Cardiac fibrosis is a central pathological feature of heart failure and contributes to myocardial stiffening, impaired electrical conduction, and progressive ventricular dysfunction. Traditionally, fibrotic remodeling has been viewed as a fibroblast-driven process in which activated fibroblasts deposit excessive extracellular matrix following cardiac injury. However, emerging evidence indicates that fibrosis arises from coordinated interactions among multiple cardiac cell populations, including cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, immune cells, pericytes, and fibroblasts. In this review, we discuss the role of cardiomyocytes and their interactions with other cell types in the heart in facilitating cardiac fibrosis. We discuss how interactions among cardiomyocytes, immune cells, endothelial cells, pericytes, and fibroblasts contribute to fibrotic remodeling in both ischemic and non-ischemic heart disease. Our signaling emphasis is on transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)-mediated cardiac fibrosis in the context of cellular interplay. We posit that a better understanding of these integrated signaling networks may reveal new opportunities to prevent or reverse pathological cardiac fibrosis.
To address the difficulty of predicting plate heat exchanger performance under variable-flow and fouling-prone coastal conditions, this study developed a novel combined framework for a BR50 plate heat exchanger by integrating a steady-state heat transfer model with a transfer-function-based dynamic wall-temperature model. The main innovation is that the framework simultaneously captures steady thermal performance and transient wall-temperature response, while explicitly quantifying the coupled effects of flow velocity and kinematic viscosity. The model was evaluated for sewage-side velocities of 0.8–1.5 m/s and viscosities up to ten times that of clean water. Results show that wall temperature increases slightly with velocity and can be described by a fourth-order polynomial. Its transient response follows first-order inertia, and the time constant decreases as velocity increases, indicating faster thermal response at higher flow rates. Both the sewage-side heat transfer coefficient and the overall heat transfer coefficient increase with velocity but decrease with viscosity; increasing velocity from 0.8 to 1.5 m/s raises the sewage-side coefficient by 49.2%. Sensitivity analysis identifies kinematic viscosity as the dominant factor affecting thermal performance, followed by flow velocity and wall temperature. The framework provides a practical basis for seawater-source heat pumps and coastal heat recovery systems under fouling-influenced conditions.
Mixotrophic culture can improve the growth of Haematococcus lacustris, an alga that can produce the high-value carotenoid astaxanthin. However, these conditions make the culture susceptible to bacterial contamination. Ozone gas was therefore investigated for its ability to inhibit the growth of heterotrophic bacteria during the mixotrophic cultivation of H. lacustris. The concentration and flow rate of ozone were then optimized. While the flow rate had no significant effect, an ozone concentration of 0.4 mg/L allowed algal growth but inhibited bacterial growth. Additionally, different wavelengths of light exposure were used to enhance algal growth and biomass production, and red light showed the highest increase, followed by blue light. The addition of 0.08 mg/L ozone to light exposure improved growth for both red and blue light. In mixotrophic culture using sodium acetate as a carbon source, the same concentration of ozone improved growth compared to untreated mixotrophic culture or to pure autotrophic culture.
This study uses a qualitative, descriptive, and phenomenological approach to understand the adaptation of flood-prone village communities in Southeast Sulawesi through social, economic, and environmental capacity analysis based on the Building Village Index. The results of the study show that socio-ecological resilience is formed through solidarity synergy, social capital bonding-bridging-linking, and adaptive local institutional mechanisms. Mechanical solidarity, mutual cooperation, and reconstruction of ecological norms encourage the formation of collective actions that strengthen responses to recurrent floods. Main Findings: Community resilience in flood-prone villages emerges through solidarity, social capital, and adaptive institutions reinforcing collective ecological action. The C-BS-ERCM confirms that resilience develops iteratively through risk identification, coordination, learning, and sustainable village governance. Theoretically, this study enriches the study of resilience by combining the perspectives of Durkheim, Putnam, and Scott–North institutional theories into the Community-Based Social-Ecological Resilience Cycle Model (C-BS-ERCM), which is a community-based resilience cycle. In practical terms, these findings provide a direction for strengthening village adaptive governance through institutional collaboration, social capacity building, and integration of local values in sustainable flood mitigation and adaptation strategies.
The present study pioneers the investigation of mechanochemical synthesis based on polyphenylsilsesquioxane and β-diketonate complexes of scandium, yttrium, and lanthanum. It has been demonstrated that the degree of metal incorporation into the polymer chain increases with the growth of the ionic radius and with the decrease in the stability of the initial acetylacetonate complex. The resulting polymers exhibit high thermal stability, comparable to that of the parent organosilicon polymer. Moreover, owing to their developed surface area and light-transforming properties, the synthesized compounds hold promise for applications in catalysis, production of electronic materials, and fabrication of nanoelectronic components.
