Background Genetic differences are robustly associated with educational outcomes, but how they become linked is poorly understood. A plausible hypothesis, yet to be thoroughly empirically tested, is that the school environment mediates the association. Methods Using structural equation models, we tested whether the student–teacher relationship at age 5 (teacher‐reported Student–Teacher Relationship Scale) mediated the association between children's education‐linked genetic propensities (PGSedu) and mother‐rated reading and math performance at ages 6–8. We performed these analyses in 63,032 children from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study, a longitudinal, population‐based, pregnancy cohort. Results Higher PGSedu were significantly associated with lower student–teacher conflict (β = −0.08, p < .001) and positive teacher responses (β = 0.07, p = .001), but not student–teacher closeness (β = 0.01, p = .616). Associations between PGSedu and educational performance were significantly partially mediated via conflict (β = 0.01, p < .001) and positive teacher responses (β = 0.01, p = .019) but not closeness (β = 1 × 10−3, p = .619). Conclusions Student–teacher conflict and positive teacher responses may be mechanisms involved in the cascade of pathways linking children's genetics to their educational outcomes.

Cement kiln bypass dust (CKBD), a CaO-rich by-product of the cement industry, exhibits significant potential for soil stabilization and the construction of pavement sublayers. This study investigated three material groups: pure CKBD, fly ash with CKBD additions (10–50%), and clayey soil with CKBD (5–20%). The geomechanical properties of the mixtures were evaluated through Proctor compaction tests, unconfined compressive strength, swelling, and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests. Results indicate that pure CKBD provides high compressive strength and CBR values with minimal swelling. The addition of CKBD to fly ash activates pozzolanic reactions, significantly enhancing compressive strength and CKBD, with an optimal content of 20%. Stabilization of clayey soil with CKBD led to a compressive strength increase of up to 75% and a reduction in swelling by over 80%, while maintaining stable CBR values under wet conditions. Water durability tests confirmed the structural stability of CKBD-containing mixtures, whereas untreated fly ash exhibited partial degradation. The findings suggest that CKBD, either alone or in combination with fly ash and clayey soil, is an effective material for improving geotechnical properties and is suitable for application in pavement subbase layers.

Kidney transplantation remains the optimal treatment for end-stage renal disease, yet long-term allograft survival has plateaued due to persistent rejection. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the inflammatory and immune pathways implicated in kidney allograft rejection, integrating current evidence from basic and translational research. Ischemia–reperfusion injury initiates an inflammatory cascade through the release of damage-associated molecular patterns, activating Toll-like receptors and the complement system, thereby priming the alloimmune response. Innate immune cells, including macrophages, dendritic cells, and natural killer cells, bridge sterile tissue injury to adaptive alloimmunity, while the emerging concept of trained immunity reveals long-lasting epigenetic reprogramming of monocytes with direct implications for graft longevity. The adaptive response encompasses T cell-mediated rejection, driven by Th1, Th17, and CD8+ cytotoxic lymphocytes, and antibody-mediated rejection, mediated by donor-specific antibodies through complement activation and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. Key signalling pathways, including JAK-STAT, NF-κB, NLRP3 inflammasome, and mTOR, amplify allograft inflammation and promote progression toward chronic injury. Macrophage polarisation and macrophage-to-myofibroblast transition have been identified as major drivers of interstitial fibrosis and late graft failure. Recent advances in non-invasive biomarkers, such as donor-derived cell-free DNA and molecular phenotyping, are transforming rejection diagnostics. Emerging therapies, including costimulation blockade, anti-CD38 antibodies, complement inhibitors, and regulatory T cell-based approaches, offer the potential to shift transplant medicine toward precision-guided, tolerance-inducing strategies. This review synthesises these developments and discusses future perspectives for improving long-term allograft outcomes.

