Readiness of health facilities to deliver family planning services and associated factors in urban east-central Uganda by Jacquellyn Nambi Ssanyu, Rornald Muhumuza Kananura, Leif Eriksson, Peter Waiswa, Mats Målqvist, Joan Nakayaga Kalyango

“…Results Among 152 health facilities, 94.2% offered family planning services, with an average readiness score of 46.7% (standard deviation ± 17.0). Short-acting methods had high availability (99.0%), while long-acting reversible contraceptives (34.2%) and permanent options (8.9%) were less available, compounded by prevalent stock-outs. …”
Get full text

Investigating the Response of Rainfed Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) to Different Nitrogen Fertilizer Levels in Cold Regions by Yaser Azimzadeh, Arash Mohammadzadeh, Hamid Hasanian Khoshroo, Gholamreza Ghahramanian

“…In autumn-sown Bukan, grain yield plateaued at 25 kg ha⁻¹ N, while Maragheh achieved maxima at 75 kg ha⁻¹ (autumn) and 50 kg ha⁻¹ (spring). …”
Get full text

Experimental demonstration of dual-polarization multiplexed optical phased array empowered by inverse design by Kim Jae-Yong, Lee Seungsoo, Hong Seokjin, Neseli Berkay, Choi Seungyoon, Park Hyo-Hoon, Kurt Hamza

“…To mitigate this challenge, key OPA components – polarization beam combiner, polarization-independent beam splitter, and index-modulated pixelized grating antenna – were optimized using inverse design methods and integrated, enabling efficient and seamless beam steering across both polarizations. …”
Get full text

Clinical pharmacist-led problem-specific education as a strategy for addressing suboptimal antimicrobial use in intensive care unit: a prospective pre-post analysis by Enes Emir İlerler, Yunus Emre Ayhan, Erdem Yalçinkaya, Sait Karakurt, Mesut Sancar

“…The most common indication for antimicrobial initiation was pneumonia (56.5%), while the most frequently used antimicrobial agent throughout the study was piperacillin-tazobactam (44.7%). …”
Get full text

Finite element model analysis of bolt overlap for angle steel connections of 5G shared transmission towers by Weizhou Xu, Yashan Hu, Ya Dai, Nan Zhang, Teng Tong

“…Introduction:The overlap strength of angle steel connection bolts significantly affects the change of node failure mode in the construction of 5G shared transmission towers, thereby affecting the bearing capacity of components. Methods:This study conducted an in-depth exploration of this issue using a finite element model, involving model construction, boundary condition setting, and material property definition, to simulate various common bolt lap strengths.Results and Discussion:It was found that the optimized angle steel connection significantly improved the bolt lap strength, with the average result reaching 7900N, much higher than the traditional 2000N (an improvement of 5800N). …”
Get full text

Development and validation of prediction models for diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes patients. by Shadi Naderyan Feˈli, Mohammad Hassan Emamian, Mehdi Yaseri, Hamid Riazi-Esfahani, Hassan Hashemi, Akbar Fotouhi, Kamran Yazdani

“…The five-year cumulative incidence of DR was 25.3% (95%CI: 21.8, 29.0%), and 17.0% (95%CI: 13.3, 21.0%) based on the second and third phases, respectively, while 10-year cumulative incidence was 40.0% (95%CI: 35.8, 44.0%). …”
Get full text

The prediction of karst-collapse susceptibility levels based on the ISSA-ELM integrated model by Jiaxin Wang, Ying Yang, Xian Yang, Yulong Lu, Yang Liu, Da Hu, Yongjia Hu

“…To address the limitations of conventional prediction methods, in this study, we introduce an enhanced predictive model, the improved sparrow search algorithm-optimized extreme learning machine (ISSA-ELM), for accurate karst-collapse susceptibility assessment. …”
Get full text

Hop to It! The Relationship Between Hop Tests and The Anterior Cruciate Ligament – Return to Sport Index After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in NCAA Division 1 Collegia... by Michael Zarro, Madelyn Dickman, Timothy Hulett, Robert Rowland, Derrick Larkins, Jeffrey Taylor, Christa Nelson

“…# Background Outcomes after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) may not be optimal, with poor physical and psychological function potentially affecting return to sport (RTS) ability. …”
Get full text

Small extracellular vesicles derived from mesenchymal stromal cells loaded with β-nicotinamide mononucleotide activate NAD+/SIRT3 signaling pathway-mediated mitochondrial autophagy... by Zixuan Sun, Jiali Li, Yuzhou Zheng, Jiaxin Zhang, Wenhuan Bai, Xinyi Deng, Zhijing Wu, XueZhong Xu, Wei Ding, Hui Qian, Yulin Tan

