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Quantum material systems upon applying ultrashort laser pulses provide a rich platform to access excited material phases and their transformations that are not entirely like their equilibrium counterparts. The addressability and potential controls of metastable or long-trapped out-of-equilibrium phases have motivated interests both for the purposes of understanding the nonequilibrium physics and advancing the quantum technologies. Thus far, the dynamical spectroscopic probes eminently focus on microscopic electronic and phonon responses. For characterizing the long-range dynamics, such as order parameter fields and fluctuation effects, the ultrafast scattering probes offer direct sensitivity. Bridging the connections between the microscopic dynamics and macroscopic responses is central toward establishing the nonequilibrium physics behind the light-induced phases. Here, we present a path toward such understanding by cross-examining the structure factors associated with different dynamical states obtained from ultrafast electron scattering, imaging, and modeling. We give the basic theoretical framework on describing the non-equilibrium scattering problems and briefly describe how such framework relates to the out-of-equilibrium phenomena. We give effective models outlining the emergences of nonthermal critical points, hidden phases, and non-equilibrium relaxational responses from vacuum-suspended rare-earth tritellurides, tantalum disulfides thin films, and vanadium dioxide nanocrystalline materials upon light excitations.

We report on the first detailed beam tests attesting the fundamental principle behind the development of high-current-efficiency ultrafast electron microscope systems where a radio frequency (RF) cavity is incorporated as a condenser lens in the beam delivery system. To allow for the experiment to be carried out with a sufficient resolution to probe the performance at the emittance floor, a new cascade loop RF controller system is developed to reduce the RF noise floor. Temporal resolution at 50 fs in full-width-at-half-maximum and detection sensitivity better than 1% are demonstrated on exfoliated 1T-TaSe2 system under a moderate repetition rate. To benchmark the performance, multi-terahertz edge-mode coherent phonon excitation is employed as the standard candle. The high temporal resolution and the significant visibility to very low dynamical contrast in diffraction signals via high-precision phase-space manipulation give strong support to the working principle for the new high-brightness femtosecond electron microscope systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, and its strongest risk factor is aging. A few studies have explored the relationship between aging and AD, while the underlying mechanism remains unclear. We assembled data across multi‐omics (i.e., epigenetics, transcriptomics, and proteomics, based on frozen tissues from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and neuropathological and clinical traits from the Religious Orders Study and Rush Memory and Aging Project (ROSMAP). Aging was assessed using six DNA methylation clocks (including the Horvath clock, Hannum clock, Levine clock, HorvathSkin clock, Lin clock, and Cortical clock) that capture mortality risk in literature. After accounting for age, we first identified a gene module (including 263 genes) that was related to the integrated aging measure of six clocks, as well as three neuropathological traits of AD (i.e., β‐amyloid, Tau tangles, and tangle density). Interestingly, among 20 key genes with top intramodular connectivity of the module, PBXIP1 was the only one that was significantly associated with all three neuropathological traits of AD at the protein level after Bonferroni correction. Furthermore, PBXIP1 was associated with the clinical diagnosis of AD in both ROSMAP and three independent datasets. Moreover, PBXIP1 may be related to AD through its role in astrocytes and hippocampal neurons, and the mTOR pathway. The results suggest the critical role of PBXIP1 in AD and support the potential and feasibility of using multi‐omics data to investigate mechanisms of complex diseases. However, more validations in different populations and experiments in vitro and in vivo are required in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aqueous Zn‐ion batteries (AZIBs) show great potential in new energy storage devices due to low cost, inherent safety, and environmental friendliness. However, the severe dendrites and side reactions on the anode greatly constrain their practical application. Herein, a novel colloidal electrolyte composed of ZnSO4 and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC‐Na) has been developed for inhibiting dendrite growth on Zn anode. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation confirms that CMC‐Na alters the electric double layer (EDL) structure of Zn anode surface to reduce the content of water and SO42− and inhibit side reactions. More importantly, an organic/inorganic hybrid solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer is in situ constructed during the cycling, which enables ultrastable Zn plating/stripping (> 2000 h) under high current density (5 mA cm−2, 5 mAh cm−2) and high coulombic efficiency (99.8%) for more than 1000 cycles. Meanwhile, zinc‐ion hybrid capacitors (ZIHCs) with the colloidal electrolyte exhibit a favorable capacitance retention of 97% after 15000 cycles at the current density of 2 A g−1. Even at a high current density of 5 A g−1, it still has a capacitance retention of 96% after 30000 cycles. This study presents a novel electrolyte strategy for the formation of ultrastable electrode‐electrolyte interfaces in AZIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With two well‐validated aging measures capturing mortality and morbidity risk, this study examined whether and to what extent aging mediates the associations of unhealthy lifestyles with adverse health outcomes. Methods: Data were from 405,944 adults (40–69 years) from UK Biobank (UKB) and 9972 adults (20–84 years) from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). An unhealthy lifestyles score (range: 0–5) was constructed based on five factors (smoking, drinking, physical inactivity, unhealthy body mass index, and unhealthy diet). Two aging measures, Phenotypic Age Acceleration (PhenoAgeAccel) and Biological Age Acceleration (BioAgeAccel) were calculated using nine and seven blood biomarkers, respectively, with a higher value indicating the acceleration of aging. The outcomes included incident cardiovascular disease (CVD), incident cancer, and all‐cause mortality in UKB; CVD mortality, cancer mortality, and all‐cause mortality in NHANES. A general linear regression model, Cox proportional hazards model, and formal mediation analysis were performed. Results: The unhealthy lifestyles score was positively associated with PhenoAgeAccel (UKB: β = 0.741; NHANES: β = 0.874, all p < 0.001). We further confirmed the respective associations of PhenoAgeAccel and unhealthy lifestyles with the outcomes in UKB and NHANES. The mediation proportion of PhenoAgeAccel in associations of unhealthy lifestyles with incident CVD, incident cancer, and all‐cause mortality were 20.0%, 17.8%, and 26.6% (all p < 0.001) in UKB, respectively. Similar results were found in NHANES. The findings were robust when using another aging measure—BioAgeAccel. Conclusions: Accelerated aging partially mediated the associations of lifestyles with CVD, cancer, and mortality in UK and US populations. The findings reveal a novel pathway and the potential of geroprotective programs in mitigating health inequality in late life beyond lifestyle interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 brings great challenge and threats to humans worldwide. Multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 tend to be epidemic, among which Omicron is highly infectious within China. The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical characteristics of children infected with SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.529 (Omicron) in the Shanghai, China.Methods: We included 9378 pediatric patients diagnosed with Omicron and treated in the Shanghai International Convention and Exhibition Center between April 1, 2022 and May 31, 2022. We recorded and summarized the clinical characteristics, infectious conditions and biological features of the children infected with Omicron.Results: A total of 9355 paediatric patients were treated in isolation since Makeshift became available, including 5564 males (59.48%) and 3791 females (40.52%). More than half (55.56%) of the affected children were identified at premises screening. The number of symptomatic or asymptomatic patients was 4530 (48.42%) and 4825 (51.58%), respectively. Initial signs or symptoms in asymptomatic patients included fatigue (3582, 38.29%), cough (560, 5.99%), fever (242, 2.59%) and other (146, 1.56%). Age and number of vaccinations in paediatric patients were negatively associated with the number of days from positive to negative nucleic acid test results.Conclusion: Age and number of vaccinations were key factors influencing the conversion of nucleic acid test results in paediatric patients. Early childhood vaccination is encouraged to establish a complete immune barrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stimuli-responsive peptide gels are a growing class of functional biomaterials that are involved in many applications in research. Here, we present a novel di-peptide hydrogel from the compound Boc--Phe--Trp--OH in various buffer and pH conditions. We examine the effects of different stimuli, including temperature and pH, on the mechanical strength of the gels through frequency rheology studies. We found that this hydrogelator is highly pH dependent, only forming a gel in a narrow range of pH 6-7. This hydrogelator hold promise for the development of new stimuli-responsive biomaterials for specific applications that require this type of specific stimuli. Key words: hydrogel, peptides, stimuli responsive, pH-dependent gelation, rheology. Les gels peptidiques stimulables constituent une classe grandissante de biomateriaux fonctionnels mis a contribution dans de nombreuses applications en recherche. Dans le present article, nous faisons etat d'un nouvel hydrogel dipeptidique produit a partir du compose Boc--Phe--Trp--OH dans divers tampons et conditions de pH. Nous examinons les effets de differents stimuli, tels que la temperature et le pH, sur la resistance mecanique des gels au moyen d'etudes de rheologie frequentielle. Nos resultats ont montre que ce gelifiant est tres sensible au pH, formant un hydrogel dans un intervalle de pH etroit (pH 6-7). Ce gelifiant constitue une avenue prometteuse pour la mise au point de nouveaux biomateriaux stimulables destines a des applications particulieres necessitant ce type de stimuli tres precis. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : hydrogel, peptides, stimulable, gelification sensible au pH, rheologie., Introduction Peptide-based supramolecular gels are functional materials that have been the subject of research due to their versatility and their wide range of applications in many fields. (1) They can [...]