Explore the vast range of titles available.

The disposal of industrial wastewater (IWW) discharged from factories is a significant topic in the environment field, and the use of cement-based materials is a useful way to treat materials with unexpected ions. In this work, IWW with abundant SO42− collected from a factory was utilized to prepare cement mortar (IWWCM), and three kinds of nanomaterials (NMs), including nano-SiO2 (NS), nano-CaCO3 (NC), and nano-metakaolin (NMK), were used to improve the performance of IWWCM. The compressive strengths, hydration degree, hydration products, and micropore structure of the specimens were investigated. The test results showed that IWW reduced the strength of the specimens, and the use of NMs could compensate for this strength reduction. To be specific, the 28-day strength of the freshwater (FW) mixed specimen was 44.6 MPa, and the use of IWW decreased this value to 41.8 MPa. However, the strengths of the specimens with NMs were all higher than 50 MPa, indicating the advantage of NMs for the strengths of the IWWCMs. Moreover, the IWWCM showed a lower hydration degree with a poor pore structure, whereas the use of NMs in IWWCMs refined these properties, explaining the strength increase in the specimens. The results of the SO42− content measurements also showed that the use of NMs could improve the SO42− binding ratio, which is conducive to relieving the pressure of IWW disposal for industrial factories.

Surface currents measured by High Frequency (HF) radar are used to investigate the dynamics in the coastal waters of Qingdao, China, on the western coast of the Yellow Sea. Different factors affecting the surface currents are revealed by dynamical analysis. Harmonic tidal analysis shows that the coastal tidal currents are barotropic and their temporal evolution is mainly influenced by the semidiurnal tidal constitutes, topography and geometry. It is also found that their horizontal distribution represents the effect of local topography. At sub‐tidal frequencies, the high correlation between winds and the sub‐tidal surface currents indicates a crucial role of wind‐forcing in driving the currents. Varying wind direction coupled with small‐scale features of the coastal geometry results in complicated sub‐mesoscale circulation. In addition, the monthly coastal circulation is characterized by an eddy structure and is primarily determined by the outflow which is closely associated with the sea level slope along the coast. The variability of the residual currents is studied by analyzing the cross‐shore momentum equation with wind stress, sea level records, and HF radar currents. It is shown that both the barotropic pressure gradient and the nonlinear tidal stress contribute to the variations of the residual currents near the bay mouth and further govern the coastal monthly circulation in August, 2008. Key Points Describes surface current pattern over Qingdao coastal water from observations Study the coastal dynamics about tide, local wind, alongshore pressure gradient Reveal the evolution of Qingdao coastal eddy circulation in August 2008

As the global population ages, the prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases is surging. These disorders have a multifaceted pathogenesis, entwined with genetic and environmental factors. Emerging research underscores the profound influence of diet on the development and progression of health conditions. Intermittent fasting (IF), a dietary pattern that is increasingly embraced and recommended, has demonstrated potential in improving neurophysiological functions and mitigating pathological injuries with few adverse effects. Although the precise mechanisms of IF’s beneficial impact are not yet completely understood, gut microbiota and their metabolites are believed to be pivotal in mediating these effects. This review endeavors to thoroughly examine current studies on the shifts in gut microbiota and metabolite profiles prompted by IF, and their possible consequences for neural health. It also highlights the significance of dietary strategies as a clinical consideration for those with neurological conditions.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have garnered significant attention in the field of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s diseases due to their covalently closed loop structure. However, the involvement of circRNAs in postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is still largely unexplored. To identify the genes differentially expressed between non-POCD (NPOCD) and POCD mice, we conducted the whole transcriptome sequencing initially in this study. According to the expression profiles, we observed that circAKT3 was associated with hippocampal neuronal apoptosis in POCD mice. Moreover, we found that circAKT3 overexpression reduced apoptosis of hippocampal neurons and alleviated POCD. Subsequently, through bioinformatics analysis, our data showed that circAKT3 overexpression in vitro and in vivo elevated the abundance of miR-106a-5p significantly, resulting in a decrease of HDAC4 protein and an increase of MEF2C protein. Additionally, this effect of circAKT3 was blocked by miR-106a-5p inhibitor. Interestingly, MEF2C could activate the transcription of miR-106a-5p promoter and form a positive feedback loop. Therefore, our findings revealed more potential modulation ways between circRNA-miRNA and miRNA-mRNA, providing different directions and targets for preclinical studies of POCD.

