In this study, E-nose and SPME-GC/MS were applied to compare the odour patterns and volatile compounds of two truffle species harvested in different areas of Campania (Southern Italy). In total, 107 Tuber mesentericum (black truffle) and 60 Tuber borchii (bianchetto truffle) truffles were sampled in areas of Avellino, Salerno, Benevento, and Caserta. The E-nose correctly discriminated between Tuber mesentericum and Tuber borchii truffles. The GC/MS analysis revealed qualitative-quantitative differences between Tuber mesentericum and Tuber borchii, with a prevalence of volatile phenols and aromatic compounds for the black truffle, which are responsible for smoky and floral aromas, and ketones, alcohols, aldehydes, and thiophene derivatives for the bianchetto truffle, mostly responsible for earthy mushroom- and garlic-like aromas. The discriminant analysis performed on the E-nose data pattern provided an average correct classification between 55 and 60% for the same species collected in different sites. Tuber borchii truffles were better discriminated based on the harvesting altitude (hilly and coastal areas). GC/MS revealed quantitative differences in the volatile compounds of truffles of the same species collected in different areas, with variations in abundance based on the harvesting site. The distinctive profile of volatile compounds could represent a useful chemical marker to be investigated to authenticate the truffle harvesting area. Full article

The distribution of air pollutants in urban areas is significantly influenced by the presence of various geometric structures, including buildings, bridges, and tunnels. In built-up environments, meteorological conditions may influence the accumulation or dispersion of air pollutants in specific zones. This study examines the impact of wind and atmospheric stability on the dispersion of air pollutants around an apartment building situated in close proximity to a busy boulevard in a residential district of Sofia, Bulgaria. A series of dispersion simulations were conducted using the Graz Lagrangian Model (GRAL v.22.09) for a range of meteorological conditions, defined as combinations of the direction and velocity of the approaching flow, and of stability conditions within the study area of 1 × 1 km, with a horizontal resolution of 2 m. The resulting spatial distribution revealed the presence of hotspots and strong gradients in the concentration field. A simulation with meteorological data was also conducted, which was aligned with a campaign to monitor vehicular traffic. The sensitivity tests indicate that GRAL is capable of reproducing high-resolution pollutant fields, accounting for building effects at relatively low computational costs. This makes the model potentially attractive for city-wide simulations as well as for air pollution exposure estimation. Full article

The strength of jointed rock is a fundamental factor in the slope stability of rock mass. This research investigates the effect of infill thickness on the strength of jointed rock specimens. Unlike previous studies involving artificial rock-like materials and saw-tooth surfaces, this work has been conducted on two natural types of sandstone with various rock surfaces. Natural low-plasticity clay of different thicknesses (1 mm to 3 mm) was used as the infill material. A series of shear box tests with a range of initial normal stresses from 0.5 MPa to 1.5 MPa were performed to obtain high-quality data regarding the shear strength of natural rock and to provide insights into the effect of infill and rock surface roughness on shear strength. The obtained results were also used to improve the current methods of rock strength predictions, which were initially designed to estimate the strength of artificial rock-like material. Based on the obtained laboratory data and the strength estimation using different methods, a newly proposed procedure was proved to provide more accurate estimations of the shear strength of jointed rock. Full article

The European Green Deal poses a two-pronged challenge for the automotive industry: migrating to solutions based on light structures, requiring lightweight concepts and light materials, while at the same time avoiding dependence on the importation of these advanced materials. Aluminium alloys are lightweight and cost-effective materials that can successfully meet the requirements of many structural applications; however, their production requires bauxite and other Critical Raw Materials (CRMs), such as Si and Mg. Aluminium alloys are fully recyclable, but scrap is usually contaminated and its use is related to an increment of impurities, tramp elements and undesired inclusions. Traditionally, the use of secondary alloys has been restricted to low-performance applications. The present work analyses the effect that the use of scrap has on the quantity of inclusions present in the alloy and on other properties relevant for material processing. This study was carried out using common alloys associated with three of the most common aluminium processes used in the car manufacturing industry: high-pressure die casting (HPDC) (AB-43500), extrusion (6063) and sheet metal forming (5754 and 6181). The reference alloys were mixed with different levels of scrap (0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100%), with an aim to keep the chemical composition as unaffected as possible. The inclusion level of the alloy was characterized using the Prefil Footprinter^® test. In addition, the obtained materials, after being cast in an open mould, were subjected to metallographic characterization. Relevant properties were measured to assess the processability of the alloys for the corresponding transforming process using the flowability test for the HPDC alloy and high-temperature compression for the extrusion alloys. The results obtained suggest that the number of inclusions present in the melt highly increase with the amount of scrap used to produce the alloy. These inclusions are also related to a significant loss of flowability, but do not have a noticeable impact on microstructure. Full article

