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Background: In the context of rapid aging, "empty nest syndrome" is becoming a major public health concern. The causal effects of empty nest on depressive symptoms have been studied in developed countries, but the mediating mechanism of depressive symptoms in the association between empty nest and cognitive impairments has not been studied. This study estimated the causal association of empty nest with depressive symptoms and cognitive impairments in China, and then estimated how depression mediates the association between empty nest and cognitive impairments.Methods: Using data of 23,614 urban older adults (65+) obtained from the Shandong Province Aging and Mental Health Survey in 2020, a weighted linear regression model combined with instrumental variable was applied to explore the causal effects of empty nest, and a four-step mediation model was run to test the mediator of depressive symptoms. The Ascertain Dementia 8-item Questionnaire and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 were used to measure cognitive impairments and depressive symptoms.Results: Empty nest was associated with 0.13 (95%CI: 0.04-0.23) and 0.23 (95%CI: 0.14-0.33) increases in the Ascertain Dementia 8-item Questionnaire and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scores, respectively. The association between empty nest and the Ascertain Dementia 8-item Questionnaire scores was mediated by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scores.Conclusions: Empty nest affected depression in adulthood with cognitive impairments. A focus on integrative intervention for empty nesters is recommended, taking depression and cognition into account.Limitations: It is a cross-sectional study and the data is not nationally representative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper models a point-mass load tethered to a single autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and proposes a quantitative control strategy, which is able to drive the load to track the desired trajectory closely. The AUV-tow-load system is modeled as three connected subsystems: load position subsystem, cable direction subsystem, and AUV attitude subsystem. Improving on the current prescribed performance control methods, where the transient-state and steady-state tracking behaviors cannot be preassigned accurately, a quantitative controller is designed for the point-mass load position, achieving predefined tracking performance without violating user-defined quantitative indices including overshoot, convergence time, and steady-state accuracy. An uncertainties and disturbances estimator (UDE) is designed and incorporated into the control inputs to compensate for the effects of uncertain dynamics and external disturbances. Rigorous theoretical proof is presented, showing that all tracking errors converge to the neighborhood of zero with quantitatively designed tracking behaviors, obtaining uniformly ultimately boundedness. Simulation results are provided to validate the efficiency of the proposed method. • Designing a general framework that transforms the AUV-tow-load system into three connected subsystems. • Providing a design paradigm for the AUV-tow-load system to assign some quantitative indices on tracking performance. • Employing uncertainties and disturbances estimator to online estimate the lumped disturbances for AUV-tow-load system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A chemiluminescent (CL) excited photoelectrochemical (PEC) immunosensor for detection of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was introduced into microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (μ-PADs) integrated with a paper supercapacitor (PS) amplifier, and a terminal digital multi-meter (DMM) detector, based on CdS/TiO 2 hybrid modified porous Au-paper electrode. The effective matching of energy levels between the conduction bands of CdS and TiO 2 allowed for fast electron injection from excited CdS to TiO 2 upon irradiation, which inhibited the recombination process of electron–hole pairs and prompted PEC performance. Using CEA/ABEI-AuNPs-GOx bioconjugates as signal labels which featured CEA, N-(aminobutyl)-N-(ethylisoluminol) (ABEI) and glucose oxidase (GOx) linked to Au nanoparticles for signal amplification could greatly enhance the sensitivity. GOx could catalyze glucose to produce H 2 O 2 , which acted as a co-reactant in the ABEI-AuNPs-H 2 O 2 - p -iodophenol (PIP) CL system as well as sacrificial electron donor to scavenge the photogenerated holes in the valence band of CdS QDs, further causing an enhanced photocurrent. The quantification mechanism of this strategy is based on the charging of this PS by the photocurrent. The generated photocurrent could be stored by the PS and released instantaneously through a low cost, portable, and simple DMM to obtain an amplified current for the quantification of CEA. Under the optimal conditions, this analytical platform could detect CEA at concentrations at picomole level. This work offers a new route to highly selective and sensitive detection of biologically important small molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] A sandwich-type photoelectrochemical immunosensor was fabricated. [•] Highly crystalline rhombic TiO2 NCs was prepared through solvothermal method. [•] Ru complex was used as the photoelectrochemical signal-generating molecule. [•] Ru complex hybridized RGO was prepared and used as signal amplification label. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Driven by the urgent demand of high-selectively point-of-care testing device for pesticide, molecular imprinting-photoelectrochemistry (MI-PEC) was introduced into microfluidic paper-based analytical strategy to design a novel paper-based photoelectrochemical (paper-based PEC) protocol. The MI-PEC strategy was constructed based on CdTe quantum dots dotted molecular imprinted polymers (CdTe QDs@MIPs), and triggered by a common ultraviolet lamp (∼365nm, 50$). The paper-based PEC sensor was fabricated by immobilizing CdTe QDs@MIPs on paper-based screen-printed working electrodes (WEs) via gold nanoparticles (Au NPs), which was electrodeposited on the surface of WE to improve the electron transfer efficiency for high sensitivity. Using S-fenvalerate as model analyte, the produced photocurrent from the proposed paper-based MI-PEC sensor upon ultraviolet radiation decreased with the increasing concentrations of S-fenvalerate solution, and the quenched paper-based MI-PEC showed a low detection limit of 3.2×10−9 molL−1. This study has made a successful attempt in the development of highly selective and sensitive photoelectrochemical sensor for S-fenvalerate monitoring. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

