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Nanomaterials have gained significant importance in various sectors, such as biomedical science, energy conversion, and sensor technology, due to their versatile applications. Nanoparticles, particularly those with a size of 100 nm or less, have been researched extensively due to their unique properties and high surface-to-volume ratio. Different methods like physical, chemical, biological, and hybrid methods are used to synthesize these nanoparticles. However, it is crucial to use reliable, non-toxic, and eco-friendly technologies to make these nanoparticles safe and expand their biological applications. These nanoparticles are used for different biological applications such as carbohydrate hydrolysis, biofuel production, enzyme immobilization, biotransformation, gene and drug delivery, and the detection of pathogens and proteins. Nanocarriers have also been used recently to produce nanobiocatalysts (NBCs), which further enhance enzyme performance by immobilizing different enzymes. From these backgrounds, wide ranges of topics on application of nanomaterials in biological processes are covered in this Special Issue to provide up-to-date summaries of the current understanding.

This Special Issue focuses on the coping strategies of patients with hidradenitis suppurativa, which is of paramount importance but at the same time often overlooked. Biologics have been introduced for the disease and may be a viable option in those with severe hidradenitis suppurativa. Skin care is extremely important in managing patients with acne and rosacea who often have sensitive skin due to skin inflammation and vigorous treatment. Optimal cosmetic products for acne and rosacea and novel treatment options such as oxybrasion and cryotherapy in managing acne are presented. Truncal acne is common, but less interest has been taken in this subtype as it is not openly seen. Unlike facial acne, truncal acne can develop into hypertrophic scars and needs early intervention. In addition to C. acnes, fungi such as Malassezia are thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of truncal acne. An overview of truncal acne and new methods of improvement for acne scars are also discussed in this reprint. Last but not least, the immunologic background in acne pathogenesis is reviewed which will help readers better understand the complex mechanism of acne development.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are pivotal and transformative technologies at the forefront of the global shift toward sustainable energy solutions. The primary challenge in solar energy production lies in the volatility and intermittency of PV system power generation, primarily due to unpredictable weather conditions. Additionally, PV systems face continuous exposure to various faults and anomalies that can impact their productivity and profitability. This Reprint centers on artificial intelligence (AI)-driven approaches for photovoltaic energy forecasting, modeling, and monitoring. The importance of AI methods in predicting, modeling, and detecting faults in PV systems is crucial in today's energy landscape. AI has emerged as a transformative force, addressing inherent challenges associated with solar energy production. The studies within this Reprint include empirical research across various subjects, encompassing machine learning and IoT for PV monitoring. The Reprint explores the effects of shading and dust on PV systems and presents AI-driven solutions. It also delves into PV modeling, optimization, and innovative strategies to enhance accuracy. In summary, this Reprint offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of AI applications in solar energy, catering to researchers, practitioners, and educators in the field.

This Reprint covers a wide range of essential areas, including green hydrogen solutions, renewable energy resources, sustainable solutions, energy generation, efficiency, and management. Each chapter examines the latest advancements, strategies, and innovations, offering insights into sustainable practices and their integration with simulation models. These topics play vital roles in tackling environmental challenges, reducing carbon footprints, and achieving a greener future. By bringing together expertise from various disciplines, this Reprint aims to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange to address the global need for sustainable solutions.

Human activity recognition (HAR) is determined through the acquisition of images or kinematic states, which are analyzed by prediction models. The goal of these systems is to correctly classify the data into one of the following categories: gestures, elementary actions that are components of complex activities, human-object or human-human interactions, and group actions.HAR plays a fundamental role in health monitoring systems through the acquisition of information about the health and psychological statuses of subjects. The development of new medical and assistive technologies has created environmental conditions for the independent living among the elderly and has contributed to the improvement of their quality of life. In this Special Issue, we present the constant development of new data, applications and analysis techniques.