HighlightsPt–Ni bonded Pt single-atom (SA) catalyst, rather than classic Pt–O bonded SA catalyst, was successfully constructed.The electronic states of Pt SA catalyst were deeply regulated and negatively charged Ptδ− was realized.Pt–Ni bonded Pt SA catalyst-enhanced absorbability for activated hydrogen atoms and promoted hydrogen absorption.Single-atom (SA) catalysts with nearly 100% atom utilization have been widely employed in electrolysis for decades, due to the outperforming catalytic activity and selectivity. However, most of the reported SA catalysts are fixed through the strong bonding between the dispersed single metallic atoms with nonmetallic atoms of the substrates, which greatly limits the controllable regulation of electrocatalytic activity of SA catalysts. In this work, Pt–Ni bonded Pt SA catalyst with adjustable electronic states was successfully constructed through a controllable electrochemical reduction on the coordination unsaturated amorphous Ni(OH)2 nanosheet arrays. Based on the X-ray absorption fine structure analysis and first-principles calculations, Pt SA was bonded with Ni sites of amorphous Ni(OH)2, rather than conventional O sites, resulting in negatively charged Ptδ−. In situ Raman spectroscopy revealed that the changed configuration and electronic states greatly enhanced absorbability for activated hydrogen atoms, which were the essential intermediate for alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction. The hydrogen spillover process was revealed from amorphous Ni(OH)2 that effectively cleave the H–O–H bond of H2O and produce H atom to the Pt SA sites, leading to a low overpotential of 48 mV in alkaline electrolyte at −1000 mA cm−2 mg−1Pt, evidently better than commercial Pt/C catalysts. This work provided new strategy for the controllable modulation of the local structure of SA catalysts and the systematic regulation of the electronic states.

Large Language Models (LLMs) show promise in healthcare tasks but face challenges in complex medical scenarios. We developed a Multi-Agent Conversation (MAC) framework for disease diagnosis, inspired by clinical Multi-Disciplinary Team discussions. Using 302 rare disease cases, we evaluated GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and MAC on medical knowledge and clinical reasoning. MAC outperformed single models in both primary and follow-up consultations, achieving higher accuracy in diagnoses and suggested tests. Optimal performance was achieved with four doctor agents and a supervisor agent, using GPT-4 as the base model. MAC demonstrated high consistency across repeated runs. Further comparative analysis showed MAC also outperformed other methods including Chain of Thoughts (CoT), Self-Refine, and Self-Consistency with higher performance and more output tokens. This framework significantly enhanced LLMs’ diagnostic capabilities, effectively bridging theoretical knowledge and practical clinical application. Our findings highlight the potential of multi-agent LLMs in healthcare and suggest further research into their clinical implementation.

IntroductionCircadian rhythm disturbance is associated with neurologic, metabolic, cardiovascular and immune disorders. As the most reliable biomarker of endogenous circadian rhythms, melatonin regulates the sleep-wake cycle and promotes sleep. Studies have demonstrated that saliva and plasma melatonin levels show strong correlations in non-surgical populations. However, the relationship between salivary and plasma melatonin measurements in patients undergoing surgery is unknown. This study will analyse the correlation between the peak concentrations of salivary and blood melatonin in perioperative patients.Methods and analysisIn this prospective study, 102 patients scheduled for thoracic or neurosurgical procedures are being enrolled. The primary outcome of this study is to analyse the correlation between the peak concentrations of salivary and plasma melatonin (measured at 04:00 on the first postoperative day) in patients.Ethics and disseminationThe study protocol has been approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Peking University Third Hospital (M2023009). The results of the study will be published in peer-reviewed international journals.Trial registration numberThe study has been registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (www.chictr.org.cn) with identifier ChiCTR2300070470. The latest version of the trial protocol was approved in October 2023.

