Advancing Open Science

Protein-enriched fruit gels, such as spoonable sauces and cuttable gels, can meet consumers’ desire for high protein/fiber value-added health foods. High pressure processing (HPP) is a nonthermal pasteurizing method that has shown additional usage as a novel structuring method for gels by affecting protein–protein interactions. This work studied HPP (575 MPa, 3 min, 5 °C) compared to heat (85–90 °C, 3–10 min) pasteurization as a method to produce novel fruit gels from whole Concord grapes enriched with 4, 6, and 8% (w/w) chickpea and pea protein. Physicochemical and rheological analyses were conducted, as well as sensory evaluation of a model gel. Heat-treated gels produced spoonable high viscosity gels compared to free standing gels produced through HPP. Chickpea protein-enriched samples exhibited a greater change with an increase in heat processing due to non-protein constituents compared to pea protein. Sensory analysis showed a desire for added nutritional value, though flavor was ultimately the deciding factor in preference, with heat-treated gels achieving higher liking scores compared to a HPP counterpart.

Dies Buch gehört dem König (This Book Belongs to the King), written and published in 1843 by the German Romantic author Bettina von Arnim, is a quasi-open letter, presented as a series of fictional dialogues with traces of a novel. Dedicated to the newly crowned King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, the letter unfolds social grievances and aims to persuade Friedrich Wilhelm to act like a just king. Due to its delicate socio-critical impetus, the letter does so through strategies of obfuscation and by using a richly pictorial, seemingly naive and lavish way of speech rather than taking an openly reproachful stance. Crucially, von Arnim does not install herself as the letter’s speaker but instead fictionalizes the letter and presents Goethe’s mother, Catharina Elisabeth Goethe, as the letter’s primary voice (‘Frau Rat’). By using a well-respected figure of the ruling class as the letter’s main voice, von Arnim aimed at minimizing its scandalous potential. But even prior to publishing the letter, von Arnim had already managed to trick Friedrich Wilhelm and the Prussian censors herself: by fusing the book’s title and dedication, she paratextually outwitted both the censors and the King, whose permission she sought precisely to bypass Prussian censorship. This article shows how von Arnim managed to avoid a larger scandal both textually by implementing semi-fictional devices and paratextually by presenting the letter as an affirmation of Friedrich Wilhelm IV and his policies.

Furo[3,2-b]pyrroles (FPs) are important members of the heteropentalene family. In particular, furo[3,2-b]pyrrole-5-carboxylates (FPcs) are commonly used as versatile building blocks for the synthesis of a large library of FP derivatives. Their structure with five potential reaction centres and an electron-rich character enables a wide range of transformations, from simple substitutions to multi-step reactions, yielding complex compounds with a furo[3,2-b]pyrrole scaffold. Many furo[3,2-b]pyrrole derivatives exhibit promising biological activity, while others have been employed in the construction of π-conjugated fused systems for optoelectronics. Efficient synthetic routes to furo[3,2-b]pyrrole derivatives are therefore of considerable interest. This review focuses on the synthetic methods leading to furo[3,2-b]pyrrole-5-carboxylates (FPcs), from the first successful attempts in the 1970s to recent approaches. Various methodologies are reported for the construction of complex molecules built from furo[3,2-b]pyrrole-5-carboxylates, emphasising their utility in the synthesis of fused heterocycles. This review also covers recent advances in screening for biological activity and applications such as fluorescent dyes.

Coastal erosion affects nearly 70% of global beaches, threatening ecosystems and socio-economic development. This study proposes a monitoring framework integrating Differential GNSS RTK, RPA photogrammetry with PPK, and high-resolution satellite imagery to evaluate shoreline change and beach profiles along Panama’s Pacific coast. Short-term (3–5 months) and long-term (13 years) analyses were conducted using DSAS metrics—End Point Rate (EPR) and Net Shoreline Movement (NSM)—to quantify erosion trends. Results show Differential GNSS provides superior accuracy for sandy beach profiling, while RPA photogrammetry is effective in complex terrains such as rocky-bottom beaches. Combining RPA and satellite imagery enhances long-term shoreline monitoring. The proposed plan offers a scalable, cost-effective approach for coastal management, supporting evidence-based policy, land-use planning, and disaster risk reduction, while serving as a methodological reference for future research.

