Noninvasive acquisition of deep tissue temperature has important applications in home health monitoring, hyperthermia safety control, and other domains. In this work, we present here a novel magnetically mediated thermoacoustic temperature measurement method. Utilizing coil to stimulate amplitude modulated magnetic field and ultrasound transducer to receive the generated thermoacoustic wave from the inserted magnetic nanoparticles. Benefiting from the high sensitivity of thermoacoustic emission from nanoparticles and the deep penetration capability of both magnetic field and ultrasound propagation, the proposed thermoacoustic temperature measurement system enables a high measurement accuracy of 0.5 degrees Celsius in real time. This work potentially facilitates further development of closed loop magnetic hyperthermia for practical clinical applications.

Tripartite motif-containing (TRIM) proteins consist of over 80 proteins, the majority of which exhibit E3 ubiquitin ligase activity. E3 ligases have a critical role in various cellular processes by specifically recognizing and ubiquitinating substrate proteins to promote their proteasomal degradation or alter their activities. Numerous studies have indicated that TRIMs are involved in carcinogenesis through various mechanisms. However, the regulatory mechanisms delimitating TRIMs’ function as E3 ligases has not yet been specifically addressed in a previous review article. In this review, we focus on recent advancements in understanding how certain TRIMs function solely as E3 ligases during cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis, and metastasis. We comprehensively summarize the target proteins of TRIMs involved in disordered signaling pathways such as Wnt/β-catenin, PI3K/AKT, NF-κB, p53, ERK, and STAT3, as well as those regulating the cell cycle and glycolysis. Following ubiquitination modification by TRIM E3 ligases, these target proteins either undergo proteasome-mediating degradation, maintain steady levels, or get activated/inactivated. This review provides a foundation for the development of E3 ligase-based cancer treatments.

Nanomaterials have shown great potential in anti-tumor applications and are currently the focus of research. This review article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the challenges encountered in oncology treatment and how nanomaterials are being utilized to overcome these obstacles. The authors discuss the limitations of conventional treatments, including limited efficacy, side effects, and toxicity issues. They highlight the importance of early tumour diagnosis and personalized treatment plans, as well as the need for innovative therapeutic approaches such as targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and gene therapy. The article primarily focuses on how nanomaterials can be engineered to achieve specific recognition and aggregation within tumour tissues through surface modifications involving targeting molecules such as antibodies, peptides, and receptor ligands. This surface modification technique facilitates improved targeting in the targeting of photodynamic therapy, while minimizing harm to normal tissues. The authors also discuss the potential and future prospects of nanomaterials in tumour therapy, including breakthroughs in their application, biosafety concerns, biocompatibility issues, preparation processes, clinical translation challenges, interdisciplinary cooperation, international exchange, relevant regulations and ethical guidelines. Overall, this review highlights the substantial potential of nanomaterials in oncology treatment, emphasizing the need for careful consideration of safety concerns to ensure their safe and effective application. The authors conclude that strengthening interdisciplinary cooperation and international exchange will contribute to the healthy development of nanomaterials in oncology treatment.

Breast cancer, as a malignant tumor with easy metastasis and poor prognosis, threatens the health of women around the world. Increasing studies have shown that the Bcl-2 family of apoptosis-related proteins is often expressed abnormally in breast cancer. The Bcl-2 homology 3 (BH3) mimetic peptide can bind and neutralize Bcl-2, preventing its binding to the apoptosis "effector" proteins Bak and Bax, thereby promoting the apoptosis process. However, there is a lack of effective intracellular delivery system for BH3 to exert its biological activity. Therefore, this study utilized an activatable supercharged polypeptide (ASCP) tumor-targeted delivery platform based on pH and protease response to achieve the targeted release of BH3 at the tumor site. Ultimately, intracellular delivery of BH3 was achieved and induced apoptosis of breast tumor cells, preventing the development of breast cancer.

