Journals
2026 EN
Eftekhari Zeinab · Eckstein Korbinian · Strasser Bernhard
+5 more
ABSTRACT Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) enables noninvasive assessment of brain metabolites and is commonly implemented using single‐voxel spectroscopy (SVS) or magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI). This study directly compares the reproducibility of single‐voxel sLASER and 3D‐Concentric Ring Trajectory–based Free Induction Decay MRSI (3D‐CRT‐FID‐MRSI) at 3 T and 7 T in the same cohort. Five healthy adults were each scanned twice on a 3 T PrismaFit (Siemens; 64‐channel head coil) and a 7 T MAGNETOM 7 T Plus (Siemens; 32‐channel head coil), with sessions 5–9 days apart. To explore MRSI's capabilities for regional metabolite quantification and reproducibility assessment, three masking strategies were applied. Additionally, two spatial averaging approaches for MRSI, averaging before vs. after spectral fitting, were evaluated. Coefficients of variation (CVs) and voxel‐wise correlation analyses were used to assess intrasubject and intersession reproducibility. Results showed good‐to‐excellent reproducibility across both techniques, with SVS generally providing lower CVs at 7 T, while MRSI outperformed SVS in several metabolites at 3 T. MRSI allowed tissue‐specific analysis, with lower CVs observed in WM compared to GM, especially at 7 T. Although MRSI reproducibility was slightly reduced at 7 T likely due to longer scan times and lack of prospective motion correction at 7 T (which was available at 3 T in this study), the spatial coverage and retrospective region analysis makes it an attractive alternative to SVS for many brain regions. This study demonstrates that both sLASER and CRT‐FID‐MRSI provide reproducible metabolite measurements at 3 T and 7 T. The findings highlight MRSI's advantages for retrospective multiregional and tissue‐specific analysis, facilitating its integration into future clinical research.
Journals
2026 EN
Bryan Soh Chek Fong · Jawad Zeinab Abbas
ABSTRACT The capture and storage of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) has been recognized as one of the most promising solutions to prevent climate change caused by the greenhouse effect. Membrane‐based separation has emerged as an encouraging alternative for CO 2 separation. However, the existing membrane‐based separation systems are limited by the trade‐off between permeability and selectivity. Therefore, the development of a new promising mixed matrix membrane (MMM) is needed to create a high‐performance CO 2 separation process, which is energy efficient driven and capable of overcoming the challenges of trade‐off. In this study, the casting thickness of Poly (ethylene glycol) Diacrylate (PEGDA) ranging from 100 to 250 μm was investigated. The MMMs were synthesized using PEGDA combined with functionalized multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs‐F) using a dry phase inversion technique. The aim was to determine the permeance and selectivity for CO 2 /Nitrogen (N 2 ) separation. A total of three MMMs were cast with MWCNTs‐F loadings of 0.05, 0.1, and 0.3 wt%. A selective MMM was successfully synthesized at an optimum casting thickness of 150 μm with a MWCNTs‐F loading of 0.1 wt%. This was attributed to a strong interaction between nanofillers and the polymer matrix, which provided sufficient interlayer spacing for CO 2 /N 2 separation.
Journals
2026 EN
El Mawla Zeinab · Al Mulki Jida · Hassoun Mahmoud
ABSTRACT COVID‐19 pneumonia is a strong radiological mimicker of pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP), making their differentiation difficult. PAP is a rare diffuse lung disease caused by the accumulation of surfactant lipoproteins within the alveoli, resulting in impaired gas exchange and respiratory failure, with an estimated prevalence of 3.7–6.2 cases per million. This report presents a rare case of PAP complicated by COVID‐19 pneumonia in a 42‐year‐old man who presented with chills, fatigue, dyspnea and fever. Clinical, laboratory and radiological features were thoroughly assessed. High‐resolution CT revealed a crazy‐paving pattern with patchy consolidations, diffuse ground‐glass opacities and septal thickening. Early recognition of lung diseases with overlapping imaging features is essential to guide management and prevent adverse outcomes. The coexistence of PAP and COVID‐19 was associated with rapid clinical deterioration and poor prognosis. Further studies are needed to clarify underlying mechanisms and optimise treatment strategies.
