Inorganic halide perovskites, particularly CsPbBr3, have emerged in recent years as promising materials for optoelectronic applications due to their easily tunable bandgap, high charge carrier mobility, and radiation sensing capabilities. This study describes an efficient and straightforward method for growing high-quality CsPbBr3 single crystals using the antisolvent vapor-assisted method, using nitromethane as the antisolvent within a temperature range of 25-45 degrees C. The resulting crystal has an optical bandgap of about 2.28 eV. X-ray structural analysis confirms the orthorhombic phase. Optical and photoelectrical measurements reveal a clear photocurrent response under UV irradiation at 365 nm, marked by a evident increase in photocurrent density. In addition, the charge carrier mobility-lifetime product extracted from charge collection efficiency analysis reaches similar to 0.8 & times; 10-3 cm2 V-1, indicating efficient charge transport. Under visible-light illumination at 530 nm, the crystals demonstrate a responsivity of 6.24 & times; 10-3 A W-1 and a specific detectivity of similar to 1.3 & times; 1010 Jones. Surface morphology assessed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirms the high surface quality of the crystals. These findings highlight the potential of this modified growth method for producing CsPbBr3 single crystals suitable for next-generation photodetectors and other optoelectronic devices.
Two-handed dynamic gesture recognition represents a fundamental component of sign language interpretation involving the modeling of temporal dependencies and inter-hand coordination. In this task, a major challenge is modeling asymmetric motion patterns, as well as bidirectional and long-range temporal dependencies. Most existing frameworks rely on early fusion strategies that merge joints, keypoints or landmarks from both hands in early processing stages, primarily to reduce model complexity and enforce a unified representation. In this work, a novel dual-stream BiLSTM-Transformer model architecture is proposed for two-handed dynamic sign language recognition, where parallel encoders process the trajectories of each hand independently. To capture spatial and temporal dependencies for each hand, an attention-based cross-hand fusion mechanism is employed, with hand landmarks extracted by the MediaPipe Hands framework as a preprocessing step to enable real-time CPU-based inference. Experimental evaluation conducted on custom Romanian Sign Language dynamic gesture datasets indicates that the proposed dual-stream-based system outperforms single-handed baselines, achieving improvements in high recognition accuracy for asymmetric gestures and consistent performance gains for synchronized two-handed gestures. The proposed architecture represents an efficient and lightweight solution suitable for real-time sign language recognition and interpretation.
This review highlights the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of probiotics and their complex health-related impacts. The main health areas targeted are gastrointestinal inflammation, neuroinflammation, systemic metabolic disorders, and liver conditions. Probiotics work mechanistically to regulate key inflammatory pathways by suppressing nuclear factor (NF-κb) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways and activating antioxidant defenses through nuclear erythroid 2-related factor (Nrf2). They stimulate anti-inflammatory cytokines (including interleukin 10 (IL-10) and inhibit pro-inflammatory mediators such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), partly through the regulation of T cells. Probiotics also produce antioxidant metabolites (e.g., exopolysaccharides and short-chain fatty acids), which enhance the host's resistance to oxidative stress. Supplementation with probiotics improves intestinal inflammation and oxidative injury in gut disorders. Clinical trials suggest that probiotic supplements may reduce neuroinflammation and oxidative stress, while improving cognitive or behavioral outcomes in neurodegenerative disorders. Overall, this review underscores that probiotics have potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects within the gut-brain axis and across various organ systems, supporting their use as valuable adjunctive therapies for inflammatory and oxidative stress-related conditions. It further emphasizes that additional mechanistic research and controlled clinical trials are essential to translate these findings into the most effective therapeutic strategies.
Forest restoration in Europe has a complex history strongly influenced by various social, policy and economic factors. Understanding these influences is essential for shaping effective restoration strategies and avoiding past mistakes, particularly in light of meeting ambitious targets outlined in initiatives such as the EU Nature Restoration Regulation. Here we identify the key social, policy and economic drivers, barriers and enablers that have historically shaped forest restoration across Europe. We analyzed and synthesized detailed information from historical national narratives on forest restoration provided by experts from 18 European countries. Our work details how wars, changes in governance (centralization vs. decentralization) and forest tenure (privatization vs. nationalization), different policy instruments (regulatory, financial, persuasive and organizational), market fluctuations and sociodemographic changes (e.g., rural abandonment, changes in public opinion) have driven the development of forest restoration in Europe. The findings underscore the need to use inclusive and innovative governance mechanisms to reconcile diverging societal paradigms (e.g., rural vs. urban, conservation vs. forestry) partly reflected in incoherent forest-related policies, as well as to address the fragmentation resulting from forest privatization. Ensuring stable funding mechanisms (e.g., remuneration systems for forest ecosystem services) alongside favorable regulatory frameworks will also be key for successful large-scale forest restoration efforts. Policy recommendations are made to ensure the effective implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation, including a hybrid governance model that balances strong national regulatory frameworks with local adaptability to diverse socioecological contexts, integrating socioeconomic metrics, strengthening public engagement, and leveraging market-based and green tax incentives.
Vitamin D is a secosteroid hormone traditionally recognized for its role in bone and mineral metabolism, but it is increasingly understood to also function as an important immunomodulator influencing susceptibility to and outcomes of infectious diseases. This narrative review summarizes current evidence on the immunological, clinical, and preventive effects of vitamin D in the context of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (long COVID), and influenza. Mechanistically, vitamin D enhances innate immune defenses through the induction of antimicrobial peptides, including cathelicidin and defensins, and modulates adaptive immunity by suppressing maladaptive Th1/Th17 responses while promoting regulatory T-cell activity. Observational studies have frequently associated vitamin D deficiency with more severe COVID-19 outcomes; however, these associations may be influenced by confounding factors and reverse causality. Some meta-analyses suggest that vitamin D supplementation reduced rates of intensive care unit admission and ventilatory support, particularly among older adults and individuals with low baseline serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations. Emerging evidence also indicates that inadequate vitamin D status may be associated with an increased risk and symptom burden of long COVID, although causality has not been established. In the case of influenza, a limited number of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses report a modest but statistically significant reduction in infection risk, especially with daily or weekly vitamin D supplementation in populations with low baseline vitamin D levels. Clinical guidelines consistently recommend maintaining adequate vitamin D status for general health but do not endorse high-dose vitamin D as a treatment for COVID-19 due to inconsistent trial findings. Overall, vitamin D should not be considered a standalone therapeutic agent; rather, maintaining sufficient vitamin D levels represents a low-risk, potentially beneficial strategy to support immune resilience against respiratory viral infections.
