Found 569 results
Open Access
Review
26 January 2026Synergistic Natural Products in Anti-Ageing: Mechanistic Insights, Experimental Evidence, and Translational Perspectives
Ageing is characterised by a progressive decline in physiological function driven by oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, and metabolic imbalance. Natural products contain diverse bioactive compounds capable of regulating these interconnected processes through convergent molecular pathways. This review synthesises current evidence across six major classes of natural bioactives, including polyphenols, terpenoids, polyamines, polysaccharides, fatty acids, and bioactive peptides, and examines their roles within metabolic, redox, inflammatory, and epigenetic networks. Individually, these compounds enhance mitochondrial function, modulate AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)–sirtuin 1 (SIRT1)–mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signalling, activate the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)–antioxidant response element (ARE) antioxidant pathway, suppress nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation, and improve cellular stress resilience. When used in combination, they exhibit synergistic interactions that amplify antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and metabolic benefits, resulting in measurable improvements in lifespan and healthspan. Quantitative analyses demonstrate that rationally designed combinations achieve approximately 20–35 percent greater efficacy than single agents, reflecting coordinated multi-target reinforcement rather than simple additive effects. Overall, these insights highlight the mechanistic rationale, experimental evidence, and translational potential of synergistic natural bioactives as promising strategies for promoting healthy ageing and mitigating age-related decline.
Open Access
Article
26 January 2026Investigating the Interplay of Springshed Phenomenon and Its Crucial Role in Fostering Sustainable Practices and Community Resilience: Reflection from the Indian Himalayan Regions
This study examines the critical role of springsheds in fostering resilient communities and sustainable practices in the Indian Himalayan regions, focusing on Kalimpong I (Kalimpong) and Bhurung (Sikkim). The research addresses the pressing environmental challenges, particularly resource depletion and water scarcity, that threaten these ecologically sensitive areas. By integrating physical, environmental, and socio-economic analyses, the study compares the spring water quality, utility, and mobility in the two springsheds. It also identifies obstacles residents face in accessing these water sources. Utilizing mixed methods, including field surveys, in-depth interviews, GIS-based mapping, and water quality analysis, the study reveals the indispensable role of springs in daily life, providing essential water for drinking, agriculture, and domestic use. The findings emphasize the need to integrate traditional knowledge with sustainable practices, such as rainwater harvesting and afforestation, to enhance community resilience. This research highlights the importance of community-driven approaches to environmental sustainability, offering valuable insights for similar ecological settings worldwide.
Open Access
Article
22 January 2026Therapies Targeting Metabolic Pathways in Lung Fibrosis: Advances and Future Perspectives
Pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive lung disease associated with high morbidity and mortality. Increasing evidence indicates that metabolic reprogramming is a central driver of fibrogenesis. Multiple cell types in the fibrotic lung, including fibroblasts, alveolar epithelial type II (AEC2) cells, and macrophages, exhibit enhanced glycolysis, dysregulated lipid turnover, and altered amino acid utilization. These metabolic changes promote fibroblast activation, sustain ECM production, and impair epithelial repair. Recent studies have identified key regulatory pathways—such as hypoxia-inducible factor-1α(HIF-1α)-mediated glycolysis, aberrant fatty acid and cholesterol metabolism, and glutamine-dependent anabolic processes—that collectively shape the profibrotic microenvironment. Targeting these metabolic vulnerabilities has shown promising antifibrotic effects in preclinical studies, supporting glycolysis inhibitors, lipid-modulating agents, and amino acid metabolism blockers as potential therapeutic approaches. This review summarizes recent advances in glucose, lipid, and amino acid metabolic reprogramming in pulmonary fibrosis, with IPF discussed as a representative and well-studied subtype, and highlights emerging metabolic-targeted therapeutic strategies. Understanding cell-specific metabolic adaptations may provide new opportunities to develop effective interventions for pulmonary fibrosis, whereas most metabolic mechanisms are shared across fibrotic lung diseases.