Acoustic event detection (AED) systems, combined with video surveillance systems, can enhance urban security and safety by automatically detecting incidents, supporting the smart city concept. AED systems mostly use mel spectrograms as a well-known effective acoustic feature. The spectrogram is a combination of frequency bands. A big challenge is that some of the spectrogram bands may be similar in different events and be useless in AED. Removing useless bands reduces the input feature dimension and is highly desirable. This article proposes a mathematical feature analysis method to identify and eliminate ineffective spectrogram bands and improve AED systems’ efficiency. The proposed approach uses a Student’s t-test to compare frequency bands of the spectrogram from different acoustic events. The similarity between each frequency band among events is calculated using a two-sample t-test, allowing the identification of distinct and similar frequency bands. Removing these bands accelerates the training speed of the used classifier by reducing the number of features, and also enhances the system’s accuracy and efficiency. Based on the obtained results, the proposed method reduces the spectrogram bands by 26.3%. The results showed an average difference of 7.77% in the Jaccard, 4.07% in the Dice, and 5.7% in the Hamming distance between selected bands using train and test datasets. These small values underscore the validity of the obtained results for the test dataset. Full article

This study investigated the influences of ultrafine fly ash (UFA) and ultrafine slag powder (USL) on the compressive strengths, autogenous shrinkage, phase assemblage, and microstructure of magnesium potassium phosphate cement (MKPC). The findings indicate that the aluminosilicate fractions present in both ultrafine fly ash and ultrafine slag participate in the acid–base reaction of the MKPC system, resulting in a preferential formation of irregularly crystalline struvite-K incorporating Al and Si elements or amorphous aluminosilicate phosphate products. UFA addition mitigates early age autogenous shrinkage in MKPC-based materials, whereas USL exacerbates this shrinkage. In terms of the sustained mechanical strength development of the MKPC system, ultrafine fly ash is preferred over ultrafine slag powder. MKPC pastes with ultrafine fly ash show greater compressive strength compared to those with ultrafine slag powder at 180 days due to denser interfaces between the ultrafine fly ash particles and hydration products like struvite-K. The incorporation of 30 wt% ultrafine fly ash enhances compressive strengths across all testing ages. Full article

The MAF gene encodes a transcription factor in which pathogenic variants have been associated with both isolated and syndromic congenital cataracts. We aim to review the MAF variants in the C-terminal DNA-binding domain associated with non-syndromic congenital cataracts and describe a patient with a novel, disease-causing de novo missense variant. Published reports of C-terminal MAF variants and their associated congenital cataracts and ophthalmic findings were reviewed. The patient we present and his biological parents had genetic testing via a targeted gene panel followed by trio-based whole exome sequencing. A 4-year-old patient with a history of bilateral nuclear and cortical cataracts was found to have a novel, likely pathogenic de novo variant in MAF, NM_005360.5:c.922A>G (p.Lys308Glu). No syndromic findings or anterior segment abnormalities were identified. We report the novel missense variant, c.922A>G (p.Lys308Glu), in the C-terminal DNA-binding domain of MAF classified as likely pathogenic and associated with non-syndromic bilateral congenital cataracts. Full article

Coastal and underwater archaeological sites pose significant challenges in terms of investigation, conservation, valorisation, and management. These sites are often at risk due to climate change and various human-made impacts such as urban expansion, maritime pollution, and natural deterioration. However, advances in remote sensing (RS) and Earth observation (EO) technologies applied to cultural heritage (CH) sites have led to the development of various techniques for underwater cultural heritage (UCH) exploration. The aim of this work was the evaluation of an integrated methodological approach using ultra-high-resolution (UHR) bathymetric data to aid in the identification and interpretation of submerged archaeological contexts. The study focused on a selected area of the submerged Archaeological Park of Baia (Campi Flegrei, south Italy) as a test site. The study highlighted the potential of an approach based on UHR digital bathymetric model (DBM) derivatives and the use of machine learning and statistical techniques to automatically extract and discriminate features of archaeological interest from other components of the seabed substrate. The results achieved accuracy rates of around 90% and created a georeferenced vector map similar to that usually drawn by hand by archaeologists. Full article

