Search Results (1,063)

This study investigates how the integration of artificial intelligence reshapes the professional identity of university English teachers within higher education. Against the backdrop of global digital transformation, AI presents both disruptive potential and a significant ‘adaptation crises’ for educators. Using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory as an analytical framework, this research systematically reviews the existing literature to address three objectives: (1) identify directions and typologies of teacher identity transformation; (2) analyse multilayered ecological influential factors; and (3) examine core challenges teachers face and their corresponding coping strategies. The findings indicate that professional identity is dynamically reconstructed across nested ecosystems, from micro-level classroom interactions to chronological level sociocultural contexts. This study advances an integrative perspective on the complex technology–teacher relationship, highlighting that successful identity transformation requires coordinated support across all ecological levels. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed to facilitate sustainable teacher development in the face of AI. Full article

Honey bee colonies play a vital role in ecosystem stability and global food security. Together with bumble bees and other wild bee species, they form a diverse pollinator community that is particularly vulnerable to environmental pollution. Among stressors, environmental xenobiotics including heavy metals, metalloids, pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, and emerging contaminants such as microplastics pose a growing concern due to their persistence, bioaccumulation potential and capacity to trigger oxidative stress and interact with pathogens, nutritional stress and climate-related extremes. The antioxidant defense system, encompassing enzymatic components (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione-dependent enzymes and glutathione-S-transferase) and non-enzymatic antioxidants, represents a key protective mechanism, and its disruption leads to redox imbalance, immunosuppression, and behavioral alterations that can reduce honey bee colony vitality. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the sources, exposure pathways and toxicological effects of major environmental xenobiotics on the antioxidant defense systems of honey bees, with particular emphasis on oxidative-stress biomarkers for early detection of sublethal impairment in field and experimental settings. Where available, evidence from bumble bees and other wild bees is considered to place findings in a broader pollinator-health context and to highlight taxa-specific sensitivities. Work should now concentrate on a validated core panel of redox biomarkers, on chronic multi-stressor exposures that include PFAS and plastic particles, and on biomarker baselines for bumble bees and solitary bees tied to colony- or population-level endpoints. Full article

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) and aerobic vaginitis (AV) are usually described as distinct forms of vaginal dysbiosis. BV is characterized by depletion of lactobacilli, overgrowth of anaerobic microorganisms, and biofilm formation, whereas AV is associated with inflammatory changes, epithelial disruption, and predominance of aerobic bacteria. Over the past two decades, this distinction has profoundly influenced the understanding, diagnosis, and management of vaginal disorders. Despite their apparent differences, the relationship between BV and AV remains incompletely understood. Growing evidence indicates that many women exhibit microbiological and microscopic patterns that cannot be readily classified within existing diagnostic frameworks. Intermediate Nugent scores, mixed vaginitis, transitional ecological states, post-treatment microbiota reconstitution, physiological hypoestrogenic conditions, and uncommon inflammatory patterns all challenge the traditional view of BV and AV as strictly separate entities. This narrative review examines the historical evolution of BV and AV concepts, compares their microbiological, immunological, and epithelial characteristics, and evaluates the diagnostic paradigms currently used to identify vaginal dysbiosis. The strengths and limitations of clinical and diagnostic approaches are discussed together with the extent to which contemporary international guidelines reflect current biological knowledge. Particular emphasis is placed on intermediate, mixed, and overlapping states that blur the boundaries between established diagnostic categories. The available evidence supports the clinical usefulness of distinguishing BV and AV as separate clinicopathological entities. However, it also indicates that vaginal ecosystem disturbances frequently extend beyond rigid dichotomous classifications. Current diagnostic categories remain valuable tools for clinical practice, yet they may only partially capture the complexity and dynamic nature of vaginal dysbiosis. Understanding how microbial communities, host responses, epithelial integrity, and physiological factors interact remains a major challenge for future research and clinical interpretation. Full article

