Baicalin, a flavonoid isolated from Scutellaria baicalensis, has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective effects. Glutamate is a major neurotransmitter that plays an important role in brain function, but excessive release of glutamate causes excitotoxicity and damages cells. We investigated the neuroprotective effects of baicalin in glutamate-exposed neurons. The mouse hippocampal neuronal cell line (HT22) was cultured in a general manner, glutamate and/or baicalin were treated on the cells. Baicalin was administered 1 hr before glutamate treatment. Cells were collected 24 hr after glutamate, and cell viability was measured using MTT assay. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid peroxidation (LPO) assays were performed to measure oxidative stress. Glutamate reduced cell viability in a dose- and time-dependent manner. MTT assay showed that baicalin treatment ameliorated the decrease in cell viability due to glutamate toxicity. The effect of baicalin is dose-dependent. Glutamate caused severe nerve damage, including condensation of the cell shape, loss of dendrites and axons. However, baicalin treatment attenuated these morphological changes, and the effect of baicalin was dose-dependent. ROS and LPO analyses showed that glutamate increases oxidative stress, and baicalin attenuates this change due to glutamate toxicity. The effect of baicalin on these results was dose-dependent. We confirmed that baicalin performs an antioxidant function against glutamate toxicity in neurons. In conclusion, these results suggest that baicalin exerts neuroprotective effects on damaged neurons through antioxidant activity.

Background: South Korea has recently faced record-high temperatures, which have adversely affected dairy production. Holstein cows, the primary dairy breed globally, are particularly sensitive to heat stress. In contrast, Jersey cows have shown greater heat tolerance, as demonstrated by phenotypic studies. Methods: We investigated physiological and molecular responses to heat stress in Holstein and Jersey cows by measuring rectal temperature, milk yield, and average daily gain, confirming Holstein cows’ greater vulnerability. To explore molecular mechanisms, we analyzed circulating microRNA profiles from whole blood samples collected under heat stress and normal conditions using microRNA-sequencing. Differential expression patterns were compared between the two breeds to identify biological pathways associated with heat stress. Results: Four microRNAs (bta-miR-20b, bta-miR-1246, bta-miR-2284x, and bta-miR- 2284y) were significantly differentially expressed in both breeds under heat stress (|FC| ≥ 2, p < 0.05). Notably, bta-miR-20b and bta-miR-1246 were linked to corpus luteum function and progesterone biosynthesis, while bta-miR-2284x and bta-miR- 2284y were associated with immune responses. A comparison of 11 potential heat stress-related microRNAs identified in previous studies of Holstein cows revealed consistent expression trends in Jersey cows, albeit with lower fold changes, suggesting their superior heat resilience. Conclusions: Our study highlights the physiological and microRNA-based differences in heat stress responses between Holstein and Jersey cows. Jersey cows exhibited greater resilience, supported by more stable microRNA expression profiles and improved heat stress indicators, making them a promising breed for dairy production in increasingly hot climates.

Background: Rotator cuff tears often cause shoulder pain and functional limitations that may require conservative treatment or surgical intervention. Identifying preoperative differences in muscle strength and function can aid in treatment decisions. Objects: This study aimed to compare the preoperative shoulder muscle strength and functional outcomes between patients undergoing arthroscopic rotator cuff repair and those receiving conservative treatment. Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of 315 patients with rotator cuff tears, including 145 who underwent surgery and 170 who received conservative treatment. Shoulder isokinetic muscle strength (external rotator, internal rotators, abductor, and adductors) and functional scores (American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons [ASES] and Constant-Murley shoulder scores) were measured. The conservative treatment group was assessed during a hospital visit, whereas the surgery group was tested on the morning of the surgery. An independent t-test was used to evaluate the preoperative shoulder strength and functional scores. Results: The conservative treatment group showed lower deficits in external (11.3 ± 23.9) and internal (11.7 ± 15.5) rotators compared to the surgery group (26.3 ± 33.8 and 17.1 ± 26.1, respectively; p = 0.001). Abductor and adductor deficits (18.2 ± 25.3 and 9.8 ± 16.8) were also lower in the conservative treatment group (30.7 ± 31.6 and 21.9 ± 28.4, respectively; p = 0.036 and p = 0.001). The external per internal rotator ratio (50.9 ± 16.8; p = 0.003) and ASES scores were higher (74.5 ± 14.8; p = 0.047) was higher in the conservative treatment group. Conclusion: The conservative treatment group had lower shoulder strength deficits, better muscle balance, and higher ASES scores than the surgery group, indicating superior functional outcomes. These findings suggest that assessing preoperative muscle strength and function might provide valuable insights into treatment planning for patients with rotator cuff tears.