National dietary guidelines provide a set of principles to guide decisions about healthy diet and lifestyle. They should be informed by scientific evidence and country-specific public health and nutrition priorities, as well as sociocultural and contextual factors. Dietary guidelines commonly propose a set of recommendations related to the consumption of individual foods and/or food groups in sufficient quantities to meet nutrient intake requirements based on life stage and sex, for both health promotion and chronic disease prevention. More recently developed national dietary guidelines have included holistic contexts for eating, by addressing food combinations (meals), food safety considerations, lifestyle factors, sustainability, and other aspects of eating.The scope of this Special Issue is to publish original research and systematic reviews that report findings on the assessment of healthy eating based on the development, implementation, evaluation, and impact of national dietary guidelines. The Special Issue brought together a selection of original research manuscripts and reviews to showcase the latest evidence on the use of dietary guidelines as a basis for the development of tools and methodologies to influence population eating patterns and promote healthy eating and diet quality at different life stages, as well as associations with health and disease.

The scientific method, known for its systematic and rigorously approach, has yielded countless discoveries and essential technologies that enhance our lives, fostering ease, productivity, and comfort. Yet, many of these discoveries and technologies have facilitated the dissemination of false and potentially harmful information-the realm of fake facts. The distortion of information, encompassing misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, poses a threat to democratic societies and the core of scientific progress. Consequently, the scientific community must explore why fake news resonates, identify detection strategies, and develop effective countermeasures. The years 2020 and 2021, dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, underscored the impact of fake news. Conspiracy theories, dangerous pseudo-therapies, and anti-vaccine movements thrived, highlighting the urgency of addressing false information. The collection of articles in this book cover key topics related to fake facts and fake news, aiming to enhance understanding of their impact and to counter them using scientific principles.

Medicinal plants exhibit a high degree of variation based on morphological, palynological, and phytochemical characteristics, as well as their habitats, amongst other factors. These factors also influence the effects of medicinal plants on specific disorders. Human beings have used medicinal plants to treat ailments for several decades. However, the increase in disease incidence has raised the demand for novel therapeutics, which can be fulfilled using phytochemicals from plants. Current research advances reveal that herbal plants are a fundamental factor in the development of biomedicines. To ensure the safe use of medicinal plants and their products, detailed studies of medicinal plants are required. These characterizations could be based on determining structural or morphological variations among medicinal plants, environmental impacts on medicinal plants, phytochemicals isolation, bioactivities, the phylogenetic relationship among medicinal plants, interactions between phytochemicals, and in silico approaches of drug designing with phytoconstituents.

Internal combustion (IC) engines are the power devices most used in the fields of transport, engineering machinery, stationary power generation, etc. They have been evolving continuously over the past few decades and still have great potential to further improve to reach the ultimate goal of zero emissions. This Special Issue on the subject of "Advanced Research on Internal Combustion Engines and Engine Fuels" is dedicated to sharing recent progress and findings from the engine research community, covering the entirety of the wide scope of engine- and fuel-related research, i.e., diesel spray characteristics, combustion technologies for low- and zero-carbon fuels, advanced combustion modes, the additive effects of fuel, engine operation under extreme conditions, advanced materials and manufacturing.

Dear Colleagues, In this Special Issue, "Carbohydrate-Based Drugs", we aim to collect both original articles and up-to-date reviews that focus on the design, synthesis, and biological evaluations of novel carbohydrate-based drugs, with a focus on carbohydrate-based prodrugs and nanosystems.As Guest Editors, we encourage researchers working in this area to contribute their recent studies to this Special Issue of Pharmaceuticals.

