Explore the vast range of titles available.

The quest for mechanoluminescence (ML) in zinc sulfide (ZnS) spans more than a century, initially sparked by observations of natural minerals. There has been a resurgence in research into ML materials in recent decades, driven by advances in optoelectronic technologies and a deeper understanding of their luminescent properties under mechanical stress. ZnS, in particular, has garnered attention owing to its remarkable ability to sustain luminescence after more than 100,000 mechanical stimulations, positioning it as a standout candidate for optoelectronic applications. In contrast to conventional photoluminescent and electroluminescent light sources, ZnS composite elastomers have emerged as flexible, stretchable self‐powered light sources with considerable practical implications. This review introduces the development history, ML mechanisms, prototype ML devices, ZnS‐based ML material preparation methods, and their diverse applications spanning environmental mechanical‐to‐optical energy conversion, E‐signatures, anti‐counterfeiting, wearable information sensing devices, advanced battery‐free displays, biomedical imaging, and optical fiber sensors for human–computer interactions, among others. By integrating insights from ML‐optics, mechanics, and flexible optoelectronics, and by summarizing pertinent perspectives on current scientific challenges, application technology hurdles, and potential solutions for emerging scientific frontiers, this review aims to furnish fundamental guidance and conceptual frameworks for the design, advancement, and cutting‐edge application of novel mechanoluminescent materials. Zinc sulfide is a smart luminescent material with exceptionally outstanding mechanoluminescence properties. After over a century of research, it is now widely used in wearable devices, auxiliary lighting, stress sensing, anti‐counterfeiting, and other fields. This article comprehensively summarizes the properties, characteristics, mechanisms, preparation techniques, and application scenarios of zinc sulfide based on its features in mechanoluminescence. Constructively, it proposes future directions for optimization and methods for technological integration of zinc sulfide. Besides, the presentation of the challenges in mechanisms and applications also provide a unique perspective for subsequent research and assist researchers in quickly grasping the key focuses in this field.

We developed and tested the effectiveness of a tailored health information technology driven intervention: \"Talking Prescriptions\" (Talking Rx) to improve medication adherence in a resource challenged environment. We conducted a parallel, randomized, controlled, assessor-blinded trial at the Aga Khan University (AKU), Karachi, Pakistan. Adults with diagnosis of cerebrovascular accident (CVA) or coronary artery disease (CAD) diagnosed least one month before enrollment, on anti-platelets and statins, with access to a mobile phone were enrolled. The intervention group received a) Daily Interactive Voice Response (IVR) call services regarding specific statin and antiplatelet b) Daily tailored medication reminders for statin and antiplatelet and c) Weekly lifestyle modification messages for a period of 3 months. We assessed Medication adherence to statin and antiplatelets by a validated version of the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence scale 8 (MMAS-8) at 3 months by a blinded assessment officer. Analysis was conducted by intention-to-treat principle (ITT). Between April 2015 and December 2015, 197 participants (99 in intervention and 98 in the usual care group) enrolled in the Talking Rx Study. The dropout rate was 9.6%. Baseline group characteristics were similar. At baseline, the mean MMAS-8 was 6.68 (SD = 1.28) in the intervention group and 6.77 (SD = 1.36) in usual care group. At end of follow-up, the mean MMAS-8 increased to 7.41(0.78) in the intervention group compared with 7.38 (0.99) in usual care group with mean difference of 0.03 (S.D 0.13) (95% C.I [-0.23, 0.29]), which was not statistically significant. (P-Value = 0.40) CVA patients showed a relatively greater magnitude of adherence via the MMAS-8 at the end of follow up where the mean MMAS-8 increased to 7.29 (S.D 0.82) in the intervention group as compared to 7.07(S.D 1.24) in usual care group with mean difference of 0.22 (SD = 0.22) 95% C.I (-0.20, 0.65) with (P-value = 0.15). Around 84% of those on intervention arm used the service, calling at least 3 times and listening to their prescriptions for an average of 8 minutes. No user was excluded due to technologic reasons. The use of a phone based medication adherence program was feasible in LMIC settings with high volume clinics and low patient literacy. In this early study, with limited follow up, the program did not achieve any statistically significant differences in adherence behavior as self-reported by the MMAS-8 Scale. Clinical Trials.gov NCT02354040.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the adoption of Quality 4.0 (Q4.0) and assess the critical failure factors (CFFs) for its implementation and how its failure is measured.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative study based on in-depth interviews with quality managers and executives was conducted to establish the CFFs for Q4.0.FindingsThe significant CFFs highlighted were resistance to change and a lack of understanding of the concept of Q4.0. There was also a complete lack of access to or availability of training around Q4.0.Research limitations/implicationsThe study enhances the body of literature on Q4.0 and is one of the first research studies to provide insight into the CFFs of Q4.0.Practical implicationsBased on the discussions with experts in the area of quality in various large and small organizations, one can understand the types of Q4.0 initiatives and the CFFs of Q4.0. By identifying the CFFs, one can establish the steps for improvements for organizations worldwide if they want to implement Q4.0 in the future on the competitive global stage.Originality/valueThe concept of Q4.0 is at the very nascent stage, and thus, the CFFs have not been found in the extant literature. As a result, the article aids businesses in understanding possible problems that might derail their Q4.0 activities.

