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Wei-Chang Xu,1,* Xiao Dong,1,* Jing-Li Ding,2 Ji-Chun Liu,1 Jian-Jun Xu,1 Yan-Hua Tang,1 Ying-Ping Yi,3 Chao Lu,1 Wei Yang,1 Jue-Sheng Yang,1 Yi Gong,1 Jian-Liang Zhou1 1Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China; 2Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China; 3Department of Science and Education, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Macrophages play important roles in the immune response to, and successful implantation of, biomaterials. Titanium nanotubes are considered promising heart valve stent materials owing to their effects on modulation of macrophage behavior. However, the effects of nanotube-regulated macrophages on endothelial cells, which are essential for stent endothelialization, are unknown. Therefore, in this study we evaluated the inflammatory responses of endothelial cells to titanium nanotubes prepared at different voltages. Methods and results: In this study we used three different voltages (20, 40, and 60 V) to produce titania nanotubes with three different diameters by anodic oxidation. The state of macrophages on the samples was assessed, and the supernatants were collected as conditioned media (CM) to stimulate human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), with pure titanium as a control group. The results indicated that titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanotubes induced macrophage polarization toward the anti-inflammatory M2 state and increased the expression of arginase-1, mannose receptor, and interleukin 10. Further mechanistic analysis revealed that M2 macrophage polarization controlled by the TiO2 nanotube surface activated the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/AKT and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 pathways through release of vascular endothelial growth factor to influence endothelialization. Conclusion: Our findings expanded our understanding of the complex influence of nanotubes in implants and the macrophage inflammatory response. Furthermore, CM generated from culture on the TiO2 nanotube surface may represent an integrated research model for studying the interactions of two different cell types and may be a promising approach for accelerating stent endothelialization through immunoregulation. Keywords: TiO2 nanotubes, axitinib, stent implant, endothelial cells, conditioned medium

Wencai Xu1, Teng Luo2, Ping Li1, Chuanqing Zhou2, Daxiang Cui3, Bo Pang4, Qiushi Ren4, Shen Fu11Department of Radiation Oncology, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, 2School of Biomedical Engineering, and 3National Key Laboratory of Nano/Micro Fabrication Technology, Key Laboratory for Thin Film and Microfabrication of Ministry of Education, Institute of Micro-Nano Science and Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 4Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, People's Republic of ChinaBackground: Melanoma is known to be radioresistant and traditional treatments have been intractable. Therefore, novel approaches are required to improve the therapeutic efficacy of melanoma treatment. In our study, gold nanorods conjugated with Arg-Gly-Asp peptides (RGD-GNRs) were used as a sensitizer to enhance the response of melanoma cells to 6 mV radiation.Methods and materials: A375 melanoma cells were treated by gold nanorods or RGD-GNRs with or without irradiation. The antiproliferative impact of the treatments was measured by MTT assay. Radiosensitizing effects were determined by colony formation assay. Apoptosis and cell cycle data were measured by flow cytometry. Integrin αvβ3expression was also investigated by flow cytometry.Results: Addition of RGD-GNRs enhanced the radiosensitivity of A375 cells with a dose-modifying factor of 1.35, and enhanced radiation-induced apoptosis. DNA flow cytometric analysis indicated that RGD-GNRs plus irradiation induced significant G2/M phase arrest in A375 cells. Both spontaneous and radiation-induced expressions of integrin αvβ3 were downregulated by RGD-GNRs.Conclusion: Our study indicated that RGD-GNRs could sensitize melanoma A375 cells to irradiation. It was hypothesized that this was mainly through downregulation of radiation-induced αvβ3, in addition to induction of a higher proportion of cells within the G2/M phase. The combination of RGD-GNRs and radiation needs further investigation.Keywords: radiosensitivity, melanoma, Arg-Gly-Asp peptides, gold nanorods, integrin αvβ3, G2/M arrest

Ce-based nanomaterials have been widely studied as catalyst for their unique electronic structure, but there are few reports on the combination of cerium catalytic activity and photoluminescence performance. In this paper, by adjusting the molar ratio of Ce/P, CeO 2 /CePO 4 nanocrystal were synthesized in one-step, which integrated the enzyme activities of CeO 2 and CePO 4 , as well as the optical property of CePO 4 together. Taking H 2 O 2 as analyte model, utilizing the catalase oxidization activity of CeO 2 /CePO 4 , TMB molecule can be oxidized, leading to the increased absorption intensity of 652 nm, realizing the colorimetric assay of H 2 O 2 . On the other hand, using the fluorescence of CeO 2 /CePO 4 at 338 nm as output signal, which can be quenched by H 2 O 2 since Ce 3+ ions were oxidized into Ce 4+ , realizing H 2 O 2 fluorescence detection. Compared with the single-signal probe, CeO 2 /CePO 4 provides two sensing modes of fluorescence and colorimetry for H 2 O 2 discrimination to obtain different test results, which can be mutually verified and effectively improve the detection accuracy., Competing Interests: Declarations Ethical Approval Not applicable. Supporting Information SEM of samples synthesized at different reaction times under 180℃ with Ce/P ratio of 4:1 (Fig. S1); XPS spectrum of CeO2/CePO4 (Fig. S2); Ce 3d and O1s XPS spectra of CeO2/CePO4 sample (Fig. S3); O1s XPS spectra of samples with different Ce/P molar ratio (Fig. S4); P2p XPS spectra of CeO2/CePO4 (Fig. S5); Steady-state kinetic analysis of CeO2/CePO4 (Fig. S6); Radical species study (Fig. S7); Reaction time study on CeO2/CePO4 enzyme activity (Fig. S8); Selectivity of CeO2/CePO4 toward interfering species (Fig. S9); Stability on the UV-Vis absorption durability of CeO2/CePO4 (Fig. S10); Fluorescence spectra of different samples (Fig. S11); Synthesis time study (Fig. S12); Optical stability study in NaCl solution(Fig. S13); Fluorescence stability study towards storage time (Fig. S14); Study on the percentage of different elements of CeO2/CePO4 (Table S1); Actual serum samples analysis (Table S2). Competing Interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Aims: We aimed to evaluate the impact of C-reactive protein (CRP) gene polymorphism, additional gene-gene interaction, and haplotypes on susceptibility to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)., Methods: SNPstats online software ( https://www.snpstats.net/start.htm ) was employed to evaluate the association between CRP gene and T2DM risk. High-order interactions among SNPs was tested using generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction, and the testing balanced accuracy, training balanced accuracy and cross-validation consistency were calculated. The SHEsisPlus ( http://shesisplus.bio-x.cn/SHEsis.html ) online software was used for haplotype analysis., Results: A total of 730 T2DM patients and 765 controls were enrolled. The T allele of rs1205 is associated with increased susceptibility to T2DM, OR (95% CI) were 1.51 (1.13-2.01), 1.44 (1.10-1.89) and 1.25 (1.01-1.54) for codominant, dominant and over-dominant models, respectively. We also found that minor allele of rs2794521 is associated with decreased susceptibility to T2DM under codominant and recessive models, OR (95%CI) were 0.38 (0.18-0.79) and 0.37 (0.16-0.80) for codominant and recessive models, respectively. No significant gene-gene interaction existed among CRP gene SNPs, all interaction p- values were more than 0.05. Haplotype analyses suggested the CGCA haplotype containing rs1205-C, rs1130864-G, rs2794521- C and rs3093059- A allele was associated with decreased risk of T2DM, OR (95% CI) = 0.83 (0.68-0.98), P = 0.047., Conclusions: Minor allele of rs1205 was associated with increased T2DM risk. Minor allele of rs2794521 and the CGCA haplotype were associated with decreased T2DM risk., (© 2024. Springer-Verlag Italia S.r.l., part of Springer Nature.)

