swin Pyramid Aggregation network (SwinPA-Net) is proposed by combining two designed modules with Swin Transformer to learn more powerful and robust features. The two modules, named dense multiplicative connection (DMC) module and local pyramid attention (LPA) module, are proposed to aggregate the multiscale context information of medical images. The DMC module cascades the multiscale semantic feature information through dense multiplicative feature fusion, which minimizes the interference of shallow background noise to improve the feature expression and solves the problem of excessive variation in lesion size and type. Moreover, the LPA module guides the network to focus on the region of interest by merging the global attention and the local attention, which helps to solve similar problems. The proposed network is evaluated on two public benchmark datasets for polyp segmentation task and skin lesion segmentation task as well as a clinical private dataset for laparoscopic image segmentation task. Compared with existing state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods, the SwinPA-Net achieves the most advanced performance and can outperform the second-best method on the mean Dice score by 1.68%, 0.8%, and 1.2% on the three tasks, respectively.

Biomimetic Anticoagulated Porous Particles with Self-Reporting Structural Colors.

Anticoagulation is vital to maintain blood fluidic status and physiological functions in the field of clinical blood-related procedures. Here, novel biomimetic anticoagulated porous inverse opal hydrogel particles is presented as anticoagulant bearing dynamic screening capability. The inverse opal hydrogel particles possess abundant sulfonic and carboxyl groups, which serve as binding sites with multiple coagulation factors and inhibit the blood coagulation process. Owing to the variations of refractive index and pore sizes during the binding process, the particles appeared corresponding structure color variations, which can be adopted as sensory index of anticoagulation. Based on these features, a sensor containing these diverse structure color particle units is constructed for pattern recognition of coagulation factors level in clinical plasma samples. By analyzing the sensory information of the unit, the colorimetric "fingerprint" for each target can be obtained and summarized as a database. Besides, a portable test-strip integrating sensory units is developed to distinguish the sample regarding abnormal coagulation factors-derived diseases via multivariate data analysis. It is believed that such biomimetic anticoagulated structural color particles and their derived sensor will open new avenue for clinical detection and disease diagnosis.

Fabrication of Self‐Expanding Metal–Organic Cages Using a Ring‐Openable Ligand

AbstractMetal–organic cages (MOCs), which are formed via coordination‐driven assembly, are being extensively developed for various applications owing to the utility of their accessible molecular‐sized cavity. While MOC structures are uniquely and precisely predetermined by the metal coordination number and ligand configuration, tailoring MOCs to further modulate the size, shape, and chemical environment of the cavities has become intensively studied for a more efficient and adaptive molecular binding. Herein, we report self‐expanding MOCs that exhibit remarkable structural variations in cage size and flexibility while maintaining their topology. A cyclic ligand with an oligomeric chain tethering the two benzene rings of stilbene was designed and mixed with RhII ions to obtain the parent MOCs. These MOCs were successfully transformed into expanded MOCs via the selective cleavage of the double bond in stilbene. The expanded MOCs could effectively trap multidentate N‐donor molecules in their enlarged cavity, in contrast to the original MOCs with a narrow cavity. As the direct synthesis of expanded MOCs is impractical because of the entropically disfavored structures, self‐expansion using ring‐openable ligands is a promising approach that allows precision engineering and the production of functional MOCs that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Fabrication of Self-Expanding Metal-Organic Cages Using a Ring-Openable Ligand.

Metal-organic cages (MOCs), which are formed via coordination-driven assembly, are being extensively developed for various applications owing to the utility of their accessible molecular-sized cavity. While MOC structures are uniquely and precisely predetermined by the metal coordination number and ligand configuration, tailoring MOCs to further modulate the size, shape, and chemical environment of the cavities has become intensively studied for a more efficient and adaptive molecular binding. Herein, we report self-expanding MOCs that exhibit remarkable structural variations in cage size and flexibility while maintaining their topology. A cyclic ligand with an oligomeric chain tethering the two benzene rings of stilbene was designed and mixed with RhII ions to obtain the parent MOCs. These MOCs were successfully transformed into expanded MOCs via the selective cleavage of the double bond in stilbene. The expanded MOCs could effectively trap multidentate N-donor molecules in their enlarged cavity, in contrast to the original MOCs with a narrow cavity. As the direct synthesis of expanded MOCs is impractical because of the entropically disfavored structures, self-expansion using ring-openable ligands is a promising approach that allows precision engineering and the production of functional MOCs that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Regional variation in body size and estimated secular change among adult Indian males born in the 1890s-1950s.