Open Access
Article
21 January 2026Milling Mechanism of Sheet Fiberglass Plastic by a Tungsten Carbide Tool with Diamond and Diamond-like Wear-Resistant Coatings
The study focuses on identifying the specific mechanisms of the FR4 fiberglass composite milling process using tungsten carbide end mills with wear-resistant diamond-like and diamond coatings. The processing was carried out at cutting speeds from 115 to 300 m/min and feed of 0.075 and 0.15 mm/tooth. At the same time, the vibroacoustic signal was recorded in three formats: changes in the RMS value and the amplitude of the acoustic emission in the low-frequency and high-frequency ranges, as well as the parameter Kf, which is the ratio of the RMS amplitudes of the signals in the low-frequency and high-frequency ranges. It is shown that the coating material has a predominant effect on the surface roughness. The minimum roughness value was RA = 0.2 µm for the case of a diamond-coated tool. In addition, the coating improves processing performance by increasing the cutting speed for tools with DLC by 1.3 times and for tools with diamond coating by 1.7 times, provided that the RA increases slightly but does not exceed 0.36 µm. When processed with an uncoated instrument, the mill captures the fiber, bends it and breaks it into bundles, creating grooves. The mechanism of glass fiber destruction by a DLC mill is similar, with the difference that the length of the fragmented fiber sections is noticeably reduced due to reduced friction. The mechanism of cutting fiberglass with a diamond-coated milling cutter is significantly different. There are characteristic scratches on the worn sections of the fiber, and there are no signs of destruction of the composite between the matrix and the fiber. Studies of vibration signals have shown that frequency ranges up to 20 kHz and from 33 to 48 kHz are informative enough to diagnose the fiberglass milling process. The most significant values of the Kf parameter were observed at large amplitudes of low-frequency vibrations, typical for processing with uncoated and DLC milling cutters. The lowest Kf values were obtained using diamond-coated milling cutters. A correlation was found between the values of the Kf parameter and the roughness values of the treated end surface of the fiberglass plate.
Open Access
Article
20 January 2026Can Global Contract Research Organisations Contribute to Decarbonisation? The Impact of Environmentally Sustainable Business Practice on Scope 1 and 2 Emissions
Carbon emissions of clinical trials have been one of the contributors to global emissions. However, the clinical research industry, particularly contract research organisations (CROs) engaged in trials, has received little attention in the existing literature regarding their carbon footprint. This research examines the sustainable practices implemented by leading global CROs and how these practices influence scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions. The findings show that increasing the number of sustainability initiatives is insufficient to achieve a measurable reduction in emissions. At the same time, whilst some sustainable practices, such as building upgrades and real estate improvements, lead to a reduction in scope 1 and 2 emissions, others, such as equipment upgrades, are associated with higher emissions. The study, therefore, uncovers a counterintuitive finding—that renewable energy practices showed a positive correlation with emissions. This may be viewed as a paradox, although it serves as a critical warning against measuring sustainability by the quantity of initiatives, rather than their quality or ultimate effect. By assessing the impact of organisational environmental practices on emissions, the study contributes to knowledge by providing a more nuanced understanding of the effectiveness of environmentally sustainable business strategies adopted by CROs.
Open Access
Review
20 January 2026Porous Carbon-Based Adsorbents for CO2 Sequestration from Flue Gases: Tuning Porosity, Surface Chemistry, and Metal Impregnation for Sustainable Capture
Escalating atmospheric CO2 levels and the consequent climate crisis have become urgent imperatives for advancing efficient carbon capture technologies. Porous carbon adsorbents stand out as a leading candidate in this field, owing to their inherently high specific surface areas, tailorable pore architectures, and cost advantages over conventional solid adsorbents. This review focuses on recent progress in the rational engineering of porous carbons for boosted CO2 capture performance, with a particular emphasis on three complementary modification pathways: pore structure refinement, surface functional group regulation, and metal oxide incorporation. We begin by clarifying the distinct mechanisms of CO2 physisorption and chemisorption on carbonaceous surfaces, while also elucidating how key operating parameters (temperature, pressure) and real-world flue gas components (e.g., water vapor, SO2) modulate adsorption behavior. Critical evaluation is then given to strategies for enhancing three core performance metrics—CO2 uptake capacity, selectivity over N2, and cyclic stability—including the construction of sub-nanometer micropores (<0.8 nm) for efficient low-pressure CO2 capture, the introduction of nitrogen- and oxygen-containing moieties to strengthen dipole–quadrupole interactions with CO2 molecules, and the loading of alkaline metal oxides (e.g., MgO, CaO) to enable reversible chemisorption, which is especially beneficial under humid conditions. Finally, we outline the key challenges that hinder the practical application of porous carbon adsorbents, such as the design of hierarchical pores for both high uptake and fast mass transfer, the precise control of heteroatom doping sites and concentrations, and the mitigation of competitive adsorption in complex multicomponent flue gases. Corresponding future research priorities are also proposed, with a focus on scalable and sustainable synthesis routes using biomass or waste precursors. Ultimately, this review seeks to provide targeted insights for the rational design of high-performance porous carbon adsorbents, thereby accelerating their deployment in sustainable CO2 capture systems.
