Artiles
Open Access
Perspective
12 August 2026Energy-Aware Thermomechanical Processing and Corrosion Response of Rare-Earth Magnesium Sheets: A Perspective for Sustainable Manufacturing
Rare-earth (RE)-containing magnesium sheet alloys are promising for lightweight structures because they can reduce anisotropy and improve warm formability. Their industrial relevance, however, should be assessed not only through mechanical performance, but also through process-energy demand, corrosion durability, and critical-raw-material considerations. This perspective examines Mg–Zn–RE sheets, with ZE10A as an anchor case, to connect three issues that are often treated separately: low-temperature warm-forming windows, deformation-induced microstructural stability, and corrosion-film kinetics. Current evidence indicates that in the approximately 250–300 °C range, recovery and incipient dynamic recrystallization may improve formability while limiting major grain or phase evolution. Under these recovery-dominated conditions, we propose, as a working hypothesis, that the influence of thermomechanical history on corrosion is mediated primarily by defect architecture, near-surface heterogeneity, and the formation and breakdown kinetics of dynamic, non-passivating films, rather than by extensive precipitation or classical microgalvanic changes. A screening-level discussion of process-energy demand, together with a database-based comparison of the embodied energy and carbon footprint of selected rare-earth elements, is used to frame responsible alloy and processing decisions without claiming a full life-cycle assessment. The perspective concludes with a research roadmap integrating history-faithful forming tests, correlative microstructure mapping, time-resolved electrochemistry, and transparent sustainability assumptions to support predictive manufacturing design rules for Mg–RE sheets.
Open Access
Review
12 August 2026Bitter Taste in Fungi
Although acceptable in some products and specialities, bitter flavors are a major issue in food-product development, e.g., in proteins of emergent sources. Many mushroom species have been known historically for their bitterness, which is perceived later than the other flavors, and whose perception lingers in the mouth. To date, the substances responsible for this taste could not be identified, possibly due to the extremely variable molecular structures of bitter compounds in nature. The growing sector of mycelium-derived foods is constantly including novel species into their development pipelines, and the need for ways to control off-flavors, particularly the bitter aftertastes, is becoming evident. Identifying the chemical groups responsible for these perceptions is the first step towards finding solutions. Reviewing the perception of bitterness, masking methodologies, and in particular, the occurrence of bitterness in mushrooms, we find that fungal bitterness is chemically diverse, mainly attributable to peptides, phenolics, terpenoids, and alkaloids, with direct receptor-level evidence so far restricted to a few metabolites such as oligoporins and infractopicrin, while most reported compounds remain inferred. Fungal bitterness is likely multicausal, so masking strategies will need to be developed on a species- or group-specific basis rather than universally.
Open Access
Review
12 August 2026MARCH E3 Ligases: Understudied Regulators of Pulmonary Immune Function
Membrane-associated RING-CH (MARCH) ligases are a family of 11 ubiquitin E3 ligases that regulate protein stability, trafficking, and signaling across diverse cellular contexts. Although MARCH ligases have been studied most extensively in immune regulation, antigen presentation, viral restriction, and cellular homeostasis, their roles in pulmonary biology remain incompletely defined. The lung is a highly specialized environmental interface that must preserve gas exchange while continuously responding to infectious, inflammatory, and sterile insults. These demands require careful regulation of epithelial and endothelial barrier integrity, innate and adaptive immune activation, and tissue repair. Current work suggests that MARCH ligases influence many of these processes by regulating inflammatory responses, cytokine receptors, antiviral signaling mediators, viral proteins, mitochondrial fission or fusion, junctional molecules, ciliary components, and remodeling pathways. In this review, we summarize current knowledge and highlight gaps in the understanding of MARCH ligase expression and function in lung-relevant cell types and disease contexts. Defining how MARCH ligases operate within specific lung compartments may reveal new regulatory mechanisms governing pulmonary immunity, barrier function, host defense, and lung remodeling.
Open Access
Article
12 August 2026Comprehensive Characterization and Analysis of Key Agronomic Traits and Glucosinolate Profiles in Leaf Mustard
Leaf mustard (Brassica juncea) is an important leafy vegetable highly valued for its diverse flavor and nutrient compounds, particularly glucosinolates. However, different varieties of leaf mustard exhibit substantial phenotypic variation and varying glucosinolate content. In this study, we systematically assessed the phenotypic variability and glucosinolate content among 86 genotypes of leaf mustard. The Shannon-Wiener index for qualitative traits ranged from 0.10 (leaf surface gloss) to 1.60 (leaf shape), while for quantitative traits, it ranged from 1.85 (petiole length) to 2.07 (leaf width). Cluster analysis grouped the accessions into three distinct clusters, with hierarchical clustering indicating that yield-related traits were the primary factors distinguishing these groups. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that eight components accounted for 87.44% of the total variance in yield and glucosinolate attributes. Based on comprehensive scoring, the top five genotypes (A645, A464, A512, A702, and A445), exhibiting diverse characteristics, were identified as promising candidates for breeding programs. Moreover, our results suggest that leaf mustard leaves with deeper or more numerous lobes contain higher concentrations of glucoraphanin. Collectively, these findings provide valuable genetic resources to advance leaf mustard breeding.
