Aim:
Crestal reduction at implants occurs within the first year of pressure due beginning physiologic remodelling phase following surgical trauma and function loading of the crestal bone.
Materials and Methods:
Ninety-seven individuals were assessed for 4.1 mm bone-level implantation. Participants were separated onto three categories according to how much vertically gingival width: test T1, test T2, along with control C. A radiographic analysis was done afterwards implant placement, two months afterwards recovery, prostheses repair, and a follow-up appointment for one year. The Mann-Whitney U-test was employed, with a threshold of significance of 0.05.
Results:
While the variations among T2 and C hadn’t been relevant either mesially (P = 0.861) or distal (P = 0.827), the variations were substantial (P = 0.000) comparing T1/T2 and T1/C.
Conclusion:
The breakdown of bones may be significantly lowered when osteo-level prostheses are put in inherently dense tissue rather than thinner biotypes.
Samar J. Melhem, Hamzeh Almomani, Rimal Mousa
et al.
Background: Social media is now a major arena for Arabic women's health discourse in the MENA region, yet it is unclear how pharmacists' expertise influences both the accuracy and visibility of information across platforms. Objective: To compare pharmacists' visibility and accuracy with other author groups and to assess how platform, sentiment, and follower dynamics shape the gap between information quality and reach. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional content analysis of 682 public Arabic-language posts on women's self-medication and over-the-counter care from Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Threads, Facebook, and X (January 2024–March 2025). Two independent coders rated accuracy on a four-point scale and classified sentiment (κ > 0.80). Engagement was summarized using the Virtual Presence Index (VPI), an equally weighted composite of standardized likes, comments, and shares/reposts. Proportional-odds ordinal logistic regression modeled predictors of higher accuracy; a non-circular binary logistic model examined determinants of high engagement (above-median VPI) with platform, author type, sentiment, topic, and linear plus quadratic log₁₀(follower count) as covariates. Results: Pharmacists authored 49.6 % of posts; physicians and other health professionals contributed 37.1 %. Overall, 71.8 % of posts were rated accurate, rising to 94.1 % for pharmacist-authored content. Platform was the strongest predictor of accuracy: compared with Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Threads, and X had higher odds of higher accuracy, with TikTok showing a smaller but significant advantage. Pharmacist authorship independently predicted higher accuracy, whereas follower count did not. For engagement, platform dominated. With X as the reference, all other platforms had lower adjusted odds of high VPI. Positive sentiment increased the likelihood of high VPI, and follower count showed a U-shaped association, with mid-sized accounts disadvantaged. After adjustment, author-type differences in visibility were modest: pharmacists' posts were more accurate but did not enjoy consistent visibility advantages, especially on highly visual, fast-scroll platforms. Conclusion: In Arabic women's health discourse online, who speaks matters less for reach than where and how they speak. Pharmacists deliver the most accurate content but often remain “invisible experts” in environments that reward aesthetics and emotion over credentials. The VPI helps quantify this quality–reach gap and can guide platform-specific, culturally attuned strategies to make evidence-based voices more discoverable.
<b>Background/Objectives:</b> The increasing use of statins in people with cystic fibrosis (CF) necessitates the investigation of potential drug–drug interactions (DDI) of statins with cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulators, including elexacaftor, tezacaftor, and ivacaftor (ETI). The interactions may involve the potential inhibition of cytochrome P450 isoenzymes (CYPs), organic anion-transporting polypeptides (OATPs), and Breast Cancer Resistance Protein (BCRP) by ETI. This presents a therapeutic challenge in CF due to the potential for elevated statin levels, consequently heightening the risk of myopathy. This study aimed to predict potential DDIs between statins and ETI using a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling approach. <b>Methods:</b> We performed in vitro assays to measure the inhibitory potency of ETI against OATPs and CYP2C9 and incorporated these data into our PBPK models alongside published inhibitory parameters for BCRP and CYP3A4. <b>Results:</b> The PBPK simulation showed that atorvastatin had the highest predicted AUC ratio (3.27), followed by pravastatin (2.27), pitavastatin (2.24), and rosuvastatin (1.83). <b>Conclusions:</b> Based on these findings, rosuvastatin appears to exhibit a weak interaction with ETI, whereas other statins exhibited a moderate interaction, potentially requiring appropriate dose reductions. These data indicate potential clinically significant DDIs between ETI and certain statins, which warrants a clinical study to validate these findings.
Objective:
To evaluate and compare the retention strengths of prefabricated posts cemented using zinc phosphate (ZP), glass ionomer (GIC), and resin cements (RC).
