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Under the condition that the traditional energy is continuously exhausted, the new round of energy crisis has formed a hot topic of discussion. So nowadays lots of scientists are devoted to recyclable energy area and solar cell, a kind of clean and recyclable energy, has become an academic which is worth studying. Solar cell has experienced major revolution for three times and now we have entered the era of the third generation of solar cells. In this essay, we firstly introduce three kinds of the third generation of solar cells in details then we get the conclusion that quantum dot is the most suitable and promising material to produce and doing further research for the third generation of solar cells by using some scientific manners and comparing their advantages and disadvantages. We hope that some drawbacks of quantum dot solar cell can be improved and practical quantum dot solar cell can be successfully manufactured in the following study.

Background Patients with insulo-Sylvian gliomas continue to present with severe morbidity in cognitive functions primarily due to neurosurgeons’ lack of familiarity with non-traditional brain networks. We sought to identify the frequency of invasion and proximity of gliomas to portions of these networks. Methods We retrospectively analyzed data from 45 patients undergoing glioma surgery centered in the insular lobe. Tumors were categorized based on their proximity and invasiveness of non-traditional cognitive networks and traditionally eloquent structures. Diffusion tensor imaging tractography was completed by creating a personalized brain atlas using Quicktome to determine eloquent and non-eloquent networks in each patient. Additionally, we prospectively collected neuropsychological data on 7 patients to compare tumor-network involvement with change in cognition. Lastly, 2 prospective patients had their surgical plan influenced by network mapping determined by Quicktome. Results Forty-four of 45 patients demonstrated tumor involvement ( Conclusions Non-traditional brain networks involved in cognition are encountered during surgical resection of insulo-Sylvian gliomas. Quicktome can improve the understanding of the presence of these networks and allow for more informed surgical decisions based on patient functional goals.

To investigate the fluorescein angiography (FA) findings and compare the extent of retinal vascularization in retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), recovered after intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) monotherapy and those regressed spontaneously. Infants with a history of ROP who underwent FA between April 2018 and November 2021 were retrospectively included. The patients were divided into two groups based on whether they had received IVR or had ROP that regressed spontaneously without treatment. The differences between the two groups in zone Ⅱ ROP were also compared, to equalize the subgroups as much as possible in terms of disease severity. FA findings were recorded. The extent of vascularization was measured by the ratio of the distance from the center of the disk to the border of the vascularized zone (DB) and the distance from the center of the disk to the center of the fovea (DF). The width of the persistent avascular retina (PAR) was counted by disc diameters (DD). One hundred and ten eyes of 55 infants were included in the IVR group and 76 eyes of 38 babies in the untreated group. The ratio of abnormal shape of vessels was significantly higher in the IVR group than in the untreated group (50.9% v.s. 35.5%; P = 0.038), while the linear choroidal filling pattern, tortuosity of vessels over the posterior pole, dye leakage, anomalous branching of vessels, circumferential vessels, arteriovenous shunt, abnormal capillary bed, and macular abnormalities were similarly. There was a smaller temporal DB/DF ratio (4.48 v.s. 4.63; P = 0.003) and greater PAR (2.63 v.s. 1.76; P P = 0.003), while no statistical differences were observed in FA features, the DB/DF ratio, and PAR between the two subgroups. The residual vascular abnormalities and PAR may be common results of ROP regression. The DB/DF ratio of 4.0 temporally and 3.3 nasally could be used as the preliminary indicators for safe retinal vascularization in the completion of ROP regression.

