Search Results (11,850)

Pathological USH2A mutations cause Usher syndrome type II, characterized by progressive retinitis pigmentosa and hearing and balance impairment. This study aims to investigate the cellular mechanisms underlying USH2A-related retinal degeneration using human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived retinal organoids. The introduction of a homozygous nonsense mutation in the USH2A hotspot exon-13 resulted in normal photoreceptor development but loss of ciliary localization of usherin long form B and its interacting proteins, ADGRV1 and whirlin. Notably, single-cell RNA sequencing revealed unexpected significant transcriptional changes in Müller glial cells (MGCs), suggestive of disruptions in the translation, innate immune response, and endolysosomal system. These findings suggest that, while photoreceptor cells are mildly affected by the exon-13 USH2A mutation, MGCs exhibit major transcriptional changes, potentially contributing to the disease progression and therefore shedding light on potential alternative therapeutic targets. Full article

FT-interacting proteins (FTIPs) function in signal transduction and metabolite transport, which are important to plant growth, development, and reproduction. Their bioinformatic characteristics and functions in Medicago ruthenica, a forage crop used for ecological restoration, remain unknown. We identified 19 MrFTIPs from the M. ruthenica genome, and they were unevenly distributed across seven chromosomes. Most of them are alkaline, labile and hydrophilic, with a structure comprising irregular coils, α-helices and extended chains. Phylogenetic analysis revealed five evolutionary clades with MrFTIPs. In total, two pairs of segmental duplication events were found, indicating a major pattern for MrFTIP expansion. Overall, 16, 11, and 22 gene pairs were identified from M. truncatula, Arabidopsis thaliana, and Glycine max, respectively. The promoter regions of MrFTIPs were enriched with abiotic stress responses and light or hormone signaling. Tissue-specific analysis revealed that 7 MrFTIPs were highly expressed in leaves, 9 MrFTIPs were highly expressed in petals, and 6 MrFTIPs were highly expressed in stigma and anthers. MrFTIP17 continues to be upregulated among tissues under salt stress, and MrFTIP8 continues to be upregulated among tissues under salt–alkali stress. Collectively, our study systematically characterized the genomic features, evolutionary patterns and cis-regulatory characteristics of the MrFTIP gene family in M. ruthenica, and identified MrFTIP8 and MrFTIP17 as candidate genes associated with salt stress responses in this species, thus providing insights into and potential targets for the molecular and conventional breeding of M. ruthenica. Full article

Plant cell culture represents a sustainable platform for the production of high-value natural products. Although ultraviolet A (UV-A) radiation is established as an inducer of phenylpropanoid metabolism, its precise regulatory role in downstream flavonoid biosynthesis within grape cells remains unclear. Using red and white-type callus derived from Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Sauvignon berry skins, we investigated the effects of UV-A treatments with two durations (45 min and 90 min) on flavonoid biosynthesis. Metabolite profiling demonstrated that UV-A predominantly promoted proanthocyanidin accumulation in white-type callus, while stimulating the global flavonoid pathway in a dose-dependent manner in red callus. Transcriptional analysis identified structural genes potentially governing flavonoid product channeling in both callus types under UV-A exposure. Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) constructed light-responsive regulatory modules, uncovering potential mechanisms coordinating flavonoid pathway gene expression in response to UV-A. These findings demonstrate how the interaction of callus-type and UV-A shapes flavonoid metabolic flux, providing insights into the regulation of plant cell culture metabolites. Full article

Phase-sensitive optical time domain reflectometry (Φ-OTDR) is a highly sensitive distributed vibration sensing technology crucial for pipeline safety monitoring. However, its sensitivity makes it susceptible to environmental interference, leading to frequent false alarms by misclassifying routine activities as threats. To enable accurate threat identification and rapid response, this study proposes a lightweight LightPatch Vision Transformer (LP-ViT) model suitable for edge deployment. We establish a mapping between excavator-pipeline distance and threat levels: “direct intrusion” (within 5 m), “high-risk operation” (within 10 m), and “background construction” (beyond 15 m). The LP-ViT model is developed through structural optimization and parameter compression of the standard Vision Transformer, achieving a 96.6% reduction in parameter count while maintaining a high classification accuracy of 89.9%. Furthermore, via knowledge distillation, we derive an ultra-lightweight student model with merely 0.37 M parameters, which achieves an inference latency of 5.5 ms per sample, enabling millisecond-level threat detection and response. The proposed solution effectively enhances both the classification accuracy and real-time performance of Φ-OTDR systems in complex environments, providing a practical pathway for implementing edge intelligence in pipeline safety monitoring. Full article