This work unfolds functionalized ABSs composed of FILs ([C${}_2$C${}_1$Im][C${}_4$F${}_9$SO${}_3$] and [N${}_{1112\left(\mathrm{OH}\right)}$][C${}_4$F${}_9$SO${}_3$]), mere fluoro-containing ILs ([C${}_2$C${}_1$Im][CF${}_3$SO${}_3$] and [C${}_4$C${}_1$Im][CF${}_3$SO${}_3$]), known globular protein stabilizers (sucrose and [N${}_{1112\left(\mathrm{OH}\right)}$][C${}_4$F${}_9$SO${}_3$]), low-molecular-weight carbohydrate (glucose), and even high-charge density salt (K${}_3$PO${}_4$). The ternary phase diagrams were determined, stressing that FILs highly increased the ability for ABS formation. The functionalized ABSs (FILs vs. mere fluoro-containing ILs) were used to extract lysozyme (Lys). The ABSs’ biphasic regions were screened in terms of protein biocompatibility, analyzing the impact of ABS phase-forming components in Lys by UV-VIS spectrophotometry, CD spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, DSC, and enzyme assay. Lys partition behavior was characterized in terms of extraction efficiency (% EE). The structure, stability, and function of Lys were maintained or improved throughout the extraction step, as evaluated by CD spectroscopy, DSC, enzyme assay, and SDS-PAGE. Overall, FIL-based ABSs are more versatile and amenable to being tuned by the adequate choice of the phase-forming components and selecting the enriched phase. Binding studies between Lys and ABS phase-forming components were attained by MST, demonstrating the strong interaction between Lys and FILs aggregates. Two of the FIL-based ABSs (30 %wt [C${}_2$C${}_1$Im][C${}_4$F${}_9$SO${}_3$] + 2 %wt K${}_3$PO${}_4$ and 30 %wt [C${}_2$C${}_1$Im][C${}_4$F${}_9$SO${}_3$] + 25 %wt sucrose) allowed the simultaneous purification of Lys and BSA in a single ABS extraction step with high yield (extraction efficiency up to 100%) for both proteins. The purity of both recovered proteins was validated by SDS-PAGE analysis. Even with a high-charge density salt, the FIL-based ABSs developed in this work seem more amenable to be tuned. Lys and BSA were purified through selective partition to opposite phases in a single FIL-based ABS extraction step. FIL-based ABSs are proposed as an improved extraction step for proteins, based on their biocompatibility, customizable properties, and selectivity. Full article

(1) Background: Myxopapillary ependymoma (MPE) is a rare tumor of the spine, typically slow-growing and low-grade. Optimal management strategies remain unclear due to limited evidence given the low incidence of the disease. (2) Methods: We analyzed data from 1197 patients with spinal MPE from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database (2000–2020). Patient demographics, treatment modalities, and survival outcomes were examined using statistical analyses. (3) Results: Most patients were White (89.9%) with a median age at diagnosis of 42 years. Surgical resection was performed in 95% of cases. The estimated 10-year overall survival was 91.4%. Younger age (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.09, p < 0.001) and receipt of surgery (HR = 0.43, p = 0.007) were associated with improved survival. Surprisingly, male sex was associated with worse survival (HR = 1.86, p = 0.008) and a younger age at diagnosis compared to females. (4) Conclusions: This study, the largest of its kind, underscores the importance of surgical resection in managing spinal MPE. The unexpected association between male sex and worse survival warrants further investigation into potential sex-specific pathophysiological factors influencing prognosis. Despite limitations, our findings contribute valuable insights for guiding clinical management strategies for spinal MPE. Full article