Sequential zone picking is an order picking method designed to enhance warehouse efficiency by dividing the storage area into multiple zones and picking items in a sequential order across these zones. Picked items are often placed in dedicated totes and transported between zones using a conveyor system, which manages the picking flow but can occasionally result in inefficiencies during the process. This study presents a variant of the sequential zone picking system, called a dual-lane zone picking system (DZP), which consists of two parallel conveyor lanes without buffers between consecutive zones. This conveyor configuration allows the picker in each zone to alternate processing between the two lanes, thereby lessening the constraints of tote transitions between zones and improving both system throughput and picker utilization. We design and conduct a series of experiments using a discrete-event simulation model to evaluate the performance of DZPs. The experiment results indicate that DZP surpasses the original single-lane zone picking system by shortening the system’s mean flow time in low flow intensity scenarios and achieving a higher maximum throughput and worker utilization in high flow intensity scenarios. Additionally, we investigate the effects of the number of zones and order batching size on the performance of DZP to gain further insights into the system’s operational control.

This study aimed to address the time, cost, and ethical issues associated with traditional animal experiment-based observational methods by utilizing in silico Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic modeling to predict veterinary drug residues in livestock products and validate them against observational data. Using PK-sim software, we modeled the physiological conditions of pigs to predict the depletion of ceftiofur and spiramycin. We evaluated the ceftiofur (3 mg, 6 mg) and spiramycin models by comparing them with observational data using residuals, MSE, and R-squared values. Specifically, the R-squared values for the ceftiofur models were all negative, indicating poor predictive power. For Ceftiofur (3 mg), the R-squared value was <0 with MSE of 611.3764, and for Ceftiofur (6 mg), it was <0 with MSE of 2447.982, highlighting significant discrepancies. Similar shortcomings were observed in the spiramycin models, with an R-squared value of <0 . These discrepancies can be attributed to inaccuracies in literature data, limited physicochemical data, inadequate consideration of inter-individual differences, mismatches between experimental and model conditions, and limitations of benchmark observational experiments. This underscores the critical importance of enhancing data quality and refining modeling approaches. Future research should focus on validating in silico techniques across diverse animal models and drugs to broaden their applicability in safety assessments. Ultimately, leveraging in silico techniques is crucial for establishing a scientifically robust safety management system for livestock products, overcoming the constraints of current observational experimental methods.

This study investigated the relationship between teacher support in the areas of learner autonomy, relatedness, and competence, and motivational beliefs regarding achievement goal orientations and perceived task value in Chinese EFL college classrooms based on self-determination theory. A questionnaire was administered to 712 college students, and the data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 24.0. The findings indicated that teacher support for autonomy, relatedness, and competence was positively correlated with mastery goal orientation and performance-approach orientation, while it was negatively correlated with performance-avoidance orientation. Furthermore, these forms of teacher support positively influenced students’ perceived task value. Achievement goal orientation mediated the relationship between the three types of teacher support and student engagement. However, perceived task value only mediated the relationship between teacher autonomy support and student engagement. This study offers valuable insights for enhancing English teaching practices by promoting student motivation through addressing their psychological needs in EFL college classrooms.

Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) plays a crucial role in animal cell culture; however, the increasing number of bovine fetuses used and sacrificed solely for FBS collection has raised ethical concerns globally. The welfare of fetuses during FBS blood collection has become a key focus of debate among animal welfare and ethics organizations worldwide. Previous studies indicate that heat-inactivated coelomic fluid (HI-CF) from the earthworm Perionyx excavatus may serve as a viable FBS alternative in adherent cell cultures. This study evaluates the potential of HI-CF as an FBS substitute during the in vitro maturation (IVM) stage of bovine embryo culture, with a focus on improving developmental rate through antioxidation effects. In this study, 2% HI-CF was incorporated into IVM media, assessing its impact on cell growth, differentiation, and the expression of genes related to antioxidation. The group of 2% of HI-CF exhibited a trend toward increased cleavage and blastocyst development rates compared to the control group. Although antioxidant genes such as NRF2 and GSR showed no statistically significant differences between the control and treatment groups, a trend toward increased expression was observed. Conversely, GPX1 displayed a trend of decreased expression. Notably, IGF1 and NQO1 were significant upregulated (p < 0.05) in the 2% HI-CF group. Additionally, oocytes stained with H2DCFDA showed a significantly reduced ROS levels (p < 0.05) in the 2% HI-CF group compared with controls. These findings suggest that HI-CF's antioxidative effects support enhanced cell growth and blastocyst development rate, surpassing those observed with FBS. Consequently, HI-CF shows promise as an effective alternative to FBS in vitro maturation of bovine oocytes.

As digital transformation accelerates, platform business has become a core business model in modern society. Platform business has a network effect where the winner takes all. For this reason, it is crucial for a company's pricing policy to attract as many customers as possible in the early stages of business. Telecommunication service companies are experiencing stagnant growth due to the saturation of the smartphone market and intensifying competition in rates, but the burden of maintaining communication networks is increasing due to the rapid increase in traffic caused by domestic and foreign CSPs. This study aims to understand the dynamic characteristics of the telecommunications market by focusing on pricing policy. To this end, we analyzed how ISPs, CSPs, and consumers react to changes in pricing policy based on the prisoner's dilemma theory. The analysis of the dynamic characteristics of the market was conducted through simulation using the Agent-Based Model.

Bearing-shaft systems are essential components in various automated manufacturing processes, primarily designed for the efficient rotation of a main shaft by a motor. Accurate fault detection is critical for operating manufacturing processes, yet challenges remain in sensor selection and optimization regarding types, locations, and positioning. Sound signals present a viable solution for fault detection, as microphones can capture mechanical sounds from remote locations and have been traditionally employed for monitoring machine health. However, recordings in real industrial environments always contain non-negligible ambient noise, which hampers effective fault detection. Utilizing a high-performance microphone for noise cancellation can be cost-prohibitive and impractical in actual manufacturing sites, therefore to address these challenges, we proposed a convolution neural network-based methodology for fault detection that analyzes the mechanical sounds generated from the bearing-shaft system in the form of Log-mel spectrograms. To mitigate the impact of environmental noise in recordings made with commercial microphones, we also developed a denoising autoencoder that operates without requiring any expert knowledge of the system. The proposed DAE-CNN model demonstrates high performance in fault detection regardless of whether environmental noise is included(98.1%) or not(100%). It indicates that the proposed methodology effectively preserves significant signal features while overcoming the negative influence of ambient noise present in the collected datasets in both fault detection and fault type classification.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have emerged as a promising therapeutic resource for the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and central nervous system (CNS) that is attributable to their capacity for neuronal differentiation. Human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs), which exhibit MSC-like traits, can differentiate into neuron-like cells and secrete critical neurotrophic factors; however, their therapeutic potential in peripheral nerve injury remains unexplored. This study investigated the regenerative effects of hDPSC transplantation following sciatic nerve injury (SNI) in rats. Transplantation of hDPSCs, STRO-1+ hDPSCs, or CD146+ hDPSCs after sciatic nerve transection in rats upregulated the levels of β3 tubulin, a marker of immature newborn neurons. Furthermore, the levels of glial cellderived neurotrophic factor, insulin-like growth factor 2, and the neuroregenerative factor NeuroD1 were upregulated. Motor dysfunction in rats with SNI was restored, as demonstrated by significantly higher sciatic functional index scores compared with the sciatic nerve transection group without transplantation. Transplantation of hDPSCs into injured peripheral nerves results in the upregulation of neurotrophic factors, differentiation into immature neurons, and promotion of motor function recovery. This approach holds promise as a valuable therapeutic strategy for repairing injured peripheral sciatic nerves, potentially providing a solution for nerve damage in both the PNS and CNS.

