ABSTRACTIntroductionPaediatric diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) are dose levels for typical medical imaging examinations for broadly defined types of equipment with weight‐stratification preferred by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. Australia has never published paediatric DRLs for general radiography. The aim of this study was to collect radiation dose metrics for commonly performed radiographic projections in children in Australia and propose weight‐based DRLs.MethodsEthics approval was granted to collect data, along with a waiver of consent. Radiographs were acquired in accordance with local protocols using direct digital X‐ray equipment for children who presented for routine radiographic imaging. A spreadsheet was provided to each centre to record the patient's age and weight, as well as tube voltage and current‐time product, source‐to‐image distance, use of a grid, additional filtration, automatic exposure control chamber selection and the displayed air kerma area product (KAP). Facility reference levels (FRLs) were calculated as the median for each X‐ray unit based on data submitted for a minimum of three patients. The 75th percentiles of the FRLs across nine X‐ray units from five centres were calculated as the proposed Local DRLs (LDRLs).ResultsThe most commonly radiographed body parts in children were the chest, wrist, abdomen, elbow and foot. The proposed LDRLs range from 4 mGy•cm2 (oblique hand in 5–15 kg) to 884 mGy•cm2 (antero‐posterior pelvis in 50–80 kg).ConclusionThe estimation of LDRLs for radiographs from a weight‐based patient study offers Australian reference values for guidance in the optimisation process.

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• Pub. Date : 2025
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Background: In pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), there is still a need for new prognostic markers to precisely identify patients before clinical deterioration. We investigated the right ventricle cardiac power index (RV CPI) as a tool to assess RV function. We also hypothesized that hemodynamic changes occurring in PAH assessed with the RV CPI are related with cardiac metabolism alterations in PET imaging, which affects prognosis. Methods: Twenty-eight stable PAH patients (51.4 ± 15.9 years old) had PET/CMR and heart catheterization performed at baseline and after 24 months. The PET-derived SUV RV/LV ratio was used to estimate cardiac glucose uptake. Clinical endpoints (CEPs—death or clinical deterioration) were assessed between visits. The RV CPI was defined as cardiac index × mean pulmonary artery pressure × 2.22 × 10−3. Results: The baseline RV CPI was 0.28 ± 0.09 W/m2 and correlated significantly with the SUV RV/LV ratio (r = 0.55, p = 0.002), confirming a relationship between RV hemodynamics and glucose metabolism. After 24 months of PAH-specific therapy, we observed significant improvement in the follow-up RV CPI—0.23 ± 0.04 W/m2 (p = 0.04). During 2-year observations, 16 patients (57%) experienced CEPs (including four deaths). Patients with CEPs had a higher baseline CPI than stable patients (0.32 ± 0.09 vs. 0.21 ± 0.05, p = 0.0006). The cut-off value of the RV CPI to predict worse prognosis was 0.24 W/m2 (log-rank test, p = 0.003). Conclusions: To sum up, the indexed cardiac power output parameter may reflect RV efficiency and is related to its glucose metabolism alterations in PAH. Its low value may help to identify stable patients at higher risk of death or clinical deterioration in long-term prognosis.

• Book : 14(4)
• Pub. Date : 2025
• Page : pp.1062-1062
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• Book : 68(2)
• Pub. Date : 2025
• Page : pp.60-65
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Abstract The epidermis is the outermost layer of the skin and acts as the primary barrier to protect the body. Dendritic epidermal T cells (DETCs), which are specifically distributed in epidermal tissues, play a crucial role in skin immune surveillance and wound healing. DETCs are one of the most important components of the epidermis and exert a steady-state monitoring function, facilitating wound healing and tissue regeneration after skin injury. Skin wounds are often linked to other pathological conditions such as ageing, ultraviolet radiation, and metabolic diseases such as diabetes mellitus and obesity. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate how DETCs regulate themselves and the external environment during these pathological states. DETCs interact closely with keratinocytes in the epidermis, and this intercellular interaction may be essential for maintaining health and integrity. In this review, we focus on the characteristics and underlying mechanisms of DETCs in maintaining epidermal homeostasis and re-epithelialization in different pathological states.

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• Pub. Date : 2025
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Abstract Background and purpose Approximately 8.94% to 44.44% of non-enhancing adult-type diffuse gliomas are identified as glioblastomas. Our purpose is to develop a nomogram that can predict glioblastomas from non-enhancing adult-type diffuse gliomas. Materials and Methods Non-enhancing adult-type diffuse gliomas were collected from Beijing Tiantan Hospital and TCIA public database. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were performed to screen features on the training set. The features with P<0.05 in multivariate logistic regression were used to establish the prediction model. The testing and validation sets were used to test the model. Results A total of 557 and 67 non-enhancing adult-type diffuse gliomas were collected from Beijing Tiantan Hospital and TCIA, respectively. The T2-FLAIR mismatch sign exhibited 100% specificity but low sensitivity (< 30%) in ruling out glioblastoma. Age, tumor location, rADC(kurtosis), and rADC(median) were identified as independent predictors and employed for developing the prediction model. The AUC of the model was 0.901, 0.861, and 0.945 in the training, testing, and validation set, respectively. The best cutoff value of nomoscore was 138.5, which achieved sensitivity of 0.935, 0.714, and 0.895, specificity of 0.777, 0.782, and 0.8775 in the training, testing, and validation sets, respectively. Survival analysis shown that patients with nomoscore above 138.5 had significantly poorer survival time than those with scores below 138.5. Conclusions Positive T2-FLAIR mismatch sign can effectively rule out glioblastoma in non-enhancing adult-type diffuse gliomas with high specificity. Non-enhancing adult-type diffuse gliomas with nomoscore above 138.5 are highly suspicious for glioblastoma or non-glioblastoma with a poor prognosis.