Regional variation in the body size of Indian men 18-84 years of age (birth years 1891-1957) was considered. Heights, weights, and BMIs of Indian males from four regions of the country - North, East-Northeast, Central, and West were compared. Heights of men 35+ years of age were adjusted for estimated height loss with age; the estimate was added to observed height to provide an estimate of maximum height. Linear regressions of measured height and estimated maximum height on year of birth were used to evaluate secular change by region. Differences in measured and estimated maximum heights and weight among regions were significant in all age groups, while differences in the BMI were significant in all age groups except 55+ years. Men from the North region were tallest and those from the East-Northeast region were shortest, while body weight and the BMI varied among regions. Regression analyses of year of birth on measured and estimated maximum heights indicated small differences in estimates of secular change among regions but suggested a decline in estimated maximum heights with age among men in the four regions born in 1891 through the 1930s, and small but variable estimates of secular change in heights among men born in the 1930s through 1957. The variation likely reflected socio-economic disparities and ecological differences among regions, and by inference nutritional status though data are limited.

New aspects of femtosecond laser ablation of Si in water: a material perspective

We report a study of the role of material’s conductivity in determining the morphology of nanoparticles and nanostructures produced by ultrafast laser ablation of solids. Nanoparticles and textured surfaces formed by laser ablation display a wide variation in size and morphology depending on the material. In general, these qualities can be grouped as to material type, insulator, semiconductor, or metal; although each has many other different material properties that make it difficult to identify the critical material factor. In this report, we study these nanoparticle/surface structural characteristics as a function of silicon (Si) resistivity, thus honing-in on this critical parameter and its effects. The results show variations in morphology, optical, and nonlinear properties of Si nanoparticles. The yield of colloidal Si nanoparticles increased with an increase in the conductivity of Si. Laser-induced periodic surface structures formed on ablated substrates are also found to be sensitive to the initial conductivity of the material. Further, the laser ablation of Gamma-irradiated Si has been investigated to verify the influence of altered conductivity on the formation of Si nanoparticles. These observations are interpreted using the basic mechanisms of the laser ablation process in a liquid and its intricate relation with the initial density of states and thermal conductivities of the target material.

Converting Commercial Zn Foils into Single (002)‐Textured Zn with Millimeter‐Sized Grains for Highly Reversible Aqueous Zinc Batteries

AbstractRechargeable aqueous zinc batteries are promising but hindered by unfavorable dendrite growth and side reactions on zinc anodes. In this study, we demonstrate a fast melting‐solidification approach for effectively converting commercial Zn foils into single (002)‐textured Zn featuring millimeter‐sized grains. The melting process eliminates initial texture, residual stress, and grain size variations in diverse commercial Zn foils, guaranteeing the uniformity of commercial Zn foils into single (002)‐textured Zn. The single (002)‐texture ensures large‐scale epitaxial and dense Zn deposition, while the reduction in grain boundaries significantly minimizes intergranular reactions. These features enable large grain single (002)‐textured Zn shows planar and dense Zn deposition under harsh conditions (100 mA cm−2, 100 mAh cm−2), impressive reversibility in Zn||Zn symmetric cell (3280 h under 1 mA cm−2, 830 h under 10 mAh cm−2), and long cycling stability over 180 h with a high depth of discharge value of 75 %. This study successfully addresses the issue of uncontrollable texture formation in Zn foils following routine annealing treatments with temperatures below the Zn melting point. The findings of this study establish a highly efficient strategy for fabricating highly reversible single (002)‐textured Zn anodes.

Converting Commercial Zn Foils into Single (002)-Textured Zn with Millimeter-Sized Grains for Highly Reversible Aqueous Zinc Batteries.

