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Breaking the interference curse in multi-target CF-mMIMO ISAC systems
No full textWe consider a cell-free massive multiple-input and multiple-output (CF-mMIMO) integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system with multiple communication users and sensing targets. In this system, the transmit access points (TX-APs) send signals to communication users and sensing targets. Subsequently, the receive APs (RX-APs) are utilized to receive the reflected signals from both the sensing targets and communication users. To mitigate interference among users and targets, while maintaining satisfactory communication performance, we apply the active channel sparsification (ACS) concept to represent the ISAC system. A max-min sensing signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) problem, that satisfies the minimum communication SINR and the total power constraint, is proposed. To solve this NP-hard optimization problem, a two-step algorithm is proposed, including a joint beam and user selection scheme and a power control scheme. Finally, our numerical results show that the proposed algorithm achieves at least 136% higher sensing SINR compared to the considered benchmarks
Corrigendum to "Metronidazole nanosuspension loaded dissolving microarray patches: An engineered composite pharmaceutical system for the treatment of skin and soft tissue infection" [Biomater. Adv. 140 (September 2022) 213073]
No full textA FoodSafeR perspective on emerging food safety hazards and associated risks
No full textThe recently launched FoodSafeR initiative is a cooperative and coordinated approach to the identification, assessment, and management of emerging food security challenges and associated risks—both chemical and microbial. The FoodSafeR consortium includes global stakeholders across governmental, inter-governmental, academic and industrial institutions involved in food safety, research, and production. Consortium members have led in-depth discussions on identifying, assessing and managing chemical and microbial food safety issues resulting from climate change, emerging microbial and chemical contaminants, and evolving dietary preferences. Food safety research often is episodic in nature, increasing after a crisis and then decreasing when there are no major problems. Timely communications about and a central source containing data on previous outbreaks were identified as crucial issues to reduce the harm that could result from a food safety issue. In the course of the discussions, both new and old microbial and chemical hazards were identified for inclusion in a central database. The database could be used to develop artificial intelligence (AI) models to explain existing and predict emerging food safety risks. The FoodSafeR hub continuously collects and merges government, academic and private sector data to enable all stakeholders to better understand emerging risks, both chemical and microbial, and where they are found. As the database expands, climate change impacts on food safety can be documented and then integrated with public health data to rigorously assess the contributions of food safety to public health risks. The overall goal is to enhance global data sharing, improve food safety standards, and ensure the production of safe, accessible food for all populations thereby reducing the economic burden of foodborne illnesses, enhancing food security, and promoting sustainable food systems. The goal of this paper is to alert the global food safety community of the availability of this new resource and to provide information on the types of data it contains while encouraging others to contribute data that would broaden the information available and enable more timely and accurate identification of potential food safety issues throughout the world.</p
Subversion-resistant autonomous path proxy re-encryption with secure deduplication for IoMT
No full textThe Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) consists of many resource-constrained medical devices that provide patients with medical services anytime and anywhere. In such an environment, the collection and sharing of medical records raise serious security concerns. Although various cryptographic schemes have been proposed, most fail to address two critical threats simultaneously: (i) sensitive data exposure caused by external cloud servers and/or open network environments; (ii) algorithm substitution attacks (ASAs) by internal adversaries. Furthermore, when data owners (e.g., delegators) are inconvenient to process their data, it is desirable to establish a more fine-grained way to delegate encryption rights. To tackle these issues, we propose a subversion-resistant autonomous path proxy re-encryption with an equality test function (SRAP-PRET). Specifically, our scheme allows the delegator to create a multi-hop delegation path in advance with the delegator's preferences, effectively preventing unauthorized access. By deploying a cryptographic reverse firewall zone, SRAP-PRET addresses the problem of information leakage caused by adversaries initiating ASAs. Additionally, SRAP-PRET also supports secure deduplication and efficient data decryption. Security analysis shows that SRAP-PRET provides resistance against ASAs and security against chosen plaintext attacks. Performance evaluations demonstrate that SRAP-PRET offers enhanced security properties without sacrificing efficiency.</p
Mould-free microneedles in a single step: 3D printing with photopolymer resins for transdermal delivery