아프리카계 미국작가들이 창작한 문학 작품들인 “아프리카계 미국인 문 학”은 미 전역에서 고통 받은 흑인들을 탐구한다. 이들 저자는 다문화적 배경에도 주 로 백인에 의한 비백인의 지배와 그로 인한 영향, 특히 인종 차별 문제에 대해 묘사 하려 한다. 그들 작가가 다루는 다양한 주제들은 시대의 흐름에 따라 많은 변화를 겪 었다. 미국 남북 전쟁 이전에, 아프리카계 미국인 작가들은 주로 인종차별, 종교, 그리 고 노예제 문제를 다루었지만, 이제 아프리카계 미국작가들은 자신들의 감정, 행동, 그 리고 죽음에 대한 인식을 기록한다. 이들 작품에서 등장하는 아프리카계 미국인 주인 공들은 종종 자신들이 통제할 수 없는 일들을 강제로 수행해야 하는 무력한 인물로 묘사된다. 일반적으로 아프리카계 미국인 작가들은 인종차별, 흑인 미학, 그리고 정체 성 탐구에 대해 글을 쓴다. 주목할 만한 현대 아프리카계 미국인 소설가로는 스콧 리 드와 오마르 타이리가 있다. 그들의 저작은 일반적으로 인종 간의 상호작용과 흑인 미 국인들의 가장 열악한 경제적 상황을 묘사한다. 이 글의 주요 목적은 인종 정치와 차 별이 아프라카계 미국인들의 성공을 어떻게 방해하는지를 분석하는 것이다. 분석을 위 해 탈식민지 이론과 비판적 인종 이론을 사용한다.

The green supply chain has become a central concern for global businesses, particularly in maritime industries, where sustainable development is pursued as both an economic growth strategy and a means of environmental preservation. This study seeks to identify the key challenges to implementing green supply chain in Vietnam. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is employed to assess the significance of various factors, while Fuzzy Structural Modeling (FSM) is used to explore their interrelationships. Five major factors - economic, technological, organizational, governmental, and social - are identified as critical to the implementation of green supply chain. The study highlights that the organizational factor is the most crucial, with customer pressure, particularly regarding environmental standards from export countries, being the most influential sub-factor. The findings provide important insights for developing government policies, offering support to businesses, and guiding investment decisions in green supply chain.

This study investigated the morphological characteristics and regional variations of leaves, flowers, and seeds of Quercus myrsinifolia Blume to understand its ecological adaptation and the effects of environmental factors. Samples were collected from Jinju, Hapcheon, and Sancheong, and nine leaf traits, six flower traits, and five seed traits were analyzed. Significant regional variations were observed, with Hapcheon exhibiting the largest leaf and flower sizes, while Sancheong showed the largest and heaviest seeds. Jinju recorded the smallest values for most traits. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed distinct regional groupings, with Hapcheon displaying intermediate traits, Sancheong larger traits, and Jinju smaller traits. Correlation analysis identified strong positive relationships between leaf length and width, seed length and weight, and the number of staminate flowers and catkin width, highlighting key indicators for growth. Climate factors such as temperature and precipitation significantly influenced morphological traits, with higher temperatures negatively affecting leaf and seed sizes, while precipitation showed a weak positive correlation with seed weight. Among soil factors, pH and magnesium content were closely related to morphological traits. pH exhibited a negative correlation with leaf length and petiole length, while magnesium showed a positive correlation with seed weight and leaf width. These findings underscore the significant role of environmental factors in morphological variation and provide valuable insights for developing regionally adaptive breeding strategies. These findings provide foundational data for developing region-specific breeding strategies and cultivars for Q. myrsinifolia, contributing to ecological management and climate change adaptation strategies.