In this Letter, we utilize the speckle model to measure the average random scattering rate of fiber backscatter and analyze its dependence on length, yielding a linear fitting coefficient of 0.23 ppm/m for a PM980-XP fiber. We incorporate the temperature coupling effect into the model and validate the model's accuracy by examining the distribution of the change rate of the backscattering rate relative to the temperature and the amplitude spectral density of the backscattered power. Our findings demonstrate that the typical shoulder-shaped noise in interferometer experiments is limited by stray light, and the dependence of shoulder-shaped noise on the fiber length and temperature noise level is analyzed.

Intelligent polymer nanocomposites are multicomponent and multifunctional materials that show immense potential across diverse applications. However, to exhibit intelligent traits such as adaptability, reconfigurability and dynamic properties, these materials often require a solvent or heating environment to facilitate the mobility of polymer chains and nanoparticles, rendering their applications in everyday settings impractical. Here intelligent azopolymer nanocomposites that function effectively in a solvent-free, room-temperature environment based on photocontrolled reversible solid-fluid transitions via switching flow temperatures (T f s) are shown. A range of nanocomposites is synthesized through the grafting of Au nanoparticles, Au nanorods, quantum dots, or superparamagnetic nanoparticles with photoresponsive azopolymers. Leveraging the reversible cis-trans photoisomerization of azo groups, the azopolymer nanocomposites transition between solid (T f above room temperature) and fluid (T f below room temperature) states. Such photocontrolled reversible solid-fluid transitions empower the rewriting of nanopatterns, correction of nanoscale defects, reconfiguration of complex multiscale structures, and design of intelligent optical devices. These findings highlight T f -switchable polymer nanocomposites as promising candidates for the development of intelligent nanomaterials operative in solvent-free, room-temperature conditions., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Aim: Impaired wound healing in patients with diabetes can develop into nonhealing ulcerations. Because bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) exosomes can promote wound healing, this study aims to investigate the mechanism of BMSCs-isolated exosomal miR-221-3p in angiogenesis and diabetic wound healing., Methods: To mimic diabetes in vitro, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were subjected to high glucose (HG). Exosomes were derived from BMSCs and identified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), western blot analysis and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The ability to differentiate BMSCs was assessed via Oil red O staining, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining and alizarin red staining. The ability to internalise PKH26-labelled exosomes was assessed using confocal microscopy. Migration, cell viability and angiogenesis were tested by scratch, MTT and tube formation assays separately. The miRNA and protein levels were analysed by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) or western blotting. The relationship among miR-221-3p, FOXP1 and SPRY1 was determined using the dual-luciferase reporter, ChIP and RIP assays., Results: Exosomal miR-221-3p was successfully isolated from BMSCs and delivered into HUVECs. HG was found to suppress the angiogenesis, cell viability and migration of HUVECs and exosomal miR-221-3p separated from BMSCs inhibited the above phenomenon. FOXP1 could transcriptionally upregulate SPRY1, and the silencing of FOXP1 reversed the HG-stimulated angiogenesis inhibition, cell viability and migration in HUVECs via the downregulation of SPRY1. Meanwhile, miR-221-3p directly targeted FOXP1 and the overexpression of FOXP1 reversed the positive effect of exosomal miR-221-3p on HUVEC angiogenesis., Conclusion: Exosomal miR-221-3p isolated from BMSCs promoted angiogenesis in diabetic wounds through the mediation of the FOXP1/SPRY1 axis. Furthermore, the findings of this study can provide new insights into probing strategies against diabetes., (© 2024 Diabetes UK.)