Electrical stimulation is a promising method to modulate gastrointestinal disorders. However, conventional stimulators need invasive implantation and removal surgeries associated with risks of infection and secondary injuries. Here, we report a battery-free and deformable electronic esophageal stent for wireless stimulation of the lower esophageal sphincter in a noninvasive fashion. The stent consists of an elastic receiver antenna infilled with liquid metal (eutectic gallium-indium), a superelastic nitinol stent skeleton, and a stretchable pulse generator that jointly enables 150% axial elongation and 50% radial compression for transoral delivery through the narrow esophagus. The compliant stent adaptive to the dynamic environment of the esophagus can wirelessly harvest energy through deep tissue. Continuous electrical stimulations delivered by the stent in vivo using pig models significantly increase the pressure of the lower esophageal sphincter. The electronic stent provides a noninvasive platform for bioelectronic therapies in the gastrointestinal tract without the need for open surgery.

The distributed Volt/Var control solution is a promising one for active distribution networks (ADNs), but a critical issue is how to improve the distributed algorithms convergence with less communication burden. In this paper, we propose a bi-level consensus alternation direction multiplier method-based fully distributed Volt/Var optimization algorithm (B-FADMM) for ADNs by exploiting inverter-based rapid control devices. In the first level, the Volt/Var optimal solution of subpartitions is obtained in parallel, and the second level completes the variable increment of each partition to correct the search direction of the first level. In the algorithm, firstly, an adaptive matrix initialization strategy is proposed to adapt to the different magnitude of variables, which avoids non-convergence or slow convergence of the algorithm. Secondly, the null-space method is used in the second level of the algorithm to obtain the null-space basis matrix on the active constraint of the subpartition, which reduces the dimensions of the problem and the computational complexity. In addition, the conjugate gradient (CG) algorithm is used to update the dual multiplier of each partition only by exchanging coupling information among partitions, which protects information privacy.

Occlusion of the T-tube (tympanostomy tube) is a common postoperative sequela related to bacterial biofilms. Confronting biofilm-related infections of T-tubes, maneuverable and effective treatments are still challenging presently. Here, we propose an endoscopy-assisted treatment procedure based on the wobbling Fe 2 O 3 helical micromachine (HMM) with peroxidase-mimicking activity. Different from the ideal corkscrew motion, the Fe 2 O 3 HMM applies a wobbling motion in the tube, inducing stronger mechanical force and fluid convections, which not only damages the biofilm occlusion into debris quickly but also enhances the catalytic generation and diffusion of reactive oxygen species (ROS) for killing bacteria cells. Moreover, the treatment procedure, which integrated the delivery, actuation, and retrieval of Fe 2 O 3 HMM, was validated in the T-tube implanted in a human cadaver ex vivo. It enables the visual operation with ease and is gentle to the tympanic membrane and ossicles, which is promising in the clinical application.

Existing learning-based dehazing methods do not fully use non-local information, which makes the restoration of seriously degraded region very tough. We propose a novel dehazing network by defining the Feature Dense Relevance module (FDR) and the Shallow Feature Mapping module (SFM). The FDR is defined based on multi-head attention to construct the dense relationship between different local features in the whole image. It enables the network to restore the degraded local regions by non-local information in complex scenes. In addition, the raw distant skip-connection easily leads to artifacts while it cannot deal with the shallow features effectively. Therefore, we define the SFM by combining the atmospheric scattering model and the distant skip-connection to effectively deal with the shallow features in different scales. It not only maps the degraded textures into clear textures by distant dependence, but also reduces artifacts and color distortions effectively. We introduce contrastive loss and focal frequency loss in the network to obtain a realitic and clear image. The extensive experiments on several synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate that our network surpasses most of the state-of-the-art methods.