COMCUBE-S (Compton Telescope CubeSat Swarm) is a proposed mission aimed at understanding the radiation mechanisms of ultra-relativistic jets from Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). It consists of a swarm of 16U CubeSats carrying a state-of-the-art Compton polarimeter and a bismuth germanium oxide (BGO) spectrometer to perform timing, spectroscopic and polarimetric measurements of the prompt emission from GRBs. The mission is currently in a feasibility study phase (Phase A) with the European Space Agency to prepare an in-orbit demonstration. Here, we present the simulation work used to optimise the design and operational concept of the microsatellite constellation, as well as estimate the mission performance in terms of GRB detection rate and polarimetry. We used the MEGAlib software to simulate the response function of the gamma-ray instruments, together with a detailed model for the background particle and radiation fluxes in low-Earth orbit. We also developed a synthetic GRB population model to best estimate the detection rate. These simulations show that COMCUBE-S will detect about 2 GRBs per day, which is significantly higher than that of all past and current GRB missions. Furthermore, simulated performance for linear polarisation measurements shows that COMCUBE-S will be able to uniquely distinguish between competing models of the GRB prompt emission, thereby shedding new light on some of the most fundamental aspects of GRB physics. Full article

Pedestrian detection from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) holds significant value in security surveillance and emergency response applications. While visible-infrared (RGB-IR) fusion technology demonstrates potential in handling complex lighting conditions through cross-modal information complementarity, current mainstream fusion mechanisms still suffer from two evident shortcomings: (1) Existing approaches insufficiently account for the significant differences in noise distribution between infrared and visible images under varying imaging conditions, leading to unstable feature representations and posing fundamental challenges to subsequent effective fusion; and (2) Existing fusion strategies lack dynamic adaptability to features from different modalities, making it difficult to fully exploit complementary key information across modalities. To address these issues, this paper proposes a novel Laplacian Frequency Enhanced DETR (LF-DETR). The core innovations are threefold: (1) A Laplacian of Gaussian feature enhancement module is designed to independently enhance features in the visible and infrared branches at the early stage of feature extraction, effectively improving the representation quality of each modality. (2) A learnable frequency-domain fusion module is constructed to achieve adaptive complementary fusion of cross-modal features. (3) A dual-domain collaborative framework is proposed to integrate the above modules within a unified DETR architecture for RGB-IR pedestrian detection. Experimental results on the public RGBTDronePerson, VTUAV-det and DVTOD datasets demonstrate that LF-DETR achieves state-of-the-art performance, with particularly significant detection gains in challenging scenarios such as nighttime and low-light conditions, validating the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method. Full article

The homeobox transcription factor (TF) superfamily includes the WUSCHEL-RELATED HOMEOBOX (WOX) family, which plays a critical role in adaptive plant growth. Specifically, WOX regulates stem growth in plants, with stems serving as the structural framework for laticifers in Euphorbia hirta. However, the number of WOX gene family members in the E. hirta genome has not been reported. In this study, we identified 14 EhWOX genes in E. hirta and characterized their physicochemical properties, chromosomal locations, phylogenetic relationships, conserved motifs, gene structures, promoter cis elements, gene ontology (GO) enrichment, tissue-specific expression patterns, and subcellular localization. Chromosomal mapping indicated their distribution across nine chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis classified these genes into three evolutionary clades. Promoter cis-element analysis identified abundant light-responsive, hormone-responsive, and stress-responsive elements. GO enrichment suggested their broad involvement in diverse biological processes. Additionally, RNA-seq revealed high expression levels of EhWOX4-6 and EhWOX14 in stems. Furthermore, RT-qPCR confirmed tissue-specific expression in stems. Moreover, experimental evidence confirmed the subcellular localization and autoactivation capability of some WOX proteins that may be involved in stem development. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive characterization of the candidate EhWOX genes and provides a foundational resource for future functional investigations into their possible roles in stem and laticifer biology. Full article