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The emergence of the atomic bomb prompted the U.S. Marine Corps to develop tactics and procedures to maneuver within a nuclear environment. This led to the establishment of Marine Corps Test Unit no. 1 (MCTU 1), which represented a unique chapter in the history of the Corps. Established in 1954, this experimental unit served as a testing ground for developing tactics and doctrines in the nascent age of nuclear warfare. This article explores the motivations behind the MCTU’s creation, analyzing what the Marine Corps hoped to achieve in this new strategic landscape. It explores the training conducted during Exercises Desert Rock IV (1952) and V (1953) with provisional atomic brigades, then examines the MCTU’s development and accomplishments, including its participation in Exercises Desert Rock VI (1955) and VII (1957) and its role in refining doctrine. Finally, the article delves into the long-term impacts of both MCTU 1 and atomic testing, assessing its influence on the evolution of Marine Corps force reconnaissance, heliborne tactics, and the enduring legacy of its research on nuclear combat scenarios.

• Book : 10(2)
• Pub. Date : 2025
• Page : pp.33-44
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AbstractObjectiveHair is a crucial aspect of an individual's physical appearance. Thus, there is always a need for technology to care for curls and undulations. In this study, we found that heat treatment with a mixed aqueous solution of cysteamine (2‐aminoethanethiol) and fumaric acid was highly effective in improving hair quality. The purpose of this study was to scientifically elucidate the effectiveness of this technology by identifying its active ingredients, evaluating their functionality and analysing changes in the internal structure of hair after treatment.MethodWe observed changes in hair shape through a hair straightening test, analysed the components using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) and investigated the effects on mechanical properties using bending and surface friction measurements. Furthermore, we analysed the hair conditions using small‐angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS) measurements and evaluated water retention using thermal analysis.ResultsIn the hair straightening test, even extremely strong curls of African human hair improved. The LC/MS results revealed that the active ingredient was 2‐(2‐aminoethylthio) succinic acid (ATS). Furthermore, by treating hair with ATS, decreases in the coefficient of friction and bending stiffness and an increase in moisture content were observed. The SAXS measurements revealed that the treatment widened the distance between the intermediate filaments (IFs) inside the hair and improved the orientation of the IFs.ConclusionATS, produced by the thiol–ene reaction between fumaric acid and cysteamine, acts as an active ingredient in hair shape control. ATS reacted within the matrix and increased the IF–IF distance. This suggests that ATS functions as a crosslinker for keratin proteins. ATS is believed to increase the moisture content of hair and improve hair texture.

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Canonically, a protoplanetary disk is thought to undergo (gravito-)viscous evolution wherein the angular momentum of the accreting material is transported outward. However, several lines of reasoning suggest that the turbulent viscosity in a typical protoplanetary disk is insufficient to drive the observed accretion rates. An emerging paradigm suggests that radially extended magnetic disk winds, which transport angular momentum vertically, may play a crucial role in disk evolution. We propose a global model of magnetic wind-driven accretion for the evolution of protoplanetary disks in the thin-disk limit based on the insights gained from local shearing box simulations. In this paper, we aim to develop this model and constrain the model parameters with the help of theoretical expectations and through comparison with observations. The magnetic wind is characterized with the associated loss of angular momentum and mass, and we modeled these with fitting formulae that depend on the local disk conditions and stellar properties. We incorporated the disk winds self-consistently in the numerical magnetohydrodynamic code FEOSAD and studied the formation and long-term evolution of protoplanetary disks. We included disk self-gravity and an adaptive turbulent α that depends on the local ionization balance, while the co-evolution of a two-part dusty component was also considered. We obtained synthetic observations via detailed modeling with the radiation thermo-chemical code ProDiMo The models that include disk winds satisfy the general expectations from both theory and observations. The disk wind parameters can be guided by observational constraints, and the synthetic observations resulting from such a model compare favorably with the selected ALMA survey data of Class II disks. The proposed magnetic disk wind model is a significant step forward in the direction of representing a more complete disk evolution, wherein the disk experiences concurrent torques from viscous, gravitational, and magnetic wind processes.

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• Pub. Date : 2025
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Electricity consumption data form the foundation for the efficient and reliable operation of smart grids and are a critical component for ensuring effective data mining. However, due to factors such as meter failures and extreme weather conditions, anomalies frequently occur in the data, which adversely impact the performance of data-driven applications. Given the near full-rank nature of low-voltage distribution area electricity consumption data, this paper employs clustering to enhance the low-rank property of the data. Addressing common issues such as missing data, sparse noise, and Gaussian noise in electricity consumption data, this paper proposes a multi-norm optimization model based on low-rank matrix theory. Specifically, the truncated nuclear norm is used as an approximation of matrix rank, while the L1-norm and F-norm are employed to constrain sparse noise and Gaussian noise, respectively. The model is solved using the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM), achieving a unified framework for handling missing data and noise processing within the model construction. Comparative experiments on both synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate that the proposed method can accurately recover measurement data under various noise contamination scenarios and different distributions of missing data. Moreover, it effectively separates principal components of the data from noise contamination.

• Book : 18(4)
• Pub. Date : 2025
• Page : pp.944-944
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