Nerinetide, an eicosapeptide that interferes with post-synaptic density protein 95, is a neuroprotectant that is effective in preclinical stroke models of ischaemia-reperfusion. In this trial, we assessed the efficacy and safety of nerinetide in human ischaemia-reperfusion that occurs with rapid endovascular thrombectomy in patients who had an acute ischaemic stroke. For this multicentre, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled study done in 48 acute care hospitals in eight countries, we enrolled patients with acute ischaemic stroke due to large vessel occlusion within a 12 h treatment window. Eligible patients were aged 18 years or older with a disabling ischaemic stroke at the time of randomisation, had been functioning independently in the community before the stroke, had an Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) greater than 4, and vascular imaging showing moderate-to-good collateral filling, as determined by multiphase CT angiography. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive intravenous nerinetide in a single dose of 2·6 mg/kg, up to a maximum dose of 270 mg, on the basis of estimated or actual weight (if known) or saline placebo by use of a real-time, dynamic, internet-based, stratified randomised minimisation procedure. Patients were stratified by intravenous alteplase treatment and declared endovascular device choice. All trial personnel and patients were masked to sequence and treatment allocation. All patients underwent endovascular thrombectomy and received alteplase in usual care when indicated. The primary outcome was a favourable functional outcome 90 days after randomisation, defined as a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 0–2. Secondary outcomes were measures of neurological disability, functional independence in activities of daily living, excellent functional outcome (mRS 0–1), and mortality. The analysis was done in the intention-to-treat population and adjusted for age, sex, baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, ASPECTS, occlusion location, site, alteplase use, and declared first device. The safety population included all patients who received any amount of study drug. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02930018. Between March 1, 2017, and Aug 12, 2019, 1105 patients were randomly assigned to receive nerinetide (n=549) or placebo (n=556). 337 (61·4%) of 549 patients with nerinetide and 329 (59·2%) of 556 with placebo achieved an mRS score of 0–2 at 90 days (adjusted risk ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·96–1·14; p=0·35). Secondary outcomes were similar between groups. We observed evidence of treatment effect modification resulting in inhibition of treatment effect in patients receiving alteplase. Serious adverse events occurred equally between groups. Nerinetide did not improve the proportion of patients achieving good clinical outcomes after endovascular thrombectomy compared with patients receiving placebo. Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Alberta Innovates, and NoNO.