Respiratory infections are conventionally treated with oral or intravenous antimicrobials (antivirals, antibiotics, and antifungals). However, these routes of administration are not ideal because the required drugs are systemically delivered rather than being targeted to the respiratory tract. Higher doses may also be needed to achieve sufficient drug concentrations in the lungs, which may consequently increase the risk of adverse effects. On the other hand, the drugs can be efficiently delivered into the airways as inhaled aerosols. Lower doses can then be used to attain relatively high local concentrations. There are specific challenges to the development of inhaled formulations, such as the optimisation of their physicochemical stability and aerosol performance. In addition, antimicrobial resistance is an urgent global public health issue. Novel strategies are required to overcome these problems. The papers in this reprint focus on recent advancements in inhaled antimicrobials and vaccines, including those for viral (SARS-CoV-2), bacterial (Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumanii), and fungal infections (moulds).

Pesticide residue and food safety problems have become concerns that need to be addressed all over the world. This reprint presents recent developments in pesticide residue monitoring and risk assessment in food and contains studies and reviews involving the pre-treatment of pesticide residues in food and detection methods for and the risk assessment of these residues.

Reproduction is an instinct of animals, and it is the most important instinct. The stable conduct of animal reproduction activities is what makes populations continue. Reproductive behavior, as the most basic life activity of livestock, is the guarantee of livestock production and the basis of good breeding. Deepening the molecular regulation mechanism of animal reproduction will help to better improve the efficiency of livestock production and meet the increasing demands of peoples' lives. This reprint is a collection of some reviews and original research articles related to the molecular regulation of animal reproductive activity. Some new theories and technologies related to the reproduction of livestock or model animals are also included in the reprint.

Functional foods are still attracting widespread consumer interest, mainly due to their beneficial effects on humans. Their action is primarily connected with their bioactive compound content. These compounds are mainly plant secondary metabolites (e.g., flavonoids, carotenoids, and phenolic acids) that are applied to recipes as extracts, or sometimes as pure compounds. However, primary plant metabolites and, sometimes, compounds from animal sources (e.g., selected peptides, vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids), as well as compounds from other sources, such as single cells (e.g., yeasts, bacteria, and algae), can be considered functional ingredients. Biologically active compounds demonstrate various positive physiological and immunological functions. Some act as antioxidant agents and, thus, can diminish the risk of various diseases, including cancer. Others stimulate defense mechanisms, prevent widespread damage, or enhance cell repair. One of the limitations in the application of functional ingredients is their stability, but other main challenges include finding optimal concentrations and recipes.This compilation of scientific publications aims to bring together the latest knowledge, ideas, considerations, and overviews on bioactive compounds that can be found in functional foods.

This reprint was proposed and organized as a means to present recent developments in the field of material and element testing in civil engineering. For this reason, the articles highlighted in this editorial relate to different aspects of the testing of materials and elements in civil engineering, from building materials to building structures. The current trend in the development of material testing in civil engineering is mainly concerned with the detection of flaws and defects in elements and structures using destructive, semidestructive, and nondestructive testing.

The past decade has witnessed an explosive growth in the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) across diverse fields; healthcare is no exception. In fact, AI is at the forefront of driving pivotal changes in the healthcare sector, opening up innovative and enhanced methods of care delivery. It holds the potential to have profound impacts on contemporary healthcare challenges. By leveraging AI, we can uncover patterns within vast clinical datasets and develop sophisticated computational reasoning methods that support human decision making. This Special Issue endeavours to spotlight the cutting-edge developments of AI in the healthcare and medical fields, and it proudly features twelve manuscripts encompassing a diverse array of original research and review articles. The collection of articles span from theoretical frameworks to practical applications, addressing everything from diagnosis and treatment to healthcare management and public health.

The reprint highlights different forms of cardiomyopathy, such as RBM20, filamin C, and lamin A/C cardiomyopathy. Diagnostic and new treatment options are presented in arrhythmogenic, hypertrophic, dilated, and restrictive cardiomyopathy. As a special form of cardiomyopathy, the value of ajmaline testing in Brugada syndrome is highlighted. This reprint provides new information on the common forms of cardiomyopathy and highlights new approaches.

