Unveiling the Reaction Mechanism of Diels-Alder Cycloadditions between 2,5-Dimethylfuran and Ethylene Derivatives Using Topological Tools.

The [4+2] Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction between 2,5-DMF (1) and ethylene derivatives (2a-h) activated by electron-withdrawing groups has been studied at the density functional theory levels using a panoply of tools to unravel the reaction mechanisms. From the analysis of the reactivity indices, 2a-h behave as electrophiles while 1 as nucleophile, and the activation of the double bond of ethylene increases its electrophilicity, which is accompanied by an enhancement of the polarity of the reaction. The activation Gibbs free energy decreases linearly as a function of this increase of polarity, as estimated by the electrophilicity difference between the reactants.

An unusual cause of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in an infant: A case report and brief literature review.

Introduction: Nemaline myopathy (NM), also known as Nemalinosis, is a rare congenital muscle disease with an incidence of 1 in 50000. It is characterized by nemaline rods in muscle fibers, leading to muscle weakness. We reported a case of NM revealed by cardiac involvement, and we highlighted the challenges in diagnosing this condition as well as its poor prognosis.

Keratoconus in children in Tunisia: Epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic features.

Aim: To report the clinical and therapeutic particularities of pediatric keratoconus (KC).

Methods: Retrospective study focusing on patients aged less than 18 years, presenting with KC and followed in a tertiary reference center in Sfax, Tunisia.

Results: Our study involved 38 eyes of 20 children.

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Introduction: Work-related open-globe injuries are a major cause of preventable vision loss worldwide with a significant socioeconomic impact.

Aim: To describe the demographics and clinical characteristics, identify the prognostic factors of work-related open-globe injuries and suggest preventive measures to minimize the incidence of these accidents.

Methods: A retrospective study of patients hospitalized in the Ophthalmology Department of Habib Bourguiba University Hospital, Sfax, Tunisia, for occupational open-globe injuries, between January 2020 and December 2022.

Ultrasound-assisted and Efficient Multicomponent Synthesis of 4H-Pyran Derivatives catalyzed by LiOH.H2O in Water.

Aim And Objective: It is well established that 4H-pyran derivatives hold a significant position in synthetic organic chemistry due to their diverse biological and pharmacological properties. This work aims to introduce a novel synthetic pathway for highly functionalized 4H-pyran derivatives, achieved through a 1,4-Michael addition followed by a cascade cyclization. This reaction is catalyzed by LiOH·H2O under ultrasonic irradiation in water, offering an efficient and environmentally friendly approach.

Nexus of crude oil and clean energy stock indices: Evidence from time-vector-auto-regression in conjunction with conditional-autoregressive-value-at-risk.

The current study aims to elicit information regarding the tail risk transmission mechanism between crude oil (CO) and selected clean energy (CE) stock indices across time and during certain economic events. A Time-Varying Parameter Vector Auto-Regressive model (TVP-VAR) paired with the conditional autoregressive value-at-risk (CAViaR) approach was used to investigate data from January 1, 2015 to December 29, 2022. Overall, we show that an increased vulnerability to tail risk and deficits might be linked to dynamic spillover over examined markets.

4-Week intervention combining kiwifruit consumption and small-sided soccer games improves sleep quality in children with overweight/obesity and pre-existing sleep problems.

Childhood obesity is a global public health concern associated with various health risks, including disrupted sleep patterns. This study investigated the effects of kiwifruit consumption and small-sided soccer games (SSSG) over 4 weeks on sleep patterns in overweight/obese children with sleep problems. Thirty-six participants, aged 8 to 12 years with a body mass index above the 85th percentile, were randomly assigned to one of three groups: SSSG only ( = 12), SSSG-kiwifruit (SSSG-K,  = 12), or control (CG,  = 12).