Background/Objectives: The oral microbiome plays a central role in maintaining oral health from early life, with childhood representing a critical period for its establishment and long-term stability. While many environmental factors influence this dynamic microbial ecosystem, diet is distinct in being both universal and highly modifiable. This systematic review aims to evaluate and synthesize current evidence regarding the impact and mechanisms of distinct dietary habits, food matrices, and nutritional components on the composition, diversity, and ecological resilience of the pediatric oral microbiome. Methods: A literature review aligned with PRISMA guidelines was conducted via digital searches on PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Cochrane databases (January 2015–December 2025). Search strategies combined MeSH terms and keywords targeting “Microbiota”, “Mouth”, “Child”, “Diet”, and “Oral health”. Results: From 1068 records identified, 16 relevant articles met the inclusion criteria. Dietary habits may influence taxonomic and functional profiles. Frequent consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, sucrose-rich sodas, and sweet treats induces notable dysbiosis and enriches acidogenic/aciduric taxa. Conversely, protective food matrices, including probiotic-fortified dairy products, polyol-based sugar-free chewing gums (xylitol and maltitol), bovine milk, and bioactive-rich agents like green tea, actively suppress cariogenic pathways (specifically Streptococcus mutans) and support commensal, health-associated genera without disrupting overall microbial structures. Conclusions: Diet represents an important modifiable factor shaping the pediatric oral microbiome, capable of either driving dysbiosis or reinforcing symbiosis. Cultivating a microbiome-informed dietary approach early in childhood supports a resilient microbial architecture, offering a non-invasive, public health framework for long-term oral and systemic disease prevention. Full article

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are persistent synthetic chemicals of global concern. While most research has focused on their occurrence and toxicity, far less attention has been paid to their impacts on the global carbon cycle. This review synthesizes current evidence on how PFASs influence carbon cycling across soils, aquatic systems, and the atmosphere. In soils, PFASs alter organic carbon inputs by affecting plant biomass and root exudates and shift microbial community composition and enzyme activities, thereby modulating organic matter decomposition. In aquatic ecosystems, PFASs biologically impair carbon sequestration by inhibiting plankton, and abiotically interact with extracellular polymeric substances to prolong the cycling of dissolved organic carbon. The atmosphere acts as a key mediator as follows: thermal treatment of PFASs generates perfluorocarbons, potent greenhouse gases that exacerbate global warming and further disturb carbon cycling. Despite clear disruptive effects, major knowledge gaps remain. Future research should use quantitative structure–property relationship modeling to assess PFAS alternatives (e.g., PFHxS), and employ advanced molecular tracking (e.g., isotopic labeling, NanoSIMS) and machine learning to unravel nonlinear PFAS–carbon dynamics. Improved detection technologies are needed to identify greenhouse gas byproducts from PFAS thermal treatment. Ultimately, deploying high-resolution flux observation networks and integrating PFAS dynamics into Earth system models and carbon-accounting frameworks are critical for predicting carbon–climate feedback and supporting global carbon neutrality goals. Full article

The oral and gut microbiomes form an interconnected ecosystem that may influence host defense. In the intensive care unit (ICU), endotracheal intubation, broad-spectrum antibiotics, and proton pump inhibitors can disrupt physiological barriers and may facilitate ectopic gut colonization by oral pathobionts. Such translocation could contribute to intestinal inflammation, barrier dysfunction, and systemic immune dysregulation; however, direct clinical evidence in critically ill patients remains limited and largely associative, and much of the mechanistic evidence derives from animal models or non-ICU populations. This hypothesis-generating narrative review synthesizes evidence across oral microbiology, gastroenterology, immunology, and critical care, while explicitly distinguishing clinically observed associations from preclinical mechanisms and proposed ICU pathways. Current evidence supports mechanical toothbrushing as a core component of oral care, whereas routine non-selective chlorhexidine use warrants caution. Saline irrigation and selective oropharyngeal decontamination may be considered in context, but evidence for protecting the gut through oral care remains insufficient for definitive practice recommendations. We also examine probiotics, prebiotics, postbiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation as investigational approaches and propose standardized prospective multicenter studies to test the oral–gut axis framework. Full article

