Abstract
BackgroundAchieving optimal adherence to anticoagulation therapy is a major challenge in the management of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Mobile health (mHealth) technologies may offer a scalable approach to supporting medication adherence and self-management.
ObjectiveThis pilot study aimed to assess the feasibility and preliminary impact of a smart technology–assisted, patient-centered care mHealth app for managing VTE (mVTEA) on short-term anticoagulation adherence among patients with VTE or at moderate-to-high risk of VTE.
MethodsBaseline medication adherence and beliefs were assessed using the Chinese versions of the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale and the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire–Specific to characterize baseline status only. The primary outcome was perfect adherence at 1 month, assessed through structured telephone interviews, outpatient visits, and the mVTEA physician-patient communication module. During follow-up, researchers verified current medication regimens, recorded missed doses, assessed therapy continuation, and whenever possible, confirmed adherence through pharmacy refill records or remaining medication packaging. Secondary outcomes included the mVTEA check-in rate and clinical safety events (VTE recurrence, major bleeding per International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis criteria, VTE-related hospitalizations, VTE-related rehospitalizations, all-cause mortality).
ResultsIn total, 45 participants completed the study (mean age 60.80, SD 15.20 years; n=16, 36% female). Baseline 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale scores indicated suboptimal adherence (mean 6.24, SD 1.80), with 29% (13/45) classified as good adherence and 71% (32/45) as moderate or poor adherence. The primary contributors to nonadherence were forgetting to take medication. Baseline Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire–Specific scores showed stronger beliefs in medication necessity than concerns (17.58, SD 2.52 vs 14.56, SD 3.34; PP
ConclusionsThis pilot study supports the feasibility and acceptability of the mVTEA and provides preliminary signals that it may support short-term anticoagulation adherence. Larger randomized trials with longer follow-up and objective adherence measures are warranted, along with efforts to address the digital divide to ensure equitable access to mHealth-based anticoagulation support.
Iván Hidalgo-Cenalmor, Marcela Xiomara Rivera Pineda, Bruno M. Saraiva
et al.
Life sciences research depends heavily on open-source academic software, yet many tools remain underused due to practical barriers. These include installation requirements that hinder adoption and limited developer resources for software distribution and long-term maintenance. Jupyter notebooks are popular because they combine code, documentation, and results into a single executable document, enabling quick method development. However, notebooks are often fragile due to reproducibility issues in coding environments, and sharing them, especially for local execution, does not ensure others can run them successfully. LabConstrictor closes this deployment gap by bringing CI/CD-style automation to academic developers without needing DevOps expertise. Its GitHub-based pipeline checks environments and packages notebooks into one-click installable desktop applications. After installation, users access a unified start page with documentation, links to the packaged notebooks, and version checks. Code cells can be hidden by default, and run-cell controls combined with widgets provide an app-like experience. By simplifying the distribution, installation, and sharing of open-source software, LabConstrictor allows faster access to new computational methods and promotes routine reuse across labs.
Rebuilding packages from open source is a common practice to improve the security of software supply chains, and is now done at an industrial scale. The basic principle is to acquire the source code used to build a package published in a repository such as Maven Central (for Java), rebuild the package independently with hardened security, and publish it in some alternative repository. In this paper we test the assumption that the same source code is being used by those alternative builds. To study this, we compare the sources released with packages on Maven Central, with the sources associated with independently built packages from Google's Assured Open Source and Oracle's Build-from-Source projects. We study non-equivalent sources for alternative builds of 28 popular packages with 85 releases. We investigate the causes of non-equivalence, and find that the main cause is build extensions that generate code at build time, which are difficult to reproduce. We suggest strategies to address this issue.
DING Kaiwei, LÜ Changxin, JIA Fengwei, LIU Xia, LIU Lingling, BAN Zhaojun
In this study, a novel pH-sensitive intelligent indicator film (SPI/PVA-BA film) composed of soybean protein isolate (SPI), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and blueberry anthocyanin (BA) was prepared via a casting method for freshness monitoring of pasteurized milk. The microstructure, mechanical properties, moisture content, water solubility, ultraviolet (UV) transmittance, water vapor permeability (WVP), and pH sensitivity of the indicator film with different BA levels were characterized. The results showed that the film containing 12% BA exhibited the highest elongation at break (105.12%), while that containing 8% BA had the highest tensile strength (11.58 MPa) and showed the best color sensitivity to pH changes. The pH decline in pasteurized milk during storage for 72 hours at (22 ± 1) ℃ caused color changes in the film containing 8% BA, showing that this film could reflect the freshness of pasteurized milk. Additionally, the indicator film was almost completely degraded after being buried in soil for 10 days, demonstrating its good biodegradability. Therefore, this intelligent packaging film not only holds potential as a freshness indicator, but also contributes to reducing environmental pollution associated with bio-based plastics.
Abstract Fruits and vegetables are perishable crops that need particular handling methods to preserve their quality and prolong shelf life. Among these methods, the utilization of edible coatings has emerged as a promising solution to reduce postharvest losses of fruits and vegetables, thereby improving food and nutrition security. However, the significant contribution of edible coatings in preserving fresh produce, reducing postharvest loss, and enhancing the food and nutritional value of fruits and vegetables is not well documented. Therefore, this review assesses the contribution of edible coatings to enhancing food and nutrition security by managing the postharvest loss of fruits and vegetables. Biodegradable, non-toxic, and ecologically friendly innovative technology, edible coatings increase the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by limiting oxidation, retarding biological and physiological processes, and preventing moisture loss. During the selection of an edible coating for fruits and vegetables, considering the biodegradability, protection, and barrier properties (moisture and oxygen), sustainability, cost, moderate gas permeability, and non-toxicity is very paramount. Edible coatings, with their properties of antioxidants and antimicrobials, preserve the nutritional values, quality, and shelf life of fruits and vegetables. The commonly used edible coatings are polysaccharide-based edible coatings (starch and its derivative, cellulose and its derivative, chitosan, aloe vera, mucilage of cactus trees, seaweed extracts), protein-based edible coatings, lipid-based edible coatings, and beeswax edible coatings. The review concluded that these edible coatings, when used at appropriate concentrations, lowered postharvest losses of fruit and vegetables during storage, thereby resulting in improved food and nutrition security. The concepts of comprehensive studies required for developing plant’s an essential oil edible coatings and films for food packaging applications, as well as overcoming challenges like consumer acceptance, regulatory requirements, and non-toxic scaling up to the commercial applications, have also been discussed.
L'A. propose une analyse contrastive destinee a determiner comment la presentation de l'information est realisee structuralement dans diverses langues. Il montre que l'anglais et beaucoup d'autres langues germaniques exploitent principalement l'intonation a des fins informationnelles, alors que d'autres langues, comme le catalan, privilegient plutot la syntaxe, et que dans d'autres groupes de langues encore, le correlat structural premier est morphologique. L'A. tente ainsi d'identifier un ensemble de primitifs lies a la presentation de l'information et appliques a des faits translinguistiques et examine la maniere dont ils interagissent avec d'autres facteurs structuraux, pragmatiques et semantiques