Open Access
Communication
11 August 2026The Residual Role of Doxorubicin–Cisplatin in Endometrial Cancer in the TC Plus Immunotherapy Era
Doxorubicin plus cisplatin (AP) once played a central role in the systemic treatment of advanced and recurrent endometrial cancer and helped establish combination chemotherapy as a standard approach for extra-uterine disease. Contemporary practice, however, has shifted toward carboplatin plus paclitaxel (TC), which now serves as the cytotoxic backbone for first-line immunotherapy-based strategies. This transition should not be interpreted as the simple replacement of an ineffective regimen by a definitively superior one. No dedicated two-arm trial established the superiority or noninferiority of TC over AP across the full clinical spectrum. Rather, the change resulted from an accumulation of evidence: AP had established historical activity, the addition of paclitaxel to AP improved outcomes, and TC subsequently achieved similar efficacy to the three-drug regimen with better tolerability and practical feasibility. Molecular classification has further changed the treatment landscape. POLE-mutated, mismatch repair-deficient, p53-abnormal, and no specific molecular profile tumors differ in prognosis and therapeutic relevance, but no molecular subgroup has been shown to derive preferential benefit from AP rather than TC. TC also remains the platform for major first-line immunotherapy trials, whereas biomarker-directed and later-line options have further reduced the competitiveness of AP. Emerging biomarkers of cisplatin sensitivity and combinations of immune checkpoint blockade with PARP inhibition remain investigational and do not establish a new molecular niche for AP. AP should therefore be regarded as a historically important regimen with a narrow residual role as an exceptional fallback when established contemporary strategies cannot reasonably be used.
Open Access
Article
10 August 2026An Exploratory Study of Multisystemic Therapy for Western Australian Adolescents with Antisocial Behaviours: Lessons Learned and Challenges Faced
Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is an intensive community-based, family intervention for older children and adolescents exhibiting juvenile antisocial behaviours. The MST intervention was implemented within the Western Australia Department of Health in 2005 and has since operated two clinical teams within the Perth metropolitan area. Adolescents exhibiting antisocial behaviours often meet diagnostic criteria of conduct disorder, a common mental and behavioural problem in children and adolescents, and ranked in the top five of leading causes of disease burden within Australian children. Conduct disorder negatively affects well-being of both the adolescent and family members, who experience repercussions of the adolescent’s behaviours e.g., verbal and physical assault in their home, police involvement, legal sanctions, and social exclusion. In the absence of effective intervention, conduct disorder predicts various adult mental illnesses, substance abuse, chronic unemployment, family and domestic violence, and incarceration. This exploratory study provides an overview of treatment outcomes extracted from longitudinal data collected from 749 research participants engaged in the WA CAMHS MST program between January 2005 and December 2024, including baseline, post-treatment, and limited 6-month follow-up data. The treatment outcomes were categorised in 4 different cohorts by year of engagement in the program as follows: 2005–2009, 2010–2014, 2015–2019, and 2020–2024. In addition to examining treatment outcomes, we explored demographic and clinical variations across cohorts to account for societal changes over the last 20 years. Influences such as rapid technological advancements and the COVID-19 pandemic have reshaped family mental health and well-being as well as service delivery models. Our findings highlight the importance of adaptable and sustainable therapeutic interventions to ensure their relevance, effectiveness, and long-term impact, particularly in ever-changing environments.