Journals
2026 EN
Abed Amin · Torabi Mahmoud · Mashreghi Zeinab
ABSTRACT Seasonality plays a crucial role in the transmission dynamics of many infectious diseases, contributing to periodic fluctuations in disease incidence. The previously developed geographically dependent individual‐level model (GD‐ILM) has been effective in modeling infectious diseases, but does not incorporate seasonal effects, limiting its ability to capture seasonal trends. In this study, we extend the GD‐ILM by introducing a seasonally varying transmission component, allowing the model to account for periodic fluctuations in infection risk. Our approach integrates a seasonally forced infection kernel to model periodic changes in transmission rates over time, leading to a novel spatiotemporal kernel. To facilitate efficient and reliable parameter estimation in this high‐dimensional setting, we employ the Monte Carlo expectation conditional maximization algorithm. We apply our model to individual‐level influenza A data from Manitoba, Canada, examining spatial and seasonal infection patterns to identify high‐risk regions and periods, and thus informing targeted intervention strategies. The proposed model's performance is further validated through comprehensive simulation studies. Simulation results confirm that models omitting seasonal components lead to biased spatial parameter estimates under various disease prevalence conditions. To support reproducibility and practical application, we developed the SeasEpi R package publicly available on the comprehensive R archive network (CRAN), which implements the seasonal GD‐ILM framework and provides tools for model fitting, simulation, and evaluation. The seasonal GD‐ILM offers a more accurate framework for modeling infectious disease transmission by integrating both spatial and seasonal dynamics. It supports more accurate risk assessment and enhances public health responses by enabling timely and location‐specific interventions based on seasonal transmission patterns.
Resource
2026 EN
Smith Karen
Comrades Beyond the Cold War: North Korea and the Liberation of Southern Africa Tycho van der Hoog. London: C. Hurst & Co., 2025. £25.00. 368 pp. Slow Poison: Idi Amin, Yoweri Museveni, and the Making of the Ugandan State Mahmood Mamdani. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2025. £27.95/$32.50. 352 pp. Bottled: How Coca-Cola Became African Sara Byala. London: C. Hurst & Company, 2023. £30.00. 328 pp. Africa, the EU and the Samoa Agreement: Exploring African Agency amid the ‘New Scramble’ Sophia Price and Mark Langan, eds. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2025. £155.00/$200.00. 198 pp. An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence Zeinab Badawi. London: WH Allen, 2024. £25.00. 544 pp.
Journals
2026 EN
Hjelm Titus · Äystö Tuomas · Karimi Zeinab
Religious literacy is a ‘hot’ topic in twenty-first century study of religion and more broadly. But what do we talk about when we talk about religious literacy? To answer this question, we conducted a systematic review of English-language scholarly publications from 1989 to 2023 that utilize the concept ( n = 233). Much of the discussion is best characterized as ideological-normative: Religious literacy is claimed to be the answer to multiple social challenges arising from religious diversity and there is an overwhelming consensus that we need more religious literacy. We conclude that whatever the ethical grounds for promoting religious literacy, the concept is severely understudied empirically. Most importantly, the common claim that knowledge and understanding of religious traditions increases tolerance and acceptance of religious diversity is virtually unexamined. As conclusion, we argue that before promoting it, scholarship should empirically assess whether the claims about religious literacy are viable to begin with.
Journals
2026 EN
Dehghan Zeinab · Yang Jingxiang · Taleby Ahvanooey Milad
+2 more
The super-resolution (SR) approach is an effective method for obtaining a hyperspectral (HS) image with high spatial-spectral resolution, which cannot be achieved due to physical limitations. The effectiveness of this method heavily relies on capturing local and non-local self-similarities as well as global spectral correlations. Recently, researchers have utilized Transformers to address the SR issue by leveraging long-range information. However, challenges remain, particularly the computational complexity of self-attention in terms of time and space. By incorporating dynamic masking techniques into the linear Transformer framework, we transform the traditionally quadratic computational demands of Transformers into a more efficient model characterized by sparse and linear complexity. Dynamic masking allows us to create sparse and diverse training images, enabling the model to reduce the complexity associated with self-attention operations while effectively learning a broader range of spatial-spectral features. Furthermore, we convert the cube format of the sparse feature map into a flattened structure using a two-cross four-directional sampling method to assess spatial neighbouring points and gather local information. Conversely, many current SR methods rely on interpolation to upscale low-resolution HS images. However, this technique often results in blurriness and lacks the precision needed to preserve high-quality spatial-spectral details. To address these challenges, we propose a novel dual hierarchical upsampling strategy that incorporates high-frequency details to improve the quality of the SR process. Extensive experiments indicate that our proposed method delivers greater efficiency compared to leading fusion-based SR techniques.