In light of the events of 2020 and 2022, this study aims to examine the co-movements between the capital markets of the Netherlands (AEX), France (CAC 40), Germany (DAX 30), the United Kingdom (FTSE 100), Italy (FTSE MIB), Spain (IBEX 35), Russia (IMOEX), and spot prices of crude oil (WTI), silver (XAG), gold (XAU), and platinum (XPT) from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2022. The purpose of this analysis is to answer the following research question: (i) Did the events of 2020 and 2022 increase the shocks between stock markets and WTI, XAG, XAU, and XPT prices? The findings indicate that time series do not follow a normal distribution and are stationary. In response to the question of investigation, we found that during the Tranquil period, it was possible to verify the existence of 28 causal relationships (out of 110 possibilities). During the stress period, there was a very significant increase in the number of causal relationships between the market pairs under analysis (62 causal relationships out of 110 possibilities), including a relative increase in the influence of commodities on capital markets and capital markets on commodities. These findings show that during the events of 2020 and 2022, capital markets and commodities significantly accentuated their co-movements among themselves, indicating that alternative markets such as WTI, XAG, XAU, and XPT do not provide safe-haven properties. These results have implications for portfolio diversification during times of global economic uncertainty.

This paper intends to analyze efficiency, in its weak form, in the stock markets of Austria (ATX), Poland (WIG), the Czech Republic (PX Prague), Hungary (BUX), Croatia (CROBEX), Serbia (BELEX 15), Romania (BET), and Slovenia (SBI TOP), from February 16, 2018, to February 15, 2023. To achieve the research aim, we intend to answer the following research question: i) Have events in 2020 and 2022 heightened the persistence of Central European stock markets? Results suggest that persistence in returns has increased significantly during the first wave of Covid-19 and the Russian invasion in the year 2023, but we also saw that most stock markets already exhibit long memories, implying that the research question has been partially validated. This research can provide valuable insights to investors, policymakers, and others interested in financial risk management.

Considering that housing is the single biggest asset for most households, owning a home may create barriers to entrepreneurship for young people who generally accumulate relatively little wealth due to a short-term career and low income. Using longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) survey, our empirical work suggests that homeowners are associated with significantly less propensity for entrepreneurial engagement and the negative homeownership effect on entrepreneurship is much larger for younger homeowners. These findings are robust to omitted variable bias, reverse causality and model misspecification. We explore the mechanism through which capital constraints related to housing purchase may more affect younger homeowners from starting entrepreneurial activities. We find strong supportive evidence for this mechanism.

This paper examines the efficiency, in its weak form, of the clean energy stock indices, Clean Coal Technologies, Clean Energy Fuels, and Wilderhill, as well as the cryptocurrencies classified as "dirty", due to their excessive energy consumption, such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETH Classic), and Litecoin (LTC), from January 2020 to May 30, 2023. In order to meet the research objectives, the aim is to answer the following research question, namely whether: i) the events of 2020 and 2022 accentuated the persistence in the clean energy and dirty energy indices? The results show that clean energy indices such as digital currencies classified as "dirty" show autocorrelation in their returns; the prices are not independent and identically distributed (i.i.d). In conclusion, arbitrage strategies can be used to obtain abnormal returns, but caution is needed as prices can rise above their real market value and reduce trading profitability. This study contributes to the knowledge base on sustainable finance by teaching investors how to use forecasting strategies on the future values of their investments.

As an important part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) inspection, face diagnosis is significant in judging the rise and fall of viscera and essence and diagnosing and treating diseases. Cancer is a serious disease that endangers human life and health. Face diagnosis can play a great role in diagnosing and treating tumors, but this approach has not achieved the expected effects due to the lack of research. Herein, we summarized the research regarding facial expression, color, shape, and state, demonstrating that facial diagnosis is significant in diagnosing and treating tumors. We also propose that facial diagnosis must be combined with computer technology to realize the objectification of facial diagnosis as soon as possible to play a greater role in diagnosing and treating tumors.

In this study, we examined the efficiency of cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), DASH, EOS, and MONERO from March 1, 2018, to March 1, 2023. We separated the sample into four subperiods for this purpose: a Tranquil period that includes the period from March 1, 2018, to December 31, 2019; a First Wave that includes the year 2020; a Second Wave that includes the year 2021; and a fourth subperiod that includes Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022-2023. The results are mixed, with some cryptocurrencies exhibiting equilibrium and others exhibiting autocorrelation and predictability in their pricing. When the sample is divided into subperiods, most digital currencies have long memories in their returns during the Tranquil period, BTC, LTC, and XRP exhibit efficiency during the First Wave of the pandemic, while BTC, ETH, and MONERO indicate efficiency during the Second Wave. Most assessed digital currencies showed equilibrium by 2022, with the exception of ETH and MONERO, which exhibit long memories, and LTC, which demonstrates anti-persistence. These results hold significance for investors in these alternative markets, as they suggest that some cryptocurrencies may be more predictable and therefore potentially profitable, whereas others may require greater caution and risk management strategies.