This Special Issue combined efforts toward comprehending the effects of nutrition, supplements, and physical exercise on skeletal muscle physiology, injury, and recovery through the use of different experimental models (cells, animals, and humans) in both healthy and pathological conditions. Particular interest of this call included studies addressing the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in these processes, including energy metabolism, inflammatory pathways, oxidative stress regulation, mitochondrial function alteration, and gene expression control, as well as the identification of potential molecular targets and the use of nutritional interventions and physical exercise training protocols for the treatment and/or prevention of skeletal muscle injury and recovery.

The ESPAUR (English Surveillance Programme for Antimicrobial Utilisation and Resisistance) national annual report 2021-2022 interactive online webinar held on Wednesday 23 November 2022, and a summary of key findings covering each chapter is presented. The chapters include Antimicrobial Resistance; Antimicrobial Consumption; Antimicrobial Stewardship; NHS England: Improvement and Assurance Schemes; Professional and Public Education, Engagement and Training; COVID-19 Therapeutics; Research; and Stakeholder Engagement.The Antibiotic Guardian Shared Learning and Awards (AGSLA) event, which acknowledges, celebrates, and provides opportunity for shared learning from the work of healthcare professionals across the UK and abroad in tackling antimicrobial resistance.

Currently, the diagnosis of infectious diseases largely depends on conventional phenotypic tools. However, typically, these tools are heavily based on culturing and are susceptible to bias. Discussing the unmet needs, this Special Issue contributes 11 studies to the study community. The papers in this issue present a diverse array of investigations spanning infectious diseases, microbiome analysis, and diagnostic methodologies. From identifying distinct microbial ecosystems in gallstone patients and evaluating diagnostic methods for latent tuberculosis in hemodialysis patients to assessing the performance of serological assays for Chikungunya virus, the issue covers a broad spectrum of topics. Additionally, the studies delve into the prevalence and characteristics of parasitic infections among school children, the diagnostic challenges in lower respiratory tract infections, and the utility of dried blood spots for serological studies of viral infections. The issue also explores advanced techniques in the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, multiplex PCR assays for neuromeningeal infections, and enzyme immunoassays for monitoring diphtheria toxin production. In addition, a critical review is included that outlines proteomic perspectives on antibiotic resistance in ESKAPE pathogens. There is a need for innovative diagnostic approaches, especially proteomic tools, in the face of emerging pandemics. Overall, this Special Issue offers a comprehensive overview of cutting-edge research in microbiology, infectious diseases, and diagnostic methodologies, contributing valuable insights to the scientific community.

Professor, Dr.Sc. Valentin A. Stonik is one of the pioneers in marine natural products chemistry. His specialisms are in the structure and properties of biological active natural compounds from marine invertebrates, especially echinoderms and sponges. His interests include the regulation of secondary metabolism, structural studies of alkaloids, unusual lipids, isoprenoids, polyhydroxysteroids, glycosides of polyhydroxysteroids, steroid, triterpenoid oligoglycosides, carbohydrates and other natural products, as well as the investigation of the biological activities, biosynthesis, chemotaxonomy and chemical evolution of secondary metabolites. He is the author and co-author of around 500 scientific articles, 4 monographs and 20 patents. To mark the occasion of Professor Valentin Stonik's 80th birthday in December 2022, Dr. Pavel S. Dmitrenok, Dr. Natalia V. Ivanchina and Dr. Vladimir I. Kalinin edited a Themed Issue entitled "Honoring Prof. Dr. Valentin A. Stonik for His Outstanding Contribution to Marine Natural Product Chemistry on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday". The contributions are original researches or reviews and cover every aspect of marine natural products chemistry, from studying the chemical structures of new metabolites to the investigation of their biological activities, and the synthesis of biological active natural products and their analogs. This Issue is a gift to Professor Valentin A. Stonik from his colleagues, friends and world experts in marine natural products chemistry and related disciplines that are thriving in the G.B. Elyakov Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry under his supervision.