Journals
2026 EN
Farajollahi Zeinab · Eisvand Hamid Reza · Nazarian-Firouzabadi Farhad
+1 more
Seed biochemical quality, including fatty acid composition and protein content, can be affected by both nutritional inputs and environmental conditions such as soil moisture. This study, conducted in 2021 and 2022, investigated the effects of soybean plant nutrition with iron oxide nano particles (IONP) on the quality of the produced seeds under different soil moisture regimes. Experimental treatments included plant nutrition with IONP [control, seed priming (SP) at 300 ppm, foliar spraying (FS) at 15 ppm, and a combination of SP 300 ppm + FS 15 ppm], and soil moisture regimes at three levels [100, 75 and 50% Field Capacity (FC)]. The study found that the use of (IONP) and varying soil moisture levels significantly affected seed germination, fiber, oil, protein, fatty acids, and antioxidant enzyme activity. Lower soil moisture and lack of IONP increased superoxide dismutase and catalase activity in aged seeds. The optimal treatment with IONP (SP 300) and 15 ppm of fertilizer achieved the highest germination rate (84.75%), oil content (22.63%), linolenic acid (6.89%), and palmitic acid (11.79%). This treatment also resulted in an 11% increase in protein and a 9% increase in fiber under deteriorating conditions. In aged seeds, oil, linolenic acid, and palmitic acid levels decreased, while oleic acid increased. The highest oil content (22.77%), linolenic acid (6.95%), and palmitic acid (11.82%) were recorded at 100% (FC), while the highest oleic acid (31.34%) was observed at 50% FC, which was 18% higher than at 100% FC in aging seeds.
Journals
2026 EN
Zhang Lyuci · Jiang Yuqin · Xu Mengmei
+1 more
Parenting style critically influences adolescent interpersonal adjustment, yet the underlying mechanisms are unclear. This study examined the serial mediation of self-efficacy and social support between parenting style and interpersonal distress in 604 Chinese boarding junior high school students (318 boys and 286 girls). Using the PROCESS macro (Model 6) with 5,000 bootstrap resamples, Analysis revealed two distinct pathways. For positive parenting, a suppression effect occurred: its direct association with distress became positive after accounting for mediators, confirming that its protective effect operates entirely through enhanced self-efficacy and social support. Conversely, negative parenting’s harmful impact was fully mediated by reductions in these same resources, thereby increasing distress. Findings highlight the differential mechanisms linking parenting to adolescent interpersonal outcomes, offering valuable insights for family- and school-based interventions. Limitations include the cross-sectional design and self-report data.
Journals
2026 EN
Jiang Yuqin · Zhang Lyuci · Govindasamy Priyalatha
+6 more
Boarding students in rural junior high schools often face challenges in adjusting to school life, making it crucial to understand the factors influencing their adjustment. This study explores the relationship between perceived stress and school adjustment among 818 boarding students in Guangxi (375 males, 443 females) and investigates the role of teacher support and self-esteem in this dynamic. Results showed a significant negative correlation between perceived stress and school adjustment. Teacher support partially mediates this relationship, suggesting that supportive teachers can mitigate stress-related adjustment difficulties. Moreover, self-esteem negatively moderates the initial stage of this mediation, indicating that students with higher self-esteem experience less stress-related disruption. These findings underscore the importance of strengthening teacher support and fostering students’ self-esteem to improve school adjustment outcomes. This research offers valuable insights into the interplay of stress, teacher support, self-esteem, and school adjustment, informing targeted interventions for boarding students.