Methodology:
About 60 extracted human mandibular premolars were decoronated to a standardized length and endodontically treated. Post spaces were prepared to a depth of 10 mm, were grouped into 20 each. Prefabricated metal posts were cemented according to the manufacturers’ instructions. Tensile forces until post dislodgment were measured after one day.
Results:
Mean retention strengths were: Group A (ZP)—124 N, Group B (GIC)—336.86 N, and Group C (RC)—1262.51 N. RC exhibited significantly higher retention than both GIC and ZP cements, and GIC cement showed significantly higher retention than ZP cement.
Conclusion:
The type of luting cement significantly affects the retention of prefabricated posts. RC demonstrated the highest retention strength, suggesting its superiority for clinical applications requiring enhanced post-retention.
Sahar Marefat, Ali Shayanfar, Farnaz Monajjemzadeh
The evaluation of color in pharmaceutical materials and products serves as an essential method for assessing physical appearance, stability, and overall quality control. Any recognizable color change in pharmaceuticals may lead to failure in meeting quality objectives. Traditional visual examinations, while commonly used, are subjective and prone to inconsistency, making them inadequate for precise assessment. As a result, advanced instrumental techniques have gained prominence, with CIE (Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage) Lab color space being widely recognized for its accuracy and applicability. Developed by the International Commission on Illumination, the CIELab system characterizes color using three components: L (lightness), a⁎ (red-green axis), and b⁎ (yellow-blue axis), providing a quantitative, standardized approach for color measurement. This method has been extensively utilized in pharmaceutical research and industry for diverse applications, such as quality control, stability studies, and batch-to-batch consistency evaluations. The present review aims to discuss studies that have employed this method in pharmaceutical color assessment, and related quality control issues.
Alberto Raiola, Emanuele Locatelli, Davide Marenduzzo
et al.
Magnetic polymers are examples of composite soft materials in which the competition between the large configurational entropy of the soft substrate (polymer) and the magnetic interaction may give rise to rich equilibrium phase diagrams as well as non-standard critical phenomena. Here, we study a self-avoiding walk model decorated by Ising spins of value $0$ and $\pm 1$ that interact according to a Blume-Emery-Griffith-like Hamiltonian. By using mean-field approximations and Monte Carlo simulations, we report the existence of three distinct equilibrium phases: swollen disordered, compact ordered, and compact disordered. Notably, these phases are separated by phase boundaries that meet at multicritical points, whose nature and location are tunable and depend on the strength of the interactions. In our conclusion, we discuss the relevance of the phase diagrams we have obtained to the physics of magnetic polymers and their application to chromatin biophysics.
This paper presents a novel approach for ensuring safe operation of systems subject to input nonlinearities and time-varying safety constraints. We extend the time-varying barrier function framework to address time-varying safety constraints and explicitly account for control-dependent nonlinearities at the plant input. Guaranteed bounds on the input-output behavior of these nonlinearities are provided through pointwise-in-time quadratic constraints. The result is a class of robust time-varying control barrier functions that define a safety filter. This filter ensures robust safety for all admissible nonlinearities while minimally modifying the command generated by a baseline controller. We derive a second-order cone program (SOCP) to compute this safety filter online and provide feasibility conditions for ball-constrained inputs. The proposed approach is demonstrated on a spacecraft docking maneuver.
Zachary L. Crang, Rich D. Johnston, Katie L. Mills
et al.
This study aimed to: (1) understand whether commercially available computer-vision and artificial intelligence (AI) player tracking software can accurately measure player position, speed and distance using broadcast footage and (2) determine the impact of camera feed and resolution on accuracy. Data were obtained from one match at the 2022 Qatar Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup. Tactical, programme and camera 1 feeds were used. Three commercial tracking providers that use computer-vision and AI participated. Providers analysed instantaneous position (x, y coordinates) and speed (m\,s^{-1}) of each player. Their data were compared with a high-definition multi-camera tracking system (TRACAB Gen 5). Root mean square error (RMSE) and mean bias were calculated. Position RMSE ranged from 1.68 to 16.39 m, while speed RMSE ranged from 0.34 to 2.38 m\,s^{-1}. Total match distance mean bias ranged from -1745 m (-21.8%) to 1945 m (24.3%) across providers. Computer-vision and AI player tracking software offer the ability to track players with fair precision when players are detected by the software. Providers should use a tactical feed when tracking position and speed, which will maximise player detection, improving accuracy. Both 720p and 1080p resolutions are suitable, assuming appropriate computer-vision and AI models are implemented.
In the paper, a program strength model was proposed to evaluate the performance of countries across different Olympic events. The model assessed how strong a country's program was in each event and also factored in the influence of past Olympic performances. The final medal counts from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games were used to validate the model and to determine the optimal set of constants using Monte Carlo simulation. Based on this model, a prediction of the final medal counts for the 2028 Olympic Games is also provides for reference.
