Université de Lorraine

To develop and evaluate Crohn-BOOST, an open-source tool enabling semi-automatic segmentation of intestinal lesions and creeping fat on magnetic resonance enterography (MR Enterography), and to assess whether quantitative metrics derived from these segmentations relate to radiological disease activity scored with simplified MaRIA (sMaRIA) and Nancy indices. A fully annotated MR Enterography dataset was also curated to support future artificial intelligence research. This retrospective single-center study included 102 patients with Crohn's disease (134 analyzable small-bowel lesions). Crohn-BOOST was used to delineate bowel lesions and creeping fat. Extracted metrics included lesion volume, wall thickness, lesion length, ADC, arterial enhancement, and creeping fat volume. Radiologic activity was assessed with sMaRIA and Nancy scores. Spearman correlations (95% CI by bootstrap), multivariable linear regression, and fivefold cross-validation were performed (p < 0.05). Segmentation time was < 3 min per patient. Inter-reader reproducibility in a two-reader subset (n = 30) was high (Dice 0.85 for lesions; 0.87 for creeping fat). Lesion volume (sMaRIA r = 0.65; Nancy r = 0.61; p < 0.001) and ADC (sMaRIA r = -0.70) showed the strongest correlations with radiological activity. In multivariable models, these two metrics remained independent predictors, whereas creeping fat volume and enhancement metrics were not. Crohn-BOOST enables fast, reproducible 3D quantification on routine MR Enterography and supports objective estimation of radiological disease activity. Lesion volume and ADC show strong associations with sMaRIA and Nancy scores, while creeping fat volume appears more related to chronic remodeling than acute inflammation.

Barium (Ba) is a non-essential trace element increasingly detected in coastal ecosystems, yet its sublethal effects on marine invertebrates remain poorly characterized. This study investigated the biochemical and mechanistic responses of the shrimp Palaemon adspersus to barium chloride (BaCl2) using an integrated dose-response and modeling framework. Shrimps were exposed for five days (0, 20, 40 and 80mg/L), and hepatopancreas biomarkers were quantified: oxidative stress (H2O2, LOOH, MDA), protein oxidation (PCO, AOPP), antioxidant defenses (SOD, CAT, GPx, GST, GSH, MTs, Vit C, FRAP), neurotoxicity (AChE), and fatty acid composition (SFA, MUFA, PUFA; n-3/n-6). Ba bioaccumulated dose-dependently and was associated with increased oxidative and lipid peroxidation damage, coordinated but ultimately insufficient antioxidant activation, AChE inhibition, and shifts in fatty acids consistent with peroxidation-driven membrane remodeling. Benchmark Dose (BMD) modeling identified LOOH and AChE as the most sensitive endpoints (BMDL=1.49 and 1.73mg/L), while higher BMDL values for antioxidant enzymes indicated later compensatory responses. EC50 analysis corroborated this ranking, confirming oxidative stress and cholinergic disruption as early biomarkers of Ba toxicity. Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS-PM) showed that oxidative damage is the central driver linking antioxidant activation, fatty-acid remodeling, and AChE inhibition (GoF=0.92), supporting a mechanistic cascade from mitochondrial ROS overproduction to membrane damage and neurofunctional impairment. Altogether, this work establishes oxidative stress-mediated toxicity as the primary pathway of Ba in P. adspersus, highlights fatty-acid composition as an integrative endpoint, and validates this species as a sensitive sentinel for biomonitoring trace-metal impacts in coastal and lagoon systems.

The precise modulation of phosphorus species and physicochemical properties in metal-free carbon materials holds significant potential for enhancing their electrocatalytic performance in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this study, we precisely tune the phosphorus species during the pyrolysis of phytic acid (PA). Pluronic® F127 acts as a protective agent, preventing the close proximity of phosphorus groups in PA molecules during pyrolysis. This interaction inhibits the formation of polyphosphoric groups during carbonization and leads instead to isolated P functionalities embedded in carbon basal planes. Comprehensive characterization, including cross-polarization magic angle spinning solid-state 31 P-NMR, XPS, and DFT simulations identified the phosphorus species and elucidated their structural and electronic properties. The precise tuning of phosphorous functional groups enabled by Pluronic® F127 in metal-free carbon materials boosting the phosphorous based state-of-the-art HER catalytic performance. These findings underscore the underexplored potential of surfactants beyond morphological templating, offering a powerful strategy for tailoring surface chemistry and advancing the design of next-generation metal-free electrocatalysts. • Pluronic® F127 prevents phosphorus aggregation, enabling isolated P sites. • Surfactants modulate phosphorus species, enhancing HER electrocatalysis. • P-doped carbon catalyst achieves -0.19 V vs. RHE, rivaling metal-based HER. • Study paves the way for metal-free catalysts in sustainable hydrogen production.