Open Access
Article
19 January 2026Advancing Youth Engagement in Agriculture: A Cross-National Comparative Policy Analysis and Framework for Sustainable Rural Development
Youth engagement in agriculture has emerged as a critical issue for sustainable agri-food systems, yet policies remain fragmented and uneven across countries. This paper presents a comparative case study of four national contexts to assess how governments address or neglect the challenges young people face in the agricultural sector. Using a desk-based review of policy documents, reports, and secondary literature, this study critically compares the policy environments of Uganda, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Italy. It explores the role of youth in agriculture and rural development by identifying gaps in institutional support, policy coherence and access to resources, while also highlighting areas of innovation and promising practices. This paper develops a conceptual framework to capture the key aspects necessary to increase youth participation in agriculture and rural development. The framework emphasises the importance of integrated strategies combining structural access, system-level integration, youth agency, and institutional capacity. Overall, this cross-country analysis aims to enhance the understanding of youth-in-agriculture policy environments, providing a roadmap for future policy-making and the development of sustainable rural communities.
Open Access
Article
15 January 2026The Role of Empathy in Resource Control Strategy Selection and Social Dominance in Early Childhood
This cross-sectional study examined the associations between affective and cognitive empathy, resource control strategies (RCS), resource control success, and social dominance in preschool children, within the framework of resource control theory. Ninety-two children (ages 4–5) completed assessments of empathy, while teachers rated their prosocial and aggressive behaviors, prosocial and coercive RCS, resource control success, and social dominance. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that prosocial resource control strategies uniquely predicted children’s resource control success, whereas social dominance, examined as a distinct social status outcome, was explained by a combination of prosocial and coercive strategies, general prosocial behavior, and resource control success. Affective empathy was positively related to both types of RCS, while cognitive empathy moderated the link between affective empathy and coercive RCS. These findings highlight the dual potential of empathy in early peer relations, suggesting that empathy may facilitate both cooperative and coercive tactics in the pursuit of social influence. The findings also underscore the need to distinguish between behavioral strategies, their effectiveness, and broader social status outcomes when examining early social dominance. Implications for interventions that cultivate constructive applications of empathy are discussed.
Open Access
Article
15 January 2026Does the Implementation of Rights of Nature Enhance Nature Conservation in Practice?
The debate surrounding Rights of Nature has been ongoing for some time, with many different concepts being put forward. Some consider them to be extremely effective, others useless or even counterproductive. The paper begins by summarising the complex debate and presents different approaches to categorising the debate. Based on those approaches, simplified categories for the various concepts for Rights of Nature are proposed: animal rights, rights for nature as a whole, and rights for non-animal natural entities, with a possible further distinction between rights for ecosystems and other natural entities. Subsequently, the paper goes on to study the effect of legally recognising Rights of Nature and finds that in South America, nations that recognise Rights of Nature perform slightly better in terms of Ecosystem Vitality and public awareness of environmental risks. While further research is needed, those results indicate that Rights of Nature may be a modest catalyst for conservation efforts.
Open Access
Article
14 January 2026Large-Scale Language Model Assisted Construction of Multi-Source Heterogeneous Knowledge Graphs for Marine Renewable Energy
Marine renewable energy systems, particularly offshore wind and photovoltaic (PV) installations, generate large volumes of heterogeneous maintenance texts. However, the resulting knowledge remains fragmented due to dispersed sources, diverse formats, and domain-specific terminology. To address these challenges, this study proposes a large-scale language model assisted methodology for constructing a multi-source heterogeneous knowledge graph for intelligent operation and maintenance (O&M). The method integrates unified document preprocessing, domain-oriented prompt engineering, large-scale language model–based entity and relation extraction, and multi-level entity normalization. It systematically transforms unstructured documents (e.g., standards, procedures, manuals, inspection records, and environmental reports) into structured triples, enabling the construction of a dynamically evolving O&M knowledge graph. A rigorous ablation study on real-world offshore wind and PV datasets demonstrates that the proposed workflow exhibits exceptional robustness against OCR noise (e.g., scanned artifacts, stamps, and signatures) and substantially improves extraction volume, accuracy, and coverage compared with traditional methods. In particular, combining high-quality preprocessing and optimized prompts yields the most reliable and semantically coherent results. The study provides a practical technical pathway for automated knowledge management in marine renewable energy and offers a foundation for future applications in intelligent diagnostics, predictive maintenance, and digital-twin systems.