HIV-1 chronically infects host CD4+ T lymphocytes and further affects a variety of immune cells, including CD8+ T cells. In our previous study, by analyzing unbiased high-dimensional single-cell RNA-seq data (scRNA-seq), we found that the frequency of GZMK+CD8+ T cells expressing granzyme K (GZMK) was increased in people living with HIV-1 (PLWHs). However, the phenotypic and functional characteristics of these cells in chronic HIV-1 infection and their correlation with disease are not well understood. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of scRNA-seq and matched T-cell receptor repertoire (TCR) sequencing data to delve into the characterizations of GZMK+CD8+ T cells, which was further validated by flow cytometry. We observed heterogeneity within the GZMK+CD8+ T cells, which could be further subdivided into a GZMK+GZMB- subset and a GZMK+GZMB+ subset, with the latter being significantly enriched in PLWHs. The GZMK+GZMB+ cells are a unique subset within CD8+ T cells, characterized by high proliferation, activation, inflammatory response, clone transition, etc., and are one of the differentiation endpoints by pseudotemporal analysis of CD8+αβ T cells. Despite being predominantly composed of effector memory T cells (Tem), similar to the GZMK+GZMB- subset, the GZMK+GZMB+ subset exhibits differentiation at a later stage than the GZMK+GZMB- subset. We also observed that the frequency/count of GZMK+GZMB+CD8+ T cells was negatively correlated with CD4/CD8 ratio, and positively correlated with HIV DNA, IP-10, and MIG levels in PLWHs. In vitro experiments demonstrate that GZMK can potentiate the stimulatory effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on THP-1 macrophages via the TLR-4 pathway, significantly enhancing the secretion of IP-10, MIG, and MCP-1, as well as increasing the proportion of TNF-α+ cells. In conclusion, in PLWHs, GZMK+GZMB+CD8+ T cells are a highly reactive and inflammatory-inducing subset that may be associated with systemic inflammation. • We characterized GZMK+CD8+ T cells and identified a new subset in HIV-1 patients. • We used scRNA-seq, TCR-seq, flow cytometry, and functional experiments. • The GZMK+GZMB+ subset is a subset of GZMK+ T cells that is enriched in HIV-1 patients. • The GZMK+GZMB+ subset is characterized by proliferation, activation, inflammation. • The GZMK+GZMB+ subset is highly reactive and associated with systemic inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• a coreactant-free electrochemiluminescence sensing platform was developed. • 2D black phosphorus nanoflakes were exploited as new luminophores. • Ag/AgCl nanocubes were prepared as electrochemiluminescence acceptor. • electrochemiluminescence resonance energy transfer system was presented. As a nondegradable environmental pollutant, lead ion (Pb2+) has been proven to be deleterious for environmental and health. Conveniently, quickly and accurately on-site detection of Pb2+ is of paramount importance. Herein, an electrochemiluminescence (ECL) assay protocol using two-dimensional black phosphorus (2D BP) nanoflakes as new ECL emitter for highly sensitive and selective trace Pb2+ was designed on the basis of Pb2+ induced ECL resonance energy transfer (ECL-RET) between 2D BP nanoflakes and Ag/AgCl nanocubes. Anodic green ECL emission of BP nanoflakes without any coreactants was achieved. It is noteworthy that the possible ECL mechanism and the influence of coreactants on the ECL behaviour of BP nanoflakes were further investigated. Benefitting from the well match between the ECL emission spectrum of BP nanoflakes (∼510 nm) and the absorption spectrum of Ag/AgCl nanocubes (200−300 nm and 400−700 nm), effective energy transfer yielded. The introduction of Pb2+ would lead to the detachment of Ag/AgCl nanocubes then result in an enhanced ECL emission. Based on this, the proposed method could accurately quantify the Pb2+ in the range from 0.5 pM to 5 nM, which exhibited comparative performance to previous work. Furthermore, this study presents the example of employing 2D BP nanoflakes as ECL emitters and constructing a coreactant-free ECL sensing platform, which might open up a promising route for the potential design and implement in clinical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depression is characterized by debilitating symptoms and high recurrence rates, and there are relatively few large-scale epidemiological surveys of depressive disorders conducted in Shandong since 2005. Data from the largest Epidemiological Survey of Mental Disorders conducted in 2015 in Shandong were collected to investigate the prevalence of depressive disorders and associated demographic characteristics in general adult population.Methods: A multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method was adopted to select residents and a two-stage screening and assessment process was used to define the prevalence and characteristics of depressive disorders. Respondents were initially screened using the General Health Questionnaire followed by a structured clinical interview using the DSM-IV criteria.Results: Among 27,489 respondents who completed the survey, 1277 respondents met the diagnostic criteria for depressive disorders. The adjusted prevalence in the last month was 4.86%, among which the prevalence of major depressive disorder, dysthymia, and unspecified depressive disorder were 2.32%, 1.78%, and 0.75%, respectively. 