Calcitonin (CT) and CT gene-related peptide (CGRP) are well known to regulate blood calcium concentration and osmotic pressure in vertebrates. Although lophotrochozoan CT-like peptides and their receptors have been characterized in several model species, the presence of CT-like signaling systems in gastropods remains unknown. In this study, we identified two CT-like peptides, Hdh-CT1 and -CT2, and their receptors (CTRs), namely Hdh-CTR-L and -CTR-S, in Pacific abalone. Transcripts encoding Hdh-CT1 and Hdh-CT2 precursors were expressed mainly in neural ganglia. Molluscan CT-type peptides including Hdh-CT peptides were similar in length and showed highly conserved two Cys residues forming a disulfide bond in their N-terminal regions. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that gastropod CTRs, including Hdh-CTRs, belong to a large molluscan CTR subfamily. A luciferase reporter driven by cAMP responsive element was stimulated by Hdh-CT1 but not by Hdh-CT2 in Hdh-CTR-L-transfected human embryonic kidney 293 cells. In silico docking model using SWISS-MODEL and HPEPDOCK server showed that the N-terminal residues in Hdh-CT1 are deeply inserted into the binding pocket of Hdh-CTR-L. Taken together, the identification of the Hdh-CT system provides a comprehensive insight into the functional CT-type signaling system in marine gastropods.

Iron selenides with high capacity and excellent chemical properties have been considered as outstanding anodes for alkali metal-ion batteries. However, its further development is hindered by sluggish kinetics and fading capacity caused by volume expansion. Herein, a series of FeSe2 nanoparticles (NPs)-encapsulated carbon composites were successfully synthesized by tailoring the amount of Fe species through facile plasma engineering and followed by a simple selenization transformation process. Such a stable structure can effectively mitigate volume changes and accelerate kinetics, leading to excellent electrochemical performance. The optimized electrode ( FeSe2@C2) exhibits outstanding reversible capacity of 853.1 mAh g− 1 after 150 cycles and exceptional rate capacity of 444.9 mAh g− 1 at 5.0 A g− 1 for Li+ storage. In Na+ batteries, it possesses a relatively high capacity of 433.7 mAh g− 1 at 0.1 A g− 1 as well as good cycle stability. The plasma-engineered FeSe2@ C2 composite, which profits from synergistic effect of small FeSe2 NPs and carbon framework with large specific surface area, exhibits remarkable ions/electrons transportation abilities during various kinetic analyses and unveils the energy storage mechanism dominated by surface-mediated capacitive behavior. This novel cost-efficient synthesis strategy might offer valuable guidance for developing transition metal-based composites towards energy storage materials.

Diamond/SiC composites were prepared by vacuum silica vapor-phase infiltration of in situ silicon–carbon reaction, and the thermophysical properties of the composites were modulated by controlling diamond graphitizing. The effects of diamond surface state and vacuum silicon infiltration temperature on diamond graphitization were investigated, and the micromorphology, phase composition, and properties of the composites were observed and characterized. The results show that diamond pretreatment can reduce the probability of graphitizing; when the penetration temperature is greater than 1600 °C, the diamond undergoes a graphitizing phase transition and the micro-morphology presents a lamellar shape. The thermal conductivity, density, and flexural strength of the composites increased and then decreased with the increase of penetration temperature in the experimentally designed range of penetration temperature. The variation of thermal expansion coefficients of composites prepared with different penetration temperatures ranged from 0.8 to 3.0 ppm/K when the temperature was between 50 and 400 °C.

