Photosynthetic microbial desalination cells (PMDCs) are recognized for their environmental sustainability and economic benefits, employing microalgae as a biocathode. However, existing research primarily explores PMDC using low anolyte concentrations, leaving a notable gap in understanding their performance in desalination when treating high-strength wastewater. This study explores PMDC performance using Scenedesmus obliquus as a biocatalyst and compared it with a conventional microbial desalination cell (MDC) at 15, 25, and 35 g/L salinities under high-strength anolyte conditions. Both systems operated at 25 g/L NaCl achieved the best efficiency, corresponding to lower internal resistance. PMDC achieved 29.93% desalination, an average voltage of 283.33 mV, and anode COD removal of 83.9%, which were 17.7%, 39.2%, and 3.6% higher than MDC. In addition, PMDC simultaneously removed 42.9% of PO4[3-]-P and 66.4% of NH4[+]-N, with algal biomass production of 486.5 mg/L/d at the cathode. Statistical analysis confirmed that PMDC produced significantly higher voltage and COD removal than MDC at all salt concentrations (p < 0.0001). In contrast, desalination efficiency showed minimal variation in response to salinity changes in both reactors (p > 0.05) likely due to membrane-controlled ion transport and crossover, despite PMDC achieving higher mean salt removal across all levels attributed to stabilized biocathode environment and enhanced ionic transport. Post experimental morphological analysis revealed membrane scaling and structural degradation, which contributed to performance limitations. These results provide new insights into PMDC behavior across different saline environments and high substrate loads, offering guidance for future low-cost system design in resource-constrained saline wastewater settings.

Seawater intrusion poses a significant threat to groundwater resources worldwide, particularly in the coastal regions of Bangladesh. The research evaluated the seawater intrusion (SWI) and groundwater salinization in the coastal aquifers of Khulna and Shatkhira districts, Bangladesh to overcome the knowledge gap on the integrated hydrochemical and spatial assessment of seawater intrusion in the coastal areas. Hydro-chemical and statistical analysis, including Piper and Gibbs diagrams, Pearson correlation, Wilcox plot, spatial analysis, heat map and seawater fraction (fsw) were generated to depict lateral extent of SWI in the southwestern part of Bangladesh. The results revealed significant levels of salinity intrusion in coastal aquifers. Groundwater exhibited high TDS and EC contents with Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Cl- and F- concentrations which exceeded WHO standards. Approximately 87.5% of water samples were unsuitable for drinking purposes based on EC classification, while 50% showed unsuitability for irrigation. Salinity in the groundwater ranged widely from 0.04516 to 5.11458 ppt. Piper diagrams identified predominant hydro-chemical facies as Na+ + Cl- type, with chloride concentrations ranging from 25 to 2831.13 mg/L, indicating salinity intrusion. Gibbs diagrams confirmed rock-water interaction and seawater mixing. An increasing fsw trend seaward indicated more influence of SWI over GW aquifers closed to shoreline and inverse Simpson ratio highlighted slightly to injuriously saline categories, with significant chloride concentrations indicating potential salinity risks. The study concluded that the seawater intrusion is occurring in the coastal aquifers of Khulna and Satkhira districts of Bangladesh while significantly reducing the suitability of groundwater for drinking and irrigation purposes. Our findings recommend governments' intervention for sustainable groundwater monitoring and management along with policy advancement to protect coastal aquifers under climate change and anthropogenic pressures.

A 45-year-old male was admitted to our hospital with complaints of nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain for the past two days. He had been receiving treatment for diabetes for 6 years. Two weeks before hospitalization, despite experiencing a loss of appetite and difficulty in eating, he continued drinking alcohol. Canagliflozin and metformin were discontinued concurrently. Laboratory findings revealed high anion gap metabolic acidosis due to elevated serum ketone bodies and mild hyperglycemia. Alcohol ketoacidosis was diagnosed on the basis of a history of excessive alcohol intake and an increased osmolarity gap. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) revealed distension of the stomach with no obstructing mass.

Ethylene glycol toxicity poses a significant global health challenge, especially in low-income countries where it contaminates cough syrups. While global incidence is under-reported compared with the USA, mortality rates are much higher. In the USA, toxicity typically results from accidental ingestion. We report a man in his late 70s with hypertension who presented after being found unresponsive following a seizure. Laboratory findings showed severe anion gap metabolic acidosis with elevated osmolar gap, elevated lactate, acute kidney injury and urinary calcium oxalate crystals. Serum ethanol was <10 mg/dL. Suspecting ethylene glycol ingestion, he received emergency treatment with fomepizole, thiamine, pyridoxine and haemodialysis. Ethylene glycol concentration was confirmed at 188 mg/dL (reference: 0 mg/dL) 3 days postadmission. At a 2-month follow-up, his serum creatinine remained elevated. This case emphasises the critical importance of early recognition and rapid intervention in ethylene glycol toxicity to prevent severe complications and reduce long-term renal damage.

