A research team led by Wenyan Li and Yanfeng Jiang at Fudan University has published study in ENT Discovery, quantifying how lifestyle influences hearing impairment and dissecting the mediating roles of inflammatory and metabolic biomarkers. Based on 441,844 UK Biobank participants followed for a median of 14.22 years, the study found that adherence to an ideal lifestyle was associated with a 14% lower risk of incident hearing impairment compared with a poor lifestyle. Mediation analyses showed metabolic biomarkers—particularly body mass index (BMI) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c)—accounted for the largest share of the association, while inflammatory pathways played a smaller secondary role. The findings offer mechanistic evidence supporting lifestyle-based interventions for hearing impairment prevention.

A research team has uncovered a possible epigenetic mechanism that enables the elite ‘Shuxinyou’ (SXY) cultivar of Aquilaria sinensis to produce agarwood more efficiently than ordinary ‘Baimu’ (BM).

Ionic skins (I-skins) integrated with high-performance electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, self-powering functionality, and sensitive pressure detection are critically needed for soft electronics, yet remains a considerable challenge. Herein, we report a facile diffusion-complexation strategy for fabricating self-oriented gradient MXene/polyelectrolyte hydrogels, which function effectively as self-powered I-skins with outstanding EMI shielding and pressure-sensing capabilities. A pivotal feature of our method is the concurrent coupling of two processes: osmotic pressure gradient- induced in-plane self-orientation of MXene nanosheets and diffusion-complexation reaction-induced spontaneous formation of a longitudinal charge gradient. This charge gradient endows the I-skins with a pressure-sensitive self-polarized potential, while the in-plane aligned MXene network imparts both exceptional EMI shielding performance and high-pressure sensitivity. Consequently, the resulting I-skins exhibit a high EMI shielding effectiveness of 48 dB, along with outstanding self-powered sensing capability that delivers a high sensitivity (3.067 mV kPa⁻¹), a broad sensing range (0.05–80 kPa), a fast response time (120–130 ms), and a low detection limit for pressure (0.05 kPa). This work offers a new and scalable strategy for integrating high sensitivity, energy autonomy, and superior EMI shielding into advanced I-skins for broader applications.

A real-world study from the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University shows that, after implementation of a multifaceted surgical safety culture intervention, the rate of postoperative endophthalmitis after inpatient ophthalmic surgery continued to decline, offering a practical framework for surgical quality improvement.

As heat waves intensify, helping crops survive sudden temperature spikes has become a practical goal for vegetable production. 

Reciprocating contacts are commonly used machine elements. 

A research team from Xiamen University reveals how a two-year extreme warming event in the South Pacific broke regional records and what atmospheric and oceanic processes sustained it—highlighting a surprising role for the tropical Indian Ocean.