Explore the vast range of titles available.

Recent advances in foundational models have yielded reasoning systems capable of achieving a gold-medal standard at the International Mathematical Olympiad. The transition from competition-level problem-solving to professional research, however, requires navigating vast literature and constructing long-horizon proofs. In this work, we introduce Aletheia, a math research agent that iteratively generates, verifies, and revises solutions end-to-end in natural language. Specifically, Aletheia is powered by an advanced version of Gemini Deep Think for challenging reasoning problems, a novel inference-time scaling law that extends beyond Olympiad-level problems, and intensive tool use to navigate the complexities of mathematical research. We demonstrate the capability of Aletheia from Olympiad problems to PhD-level exercises and most notably, through several distinct milestones in AI-assisted mathematics research: (a) a research paper (Feng26) generated by AI without any human intervention in calculating certain structure constants in arithmetic geometry called eigenweights; (b) a research paper (LeeSeo26) demonstrating human-AI collaboration in proving bounds on systems of interacting particles called independent sets; and (c) an extensive semi-autonomous evaluation (Feng et al., 2026a) of 700 open problems on Bloom's Erdos Conjectures database, including autonomous solutions to four open questions. In order to help the public better understand the developments pertaining to AI and mathematics, we suggest quantifying standard levels of autonomy and novelty of AI-assisted results, as well as propose a novel concept of human-AI interaction cards for transparency. We conclude with reflections on human-AI collaboration in mathematics and share all prompts as well as model outputs at https://github.com/google-deepmind/superhuman/tree/main/aletheia.

We introduce PaLM 2, a new state-of-the-art language model that has better multilingual and reasoning capabilities and is more compute-efficient than its predecessor PaLM. PaLM 2 is a Transformer-based model trained using a mixture of objectives. Through extensive evaluations on English and multilingual language, and reasoning tasks, we demonstrate that PaLM 2 has significantly improved quality on downstream tasks across different model sizes, while simultaneously exhibiting faster and more efficient inference compared to PaLM. This improved efficiency enables broader deployment while also allowing the model to respond faster, for a more natural pace of interaction. PaLM 2 demonstrates robust reasoning capabilities exemplified by large improvements over PaLM on BIG-Bench and other reasoning tasks. PaLM 2 exhibits stable performance on a suite of responsible AI evaluations, and enables inference-time control over toxicity without additional overhead or impact on other capabilities. Overall, PaLM 2 achieves state-of-the-art performance across a diverse set of tasks and capabilities. When discussing the PaLM 2 family, it is important to distinguish between pre-trained models (of various sizes), fine-tuned variants of these models, and the user-facing products that use these models. In particular, user-facing products typically include additional pre- and post-processing steps. Additionally, the underlying models may evolve over time. Therefore, one should not expect the performance of user-facing products to exactly match the results reported in this report.

Cockroaches are considered mechanical transmitters of infectious diseases, posing a threat to human health. This study assessed the potential of cockroaches in food-related environments to mechanically transmit intestinal pathogens. Cockroaches captured with traps were placed together into a low temperature refrigerator at − 80° for 2 h. Standard taxonomic keys and Fluorescent quantitative PCR techniques were applied for species identification and digestive tract etiological examination. A total of 360 cockroach traps were placed, with a positive rate of 20.8%, and 266 cockroaches were captured. In general, compared with other places and areas, the degree of infestation of cockroaches was more serious in catering places and kitchens. Blattella germanica were most found in catering places (40.2%), followed by Periplaneta fuliginosa in schools (22.2%). According to the life stage, among the 128 cockroach samples, 23 were positive for nymphs and 13 were positive for adults. There were statistically significant differences in the intestinal pathogen detection rates between nymphs and adults ( P  < 0.05). A total of eight intestinal pathogens were detected, and enterovirus infections were the main ones, with sapovirus being the most detected in Blattella germanica or nymph. Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) was the most frequently isolated bacterium. Blastocystis hominis had the highest isolation rate. In contrast, 12 diarrhoeal disease pathogens were isolated, and the viruses and bacteria with the highest frequencies were norovirus and E. coli , respectively; no parasites were found. Blattella germanica and Periplaneta fuliginosa in food-related environments can act as potential vectors for the spread of intestinal pathogens and may pose a significant threat to public health.

Background Flies are acknowledged as vectors of diseases transmitted through mechanical means and represent a significant risk to human health. The study aimed to determine the prevalence of enteropathogens carried by flies in Pudong New Area to inform strategies for preventing and controlling flies. Methods Samples were collected from various locations in the area using cage trapping techniques between April and November 2021, encompassing various habitats such as parks, residential areas, restaurants, and farmers’ markets. The main fly species were identified using cryomicrography and taxonomic enumeration, with 20 samples per tube collected from different habitats. Twenty-five enteropathogens were screened using GI_Trial v3 TaqMan TM microbial arrays. Results A total of 3,875 flies were collected from 6,400 placements, resulting in an average fly density of 0.61 flies per cage. M. domestica were the most common species at 39.85%, followed by L. sericata at 16.57% and B. peregrina at 13.14%. Out of 189 samples, 93 tested positive for enteropathogens, with nine different pathogens being found. 12.70% of samples exclusively had parasites, a higher percentage than those with only bacteria or viruses. The study found that M. domestica had fewer enteropathogens than L. sericata and B. peregrina , which primarily harbored B. hominis instead of bacteria and viruses such as E. coli , Astrovirus, and Sapovirus. During spring testing, all three fly species exhibited low rates of detecting enteropathogens. M. domestica were found in residential areas with the highest number of pathogen species, totaling six. In contrast, L. sericata and B. peregrina were identified in farmers’ markets with the highest number of pathogen species, totaling six and seven, respectively. Conclusions Flies have the potential to serve as vectors for the transmission of enteropathogens, thereby posing a substantial risk to public health.

Drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) in children is a growing global health concern, This review provides an overview of the current epidemiology of childhood TB and DR-TB, including prevalence, incidence, and mortality. We discuss the challenges in diagnosing TB and DR-TB in children and the limitations of current diagnostic tools. We summarize the challenges associated with treating multi-drug resistance TB in childhood, including limitations of current treatment options, drug adverse effects, prolonged regimens, and managing and monitoring during treatment. We highlight the urgent need for improved diagnosis and treatment of DR-TB in children. The treatment of children with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis will be expanded to include the evaluation of new drugs or new combinations of drugs. Basic research is needed to support the technological development of biomarkers to assess the phase of therapy, as well as the urgent need for improved diagnostic and treatment options.

Hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress and fibrosis play a crucial role in the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). Tetrahydrocurcumin (THC), a major bioactive metabolite of natural antioxidant curcumin, is reported to exert even more effective antioxidative and superior antifibrotic properties as well as anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic abilities. This study was designed to investigate the potential protective effects of THC on experimental DCM and its underlying mechanisms, pointing to the role of high glucose-induced oxidative stress and interrelated fibrosis. In STZ-induced diabetic mice, oral administration of THC (120 mg/kg/d) for 12 weeks significantly improved the cardiac function and ameliorated myocardial fibrosis and cardiac hypertrophy, accompanied by reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Mechanically, THC administration remarkably increased the expression of the SIRT1 signaling pathway both in vitro and in vivo, further evidenced by decreased downstream molecule Ac-SOD2 and enhanced deacetylated production SOD2, which finally strengthened antioxidative stress capacity proven by repaired activities of SOD and GSH-Px and reduced MDA production. Additionally, THC treatment accomplished its antifibrotic effect by depressing the ROS-induced TGFβ1/Smad3 signaling pathway followed by reduced expression of cardiac fibrotic markers α-SMA, collagen I, and collagen III. Collectively, these finds demonstrated the therapeutic potential of THC treatment to alleviate DCM mainly by attenuating hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress and fibrosis via activating the SIRT1 pathway.

SARS‐CoV‐2, the virus responsible for the global coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic, attacks multiple organs of the human body by binding to angiotensin‐converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) to enter cells. More than 20 million people have already been infected by the virus. ACE2 is not only a functional receptor of COVID‐19 but also an important endogenous antagonist of the renin‐angiotensin system (RAS). A large number of studies have shown that ACE2 can reverse myocardial injury in various cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) as well as is exert anti‐inflammatory, antioxidant, anti‐apoptotic and anticardiomyocyte fibrosis effects by regulating transforming growth factor beta, mitogen‐activated protein kinases, calcium ions in cells and other major pathways. The ACE2/angiotensin‐(1‐7)/Mas receptor axis plays a decisive role in the cardiovascular system to combat the negative effects of the ACE/angiotensin II/angiotensin II type 1 receptor axis. However, the underlying mechanism of ACE2 in cardiac protection remains unclear. Some approaches for enhancing ACE2 expression in CVDs have been suggested, which may provide targets for the development of novel clinical therapies. In this review, we aimed to identify and summarize the role of ACE2 in CVDs.

The bond dissociation energies (BDEs) of benzene, toluene, and naphthalene which are the main components of tar in fluidized bed gasification syngas have been investigated by B3LYP method at 6-31G (d, p), 6-31G+ (d, p), 6-31G++ (d, p) and 6-311G++ (d, p) basis setsof density functional theory (DFT).The structures of benzene, toluene, naphthalene, and corresponding radicals were optimized, and their total energiesand zero-point energies (ZPE) were calculated.The frequency analysis was carried out, then, the transition state and the high order saddle were excluded, and the influence of zero point energy scaling factors was neglected.The results showed thatthe BDEs decreased with increasing computational basis sets. The calculated results obtained by B3LYP/6-31G (d, p) are much closer to the results of the documents than the other three basis sets. This indicates that the basis set of B3LYP/6-31G (d, p) is much more credible in reproducing the BDEs. The lowest electron energy values for the ring opening of benzene, toluene and naphthalene are 8.05 eV, 7.45 eV, and 7.35 eV, respectively, indicating that when the energy of high-energy electrons reaches 8.05 eV, the ring of aromatic hydrocarbon can be broken.

Background Cataract is the leading cause of blindness worldwide and surgery can restore vision in most patients. Some patients have little access to surgical services due to lack of cataract surgeons and the unaffordable costs. In 2005 we built a service model that trained rural non-ophthalmologist physicians to perform cataract surgeries in rural China. This study evaluates the long-term impacts of this model. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study to analyze patients’ hand-written medical records and electronic outpatient record between January 2005 and December 2019 at two rural health clinics in Southern China. Results In total, 34,601 patients (49,942 eyes) underwent cataract surgery by non-ophthalmologist physicians from 2005 to 2019.Visual acuity was clearly documented in 38,251 eyes. Before surgery, the unaided distance visual acuity (UDVA) of 60.7% (23,205/38,251) eyes was less than 0.05 decimal. On the first day after surgery, the percentage of UDVA  < 0.05 eyes was reduced to 6.0%, and 96.7% (36,980/38,251) of the eyes achieved a better UDVA compared to pre-operation. Surgical-related complications occurred in 218 eyes. The most common complication was posterior capsule rupture (114, 0.23%). 44.3% (15,341/34,601) of the patients chose to have a second eye cataract surgery (SECS) in the same clinic. At one of the outpatient clinics, 21,595 patients received basic eye care apart from cataract surgery between 2018 and 2020. Conclusions Non-ophthalmologist physicians trained for cataract surgeries in rural clinics can improve cataract related visual acuity and basic eye care to the local population.