Contribution of Coal Tar Sources to Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds and Associated Ecological Risk in Lake Ontario Sediments: Inference from a Novel Marker.

Coal tar-related products as a source of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) are particularly concerning due to high PAC concentrations and inadequate source management. Benzo[b]carbazole, a benzocarbazole isomer exclusively found in coal tar-derived products, acts as an ideal marker to distinguish coal tar sources from others, enabling more robust quantification of coal tar contributions to PACs. To evaluate the historical and recent contributions of coal tar-related sources to the levels of PACs in Lake Ontario and associated ecological risk, we analyzed 31 PACs and 3 BCBz isomers in surface sediments and a sediment core.

Sex differences in the metabolism of glucose and fatty acids by adipose tissue and skeletal muscle in humans.

Adult males and females have markedly different body composition, energy expenditure, and have different degrees of risk for metabolic diseases. A major aspect of metabolic regulation involves the appropriate storage and disposal of glucose and fatty acids. The use of sophisticated calorimetry, tracer, and imaging techniques have provided insight into the complex metabolism of these substrates showing that the regulation of these processes varies tremendously throughout the day, from the overnight fasting condition to meal ingestion, to the effects of physical activity.

Water Quality and Land Use Shape Bacterial Communities Across 621 Canadian Lakes.

Human activities such as agriculture and urban development are linked to water quality degradation. Canada represents a large and heterogeneous landscape of freshwater lakes, where variations in climate, geography and geology interact with land cover alteration to influence water quality differently across regions. In this study, we investigated the influence of water quality and land use on bacterial communities across 12 ecozones.

Development of a Prandtl-Ishlinskii hysteresis model for a large capacity magnetorheological fluid damper.

Magnetorheological (MR) fluid (MRF) dampers, serving as fail-safe semi-active devices, exhibit nonlinear hysteresis characteristics, emphasizing the necessity for accurate modeling to formulate effective control strategies in smart systems. This paper introduces a novel stop operator-based Prandtl-Ishlinskii (PI) model, featuring a reduced parameter set (seven), designed to estimate the nonlinear hysteresis properties of a large-scale bypass MRF damper with variable stiffness capabilities under varying applied current. With only seven parameters, the model realizes current, displacement, and rate dependencies.

Landscapes-a lens for assessing sustainability.

Context: There are urgent calls to transition society to more sustainable trajectories, at scales ranging from local to global. Landscape sustainability (LS), or the capacity for landscapes to provide equitable access to ecosystem services essential for human wellbeing for both current and future generations, provides an operational approach to monitor these transitions. However, the complexity of landscapes complicates how and what to consider when assessing LS.

Recyclability and recovery of carbon from waste printed circuit boards within a circular economy perspective: A review.

Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) are a significant component of electronic waste (e-waste) and are among the fastest-generating waste flows. The potentially negative impacts caused by e-waste on the environment and human health pose an increasingly apparent threat to people's everyday lives and well-being. The nonmetallic fraction (predominantly carbon) of WPCBs is characterized by heavy weight, low resource value, and complex composition, and these characteristics significantly restrict the recycling of the WPCBs to achieve a circular economy.

Ingestion of polyethylene microplastics impacts cichlid behaviour despite having low retention time.

Microplastics, particles between 0.001 and 5 mm in diameter, are ubiquitous in the environment and their consumption by aquatic organisms is known to lead to a variety of adverse effects. However, studies on the effects of microplastics on prey fish have not shown consistent trends, with results varying across species and plastic type used.

In Shift and In Variance: Assessing the Robustness of HAR Deep Learning Models Against Variability.

Deep learning (DL)-based Human Activity Recognition (HAR) using wearable inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors can revolutionize continuous health monitoring and early disease prediction. However, most DL HAR models are untested in their robustness to real-world variability, as they are trained on limited lab-controlled data. In this study, we isolated and analyzed the effects of the subject, device, position, and orientation variabilities on DL HAR models using the HARVAR and REALDISP datasets.

Effect of konjac glucomannan aerogel-immobilized Chlorella vulgaris LH-1 on oil-contaminated seawater remediation and endogenous bacterial community diversity.

Ocean oil spills can severely impact ecosystems and disrupt marine biodiversity and habitats. Microbial remediation is an effective method for removing thin oil slick contamination. In this study, the adsorption and degradation of low-concentration oil spills by Chlorella vulgaris LH-1 immobilized in konjac glucomannan (KGM) aerogel were investigated.

Face Boundary Formulation for Harmonic Models: Face Image Resembling.

This paper is devoted to numerical algorithms based on harmonic transformations with two goals: (1) face boundary formulation by blending techniques based on the known characteristic nodes and (2) some challenging examples of face resembling. The formulation of the face boundary is imperative for face recognition, transformation, and combination. Mapping between the source and target face boundaries with constituent pixels is explored by two approaches: cubic spline interpolation and ordinary differential equation (ODE) using Hermite interpolation.

Flow rate modulates focused ultrasound-mediated vascular delivery of microRNA.