No full textDigital light processing (DLP) 3D printing has emerged as a rapid alternative to la-bour intensive micro moulding for producing microneedle (MN) arrays, yet its use in biodegradable, dissolving MNs has been limited by proprietary, non degradable resins. The current study proposed an innovative, biocompatible PEGDA-vinyl pyrrolidone photo-resin with lithium phenyl(2,4,6 trimethylbenzoyl) phosphinate initiator, which systematically optimises its rheology and photo-reactivity for DLP printing. The resin viscosity, cure kinetics and spectral signatures were characterised, and a 40 % PEGDA up-to 100 % VP blend with 0.4 % initiator was identified as providing rapid photopol-ymerisation, low shrinkage and complete vinyl conversion. Using a desktop DLP plat-form, 6 × 6 MN patches were printed in a single step without moulds and analysed by optical and scanning electron microscopy. The printed MNs reproduced CAD dimen-sions with <3 % deviation, achieving a height of 1.40 ± 0.02 mm and a base thickness of 1.00 ± 0.01 mm, and showed a tip radius consistent with sharp penetration. Compression testing measured an array force of 32 N, corresponding to ~0.9 N per needle, exceeding the 0.2 N threshold for skin insertion. FTIR and 1H NMR confirmed near quantitative crosslinking, thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry indicated stabil-ity at ambient conditions, and dissolution studies showed complete needle dissolution. These results demonstrate that pixel aware DLP printing of an optimised PEGDA/VP resin yields geometrically precise, mechanically robust dissolving MNs in a single step, addressing the limitations of micro moulding and paving the way for customisable, on demand transdermal delivery of active molecules and biologics
“All Hands on Deck”: a systematic review of concussion guidelines across all sailing sports and a call to action
No full textBackground: Sports-related concussions are complex, traumatic brain injuries as a result of a sporting accident. Prompt diagnosis and assessment with the use of diagnostic protocols help provide athletes with the appropriate management to minimise acute and chronic implications. Objective: The objective of this systematic review is to review the current sailing concussion assessment and diagnostic guidelines and consequently propose a sailing concussion assessment and diagnostic protocol to use. Methods: Sailing organisations such as “World Sailing” were used to find current guidelines used in the sailing community. Electronic databases such as Google Scholar, Springer Link, and PubMed were used to identify relevant scientific papers. Keywords included “sailing”, “concussion”, “guidelines”, “sailing legislation”, and “sports-related concussion”. This systematic review is not limited to a specific sailing subtype. We included papers discussing concussion guidelines and excluded studies with no relevance to sports related concussions and without relevant guideline use. Findings were summarised in in text and tables. Results: While there is much research discussing head injuries in sailing, there is no literature specifically discussing protocols and guidance for concussion diagnosis and management in sailing-related concussions. Six concussion protocol papers are discussed. The World Sailing website advises individuals to use the CRT5 guidelines to assess a suspected concussion, which have been outdated by CRT6. While there are currently no standardised sailing-specific concussion assessment tools available, this review proposes a possible approach, introducing the concussion protocol used in the professional sailing league, SailGP. A sport-specific protocol is vital in addressing the specific risks associated with a sailing-related concussion. Conclusions: Concussions are a considerable risk in sailing due to the unique nature of the sport. Due to the lack of standardised concussion guidelines within the sailing community, a standardised, sport-specific concussion assessment tool, such as the one described for SailGP, should be developed through collaboration between medical professionals and sailing organisations.<br/
Overall and site-specific cancer mortality among older migrants and nonmigrants in Finland: a population register study on all deaths, 2002-2020
No full textThis study examined all-cause and cause-specific cancer mortality among older migrants and non-migrants in Finland and the role of socioeconomic status in mortality differences. We used the Finnish Causes of Death Register on all deaths (2002-2020) among individuals aged ≥ 70 (N = 718,717) and the corresponding population-at-risk data (N = 13,241,620 person years). Poisson regression was used with two sequential models adjusting for age at death, calendar year, and region of residence in Finland (M1), and personal annual disposable income (M2). We found an overall cancer mortality advantage for both migrant men (IRR in the full model 0.83, 95% CI: 0.78-0.89) and migrant women (IRR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.83-0.95) and lung cancer mortality advantage for migrant men (IRR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.67-0.89) and women (IRR: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.53-0.85). For migrant men, advantage was found in pancreatic cancer (IRR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.58-0.99), prostate cancer (IRR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.66-0.93), and leukaemia and lymphoma (IRR: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.58-0.93), and for women in genital cancers (IRR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.55-0.86). Notable variations were observed by region of origin and in certain cases, migrants' lower income obscured the full extent of their cancer mortality advantage. A mortality disadvantage was observed in stomach cancer among men (IRR: 2.76, 95% CI: 2.08-3.65) and women (IRR: 2.32, 95% CI: 1.79-3.00) born in the former USSR. Liver cancer mortality disadvantage was found for men from the Global South and East (IRR: 2.00, 95% CI: 1.10-3.61), and this association was attenuated after adjustment for personal disposable income. In cancers of the urinary tract, men born in Sweden had elevated mortality (IRR: 2.09, 95% CI: 1.14-3.81). Finings underscore the need for targeted cancer prevention and screening programmes that account for the diverse backgrounds, sex, socioeconomic status, and health risks of migrant populations, particularly those from higher-risk regions.