This study presents a novel Solar-Assisted Air Gap Membrane Distillation Desalination System (SAGMDDS) designed for efficient treatment of high-TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) Persian Gulf seawater, leveraging the region's abundant solar irradiance. Unlike conventional setups, this SAGMDDS employs readily available materials and a simple, original module layout to reduce system complexity and cost. Utilizing air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes, the system achieved high desalination efficiency, reducing TDS from 48,000 ppm to 60 ppm, corresponding to over 99.9% salt rejection. The influence of key operational parameters, including feed flow rate, temperature, and air gap uniformity, on performance was evaluated. Critical design challenges such as thermal membrane deformation and uneven condensation leading to air gap collapse, were also addressed through targeted design innovations, including optimized condensate plate inclination angles and spacer reinforcements strategies. Experimental findings highlighted the importance of module configuration. A fragmented, brick-like spacer layout with 90° inclination and 70 L/h feed flow rate at 60 °C yielded the highest permeate flux of 12.3 L/m[2]·h, while a mesh support structure resulted in the lowest flux (4.5 L/m[2]·h). This practical and innovative system advances solar-integrated AGMD technology and demonstrates its potential for sustainable desalination in arid, high-salinity regions.

Mangrove forests-vital for global carbon storage and coastal protection-are increasingly threatened by salinity intrusion resulting from sea-level rise and alterations in the hydrological regimes. While the functional importance of mangroves is well recognized, the mechanistic pathways through which salinity reorganizes community-level trait composition and compresses functional diversity remain unresolved. This gap is particularly acute in megadeltaic systems like the Sundarbans, where biodiversity and ecosystem service provisioning co-occur with steep salinity gradients. Elucidating how trait syndromes shift and diversity contracts across these gradients is critical to forecasting mangrove ecosystem responses and informing adaptive conservation strategies. This study quantified eight foliar traits (leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, total chlorophyll, stomatal density, leaf shape index, leaf succulence, and leaf carbon content) and four functional diversity indices (Rao's quadratic entropy, functional richness, evenness, and divergence) across a continuous soil salinity gradient using plot-level data from 59 sites in the Sundarbans. Trait-environment relationships were analyzed using linear regressions, spatial mapping, and multivariate ordination (principal components analysis [PCA], non-metric multidimensional scaling [NMDS]), while controlling for biotic factors such as species richness and abundance. Salinity significantly reduced functional diversity, particularly trait dissimilarity (RaoQ), supporting the hypothesis of abiotic filtering that favors functionally similar, salt-tolerant species. These reductions were most pronounced in high-salinity western zones dominated by generalist stress-tolerant species. Foliar traits shifted predictably with salinity, with reductions in leaf area, dry matter content, stomatal density, chlorophyll, and carbon content, and increases in leaf succulence and specific leaf area-indicating trade-offs toward conservative resource-use strategies under osmotic stress. Species abundance strongly influenced functional diversity independent of salinity. High abundance reduced trait dissimilarity and evenness, reinforcing the dominance of a few trait syndromes under stress. By integrating spatially explicit trait, salinity, and abundance data, this study provides novel evidence that abiotic filtering and biotic dominance jointly constrain community-level functional diversity in mangroves. Trait convergence and dissimilarity collapse under salinity stress indicate narrowing ecological strategies with reduced resilience. Conservation strategies should prioritize freshwater inflow and low-salinity habitat restoration. Trait-based indicators offer a predictive framework to sustain mangrove function under accelerating climate stress.