Lead (Pb) is a persistent environmental contaminant that poses a significant risk to aquatic primary producers by disrupting photosynthesis, cellular metabolism, and physiological homeostasis. This study investigated the physiological and biochemical responses of two freshwater green microalgae, Mucidosphaerium pulchellum and Micractinium pusillum, exposed to Pb(II) concentrations ranging from 0 to 30 mg L⁻¹. Species-specific responses were evaluated through growth kinetics, chlorophyll fluorescence, lipid accumulation, and fatty acid profiling to elucidate mechanisms underlying Pb stress tolerance. Pb(II) exposure resulted in concentration-dependent inhibition of growth and photosynthetic activity in both species, with marked reductions in quantum yield and increases in photosynthetic inhibition at the highest exposure concentration (30 mg L⁻¹), reaching approximately 95% in M. pulchellum and 93% in M. pusillum. Lipid metabolism exhibited distinct species-specific responses: M. pulchellum showed a progressive decline in total lipid content, whereas M. pusillum exhibited enhanced lipid accumulation under moderate Pb exposure followed by depletion under severe stress. Fatty acid analysis revealed significant membrane lipid remodeling, characterized primarily by reductions in polyunsaturated fatty acids, particularly α-linolenic acid (C18:3), with stronger alterations observed in M. pulchellum. These findings demonstrate that Pb toxicity involves interconnected effects on photosynthetic efficiency, carbon allocation, and membrane lipid composition, with species-specific differences in physiological resilience. The combined application of chlorophyll fluorescence and lipid-related biomarkers provides a sensitive approach for assessing heavy-metal stress responses and improving understanding of Pb tolerance mechanisms in freshwater microalgae. These findings provide a physiological basis for the development of sustainable biomonitoring approaches for freshwater ecosystems. Full article

The disruptive potential of AI agents is becoming increasingly evident, impacting the very nature of the interactions between users and online services and content. Representing a new form of intermediation, these agents are transforming the way users access and interact with online resources, while also reshaping the distribution of informational power, economic value, and access in the digital ecosystem. This paper analyses the evolution of intermediation mechanisms on the internet through a critical, non-systematic review guided by Critical Systems Heuristics. We trace the progressive layering of intermediation mechanisms to online content/services from the technical infrastructures, and we argue that AI agents constitute a structurally distinct intermediation layer that introduces new dynamics of power, opacity, value distribution, and access to the digital ecosystem, with significant implications for users, online services, and the broader society. We are currently crossing a potentially significant evolutionary shift in the Internet, where AI agent intermediation could progressively exert a substantial influence on how information is exchanged. This paper offers a framework with which to discuss the implications of this potential evolution and to guide future research, public discussion, and policy interventions in this area. Full article

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract that arises from a complex interplay of genetic susceptibility, immune dysregulation, environmental exposures, and altered host–microbiome interactions. Increasing evidence identifies the gut microbiota as a central component of IBD pathogenesis. In healthy individuals, the intestinal microbiota supports epithelial integrity, metabolic homeostasis, immune education, colonization resistance, and bidirectional gut–brain communication. In IBD, this ecosystem is disrupted by reduced microbial diversity, expansion of pathobionts, and broader functional alterations affecting community stability and metabolic output. Importantly, these changes are increasingly viewed not merely as consequences of inflammation, but as active contributors to disease development and persistence. Dysbiosis may also influence neuroimmune signaling through the gut–brain axis, linking microbial metabolites, intestinal barrier dysfunction, enteric nervous system activity, and psychological comorbidities frequently observed in patients with IBD. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the role of the gut microbiota in IBD, beginning with its physiological functions in intestinal homeostasis and the evidence linking dysbiosis to disease pathogenesis, followed by a critical evaluation of current microbiome-based therapeutic strategies, their translational challenges, and prospects for personalized microbiota-directed interventions. Approaches such as fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), probiotics, live biotherapeutic products, and genetically engineered bacteria aim to restore microbial balance and modulate intestinal inflammation. Among these, FMT has provided the strongest proof-of-concept for microbiome restoration, whereas probiotic efficacy remains variable and strain-dependent. Emerging defined microbial consortia and engineered bacterial platforms offer improved standardization and mechanistic precision, but their clinical application remains limited by challenges related to engraftment, durability of response, safety, and treatment optimization. Collectively, current evidence supports gut microbiota as both a key determinant of IBD pathogenesis and a promising therapeutic target, underscoring the need for more precise and personalized microbiota-directed approaches in IBD management. Full article