More than just aversive: a network analysis of the dark triad, coping, and psychopathology
No full textThe dark triads are a set of personality traits (subclinical narcissism, subclinical psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) aggregated due to their primarily socially aversive associations. However, recent work has suggested that some dimensions of these traits (e.g., narcissistic extraversion) may be adaptive in coping with psychopathology. Lesser researched are the dimensions of psychopathy and Machiavellianism in association with mental health and coping. The current study, therefore, examined the dimensions of all dark triad traits in association with psychopathology. Participants (N = 350) completed questions on dark triad factors, psychopathology, and coping. Data were analyzed using lasso regularized network analysis. The findings demonstrated that narcissistic extraversion and neuroticism could act positively and negatively, respectively, on depression through Machiavellian agency. Machiavellian agency also connected strongly and negatively to depression; however, centrality indices showed that this connection was not influential. Machiavellian agency instead acted as a bridge node to facilitate the indirect, negative connection from narcissistic extraversion and the positive connection from narcissistic neuroticism to depression. Machiavellian agency is often overlooked in dark triad research. Further research should be undertaken to understand the mechanisms by which Machiavellian agency interacts with narcissistic extraversion to protect against depression
Natural and biological products therapeutic potential in restoring gut microbiome: mechanistic insights and clinical implications
No full textThe gut microbiome is a complex ecosystem of trillions of microbes residing in the human gastrointestinal tract. This microbial community plays a pivotal role in human health by swaying various physiological processes like metabolism, immunomodulation, antimicrobial protection, and psychological health. Natural and biological products comprising herbal extracts, dietary fibers, probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics have long been documented for their potential to modulate gut microbiota composition and function. Understanding the interactions between natural products and gut microbiota can provide valuable insights into their health-promoting effects and therapeutic potential. Literature was systematically sourced, analyzed, and compiled through searches across databases such as Science Direct, Google Scholar, and PubMed. The search terms include “gut microbiome,” “Dysbiosis,” “probiotics,” “prebiotics,” “synbiotics,” “biological products,” “gut health,” “natural products,” “dietary fibers,” “resistant starches,” “clinical study reports,” “safety recommendations,” etc., and several combinations of these words. This article provides a deep insight into the overview of natural and biological products aimed at promoting a healthy gut microbiome. It underscores the functional roles of the gut microbiota, including nutrient metabolism, antimicrobial defense, and gastrointestinal tract integrity. Furthermore, it delves into the detailed mechanisms of action and clinical evidence supporting the use of probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, herbal extracts, and dietary fibers in modulating gut microbiota composition and function. The biological activity, detailed mechanism of action, safety, and their considerable potential as modulators of gut microbiota composition and function have been extensively studied. Further research is necessary to clarify the underlying mechanisms of action to investigate their clinical implications.<br/
Methodological guidance for individual participant data meta-analyses: a systematic review
No full textTo systematically identify and synthesize methodological guidance for conducting IPD-MAs of randomized trials and observational studies, to inform the development of a critical appraisal tool for reports of IPD-MAs. We searched nine major electronic databases and grey literature sources through June 2025 using a strategy developed with a health sciences librarian. To be eligible, articles had to report empirical, simulation-based, consensus-based, or narrative research and offer guidance on the methodology of IPD-MA. Study selection and data extraction were performed independently by two reviewers. Quality was assessed using tools tailored to study design (e.g., ADEMP, ROBIS, ACCORD, SANRA). Extracted guidance was categorized thematically and mapped to appraisal domains. After screening 14,736 records, we included 141 studies. These encompassed simulation (38%), empirical (21%), and methodological guidance (12%), among others. Key themes included IPD-MA planning, data access and harmonization, analytical strategies, and other statistical issues, as well as reporting. While there was robust guidance for IPD-MA of randomized trials, recommendations for observational studies are sparse. Across all study types, 63% were rated high quality. This review synthesizes previously fragmented guidance into an integrative synthesis, highlighting best practices and critical domains for evaluating IPD-MAs. These findings formed the evidence base for a Delphi consensus process to develop a dedicated IPD-MA critical appraisal tool. Meta-analyses often pool published summaries from many studies. That approach can miss important details and introduce bias. An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysi (IPD-MA) instead re-analyses the original, participant-level data across studies. IPD-MAs are powerful but complex, and practical guidance is scattered, especially for observational studies. We wanted to bring these recommendations together in one place and identify candidate items for a tool to assess the quality of a completed IPD-MA. We systematically searched eight databases from their inception to 2025 to identify papers offering practical guidance on conducting IPD-MAs for health interventions. We organized guidance across the full project life cycle, from planning, finding and accessing data, to preparing and checking data, analyzing results, and reporting. We highlighted where experts broadly agree and where gaps remain. We found 141 relevant papers published between 1995 and 2025. Among these, we identified 25 key topic areas and several smaller subtopics. Many papers covered more than one topic, so we allowed them to appear in multiple categories rather than forcing a single classification. From this mapping, we developed a clear set of recommendations organized around four themes: IPDMA planning; identification and access to studies and individual participant data; methods for meta-analysis; and other special considerations, such as methods for observational studies. We also identified notable gaps for observational IPD-MAs. Our synthesis offers a practical checklist for teams planning or reviewing IPD-MAs. It also lays the groundwork for a consensus-based appraisal tool to help editors, funders, and guideline developers judge quality and improve practice