In order to improve the performance of welded joints in Al-Li alloys, butt joints consisting of 2 mm thick 2195-T8 Al-Li alloy plates are fabricated by laser beam welding with different filler wires in this paper. The joints welded by ER2319CT, ER4047, and without filler are investigated in the context of microstructure, the distribution of alloying elements, the burning loss of alloying elements, and tensile strength. From the fusion boundary to the center of the weld seam (WS), the crystal morphologies vary in the sequence of fine equiaxed grains, columnar dendrite, and equiaxed dendrite. The equiaxed grains and columnar dendrite disappear in certain areas of the WS by ER2319CT. The burning loss rates of Li and Cu in the WS by filler wires are higher than those by laser welding without filler. AlLiSi and Al2Cu are identified as the strengthening phases in the WS by ER4047, while Al2Cu, Al2CuLi, and Al6CuLi3 are the strengthening phases in the WS by ER2319CT. Compared with laser welding without filler wire, more strengthening phases improve the mechanical properties of the welded joints by filler wires. Both types of welding wires can improve the performance of welded joints, and ER2319CT is more effective.

A glucose biosensor prepared using interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) hydrogel as a sensing material is the subject of growing interest due to its fast response and high sensitivity. However, the IPN hydrogel circumvents the traditional antifouling strategy, which often requires thick antifouling coating that can result in poor glucose sensitivity owing to its energetic physical barrier (greater than 43 nm); thus a complex, time-consuming and high-cost salivary preprocessing is needed to remove protein contaminants before salivary glucose detection using the IPN hydrogel. This limits its practical application in trace salivary glucose-level monitoring. Herein, a new hydrogel film based on a sandwich array (HFSA) with a weak physical barrier, which exhibits superior antifouling and sensitivity in salivary glucose detection is reported. HFSA relies on the formation of the sandwich structure containing substrate-grafted, surface-grafted zwitterionic polymer brushes (pSBMA) and phenylboronic acid (PBA)-functionalized hydrogel. The synergistic effect originating from pSBMA brushes on the surface of HFSA and inside the HFSA matrix provides a suitable physical barrier (∼28 nm) and a robust hydration layer for HFSA, which can enhance its sensitivity and antifouling. The results show that HFSA reduce the adsorption of nonspecific protein in 10% saliva by nearly 90% and enhanced the glucose sensitivity by 130%, compared to the IPN hydrogel film. These results demonstrate that HFSA exhibits significant potential as an antifouling and sensitive glucose probe for QCM sensors in non-invasive salivary glucose monitoring.

We described a two-step förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) system for ratiometric Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) detection based on a dual-recognition proximity binding-induced toehold strand displacement reactions (TSDR). Ru(bpy)

BackgroundThe latest research accumulates information to explore the correlation between gut microbiota and neurodevelopmental disorders, which may lead to new approaches to treat diseases such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the conclusions of previous studies are not completely consistent. The objective of the systematic review and meta-analysis was to identify evidence on the dysbiosis of gut microbiota in ADHD and find potential distinctive traits compared to healthy controls.MethodsElectronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO, were searched up to August 24, 2021, using predetermined terms. Meta-analysis was performed to estimate the comparison of microbiota profiles (alpha and beta diversity) and the relative abundance of gut microbiota in ADHD patients and healthy controls.ResultsA total of eight studies were included in the meta-analysis, containing 316 ADHD patients and 359 healthy controls. There was a higher Shannon index in ADHD patients than in healthy controls (SMD = 0.97; 95% CI, 0.13 to 1.82; P = 0.02; I2 = 96%), but the significance vanished after sensitivity analysis because of high heterogeneity. No significant differences in other alpha diversity indexes were found. Regarding the relative abundance of gut microbiota, the genus Blautia was significantly elevated in ADHD patients compared with controls (SMD = 0.34; 95% CI, 0.06 to 0.63; P = 0.02; I2 = 0%).ConclusionsPatients with ADHD had gut microbiome alterations compared to healthy controls. Though more studies with strict methodology are warranted due to the high heterogeneity, further studies to translate the findings of gut microbiota dysbiosis to clinical application in ADHD patients are needed and may guide targeted therapies.Systematic Review Registration[https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=273993], identifier PROSPERO (CRD42021273993).