The migratory insertion of metal-hydride into alkene has allowed regioselective access to organometallics, readily participating in subsequent functionalization as one conventional pathway of hydroalkylation, whereas analogous process with feedstock alkyne is drastically less explored. Among few examples, the regioselectivity of metal-hydride insertion is mostly governed by electronic bias of alkynes. To alter the regioselectivity and drastically expand the intermediate pools that we can access, one aspirational design is through alternative nickel-alkyl insertion, providing opposite regioselectivity induced by steric demand. Leveraging in situ formed nickel-alkyl species, we herein report the regio- and enantioselective hydroalkylation of alkynes with broad functional group tolerance, excellent regio- and enantioselectivity, enabling efficient route to diverse valuable chiral allylic amines motifs. Preliminary mechanistic studies indicate the aminoalkyl radical species can participate in metal-capture and lead to formation of nickel-alkyl, of which the migratory insertion is key to reverse regioselectivity observed in metal-hydride insertion., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Controlling the coherence of chaotic soliton bunch holds the promise to explore novel light-matter interactions and manipulate dynamic events such as rogue waves. However, the coherence control of chaotic soliton bunch remains challenging, as there is a lack of dynamic equilibrium mechanism for stochastic soliton interactions. Here, we develop a strategy to effectively control the coherence of chaotic soliton bunch in a laser. We show that by introducing a lumped fourth-order-dispersion (FOD), the soliton oscillating tails can be formed and generate the potential barriers among the chaotic solitons. The repulsive force between neighboring solitons enabled by the potential barriers gives rise to an alleviation of the soliton fusion/annihilation from stochastic interactions, endowing the capability to control the coherence in chaotic soliton bunch. We envision that this result provides a promising test-bed for a variety of dynamical complexity science and brings new insights into the nonlinear behavior of chaotic laser sources., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Spatiotemporal mode-locked (STML) fiber lasers have become a new platform for investigating nonlinear phenomena. In this work, spatiotemporal dual-periodic soliton pulsation (SDSP) is firstly observed in an STML fiber laser. It is found that in the SDSP, the long-period pulsations (LPPs) of different transverse modes are synchronous, while the short-period pulsations (SPPs) exhibit asynchronous modulations. The numerical simulation confirms the experimental results and further reveals that the proportion of transverse mode components can manipulate the periods of the LPP and SPP but does not affect the synchronous and asynchronous pulsations of different transverse modes. The obtained results bring the study of spatiotemporal dissipative soliton pulsation into the multi-period modulation stage, which helps to understand the complex spatiotemporal dynamics in STML fiber lasers and discover new dynamics in high-dimensional nonlinear systems.

Dissipative solitons (DSs), due to the complex interplay among dispersion, nonlinear, gain and loss, illustrate abundant nonlinear dynamics behaviors. Especially, dispersion plays an important role in the research of DS dynamics in ultrafast fiber lasers. Previous studies have mainly focused on the effect of even-order dispersion, i.e., group velocity dispersion (GVD) and fourth-order dispersion. In fact, odd-order dispersions, such as third-order dispersion (TOD), also significantly influences the dynamics of DSs. However, due to the lack of dispersion engineering tools, few experimental researches in this domain have been reported. In this work, by employing a pulse shaper in ultrafast fiber laser, an in-depth exploration of the DS dynamics influenced by TOD was conducted. With the increase of TOD value, the stable single DS undergoes a splitting into two solitons and then enters explosion state, and ultimately evolves into a chaotic state. The laser operation state is correlated to dispersion profile, which could be controlled by TOD. Here, the positive dispersion at long-wavelength side will be gradually shifted to negative dispersion by increasing the TOD, where soliton effect will drive the transitions. These findings offer valuable insights into the nonlinear dynamics of ultrafast lasers and may also foster applications involving higher-order dispersion.

Multimode fiber lasers have become a new platform for investigating nonlinear phenomena since the report on spatiotemporal mode-locking. In this work, the multimode soliton pulsation with a tunable period is achieved in a spatiotemporal mode-locked fiber laser. It demonstrates that the pulsation period drops while increasing the pump power. Moreover, it is found that different transverse modes have the same pulsation period, asynchronous pulsation evolution and different dynamical characteristics through the spatial sampling technique and the dispersive Fourier transform technique. To further verify the experimental results, we numerically investigate the influences of the gain and the loss on the pulsation properties. It is found that within a certain parameter range, the pulsation period drops and rises linearly with the increase of the gain and the loss, respectively. The obtained results contribute to understanding the formation and regulating of soliton pulsations in fiber lasers.

We develop an all polarization-maintaining (PM) 920 nm Nd-doped fiber amplifier delivering a train of pulses with ∼0.53 W average power and sub-50 fs duration. The sub-50 fs pulse benefits from the pre-chirping management method that allows for over 60 nm broadening spectrum without pulse breaking in the amplification stage. By virtue of the short pulse duration, the pulse peak power can reach to ∼0.31 MW in spite of the moderate average power. These results represent a key step in developing high-peak-power pulse Nd-doped fiber laser systems at 920 nm, which will find important applications in fields such as biomedical imaging, ultrafast optical spectroscopy, and excitation of quantum-dot single photon sources.

Due to its unique geometric structure, the bidirectional ultrafast fiber laser is an excellent light source for dual-comb applications. However, sharing the same gain between the counter-propagating solitons also gives rise to complex dynamics. Herein, we report the anti-phase pulsation of counter-propagating dissipative solitons in a bidirectional fiber laser. The in-phase and anti-phase soliton pulsation can be manipulated by adjusting the intracavity birefringence. The periodic modulation of polarization-dependent gain (PDG) caused by polarization hole burning (PHB) in the gain fiber can be responsible for anti-phase pulsation of bidirectional dissipative solitons. These findings offer new, to the best of our knowledge, insights into the complex dynamics of solitons in dissipative optical systems and performance improvement of bidirectional ultrafast fiber lasers.

Multi-soliton operation in fiber lasers is a promising platform for the investigation of soliton interaction dynamics and high repetition-rate pulse. However, owing to the complex interaction process, precisely manipulating the temporal spacing of multiple solitons in a fiber laser is still challenging. Herein, we propose an automatic way to control the temporal spacing of multi-soliton operation in an ultrafast fiber laser by a hybrid genetic algorithm-particle swarm optimization (GA-PSO) algorithm. Relying on the intelligent adjustment of the electronic polarization controller (EPC), the on-demand temporal spacing of the double solitons can be effectively achieved. In particular, the harmonic mode locking with equal temporal spacing of double solitons is also obtained. Our approach provides a promising way to explore nonlinear soliton dynamics in optical systems and optimize the performance of ultrafast fiber lasers.