Rechargeable aqueous zinc batteries are promising but hindered by unfavorable dendrite growth and side reactions on zinc anodes. In this study, we demonstrate a fast melting-solidification approach for effectively converting commercial Zn foils into single (002)-textured Zn featuring millimeter-sized grains. The melting process eliminates initial texture, residual stress, and grain size variations in diverse commercial Zn foils, guaranteeing the uniformity of commercial Zn foils into single (002)-textured Zn. The single (002)-texture ensures large-scale epitaxial and dense Zn deposition, while the reduction in grain boundaries significantly minimizes intergranular reactions. These features enable large grain single (002)-textured Zn shows planar and dense Zn deposition under harsh conditions (100 mA cm-2, 100 mAh cm-2), impressive reversibility in Zn||Zn symmetric cell (3280 h under 1 mA cm-2, 830 h under 10 mAh cm-2), and long cycling stability over 180 h with a high depth of discharge value of 75 %. This study successfully addresses the issue of uncontrollable texture formation in Zn foils following routine annealing treatments with temperatures below the Zn melting point. The findings of this study establish a highly efficient strategy for fabricating highly reversible single (002)-textured Zn anodes.

CFD Simulation of an Industrial Dust Cyclone Separator: A Comparison with Empirical Models: The Influence of the Inlet Velocity and the Particle Size on Performance Factors in Situation of High Concentration of Particles

The present work is dedicated to the study of multiphase turbulent and three-dimensional rotational flow in dust cyclones, a contribution to air pollution control. Cyclones are widely used devices for the separation of constituents from solid-gas mixtures in industry. In order to improve the filtration efficiency of cyclones, and to reduce the pressure drop, parametric numerical simulation studies using the Fluent code have been conducted to characterise the effects of the parameters affecting the operation of these devices through their performance indicators. In this work, the effect of inlet velocity and the particle size on the turbulent flow air in the cyclone is presented. Numerical simulation of the flow by Fluent code using three numerical models: the first based on the dissipation of kinetic energy by viscosity (RNG) K-epsilon and standard K-epsilon as well as the last based on the solution of Reynolds stress equations (RSM), combined with the multiphase mixing model, gave interesting results in terms of the pressure and flow field in the separator, the variation of inlet velocity, and the variation of particle size. Validation with experimental and empirical results showed the advantage of the Reynolds stress turbulence model (RSM) over the standard K-epsilon and RNG K-epsilon. The RSM model better captures physical phenomena in an intense vortex flow in the presence of walls. But it is characterised by a very long calculation time and requires large machine resources. An alternative to this model is RNG K-epsilon model, which offers a reasonable calculation time with acceptable results (maximum deviation of 5 %) for speed values below 10 m/s. In the absence of numerical resources, certain empirical models such as those of First (for the evaluation of pressure drop) and Iozia and Leith (for evaluation of efficiency) may well be useful for the dimensioning of the cyclone.

Advancements in Iso-Diameter seeded growth of CdZnTe crystals: A numerical modeling approach and applications in liquid phase Epitaxy

CdZnTe (CZT) is the preferred material for HgCdTe (MCT) infrared detectors and room temperature nuclear-radiation detector applications. However, their widespread application is hindered by the low yield, attributed to intrinsic thermophysical properties like extremely low thermal conductivity and stacking fault energy, complicating the growth of large-volume crystals. Based on steady-state computer numerical modeling simulation, this paper examines the impact of seed size variations (from 15 mm to 90 mm) in the crystal growth process on the initial growth surface morphology, simulations indicate that larger seed crystals are predisposed to developing more convex interfaces, which are conducive to enhanced crystal growth. An optimized Vertical Gradient Freeze (VGF) method employing iso-diameter seed (having the same diameter as the grown crystals) of approximately 90 mm has been developed to grow single crystals with reduced defect density in a VGF furnace, and the applications in liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) are also discussed.

Parental concerns about genital differences in children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia persist regardless of the selected intervention.

Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21HD) can affect the in utero development of the genital anatomy of people with the 46XX karyotype. Health professionals engage parents in decision-making regarding managing genitals with this difference, including genital surgery options and patient communication. We sought to investigate parental communication with their daughters regarding clitoral size variation related to neonatal CAH. Semistructured in-person interviews of 24 parents of chromosomal XX children with clitoral size variation attributable to a neonatal CAH diagnosis comprised 3 management categories: (1) clitoral reduction surgery (RS) (7 parents, 9 children), (2) clitoral concealment surgery (CS) (8 parents, 8 children), and no surgery on or around the clitoris (NS) (9 parents, 7 children). Four representative themes, Obvious Choice, Still Different, Parental Burden, and Ignorance Is Bliss, were common across all 3 treatment groups. For most parents, none of the 3 options of genital appearance alteration via clitoral reduction, clitoral concealment surgery, or avoidance of clitoral surgery ameliorated concerns, with most parents expressing an aversion to educating their child on the topic of genital differences, past treatment, or future function. Reliance on surgical treatment pathways to manage this psychosocial concern is ineffective in alleviating parental uncertainty without the application of psychosocial interventions. This was a qualitative study but was limited to parents of children with a specific genital difference, without direct exploration of parental values regarding the clitoris or the application of adequate psychosocial care. Healthcare services must have an impact on parental ability to engage in essential communication with their children in cases such as clitoral size variation related to neonatal CAH. Improved communication skills allow parents to engage in more genuine decision-making and adapt to enduring genital reality, including possible future sexual challenges for their adult child, without resorting to burdensome strategies focused on attempts to perpetuate a benevolent ignorance.

Automated Food Recognition for Nutritional Analysis in Dietary Evaluation

In today's world, computer vision has made remarkable strides, especially in the realm of recognizing food images. Deep neural networks (DNN) have become a standout choice among various machine learning algorithms for their effectiveness in precisely identifying different food items captured in images. Despite the widespread adoption of DNN-based classification algorithms for food recognition, there are persistent challenges in accurately pinpointing foods due to variations in size, shape, and other defining characteristics. This paper aims to provide a brief overview of how deep learning (DL) is leveraged in food recognition and explores its wide-ranging applications. Additionally, it delves into the utilization of machine learning (ML) to construct a robust model for identifying food in images, using the Fruits and Vegetables Image Recognition Dataset. The results highlight a significant improvement in the accuracy of the proposed model, showcasing an impressive increase of around 95%.

The Iowa Gambling Task: Men and Women Perform Differently. A Meta-analysis.

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) was designed to assess decision-making under conditions of complexity and uncertainty; it is currently one of the most widely used tests to assess decision-making in both experimental and clinical settings. In the original version of the task, participants are given a loan of play money and four decks of cards and are asked to maximize profits. Although any single card unpredictably yields wins/losses, variations in frequency and size of gains/losses ultimately make two decks more advantageous in the long term. Several studies have previously suggested that there may be a sex-related difference in IGT performance. Thus, the present study aimed to explore and quantify sex differences in IGT performance by pooling the results of 110 studies. The meta-analysis revealed that males tend to perform better than females on the classic 100-trial IGT (UMD = 3.381; p < 0.001). Furthermore, the significant heterogeneity observed suggests high variability in the results obtained by individual studies. Results were not affected by publication bias or other moderators. Factors that may contribute to differences in male and female performance are discussed, such as functional sex-related asymmetries in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and amygdala, as well as differences in sensitivity to wins/losses.

Measuring mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata) testes via parallel laser photogrammetry: Expanding the use of noninvasive methods.

Parallel laser photogrammetry (PLP), which consists of attaching two or three parallel laser beams at a known inter-beam distance to a camera, can be used to collect morphological measurements of organisms noninvasively. The lasers project onto the photo being taken, and because the inter-beam distance is known, they act as a scale for image analysis programs like ImageJ. Traditionally, this method has been used to measure larger morphological traits (e.g., limb length, crown-rump length) to serve as proxies for overall body size, whereas applications to smaller anatomical features remain limited. To that end, we used PLP to measure the testes of 18 free-living mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. We tested whether this method could reliably measure this relatively small and globular morphology, and whether it could detect differences among individuals. We tested reliability in three ways: within-photo (coefficient of variation [CV] = 4.7%), between-photo (CV = 5.5%), and interobserver (intraclass correlation = 0.92). We found an average volume of 36.2 cm3 and a range of 16.4-54.4 cm3, indicating variation in testes size between individuals. Furthermore, these sizes are consistent with a previous study that collected measurements by hand, suggesting that PLP is a useful method for making noninvasive measurements of testes.