Ivan Vidakovic, Karin Kornmueller, Daniela Fiedler
et al.
Archaeosomes were manufactured from natural archaeal lipids by a microfluidics-assisted single-step production method utilizing a mixture of di- and tetraether lipids extracted from <i>Sulfolobus acidocaldarius.</i> The primary aim of this study was to investigate the exceptional stability of archaeosomes as potential carriers for oral drug delivery, with a focus on powdered formulations. The archaeosomes were negatively charged with a size of approximately 100 nm and a low polydispersity index. To assess their suitability for oral delivery, the archaeosomes were loaded with two model drugs: calcein, a fluorescent compound, and insulin, a peptide hormone. The archaeosomes demonstrated high stability in simulated intestinal fluids, with only 5% of the encapsulated compounds being released after 24 h, regardless of the presence of degrading enzymes or extremely acidic pH values such as those found in the stomach. In a co-culture cell model system mimicking the intestinal barrier, the archaeosomes showed strong adhesion to the cell membranes, facilitating a slow release of contents. The archaeosomes were loaded with insulin in a single-step procedure achieving an encapsulation efficiency of approximately 35%. These particles have been exposed to extreme manufacturing temperatures during freeze-drying and spray-drying processes, demonstrating remarkable resilience under these harsh conditions. The fabrication of stable dry powder formulations of archaeosomes represents a promising advancement toward the development of solid dosage forms for oral delivery of biological drugs.
Saurabh RamBihariLal Shrivastava, Gandes Retno Rahayu, Titi Savitri Prihatiningsih
Background:
Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methods have been acknowledged as important tools to involve members of the community in the process of identification of their problems, the factors contributing to the development of these problems, and ways by which these problems can be resolved.
Materials and Methods:
A quasi-experimental study will be conducted in two stages among first professional phase medical students. In the first stage, these students will be trained on PRA methods by the trained teachers, while in the second stage, these students will implement PRA methods in the local community. The entire training process and its different components will be evaluated using validated study tools (semi-structured questionnaire), which will be administered using Google Forms. The statistical analysis will be performed using frequency and percentages, and a paired t-test will be used to compare the change in knowledge before and after training.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, first professional phase medical students must be trained in PRA methods and subsequently supervised to monitor their change in behavior. However, as the success of the entire program will depend on the quality of training imparted to medical students, the training program must be evaluated from the perspective of students, community, and teachers.
Cleonice Lisbete Silva Gama, Marília Miranda Forte Gomes, Ari Melo Mariano
Introdução
A aquisição e distribuição de medicamentos no Sistema Único de Saúde é um dos grandes desafios para os gestores, dispendendo um alto volume de recursos públicos, que competem com as necessidades de financiamento dos demais serviços de saúde. Nesse cenário, os medicamentos de alto custo representam um desafio para as políticas de financiamento e acesso equitativo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi realizar uma revisão bibliométrica para identificar as principais tendências de pesquisa em relação aos medicamentos de alto custo, as áreas de maior interesse e as regiões geográficas que lideram a pesquisa neste tema.
Métodos
Foi utilizado o método da Teoria do Enfoque Meta-Analítico Consolidado – TEMAC, que utiliza três etapas para identificar literaturas relevantes sobre o tema abordado, sendo que na primeira etapa é feita uma preparação para a pesquisa nas bases de dados, na segunda é feita as inter-relações entre os dados dos registros encontrados e, na última etapa, realiza-se a análise dos gráficos de coupling, co-citation e co-occurrence gerados no VOSviewer 1.6.84. Foram utilizados os descritores “high--cost medications” ou “high-cost drugs”.
Resultados
Nas bases escolhidas, obteve-se 519 registros, sendo 215 na Web of Science (WoS) e 304 na Scopus, no período entre 1980 e 2022, sendo em sua maioria artigos (cerca de 72%), os quais se relacionam principalmente com os desafios econômicos e políticos associados a medicamentos de alto custo. Os países que mais publicaram sobre o tema foram os Estados Unidos, Brasil, Reino Unido e Austrália. Nos últimos anos, o interesse na área tem crescido, com um aumento significativo na quantidade de publicações. Os artigos mais citados sobre o tema geralmente se concentram em doenças crônicas ou raras e em novas terapias que possam ajudar a melhorar a qualidade de vida dos pacientes, principalmente para o câncer, e estão voltados para questões de custo e eficácia dos tratamentos, bem como preocupações éticas e legais. Por meio das análises de co-occurrence, co-citation e coupling, foi possível identificar que a temática do estudo está centrada em torno de termos como: medicamentos de alto custo, câncer, saúde, usuário, custos econômicos.