The thermally stable zirconium-based MOF, UiO-66, was employed for the preparation of bonded porous‑layer open‑tubular (PLOT) GC columns. The synthesis included the in situ growth of the UiO-66 film on the inner wall of the capillary through a one-step solvothermal procedure. SEM–EDX analysis revealed the formation of a thin, continuous, uniform, and compact layer of UiO-66 polycrystals on the functionalized inner wall of the column. The average polarity (ΔI_av = 700) and the McReynolds constants reflected the polar nature of the UiO-66 stationary phase. Several mixtures of small organic compounds and real samples were used to evaluate the separation performance of the fabricated columns. Linear alkanes from n-pentane to n-decane were baseline separated within 1.35 min. Also, a series of six n-alkylbenzenes (C₃–C₈) were separated within 3 min with a minimum resolution of 3.09, whereas monohalobenzene mixtures were separated at 220 °C within 14s. UiO-66 PLOT columns are ideally suited for the isothermal separation of chlorobenzene structural isomers at 210 °C within 45 s with R_s ≥ 1.37. The prepared column featured outstanding thermal stability (up to 450 °C) without any observed bleeding or significant impact on its performance. This feature enabled the analysis of various petroleum-based samples. Full article

The extraction of features and classification of traditional dwellings plays significant roles in preserving and ensuring the sustainable development of these structures. Currently, challenges persist in subjective classification and the accuracy of feature extraction. This study focuses on traditional dwellings in Gansu Province, China, employing a novel model named Improved Swin Transformer. This model, based on the Swin Transformer and parallel grouped Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) branches, aims to enhance the accuracy of feature extraction and classification precision. Furthermore, to validate the accuracy of feature extraction during the prediction process and foster trust in AI systems, explainability research was conducted using Grad-CAM-generated heatmaps. Initially, the Gansu Province Traditional Dwelling Dataset (GTDD) is established. On the constructed GTDD dataset, the Improved Swin Transformer attains an accuracy of 90.03% and an F1 score of 87.44%. Comparative analysis with ResNet-50, ResNeXt-50, and Swin Transformer highlights the outstanding performance of the improved model. The confusion matrix of the Improved Swin Transformer model reveals the classification results across different regions, indicating that the primary influencing factors are attributed to terrain, climate, and cultural aspects. Finally, using Grad-CAM-generated heatmaps for explaining classifications, it is observed that the Improved Swin Transformer model exhibits more accurate localization and focuses on features compared to the other three models. The model demonstrates exceptional feature extraction ability with minimal influence from the surrounding environment. Simultaneously, through the heatmaps generated by the Improved Swin Transformer for traditional residential areas in five regions of Gansu, it is evident that the model accurately extracts architectural features such as roofs, facades, materials, windows, etc. This validates the consistency of features extracted by the Improved Swin Transformer with traditional methods and enhances trust in the model and decision-making. In summary, the Improved Swin Transformer demonstrates outstanding feature extraction ability and accurate classification, providing valuable insights for the protection and style control of traditional residential areas. Full article

Refractive index measurements have been an important task for a long time because that index plays an essential role in describing the optical properties of a material. Many methods have been developed to perform that task. Some of them use interferometry to achieve high precision. However, these configurations are complicated. Some measure the critical angle using simple structures, but their accuracy is unsatisfactory because it is difficult to judge the exact critical angle with intensity variations. Here, we propose several new schemes based on measuring the polarization change in the total internal reflection. The proposed method has the merits of simple structure and easy incident angle determination that gives the maximum phase change. Additionally, it is possible to find the material dispersion by measuring the wavelength dependence of the polarization ellipticity. Some useful formulas relating the refractive index to the maximum phase change are obtained. This work can provide valuable alternatives for refractive index measurement. Full article