Stock indexes are used as a barometer of economic health, and fluctuations in these markets can have a substantial influence on the economy. For example, the Covid-19 pandemic caused severe economic disruption, as reflected in stock market indexes. Similarly, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has geopolitical implications that might undermine global trade and economic stability, impacting stock market indexes. Considering these developments, the purpose of this article is to examine the co-movements of the stock markets of Austria (ATX), Poland (WIG), the Czech Republic (PX Prague), Hungary (BUX), Croatia (CROBEX), Serbia (BELEX 15), Romania (BET), and Slovenia (SBI TOP) from February 16, 2018, to February 15, 2023. To achieve the research objectives, the aim is to answer the following research question: i) Have the events of 2020 and 2022 accentuated the co-movements between the stock markets in Central Europe? The results show the presence of 21 shocks between markets (out of a potential 56) during the Tranquil subperiod, with the WIG stock index having a greater predictive influence on the behavior of its peers (4 shocks out of 7 possible). During the Stress subperiod, 45 shocks were confirmed (out of 56 possible). The markets that triggered the most market shocks (7 out of 7 possibilities) were BET, BUX, CROBEX, and SBI TOP. The research question was validated based on the conclusion supplied, as all markets increased their movements, showing a considerable effect of the 2020 and 2022 events on these markets.

This paper studies non-compliant firms with gender legislation and why some businesses are taking the risk of not binding the gender quotas. It is conducted on firms listed on the SBF120 index, after the introduction of the gender law of Copé and Zimmermann, in 2011.

Our findings show that gender diversity on advisory committees, unlike monitoring committees, is likely to decrease the non-compliance likelihood. Non-compliant firms have busy members, specifically among men and long-tenured CEOs who are serving in non-dual structures. Regarding women's profiles, non-compliant boards are prone to hire short-tenured and local female candidates. Finally, their financial and social performances are not damaged while their corporate risks are decreased. When penalties are not required against non-compliant firms, refractory businesses do not bear “real” costs.

This study analyzed whether the level of corporate governance of companies listed on the Brazilian capital market is related to the investment decisions of Brazilian pension funds. We start from the assumption that the corporate governance system mitigates the moral risk, that may arise in the relationship between corporate managers and investors and respective shareholders, Brazilian pension funds. Shareholding dispersion would enable opportunism for corporate managers, making decisions focused on their interests to the detriment of shareholders or investors. The governance system would signal that this behavior would be controlled, signaling safer behavior for investors. Thus, the hypothesis is that the level of corporate governance would attract pension funds that would understand this system as reducing investment risk. To test this, we used panel data, with a sample of 1,582 observations of companies listed on the Brazilian Stock Exchange (B3) from 2010 to 2017. The statistical results show that corporate governance positively correlates with investment in pension funds. This leads to the conclusion that, for Brazilian pension funds, companies' signaling about their corporate governance practices is a risk-mitigating factor. Furthermore, these results allow us to infer that the company's governance level associated with leverage is a differentiating signaling element as the evidence points to a positive relationship.

Cancer chemotherapy is generally associated with many severe adverse effects. Many cancer studies are currently focused on repurposing conventional non-toxic anti-parasite drugs for cancer treatment. Since cancer cells and parasites have many features in common, some anti-parasite drugs such as benzimidazoles have been recently found to possess the anti-cancer activity. Benzimidazoles act against cancer by inhibiting tubulin polymerization, inducing cancer cell apoptosis, arresting cell cycle and over-generating reactive oxygen specimen. In this review, we summarize the anticancer features of these drugs in recent investigations, lead to reconsideration of benzimidazoles as a family of anti-cancer chemotherapeutics with non-toxicity or low toxicity to the normal cells and tissues. We particularly highlight the recent progresses using nanoformulations for enhanced cancer therapy and provide our prospects in the future research.

