Heliyon

Gnetum gnemon L. is an evergreen tree that belongs to the Gnetaceae family and is commonly used as a vegetable and medicinal plant among indigenous people. The key goal of this study was to assess the antibacterial efficacy of ethanolic G. gnemon leaf extract (EGLE) against six food-borne pathogens. The antimicrobial activity of EGLE was evaluated using multiple methods, including the well diffusion assay (WDA), minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), and time-kill assay...

This qualitative study examined the experiences of early career language teachers in Iran, exploring the complex interplay between perfectionism, emotion regulation, and their implications for teacher well-being and retention. In this regard, through in-depth interviews with 15 participants, the study provided insights on how self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism might affect teachers' sense of well-being. The study findings revealed that while self-oriented perfectionism was associated with a drive for professional growth and job satisfaction, socially prescribed perfectionism contributed to heightened stress and a contemplation of leaving the profession...

BACKGROUND: Respiratory infections are common in children and can quickly deteriorate, necessitating vigilant nursing care. Simulation training provides a valuable tool for nursing students to learn how to manage children with respiratory infections. Peer tutoring has demonstrated benefits, including the creation of a safe, supportive learning environment and the perception of peer tutors as beneficial role models. This study aimed to develop a simulation education program for the care of children with respiratory infections, involving peer tutoring among nursing students, and to assess its effectiveness...

This study analyzed the optical and laser spot acquisition capabilities of a newly developed dual-wavelength-band camera. The camera performance was evaluated using a 3.0 m × 1.8 m Styrofoam target and a 70-mJ laser target designator; mid-infrared images were acquired based on the target distance, and a laser beam was irradiated onto the target to detect laser spots. The dual-wavelength-band camera demonstrated target recognition and spot detection ranges of 3 and 2 km, respectively...

Empirical evidence proves that agricultural research and development expenditure, and researchers attract high returns though the investments have long gestation periods. Nonetheless, Sub-Saharan Africa invests meagerly in agricultural research and development, and researchers. This study explores the impacts of agricultural research and development expenditures, and researchers on food security in the region and across the sub-regions. The study applies Bootstrapped linear squared dummy variable due to its capacity to handle heterogeneity and missing observations and two-step system generalized method of moments techniques to analyze the data on 24 sub-Saharan African countries over the period 2000-2016...

Stem cell transplantation has emerged as a promising avenue in regenerative medicine, potentially facilitating tissue repair in degenerative diseases and injuries. This review comprehensively examines recent developments and challenges in stem cell transplantation. It explores the identification and isolation of various stem cell types, including embryonic, induced pluripotent, and adult stem cells derived from multiple sources. Additionally, the review highlights the tissue-specific applications of these stem cells, focusing on bone and cartilage regeneration, treatment of neurological disorders, and management of hematological conditions...

Stabilizing customer relationships plays an important role in improving supply chain resilience. Based on a sample of A-share listed companies in the manufacturing industry from 2009 to 2022, this work investigates the impact of SOM(service-oriented manufacturing) on supply chain resilience from the perspective of customer stability. The results showed that SOM has a positive impact on customer relationship stability, indicating that manufacturing enterprises carrying out SOM can improve customer relationship stability, and this stable relationship is long lasting...

OBJECTIVE: To identify the defining attributes, antecedents, consequences and empirical referents to form an operational definition of social isolation in people with type 2 diabetes. DESIGN: The Walker and Avant approach. DATA SOURCE: An electronic search of the literature using China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang database, PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and PsycINFO informed the analysis. The search included both quantitative and qualitative studies related to social isolation in people with type 2 diabetes published in Chinese and English...

OBJECTIVE: Reduced IGF-1 signalling is an evolutionarily conserved mediator of longevity, yet the magnitude of this effect is substantially larger in organisms retaining a common insulin and IGF-1 receptor. Whether this reflects the failure to simultaneously reduce IGF-1 and insulin signalling in mammalian model systems remains unexplored, as is the associated impact on markers of healthy ageing. We set out to address these uncertainties. METHODS: We compared the duration of healthy life (healthspan) in male mice with haploinsufficiency of the insulin receptor (IRKO), IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1RKO), or both (DKO), versus wildtype (WT) littermates...

Suppressed demand arises from inadequate energy access, resulting in unmet basic needs. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of the informal economy, rising temperatures, and electricity transmission losses on suppressed demand in Ghana from 2000 to 2020, using a quantile autoregressive distributed lag (QARDL) approach. The study forecasts suppressed demand using Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios, offering insights for energy system planning. The results indicate that all the variables significantly affect suppressed demand in the mid-quantiles...