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy has been widely used for more than 60 years. However, in recent years, EPR spectroscopy has expanded significantly in the field of practical applications, mainly due to its advantages, such as its high sensitivity (to 1012-1013 molecules, which translates to 10-11 to 10-12 M) and selectivity (only for paramagnetic species). Moreover, it is a quick, non-destructive method, and in some cases, samples may be kept as documents for future inspection. The design of portable EPR spectrometers with small dimensions greatly facilitates the use of this method in practice. The aim of the Special Issue "Applied EPR spectroscopy" is to highlight the current status as well as trends in the development and application of EPR spectroscopy. It covers EPR research in the fields of biology and medicine, chemistry (metal complexes, polymers, and catalysis), dosimetry, geology, mineralogy, archaeology, environmental control, food technology, quantitative EPR, etc.

Today, it is difficult to imagine the development of energy and mechanical engineering without the use of modern mathematical approaches. The active development of science, engineering and technology requires the use of physical and mathematical modeling, digital twins, machine learning, artificial intelligence algorithms, etc.The aim this Special Issue is to collect scientific articles reflecting the latest advances in mathematical apparatus applications in complex engineering problems.This Special Issue comprises 15 high-quality mathematical papers in a variety of technical areas, ranging from thermal engineering and gas dynamics to optics and electric vehicles, and will be useful to students, teachers, scientists and industrial specialists who deal with problems of applied mathematics in energy and mechanical engineering.

Oxidative stress is at the root of several pathological conditions. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are normally produced inside cells, and their amount is finely counterbalanced by antioxidant enzymes such as SOD, GPx, and catalase. However, when this homeostasis is interrupted, cells suffer from oxidative stress that can also lead to cardivascular and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as cancer, to name a few.In order to help cells fight excess ROS, esogenous antioxidant molecules can be administered through diet. For example, fruit and vegetables are rich in secondary metabolites with antioxidant properties, as are many beverages obtained from natural products. Wine is at the base of the Frech paradox, supposedly because of the high amount of polyphenols contained. Olive oil is one of the base components of the Mediterranean diet and strongly contributes to its beneficial health effects. Several molecules contained in these products, although at low concentrations, have already been shown to exert antioxidant activity, among others, both in vitro and in vivo.This reprint collected contributions from eight original research articles as well as four review articles regarding the exploitation of secondary metabolites in natural products (or derived from them) for reducing oxidative stress.

Sustainable Land Management (SLM) is vital for soil health, biodiversity, and resilience. Climate change and human activity both accelerate land degradation, prompting urgent action according to the IPCC Climate Change Report (2023). The Mission Board for Soil Health and Food and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) reveal that 60-70% of EU soils are unhealthy. Global climate change and land degradation may displace 700 million people by the year 2050, highlighting the need for safeguarding land for Nature's Contributions to People (NCPs); this need for safeguarding is further emphasized by the support for SLM of both global and European initiatives. The concept of "One Health" relates soil health to ecosystems and human health, while the seventeen SDGs of the 2030 Agenda integrate different land aspects. Land is central to research and innovation in the EU, as is the green-digital transition. The EU Soil Strategy for 2030, the upcoming Soil Health Law, and the EU Soil Observatory (EUSO) underpin strategies like the Farm to Fork Strategy, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the Climate Adaptation Strategy, the Zero Pollution Action Plan, the Forest Strategy, the Organic Action Plan, the New Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the Circular Economy Action Plan, all of which are integral to the European Green Deal. This Special Issue aims to provide a unique reference point that explores innovative methodologies, case studies, and reviews, examining diverse sustainable land management concepts.

Many real-world problems in science and engineering, including physical, biological, and social phenomena, can be mathematically formulated and rigorously solved by modeling them in linear and nonlinear differential and partial differential equations. This Special Issue titled "Differential Equations and Asymptotic Analysis: Recent Advances and Applications" consists of a collection of papers written by eminent mathematicians and experts in their fields, covering many different areas of nonlinear analysis, both theoretical and applied, related to differential equations, including fixed point theory, monotone operator theory, equilibrium problems and optimization, asymptotic analysis, mathematical biology, and numerical computations. We hope that this Special Issue will be of interest to many researchers, as well as graduate students working in these fields.

