Hasil untuk "Science"

Zhe Cheng, Huichao Huang, Maoyu Li et al.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant tumor associated with high morbidity and mortality. Therefore, it is of great importance to develop effective prognostic models and guide clinical treatment in HCC. Protein lactylation is found in HCC tumors and is associated with HCC progression. Methods: The expression levels of lactylation-related genes were identified from the TCGA database. A lactylation-related gene signature was constructed using LASSO regression. The prognostic value of the model was assessed and further validated in the ICGC cohort, with the patients split into two groups based on risk score. Glycolysis and immune pathways, treatment responsiveness, and the mutation of signature genes were analyzed. The correlation between PKM2 expression and the clinical characteristics was investigated. Results: Sixteen prognostic differentially expressed lactylation-related genes were identified. An 8-gene signature was constructed and validated. Patients with higher risk scores had poorer clinical outcomes. The two groups were different in immune cell abundance. The high-risk group patients were more sensitive to most chemical drugs and sorafenib, while the low-risk group patients were more sensitive to some targeted drugs such as lapatinib and FH535. Moreover, the low-risk group had a higher TIDE score and was more sensitive to immunotherapy. PKM2 expression correlated with clinical characteristics and immune cell abundance in the HCC samples. Conclusions: The lactylation-related model exhibited robust predictive efficiency in HCC. The glycolysis pathway was enriched in the HCC tumor samples. A low-risk score indicated better treatment response to most targeted drugs and immunotherapy. The lactylation-related gene signature could be used as a biomarker for the effective clinical treatment of HCC.

Marta Queralt Romero, José Luis Lázaro Cantabrana, Raúl López Vilar et al.

Este artículo presenta los resultados de una revisión sistemática de la literatura sobre prácticas educativas que integran tecnologías digitales (TD) desde la educación básica hasta la educación superior. El estudio adopta la Teoría de la Actividad (TA) como marco teórico para examinar las prácticas educativas como sistemas socioculturales mediados, atendiendo a la relación entre sujeto, objeto, herramientas digitales, reglas, comunidad y división del trabajo. Siguiendo la declaración PRISMA, se realizó una búsqueda en cinco bases de datos (Web of Science, Scopus, ERIC, SciELO y Dialnet), en español e inglés, para el periodo 2013–2023. De las 718 publicaciones identificadas, se seleccionaron 27 documentos que cumplían criterios pedagógicos y didácticos explícitos. El análisis cualitativo se llevó a cabo mediante ATLAS.ti. Los resultados muestran un sesgo geográfico europeo y predominancia de prácticas educativas sistemáticas en Educación Superior (n=16), seguida por Primaria (n=6) y Secundaria (n=4), mientras que Infantil es la menos representada (n=1). Predomina el componente de la TA "Herramientas digitales", mientras "Comunidad" aparece en el 50% de los casos, indicando una falta de perspectiva holística. En el 90% de los documentos la TD fomenta la inclusión digital, subrayando su función compensadora en contextos educativos diversos.

Emily Dunn, Renfu Shao

The mitochondrial (mt) genomes of animals, including humans, are typically a single circular chromosome containing all mt genes. In several animal lineages, however, mt genomes have become fragmented, with genes distributed on multiple minichromosomes. How fragmented mt genomes are transcribed is still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the transcription of the extensively fragmented mt genomes of the human head louse (<i>Pediculus humanus capitis</i>) and the human body louse (<i>Pediculus humanus corporis</i>). RNA-seq reads of both subspecies were retrieved from the NCBI Sequence Read Archive database and mapped to their mt genomes. The transcription level of each mt gene, minichromosome, motif, coding region and non-coding region, measured by RPKM (Reads Per Kilobase of transcript per Million mapped reads), TPM (Transcripts Per Million) or read coverage, was analysed statistically. In both subspecies, mt minichromosomes were transcribed entirely, with coding regions transcribed at much higher levels than non-coding regions. The 37 mt genes are transcribed unevenly, with <i>rrnL</i>, <i>cox1</i>, <i>cox2</i>, <i>cox3</i> and <i>atp6</i> transcribed at significantly higher levels than several other genes. Many transcription events terminate near a GC-rich motif in the non-coding regions; however, some transcription events pass this motif, leading to the transcription of entire non-coding regions. Despite the drastic difference in mt genome organisation, the human lice share several transcriptional features with humans, but also have unique features related to their fragmented mt genome organisation. The current study represents the first effort into the transcription of fragmented mt genomes. As more RNA-seq data become available, further studies on other animals with fragmented mt genomes are necessary to fully understand how genome fragmentation affects transcription.