Si-based anodes are promising alternatives to graphite owing to their high capacities. However, their practical application is hindered by severe volume expansion during cycling. Herein, we propose employing a carbon support to address this challenge and utilize Si-based anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Specifically, carbon supports with various pore structures were prepared through KOH and NaOH activation of the pitch. In addition, Si was deposited into the carbon support pores via SiH4 chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and to enhance the conductivity and mechanical stability, a carbon coating was applied via CH4 CVD. The electrochemical performance of the C/Si/C composites was assessed, providing insights into their capacity retention rates, cycling stability, rate capability, and lithium-ion diffusion coefficients. Notably, the macrostructure of the carbon support differed significantly depending on the activation agent used. More importantly, the macrostructure of the carbon support significantly affected the Si deposition behavior and enhanced the stability by mitigating the volume expansion of the Si particles. This study elucidated the crucial role of the macrostructure of carbon supports in optimizing Si-based anode materials for LIBs, providing valuable guidance for the design and development of high-performance energy-storage systems.

Complex structure constituting of several layers of heteroatom-doped N-CDs are used as a main sensing film along with aluminum electrodes in conductometric gas sensing system for sensitive and selective monitoring of CO2 and CO gases diluted with normal air, which are extensively prevalent in the atmosphere primarily due to the industrial revolution, locomotives, and numerous natural phenomena’s and the limit of detection (LOD) turned out to be 400 ppm and 30 ppm, respectively, with 20% relative humidity at 30 °C and pressure 1 (atm) which are good for healthy air quality checks. The sensor performance was satisfactory and bidirectional at ambient room temperature (30 °C) and pressure (1 atm) conditions but the relative humidity (50%) at 30 °C had a detrimental impact on the sensing responses, therefore intermittent heating at 80 °C for several minutes between the sensing responses was provided to the sensing chip or one should use gas filter membranes to block humidity, thereby maintaining its constant performance with great ease and accuracy. The cyclic voltammetry revealed well-defined oxidation and reduction peaks, with excellent stability and reversibility. In a nutshell, heteroatom-doped N-CDs’ nanocomposite material can revolutionize in a better environmental pollution monitoring by sensing gases in an extensively lesser response and recovery times.

Silicon carbide (β-SiC) was synthesized through an improved sol–gel method, then Ni/SiC catalysts were prepared using a hydrothermal method. The catalysts were characterized using TEM, H2- TPR, CO2- TPD and N2- TPD, etc. The results showed that the synthesized β-SiC had a large specific surface area, promoting the dispersion of Ni species and thus exposing more active sites. The interaction between Ni species and β-SiC contributed significantly to catalytic performance. Furthermore, the strong alkalinity of catalyst could adjust the bond energy of the active metal and N (M–N), which were conducive to desorption of the recombinant N2 from the metal surface, promoting to ammonia decomposition. Among the Ni/SiC catalysts, 30Ni/SiC-700 synthesized with the Ni loading of 30 wt% and calcination temperature of 700 °C, exhibited the optimal ammonia conversion rate of 93.4% at 600 °C under the space speed of 30,000 mL∙gcat −1∙h−1, and demonstrated a long-term stability, suggesting a very promising catalyst in ammonia decomposition.

Nanoparticles, especially those derived from plant extracts, are becoming increasingly popular as a bio-based, environmentally friendly alternative to conventional technologies. The Maui rose, a flowering plant with medicinal and therapeutic properties, is one of the most important of these materials because its extract component has antibacterial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory biological activity. In this work, we report on synthesizing and characterizing iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe2O3) extracted from flower plants (Borago), to create persistent and environmentally friendly antibacterial agents. As part of the chemical formation process, Fe2O3 nanoparticles were extracted from specific flower plants utilizing a series of carefully regulated chemical reactions. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) of the samples were studied. The nanoparticles produced were analyzed using common microbiological methods and studies (EDS). The antibacterial activity of the Fe2O3 nanoparticles and their effect on a range of microorganisms were evaluated. The results demonstrated that Fe2O3 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized with a specific crystal structure and good anti-bacterial activities.