The requirement of having multiple nanocarriers (NCs) and active agents for improved therapy, imaging, and controlled release of medications efficiently in one platform has made the creation of therapeutics and theragnostic nanodrug delivery systems a difficult task for present researchers. Multiple drug resistance (MDR), a high clearance rate, severe side effects, undesirable drug distribution to the specific site of liver cancer, and a low concentration of medication that reaches liver cancer cells are just a few of the drawbacks of traditional liver cancer chemotherapy. As a result, new techniques and NCs must be developed to transport the medication molecules targeted to the malignant hepatocytes in an acceptable number and duration inside the therapeutic window. Because of the great efficacy of drug loading or drug encapsulation efficiency, high cellular uptake, high drug release, and minimal adverse effects, therapeutics and theragnostic systems have benefits over conventional chemotherapy. These NCs have a high drug accumulation rate in tumours while causing minimal toxicity in healthy tissues. This study focuses on current research on NC-based therapies and theragnostic drug delivery systems, omitting nanotechnology's negative consequences in the field of drug delivery systems. Clinical advancements of theragnostic NCs for liver cancer, on the other hand, are not covered in this article. Only the most current breakthroughs in NC-based drug delivery systems for liver cancer therapy and diagnosis are discussed in this study. This review will not go over the detrimental effects of individual NCs in the medication delivery system.

This study investigates the impact of financial inclusion on environmental sustainability in 178 emerging and developing countries from 1996 to 2022. Employing a composite index derived through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) as a measure of financial inclusion and covering four aspects (access, depth, efficiency, stability), our analysis reveals negative outcomes. The findings indicate that enhancing financial inclusion is associated with a notable increase in CO2 per capita emissions as well as in Total Greenhouse Gas emissions. We demonstrate that controlling corruption improves environmental quality, yet this measure alone is insufficient to fully mitigate the impact of financial inclusion, as indicated by our moderation analysis. The same analysis, however, shows that fostering globalization through trade openness is an efficient tool to alleviate the positive effect of financial inclusion on the quality of the environment. The study employs various policies targeting the control of development levels, energy consumption, natural resource utilization, industry, and urban population dynamics to contextualize the influence of financial inclusion on environmental sustainability. Through econometric methods and a comprehensive examination of the specified time frame, our results provide insights into the complex interplay between financial inclusion and environmental outcomes in diverse socio-economic contexts. The research contributes to the discourse on sustainable development by highlighting the potential of certain factors as a catalyst for environmental improvement. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for policymakers, as it underlines the trade-off between integrating inclusive financial strategies and achieving environmentally sustainable development trajectories in emerging and developing nations. Moreover, shedding light on the underlying mechanisms, such as trade-offs, fills a significant gap in the literature.

 In the past, researchers investigated the immune response acting against mycobacterial antigens in tuberculosis (TB). Several ELISA tests have been conducted for the diagnosis of tuberculosis. Other researchers manipulated 16 kDa antigen from Mycobacterium Tuberculosis to develop a tuberculosis diagnostic test while some others studied the subspecies of M. tuberculosis. In the present study, we explored the possibilities of detecting 16 kDa protein derived from M. tuberculosis, on an interdigitated electrode (IDE). Measurements with Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and current-volt systems were demonstrated using antibody as the probe.  Further, the involvement of gold nanoparticle for the signal-enhancement and high-performance are evidenced. The specificity in the serum containing samples is used to show the clinical relevancy. 16 kDa antigen used in this experiment is highly reliable for TB diagnosis as it largely expresses and can be implemented in other sensing system.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of political promotion on the productivity of manufacturing firms using the database of Chinese industrial enterprises from 1998 to 2007. We found that the political promotion of officials had a negative impact on manufacturing firm productivity, and this impact varied according to the characteristics of officials and enterprises. In addition, there was an age "ceiling effect" among Chinese municipal officials. Further research showed that the regional level of rule of law mitigated the negative effect of political promotion on the productivity of manufacturing firms. Finally, this paper makes policy recommendations for improving the promotion mechanism of officials, enhancing regional legalization, and transforming government functions.

As a reversible post-transcriptional modification, N6-methyladeno sine is the most common form of RNA modification in eukaryotic mRNA. Cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are a subpopulation of cells with self-renewal ability and differentiation potential, have been regarded to be one of the roots of tumor occurrence, recurrence, and metastasis. Currently, numerous studies have demonstrated that m6A RNA modification is critically implicated in the regulation of CSCs stemness or the CSC-like traits of cancer cells. This review summarized the effects of m6A RNA modification-related enzymes and underlying mechanisms contributing to CSCs or cancer cell stemness, which may provide novel targets and research directions for the specifical elimination of CSCs or cancer cells with stemness.

Achieving food security through improved agricultural technology is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Indeed, it is one of the elements explicitly mentioned in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One factor that can lead to improved production and distribution systems is the availability of data of all kinds on the sector. In this paper we study what is happening in this respect in two Mediterranean olive oil producing countries, and show how available data can facilitate the coordination and communication of technical developments and improve the competitiveness of producers.