Climate-induced fluctuations in temperature and salinity are critical stressors affecting mussel survival, attachment, and byssal thread production, all of which are vital for the success of longline aquaculture operations. This study examines the combined effects of two temperatures (21 °C and 29 °C) and six salinities (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 psu) on mussel survival, byssal thread production, attachment strength, byssus mechanical properties, and histological changes in foot secretory glands. The results reveal distinct impacts of these stressors: survival was highly dependent on salinity, with a strong positive correlation observed, whereas detachment was primarily influenced by elevated temperatures. Exposure to 29 °C resulted in catastrophic detachment, reaching 54.7% at 5 psu, and mass mortality at low salinities. Byssus secretion was completely absent at salinities of 5-10 psu, initiated at 15 psu under control conditions (21 °C), but was delayed to 20 psu when the temperature was elevated to 29 °C. Furthermore, the byssal breaking force and plaque adhesion strength were significantly compromised under higher temperatures. Histological analysis revealed that the total foot gland, collagen gland, and dopaquinone regions decreased significantly in size under thermal and low-salinity stress, with the most pronounced reductions observed in the collagen and dopaquinone regions at higher temperatures, which may be associated with reduced byssus performance. These findings suggest that elevated temperature promotes mussel detachment, while reduced salinity severely impairs survival and byssus secretion. By investigating the interactive impacts of these two climate-driven stressors, we have filled a research gap concerning the large-scale detachment events at Lvhua Island, revealing that temperature, rather than salinity, is the primary driver of mussel dislodgement.

Forward osmosis (FO) has emerged as a highly attractive separation technology owing to its potential low-grade energy consumption and versatile applications. However, a significant gap remains in understanding its performance under dynamic conditions. This study investigates the dynamic performance of the FO process using NaCl and NH4HCO3 draw solutes. This study entails a well-established FO water flux model alongside dynamic molar balances to predict the dynamic profiles of key variables including water flux, salt back-diffusion, cumulative feed and permeate volumes, and concentration/dilution rates. The membrane parameters are evaluated considering the continuous decrease in concentration gradient across the membrane throughout the operating period. These parameters are calculated through a model of the specific salt back-diffusion formulated using Pyomo-AML. Model predictions were compared to experimental data over 20 h at 1-min intervals, resulting in mean absolute errors ranging from 0.13 to 3.55% for the studied variables.

Glycerol kinase deficiency (GKD) is a rare X-linked metabolic disorder often presenting in infancy or childhood. In adults, it may remain undiagnosed due to nonspecific symptoms or incidental biochemical findings. We report a case of incidental GKD diagnosis in an adult male presenting with hyponatraemia and acute kidney injury (AKI). Discrepancies between triglyceride concentrations and lipaemic indices prompted further investigation, revealing severe hyperglycerolaemia due to GKD. This case highlights the importance of considering GKD in adults with unexplained hypertriglyceridaemia, especially when triglyceride concentrations are discordant with lipaemic indices and other lipid profile parameters. Genetic testing confirmed that the patient was hemizygous for a likely pathogenic variant in the GK gene, consistent with a genetic diagnosis of glycerol kinase deficiency.

Extreme arid ecosystems present significant environmental challenges, yet the mechanisms by which habitat heterogeneity (e.g., salinity gradients, soil-sediment contrasts) shapes microbial community assembly and functional specialization remain poorly understood. This study integrated culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches to investigate microbial diversity, assembly processes, and metabolic potential across wasteland soils, desert soils, and saline lake sediments in the Turpan-Hami Basin. High-throughput sequencing revealed habitat-specific patterns, with lake sediments exhibiting significantly greater OTU richness and Shannon diversity than wasteland and desert soils (P < 0.05). These shifts were driven by salinity-dependent taxonomic succession, notably the dominance of Gammaproteobacteria, Halobacteria, and Desulfobacteria in hypersaline lakes. Ecological assembly processes diverged across habitats, with deterministic processes (heterogeneous/homogeneous selection) dominated in deserts and moderate saline lakes, whereas stochastic processes (dispersal limitation, drift) prevailed in wastelands and hypersaline systems. Metabolic profiling highlighted habitat-specific functional specialization: terrestrial systems were characterized by nitrogen-cycling, while saline lakes displayed partitioned sulfur metabolism (e.g., sulfate respiration in high-salinity sediments). Co-occurrence network analyses revealed greater topological complexity in freshwater lakes than in extreme environments, reflecting contrasting resilience strategies. Cultivation strategies informed by sequencing results recovered 4.02% to 21.76% of the sequence-detected genera, significantly improving access to the uncultured majority. These findings demonstrate that habitat heterogeneity drives microbial community assembly and functional evolution in extremely arid ecosystems, underscoring the value of integrating omics with cultivation to uncover microbial dark matter.

