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Background

Aluminum is recognized for its toxicity in humans and animals. This study investigates the protective effects of Spondias mombin leaf extracts against oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis in male Wistar rats. Rats were divided into nine groups, receiving 100 mg/kg AlCl₃ for 3 weeks, followed by a 2-week treatment with Spondias mombin leaf extract (SME) or its fraction (SMF) at 100 and 200 mg/kg. Brain tissues were analyzed using biochemical, molecular, and histopathological techniques.

Results

Phytochemical analysis confirmed the presence of tannins, phenols, terpenoids, flavonoids and steroids, while HPLC analysis identified kaempferol and other polyphenols, in the Spondias mombin extracts. Aluminum exposure led to increased oxidative and inflammatory damage in brain tissue as revealed by decreased glutathione concentrations and antioxidant enzyme activities, along with elevated levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, nitric oxide, myeloperoxidase, xanthine oxidase, and lactate dehydrogenase. Caspase-3, and BCL2 associated X (Bax) levels were also increased in AlCl₃-exposed rats. Both SME and SMF mitigated AlCl₃-induced redox imbalance, proinflammatory events, and neuronal cell death by enhancing levels of reduced glutathione and antioxidant enzyme activities, reducing the levels of inflammatory biomarkers, and preserving hippocampal formation and neuronal cell organization.

Conclusions

These findings highlight the therapeutic potential of Spondias mombin leaf extracts against aluminum-induced neurotoxic effects through their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic properties.

Graphical abstract

Gold nanoparticle-based colorimetric detection of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) holds significant promise as a potential gold standard assay for early diagnosis and prognosis. Despite notable advancements in this field, a critical limitation persists in stabilizing gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) for extended periods, hindering their application in point-of-care devices. While polymeric capping has been frequently employed to enhance Au NP stability, its impact on the performance of colorimetric detection assays remains underexplored. In this study, we have analyzed the effect of polymeric stabilizing agents, such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) on the colorimetric detection of HCV. Additionally, we have evaluated the feasibility of using commercially available Au NPs for the assay. The findings revealed that PVA and PEG significantly improve molecular stability and shelf life of Au NPs. However, the interaction between synthetic oligomers and Au NP surfaces, influenced by the polymeric chelators, altered the biochemical properties, leading to variations in the assay’s ability to distinguish between positive and negative HCV samples. This preliminary investigation highlights the dual impact of polymeric chelators in enhancing Au NP stability and influencing assay performance. Future optimization is required to fully leverage their potential in meeting the standards for reliable colorimetric detection.

For decades, Lake Junín, a vital Peruvian wetland, has endured pollution from multiple sources. This issue has raised concerns about the state of the lake’s water quality. Here, we studied whether there is a relationship between actual water pollution measurements and culturally perceived environmental pollution through three hypotheses: (i) perception of pollution does not necessarily match with actual pollution, (ii) gender, age, and educational level determine the way environment is perceived, and (iii) pollution perception could be used in a positive way to prioritize environmental management. First, we compiled historical data on lake water quality (1974–2008) and recent (2011) levels of key heavy metals, such as As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn in the areas surrounding the San Juan de Ondores community to determine whether water quality standards for heavy metals have been exceeded. Second, we surveyed 85 community members (13% of the population) using a semi-structured questionnaire to assess their perceptions of water pollution and collect demographic data. We found that, although the measured water quality does not exceed the Peruvian standards, people living in the area perceive the lake as polluted. This contravenes the general idea of using only water quality measurements to determine levels of pollution without considering the complexity of socio-ecosystems. Age, gender, and education had effects on the pollution perception of surveyed people, in that younger, females, and more educated people had an increased perception of pollution. Overall, the results of this study highlight the disconnection between technical assessments and culturally perceived environmental contamination, emphasizing the need for more nuanced and contextually relevant water quality standards.

China needs to promptly establish a globally competitive innovative ecosystem to ensure high-quality development of the economy. This study introduces an ecosystem characterized by innovative populations, nutrients, and biotope. We employ a suitability model embedded in the WAWBO operator that assesses the ecological niches of regional innovation systems from 2012 to 2021, followed by an in-depth study of regional differences and spatial correlations of innovation ecological niches. The investigation indicated that the national innovation niche is generally stable and shows an increasing trend. Nevertheless, the overall suitability is low, and there is a notable opportunity for improvement. Furthermore, there are regional differences in the eastern, central, and western areas, and the Gini coefficient within each region shows a clear trend of “east > central > west,” demonstrating a noticeable Matthew effect. Lastly, the national innovation ecological niches display a distinct clustering pattern with low values. This study contends that it is crucial to enhance the mutually beneficial relationship between innovation subjects, logically allocate resources, reduce regional disparities, and maximize the innovation environment.

This paper presents new data on mineral chemistry of ultramafic xenoliths from the Boulaye volcanic area, Adamawa plateau in Central Africa. Modal composition (olivine + orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + spinel + amphibole) indicates spinel lherzolite with protogranular and porphyroclastic textures. Electron microprobe mineral analyses show that olivine is high Fo with variable CaO contents, orthopyroxene is calcium enstatite, clinopyroxene is Cr-diopside and spinel is Cr-spinel. Variations of contents in some major elements exhibited by olivine, pyroxene and spinel denote increasingly large degrees of melt depletion, emphasizing the complex tectono-magmatic history of the Adamawa lithosphere mantle. Xenoliths are equilibrated between 1027 and 1102 °C within pressure range of 0.9 to 1.7 GPa at equilibrium depths of 30 to 56 km. Boulaye xenoliths stand as mantle residues whose evolution is governed by melt extraction process (5 to 20%) overprinted by Ti–rich metasomatic fluid and/or melt. The geodynamic settings involve a Pan-African subduction event prior to upwelling of Adamawa lithospheric mantle, due to Pan-African strike-slip fault activity at Tertiary times.