The existing three-phase imbalanced power flow calculation models for isolated micro-grid do not consider the non-smooth constraints such as voltage control limits and dead zone characteristics, which makes the power flow calculation results cannot meet the actual model constraints. In this paper, a more robust projected Levenberg-Marquardt (PLM) method is used to solve the problem after the non-smooth constraints are converted into smooth functions, which can reduce the model dependence on the initial values and solve the convergence problem caused by non-smooth constraints. The numerical experiments of micro-grid show that considering the non-smooth constraints can effectively improve the accuracy of power flow calculation. In addition, the PLM method has better convergence dealing with non-smooth constraints even poor initial value settings.

Based on ABAQUS software, the three-dimensional finite element models of 195/50R16 radial tire and three kinds of nonpneumatic tire, i.e., spoke plate, honeycomb and grid type, are established, and the static and dynamic performance of the four finite element models of tire are analysed. The results show that in the static condition analysis, the ground pressure of the nonpneumatic tire is distributed on both sides of the tread; the stress concentration of the nonpneumatic tire mainly occurs in the grounding area near the support spoke; the deformation area of nonpneumatic tire mainly appears in the area of grounding and adjacent to the grounding spoke; In the analysis of the tire’s steady rolling condition, the ground imprint of a nonpneumatic tire is similar to that of a bar rectangle, and the ground pressure distribution is relatively uniform. The static and dynamic characteristics of honeycomb nonpneumatic tire are close to that of a radial tire. The research work of this paper will provide some reference for the structural design and parameter optimization of nonpneumatic tires.

Owing to its rapid response and broad detection range, a phenylboronic acid (PBA)-functionalized hydrogel film-coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor is used to non-invasively monitor salivary glucose in diabetic patients. However, nonspecific protein adsorption on the PBA-functionalized hydrogel film can cause dramatic loss of sensitivity and accuracy of the sensor. A traditional zwitterionic polymer surface with ultra-low protein fouling can hinder the interaction of PBA in the hydrogel matrix with glucose molecules owing to its steric hindrance, resulting in poor glucose sensitivity of the sensor. Herein, we developed a novel hydrogel film that enhanced the antifouling properties and sensitivity of the QCM sensor by infiltrating a glucose-sensitive monomer (i.e., PBA) into a zwitterionic polymer brush matrix to form an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN). The IPN hydrogel film could minimize the glucose sensitivity loss since the antifouling polymer distributed in its matrix. Moreover, a stable hydration layer was formed in this film that could prevent water from transporting out of the matrix, thus further improving its antifouling properties and glucose sensitivity. The experimental results confirmed that the IPN hydrogel film possessed excellent resistance to protein fouling by mucin from whole saliva with reductions in adsorption of nearly 88% and could also enhance the glucose sensitivity by nearly 2 fold, compared to the PBA-functionalized hydrogel film. Therefore, the IPN hydrogel film provides improved antifouling properties and sensitivity of the QCM sensor, which paves the way for non-invasive monitoring of low concentrations of glucose in saliva.

A glucose-sensitive hydrogel coated on a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor makes an important integrated system for achieving a continuous glucose monitoring system for diabetes, attributed to its high repeatability, rapid response time, and wide detection range. However, the poor viscoelasticity of the functional hydrogel film usually leads to the transport of water molecules out of the hydrogel matrix owing to the increased crosslinking density by molecular recognition, thus resulting in poor stability and limit of detection (LOD) of the hydrogel-coated QCM sensor, which limits its practical application in the detection of saliva glucose in low concentrations. Herein, this problem is solved by copolymerizing a rigid phenylboronic acid-containing graphene oxide (GO)-based monomer with a glucose-sensitive monomer (i.e., 3-acrylamidophenylboronic acid (3-APBA)) onto a double bond-modified QCM chip to fabricate a hybrid hydrogel-coated QCM sensor with improved viscoelasticity. Moreover, the 3-aminophenylboronic acid-grafted GO provides more reaction sites toward glucose, which is found to be beneficial for further improving the LOD of the hydrogel-coated QCM sensor. The experimental results show that the LOD of the hybrid hydrogel film (1 mg L−1) is about 10-fold and 900-fold lower than that of the hydrogel film (10 mg L−1) and polymer brushes (900 mg L−1) respectively. This study provides a new approach for continuous sensing of saliva glucose using a highly sensitive hybrid hydrogel-coated QCM sensor with improved properties, which contributes to the diagnosis, monitoring, and formulation of an appropriate treatment plan for patients suffering with diabetes.