BACKGROUND: The tumor microenvironment (TME) of colorectal cancer (CRC) mainly comprises immune cells, stromal cells, tumor cells, as well as the extracellular matrix (ECM), which holds a pivotal position. The ECM affects cancer progression, but its regulatory roles and predictive potential in CRC are not fully understood. METHODS: We analyzed transcriptomes from CRC tumors and paired normal tissues to study ECM features. Up-regulated ECM components were examined through functional enrichment analysis, and single-cell sequencing identified cell types producing collagen, regulators, and secreted factors...

The grey wolf optimizer is a novel intelligent optimization algorithm that has become popular due to its low number of parameters, fast convergence speed, and simplicity. However, the classical algorithm, with its update strategy allowing wolves to learn only from the alpha wolves, often leads to premature convergence and lower convergence accuracy. Therefore, in this paper, an improved grey wolf optimization algorithm based on scale-free network topology (SFGWO) is proposed to address these issues. The improved algorithm first employs a strategy for formulating a population based on a scale-free network topology, where interaction between wolves is limited to topological neighbors, which helps enhance the exploration capabilities of the algorithm...

The prevalence of brown carbon (BrC) in the atmosphere has experienced a notable upsurge owing to human activities of anthropogenic origin. This study aims to examine the optical characteristics of BrC in both deionized (DI) water and organic solvents (OS), alongside the identification of BrC chromophores within the ambient atmosphere of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Particulate matter (PM) samples were collected on quartz filters using a low-volume sampler from December 2021 to May 2022 at Mukarram Hussain Khundker Bhaban, University of Dhaka...

With the widespread application of deep learning technology in various fields, power load forecasting, as an important link in power system operation and planning, has also ushered in new opportunities and challenges. Traditional forecasting methods perform poorly when faced with the high uncertainty and complexity of power loads. In view of this, this paper proposes a power load forecasting model PSO-BiTC based on deep learning and particle swarm optimization. This model combines a temporal convolutional network (TCN) and a bidirectional long short-term memory network (BiLSTM), using TCN to process long sequence data and capture features and patterns in time series, while using BiLSTM to capture long-term and short-term dependencies...

With an emphasis on memory-type approaches, this study presents a class of estimators specifically designed for estimating population variation in simple random sampling (SRS). The term 'memory-type' pertaining to the use of exponentially weighted moving averages (EWMA) statistic for the estimation, which utilizes the current and past information in temporal surveys. The study provides expressions for the bias and mean square error (MSE) of these estimators and establishes conditions under which their efficiency represses the conventional and other memory-type estimators...

INTRODUCTION: Early Warning Score (EWS) protocols are based on intermittent vital sign measurements, and aim to detect clinical deterioration in a timely manner. Despite its predictive value, its effectiveness remains suboptimal. An important limitation appears to be poor compliance with the EWS protocol and its variation between general wards. The current research does not yet provide an understanding of EWS compliance and variation in different nursing wards. AIM: To explore the variation in nurses' compliance with the EWS protocol among patients with and without complications and between different nursing wards...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of administrating an electronic and paper-based food insecurity screener among patients presenting to a stroke clinic during the study period. We aimed to ensure a consecutive sample for our retrospective analysis and evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of food insecurity in this population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of patients with an initial telemedicine or in-person appointment to a stroke outpatient clinic between February 1 and July 31, 2021...

Effective teacher discourse is critical in improving English as a foreign language (EFL) education, particularly in junior high schools in China, where students are at a crucial stage in their language development. As junior high school students are at a pivotal developmental stage, this research investigates the discourse patterns employed by novice and expert teachers to assess their impact on students' engagement and language acquisition. Despite the extensive research on teacher discourse in higher education, a significant gap remains regarding its application in compulsory primary education settings...

The purpose of the paper is to explore the attributes of systemic innovation that align with bioeconomy. The potential of systemic innovation, an overarching concept based on cooperation and integration along and across (emerging) value chains, to drive transitions towards bioeconomy has received limited attention. Therefore, this study aims to address this gap in knowledge. Through a systematic literature review followed by qualitative content analysis, we examine the drivers and obstacles to implementing a bio-based economy and explore which elements of systemic innovation could best facilitate these transitions...

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a viral hemorrhagic fever that affects humans and other primates. It is characterized by rapid virus spread in a short period of time. The disease has the potential to spread to many different regions of the world. In this paper, we have developed a modified mathematical model of the Ebola virus, adding the quarantine population as a control strategy. The quarantine population F and parameters <mml:math xmlns:mml="https://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>ρ</mml:mi></mml:mrow> <mml:mrow><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> represent the rate at which individuals enter the quarantine compartment, which is vital in controlling the virus spread within society...