Gene therapy targeting ischemic heart disease is a promising therapeutic avenue, but it is mostly restricted to viral-based delivery approaches which are limited due to off-target immunological responses. Focused ultrasound presents a non-viral, image-guided technique in which circulating intravascular microbubble contrast agents can reversibly enhance vascular permeability and gene penetration. Here, we explore the influence of flow rate on the microbubble-assisted delivery of miR-126, a potent pro-angiogenic biologic, using a custom acoustically coupled pressurized mesenteric artery model.

Photoluminescent Properties of Tb-UiO-66 Metal-Organic Framework Analogues.

Three new analogues of Tb-UiO-66 with various functional groups (-F, -Br, -NH) on the terephthalic acid linker of the metal-organic framework (MOF) are synthesized and characterized. The photoluminescent properties of these analogues, as well as Tb-UiO-66 and Tb-UiO-66-(OH), are studied and correlated to the calculated energies for the triplet (T) states of each linker. The results show that the addition of electron withdrawing groups, such as -F and -Br, lead to higher T energies, resulting in quantum yields in the range of 6-31%.

Reappraising beliefs about losing control: An experimental investigation.

Background And Objectives: Beliefs about losing control over one's thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and/or bodily functions have been shown to cause obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The cognitive model of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) suggests that catastrophic misappraisals of intrusions will lessen if underlying maladaptive beliefs are effectively reduced. The primary aim of this study was to experimentally investigate whether preexisting negative appraisals about losing control could be reduced by reappraising a previous perceived loss of control.

De novo evolution of antibiotic resistance to Oct-TriA.

The rise of antimicrobial resistance as a global health concern has led to a strong interest in compounds able to inhibit the growth of bacteria without detectable levels of resistance evolution. A number of these compounds have been reported in recent years, including the tridecaptins, a small family of lipopeptides typified by the synthetic analogue octyl-tridecaptin A. Hypothesizing that prior reports of negligible resistance evolution have been due in part to limitations in the laboratory evolution systems used, we have attempted to select for resistant mutants using a soft agar gradient evolution (SAGE) system developed by our lab.

Comprehensive DFT investigation of small-molecule adsorption on the paradigm M-MOF-74 family of metal-organic frameworks.

The capture of toxic chemicals such as NH, HS, NO and SO is essential due to the tremendous threats they pose to human health and the environment. The M-MOF-74 family of metal-organic frameworks has recently gained attention as a promising category of sorbent materials for the capture of toxic chemicals; however, no clear and comprehensive relationships have been established between the capability of the M-MOF-74 to capture all target toxic chemicals and their properties such as the nature and magnetic state of the metal sites. Density-functional theory (DFT) is employed to investigate the binding energy of target molecules on M-MOF-74 with different metals including Mg, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn.

Exposure to hate in online and traditional media: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of this exposure on individuals and communities.

The Problem: People use social media platforms to chat, search, and share information, express their opinions, and connect with others. But these platforms also facilitate the posting of divisive, harmful, and hateful messages, targeting groups and individuals, based on their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or political views. Hate content is not only a problem on the Internet, but also on traditional media, especially in places where the Internet is not widely available or in rural areas.

Association of Step Count with Cardiorespiratory Fitness: Results from the Virtual 2-Minute Step Test.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that step count based on a virtual 2-minute step test (2MST) predicts cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF).

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Veteran Affairs Medical Centers participating in a randomized trial of functional exercise training delivered by videoconferencing.

iSurgARy: A mobile augmented reality solution for ventriculostomy in resource-limited settings.

Global disparities in neurosurgical care necessitate innovations addressing affordability and accuracy, particularly for critical procedures like ventriculostomy. This intervention, vital for managing life-threatening intracranial pressure increases, is associated with catheter misplacement rates exceeding 30% when using a freehand technique. Such misplacements hold severe consequences including haemorrhage, infection, prolonged hospital stays, and even morbidity and mortality.

Implementation of a national programme to train and support healthcare professionals in brief behavioural interventions: A qualitative study using the theoretical domains framework.

Objectives: Behaviour change interventions offered opportunistically by healthcare professionals can support patient health behaviour change. The Making Every Contact Count (MECC) programme in Ireland is a national programme to support healthcare professionals to use brief behavioural interventions. The aim of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the enablers of, and barriers to, embedding MECC across the healthcare system.

Barriers to and enablers of modifying diet after metabolic bariatric surgery: A systematic review of published literature.

This is a qualitative systematic review in which we investigated barriers and enablers influencing dietary behavior change after metabolic bariatric surgery (MBS). Database searches retrieved publications reporting perceived factors influencing dietary behavior change post-MBS. Data (quotes, survey results, interpretative summaries) were extracted and analyzed using combined deductive and inductive thematic analyses.

Radiation tolerance and biodegradation performance of a marine bacterium Acinetobacter sp. Y9 in radioactive composite oil-contaminated wastewater.

The tolerance and degradation characteristics of a marine oil-degrading strain Acinetobacter sp. Y9 were investigated in the presence of diesel oil and simulated radioactive nuclides (Mn, Co, Ni, Sr, Cs) at varying concentrations, as well as exposure to γ-ray radiation (Co-60). The maximum tolerable concentrations for Coand Ni were found to be 5 mg/l and 25 mg/l, respectively, while the tolerable concentrations for Mn, Sr, and Cs exceeded 400 mg/l, 1000 mg/l, and 1000 mg/l, respectively.