BackgroundNeurosurgeons are increasingly capable of maintaining language and motor functions in glioma patients following surgery due to the ability to preserve traditionally “eloquent” structures. However, glioma patients continue to present with severe morbidity in cognitive functions due to the lack of familiarity in the neurosurgical community with non-traditionally “eloquent” brain networks. Therefore, the authors sought to identify and describe the frequency of invasion and/or proximity of Insulo-Sylvian gliomas to portions of non-traditional, large scale brain networks during surgery.MethodsA retrospective analysis was completed of consecutive adult patients undergoing surgery for newly diagnosed glioma at a single center between 2017-2020 with WHO grade II-IV infiltrating gliomas centered in the insula, opercular cortices or temporal stem. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)-based tractography was completed by creating a personalized brain connectome atlas based on the Human Connectome parcellation scheme with Quicktome software. This algorithm utilizes an machine learning (ML)-approach to assign voxels of the cerebral cortex to various brain regions according to structural connectivity patterns of voxels in the brain region of interest utilizing neuroimaging data specifically from normal healthy adults. Insulo-Sylvian tumors were categorized based on their involvement with non-traditional cognitive networks versus traditionally eloquent structures.Results45 patients were included (47±15 years, 51% female) consisting of mostly high grade (IV)-gliomas (56%) compared WHO grade II (22%) or III (22% tumors). Ultimately, 44/45 (98%) patients demonstrated tumor involvement (ConclusionsNon-traditionally “eloquent” brain networks are increasingly encountered during surgical resection of Insulo-Sylvian gliomas in both hemispheres and must be considered moving forward. Damage or dysfunction in these networks has been shown to result in severe cognitive morbidity and an improved understanding of their presence can allow for more informed surgical decisions based on patient onco-functional goals.

The reaction efficiency of surface-based DNA walker can directly affect the properties of a biosensor. Herein, three-dimensional (3D) DNAzyme walker were first fixed on the top of DNA tetrahedral scaffold to improve the immobilization efficiency. Ferrocene (Fc) that labeled at substrate strand ends effectively quenched the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) signal of Ru(bpy)

The development of information technology has changed the mode of communication of social information, and this change has put forward new requirements on the contents, methods and even objects of information science research. Knowledge service in the information service process can extract knowledge and information content from various explicit and implicit knowledge resources according to people’s needs, build knowledge networks, and provide knowledge content or solutions for users’ problems. Hence, it is very important to investigate how to analyze and design the advanced standard knowledge service system based on deep learning. To this end, we firstly introduce the typical deep learning networks of convolutional neural network (CNN) for the knowledge service system, and then employ the CNN to implement the knowledge classification based on deep learning. Finally, some simulation results on the knowledge service system are presented to validate the proposed studies in this paper.