The Mamyshev oscillator (MO) is a promising platform to generate high-peak-power pulse with environmentally stable operation. However, rare efforts have been dedicated to unveil the dynamics from seed signal to oscillator pulse, particularly for the multi-pulse operation. Herein, we investigate the buildup dynamics of the oscillator pulse from the seed signal in a fiber MO. It is revealed that the gain competition among the successively injected seed pulses leads to higher pump power that is required to ignite the MO, hence resulting in the higher optical gain that supports buildup of multiple oscillator pulses. The multiple oscillator pulses are identified to be evolved from the multiple seed pulses. Moreover, the dispersive Fourier transform (DFT) technique is used to reveals the real-time spectral dynamics during the starting process. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, a highly intensity-modulated pulse bunch was employed as the seed signal to reduce the gain competition effect and avoid the multi-pulse starting operation. The experimental results are verified by numerical simulations. These findings would give new insights into the pulse dynamics in MO, which will be meaningful to the communities interested in ultrafast laser technologies and nonlinear optics.

Purpose: To study the risk factors affecting amputation and survival in patients with diabetic foot (DF) and to construct a predictive model using the machine learning technique for DF foot amputation and survival and evaluate its effectiveness., Materials and Methods: A total of 200 patients with DF hospitalized in the First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College in China were selected via cluster analysis screening, Kaplan-Meier survival calculation, amputation rate and Cox proportional hazards model investigation of risk factors associated with amputation and death. In addition, we constructed various models, including Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, the deep learning method convolution neural network (CNN) model, backpropagation (BP) neural network model, and backpropagation neural network prediction model after optimizing the genetic algorithm. The accuracy of the 4 prediction models for survival and amputation was assessed, and we evaluated the reliability of these computational models based on the size of the area under the ROC curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity., Results: We found that the 1-year survival rate in patients with DF was 88.5%, and the 1-year amputation rate was 12.5%. Wagner's Classification of Diabetic Foot Ulcers grade, ankle-brachial index (ABI), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and percutaneous oxygen partial pressure (TcPO2) were independent risk factors for amputation in patients with DF, while cerebrovascular disease, Sudoscan sweat gland function score, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and peripheral artery disease (PAD) were independent risk factors for death in patients with DF. In addition, our results showed that in the case of amputation, the COX regression predictive model revealed an AUC of 0.788, sensitivity of 74.1% and specificity of 83.6%. The BP neural network predictive model identified an AUC of 0.874, sensitivity of 87.0% and specificity of 87.7%. An AUC of 0.909, sensitivity of 90.7% and specificity of 91.1% were found after optimizing the BP neural network prediction model via genetic algorithm. In the deep learning CNN model, the AUC, sensitivity and specificity were 0.939, 92.6%, and 95.2%, respectively. In the analysis of risk factors for death, the COX regression predictive model identified the AUC, sensitivity and specificity as 0.800, 74.1% and 85.9%, respectively. The BP neural network predictive model revealed an AUC, sensitivity and specificity of 0.937, 93.1% and 94.4%, respectively. Genetic algorithm-based optimization of the BP neural network predictive model identified an AUC, sensitivity and specificity of 0.932, 91.4% and 95.1%, respectively. The deep learning CNN model found the AUC, sensitivity and specificity to be 0.861, 82.8% and 89.4%, respectively., Conclusion: To identify risk factors for death, the BP neural network predictive model and genetic algorithm-based optimizing BP neural network predictive model have higher sensitivity and specificity than the deep learning method CNN predictive model and COX regression analysis.

The performance of contact resistive pressure sensors heavily relies on the intrinsic characteristics of the active layers, including the mechanical surface structure, conductivity, and elastic properties. However, efficiently and simply regulating the conductivity, morphology, and modulus of the active layers has remained a challenge. In this study, we introduced electro-polymerized polypyrrole (ePPy) to design flexible contact piezoresistive sensors with tailored intrinsic properties. The customizable intrinsic property of ePPy was comprehensively illustrated on the chemical and electronic structure scale, and the impact of ePPy's intrinsic properties on the sensing performance of the device was investigated by determining the correlation between resistivity, roughness, and device sensitivity. Due to the synergistic effects of roughness, conductivity, and elastic properties of the active layers, the flexible ePPy-based pressure sensor exhibited high sensitivity (3.19 kPa -1 , 1-10 kPa, R 2 = 0.97), fast response time, good durability, and low power consumption. These advantages allowed the sensor to offer an immediate response to human motion such as finger-bending and grasping movements, demonstrating the promising potential of tailorable ePPy-based contact piezoresistive sensors for wearable electronic applications.

A nickel-catalyzed asymmetric decarboxyarylation of NHP esters via reductive cross-coupling has been established. Utilizing the NHP of amino acid esters as radical precursors furnishes a new protocol in which structurally diverse chiral benzylamines could be accessible. This method has demonstrated excellent catalytic efficiency, high enantioselective control, mild conditions, and good functional group tolerance, thus enabling the late-stage modification of bioactive molecules and pharmaceuticals.