Late-night feeding, defined in the present review as feeding after 8:00 pm when evening insulin secretion and sensitivity are low, is increasingly prevalent in Western society and is recognized as a disruptor of metabolic homeostasis. Yet health problems related to late-night feeding are largely ignored in time-restricted feeding studies that generally do not extend past an 8:00 pm feeding window. This paper proposes a novel cascade linking late-night hyperglycemia with sleep disturbances and nasal congestion mediated by renal sodium retention, increased plasma osmolarity, and stress hormone release by hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation. The narrative describes the circadian decline in insulin sensitivity, which amplifies postprandial glucose surges following late-night feeding. Elevated glucose levels drive renal glucose reabsorption via sodium-glucose cotransporters, promoting sodium retention independent of insulin. Increased sodium retention raises extracellular osmolarity, activating hypothalamic osmoreceptors and stimulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Cortisol release promotes alertness, while fluid retention and mucosal edema contribute to nasal congestion and early waking. Supine fluid redistribution during sleep further exacerbates airway narrowing, increasing the risk of sleep fragmentation and obstructive sleep apnea. The present paper fills a gap in current time-restricted feeding literature by integrating renal, osmotic, and neuroendocrine pathways that may be overlooked as underlying mechanisms of dysregulated glucose control and hormone dysfunction. Reviewed evidence suggests that symptoms such as nocturnal congestion and sleep disruption are not merely incidental to late-night feeding but frame late night feeding as a risk factor with underlying physiological stressors that could contribute to cardiometabolic risk.

Urinary tract infections represent one of the most prevalent bacterial diseases, yet current diagnostic and research methodologies are hampered by inadequate culture media that fail to replicate the bladder biochemical environment. Conventional artificial urine formulations contain undefined components, lack essential nutrients, or inadequately support urinary microbiome (urobiome) growth. To address these limitations, we developed SimUrine, a fully defined synthetic urine medium that aims to replicate human bladder chemistry while supporting diverse microbial growth requirements. SimUrine was systematically developed through iterative optimization of multi-purpose artificial urine, incorporating defined concentrations of carbon sources, vitamins, trace elements, and amino acids within physiologically relevant ranges. The modular design enables component substitution without complete reformulation, facilitating customization for culturomics, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and microbial ecology studies, while reducing batch-to-batch variability associated with authentic urine. Performance evaluation demonstrated SimUrine's capability to support the growth of fastidious urobiome members, including Lactobacillus species, Aerococcus urinae, and Corynebacterium riegelii, which fail to proliferate in conventional minimal media. Physicochemical characterization confirmed that SimUrine formulation exhibits properties within normal human urine ranges for density, conductivity, osmolarity, and viscosity, ensuring physiological relevance. Clinical applications revealed reduced antibiotic susceptibility compared to standard media, suggesting a more accurate representation of in vivo conditions. Co-culture experiments using Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis demonstrated previously unobserved microbial interactions, highlighting SimUrine's utility for investigating urobiome dynamics. SimUrine represents a significant advancement in urobiome research methodology, providing a standardized, reproducible platform for investigating the urobiome under physiologically relevant conditions, potentially improving fundamental understanding and clinical diagnostic approaches.

Morphological analysis on the desiccation pattern from plasma drops has received increasing research attention due to its wide engineering applications in medical diagnostic screening. However, most previous studies focused on the internal drop flow rather than the actual distribution of nonvolatile materials in plasma drops, thus limiting their diagnostic relevance. To address this research gap, we developed a simulation model to explore the distribution of bovine serum albumin (BSA) particles and NaCl during drop desiccation. Different from previous simulation work, a nonuniform evaporation rate is implemented at the drop-air interface; also, aggregation between BSA particles and BSA adsorption onto substrate surfaces are both considered, subject to varying ionic strength in a moving medium. This comprehensive framework aims to overcome key oversimplifications in traditional models, such as the assumed uniform evaporation flux and the neglect of interparticle aggregation under varying ionic strength. Consequently, this approach provides new findings beyond prior observations, such as millisecond-scale BSA adsorption kinetics and the formation of a quantifiable and heterogeneous protein band near the drop periphery. Specifically, our model provides numerical forecasts to key BSA adsorption metrics under physiological conditions, including adsorption layer thickness and surface coverage, which are challenging to quantify experimentally. Also, rapid millisecond-scale adsorption kinetics is predicted, which is sensitive to the initial ionic strength. Concentration curves of BSA particles result from the interplay between inward sol-gel interface movement and interparticle aggregation, leading to a heterogeneous area with a highly nonuniform BSA distribution at the drop periphery, while a more homogeneous distribution is observed near the center. The extent of heterogeneity can be tuned by relative humidity, aggregation number between BSA particles, and the initial ionic strength. Simulations also provide the precise position of NaCl crystallization initiated near the drop center, and a conservative threshold concentration of 10 mM, below which crystallization is suppressed in a BSA saline drop.