Grace Wolf-Chase, Charles Kerton, Kathryn Devine et al.

We review participatory science programs that have contributed to the understanding of star formation. The Milky Way Project (MWP), one of the earliest participatory science projects launched on the Zooniverse platform, produced the largest catalog of ``bubbles'' associated with feedback from hot young stars to date, and enabled the identification of a new class of compact star-forming regions (SFRs) known as ``yellowballs'' (YBs). The analysis of YBs through their infrared colors and catalog cross-matching led to discovering that YBs are compact photodissociation regions generated by intermediate- and high-mass young stellar objects embedded in clumps that range in mass from 10 - 10,000 solar masses and luminosity from 10 - 1,000,000 solar luminosities. The MIRION catalog, assembled from 6176 YBs identified by citizen scientists, increases the number of candidate intermediate-mass SFRs by nearly two orders of magnitude. Ongoing work utilizing data from the Spitzer, Herschel and WISE missions involves analyzing infrared color trends to predict physical properties and ages of YB environments. Methods include applying summary statistics to histograms and color-color plots as well as SED fitting. Students in introductory astronomy classes contribute toward continued efforts refining photometric measurements of YBs while learning fundamental concepts in astronomy through a classroom-based participatory science experience, the PERYSCOPE project. We also describe an initiative that engaged seminaries, family groups, and interfaith communities in a wide variety of science projects on the Zooniverse platform. This initiative produced important guidance on attracting audiences that are underserved, underrepresented, or apprehensive about science.

Ran Wang, Caibo Tang, Yuge Ma et al.

Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs) represent a pivotal technology for enhancing the utilization of renewable energy in buildings. However, challenges persist, including the lack of integrated design models, limited analytical dimensions, and insufficient consideration of climate change impacts. This study proposes a comprehensive performance assessment framework for BIPV that incorporates global climate change factors. An integrated simulation model is developed using EnergyPlus8.9.0, Optics6, and WINDOW7.7 to evaluate BIPV configurations such as photovoltaic facades, shading systems, and roofs. A multi-criteria evaluation system is established, encompassing global warming potential (GWP), power generation, energy flexibility, and economic cost. Future hourly weather data for the 2050s and 2080s are generated using CCWorldWeatherGen under representative climate scenarios. Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to assess performance across variable combinations, supplemented by sensitivity and uncertainty analyses to identify key influencing factors. Results indicate (1) critical design parameters—including building orientation, wall thermal absorptance, window-to-wall ratios, PV shading angle, glazing optical properties, equipment and lighting power density, and occupancy—significantly affect overall performance. Equipment and lighting densities most influence carbon emissions and flexibility, whereas envelope thermal properties dominate cost impacts. PV shading outperforms other forms in power generation. (2) Under intensified climate change, GWP and life cycle costs increase, while energy flexibility declines, imposing growing pressure on system performance. However, under certain mid-century climate conditions, BIPV power generation potential improves due to altered solar radiation. The study recommends integrating climate-adaptive design strategies with energy systems such as PEDF (photovoltaic, energy storage, direct current, and flexibility), refining policy mechanisms, and advancing BIPV deployment with climate-resilient approaches to support building decarbonization and enhance adaptive capacity.