This paper proposes ontology-guided reasoning for affordance-based explanations of robot navigation. In human environments, it is not sufficient for a robot to detect that its route is blocked. It must also reason about what nearby objects afford, which state changes are possible, and which of these changes would allow it to continue safely. We address this problem by representing nearby entities, their affordances, affordance states, and qualitative spatial relations in a local affordance ontology and by evaluating hypothetical object--affordance state changes as candidate explanation factors. This yields explanations that are not only semantically grounded but also actionable. We instantiate the approach in a lightweight benchmark centered on a robot librarian scenario and evaluate it on procedurally generated navigation cases. The results show that ontology-guided reasoning identifies relevant explanation factors more accurately than a semantic-only baseline and remains robust as semantic clutter increases. Overall, the paper argues that affordance ontologies can serve not merely as semantic descriptions of the environment, but as reasoning foundations for explainability and reliable robot autonomy.

Background: The newly synthesized palladium(II) complex [Pd(L1)Cl]Cl (where L1 = N2,N6-bis(5-methylhthiazol-2-yl)pyridine-2,6-dicarboxamide) has demonstrated significant in vitro antitumor activity. In this study, the effects of this complex on the immune response and its antimicrobial potential were evaluated. Methods: Splenocytes isolated from mice were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/Concanavalin A (ConA) along with the Pd(II) complex. The concentrations of IFN-γ, IL-17, IL-4, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-10 were measured using commercial ELISA kits. The antimicrobial effect was tested against reference strains of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, as well as yeast. The Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was determined via the broth microdilution method, followed by the determination of Minimal Bactericidal/Fungicidal concentrations (MBC/MFC). Results: The Pd(II) complex induced an increase in the concentration of all tested cytokines compared to untreated cells. Co-treatment with Pd(II) complex and LPS significantly increased the levels of IFN-γ, IL-1β, and IL-17 compared to the LPS-only-stimulated group. Co-treatment with ConA and the Pd(II) complex resulted in a significant increase in TNF-α and IL-17 levels, whereas a significant decrease was observed in the concentrations of IL-10, IL-4, and IFN-γ compared to the ConA-only-stimulated group. The tested complex showed weak to moderate antimicrobial activity, Gram-positive bacteria showed better susceptibility to the examined complex compared to Gram-negative. Conclusions: Results of the study indicate that the Pd(II) complex exhibits a significant immunomodulatory effect on splenocytes, alongside weak to moderate antimicrobial activity.

Ascites in acute pancreatitis (AP) has long been regarded as a nonspecific epiphenomenon of the inflammatory process. However, accumulating clinical and experimental evidence increasingly supports the view that ascites represents a clinically meaningful and readily accessible marker of disease severity. Building on our previously published study by Zerem et al , published in the recent issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology on ascites in AP, this letter reframed ascites as an integrated pathophysiological signal that reflects both pancreatic structural disruption and systemic inflammatory activation. Early identification and dynamic monitoring of ascitic fluid may offer a valuable prognostic window into the evolving course of AP, particularly during the early phase of the disease when uncertainty regarding severity and outcome is greatest. Rather than proposing ascites as a replacement for established severity scoring systems, we argued that its presence, volume, and temporal evolution may complement existing risk stratification tools and enhance bedside clinical judgment. Finally, this article provided a conceptual framework to support future validation studies and to inform more nuanced, pathophysiology-driven clinical decision making in the management of AP.

Early distinction between perforated and non-perforated acute appendicitis (AA) in children remains challenging. Conventional inflammatory markers have limited accuracy, highlighting the potential value of composite inflammatory indices. Pediatric patients were categorized as having non-perforated or perforated appendicitis based on intraoperative findings and histopathologic confirmation. Laboratory data obtained on hospital admission included C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cell count, and differential leukocyte percentages. The subjects of this retrospective study were 338 pediatric patients, 48 (14.2%) of whom had perforated AA. The CRP to lymphocyte ratio (CRP/LR) was significantly higher in the patients with perforated AA (p < 0.001). ROC analysis demonstrated good discriminative performance of CRP/LR for predicting appendiceal perforation, with an area under the curve of 0.84 (95% CI 0.78–0.90). A CRP/LR cut-off value of ≥ 7.2 yielded a sensitivity of 83.3% and a specificity of 78.6%. After adjustment for age, symptom duration, and body temperature on admission, CRP/LR remained an independent predictor of appendiceal perforation in the multivariate regression analysis. The CRP/LR showed good diagnostic performance in differentiating perforated from non-perforated AA and may serve as a simple, readily available tool for early risk stratification in pediatric patients.

The biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) via an aqueous peel extract of Citrus sinensis represents a green and sustainable alternative to conventional synthesis methods, eliminating the need for toxic chemicals and diminishing energy consumption. Bioactive compounds present in the extract, such as flavonoids and polyphenols, serve as natural reducing and stabilizing agents during the nanoparticle formation process. Characterization via UV–VIS spectrophotometry confirmed the formation of crystalline and stable ZnO NPs. In this study, an aqueous orange-peel extract was employed as the biological reducing agent for the synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles from zinc nitrate as the precursor, and the influence of the precursor/extract ratio on the properties of the obtained particles was investigated. The antimicrobial activity of the synthesized ZnO NPs was tested against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, with significant growth inhibition observed/particularly in the case of E. coli. The results obtained underscore the potential application of biosynthesized ZnO NPs in medicine, food preservation, and biodegradable packaging. This study confirms an efficient, eco-friendly and straightforward approach to the green synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles using orange peel extract.

Recently there has been a lot of progress in the development of economic nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) schemes for multistage optimal power flow (OPF) problems. However, the additional inclusion of discrete decision variables to model generator runtimes and generator startup costs can amount to large scale mixed-integer nonlinear programs (MINLPs) that are computationally very challenging. This work investigates the practical approach that replaces the nonlinear AC power flow equations by convex quadratic approximations. In combination with the discrete generator dynamics this leads to a mixed-integer quadratically constrained program (MIQCP) which is of significantly lower complexity and can be solved in reasonable time by off-the-shelf solvers such as CPLEX. We further show that simple terminal constraints are not sufficient to guarantee recursive feasibility of the NMPC scheme if constraints on generator runtime and on the number of generator startup events are present. To address this challenge we propose the use of additional time-coupled constraints and prove the resulting recursive feasibility property. Based on the assumption of periodic dissipativity of the underlying system we can prove stability of the proposed controller. To illustrate our results, we present simulations of a realistic 6-bus microgrid under different demand scenarios.

Phasianus chaphamaparvovirus 1 is a newly recognized pathogen associated with high mortality in young pheasant chicks with significant losses for pheasant breeders. Here we present an outbreak of necrotizing hepatitis with high mortality in a flock of young pheasant chicks in Bosnia and Herzegovina associated with Phasianus chaphamaparvovirus 1 and coccidiosis coinfection. Severe necrotizing hepatitis with characteristic intranuclear inclusion bodies in affected hepatocytes was observed on microscopic examination. In addition, multifocal areas of intestinal mucosal necrosis with numerous developing stages (meronts) of coccidia were present. Phasianus chaphamaparvovirus 1 was detected with qPCR from the livers of diseased birds. Our report represents the first data on the presence of this new virus in pheasant flocks in the Balkan region and suggests that the virus is widespread across Europe. It further supports the inclusion of Chaphamaparvovirus as a differential diagnosis of pheasant mortality outbreaks both in breeding facilities and in the wild.

Wildlife–vehicle collisions (WVCs) represent a growing safety, ecological, and economic challenge, with direct consequences for human lives, material damage, and biodiversity conservation. In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, systematic analyses that link traffic accidents caused by collisions with wildlife are lacking. This research identifies high-risk locations of WVCs and applies geospatial analysis to the main roads of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The analysis is based on official police reports documenting 14,169 traffic accidents between 2021 and 2023, of which 104 cases (0.73%) were classified as animal-related. Although species were not specified in the reports, these accidents predominantly occurred in areas where wildlife crossings are expected, and thus are treated as potential wildlife–vehicle collisions. The results indicate a concentration of WVCs in nine municipalities, with eight critical road segments identified on main roads. Additional analyses explored the relationship between collisions, road infrastructure (bridges, tunnels), and ecological features of habitats (Emerald Network, Natura 2000, Red List of FBiH, IUCN). Based on the findings, it can be concluded that spatially targeted prevention is essential, with priority given to infrastructural measures (wildlife overpasses, fencing, signage) and strategic measures (improved databases, continuous monitoring, and integration into spatial planning). The obtained results provide a foundation for policies that simultaneously enhance traffic safety and contribute to the protection of wildlife populations.