Sulfonamide antibiotics threaten ecosystems, yet their phytotoxic mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate that sulfonamides inhibit root growth by disrupting the ROS-ethylene signaling axis. Sulfadiazine (SD) strongly inhibits root elongation, an effect strictly dependent on ACS1, as the acs1-1 mutant is completely insensitive. Mechanistically, SD triggers an RBOH-dependent ROS burst that transcriptionally induces ACS1. Since ACS1 forms active heterodimers with ACS2/ACS6, acs2-1 and acs6-1 mutants exhibit partial insensitivity. Furthermore, SD partially depends on the MPK3/6 cascade to post-translationally stabilize ACS2/ACS6, with mpk3 and mpk6 mutants showing partial resistance. Collectively, sulfonamides employ a dual-pronged mechanism: ROS transcriptionally activate ACS1, while MPK3/6 post-translationally stabilizes ACS2/ACS6, driving aberrant ethylene precursor ACC biosynthesis and root growth inhibition. Full article

The rapid expansion of road construction has significantly contributed to economic development and regional connectivity. However, linear infrastructure such as roads, railways, and utility corridors has also introduced considerable ecological disruptions. Although increasing global attention is being paid to mitigating these effects, most existing research primarily focuses on quantifying and monitoring external environmental changes (e.g., landscape structure or vegetation coverage) while often neglecting internal ecological dynamics such as ecosystem resilience. Previous road-ecology studies have extensively examined road-buffer effects, land-use/land-cover changes, vegetation-index dynamics, and landscape fragmentation. Therefore, the contribution of this study does not lie in proposing an entirely new class of indicators. Rather, it lies in applying a combined external–internal assessment framework to a recently constructed expressway corridor by jointly examining annual land-cover transitions and leaf area index (LAI)-derived temporal variability/resilience indicators across multiple distance buffers and spatial resolutions. This design allows us to compare whether structural land-cover changes and vegetation time-series responses show similar distance–decay patterns around the expressway corridor. The results show that: (1) Land-cover transformation was mainly concentrated within the first 500–1000 m from the expressway, especially for impervious surface expansion and vegetation loss. Multi-indicator distance-gradient analysis showed that land-cover change intensity and LAI-derived variability indicators gradually approached the distal reference condition at approximately 2000 m, which was therefore used as an empirical corridor-analysis boundary rather than a definitive ecological impact threshold. (2) Within the 2000 m buffer zone, forest area increased from 21.866 km² in 2001 to 45.370 km² in 2023, while impervious surface area increased from 3.016 km² to 6.869 km². During the construction and early operation period from 2018 to 2023, impervious surface area increased from 6.268 km² to 6.869 km², indicating localized artificial surface expansion along the expressway corridor. (3) During 2018–2023, the 30 m LAI product showed a 22.3% increase in coefficient of variation (CV), indicating enhanced relative LAI variability. In contrast, temporal autocorrelation (TAC) did not show the consistent increase expected under classical critical slowing down theory, suggesting that TAC-based evidence for resilience decline was weak or inconclusive during this short period. The observed TAC/CV changes were interpreted as critical slowing down (CSD)-related vegetation variability signals, rather than as a distinct or definitive critical slowing down signature. (4) The multi-resolution comparison showed weak pixel-level correspondence between the 30 m and 250 m LAI products, indicating clear scale dependence rather than robust multi-scale consistency. The 250 m data were useful for characterizing long-term regional background trends, whereas the 30 m data were more suitable for detecting localized corridor-scale vegetation variability. Thus, the multi-resolution analysis should be regarded as a scale-sensitivity assessment rather than as direct cross-scale validation. Full article