The acetylation of histone lysine residues regulates multiple life processes, including growth, conidiation, and pathogenicity in filamentous pathogenic fungi. However, the specific function of each lysine residue at the N-terminus of histone H3 in phytopathogenic fungi remains unclear. In this study, we mutated the N-terminal lysine residues of histone H3 in Fusarium pseudograminearum, the main causal agent of Fusarium crown rot of wheat in China, which also produces deoxynivalenol (DON) toxins harmful to humans and animals. Our findings reveal that all the FpH3^K9R, FpH3^K14R, FpH3^K18R, and FpH3^K23R mutants are vital for vegetative growth and conidiation. Additionally, FpH3K14 regulates the pathogen’s sensitivity to various stresses and fungicides. Despite the slowed growth of the FpH3^K9R and FpH3^K23R mutants, their pathogenicity towards wheat stems and heads remains unchanged. However, the FpH3^K9R mutant produces more DON. Furthermore, the FpH3^K14R and FpH3^K18R mutants exhibit significantly reduced virulence, with the FpH3^K18R mutant producing minimal DON. In the FpH3^K9R, FpH3^K14R, FpH3^K18R, and FpH3^K23R mutants, there are 1863, 1400, 1688, and 1806 downregulated genes, respectively, compared to the wild type. These downregulated genes include many that are crucial for growth, conidiation, pathogenicity, and DON production, as well as some essential genes. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis indicates that genes downregulated in the FpH3^K14R and FpH3^K18R mutants are enriched for ribosome biogenesis, rRNA processing, and rRNA metabolic process. This suggests that the translation machinery is abnormal in the FpH3^K14R and FpH3^K18R mutants. Overall, our findings suggest that H3 N-terminal lysine residues are involved in regulating the expression of genes with important functions and are critical for fungal development and pathogenicity. Full article

The pancreas is an organ with both exocrine and endocrine functions, comprising a highly organized and complex tissue microenvironment composed of diverse cellular and non-cellular components. The impairment of microenvironmental homeostasis, mediated by the dysregulation of cell-to-cell crosstalk, can lead to pancreatic diseases such as pancreatitis, diabetes, and pancreatic cancer. Macrophages, key immune effector cells, can dynamically modulate their polarization status between pro-inflammatory (M1) and anti-inflammatory (M2) modes, critically influencing the homeostasis of the pancreatic microenvironment and thus playing a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of the pancreatic disease. This review aims to summarize current findings and provide detailed mechanistic insights into how alterations mediated by macrophage polarization contribute to the pathogenesis of pancreatic disorders. By analyzing current research comprehensively, this article endeavors to deepen our mechanistic understanding of regulatory molecules that affect macrophage polarity and the intricate crosstalk that regulates pancreatic function within the microenvironment, thereby facilitating the development of innovative therapeutic strategies that target perturbations in the pancreatic microenvironment. Full article

Soil is a component of the environment. An environmental policy should identify the sources of trace metals in the soil and their effects on people and living beings. The concentrations of 29 surface soil samples (0–25 cm) were determined using the methods EPA 3050B. The data were analyzed using simple and robust statistical analysis that allowed for determining geochemical baseline values. Principal component and correlation analyses were performed, which, together with a spatial analysis, allowed us to distinguish between geogenic and anthropogenic sources. The degree of soil contamination was evaluated using different ecological indices, and the health risks to children and adults were calculated using formulas proposed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The median concentrations of the analyzed elements correspond to Al 17,666 (mg/kg), As 8.7 (mg/kg), Ba 61.4 (mg/kg), Cd 0.17 (mg/kg), Cr 11.3 (mg/kg), Cu 20.5 (mg/kg), Fe 25,953 (mg/kg), Hg 0.06 (mg/kg), Mn 499 (mg/kg), Ni 20.8 (mg/kg), Pb 15.9 (mg/kg), and Zn 60.6 (mg/kg). In the principal component analysis, four factors were identified that explain 70.3% of the variability of the elements, which, together with the correlation analysis, suggest that the origin of the elements is mainly geogenic with some possible anthropic contributions. The elements analyzed in the soil with moderate contamination correspond to As, Cd, and Pb, in addition, As is the only element that indicated a value above the limit for carcinogenic risk in children. The estimated geochemical baseline values correspond to Al 34,734 (mg/kg), As 15.3 (mg/kg), Ba 113 (mg/kg), Cd 0.41 (mg/kg), Cr 33.8 (mg/kg), Cu 42.9 (mg/kg), Fe 46,181 (mg/kg), Hg 0.12 (mg/kg), Mn 1015 (mg/kg), Ni 42.2 (mg/kg), Pb 21.6 (mg/kg), and Zn 121 (mg/kg). 89.7% of the total samples are at a low level of contamination. The carcinogenic risk due to As in children represents 3.4% of the total samples, so it is considered insignificant. Full article