Assessment of bacteriological and immunological markers in urinary tract infection and the effect of antibiotics on the isolated bacteria.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are recognized as the second most common medical condition, following respiratory infections. Despite the availability of numerous efficacious antibiotics for the management of UTIs, the rising incidence of bacterial resistance presents significant challenges in the treatment of these infections. Bacteria are endowed with the ability to reproduce and develop resistance mechanisms against antibiotics.

Effectiveness of Early Versus Late Time-Restricted Eating Combined with Physical Activity in Overweight or Obese Women.

Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of a dual approach involving time-restricted eating (TRE) at different times of the day combined with physical activity (PA) on functional capacity and metabolic health in overweight or obese women.

Methods: Random allocation of sixty-one participants into four groups: early time-restricted eating plus physical activity (ETRE-PA, n = 15, 31.8 ± 10.

Lifestyle Factors Associated with Children's and Adolescents' Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet Living in Mediterranean Countries: The DELICIOUS Project.

Traditional dietary patterns are being abandoned in Mediterranean countries, especially among younger generations. This study aimed to investigate the potential lifestyle determinants that can increase adherence to the Mediterranean diet in children and adolescents. This study is a cross-sectional analysis of data from five Mediterranean countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Egypt, and Lebanon) within the context of the EU-funded project DELICIOUS (UnDErstanding consumer food choices & promotion of healthy and sustainable Mediterranean Diet and LIfestyle in Children and adolescents through behavIOUral change actionS).

Optimization of a Pressurized Extraction Process Based on a Ternary Solvent System for the Recovery of Neuroprotective Compounds from Leaves.

Green chemistry focuses on reducing the environmental impacts of chemicals through sustainable practices. Traditional methods for extracting bioactive compounds from leaves, such as hydro-distillation and organic solvent extraction, have limitations, including long extraction times, high energy consumption, and potential toxic solvent residues. This study explored the use of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), and gas-expanded liquid (GXL) processes to improve efficiency and selectivity.

Functional Analysis of Durum Wheat GASA1 Protein as a Biotechnological Alternative Against Plant Fungal Pathogens and a Positive Regulator of Biotic Stress Defense.

Plants are frequently challenged by a variety of microorganisms. To protect themselves against harmful invaders, they have evolved highly effective defense mechanisms, including the synthesis of numerous types of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Snakins are such compounds, encoded by the (Gibberellic Acid-Stimulated Arabidopsis) gene family, and are involved in the response to biotic and abiotic stress.

Association analysis of T and B-cell epitopes with humoral alloimmunisation in kidney transplantation: A Tunisian cohort study.

Introduction: HLA matching is critical for successful kidney transplantation. This study aimed to investigate the impact of eplet mismatches and Predicted Indirectly Recognizable HLA Epitopes (PIRCHE-II) scores on the development of de novo donor-specific antibodies (dnDSA) and graft survival in a Tunisian cohort, characterized by a high prevalence of living donors and significant genetic diversity in HLA profiles.

Methods: This retrospective study included 112 adult kidney transplant recipients who underwent transplantation between 2012 and 2018.

New Insights on Iron-Trimesate MOFs for Inorganic As(III) and As(V) Adsorption from Aqueous Media.

Arsenic contamination of water endangers the health of millions of people worldwide, affecting certain countries and regions with especial severity. Interest in the use of Fe-based metal organic frameworks (MOFs) to remove inorganic arsenic species has increased due to their stability and adsorptive properties. In this study, the performance of a synthesized Nano-{Fe-BTC} MOF, containing iron oxide octahedral chains connected by trimesic acid linkers, in adsorbing As(III) and As(V) species was investigated and compared with commercial BasoliteF300 MOF.

Effects of Real-Life Motor Complexity on Walking and Mobility in Trained and Sedentary Adolescents With Intellectual Disabilities: A Motor Dual-Task Investigation.

Adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) often encounter challenges in walking and mobility due to cognitive and motor impairments. This study aimed to investigate the impact of real-life motor complexity on walking and mobility in this population, particularly focusing on dual-task scenarios. Twenty-four adolescents with ID, divided into trained and sedentary groups, participated in the study.