Environmental drivers of global variation in home range size of terrestrial and marine mammals.

As animal home range size (HRS) provides valuable information for species conservation, it is important to understand the driving factors of HRS variation. It is widely known that differences in species traits (e.g. body mass) are major contributors to variation in mammal HRS. However, most studies examining how environmental variation explains mammal HRS variation have been limited to a few species, or only included a single (mean) HRS estimate for the majority of species, neglecting intraspecific HRS variation. Additionally, most studies examining environmental drivers of HRS variation included only terrestrial species, neglecting marine species. Using a novel dataset of 2800 HRS estimates from 586 terrestrial and 27 marine mammal species, we quantified the relationships between HRS and environmental variables, accounting for species traits. Our results indicate that terrestrial mammal HRS was on average 5.3 times larger in areas with low human disturbance (human footprint index [HFI] = 0), compared to areas with maximum human disturbance (HFI = 50). Similarly, HRS was on average 5.4 times larger in areas with low annual mean productivity (NDVI = 0), compared to areas with high productivity (NDVI = 1). In addition, HRS increased by a factor of 1.9 on average from low to high seasonality in productivity (standard deviation (SD) of monthly NDVI from 0 to 0.36). Of these environmental variables, human disturbance and annual mean productivity explained a larger proportion of HRS variance than seasonality in productivity. Marine mammal HRS decreased, on average, by a factor of 3.7 per 10°C decline in annual mean sea surface temperature (SST), and increased by a factor of 1.5 per 1°C increase in SST seasonality (SD of monthly values). Annual mean SST explained more variance in HRS than SST seasonality. Due to the small sample size, caution should be taken when interpreting the marine mammal results. Our results indicate that environmental variation is relevant for HRS and that future environmental changes might alter the HRS of individuals, with potential consequences for ecosystem functioning and the effectiveness of conservation actions.

Assessing Radiation Effects on Chemo-Treated BT20 and 4T1 Breast Cancer, and Neuroblastoma Cell Lines: A Study of Single and Multiple-Cell Ionization via Infrared Laser Trapping

Background: Our study aimed to assess the radiation sensitivity of BT20, a human breast tumor cell line, using the laser-trapping technique and compare it with N2a and 4T1 cells. Additionally, we investigated the impact of the antitumor compound 2-Dodecyl-6-methoxycyclohexa-2,5-diene-1,4-dione (DMDD) on radiation sensitivity. Methods and Materials: We employed laser trapping to calculate both the threshold ionization energy (TIE) and threshold radiation dose (TRD) for BT20, N2a, and 4T1 cells. We assessed the effect of DMDD on BT20 cells’ radiosensitivity and conducted comparisons across these cell lines. Results: Our findings reveal that DMDD significantly enhances the radiosensitivity of BT20 breast carcinoma cells. Moreover, we observed distinct trends in TIE and TRD across the three cell lines, with differences attributed to variations in cell size and composition. When multiple cell ionizations were considered, a notable reduction in TRD was observed, implicating factors such as the chain effect of ionizing radiation and the influence of DMDD. The study found that TIE increased with the number of cells in the trap while TRD consistently decreased across all three cell lines, suggesting comparable radiation sensitivity, and oligostilbene treatment further reduced TRD, presenting the potential for enhancing therapeutic ratios in cancer treatment. Conclusion: The antitumor compound DMDD enhances the radiosensitivity of BT20 breast carcinoma cells, highlighting its potential in cancer treatment. Furthermore, our study underscores the impact of cell size and multiple-cell ionizations on TRD. Leveraging laser trapping techniques, biocompatible nanoparticles, and advanced optical tweezers opens promising avenues for personalized and effective cancer therapy approaches.