Chalcogen Bonds Enable Efficient Photoreduction of Sulfur-Containing Heterocycles.

Chalcogen bonding interactions have attracted significant attention in a broad chemistry community, with a particular focus on their ability to stabilise the key transition states in various organic synthetic routes. In this work, we demonstrate that they can also be harnessed in selective photoredox reactions, which cannot be otherwise achieved with alternative approaches to photoreduction. We demonstrate this concept through the photoreduction of the sulfur-containing DNA nucleoside precursor thioanhydrouridine to 2'-deoxy-thiouridine, revealing the previously unrecognized role of bisulfide in this process.

Monitoring studies on contamination of urban runoff with hazardous benzotriazoles and bisphenols in one of the least polluted places worldwide.

Benzotriazoles (BTR) and bisphenols (BP) are artificial contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) commonly found in everyday products. This study focuses on urban runoff to investigate the occurrence of BTRs and BPs in Iceland, regarded as one of the least polluted places in the world, which made it reasonable to confirm or deny the presence of these micropollutants in its environment. Samples collected in February 2023 (SC1) and August 2024 (SC2) from seven locations along Iceland's Ring Road were evaluated to determine the occurrence of seven BTRs (1H-BTR, 4Me-BTR, 5Me-BTR, 5Cl-BTR, UV-P, UV-326, UV-329) and six BPs (BPF, BPE, BPA, BPZ, BPAP, BPM) in the runoff, using the ultrasound-assisted emulsification-microextraction for analytes isolation and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for detection (USAEME-GC/MS).

Inertial microfluidic mixer for biological CubeSat missions.

Nanosatellites of CubeSat type due to, i.a., minimized costs of space missions, as well as the potential large application area, have become a significant part of the space economy sector recently.

The Influence of Sociodemographic Factors and Clinical Aspects on the Quality of Life of Surgically Treated Patients with Colorectal Cancer.

Introduction: Due to the increasing number of cases and the levels of mortality, colorectal cancer is still a major health problem. Therefore, the growing interest in the quality of life of patients and the assessment of the quality of life of patients with colorectal cancer seems to be particularly important. The aim of the study was to investigate and determine factors that have a significant impact on the QoL of patients who were diagnosed with colorectal cancer that was surgically treated in the Surgical Department of the 4th Military Clinical Hospital in Wroclaw.

Recent progress of poly(glycerol adipate)-based network materials toward tissue engineering applications.

Poly(glycerol adipate) (PGA) is one of the aliphatic polyesters of glycerol. The most studied biomedical application of poly(glycerol adipate) is the use of its nanoparticles as drug delivery carriers. The PGA prepolymer can be crosslinked to network materials.

Attraction versus Repulsion between Methyl and Related Groups: (CHNHCH) and (CHSeBrCH).

The starting point for this work was a set of crystal structures containing the motif of interaction between methyl groups in homodimers. Two structures were selected for which QTAIM, NCI and NBO analyses suggested an attractive interaction. However, the calculated interaction energy was negative for only one of these systems.

Perceived environmental uncertainty and job involvement: the mediating role of digital technology and organizational trust - a cross-sectional study in primary care facilities in the UK.

Background: Digital maturity can help primary care facilities enhance their processes, communication, and adaptability to change, thereby fostering trust and job involvement. This study aimed to examine the causal relationships between perceived environmental uncertainty, digital maturity, organizational trust, and job involvement among managers of primary care facilities in the UK. The researchers applied socio-technical theory to examine the consequences of technology implementation on work practices and utilized contingency theory to ensure long-term stability in primary care facilities.

Environmentally friendly molecularly imprinted polymers as an insert for SPE type columns in the gentamicin monitoring process.

The quantity and variety of micro-pollutants infiltrating water resources have increased rapidly in recent times. The appearance of many harmful substances in the waters has resulted in so-called chemical cocktails which significantly contribute to the deterioration of water quality. Additionally, the variety of these compounds, often similar to each other in terms of molecular weights, makes their separation and identification very difficult.

Development of two ultra-sensitive UHPLC-QqQ-MS/MS methods for the simultaneous determination of hydroxyzine and its active metabolite (cetirizine) in human blood: applications to real cases of forensic toxicology.

Both postmortem toxicological and medical-forensic examinations are very important in the case of analyzing various types of chemical substances. Hydroxyzine (HZ) is a first-generation antihistamine drug with a sedative effect that disrupts cognitive function and affects the ability to drive motor vehicles. Enzymatic oxidation of the hydroxy-methyl group to the carboxyl group leads to the formation of its main metabolite-cetirizine (CZ).

Caffeine-Legal Natural Stimulant with Open Research Perspective: Spectroscopic and Theoretical Characterization.

Caffeine is an alkaloid with a purine structure and has been well known for centuries due to its presence in popular drinks-tea and coffee. However, the structural and spectroscopic parameters of this compound, as well as its chemical and biological activities, are still not fully known. In this study, for the first time, we report on the measured oxygen-17 NMR spectra of this stimulant.

Unlocking the Potential of Food Waste: A Review of Multifunctional Pectins.