Geomembranes are widely used in water storage ponds and irrigation systems in arid and semi-arid regions. The residual damage of geomembranes will lead to soil pore blockage, water infiltration obstruction, and soil degradation. This study investigated the effects of geomembrane residues at different depths on soil under drought and rainfall conditions. Using a ZHS multifunctional climate chamber to simulate dry–wet cycles, the effects of residual geomembranes on soil evaporation and cracking processes were investigated, along with their impacts on soil aggregates and aggregate-associated organic carbon. Results showed that with increasing residual geomembrane content, the Mean Weight Diameter (MWD) of aggregates decreased by 3.95%, 28.25%, and 51.41%, and the Geometric Mean Diameter (GMD) decreased by 10.59%, 42.35%, and 61.18%, respectively, compared to the residual geomembrane-free treatment. Organic carbon content in all aggregate size fractions consistently declined. Under the same dry–wet cycling conditions and soil thickness, residual moisture content decreased with higher residual geomembrane addition. Meanwhile, residual geomembrane enrichment promoted soil cracking, as evidenced by increased crack ratio and fractal dimension, and the initial evaporation rate increased with increasing residual geomembrane content. Compared to the control group, residual geomembrane significantly reduced residual moisture content, reducing it by 4.48–29.37%, 7.14–21.92%, and 4.19–35.95%, respectively. The final crack ratio increased by 5.33–58.89%, 0.97–63.39%, and 0.87–72.46%, respectively. Meanwhile, the final fractal dimensions increased by 0.50–15.26%, 2.92–15.96%, and 3.22–13.33%, respectively. Mechanistically, residual geomembrane fragments occupy soil pores and reduce interparticle cohesion, thereby promoting the expansion of crack ratios and disrupting aggregate stability, which accelerates organic carbon decomposition. This study provides scientific insights into how residual geomembranes affect soil ecosystems and supports agricultural soil conservation and management. Full article

Background: Growing interest in the gut mycobiome has renewed focus on Candida spp. in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Yet, fecal detection remains difficult to interpret, given its uncertain relationship with intestinal inflammation. This narrative review synthesizes historical, mechanistic, observational, and interventional evidence to distinguish colonization, relative abundance, mucosal invasion, virulence transitions, and potential contributions to IBD. Methods: PubMed, Scopus, the Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar were searched, focusing on human studies and major mechanistic or interventional contributions. The final synthesis included 43 studies, 41 research articles, and two historical monographs. Results: Fungal alterations in IBD are heterogeneous and method-dependent across studies. Longitudinal cohorts have associated increased relative abundance of the genus Candida with active disease, but findings have not been consistently replicated across populations. Experimental evidence suggests that fungal expansion, morphology, and strain-specific virulence may trigger inflammation in selected settings, although stool sequencing cannot establish viability, invasion, morphology, or causality. Antifungal therapy, fecal microbiota transplantation, and nutraceutical approaches may modify microbial or inflammatory markers, but consistent clinical benefits remain unproven. Conclusions: Fecal detection of Candida spp. should generally be interpreted as a context-dependent signal of disrupted bacterial–fungal–immune interactions, not as evidence of infection or a compelling indication for antifungal treatment. Full article

Illegal angling activities pose significant threats to aquatic ecosystem conservation and sustainable water resource management by disrupting ecological balance and aquatic resource protection, emphasizing the need for effective intelligent monitoring approaches. Illegal angling detection in complex aquatic environments remains challenging due to small target sizes, diverse human postures, and severe interference from shoreline vegetation, water reflections, and other complex backgrounds. To address these issues, this paper proposes an improved YOLOv8-based illegal angling detection framework, termed ERFA–YOLO. To enhance the discriminative representation capability of slender targets in complex scenes, an Enhanced Receptive Field Attention mechanism (ERFAConv) is introduced. By leveraging adaptive contextual perception and spatial geometric feature modeling, the proposed mechanism effectively enhances fishing-related target features while suppressing false activations from background noise. Furthermore, a temporal consistency-based post-processing strategy is introduced to reduce false positives caused by transient prediction noise and improve detection stability in dynamic aquatic environments. In addition, a dedicated illegal angling dataset covering multiple time periods, weather conditions, and complex shoreline environments is constructed to improve the generalization capability of the model in real-world natural scenarios. Experimental results demonstrate that, compared with the original YOLOv8 baseline, ERFA–YOLO achieves a Precision of 93.19% (+4.67%), a Recall of 86.24% (+1.34%), an ${\mathrm{mAP}}_{50}$ of 93.49% (+3.47%), and an ${\mathrm{mAP}}_{50:95}$ of 60.53%, while achieving real-time inference performance of 75.34 FPS on an NVIDIA RTX 4090 GPU. Compared with several mainstream object detection algorithms, the proposed method exhibits superior robustness and detection stability in complex natural environments, demonstrating the potential of ERFA–YOLO for intelligent illegal angling monitoring in sustainable aquatic resource management scenarios. Full article