The role of microglia in the pathophysiology of ischemic retinal diseases has been studied extensively. Exosomes from microglial cells exert protective effects during several nervous system diseases, but their roles in hypoxia-induced retinopathy remain unclear. In our study, exosomes derived from microglial cells were injected into the vitreous body of mice with oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR). Results showed that exosome-treated OIR mice exhibited smaller avascular areas and fewer neovascular tufts in addition to decreased vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) expression. Moreover, photoreceptor apoptosis was suppressed by exosome injection. Mechanistically, exosomes from microglial cells were incorporated into photoreceptors in vitro and inhibited the inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (IRE1α)-X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1) cascade, which contributes to hypoxia-induced photoreceptor apoptosis. Furthermore, the exosomes also downregulated the mRNA and protein levels of VEGF and TGF-β in hypoxia-exposed photoreceptors. A microRNA assay showed that microRNA-24-3p (miR-24-3p) levels were extremely high in exosomes from microglial cells, suggesting that this could be the key molecule that inhibits the hypoxia-induced expression of IRE1α in photoreceptors. These findings delineate a novel exosome-mediated mechanism of microglial cell-photoreceptor crosstalk that facilitates normal angiogenesis and visual function in OIR mice; thus, our results also suggest a potential therapeutic approach for retinopathy of prematurity., Graphical Abstract

In the research field of complex networks, the network nodes and edges are the fundamental indicators and often used as the preliminary step in the structural analysis of complex networks. In this paper, first, considering the differences in the node degree distribution, the traditional box-covering algorithm is modified by regarding the number of nodes in the box as the node degree, it is proved that multifractal characteristics are the nature of weighted complex networks. Moreover, multifractal spectrums of eight different networks are obtained and the variations in three eigenvalues corresponding are further analyzed, by comparing the existing and modified algorithms. Finally, we can make the practical conclusion that the multifractal characteristics of weighted complex networks are affected by the differences in the node degree distribution.

Biofilm eradication from medical implants is of fundamental importance, and the treatment of biofilm-associated pathogen infections on inaccessible biliary stents remains challenging. Magnetically driven microrobots with controlled motility, accessibility to the tiny lumen, and swarm enhancement effects can physically disrupt the deleterious biostructures while not developing drug resistance. Magnetic urchin-like capsule robots (MUCRs) loaded with magnetic liquid metal droplets (MLMDs, antibacterial agents) are designed using natural sunflower pollen, and the therapeutic effect of swarming MUCR@MLMDs is explored for eradicating complex mixtures of bacterial biofilm within biliary stents collected from patients. The external magnetic field triggers the emergence of the microswarm and induces MLMDs to transform their shape into spheroids and rods with sharp edges. The inherent natural microspikes of MUCRs and the obtained sharp edges of MLMDs actively rupture the dense biological matrix and multiple species of embedded bacterial cells by exerting mechanical force, finally achieving synergistic biofilm eradication. The microswarm is precisely and rapidly deployed into the biliary stent via endoscopy in 10 min. Notably, fluoroscopy imaging is used to track and navigate the locomotion of microswarm in biliary stents in real-time. The microswarm has great potential for treating bacterial biofilm infections associated with medical implants. The research work was financially supported by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) with project No E-CUHK401/20 and with project No. GRF14300621; the ITF project with Project No MRP/036/18X funded by the HKSAR Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC); the Croucher Foundation Grant with Ref. No. CAS20403, and the CUHK internal grants.

Saliva glucose detection based on a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor has emerged as a promising tool and a non-invasive diagnostic technique for diabetes. However, the low glucose concentration and strong protein interference in the saliva hinder the QCM sensors from practical applications. In this study, we present a robust and simple anti-fouling CNT-PEG-hydrogel film-coated QCM sensor for the detection of saliva glucose with high sensitivity. The CNT-PEG-hydrogel film consists of two layers; the bottom base PBA-hydrogel film is designed to recognize the glucose while the top CNT-PEG layer is used to restrict protein adsorption and improve the biocompatibility. Our results show that this CNT-PEG-hydrogel film exhibited a 10-fold enhancement on the detection limit compared to the PBA-hydrogel. Meanwhile, the adsorption of proteins on the surface of the CNT-PEG-hydrogel film, including bovine serum albumin (BSA), mucin (MUC), and fibrinogen (FIB), were reduced by 99.1%, 77.8%, and 83.7%, respectively. The CNT-PEG-hydrogel film could detect the typical saliva glucose level (0–50 mg L−1) in 10% saliva with a good responsivity. To sum up, this new tool with low-fouling film featuring high stability, specificity, and selectivity holds great potential for non-invasive monitoring of saliva glucose in human physiological levels.