Although Large Language Models (LLMs) possess extensive medical knowledge, they often struggle to emulate the complex, iterative process of real-world clinical diagnosis. To address this limitation, we present ClinDiag-GPT, a specialized LLM fine-tuned to execute full diagnostic procedures, supported by the ClinDiag-Framework evaluation system and ClinDiag-Benchmark, a dataset comprising 4,421 real-world cases. Our evaluation shows that existing LLMs, including GPT-4o-mini, GPT-4o, Claude-3-Haiku, Qwen2.5-72b, Qwen2.5-32b, and Qwen2.5-14b, while proficient in static tasks, fall short in dynamic diagnostic workflows and frequently commit clinical errors. In contrast, ClinDiag-GPT, trained on clinical cases, outperforms all baseline models in both diagnostic accuracy and procedural performance. Furthermore, a comparative analysis reveals that collaboration between physicians and ClinDiag-GPT yields higher diagnostic accuracy and efficiency compared to either working alone, demonstrating the utility of ClinDiag-GPT as a clinical assistant. Authors present a specialized diagnostic tool called ClinDiag-GPT trained on real-world cases. It outperformed baseline models of existing large language models and could serve as a clinical assistant to physicians.

Plant basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors (TFs) play central roles in various abiotic stresses. However, its role in plant cold resistance is largely unknown. Previously, we characterised CaNAC035 in pepper, which positively regulates tolerance to cold, salt and drought stresses tolerance. Here, we identified CabHLH035, a CaNAC035-interacting protein in pepper. To explore its functions in cold stress tolerance, we silenced the gene in pepper via virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) and overexpressed the gene in Arabidopsis. The results showed that CabHLH035 expression was induced by cold treatment, and silencing of CabHLH035 decreased cold stress tolerance. Conversely, overexpression of CabHLH035 in Arabidopsis increased cold stress tolerance. To investigate homologs genes of C-repeat binding factor (CBF) pathway proteins and reactive oxygen species (ROS) marker gene expression blocking by CabHLH035, we performed yeast one-hybrid (Y1H), dual luciferase and electrophoretic mobility shift assay experiments. The results showed that CabHLH035 bound to the region upstream of the CaCBF1A and CaAPX promoters. Additionally, CaCBF1A bound to the CaDHN4 promoter. Taken together, our results showed that CabHLH035 plays a crucial role in cold stress tolerance and its potential as a target for breeding cold-resistant crops. The findings provide a basis for studying the functions and regulatory network of cold stress tolerance in pepper.

Background Eukaryotic genes contain introns that are removed by the spliceosomal machinery during mRNA maturation. Introns impose a huge energetic burden on a cell; therefore, they must play an essential role in maintaining genome stability and/or regulating gene expression. Many genes (> 50%) in Plasmodium parasites contain predicted introns, including introns in 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions (UTR). However, the roles of UTR introns in the gene expression of malaria parasites remain unknown. Methods In this study, an episomal dual-luciferase assay was developed to evaluate gene expression driven by promoters with or without a 5′UTR intron from four Plasmodium yoelii genes. To investigate the effect of the 5′UTR intron on endogenous gene expression, the pytctp gene was tagged with 3xHA at the N-terminal of the coding region, and parasites with or without the 5′UTR intron were generated using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Results We showed that promoters with 5′UTR introns had higher activities in driving gene expression than those without 5′UTR introns. The results were confirmed in recombinant parasites expressing an HA-tagged gene ( pytctp ) driven by promoter with or without 5′UTR intron. The enhancement of gene expression was intron size dependent, but not the DNA sequence, e.g. the longer the intron, the higher levels of expression. Similar results were observed when a promoter from one strain of P. yoelii was introduced into different parasite strains. Finally, the 5′UTR introns were alternatively spliced in different parasite development stages, suggesting an active mechanism employed by the parasites to regulate gene expression in various developmental stages. Conclusions Plasmodium 5′UTR introns enhance gene expression in a size-dependent manner; the presence of alternatively spliced mRNAs in different parasite developmental stages suggests that alternative slicing of 5′UTR introns is one of the key mechanisms in regulating parasite gene expression and differentiation. Graphical Abstract