Д. В. Кепін

У статті викладено результати комплексного розгляду явища музейництва на теренах України на основі залучення даних від гуманітарних і природничих наук: археології, етнології, філології, культурології, мистецтвознавства, музеології, пам’яткознавства, антропології, геології, палеонтології. Застосовано історичний підхід до вивчення проблем музеології, порівняльно-історичний метод, історико-хронологічний метод, загальнонаукові методи аналізу і синтезу, дедукції, індукції, методи музеології як наукової дисципліни, принцип об’єктивності. Для порівняльного аналізу залучено сучасні дані з музейництва країн Європи, Близького та Середнього Сходу, хронологічні межі визначено добою первісності та грецько-римського часу. Розглянуто гіпотезу Ю.А. Омельченка, згідно з якою домузейні форми зберігання та використання історико-культурних цінностей відомі у первісному суспільстві, що проявилось в організації святилищ і пізніше храмів, поширених у класовому суспільстві. Проаналізовано погляди філософів, культурологів, археологів, етнографів на походження речової культури. Проведено аналіз писемних пам’яток грецько-римського часу. Показано, що безцінним писемним джерелом, яке дає уявлення про форми збереження цінностей у стародавніх народів Сходу, є «Біблія». За результатами дослідження зроблено висновки, що процес формування ціннісного («музейного») ставлення людини має такий вигляд: «річ → річ як працінність → річ як цінність (предмет музейного значення) → “музейний предмет” → колекція → зібрання → музей». Предмет музейного значення виконує мнемоністичну функцію, тобто має властивість нагадувати людині про щось в означенні пам’яті; сакральні інститути суспільства, як-то святилища та храми, не наділені музейними функціями. У давніх людей не було усталеного розуміння необхідності створення світського просвітницького закладу, як-то музей. Мав минути певний час для вироблення у культурі суспільства критеріїв «музейного» поцінування речей та усвідомлення необхідності збереження та популяризації пам’яток шляхом створення експозицій для широкого кола відвідувачів, що у країнах Європи припадає на добу Відродження та Просвітництва. Музей як поліфункціональна система є епістемною моделлю культури, однією з історичних форм колективної пам’яті, ціннісного ставлення людини до світу, підтримки традиції та засобом масової комунікації, що проявляється в експозиції, яка інформує про абстрактне за допомогою конкретного.

Shuang Chen, Yuanfa Ji, Xiyan Sun

Targeting the issues of slow speed and inadequate precision of optimal solution calculation for multi-user detection in complex noise environments, this paper proposes a multi-user detection algorithm based on a Hybrid Cheetah Optimizer (HCO). The algorithm first optimizes the control parameters and individual update mechanism of the Cheetah Optimizer (CO) algorithm using a nonlinear strategy to improve the uniformity and discretization of the individual search range, and then dynamically introduces a differential evolutionary algorithm into the improved selection mechanism of the CO algorithm, which is utilized to fine-tune the solution space and maintain the local diversity during the fast search process. Simulation results demonstrate that this detection algorithm not only realizes fast convergence with a very low bit error rate (BER) at eight iterations but also has obvious advantages in terms of noise immunity, resistance to far and near effects, communication capacity, etc., which greatly improves the speed and accuracy of optimal position solving for multi-user detection and can achieve the purpose of accurate solving in complex environments.

В. В. Микитенко

Уперше сформовано універсальний комплекс принципових підходів до організації, раціоналізації та гармонізації природно-господарських відносин у реконструктивному розвитку територіальних утворень задля забезпечення їх структурно-інформаційної надійності та збільшення масштабів й ефективності реконструкції. Конструювання коадаптивних засад ґрунтується на капітал-орієнтованих положеннях ідентифікації простору як активу, що створює додану вартість; потоково-процесних положеннях реалізації реконструктивного розвитку за напрямами: просторовий розвиток, територіальний розвиток, розвиток територій; екосистемних положеннях визначення контамінаційних, регенераційних та асиміляційних властивостей простору господарювання. Визначено три етапи реконструктивного просторового розвитку територіальних утворень при переформатуванні природно-господарських відносин: 1) реконструктивний розвиток інфраструктури та економіки на тлі забезпечення екологічної стійкості територій; 2) реконструктивний соціальний розвиток територій на тлі ущільнення виробничо-господарської та міжрегіональної взаємодії; 3) реконструктивний архітектурно-планувальний розвиток територій. Визначено чотири типи господарської діяльності на територіях із деталізацією їхніх характеристик та особливостей, що відповідає прийнятним критеріям цінності результатів: 1) господарська діяльність із високою ефективністю системи управління та використання природно-ресурсних активів, а також великим потенціалом цих активів; 3) господарська діяльність із середньою ефективністю системи управління та використання природно-ресурсних активів; 3) господарська діяльність із низькою ефективністю системи управління та використання природноресурсних активів, але з великим потенціалом цих активів; 4) господарська діяльність із великими масштабами природно-ресурсного потенціалу, але з низькою ефективністю системи управління.

Manish Parashar

Emerging data-driven scientific workflows are seeking to leverage distributed data sources to understand end-to-end phenomena, drive experimentation, and facilitate important decision-making. Despite the exponential growth of available digital data sources at the edge, and the ubiquity of non trivial computational power for processing this data, realizing such science workflows remains challenging. This paper explores a computing continuum that is everywhere and nowhere -- one spanning resources at the edges, in the core and in between, and providing abstractions that can be harnessed to support science. It also introduces recent research in programming abstractions that can express what data should be processed and when and where it should be processed, and autonomic middleware services that automate the discovery of resources and the orchestration of computations across these resources.