Centering stances, positionalities, and style, the third wave of sociolinguistic study positions individuals at the heart of its analysis. Understood as a continuation of the first and the second waves, which sought to elucidate correlations between linguistic features and broad socio-demographic groups (first wave) or locally relevant categories and networks (second wave), the third wave focuses on the social meaning of variable linguistic features. It recognizes that speakers agentively employ the linguistic resources at their disposal to signal group memberships, construct their personae, and position themselves in interaction. However, research on the third wave has been, to the present, largely focused on the English language. Because the resulting sociocultural and linguistic biases are baked into our current understanding of why speakers select particular linguistic and stylistic features, a broader exploration of linguistic variation and social meaning in other languages is sorely needed. To tackle the questions raised by the third wave in Spanish-speaking contexts (e.g., How are social meanings linked to particular linguistic forms? How is social meaning structured? How does linguistic use affect social meaning? How do social meanings relate to one another? What is the role of social meaning in language variation and change?) we have mobilized scholars at the vanguard of Spanish sociolinguistics to share their work in this Special Issue. In doing so, we seek to further extend the third wave to the Spanish-speaking world and deepen, develop, and enrich the scope of third-wave research.

Acute inflammation is an innate defense mechanism against infectious or non-infectious stimuli; however, if this process is prolonged or uncontrolled, acute inflammation may become chronic, leading to many inflammatory chronic diseases. In addition, oxidative stress emerges when an imbalance occurs between the excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and their neutralization by the antioxidant system, which plays a main role in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases. ROS can activate many signaling pathways and induce the expression of a variety of pro-inflammatory mediators. The current need to find new bioactives and the wide diversity of chemical structures that the marine environment potentially represents have raised the interest of the scientific community in recent years. The living beings that inhabit the oceans constantly adapt their metabolism to the changing conditions of their environment. This fact potentially generates a high variability of compounds that serve to protect them from stress produced by changes in light, temperature, food source, or competition for resources, and many of them have shown therapeutic properties. This reprint contains original in vitro and in vivo studies as well as two complete reviews, reporting the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of bioactive compounds, such as polysaccharides, carotenoids, lipids, and peptides, isolated from different marine organisms, including algae, microalgae, jellyfish, and bacteria. These findings support the potential use of these compounds as therapeutic agents in inflammatory pathologies induced by oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress and, in particular, biologically relevant free radicals play an important role in redox signaling under physiological conditions. During inflammation, their nanomolar concentrations can increase substantially, with a corresponding increase in damage to biomolecules. Chemistry can have an important role in the search for oxidative stress and related biomarkers, as well as in the search for molecular mechanisms in oxidative stress processes. Furthermore, the modification of biomolecules can be used to identify biomarkers in vitro and in vivo and for the identification of antioxidant activities. This Special Issue of Biomolecules, titled "Biomarkers of Oxidative and Radical Stress", showcases a remarkable range of research pertaining to these areas. This collection contains papers presenting research on oxidizing DNA, proteins, and lipids, as well as antioxidant protection.

Site-specific drug delivery is among the main objectives for the optimization of pharmaceutical therapies. In particular, local drug delivery systems represent a way to avoid systemic administration, reducing the associated side effects and increasing patient compliance. In the design of local drug delivery systems, different strategies to overcome physiological barriers to obtain effective drug concentration at the target site without affecting adjacent tissues can be pursued. Physical and chemical enhancers, microneedles, and nanostructured drug delivery systems have been proposed as effective tools to influence drug release and partition in the target tissues. Innovative drug delivery systems could be based on natural or synthetic polymers that are biodegradable, endowed with stimuli-responsive behavior, and, if applicable, mucoadhesive properties.