Reliability generalization meta-analysis of the internal consistency of the Big Five Inventory (BFI) by comparing BFI (44 items) and BFI-2 (60 items) versions controlling for age, sex, language factors.

Introduction: The Big Five Inventory (BFI) is a popular measure that evaluates personality on the Big-Five model. Apart from its utilization across cultures, the literature did not reveal any meta-analysis for the reliability of the different versions of the BFI and its translations. The current study carried out a reliability generalization meta-analysis (REGEMA) to establish the reliability of the BFI across cultures and languages.

Advancing breast cancer diagnosis: token vision transformers for faster and accurate classification of histopathology images.

The vision transformer (ViT) architecture, with its attention mechanism based on multi-head attention layers, has been widely adopted in various computer-aided diagnosis tasks due to its effectiveness in processing medical image information. ViTs are notably recognized for their complex architecture, which requires high-performance GPUs or CPUs for efficient model training and deployment in real-world medical diagnostic devices. This renders them more intricate than convolutional neural networks (CNNs).

Detection of multiple myositis-specific antibodies: prevalence and clinical significance.

Background: The multipositivity of myositis-specific antibodies (MSAs) is uncommon. Our study aimed to assess the prevalence and the clinical relevance of multiple positive MSAs in routine practice.

Methods: A 10 year single-center retrospective study (2015-2024) was conducted reviewing all samples analyzed with the Dot Myositis EUROLINE (Euroimmun Germany).

Acute effects of motor learning models on technical efficiency in strength-coordination exercises: a comparative analysis of Olympic snatch biomechanics in beginners.

Despite the development of various motor learning models over many decades, the question of which model is most effective under which conditions to optimize the acquisition of skills remains a heated and recurring debate. This is particularly important in connection with learning sports movements with a high strength component. This study aims to examine the acute effects of various motor learning models on technical efficiency and force production during the Olympic snatch movement.

Whole exome sequencing identifies ABHD14A and MRNIP as novel candidate genes for developmental language disorder.

Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder involving impaired language abilities. Its genetic etiology is heterogeneous, involving rare variations in multiple susceptibility loci. However, family-based studies on gene mutations are scarce.

The effect of blended learning on tacking technique improvement in preteen sailing.

This study investigates the effects of two blended learning strategies on improving tacking technique in Optimist sailing among children aged 11-13. Specifically, it compares video feedback with online written instructions (BLIV) and online written instructions only (BLI). Thirty-one children aged 11-13 years old were randomly divided into three groups with different learning strategies: BLIV, BLI, and a control group (CONT).

A reliability generalization meta-analysis of the internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the pre-sleep arousal scale (PSAS).

Purpose: The Pre-Sleep Arousal Scale (PSAS) is a self-report tool for assessing cognitive and somatic arousal before sleep. While the English version is well-validated, research on translations is limited. This meta-analysis examines PSAS translations' internal consistency and reliability.

Transformer Dil-DenseUnet: An Advanced Architecture for Stroke Segmentation.

We propose a novel architecture, Transformer Dil-DenseUNet, designed to address the challenges of accurately segmenting stroke lesions in MRI images. Precise segmentation is essential for diagnosing and treating stroke patients, as it provides critical spatial insights into the affected brain regions and the extent of damage. Traditional manual segmentation is labor-intensive and error-prone, highlighting the need for automated solutions.

Effects of a 40-min nap on performance following evening exercise before, during, and after Ramadan fasting.

This study examined the effect of a 40-min nap (N40) the day after a night session of the Loughborough Intermittent Shuttle Test (LIST), before, during and after Ramadan. In a randomized crossover design, fifteen male soccer players completed the LIST in the evening (2100h), followed by either a N40 or no nap (N0) the next day, at 1400h. Performance on the 5-m shuttle run test (5mSRT), digit cancellation test (DCT), and subjective measures (i.