Xinyue Wang, Weifan Lin, Weiting Zhang et al.

In this paper, the Merkle-Transformer model is introduced as an innovative approach designed for financial data processing, which combines the data integrity verification mechanism of Merkle trees with the data processing capabilities of the Transformer model. A series of experiments on key tasks, such as financial behavior detection and stock price prediction, were conducted to validate the effectiveness of the model. The results demonstrate that the Merkle-Transformer significantly outperforms existing deep learning models (such as RoBERTa and BERT) across performance metrics, including precision, recall, accuracy, and F1 score. In particular, in the task of stock price prediction, the performance is notable, with nearly all evaluation metrics scoring above 0.9. Moreover, the performance of the model across various hardware platforms, as well as the security performance of the proposed method, were investigated. The Merkle-Transformer exhibits exceptional performance and robust data security even in resource-constrained environments across diverse hardware configurations. This research offers a new perspective, underscoring the importance of considering data security in financial data processing and confirming the superiority of integrating data verification mechanisms in deep learning models for handling financial data. The core contribution of this work is the first proposition and empirical demonstration of a financial data analysis model that fuses data integrity verification with efficient data processing, providing a novel solution for the fintech domain. It is believed that the widespread adoption and application of the Merkle-Transformer model will greatly advance innovation in the financial industry and lay a solid foundation for future research on secure financial data processing.

Katarzyna Grabowska, Łukasz Januszkiewicz, Ewelina Pabjańczyk-Wlazło

This study explores the electromagnetic properties of flat textile products enhanced with carbon nanotube (CNT) threads used as the weft. CNT threads, fabricated via dry-spinning, were integrated into fabrics by wrapping them around steel threads to form a solenoid-like structure. To further improve electromagnetic attenuation, the CNT yarn was coated with graphene oxide and silver nanoparticles. The research assessed the impact of these modifications on the fabric’s ability to attenuate alternating electromagnetic fields across a range of frequencies. Results showed enhanced attenuation at 30 MHz and 500 MHz. CNT yarn wrapped around steel threads achieved attenuation efficiencies of 18 dB at 30 MHz and 22 dB at 500 MHz, with a notable 10 dB improvement at 30 MHz over the reference. Fabrics with CNT yarn coated with graphene oxide demonstrated similar performance to the reference fabric at 500 MHz and an 8 dB increase at 30 MHz. Similarly, CNT yarn with silver nanoparticles showed comparable performance at higher frequencies but matched the reference at 30 MHz. These results indicate significant enhancement at lower frequencies, with benefits diminishing at higher. This study underscores the potential of integrating CNTs and metal nanoparticles into textiles to improve electromagnetic shielding, especially across specific frequencies.

Catarina Leal, Ales Eichmeier, Kateřina Štůsková et al.

With a reduction in available chemical treatments, there is an increased interest in biological control of grapevine trunk diseases. Few studies have investigated the impact of introducing beneficial microorganisms in the rhizosphere on the existing indigenous soil microbiome. In this study, we explored the effect of two biocontrol agents (BCAs), Trichoderma atroviride SC1 (Ta SC1) (Vintec; Certis Belchim) and Bacillus subtilis PTA-271 (Bs PTA-271), on the grapevine rhizosphere bacterial and fungal microbiome as well as plant defense expression using high-throughput amplicon sequencing and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), respectively. Additionally, we quantified both Ta SC1 and Bs PTA-271 in the rhizosphere over time using droplet digital PCR. The fungal microbiome was more affected by factors such as soil type, BCA treatment, and sampling time compared with the bacterial microbiome. Specifically, Ta SC1 application produced negative impacts on fungal diversity, whereas application of BCAs did not affect bacterial diversity. Interestingly, the survival and establishment of both BCAs showed opposite trends depending on the soil type, indicating that the physicochemical properties of soils have a role in BCA establishment. Fungal co-occurrence networks were less complex than bacterial networks but highly impacted by Ta SC1 application. Soils treated with Ta SC1 presented more complex and stable co-occurrence networks, with a higher number of positive correlations. Induced grapevine defenses also differed according to the soil, being more affected by BCA inoculation on sandy soil. The findings of this research emphasize the complex relationships among microorganisms in the rhizosphere and highlight the significance of taking into account various factors, such as soil type, sampling time, and BCA treatment, and their influence on the structure and dynamics of microbial communities.