This review comprehensively explores the multifunctional applications of pectins derived from food waste and by-products, emphasizing their role as versatile biomaterials in the medical-related sectors. Pectins, known for their polyelectrolytic nature and ability to form hydrogels, influence the chemical composition, sensory properties, and overall acceptability of food and pharmaceutical products. The study presents an in-depth analysis of molecular parameters and structural features of pectins, such as the degree of esterification (DE), monosaccharide composition, galacturonic acid (GalA) content, and relative amounts of homogalacturonan (HG) and rhamnogalacturonan I (RG-I), which are critical for their technofunctional properties and biological activity.

Digital Twin Approach for Operation and Maintenance of Transportation System-Systematic Review.

There is a growing need to implement modern technologies, such as digital twinning, to improve the efficiency of transport fleet maintenance processes and maintain company operational capacity at the required level. A comprehensive review of the existing literature is conducted to address this, offering an up-to-date analysis of relevant content in this field. The methodology employed is a systematic literature review using the Primo multi-search tool, adhering to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

The Impact of 1030 nm fs-Pulsed Laser on Enhanced Rayleigh Scattering in Optical Fibers.

This article presents a comprehensive study on the impact of irradiation optical fiber cores with a femtosecond-pulsed laser, operating at a wavelength of 1030 nm, on the signal amplitude in Rayleigh scattering-based optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR). The experimental study involves two fibers with significantly different levels of germanium doping: the standard single-mode fiber (SMF-28) and the ultra-high numerical aperture fiber (UHNA7). The research findings reveal distinct characteristics of reflected and scattered light amplitudes as a function of pulse energy.

Evaluation of Intra- and Inter-Network Connectivity within Major Brain Networks in Drug-Resistant Depression Using rs-fMRI.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a significant challenge in modern medicine due to its unclear underlying causes. Brain network dysfunction is believed to play a key role in its pathophysiology. Resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI), a neuroimaging technique, enables the in vivo assessment of functional connectivity (FC) between brain regions, offering insights into these network dysfunctions.

Identifying defects and varieties of Malting Barley Kernels.

This study introduces a comprehensive approach for classifying individual malting barley kernels, involving dual-sided kernel imaging, a specifically designed image processing algorithm, an optimized deep neural network architecture, and a mechanical sorting system. The proposed method achieves precise classification into multiple classes, aligning with quality standards for malting material assessment. Throughout the study, various image analysis techniques were assessed, including traditional feature engineering, established transfer learning deep neural network architectures, and our custom-designed convolutional neural network tailored for barley kernel image analysis.

Unveiling Temperature-Induced Structural Phase Transformations and CO Binding Sites in CALF-20.

The increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration linked to climate change has created a need for new sorbents capable of separating CO from exhaust gases. Recently, an easily produced metal-organic framework, CALF-20, was shown to withstand over 450,000 adsorption/desorption cycles in steam and wet acid gases. Further development and industrial application of such materials require an understanding of the observed processes.

Dimma: Semi-Supervised Low-Light Image Enhancement with Adaptive Dimming.

Enhancing low-light images with natural colors poses a challenge due to camera processing variations and limited access to ground-truth lighting conditions. To address this, we propose Dimma, a semi-supervised approach that aligns with any camera using a small set of image pairs captured under extreme lighting conditions. Our method employs a convolutional mixture density network to replicate camera-specific noise present in dark images.

Entrapment of Amphipathic Drugs in Core-Shell Polymeric Nanoparticles under Batch Conditions─The Role of Control and Solubility Parameters.

The amphipathic bioactive compounds curcumin, resveratrol, and mitomycin C, which have similar solubility parameter component distributions, have been studied for encapsulation under batch conditions into core-shell nanocarriers composed of external hydrophobically functionalized polyelectrolytes and an inner matrix of polyesters or polyester blends: poly(l-lactide), poly(lactide--glycolide), and/or poly(ethylene succinate). Our contribution comprises determining the influence of process parameters on the properties and quality of the final products, namely core-shell nanoparticles loaded with appropriate drugs, according to process analysis technologymanagement. The crucial roles of the organic phase dosing rates and process temperatures were carefully investigated.

Boosting stability: a hierarchical approach for self-assembling peptide structures.

The primary objective of this study was to implement a hierarchical approach to enhance the conformational stability of a selected group of peptides by incorporating -(1,2)-2-aminocyclopentanecarboxylic acid (-ACPC). The influence of residue mutation on the peptide structures was investigated using circular dichroism, analytical ultracentrifugation, and vibrational spectroscopy. The resulting nanostructures were examined transmission electron microscopy.

Hyperhardness and hypersoftness of atoms and their ions.

Context: The theory of reactivity based on cDFT has been supplemented with the new method of calculating the atomic and local indices. With the use of previously derived relationship of the electron density gradient to the softness kernel and to the linear response function, we deliver theoretical analysis to obtain significant reactivity indices-the electron density derivatives: local softness and local hypersoftness together with the global hyperhardness index and the derivative of the global softness with respect to the number of electrons. The local derivatives have been applied in the calculation of responses of atoms to perturbation by an external potential by the alchemical approach.