PurposeThe integration of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is in the nascent stage and promises to achieve new optimums in operational excellence. This study aims to empirically examine the enablers, barriers, benefits and application of I4.0 technologies in LSS and I4.0 integration.Design/methodology/approachA pilot survey was chosen as an appropriate methodology, as LSS and I4.0 integration is still budding. The survey targeted senior quality management professionals, quality managers, team leaders, LSS Black Belts and operations managers to collect the relevant research data. The questionnaire was sent to 200 respondents and received 53 valid responses.FindingsThis study reveals that “top management support” is an essential enabler for LSS and I4.0 integration. The most significant barrier was “poor understanding of data analysis” and “lack of top management support”. The findings further illustrated that LSS and I4.0 integration resulted in greater efficiency, lower operational costs, improved productivity, improved customer satisfaction and improved quality. Regarding I4.0 technology integration at different phases of LSS, the authors noticed that big data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) are the most prominent technologies used in all phases of LSS implementation.Research limitations/implicationsOne of the limitations of this study is the sample size. LSS and I4.0 are emerging concepts; hence, obtaining a larger sample size is difficult. In addition, the study used non-parametric tests to analyse the data. Therefore, future studies should be conducted with large sample sizes across different continents and countries to understand differences in the key findings.Practical implicationsThe outcomes of this study can be useful for organisational managers to understand the enablers and barriers before integrating LSS and I4.0 for adoption in their organisations. Secondly, it helps to convince top management and human resource personnel by providing a list of benefits of LSS and I4.0 integration. Finally, it can help decision-makers understand which I4.0 technologies can be used in different stages of LSS methodology.Originality/valueLSS and I4.0 integration was studied at a conceptual level. This is the first empirical study targeted toward understanding the LSS and I4.0 integration. In addition, this study investigates the application of widely used I4.0 technologies in different phases of LSS.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a common cardiac disorder that leads to heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure. It is primarily characterized by conditions that impact the heart and blood arteries, including peripheral artery disease, arrhythmias, atherosclerosis, myocardial ischemia, congenital heart abnormalities, heart failure, rheumatic heart disease, hypertension, and cardiomyopathies. These conditions are mainly effect the heart and blood vessels, causing blockages or weakened pumping, due to severe hereditary and environmental factors. The frequency of CVD is rising significantly as life expectancy increases. Despite this, no effective treatment or management for its symptoms has been found. One of the most difficult obstacles to overcome, is finding a suitable animal model for drug screening and drug development. Although rodents, mice, swine, and mammals serve as the basis for most animal models of cardiovascular disease, no model accurately captures the epidemiology of the condition. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) have drawn the interest of the international scientific community due to certain shortcomings of the previously discussed animal models because they are smaller, less costly, and have an incredibly high rate of reproduction. This review article emphasizes the significance of using zebrafish as an animal model to investigate the possible facets of cardiovascular disease. Moreover, the ultimate purpose of this review article is to establish the advantages of employing zebrafish over other animal models and to investigate the boundaries of using zebrafish to study human disease. Furthermore, the mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases induction in zebrafish were covered to improve understanding for readers. Finally, the analysis of cardiotoxicity using Zebra fish model, is also explained. In order to stop the health index from deteriorating, the current study also covers some innovative, effective, and relatively safer treatments for treatment and management of cardiotoxicity. Graphical Abstract

Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is a rare cause of stroke that may mimic other intracranial disorders. A 32-year-old male with bipolar disorder and prior venous thromboembolism presented with severe occipital headache, progressive blurred vision, and a brief sensory episode. He reported recent chronic nitrous oxide use. Imaging revealed extensive thrombosis of the superior sagittal, bilateral transverse, and sigmoid sinuses with venous congestion but no infarction. Laboratory studies showed markedly elevated homocysteine, elevated methylmalonic acid, and low vitamin B12 levels. He was treated with anticoagulation, parenteral vitamin B12, folic acid, and acetazolamide for suspected intracranial hypertension. Symptoms improved, and he was discharged for continued rehabilitation. This case underscores nitrous oxide-induced functional vitamin B12 deficiency and hyperhomocysteinemia as potential contributors to CVST, especially in younger patients without conventional risk factors. Early recognition, targeted metabolic correction, and cessation of exposure are essential to prevent complications and support recovery.