В. Д. Прилюк

Зроблено огляд публікацій про еволюцію маркетингу в СРСР в 1970—1990-х рр. Встановлено неадекватність висвітлення в них генезису маркетингу в цей період, що ускладнює розуміння наступних подій. Охарактеризовано взаємопов’язаний розвиток економічного, інституційного, інформаційного та навчального середовища маркетингу в 1970—1991 рр. в СРСР як підґрунтя для стрімкого формування потенціалу маркетингу в Україні в наступні роки. Застосовано системний підхід до дослідження середовища маркетингу, комплексно проаналізовано динаміку його економічного, інституційного, інформаційного і навчального складників як необхідної умови для трактування подальшого розвитку маркетингу в Україні. Розкрито функції маркетингу в зовнішньоекономічній діяльності СРСР у вказаний період; показано, що окремі інструменти маркетингу дедалі більш активно використовувались на внутрішньому ринку країни. Виявлено збільшення потоку інформації про маркетинг, що слугувало його освоєнню в Україні. Охарактеризовано вплив впровадження ринкових реформ в управлінні економікою СРСР на створення передумов для сприяння розвитку теорії та практики маркетингу. Повернуто в науковий дискурс забуті відомості про безпрецедентні в СРСР новаторські розробки Інституту кібернетики АН УРСР в царині інфраструктури інформаційного середовища маркетингу — Центр обміну поточною інформацією про технічний рівень виробництва, потреби в наукових дослідженнях, виконувані та призначені для впровадження наукові розробки; систему комп’ютерного програмного прогнозування розвитку науки і техніки; першу в СРСР Лабораторію маркетингу засобів інформатики. Вказано на пріоритет нинішнього Київського національного університету імені Тараса Шевченка у виданні першої вітчизняної книги «Основи маркетингу» (1989 р.) та створенні першої в Україні університетської кафедри маркетингу (1990 р.).

Emilio Vital Brazil, Eduardo Soares, Lucas Villa Real et al.

Data is a critical element in any discovery process. In the last decades, we observed exponential growth in the volume of available data and the technology to manipulate it. However, data is only practical when one can structure it for a well-defined task. For instance, we need a corpus of text broken into sentences to train a natural language machine-learning model. In this work, we will use the token \textit{dataset} to designate a structured set of data built to perform a well-defined task. Moreover, the dataset will be used in most cases as a blueprint of an entity that at any moment can be stored as a table. Specifically, in science, each area has unique forms to organize, gather and handle its datasets. We believe that datasets must be a first-class entity in any knowledge-intensive process, and all workflows should have exceptional attention to datasets' lifecycle, from their gathering to uses and evolution. We advocate that science and engineering discovery processes are extreme instances of the need for such organization on datasets, claiming for new approaches and tooling. Furthermore, these requirements are more evident when the discovery workflow uses artificial intelligence methods to empower the subject-matter expert. In this work, we discuss an approach to bringing datasets as a critical entity in the discovery process in science. We illustrate some concepts using material discovery as a use case. We chose this domain because it leverages many significant problems that can be generalized to other science fields.

Angelo Salatino, Simone Angioni, Francesco Osborne et al.

Understanding the relationship between the composition of a research team and the potential impact of their research papers is crucial as it can steer the development of new science policies for improving the research enterprise. Numerous studies assess how the characteristics and diversity of research teams can influence their performance across several dimensions: ethnicity, internationality, size, and others. In this paper, we explore the impact of diversity in terms of the authors' expertise. To this purpose, we retrieved 114K papers in the field of Computer Science and analysed how the diversity of research fields within a research team relates to the number of citations their papers received in the upcoming 5 years. The results show that two different metrics we defined, reflecting the diversity of expertise, are significantly associated with the number of citations. This suggests that, at least in Computer Science, diversity of expertise is key to scientific impact.

Jan-Christoph Klie, Ji-Ung Lee, Kevin Stowe et al.

Many Natural Language Processing (NLP) systems use annotated corpora for training and evaluation. However, labeled data is often costly to obtain and scaling annotation projects is difficult, which is why annotation tasks are often outsourced to paid crowdworkers. Citizen Science is an alternative to crowdsourcing that is relatively unexplored in the context of NLP. To investigate whether and how well Citizen Science can be applied in this setting, we conduct an exploratory study into engaging different groups of volunteers in Citizen Science for NLP by re-annotating parts of a pre-existing crowdsourced dataset. Our results show that this can yield high-quality annotations and attract motivated volunteers, but also requires considering factors such as scalability, participation over time, and legal and ethical issues. We summarize lessons learned in the form of guidelines and provide our code and data to aid future work on Citizen Science.