We report a novel phenomenon in which dynamic changes in luminance are perceived as changes in transparency rather than as changes in surface lightness. Participants viewed an achromatic disc on a uniform gray background and indicated whether the observed change was best described in terms of lightness or transparency. In Experiment 1, transparency-change responses were more frequent at low contrast and were strongly biased toward sequences in which contrast decreased over time, revealing a pronounced asymmetry between decreasing and increasing contrast trajectories. Experiment 2 introduced a size manipulation, such that the disc either expanded or contracted during the luminance modulation. Transparency-change responses were highest when contrast decreased and the disc expanded, indicating that spatial expansion further amplifies transparency-related interpretations of the disc’s surface appearance. Overall, the results reveal a systematic asymmetry in how contrast-change direction shapes visual appearance, consistent with a forward bias in the processing of continuously changing visual signals. When contrast dynamically approached the background level, perceptual representations appeared to be weighted toward the upcoming low-contrast state, enhancing impressions of increasing transparency. These findings demonstrate that even minimal displays lacking traditional geometric cues to transparency can evoke strong transparency impressions, driven by predictive weighting of spatiotemporal contrast trajectories rather than by static image properties alone. Full article

The global challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been framed primarily in terms of genetic resistance mechanisms. Nevertheless, bacteria can also survive antimicrobial stress through phenotypic plasticity, resulting in transient, non-genetic states such as tolerance, persistence, and population-level resilience. These phenotypic states complicate diagnostic efforts, diminish antibiotic efficacy, and contribute to the chronic nature of infections even in the absence of heritable resistance. This review evaluates phenotypic plasticity as a significant yet underrecognized factor in AMR, with a focus on responses to oxidative and photodynamic stress. Key manifestations of plasticity are discussed, including morphological and metabolic remodeling such as filamentation, small-colony variants, and metabolic rewiring, as well as envelope- and biofilm-associated heterogeneity and regulatory flexibility mediated by gene networks and horizontal regulatory transfer. The review highlights plastic responses elicited by reactive oxygen species-mediated stress and antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation, where single-cell heterogeneity, biofilm and mucus barriers, and light-dependent cues influence bacterial survival. Case studies are presented to demonstrate how photodynamic strategies can induce transient protective states and act synergistically with antibiotics, revealing mechanisms of action that extend beyond conventional single-target therapeutic models. Drawing on evidence from single-cell analyses, biofilm ecology, and experimental evolution, this review establishes phenotypic plasticity as a central element in the chemical biology of AMR. Enhanced understanding of plasticity is essential for advancing diagnostics, informing the development of adjuvant therapies, and predicting bacterial responses to novel antimicrobial interventions. Full article

In light of the rapid adoption of text-to-image (T2I) tools in higher education, this study develops a stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) model to explain the sustainable and responsible use intentions of text-to-image generative AI tools in higher education. Focusing on both university students and faculty, the model conceptualizes perceptions of ease of use, information quality, and ethical awareness as external stimuli; technology- and ethics-related anxiety as internal emotional states; and algorithmic trust, perceived risk, and sustainable use intention as behavioral evaluations and responses. Grounded in the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) framework, we integrate the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Technology Threat Avoidance Theory (TTAT), and the DeLone–McLean (D&M) model to propose a layered mechanism, with personal innovativeness serving as a moderator. Utilizing 807 valid survey responses, we employed structural equation modeling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. The results reveal that (1) the overall chain is supported: perceived ease of use, information quality, and ethical awareness primarily influence sustainable use intention indirectly through anxiety, trust, and risk; (2) although higher usability and quality do not alleviate anxiety, they coexist within a complex pattern of trust amid anxiety; and (3) high levels of personal innovativeness diminish the linear effects of trust and risk on intention. Configurational evidence further indicates multiple pathways leading to high sustainable intention, whereas low intention is typically characterized by uniformly low perceptions, emotions, evaluations, and innovativeness. By framing sustainable adoption through a coupled trust–risk–anxiety lens, this study extends the understanding of generative AI use in education and offers actionable implications for promoting responsible and sustainable practices in universities. Full article