The effect of the multilayer structure of Cr/CrN coatings deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering on zirconium alloy E110 (Zr–1Nb) on their thermal stability and resistance to steam oxidation at 1100 °C was studied. Coatings with different numbers of alternating Cr and CrN sublayers (1, 2, 4, and 6) were fabricated using experimental methods of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive analysis (SEM/EDS). It was shown that an increase in the number of alternating Cr and CrN sublayers leads to the preservation of the cubic phase of CrN, the formation of a dense structure, and a decrease in Cr–Zr interdiffusion. After testing, multilayer coatings retaining the internal structure and a sufficiently structurally dense Cr₂O₃ layer effectively ensured air penetration. The best thermal stability was demonstrated by a six-layer coating, ensuring minimal oxidation and preservation of the E110 substrate.

The plant NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2) transcription factor family plays an important regulatory role in stress response. In this study, we analyzed the rice transcription factor OsNAC113 and elucidated its tissue-specific characteristics and stress response regulatory mechanisms. qRT-PCR results showed that under laboratory-simulated drought, high salt, temperature stress, and hormone treatments, such as abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellic acid (GA₃), the expression level of OsNAC113 significantly changed, indicating that OsNAC113 responds to various stress conditions. Targeted creation of the rice (Oryza sativa L. spp. japonica) OsNAC113 (LOC_os08g10080.1) mutant based on the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing strategy revealed its response to salt stress (200 mM). The growth status and survival rate of the mutant under high-salt stress were significantly higher than those of the wild type. Testing showed that the mutant exhibited increased relative water, chlorophyll, and soluble sugar contents under salt stress than the wild type. The malondialdehyde content in the mutant was lower, and the activities of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase were higher than those in the wild type, indicating that the mutant with functional loss caused by knocking out OsNAC113 had a significantly enhanced tolerance to salt treatment. Using RNA-seq to detect genome-wide changes in OsNAC113 mutant materials under stress, KEGG annotation showed that knocking out OsNAC113 resulted in regulatory changes in “plant hormone signaling pathway” and “MAPK signaling pathway,” and GO and KEGG annotations showed significant changes in “amino acid transport and metabolism,” “carbohydrate transport and metabolism,” “lipid transport and metabolism,” and “replication, recombination, and repair.” OsNAC113 may be involved in the response to salt stress by regulating these signaling pathways. Using comparative metabolomic analysis, we further elucidated the function of OsNAC113 in physiological metabolic pathways. The knockout of OsNAC113 resulted in changes in various important metabolic pathways in plants, including flavonoid biosynthesis and ABC transporters. Therefore, it is suggested that OsNAC113 is involved in these metabolic processes and affects their regulation in high-salt environments. These results provide a theoretical foundation and reliable material for the molecular breeding of rice.

Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) have successfully been used for stroke rehabilitation by pairing movement intentions with, e.g., functional electrical stimulation. It has also been proposed that BCI training is beneficial for people with cerebral palsy (CP). To develop BCI training for CP patients, movement intentions must be detected from single-trial EEG. The study aim was to detect movement intentions in CP patients and able-bodied participants using different classification scenarios to show the technical feasibility of BCI training in CP patients. Five CP patients and fifteen able-bodied participants performed wrist extensions and ankle dorsiflexions while EEG was recorded. All but one participant repeated the experiment on 1–2 additional days. The EEG was divided into movement intention and idle epochs that were classified with a random forest classifier using temporal, spectral, and template matching features to estimate movement intention detection performance. When calibrating the classifier on data from the same day and participant, 75% and 85% classification accuracies were obtained for CP- and able-bodied participants, respectively. The performance dropped by 5–15 percentage points when training the classifier on data from other days and other participants. In conclusion, movement intentions can be detected from single-trial EEG, indicating the technical feasibility of using BCIs for motor training in people with CP.

While metabolomics has emerged as a powerful tool for discovering disease biomarkers, the clinical utility of plasma or tissue metabolite profiles remains limited due to metabolic heterogeneity and flexibility across cell types. Traditional bulk metabolomics fails to capture the distinct metabolic programs operating within rare cell populations that often drive disease pathogenesis. This review examines cutting-edge approaches that overcome these limitations by characterizing metabolism at single-cell and cell-type-specific resolution, with particular emphasis on rare immune cell populations as a proof of concept. We discuss how the integration of flow cytometric metabolic profiling, molecular techniques, advanced metabolomics platforms, and computational modeling enables unprecedented insight into cell-intrinsic metabolic states within physiological contexts. We critically evaluate how these technologies reveal metabolic plasticity that confounds bulk measurements while identifying cell-type-specific metabolic vulnerabilities. Finally, we address the crucial challenge of establishing causality in metabolic pathways, a prerequisite for translating metabolomic discoveries into clinically actionable interventions. By moving beyond descriptive metabolomics toward a mechanistic understanding of cell-type-specific metabolism, these approaches promise to deliver the precision required for effective metabolic targeting in disease.