Background: The alkaline phosphatase-to-albumin ratio (APAR) has been demonstrated to be a promising non-invasive biomarker for predicting prognosis in certain diseases. However, the relationship between APAR and prognosis in non-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients remains unclear. This study aims to identify the association between APAR and prognosis among CKD stages 1-4 in China., Methods: Patients with CKD stages 1-4 were consecutively recruited from 39 clinical centers in China from 2011 to 2016. New occurrences of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, and all-cause deaths were the outcome events of this study. Subdistribution hazard competing risk and Cox proportional hazards regression models were adopted., Results: A total of 2,180 participants with baseline APAR values were included in the analysis. In the primary adjusted analyses, higher APAR level [per 1-standard deviation (SD) increase in natural logarithm transformed (ln-transformed) APAR] was associated with 33.5% higher risk for all-cause deaths [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.335, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.068-1.670]. In addition, there was evidence for effect modification of the association between APAR and ESKD by baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ( P interaction < 0.001). A higher APAR level (per 1-SD increase in ln-transformed APAR) was associated with a greater risk of ESKD among participants with eGFR ≥ 60 ml/min/1.73 m 2 (adjusted SHR 1.880, 95% CI 1.260-2.810) but not in eGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73 m 2 ., Conclusion: Higher APAR levels in patients with CKD stages 1-4 seemed to be associated with an increased risk of all-cause death. Thus, APAR appears to be used in risk assessment for all-cause death among patients with CKD stages 1-4., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Xue, Li, Wang, Lin, Cheng, Deng, Xu, Zhao, Zou, Yuan, Zhang, Zhao and Wang.)

Objective: This study aimed to explore the effects of eye masks on the sleep quality and pain of children over 5 years old with humeral supracondylar fracture after surgery., Methods: Fifty children with humeral supracondylar fracture who underwent closed reduction and percutaneous pinning (CRPP) in the Pediatric orthopaedic Department of a provincial hospital in China from February 2020 to December 2021 were selected. The children were randomly divided into the experimental group ( n  = 25) and the control group ( n  = 25). Children in the control group were given routine sleep care, and the children in the experimental group were given a sleep intervention with eye masks for three nights after surgery. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to evaluate the sleep quality of the children. The Children's Pain Behaviour Scale was used to evaluate the pain of the children., Results: After three nights of receiving the eye mask intervention, the children in the experimental group had significantly lower sleep quality scores than those in the control group; the difference was statistically significant ( p  < 0.05), and the children in the experimental group had higher sleep quality. The experimental group's pain scores were significantly lower than the control group's, and the difference was statistically significant ( p  < 0.05), and the children in the experimental group experienced less post-operative pain., Conclusions: Eye masks are a simple, safe and economical intervention, that is beneficial for improving the sleep quality and reducing pain in children over 5 years old with humeral supracondylar fracture after closed reduction and percutaneous pinning. It can be used as a reference and basis for clinical pain relief and sleep quality after surgery for supracondylar fractures of the humerus in children., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2023 Wang, Lin, Xu, Chen and Cai.)

Photoresponsive polymers can be conveniently used to fabricate anti-counterfeiting materials through photopatterning. However, an unsolved problem is that ambient light and heat can damage anti-counterfeiting patterns on photoresponsive polymers. Herein, photo- and thermostable anti-counterfeiting materials are developed by photopatterning and thermal annealing of a photoresponsive conjugated polymer (MC-Azo). MC-Azo contains alternating azobenzene and fluorene units in the polymer backbone. To prepare an anti-counterfeiting material, an MC-Azo film is irradiated with polarized blue light through a photomask, and then thermally annealed under the pressure of a photonic stamp. This strategy generates a highly secure anti-counterfeiting material with dual patterns, which is stable to sunlight and heat over 200 °C. A key for the stability is that thermal annealing promotes interchain stacking, which converts photoresponsive MC-Azo to a photostable material. Another key for the stability is that the conjugated structure endows MC-Azo with desirable thermal properties. This study shows that the design of photopatternable conjugated polymers with thermal-annealing-promoted interchain stacking provides a new strategy for the development of highly stable and secure anti-counterfeiting materials., (© 2023 The Authors. Advanced Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Objective: To analyze the prevalence and the trend of the disease burden of chronic respiratory diseases and relevant risk factors in Jiangsu province from 1990 to 2019 and provide evidence for the prevention and treatment of chronic respiratory diseases. Methods: The data from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD2019) were used to calculate the prevalence rate, mortality rate and disability-adjusted life year (DALY) rate. Software Joinpoint was used to calculate the annual percent change (APC) and average annual percent change (AAPC) of the standardized prevalence rate, standardized mortality rate and standardized DALY rate. The population attributable fractions (PAF) were used to estimate the proportion of chronic respiratory disease caused by different risk factors. Results: In 1990 and 2019, the prevalence rates of chronic respiratory diseases were 4.83% and 5.45%. The mortality rates were 134.91/100 000 and 80.99/100 000 respectively, and the DALY rates were 2 678.52/100 000 and 1 534.31/100 000 respectively. From 1990 to 2019, the age-standardized prevalence rate, mortality rate and DALY rate in Jiangsu showed a significant downward trend (AAPC values were -0.90%, -5.28% and -4.70% respectively, P <0.05). Tobacco use was the leading cause of chronic respiratory diseases, followed by air pollution, occupational exposure, suboptimal temperature and high BMI. Compared with 1990, the proportion of DALYs of chronic respiratory diseases attributable to tobacco use and high BMI increased in 2019. Conclusion: The overall burden of chronic respiratory diseases in Jiangsu shows a downward trend. Prevention and health education should be focused on the population with a smoking history and high BMI. At the same time, environmental management, attention to suboptimal temperature and control of occupational exposure factors should also be adopted as important means to prevent and control chronic respiratory diseases.

We report, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, a spatiotemporal mode-locked (STML) multimode fiber laser based on nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM), generating dissipative soliton resonance (DSR) pulses. Due to the complex filtering characteristics caused by the inherent multimode interference filtering structure and NALM in the cavity, the STML DSR pulse has wavelength tunable function. What's more, kinds of DSR pulses are also achieved, including multiple DSR pulses, and the period doubling bifurcations of single DSR pulse and multiple DSR pulses. These results contribute to further understand the nonlinear properties of STML lasers and may shed some light on improving the performance of the multimode fiber lasers.