Considering the influence of factors like new energy access, flexible load regulation, virtual electrical field, and demand response on the operation of the distribution network, the ‘bottom-up’ modeling method is adopted to propose a quasi-steady-state mechanism model including flexible load, virtual electrical field, and demand response resource. Based on the mechanism model, we proposed the response timing characteristics, load characteristics, and complementary characteristics of different resources. Taking into account the uncertainty of distributed new energy output, we proposed a time sequence adjustment model by Monte Carlo, scene reduction, and other methods for the aggregated load of the distribution network, according to the analysis of the characteristics of the flexible load, virtual electrical field, demand response, and other resources.

Biofilm is difficult to thoroughly cure with conventional antibiotics due to the high mechanical stability and antimicrobial barrier resulting from extracellular polymeric substances. Encouraged by the great potential of magnetic micro-/nanorobots in various fields and their enhanced action in swarm form, we designed a magnetic microswarm consisting of porous Fe3O4 mesoparticles (p-Fe3O4 MPs) and explored its application in biofilm disruption. Here, the p-Fe3O4 MPs microswarm (p-Fe3O4 swarm) was generated and actuated by a simple rotating magnetic field, which exhibited the capability of remote actuation, high cargo capacity, and strong localized convections. Notably, the p-Fe3O4 swarm could eliminate biofilms with high efficiency due to synergistic effects of chemical and physical processes: (i) generating bactericidal free radicals (•OH) for killing bacteria cells and degrading the biofilm by p-Fe3O4 MPs; (ii) physically disrupting the biofilm and promoting •OH penetration deep into biofilms by the swarm motion. As a demonstration of targeted treatment, the p-Fe3O4 swarm could be actuated to clear the biofilm along the geometrical route on a 2D surface and sweep away biofilm clogs in a 3D U-shaped tube. This designed microswarm platform holds great potential in treating biofilm occlusions particularly inside the tiny and tortuous cavities of medical and industrial settings.

Femtosecond laser-induced crystallization and ablation of Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) phase change film is investigated by reflectivity pump-probing technology. Below the ablation threshold, the face-centered cubic structure (FCC) state in the central area can be formed, and cylindrical rims are formed in the peripheral dewetting zone due to the solidification of transported matter. The time of surface temperature dropping to the crystallization point needs about 30 ps for 5.86 mJ/cm2 and 82 ps for 7.04 mJ/cm2, respectively. At higher laser fluence, crystallization GST island structures appear in the central ablation region due to the extremely short heating time (100 ps). Furthermore, crystallization rate is faster than the ablation rate of the GST film, which is caused by different reflectivity.

Diabetes mellitus is a highly heterogeneous disorder encompassing different types with particular clinical manifestations, while maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) is an early-onset monogenenic diabetes. Most genetic predisposition of MODY has been identified in European and American populations. A large number of Chinese individuals are misdiagnosed due to defects of unknown genes. In this study, we analyzed the genetic and clinical characteristics of the Northern China. A total of 200 diabetic patients, including 10 suspected MODY subjects, were enrolled, and the mutational analysis of monogenic genes was performed by whole-exome sequencing and confirmed by familial information and Sanger sequencing. We found that clinical features and genetic characteristics have varied widely between MODY and other diabetic subjects in Northern China. FOXM1, a key molecule in the proliferation of pancreatic β-cells, has a rare mutation rs535471991, which leads to instability within the phosphorylated domain that impairs its function. Our findings indicate that FOXM1 may play a critical role in MODY, which could reduce the misdiagnose rate and provide promising therapy for MODY patients.