Discussão e conclusões
As conclusões mais importantes da pesquisa indicam que o custo dos medicamentos é um desafio significativo para os sistemas de saúde em todo o mundo, concentrando-se em encontrar soluções para tornar os tratamentos mais acessíveis e eficazes, incluindo novas abordagens de financiamento, como parcerias público-privadas e modelos de pagamento baseados em resultados. Também se destaca a importância de políticas de saúde pública eficazes para garantir que os pacientes possam acessar tratamentos de alta qualidade sem enfrentar dificuldades financeiras significativas. Esses resultados sugerem que os medicamentos de alto custo são utilizados principalmente para o tratamento de doenças graves e raras, e que o custo desses medicamentos é uma preocupação importante para os sistemas de saúde. Essas informações são relevantes para identificar as principais tendências de pesquisa em relação aos medicamentos de alto custo, as áreas de maior interesse e as regiões geográficas que lideram a pesquisa nessa área. Isso pode ajudar os pesquisadores a identificar lacunas na pesquisa e a direcionar seus estudos para áreas de maior interesse e relevância.
Pharmacy and materia medica, Pharmaceutical industry
Navigating towards fully open language goals and exploring open scenes in an intelligent way have always raised significant challenges. Recently, Vision Language Models (VLMs) have demonstrated remarkable capabilities to reason with both language and visual data. Although many works have focused on leveraging VLMs for navigation in open scenes, they often require high computational cost, rely on object-centric approaches, or depend on environmental priors in detailed human instructions. We introduce Navigation with VLM (NavVLM), a training-free framework that harnesses open-source VLMs to enable robots to navigate effectively, even for human-friendly language goal such as abstract places, actions, or specific objects in open scenes. NavVLM leverages the VLM as its cognitive core to perceive environmental information and constantly provides exploration guidance achieving intelligent navigation with only a neat target rather than a detailed instruction with environment prior. We evaluated and validated NavVLM in both simulation and real-world experiments. In simulation, our framework achieves state-of-the-art performance in Success weighted by Path Length (SPL) on object-specifc tasks in richly detailed environments from Matterport 3D (MP3D), Habitat Matterport 3D (HM3D) and Gibson. With navigation episode reported, NavVLM demonstrates the capabilities to navigate towards any open-set languages. In real-world validation, we validated our framework's effectiveness in real-world robot at indoor scene.
The construction of quantum computers is based on the synthesis of low-cost quantum circuits. The quantum circuit of any Boolean function expressed in a Positive Polarity Reed-Muller $PPRM$ expansion can be synthesized using Multiple-Control Toffoli ($MCT$) gates. This paper proposes two algorithms to construct a quantum circuit for any Boolean function expressed in a Positive Polarity Reed-Muller $PPRM$ expansion. The Boolean function can be expressed with various algebraic forms, so there are different quantum circuits can be synthesized for the Boolean function based on its algebraic form. The proposed algorithms aim to map the $MCT$ gates into the $NCV$ gates for any quantum circuit by generating a simple algebraic form for the Boolean function. The first algorithm generates a special algebraic form for any Boolean function by rearrangement of terms of the Boolean function according to a predefined degree of term $d_{term}$, then synthesizes the corresponding quantum circuit. The second algorithm applies the decomposition methods to decompose $MCT$ circuit into its elementary gates followed by applying a set of simplification rules to simplify and optimize the synthesized quantum circuit. The proposed algorithms achieve a reduction in the quantum cost of synthesized quantum circuits when compared with relevant work in literature. The proposed algorithms synthesize quantum circuits that can applied on IBM quantum computer.
Abstract Fasting blood glucose (FBG) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) are key indicators reflecting blood glucose control in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. The purpose of this study is to establish a predictive model for blood glucose changes in T2DM patients after 3 months of treatment, achieving personalized treatment.A retrospective study was conducted on type 2 diabetes mellitus real-world medical data from 4 cities in Sichuan Province, China from January 2015 to December 2020. After data preprocessing, data inputting, data sampling, and feature screening, 16 kinds of machine learning methods were used to construct prediction models, and 5 prediction models with the best prediction performance were screened respectively. A total of 100,000 cases were included to establish the FBG model, and 2,169 cases were established to establish the HbA1c model. The best prediction model both of FBG and HbA1c finally obtained are realized by ensemble learning and modified random forest inputting, the AUC values are 0.819 and 0.970, respectively. The most important indicators of the FBG and HbA1c prediction model were FBG and HbA1c. Medication compliance, follow-up outcome, dietary habits, BMI, and waist circumference also had a greater impact on FBG levels. The prediction accuracy of the models of the two blood glucose control indicators is high and has certain clinical applicability.HbA1c and FBG are mutually important predictors, and there is a close relationship between them.