Composite post insulators are crucial facilities in substations and are prone to significant damage during seismic disasters. However, existing research lacks seismic motion models suitable for power facilities and rarely involves stochastic models. Furthermore, considering the non-stationary characteristics of seismic motion, predicting the response of nonlinear systems under non-stationary excitation becomes exceedingly challenging. In view of this, the stochastic response of composite post insulators under the non-stationary stochastic seismic excitation appropriate for power facilities has been studied. First, a stochastic ground motion model, conforming to the Code for Seismic Design of Electrical Insulators in China, is established, incorporating amplitude and frequency non-stationarity. Next, the nonlinear dynamic system, accounting for multi-section composite post insulators and the nonlinearity of flange connections, is established under stochastic ground motion conditions. Based on this stochastic nonlinear dynamic model, the dynamic behavior of the system was analyzed using the stochastic dynamics method (the wavelet-Galerkin method), and the influence of nonlinear stiffness on the system response was discussed. The stochastic seismic response analysis method proposed in this paper can serve as a valuable reference for the seismic design of pillar-type electrical equipment. Full article

Background: Healthcare professionals appear to play a key role in shaping pregnant women’s views and attitudes towards lifestyle issues, such as exercise. The aim of this study is to investigate the views and beliefs of Greek midwives and obstetricians regarding exercise during pregnancy. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted during the period of January 2022–March 2023. For this study, 237 Greek midwives and obstetricians employed in healthcare settings in Attica, Greece completed an anonymous and self-report questionnaire. Four different/independent models of multivariate analyses of variance were conducted. Results: The vast majority of these healthcare professionals (88.6%) believed that exercise during pregnancy is generally beneficial. According to the multivariate analyses, healthcare professionals with postgraduate/doctoral studies were more likely to believe that (a) exercise is generally beneficial (p = 0.03), (b) pregnant women should be informed about it (p = 0.028), (c) informing pregnant women is necessary/useful (p = 0.023), and (d) pregnant women showed interest in it (p = 0.034). Also, freelance midwives were more likely to believe that pregnant women should be informed about exercise (p = 0.006), and that they showed interest in it (p = 0.034). In addition, (a) freelance midwives (p = 0.050), and those who had experience in antenatal counselling (p = 0.037), as well as (b) obstetricians who were largely experienced in monitoring normal pregnancies (p = 0.001), were less likely to associate exercise during pregnancy with the occurrence of placental abruption. Conclusion: Alongside healthcare professionals’ educational level, their professional setting and professional experience emerge as key factors and need to be considered when designing innovative interventions to support exercise during pregnancy. Full article

Background and Objectives: Gemcitabine has been used to treat various solid cancers, including, since 1997, metastatic pancreatic cancer. Here, we developed an HPLC-UV method to determine serum gemcitabine levels and use it in pharmacokinetic studies. Materials and Methods: The analysis was performed after a single protein precipitation step on a reversed-phase column, isocratically eluted with sodium phosphate buffer and methanol. For the pharmacokinetic study, NOD/SCID mice received a single dose of gemcitabine at 100 mg/kg by either subcutaneous (SC) or intraperitoneal (IP) administration. Blood samples were collected at 5, 15, and 30 min and 1, 2, 4, and 6 h after the administration of gemcitabine for further analysis. Results: The duration of the analysis was ~12.5 min. The calibration curve was linear (r² = 0.999) over the range of 1–400 μM. The mean recovery of GEM was 96.53% and the limit of detection was 0.166 μΜ. T_1/2, Tmax, Cmax, AUC_0–t, and clearance were 64.49 min, 5.00 min, 264.88 μmol/L, 9351.95 μmol/L*min, and 0.0103(mg)/(μmol/L)/min, respectively, for the SC administration. The corresponding values for the IP administration were 59.34 min, 5.00 min, 300.73 μmol/L, 8981.35 μmol/L*min and 0.0108(mg)/(μmol/L)/min (not statistically different from the SC administration). Conclusions: A simple, valid, sensitive, and inexpensive method for the measurement of gemcitabine in serum has been developed. This method may be useful for monitoring gemcitabine levels in cancer patients as part of therapeutic drug monitoring. Full article