Wei Zhou, Guilin Zeng, Haotian Jin et al.

In terms of new-generation energy-storing devices, aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) are becoming the prime candidates because of their inexpensive nature, inherent safety, environmental benignity and abundant resources. Nevertheless, due to a restrained selection of cathodes, AZIBs often perform unsatisfactorily under long-life cycling and high-rate conditions. Consequently, we propose a facile evaporation-induced self-assembly technique for preparing V₂O₃@carbonized dictyophora (V₂O₃@CD) composites, utilizing economical and easily available biomass dictyophora as carbon sources and NH₄VO₃ as metal sources. When assembled in AZIBs, the V₂O₃@CD exhibits a high initial discharge capacity of 281.9 mAh g⁻¹ at 50 mA g⁻¹. The discharge capacity is still up to 151.9 mAh g⁻¹ after 1000 cycles at 1 A g⁻¹, showing excellent long-cycle durability. The extraordinary high electrochemical effectiveness of V₂O₃@CD could be mainly attributed to the formation of porous carbonized dictyophora frame. The formed porous carbon skeleton can ensure efficient electron transport and prevent V₂O₃ from losing electrical contact due to volume changes caused by Zn²⁺ intercalation/deintercalation. The strategy of metal-oxide-filled carbonized biomass material may provide insights into developing high-performance AZIBs and other potential energy storage devices, with a wide application range.

Michael A. Heroux

Software plays a central role in scientific discovery. Improving how we develop and use software for research can have both broad and deep impacts on a spectrum of challenges and opportunities society faces today. The emergence of Research Software Engineer (RSE) as a role correlates with the growing complexity of scientific challenges and diversity of software team skills. In this paper, we describe research software science (RSS), an idea related to RSE, and particularly suited to research software teams. RSS promotes the use of scientific methodologies to explore and establish broadly applicable knowledge. Using RSS, we can pursue sustainable, repeatable, and reproducible software improvements that positively impact research software toward improved scientific discovery.

Andrea Mannocci, Ornella Irrera, Paolo Manghi

Authorship of scientific articles has profoundly changed from early science until now. While once upon a time a paper was authored by a handful of authors, scientific collaborations are much more prominent on average nowadays. As authorship (and citation) is essentially the primary reward mechanism according to the traditional research evaluation frameworks, it turned out to be a rather hot-button topic from which a significant portion of academic disputes stems. However, the novel Open Science practices could be an opportunity to disrupt such dynamics and diversify the credit of the different scientific contributors involved in the diverse phases of the lifecycle of the same research effort. In fact, a paper and research data (or software) contextually published could exhibit different authorship to give credit to the various contributors right where it feels most appropriate. As a preliminary study, in this paper, we leverage the wealth of information contained in Open Science Graphs, such as OpenAIRE, and conduct a focused analysis on a subset of publications with supplementary material drawn from the European Marine Science (MES) research community. The results are promising and suggest our hypothesis is worth exploring further as we registered in 22% of the cases substantial variations between the authors participating in the publication and the authors participating in the supplementary dataset (or software), thus posing the premises for a longitudinal, large-scale analysis of the phenomenon.

Edoardo Pozio

The main reservoir hosts of nematodes of the genus Trichinella are wild carnivores, although most human infections are caused by the consumption of pork. This group of zoonotic parasites completes the entire natural life cycle within the host organism. However, there is an important phase of the cycle that has only been highlighted in recent years and which concerns the permanence of the infecting larvae in the striated muscles of the host carcasses waiting to be ingested by a new host. To survive in this unique biological niche, Trichinella spp. larvae have developed an anaerobic metabolism for their survival in rotting carcasses and, for some species, a resistance to freezing for months or years in cold regions. Climate changes with increasingly temperatures and reduction of environmental humidity lower the survival time of larvae in host carcasses. In addition, environmental changes affect the biology and ecology of the main host species, reducing their number and age composition due to natural habitat fragmentation caused by increasing human settlements, extensive monocultures, increasing number of food animals, and reduction of trophic chains and biodiversity. All of these factors lead to a reduction in biological and environmental complexity that is the key to the natural host-parasite balance. In conclusion, Trichinella nematodes can be considered as an indicator of a health natural ecosystem.