Immersive virtual reality (IVR) can heighten presence and enable active, embodied interaction in realistic 3D environments, which has been associated with potential benefits in physics education. This article presents a comprehensive review of IVR implementation in physics education at both school and university levels. The analysis included 34 studies indexed in Scopus and ERIC, published between 1 January 2018 and 1 June 2025. Methodologically, this review followed a preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses approach. IVR implementations for physics learning were assessed, topic-aligned activity types were summarized, and associated opportunities and challenges were documented. Findings indicate that IVR can support physics learning by providing complementary visualizations, optimizing cognitive load, enabling haptic learning, saving time, and fostering collaborative inquiry. Conversely, the most frequent potential IVR challenges include discomfort, unreliable interaction, orchestration issues, relatively high costs, and significant extraneous cognitive load.

BACKGROUND Acute hyperglycemia is frequently observed in patients presenting with acute coronary syndromes and is considered a marker of metabolic and neurohormonal stress. However, its prognostic significance relative to chronic glycemic status remains incompletely understood, particularly in patients with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) reflects long-term glycemic control but may not adequately capture acute metabolic derangements occurring during myocardial ischemia. Stress hyperglycemia reflects a transient metabolic response to acute illness mediated by counter-regulatory hormones, systemic inflammation, and increased hepatic gluconeogenesis, and does not necessarily indicate pre-existing insulin resistance or chronic dysglycemia. Recent studies suggest that stress-related hyperglycemia indices may better reflect short-term risk, yet comparative data in NSTEMI populations remain limited. AIM To determine whether admission stress hyperglycemia indices are associated with early mortality in patients with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction. METHODS This prospective, single-center observational study consecutively enrolled 171 patients admitted with confirmed NSTEMI. Stress hyperglycemia was assessed using the stress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR) and the admission glucose-to-chronic glycemia ratio (ACGR), calculated from admission plasma glucose and HbA1c values obtained at hospital presentation. Patients were categorized according to established HbA1c thresholds. Clinical, laboratory, and echocardiographic data were systematically collected. All patients were followed for three months after discharge. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), defined as a composite of cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, or urgent coronary revascularization. The secondary endpoint was all-cause mortality. Discriminatory performance was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Multivariable logistic regression models were constructed to assess the independent and incremental prognostic value of stress hyperglycemia indices before and after adjustment for established clinical and echocardiographic predictors. RESULTS During the three-month follow-up period, 88 MACE and 25 deaths were recorded. HbA1c categories were not significantly associated with all-cause mortality or MACE. In contrast, admission glucose levels, SHR, and ACGR were significantly higher in non-survivors than in survivors. No significant differences in HbA1c were observed between outcome groups. Stress hyperglycemia indices demonstrated modest discriminatory ability for predicting mortality and showed greater discrimination than HbA1c in ROC analyses. In multivariable models, both SHR and ACGR remained independently associated with early mortality after adjustment for demographic, clinical, and echocardiographic variables, whereas no independent association with the composite MACE endpoint was observed. ROC-derived thresholds used for survival analyses were exploratory and have not been externally validated. CONCLUSION In patients with NSTEMI, stress hyperglycemia indices assessed at hospital admission are independently associated with early mortality, whereas chronic glycemic status shows limited prognostic relevance. These indices appear to reflect acute systemic stress and metabolic instability and may provide clinically useful information for early risk stratification during the initial phase of hospitalization, particularly when comprehensive echocardiographic assessment is not yet available.