This study investigates a novel Mg-13Gd-2Er-0.3Zr (weight percent) alloy, focusing on the influence of varying double extrusion temperatures (390 °C–450 °C) on the evolution of grain structure, texture, and mechanical properties of double-extruded (DE) alloys. Results show that double extrusion markedly refines the recrystallized grains and enhances the dispersion of fine secondary precipitates, thereby significantly improving the tensile properties compared to a single extruded alloy. A notable increase in the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) and grain size is observed as the deformation temperature rises, with grain sizes enlarging from 2.2 µm at 390 °C to 10.2 µm at 450 °C. The DE alloy extruded at 390 °C demonstrates superior mechanical properties, which was attributed to the synergistic effects of refined recrystallized grains, the presence of un-recrystallized (un-DRXed) grains, abundant fine precipitates, and a weakened basal texture. Additionally, this study highlights that a lower fraction of fine precipitates and a higher fraction of DRX grains contribute effectively to the improvement of elongation (EL) in DE alloys which is ~ 75% higher in the DE alloy at 430 °C than the single extruded alloy. This comprehensive analysis underscores the critical role of extrusion temperature in tailoring the microstructure and mechanical performance of Mg-13Gd-2Er-0.3Zr alloy, offering valuable insights for optimizing the properties of magnesium alloys for industrial applications.

SSL certificates hold immense importance when it comes to the security of the WebPKI. The trust in these certificates is driven by the strength of their cryptographic attributes and the presence of revocation features. In this paper, we perform a historical measurement study of cryptographic strength and the adoption of revocation mechanisms in the X.509 SSL certificates. In particular, it provides a real-world picture of the adoption of new certificate features and pushing new changes to the WebPKI ecosystem. We analyze the features like Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) Stapling, RSA public key collisions, and the strength of certificate serial numbers. We observe the improvement in the adoption and reliability of these features for 2011–2020. Our analysis helps in identifying weaknesses and negligence in certificate issuance practices of Certificate Authorities such as lack of revocation, weak serial numbers, and issuance of the same public key across different certificates for different entities on the web known as the public key collision problem. Our results show that there is an overall increase of up to 97% in the adoption of OCSP-Stapling and OCSP extensions. Along with this, there are also significant improvements in the certificate serial number length with the top 6 CAs in our dataset issuing the majority of certificates with serial byte count greater than 30. We also discovered 803 public key collision sets in our dataset. To distinguish public key collisions, we provide a working criterion to distinguish permissible, safe collisions from unsafe, risky ones. Analysis of these features holds immense importance as weakness in any of these features could allow an adversary to forge certificate(s) and conduct several attacks examples of which include Flame malware, breach of the DigiNotar and Comodo certificate authorities.

Background: Diabetes is an important health issue, causing most of the other co-morbidities resulting in the high morbidity and mortality burden of any country. Diabetic patients need to engage in regular self-care behaviors with positive coping strategies to enjoy a better quality of life. Objective: To study the moderating role of coping mechanism between physical self-care and quality of life among diabetic patients. Study type, settings & duration: A cross-sectional study was conducted at different hospitals in the Lahore district from November 2020 to March 2021.   Methodology: The present study recruited a sample of (N = 300) adults from different hospitals of Lahore using G*Power12 software, which indicated that for a moderation analysis, a small to medium effect size can reliably be detected in a sample of 284 individuals with 95% level of significance and a 95% power of the test. However, a larger sample of 300 diabetic adults was enrolled. The sample had equal representation of both men and women with an age of ≥ 30 years (M = 33.24 years, SD = 5.78 years). The data was collected from November 2020 to March 2021. The study sample was from the diagnosed patients of diabetes; they were aware of their chronic illness and were taking medicines regularly. The reported ailment was verified from their medical record. The Self-Care Inventory Scale, the Glucocoper Scale, and the Quality of Life Scale were used to measure physical self-care, coping mechanism, and quality of life respectively. Results: The data was analyzed through ...