Saliva glucose detection based on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) technology has become an important research direction of non-invasive blood glucose monitoring. However, the performance of this label-free glucose sensor is heavily deteriorated by the large amount of protein contaminants in saliva. Here, we successfully achieved the direct detection of saliva glucose by endowing the microgels on the QCM chip with superior protein-resistive and glucose-sensitive properties. Specifically, the microgel networks provide plenty of boric acid binding sites to amplify the signals of targeted glucose. The amino acid layer wrapped around the microgel and crosslinking layer can effectively eliminate the impact of non-specific proteins in saliva. The designed QCM sensor has a good linearity in the glucose concentration range of 0-40 mg L-1 in the pH range of 6.8-7.5, satisfying the physiological conditions of saliva glucose. Moreover, the sensor has excellent ability to tolerate proteins, enabling it to detect glucose in 50% human saliva. This result provides a new approach for non-invasive blood glucose monitoring based on QCM.

We report a facile top-flat square nanosecond (ns) laser direct writing ablation technique in a thin silver film substrate to fabricate the silver square-shaped cell structure of flexible transparent electrodes. Square silver cell structures feature smooth surface morphology, excellent edge definition, mechanical stability, strong adhesion to the substrate, and favorable resistance and transparency. In particular, this strategy enables fabrication of a high square-shaped cell areal density (ablated square cell to the total area) Ag mesh, substantially improving transparency ( > 85 % ) without considerably sacrificing conductivity ( < 5 Ω s q − 1 unit of resistance). Consequently, the proposed metallic square-shaped structure shows compatibility with a polyethylene naphthalate flexible substrate for silver-based wearable electronic devices without any protective layer over the electrodes.

The search for pulsars is an important area of study in modern astronomy. The amount of collected pulsar data is increasing exponentially as the performance of modern radio telescopes improves, necessitating the improvement of the original pulsar search methods. Artificial intelligence techniques are currently being used in pulsar candidate identification tasks. However, improving the accuracy of pulsar candidate identification using artificial intelligence techniques remains a challenge. Because the amount of collected data is so large, the number of real pulsar samples is very limited, which leads to a serious sample imbalance problem. Many existing methods ignore this issue, making it difficult for the model to reach the optimal solution. A framework combining generative adversarial networks and residual networks is proposed to greatly alleviate the problem of sample inequality. The framework first generates stable pulsar images using generative adversarial networks and then designs a deep neural network model based on residual networks to identify pulsar candidates using intra-block and inter-block residual connectivity. The ResNet approach has a better ability to fit the data than the CNN approach and can achieve the extraction of features with more classification ability with a smaller dataset. Meanwhile, the data expanded by the high-quality simulated samples generated by the generative adversarial network can provide richer identification features and improve the identification accuracy for pulsar candidates.

In the present work, laser-induced directed dewetting of smooth SiGe thin films generates SiGe islands with high aspect ratio of 0.9 on the surface. The laser-induced island is fully relaxed, and the thermal effect accelerates the relaxation of strain, which finally forms disorder surface islands. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that these surface SiGe islands can be served as masks, and uniformly orientated degree (30°) Si-based nanowires can be fabricated by Ar IBE. The proposed laser programming method features high precision, tunability and scalability with relatively limited patterning effort and opens a new way for fabricating efficiency light-emitting Si-based nano-Ge/SiGe heterostructures and Si integrated-circuit technology.

In the present work, nanosecond pulsed laser crystallization, dewetting and ablation of thin amorphous silicon films are investigated by time-resolved imaging. Laser pulses of 532 nm wavelength and 7 ns temporal width are irradiated on silicon film. Below the dewetting threshold, crystallization process happens after 400 ns laser irradiation in the spot central region. With the increasing of laser fluence, it is observed that the dewetting process does not conclude until 300 ns after the laser irradiation, forming droplet-like particles in the spot central region. At higher laser intensities, ablative material removal occurs in the spot center. Cylindrical rims are formed in the peripheral dewetting zone due to solidification of transported matter at about 500 ns following the laser pulse exposure.