The post-harvest processing of coffee beans leads to a wide range of reactions involving proteins. The formation of crosslinks between proteins and phenolic compounds present in high concentrations of coffee beans represents one of the most challenging and still not fully characterized reactions. The aim of this work was to assess the presence of products from such reactions in coffee samples, focusing on the adducts between cysteine and chlorogenic acids (CQAs). For this purpose, 19 green and 15 roasted coffee samples of the Coffea arabica, Coffea canephora, and Coffea liberica varieties were selected for this study and basically characterized. Then, targeted liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods were developed to assess the formation of adducts between CQA and cysteine, glutathione, and N-acetylcysteine as the amino acid and peptide models, and quantified such adducts in coffee samples. The results of the characterization showed a heterogeneous distribution of the protein content (8.7–14.6%), caffeine (0.57–2.62 g/100 g), and antioxidant capacity (2–4.5 g ascorbic acid/100 g) in Arabica, Canephora, and Liberica samples. Glutamic acid, arginine, and proline were found to be the major amino acids, while 5-CQA (38–76%), 3-CQA (4–13%), and 4-CQA (4–13%) were the most abundant CQA derivatives of all coffee varieties. The model experiments for adduct formation demonstrated that cysteine binds to CQA via thiol groups and 5-CQA initially isomerizes to 3- and 4-CQA, depending on the conditions, allowing cysteine to bind to two different sites on 3-, 4- or 5-CQA molecules, thus, forming six different Cys-CQA adducts with m/z 476. The reaction was more favored at pH 9, and the adducts proved to be stable up to 90 °C for 10 min and up to 28 days at room temperature. The relative quantification of adducts showed peak area values ranging from 1100 to 3000 in green coffee bean samples, while no adducts were detected in roasted coffee beans. Overall, this work was the first attempt to demonstrate the presence of Cys-CQA adducts in coffee beans and paves the way for further investigations of such adduct formation at the protein level. Full article

Plants are an important source of essential bioactive compounds that not only have a beneficial role in human health and nutrition but also act as drivers for shaping gut microbiome. However, the mechanism of their functional attributes is not fully understood despite their significance. One such important plant is Crocus sativus, also known as saffron, which possesses huge medicinal, nutritional, and industrial applications like food and cosmetics. The importance of this plant is grossly attributed to its incredible bioactive constituents such as crocins, crocetin, safranal, picrocrocin, and glycosides. These bioactive compounds possess a wide range of therapeutic activities against multiple human ailments. Since a huge number of studies have revealed negative unwanted side effects of modern-day drugs, the scientific communities at the global level are investigating a large number of medicinal plants to explore natural products as the best alternatives. Taken into consideration, the available research findings indicate that saffron has a huge scope to be further explored to establish alternative natural-product-based drugs for health benefits. In this review, we are providing an update on the role of bioactive compounds of saffron as therapeutic agents (human disorders and antimicrobial activity) and its nutritional values. We also highlighted the role of omics and metabolic engineering tools for increasing the content of key saffron bioactive molecules for its mass production. Finally, pre-clinical and clinical studies seem to be necessary to establish its therapeutic potential against human diseases. Full article

Since there is a broad empirical consensus that linear science communication focusing on disaster framing rarely empowers audiences and prompts transformative action, alternative climate communication formats are needed. This paper explores an alternative climate communication format, which integrates the issue into a local context (Munich, Germany) via transdisciplinary cooperation, specifically through collaboration with local climate educators and tapping into the scientific expertise of local stakeholders. The conceptualized format of a City Walk on the subject of climate justice addresses urban citizens and tests the effectiveness of climate justice as an alternative framing. Drawing on an accompanying empirical study with qualitative group discussions (n = 14, October 2023), this article explores how the format and framing are perceived by the participants. Based on these findings, we discuss the potentials and pitfalls of the format for transdisciplinary science communication. In summary, the City Walk deepened participants’ understanding of local climate justice—that is to say, how heat and flooding could amplify existing inequalities, and why adaptation and mitigation measures have not yet been implemented more thoroughly. Here, the crucial point is not whether the shift from climate change being a general topic to a personal one is supported by technical aspects of communication (e.g., virtual simulations). However, perceived local climate justice barriers (like bureaucracy) led participants to prioritize individual action (‘footprint’) over collective action (e.g., addressing local change). With these results, this study underlines the importance of new transdisciplinary formats for climate communication to address local change. Full article