Background

Exposure assessment of aquatic biota to complex chemical mixtures from anthropogenic sources and evaluating potential impacts are crucial for mitigating toxic pressure and improving ecological status. The study focused on a section of the Danube River impacted by untreated municipal wastewater from the city of Novi Sad, Serbia, as well as partly treated industrial effluents and agricultural runoffs. This research aimed to implement average biomarker response (ABR) approach and use it as one of the multiple lines of evidence (LOE) to assess the ecological impact of pollution in complex scenarios, such as those in large rivers with multiple stressors.

Results

Cage-exposed specimens of native fish species, Cyprinus carpio, were analyzed for a wide range of biomarkers. Biomarker responses from caged fish were integrated with the biomarker responses of fish from wild populations of Abramis brama into an ABR value and interpreted using supporting evidence such as chemical analyses, effect-based methods and biomonitoring. Higher ABR values at pollution-impacted sites confirmed the presence of chronic toxic pressure caused by mixtures of chemicals at sublethal concentrations. Certain groups of biomarkers, such as those indicating neurotoxic effects, pointed to specific types of pollution confirmed by chemical analyses. Combined with other lines of evidence, ABR provided biologically plausible evidence of ecological impact of pollution at this hot spot and proved that pollution originating from the urban zone of the city of Novi Sad represents a significant pressure on the Danube ecosystem.

Conclusions

The integrated approach effectively assesses complex exposure scenarios in large rivers, evaluating pollution impact and underscoring the chronic toxic stress from anthropogenic sources. The assessment of biomarker responses in situ, whether based on caging experiments or sentinel biota, requires a comprehensive range of biomarkers and is overly resource-intensive for regular monitoring. Still, ecological relevance of the results justifies the efforts when the ecological impact of pollution needs to be assessed. ABR copes with high sample variability typical for in situ experiments, enables integration of inconsistent biomarker response patterns and facilitates the interpretation of the results and potentially wider acceptance of in situ tools in decision-making.

Context

Reaction condition optimization addresses shared requirements across academia and industry, particularly in chemistry, pharmaceutical development, and fine chemical engineering. This review examines recent progress and persistent challenges in machine learning–guided optimization of localized reaction conditions, with an emphasis on three core aspects: dataset, condition representation, and optimization methods, as well as the main issues in each related stage. The review explores challenges such as dataset scarcity, data quality, and the “completeness trap” in dataset preparation stage, summarizes the limitations of current molecular representation techniques in condition representation stage, and discusses the search efficiency challenges of optimization methods in optimization stage.

Methods

The review analyzes the molecular representation techniques and identifies them as the primary bottleneck in advancing localized reaction condition optimization. It further examines existing optimization methodologies. Among them, Bayesian optimization and active learning emerges as the most commonly applied approaches in this field, utilizing incremental learning mechanisms and human-in-the-loop strategies to minimize experimental data requirements while mitigating molecular representation limitations. The review concludes that advancements in molecular representation techniques are essential for developing more efficient optimization methods in the future.

Manila clam plays a crucial role in China’s marine aquaculture industry. However, frequent vibriosis outbreaks severely hinder sustainable and healthy development of the shellfish aquaculture industry. This study indicated markedly decreased clam survival rates after 48 h of Vibrio alginolyticus challenge. Gill and hepatopancreas damage was investigated through histological observation. The activity of lysozyme in the gills and hepatopancreas peaked at 12 and 24 h, respectively. V. alginolyticus showed a maximum bacterial load in the gills and hepatopancreas at 12 and 24 h, respectively. Additionally, transcriptome sequencing of hepatopancreas revealed ten differentially expressed miRNAs in Va and Cn after 48 h infection with V. alginolyticus, corresponding to 100 target genes, with eight upregulated and two downregulated DE miRNAs. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis identified 50 known miRNAs and 111 novel miRNAs, thereby predicting a total of 1840 target genes. KEGG analysis revealed significant changes in multiple signaling pathways, involving lysosomes, apoptosis, amino acid metabolism, and endocytosis, in response to V. alginolyticus stimulation. This study provided new information regarding the immune regulation mechanisms of R. philippinarum in response to V. alginolyticus stress.

SAC305 alloy as a type of lead-free electronic material is expected to have high corrosion resistance and strength. In this study SAC305/Cu solder joints were prepared under three different cooling conditions. The corrosion behavior of the solder joint in 3.5wt% NaCl solution were investigated. The tensile strengths of solder joints before and after corrosion were tested. The results show that the Cu/SAC305/Cu solder joint prepared via rapid cooling always exhibited the most refined microstructure, the strongest corrosion resistance and the highest strength. The intermediate corrosion products were detected using energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). After being corroded for 28 days, the strength of SAC305-W solder joint only decreased by 22.8%, while that of SAC305-F solder joint decreased by 56.2%. The difference in corrosion resistance is attributed to the influence of Ag₃Sn on the corrosion current.