The AP2/ERF superfamily is a key class of transcription factors involved in plant responses to various stresses. As an ancient species, the olive tree (Olea europaea L.) exhibits considerable stress tolerance and wide adaptability. In this study, we identified 348 AP2/ERF genes in the cultivated olive variety ‘Arbequina’ at the whole-genome level. According to protein sequence alignments and phylogenetic analyses via the Maximum Likelihood method, these genes were classified into four major families: AP2, ERF/DREB, RAV, and Soloist. The ERF/DREB family was further divided into DREB and ERF subfamilies, each encompassing six groups (A1–A6 and B1–B6), with the ERF subfamily being the largest. Members of each group exhibited relatively consistent gene structures and domain/motif compositions of their encoded proteins; however, the distribution of cis-elements and expression patterns varied. Each AP2/ERF gene contained 12 light-responsive, three MeJA-responsive, three ABA-responsive, two anaerobic induction, and one MYB binding site on average. With the threshold of p value < 0.5, control TPM > 0, and |log₂(fold change)| > 0, 50 candidate genes were simultaneously up-regulated (30) or down-regulated (20) under four stress treatments (acid–aluminum, cold, disease, and wound), among which nine showed potential protein–protein interactions. This study provides a comprehensive genomic characterization of the AP2/ERF family in olive and identifies key candidate stress-responsive genes, establishing a foundation for future functional studies on the molecular mechanisms of stress adaptation in the olive tree. Full article

This research examines the risk factors that influence injury severity in individual motorcycle accidents, utilising a dataset of 5253 incidents. Five machine learning algorithms—multinomial logistic regression, classification trees, random forests, XGBoost, and neural networks—were used to classify the results into three groups: Death (13.48%), Injury (80.14%), and No injury (6.38%). In all models, passenger presence was the most important predictor of injury. Motorcycle accidents involving passengers do not always have more serious consequences for several overlapping reasons. On the one hand, a motorcycle with a passenger has a significantly higher mass, which increases the braking distance and kinetic energy at the moment of collision, hindering quick defensive manoeuvres, cornering, and reactions to sudden hazards. Often, the rider also refrains from sudden movements to prevent the passenger from losing their balance. In the case of single-rider motorcycle accidents on roadways, approximately 5% of those involved with a passenger were fatalities, while approximately 48% were uninjured; in the case of those without a passenger, no one was uninjured. It follows from the above that the presence of a passenger increases the rider’s sense of responsibility. Other factors that significantly increased risk were single-lane carriageways, vehicle overturning, contaminated road surfaces, and collisions with complex objects, e.g., like trees. The multinomial logistic regression model had an overall accuracy of 69.2% on the test set. The Recurrent Neural Network achieved the best overall accuracy of 79.56%. Balanced accuracy, as the average between sensitivity and specificity of the RNN model for the “death” class was 68.15%, for the “injury” class—72.6%, and for the “no injury” class—96.61%. The Area Under the ROC Curve of the Recurrent Neural Networks model for “no injury” was 0.97, indicating it was very good at distinguishing between this class and the other classes. Even though it was easy to tell which cases did not involve injuries, it was still hard to tell the difference between fatal and non-fatal injuries in all models. The results support interventions tailored to specific situations, such as improved road lighting and speed control in rural areas, as well as helmet enforcement and safety measures at intersections in cities. Full article