Background: The pathogenesis of urolithiasis remains unclear, making the development of medications for treatment and prevention stagnant. Randall's plaques (RPs) begin as interstitial calcium phosphate crystal deposits, grow outward and breach the renal papillary surface, acting as attachment for CaOx stones. Since matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) can degrade all components of extracellular matrix (ECM), they might participate in the breach of RPs. Besides, MMPs can modulate the immune response and inflammation, which were confirmed to be involved in urolithiasis. We aimed to investigate the role of MMPs in the development of RPs and stone formation., Methods: The public dataset GSE73680 was mined to identify differentially expressed MMPs (DEMMPs) between normal tissues and RPs. WGCNA and three machine learning algorithms were performed to screen the hub DEMMPs. In vitro experiments were conducted for validation. Afterwards, RPs samples were classified into clusters based on the hub DEMMPs expression. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between clusters were identified and functional enrichment analysis and GSEA were applied to explore the biological role of DEGs. Moreover, the immune infiltration levels between clusters were evaluated by CIBERSORT and ssGSEA., Results: Five DEMMPs, including MMP1, MMP3, MMP9, MMP10, and MMP12, were identified between normal tissues and RPs, and all of them were elevated in RPs. Based on WGCNA and three machine learning algorithms, all of five DEMMPs were regarded as hub DEMMPs. In vitro validation found the expression of hub DEMMPs also increased in renal tubular epithelial cells under lithogenic environment. RPs samples were divided into two clusters and cluster A exhibited higher expression of hub DEMMPs compared to cluster B. Functional enrichment analysis and GSEA found DEGs were enriched in immune-related functions and pathways. Moreover, increased infiltration of M1 macrophages and enhanced levels of inflammation were observed in cluster A by immune infiltration analysis., Conclusion: We assumed that MMPs might participate in RPs and stone formation through ECM degradation and macrophages-mediated immune response and inflammation. Our findings offer a novel perspective on the role of MMPs in immunity and urolithiasis for the first time, and provide potential biomarkers to develop targets for treatment and prevention., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Hong, Jiang, Xu, Zeng, Wang and Qin.)

Due to the fascinating features, pulsating solitons attract much attention in the field of nonlinear soliton dynamics and ultrafast lasers. So far, most of the investigations on pulsating soliton are conducted in Er-doped fiber lasers. In this work, we reported the periodic transition between two evolving pulsating soliton states in an Yb-doped fiber laser. By using the real-time measurement techniques, the spectral and temporal characteristics of this transition state were investigated. Two evolving soliton pulsation states have similar evolution process, i.e., from pulsating towards quasi-stable mode-locked states. However, the details of the two processes are different, such as the pulse energy levels, pulsating modulation depths, duration of quasi-stable mode-locked states. The transition between two evolving soliton pulsation states could be attributed to the interaction of the polarizer and the varying polarization states of the pulse inside the laser cavity. The experimental results will contribute to the further understanding of soliton pulsating dynamics in dissipative optical systems.

The self-starting performance of a figure-9 fiber laser is critically dependent on the phase shift difference between the counter-propagating beams. Herein, we propose an effective approach to dynamically control the phase shift difference in a figure-9 fiber laser by utilizing the thermal nonlinearity of graphene-decorated microfiber device. With the adjustment of the control laser power injected into the graphene-decorated microfiber, the self-starting mode-locked threshold of the figure-9 fiber laser can be attained in a flexible pump power range, i.e., from 300 mW to 390 mW. These findings demonstrated that the graphene-decorated microfiber could act as a dynamical control device of phase shift difference for improving the performance of figure-9 fiber lasers, and might also open up new possibilities for applications of microfiber photonic devices in the field of ultrafast optics.

Sclerosing angiomatoid nodular transformation (SANT) is an uncommon non-tumorous disease of the spleen. The low morbidity and non-specific clinical symptoms of SANT might cause a misdiagnosis. The present study reported a case of a 31-year-old female with a SANT of the spleen. Findings on clinical manifestations and examinations, especially on contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), were carefully analyzed, and relevant literatures have also been reviewed.

Cell-cell fusion studies provide an experimental platform for evaluating disease progression and investigating cell infection. However, to realize sensitive and quantitative detection on cell-cell fusion is still a challenge. Herein, we report a facile molecular beacon (MB)-based method for precise detection on cell-cell fusion. By transfection of the spike protein (S protein) and enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) in HEK 293 cells, the virus-mimicking fusogenic effector cells 293-S-EGFP cells were constructed to interact with target cells. Before mixing the effector cells with the target cells, the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) expression in 293-S-EGFP cells was silenced, and the MB for GAPDH mRNA detection was delivered into the GAPDH silenced 293-S-EGFP cells. Once cell-cell fusion occurred, MB migrated from the GAPDH silenced effector cells to the target cells and hybridized with GAPDH mRNA in the target cells to induce fluorescence emission. The cell-cell fusion can be easily visualized and quantitated by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. The fluorescence intensity is strongly dependent on the number of fused target cells. This MB-based method can easily identify the differences in the cell fusions for various target cells with different angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) expression levels, resulting in dramatically different fluorescence intensities in fused target cells. Our study provides a convenient and efficient quantitative detection approach to study cell-cell fusion.