“…Based on this, we applied electroporation to construct NMN-loaded hucMSC-sEVs (NMN-sEVs) to improve their stability and efficacy and to enhance their potential for translational application in medical aesthetics and anti-aging. Methods D-galactose was applied to construct a mouse skin aging model, based on which comparative analyses of topical and nano-microneedle administration were performed to determine the optimal delivery method of sEVs in vivo experiments. …”
Get full text

Genetic diversity analysis and core collection construction of Phyllanthus emblica based on SSR markers by WANG Jianchao, ZHANG Xiaoyan, ZHANG Lijie, LI Tao, XIE Lixue

“…The core collection of P. emblica was constructed using the optimal scheme of Jaccard genetic distance, class average method, and priority sampling strategy. …”
Get full text

CO2 flooding effects and breakthrough times in low-permeability reservoirs with injection–production well patterns containing hydraulic fractures by Nanlin Zhang, Bin Cao, Fushen Liu, Liangliang Jiang, Zhifeng Luo, Pingli Liu, Yusong Chen

“…Nonlinear relationships among the respective variables were established, with Sobol method analysis delineating the dominant control factors. …”
Get full text

A Compact Shared-Aperture Antenna With 2-Transmit and 2-Receive Highly-Isolated Ports for Full-Duplex MIMO Systems by Junhui Rao, Zhaoyang Ming, Jichen Zhang, Zan Li, Chi-Yuk Chiu, Ross Murch

“…Additionally, an analytical method is proposed to optimize the IMR for achieving the desired performance. …”
Get full text

A CRISPR/Cas9-based system using dual-sgRNAs for efficient gene deletion in Mycobacterium abscessus by Linai Li, Yuxiang Hu, Dan Wang, Xin Li, Shengjuan Bao, Taibing Deng, Qinglan Wang

“…Furthermore, we systematically optimized the modular arrangement of genetic components in Cas9/dual-sgRNA expression plasmids and refined their construction workflow, achieving a significant reduction in cassette loss rates while enabling single-step plasmid assembly. …”
Get full text

Φ-OTDR disturbance localization of communication optical cable based on moving variance average and spectral subtraction by Wei SHEN, Xin HU, Ze ZHANG, Ling JU, Jian WU, Yi HUANG

“…A comparative analysis is conducted between spectral subtraction and two alternative noise reduction methods-wavelet decomposition and empirical mode decomposition. …”
Get full text

Development and validation of a risk prediction model for perioperative acute kidney injury in non-cardiac and non-urological surgery patients: a retrospective cohort study by Xuhui Cong, Xuli Zou, Ruilou Zhu, Yubao Li, Lu Liu, Jiaqiang Zhang

“…Further validation in diverse populations is recommended to optimize its clinical application.…”
Get full text

Lower Limb Motion Recognition Based on Surface Electromyography Decoding Using S-Transform Energy Concentration by Baoyu Li, Guanghua Xu, Jinju Pei, Dan Luo, Hui Li, Chenghang Du, Kai Zhang, Sicong Zhang

“…Addressing the loss of phase information in existing methods, the approach combines S-transform energy concentration and multi-channel fusion analysis. …”
Get full text

Early to Late VSV-G Expression in AcMNPV BV Enhances Transduction in Mammalian Cells but Does Not Affect Virion Yield in Insect Cells by Jorge Alejandro Simonin, Franco Uriel Cuccovia Warlet, María del Rosario Bauzá, María del Pilar Plastine, Victoria Alfonso, Fernanda Daniela Olea, Carolina Susana Cerrudo, Mariano Nicolás Belaich

“…<b>Background/Objectives:</b> Baculoviruses represent promising gene delivery vectors for mammalian systems, combining high safety profiles with substantial cargo capacity. While pseudotyping with vesicular stomatitis virus G-protein (VSV-G) enhances transduction efficiency, optimal expression strategies during the Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) infection cycle remain unexplored. …”
Get full text

Simulation of Patch Field Effect in Space-Borne Gravitational Wave Detection Missions by Mingchao She, Xiaodong Peng, Li-E Qiang

“…These results establish a foundation for optimizing mitigation strategies against patch-induced noise in future space missions.…”
Get full text

Effects of virtual reality-based interventions on cognitive function, emotional state, and quality of life in patients with mild cognitive impairment: a meta-analysis by Xiaohan Li, Yuting Zhang, Lifeng Tang, Lifeng Tang, Lin Ye, Min Tang

“…The primary outcome was cognitive function, while secondary outcomes included emotional state, quality of life, and dynamic balance. …”
Get full text

Intelligent reflecting surface backscatter-enabled physical layer security enhancement via deep reinforcement learning by Manzoor Ahmed, Touseef Hussain, Muhammad Shahwar, Feroz Khan, Muhammad Sheraz, Wali Ullah Khan, Teong Chee Chuah, It Ee Lee

“…The IRS is strategically deployed to mitigate jamming attacks and eavesdropper threats while improving signal reception for legitimate users (LUs) by redirecting jamming signals toward desired communication signals leveraging physical layer security (PLS). …”
Get full text