This study, based on stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope observations of multiple water bodies (precipitation, river water, soil water, and groundwater) in the Ami Dongsou alpine arid watershed on the southern slope of the Qilian Mountains during 2023–2024, reveals significant seasonal fluctuations in water isotope characteristics and water source renewal mechanisms. The results show that precipitation and soil water exhibit notable enrichment during the dry season, primarily due to enhanced evaporation causing light isotopes to evaporate and heavy isotopes to accumulate. River water, influenced by both precipitation recharge and evaporation, shows smaller seasonal fluctuations. Groundwater isotopes remain stable, reflecting a slower water source renewal process with minimal seasonal influence. Through quantitative comparisons of the evaporation line’s slope and intercept, this study finds that precipitation is most significantly affected by evaporation, while groundwater is least influenced, showing more stable isotope characteristics. Climate and topography in high-altitude areas significantly regulate water isotope characteristics, especially during the dry season, where evaporation plays a dominant role in the enrichment of precipitation and river water isotopes. This study innovatively establishes an evidence framework for the linkage of multiple water body isotopes, revealing the “seasonal strong fluctuations + differential water body responses + high-altitude regulation” mechanism of water isotopes in alpine arid regions. It provides new data support for water resource management, particularly in aspects such as water source allocation during the dry season, groundwater protection, and evaporation enrichment effect prediction. Future research could expand the sample size and integrate multi-source data and hydrological models to further improve the accuracy of hydrological process predictions, offering more precise support for watershed water resource management and ecological protection. Full article

Microgreens are nutrient-dense functional foods whose yield and phytochemical composition can be regulated through light management in controlled-environment agriculture. This study evaluated species-specific responses to light intensity by analysing growth, nutrient uptake, and phytochemical accumulation in carrot, basil, arugula, and radish microgreens grown under LED lighting at four photosynthetic photon flux densities (PPFD: 67, 100, 140, and 174 μmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹). Drainage pH and electrical conductivity remained stable across treatments, indicating consistent fertigation conditions. Increasing light intensity enhanced water, nitrate, and potassium uptake and promoted biomass accumulation in all species, although responses varied in magnitude. Phytochemical profiles were strongly modulated by irradiance. Intermediate PPFD levels (100–140 μmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹) generally maximised carotenoid, sterol, and squalene accumulation, whereas lower irradiance (67 μmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹) increased vitamin C and tocopherol contents, indicating activation of antioxidant defence mechanisms. Principal component analysis showed that species identity was the primary driver of phytochemical variability, with light intensity acting as a secondary modulator. Carrot and basil responded most strongly to intermediate irradiance, while arugula and radish exhibited greater vitamin C accumulation under lower light. These results support the use of species-specific light strategies to optimise microgreen yield and nutritional quality. Full article

Enhancing selenium (Se) content of aromatic plants addresses micronutrient deficiencies affecting billions. Plants are the primary dietary Se source, so biofortification can enhance Se intake. This study examined the effects of Se biofortification with sodium selenate (5 μM Na₂SeO₄) and moderate salinity stress (10 mM sodium chloride NaCl) on dill (Anethum graveolens L.) grown in a Plant Factory with Artificial Lighting using Nutrient Film Technique (NFT-PFAL) or Floating System (FS-PFAL), and in a Greenhouse with FS (FS-GH). Se biofortification and moderate salinity stress did not affect dill yield in any hydroponic system. Plants under combined Se biofortification and salinity stress (Se + NaCl) showed increased Se concentration in leaves of 31.78 mg kg⁻¹, 33.12 mg kg⁻¹, and 23.32 mg kg⁻¹ in NFT-PFAL, FS-PFAL, and FS-GH, respectively, compared to Se alone. Total phenolics content in leaves increased under Se biofortification with salinity stress across all systems, showing 159.57%, 223.13%, and 82.64% increases over control in NFT-PFAL, FS-PFAL, and FS-GH. Oxidative stress enzymes increased in response to Se, NaCl, and combined treatments across systems. FS-GH showed highest ascorbate peroxidase and guaiacol peroxidase activities, while PFAL systems showed lower but comparable activities. This study demonstrates that combining Se biofortification with moderate salinity stress in hydroponic systems can enhance plant functionality and human nutrition. Full article