40.35% of depression patients had moderate or severe functional impairment and only 10.65% of patients had visited a psychiatric service. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that age, gender, occupation, education, marital status, and urban/rural living were associated with the prevalence.Limitations: The key limitation is that this is a cross-sectional survey therefore cannot draw any causal relationship between risk factors and disease progression.Conclusions: Findings from this largest epidemiological study reveal current prevalence of depressive disorders and associated demographic factors and offers opportunities for policy makers and health-care professionals to improve mental health provision in Shandong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reinforcement Learning (RL) is an effective method for adaptive traffic signals control. As one type of RL, the teacher-student framework has been found helpful in improving the model performance for different application fields (such as robot control, game, hybrid intelligence), but it is rarely applied for traffic control due to that the hyper-parameters and the number of state-action pairs experienced are difficult to determine. In this work, the teacher-student framework is used for traffic signal control, where only a single reward function is designed to guide the student agent and by using this method the number of hyper-parameters and the model complexity are reduced. Specifically, the teacher agent uses an importance function to evaluate and guide the student, where the importance function combines with environment reward to form a synthetic reward for the student agent. Experimental results under different traffic environments show that the proposed method achieves the expected performance enhancement and is better than most of the state-of-the-art RL-based traffic signal control methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hybrids, N -aminobutyl- N -ethylisoluminol (ABEI), horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and cancer antigen 125 s antibody (Ab2) immobilized graphene oxide (GO), were prepared, which exhibited excellent chemiluminescence (CL) activity. The zinc oxide nanorods (ZNRs) grew on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) modified paper working electrode (ZNRs-RGO/PWE) via an in situ growth method. The deposition of CdS quantum dots (QDs) on ZNRs/RGO-PWE resulted in an enhanced excitation and photo-to-electric conversion efficiency. The ABEI-GO@HRP/Ab2CL system was employed as an internal excited light source. A photoelectrochemical (PEC) immunosensor based on CdS-sensitized ZNRs anchored RGO as the photoactive matrix and ABEI-GO@HRP/Ab2 as the CL labels was established for sensitive detection of cancer antigen 125 (CA 125). As a model, sandwich CA 125-antibody was taken as molecular reorganization elements on this sensor for the sensitive determination of CA 125 in the linear range from 5.0 × 10 −4 U/mL to 500 U/mL with a detection limit of 2.0 × 10 −4 U/mL. The specificity, reproducibility, and stability of this sensor were also investigated. This proposed method might be attractive for clinical and biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we developed a novel electrochemiluminescence (ECL) platform for ultrasensitive and selective detection of MCF-7 cancer cells. To construct the platform, three-dimensional macroporous AuNPs@graphene complex was prepared through freeze drying process to modify glassy carbon electrode, which provided an effective matrix for concanavalin A to capture cancer cells due to its high surface area-to-weight ratio and excellent mechanical properties. The carbon quantum dots (CQDs) coated mesoporous silica nanoparticles were used as excellent ECL tracers due to their low cytotoxicity and good biocompatibility. Then, the prepared tracers were conjugated with mucin1 aptamer to specifically bind mucin1 on cancer cells with high stability and bioactivity. Structure characterization was obtained by means of transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy images. The proposed method showed a good analytical performance for the detection of MCF-7 cancer cells ranging from 500 to 2 × 10 7 cells·mL −1 with a detection limit of 230 cells mL −1 . The as-proposed device has the advantages of high sensitivity, nice specificity, and good stability and could offer great promise for sensitive detection of MCF-7 cancer cells in response to therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a paper-based closed Au-bipolar electrode (BPE) biosensing system for the rapid and sensitive electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection of miRNA-155. This microfluidic paper-based sensing platform is formed by wax-printing technology, screen printing method and in-situ Au nanoparticles (NPs) growth to form hydrophilic cells, hydrophobic boundaries, water proof electronic bridge, driving electrode regions and bipolar electrode regions. For rapid and sensitive detection, the cathode of bipolar electrode was modified with the prepared DNA (S1)–AuPd NPs by hybridization chain reaction, in which the target could initiate multiple cycles reaction to load more AuPd NPs which catalyzed H 2 O 2 reduction. In addition, a classical ECL system tris (2,2′-bipyridine) ruthenium (II)- tripropylamine (Ru(bpy) 3 2+/TPrA) exists at the anode of the bipolar electrode. Due to the charge balance between the anode and the cathode of BPE, the ECL signal response of Ru(bpy) 3 2+/TPrA system was enhanced in the reporting cell. The intensity of ECL was quantitatively correlated with the concentration of miRNA-155 in the range of 1 pM–10 μM with the detection limit 0.67 pM. Moreover, this method paves a novel way for highly sensitive detection of miRNA-155 in clinical application. • AuNPs modified bipolar electrode system to improve electrical conductivity. • A paper-based BPE-ECL biosensing platform for the detection of miRNA-155. • AuPd NPs was loaded for signal amplification via hybridization chain reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]