Open Access
Article
10 August 2026Ecological Risk and Public Perception of Pinctada radiata Invasion in the Mediterranean: An Integrated SDM, SEM and Sentiment Analysis Framework
The rayed pearl oyster Pinctada radiata (Leach, 1814) was the first Indo-Pacific bivalve documented in the Mediterranean Sea and is now among the basin’s most widespread non-indigenous bivalves. Despite its long invasion history, basin-scale assessments integrating habitat suitability, anthropogenic exposure, and public perception remain limited. Here, we developed an integrated Mediterranean risk-screening framework that combines ensemble Species Distribution Modelling (SDM), Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), an Invasion Risk Index (IRI), and multilingual sentiment analysis for P. radiata. Occurrence data comprised 866 georeferenced records from five Mediterranean countries, of which 133 spatially thinned records were retained for SDM calibration. The ensemble SDM demonstrated high predictive performance (AUC = 0.934 ± 0.021, TSS = 0.812 ± 0.033, CBI = 0.883 ± 0.041) and identified mean annual sea-surface temperature, substrate type, and chlorophyll-a as the principal predictors of baseline habitat suitability. More than 81% of dated occurrence records originated from 2020–2026, and the spatially thinned dataset showed a significant westward redistribution through time (Spearman’s ρ = −0.241, p = 0.0059), although this pattern was interpreted cautiously because the dataset was dominated by opportunistic human observations and uneven reporting effort. Structural equation modelling supported consistent spatial associations among environmental suitability, anthropogenic exposure, and the observed distribution of P. radiata, while recognising that these relationships represent statistical associations rather than causal ecological mechanisms. The Invasion Risk Index identified High and Very High priority coastal sectors for surveillance, particularly where elevated environmental suitability coincided with intense maritime activity and relatively low current record density. Multilingual sentiment analysis of 1247 text units revealed predominantly neutral-to-positive public and stakeholder discourse, reflecting the species’ dual perception as both a non-indigenous organism and a commercially recognised resource. Collectively, these findings provide a spatially explicit framework for supporting surveillance, biosecurity planning, and risk communication for P. radiata and other marine non-indigenous species across the Mediterranean.
Open Access
Review
10 August 2026Bibliometric Analysis of Humanoid Robot Joint Modules: Structural, Control, Interaction and Biomimetic
As an intelligence paradigm, embodied intelligence emphasizes that intelligent capabilities emerge from the dynamic interaction between an intelligent agent and its physical embodiment, and are realized through a continuous closed-loop process integrating perception, decision-making, action, and feedback. With the rapid development of embodied intelligence, humanoid robots have become increasingly important in intelligent manufacturing, service, and human-robot collaboration. Joint modules, as the core units responsible for perception, decision-making, and actuation, determine the motion performance, interaction capability, and intelligence level of humanoid robots. Research directions in this field remain fragmented, technological pathways are diverse, and systematic summaries of evolutionary patterns are lacking. First, publication trends, country and institutional collaboration networks, and major research contributors were analyzed. Research on humanoid robot joint modules has entered a phase of rapid growth since 2018, indicating a shift from early exploratory studies toward engineering and large-scale applications. Second keyword co-occurrence, clustering analysis, and burst detection were used to identify research hotspots and evolutionary features, research focus gradually shifted from traditional electromechanical actuation to compliant actuation, intelligent control, multimodal perception, and embodied intelligence. Furthermore, key technologies of joint modules were systematically summarized and reviewed from four aspects: structural design and performance optimization, motion control, human-robot interaction, and biomimetic actuation for human-like performance enhancement. Joint modules gradually evolved toward structural integration, intelligent control, natural interaction, and human-like system characteristics. Technical bottlenecks in current humanoid robot joint modules were analyzed, and future research directions were proposed to provide technical support and theoretical guidance for both industrial applications and academic research in humanoid robotics.
Open Access
Review
10 August 2026Advances in Bidirectional Neural Interaction for Intelligent Upper-Limb Prostheses
Bidirectional neural interaction pathways play a critical role in determining the performance of intelligent upper-limb prostheses. Specifically, the nervous system should be able to control prosthetic movements according to the user’s intention, while the operating state of the prosthesis should be conveyed back to the user through sensory feedback interfaces, thereby establishing a bidirectional interface between the prosthesis and the human nervous system. This paper introduces the major approaches for neural motor control, including brain–computer interfaces and myoelectric interfaces, discusses stimulation modalities and sensory mapping strategies for sensory feedback, and analyzes future directions for bidirectional sensorimotor interfaces in upper-limb prostheses.
Open Access
Review
10 August 2026Progress in Research on Abiotic Stress in Apple Trees in China
As the leading global producer of apples, China’s apple industry faces substantial challenges posed by abiotic stresses. Consequently, it is imperative to carry out an in-depth synthesis and refinement of the unique physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying apple stress resistance, as well as to comprehensively and precisely uncover their response patterns under diverse abiotic stress conditions. Such endeavors are crucial for fostering the sustainable development of the apple industry. Presently, research on abiotic stresses in Chinese apples is intricately linked to industrial issues prevalent in major apple-producing regions, with a primary emphasis on improving drought, cold, and salt-alkali tolerance. This review synthesizes studies on Chinese apples, spanning tree growth, physiological biochemistry, and molecular regulation. Key questions and future directions are outlined to inform research on stress resistance and precision breeding strategies.