We investigate three azo-chromophore-containing photoswitches (1, 2 and 3) for molecular solar thermal storage (MOST) based on reversible Z - E isomerization. 1, 2 and 3 are photoswitchable compounds that contain one, two and three azo chromophores, respectively. In solution, 1, 2 and 3 were charged via UV-light-induced E -to- Z isomerization. Among these three compounds, 2 exhibited an energy density as high as 272 ± 1.8 J g -1 , which showed the best energy storage performance. This result originated from the low molecular weight, a high degree of photoisomerization, and moderate steric hindrance of 2, which demonstrated the advantages of the meta -bisazobenzene structure for MOST. In addition, we studied the performances of these photoswitches in the solvent-free state. Only 1 showed photoinduced reversible solid-to-liquid transitions, which enabled the charging of 1 in a solvent-free state. The stored energy density for 1 in a solvent-free state was 237 ± 1.5 J g -1 . By contrast, 2 and 3 could not be charged in the solvent-free state due to the lack of solid-state photoisomerization. Our findings provide a better understanding of the structure-performance relationship for azobenzenebased MOST and pave the way for the development of high-density solar thermal fuels.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to assess the causal effect of abdominal obesity on bone mineral density by two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR). Methods: Abdominal obesity was chosen as exposure in this study. Single nucleotide polymorphisms, extracted from Genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) data, which are closely associated with waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were used as instrumental variables to perform MR studies. Different site bone mineral density, such as total bone mineral density (TBMD) and forearm bone mineral density (FBMD) were chosen as outcomes. Inverse variance weighted (IVW) was used as the primary method to assess this causality. Results: According to the IVW method (β = -0.177; 95% CI = -0.287, -0.067; p = 1.52 × 10 -3 ), WC had a negative causal relationship with TBMD, besides, with one standard deviation (SD) higher in HC, there was a 0.195 SD decrease in TBMD (95% CI = -0.279, -0.110; p = 6.32 × 10 -6 ), and with an increase of one SD in HC was related to a decrease of 0.312 SD in FBMD analyzed by the IVW. Conclusion: This study showed that abdominal obesity has a negative effect on bone mineral density., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wang, Lin, Xu and Chen.)

Introduction: Solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs) are commonly found in imaging technologies, but are plagued by high false-positive rates., Objective: We aimed to identify metabolic alterations in SPN etiology and diagnosis using less invasive plasma metabolomics and lipidomics., Methods: In total, 1160 plasma samples were obtained from healthy volunteers (n = 280), benign SPNs (n = 157) and malignant SPNs (stage I, n = 723) patients enrolled from 5 independent centers. Gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC‒MS) and liquid chromatography-Q Exactive Hybrid Quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry (LC‒MS) were used to analyze the samples for untargeted metabolomics and lipidomics., Results and Conclusion: GC‒MS-based metabolomics revealed 1336 metabolic features, while LC‒MS-based lipidomics revealed 6088 and 2542 lipid features in the positive and negative ion modes, respectively. The metabolic and lipidic characteristics of healthy vs. benign or malignant SPNs exhibited substantial pattern differences. Of note, benign and malignant SPNs had no significant variations in circulating metabolic and lipidic markers and were validated in four other centers. This study demonstrates evidence of early metabolic alterations that can possibly distinguish SPNs from healthy controls, but not between benign and malignant SPNs., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

The evolution of multiphoton microscopy is critically dependent on the development of ultrafast laser technologies. The ultrashort pulse laser source at 1.7 µm waveband is attractive for in-depth three-photon imaging owing to the reduced scattering and absorption effects in biological tissues. Herein, we report on a 1.7 µm passively mode-locked figure-9 Tm-doped fiber laser. The nonreciprocal phase shifter that consists of two quarter-wave plates and a Faraday rotator introduces phase bias between the counter-propagating beams in the nonlinear amplifying loop mirror. The cavity dispersion is compensated to be slightly positive, enabling the proposed 1.7 µm ultrafast fiber laser to deliver the dissipative soliton with a 3-dB bandwidth of 20 nm. Moreover, the mode-locked spectral bandwidth could be flexibly tuned with different phase biases by rotating the wave plates. The demonstration of figure-9 Tm-doped ultrafast fiber laser would pave the way to develop the robust 1.7 µm ultrashort pulse laser sources, which could find important application for three-photon deep-tissue imaging.

We report a narrow bandwidth spatiotemporal mode-locked (STML) ytterbium-doped fiber laser, based on a homemade carbon nanotube/polyvinyl alcohol composite film and the multimode interference filtering effect. The wavelength-tunable narrow bandwidth STML operations combined with different pulse states are achieved, including single pulse, multiple pulses, and harmonics. The 3-dB bandwidth at the single-pulse state is 103 pm, while at the harmonic state, it is as narrow as 26 pm. To give an insight into the generation of the narrow bandwidth STML pulses, numerical simulations are performed. Such a laser has a wide range of potential applications in fields of optical communication and optical measurement, as well as provides a favorable platform for studying the evolution dynamics of multimode solitons.

The fabrication of dual-mode patterns in the same region of a material is a promising approach for high-density information storage, new anti-counterfeiting technologies, and highly secure encryption. However, dual-mode patterns are difficult to achieve because the two patterns in one material may interfere with each other during fabrication and usage. The development of noninterfering dual-mode patterns requires new materials and patterning techniques. Herein, a novel orthogonal photopatterning technique is reported for the fabrication of noninterfering dual-mode patterns on an azopolymer P1. P1 is a unique material that exhibits both photoinduced reversible solid-to-liquid transitions and good stretchability. In the first step of orthogonal photopatterning, patterned photonic structures are fabricated on a P1 film via masked nanoimprinting controlled by photoinduced reversible solid-to-liquid transitions. In the second step, the P1 film is stretched and irradiated with polarized light through a photomask, which generates a chromatic polarization pattern. In particular, the photonic structures and chromatic polarization in the dual-mode pattern are noninterfering. Another feature of dual-mode patterns is that they are rewritable via photo-, thermal, or solution reprocessing, which are useful for recycling and reprogramming. This study opens an avenue for the development of novel materials and techniques for photopatterning., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease. Misfolded Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD1) has been linked to both familial and sporadic ALS. SOD1 fibrils formed in vitro share toxic properties with ALS inclusions. Here we produced cytotoxic amyloid fibrils from full-length apo human SOD1 under reducing conditions and determined the atomic structure using cryo-EM. The SOD1 fibril consists of a single protofilament with a left-handed helix. The fibril core exhibits a serpentine fold comprising N-terminal segment (residues 3-55) and C-terminal segment (residues 86-153) with an intrinsic disordered segment. The two segments are zipped up by three salt bridge pairs. By comparison with the structure of apo SOD1 dimer, we propose that eight β-strands (to form a β-barrel) and one α-helix in the subunit of apo SOD1 convert into thirteen β-strands stabilized by five hydrophobic cavities in the SOD1 fibril. Our data provide insights into how SOD1 converts between structurally and functionally distinct states., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The evolution of ultrafast laser technology hinges partially on the understanding of the soliton nonlinear dynamics. Recently, the concept of pure-quartic soliton (PQS) that arises from the balance of pure negative fourth-order dispersion (FOD) and nonlinearity was proposed to generate high peak power pulse. Herein, we investigate the generation of dissipative pure-quartic soliton (DPQS) in a fiber laser, which is balanced among the positive FOD, nonlinearity, gain and loss. The DPQS features the shape-preserving propagation despite the asymmetrical temporal profile at higher pulse energy. It is found that the asymmetrical temporal profile of DPQS is resulted from the mismatching of the phase shift profiles caused by self-phase modulation and FOD. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the DPQS possesses a higher energy-scaling ability compared to conventional dissipative soliton, owing to the nonlinear relationship between the pulse energy and pulse duration. These findings demonstrated that the employment of positive FOD could be a promising way for manipulation of optical pulse as well as the improvement of laser performance.

Derived from oceanography, nowadays the investigation of rogue waves (RWs) has been widely spread in various fields, particularly in nonlinear optics. Passively mode-locked fiber laser has been regarded as one of the excellent platforms to investigate the dissipative RWs (DRWs). Here, we report the observation of DRW generation induced by single and multi-soliton explosions in a passively mode-locked fiber laser. It was demonstrated that through the gain-mediated soliton interactions, one soliton could erupt because of the explosion of another soliton in the laser cavity. Meanwhile, the high-amplitude waves, which fulfill the DRWs criteria, could be detected in the multi-soliton explosion states. The DRWs were identified by characterizing the peak intensity statistics of the time-stretched soliton profiles. Particularly, it was found that the ratio between the highest recorded amplitudes and significant wave heights (SWHs) of DRWs induced by multi-soliton explosions is higher than that by single-soliton explosion case. Our findings will further contribute to the understanding of the physical mechanisms of DRWs in the soliton explosion regime.

We numerically investigate the pulsating dynamics of pure-quartic solitons (PQSs) in a passively mode-locked fiber laser. The bifurcation diagrams show that the PQS can alternate between the stable single soliton and pulsating regimes multiple times before transiting into the chaotic state. This multi-alternation behavior can be attributed to energy redistribution across the central part and the oscillating tails of the PQS, which is caused by an imperfect counterbalance between self-phase modulation (SPM)-induced and fourth-order dispersion (FOD)-induced phase shifts. Soliton creeping behavior can be observed during the pulsating process, accompanied by periodic asymmetric temporal profiles and central wavelength shifts of the PQS. These findings give new insights into the dynamics of PQSs in fiber lasers.

Persistent luminescence is a unique optical process where long-lasting afterglow persists after the cessation of excitation. Nanoscale persistent luminescent materials are getting increased research interest from various fields due to their unique optical property. In recent years, inspiring achievements have been made to produce uniform persistent luminescence nanoparticles (PLNPs) in a controllable manner, unleashing their fascinating potential, surpassing other types of luminescent materials in a wide variety of application such as high-contrast bioimaging and high-resolution X-ray detection. In this review, the evolution of uniform PLNPs, from their bulk phosphor counterparts, to the "top-down" preparation of nanoscale persistent luminescent materials, to the recent "bottom-up" synthesis of uniform PLNPs is first summarized. The respective milestones of uniform PLNPs prepared by templated synthesis, aqueous synthesis, and colloidal synthesis are highlighted. The key optical properties that can be enhanced in uniform PLNPs, including increasing the persistent luminescence intensity, tuning the excitation irradiance, as well as the emission wavelengths are then analyzed. Detailed strategies to enhance each optical property are also discussed in various sections. Finally, future challenges are highlighted with respect to the perspectives on the development of next-generation PLNPs with novel applications., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Immune escape is a frequent occurrence, which limits the duration of antitumor immune responses to radiotherapy. Here, we aimed to ascertain the roles and underlying mechanisms of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) in tolerance of breast cancer (BC) to radiotherapy. We first quantified microRNA-21 (miR-21) and PD-L1 expression in BC tissues and cells, followed by identification of the interactions between miR-21, PD-L1, and programmed cell death protein 4 (PDCD4). miR-21 knock-in mice were used to construct tumor-bearing models, which were then treated with anti-PD-L1 antibody and irradiation, followed by measurement of tumor growth and tumor immune escape. Finally, we evaluated the synergistic effects of radiotherapy and anti-PD-L1 antibody in vivo. The results showed increased miR-21 expression in BC tissues and cells, which was positively correlated with PD-L1 expression. The treatment with radiotherapy or anti-PD-L1 antibody in the miR-21 knock-in mice diminished tumor weight and volume, along with decreased CD3 + CD8 + positive cells, serum IL-2 and IFN- γ levels, and lower PD-L1 expression, but augmented apoptosis of T and BC cells. Moreover, miR-21 significantly augmented PD-L1 expression via PI3K/Akt pathway activation by targeting PDCD4 in BC cells. Thus, radiotherapy and anti-PD-L1 antibody synergistically accelerated the therapeutic effect against BC in mice, thereby implicating a close interplay between radiotherapy, T cells, and the miR-21/PDCD4/PI3K/Akt/PD-L1 axis., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2022 Lei-Ming Guo et al.)

Objective: To examine the role and decipher the mechanism of Pingchuan formula (PCF) in treating allergic asthma., Methods: The mice were treated with saline, dexamethasone (DXM) and PCF for 1 week after the asthma model was established and their respiratory function including respiratory resistance (RI), pulmonary dynamic compliance (Cdyn) and maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV) were measured. In addition, cellular changes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and pathological changes in lung biopsy as well as the expression level of -smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-α1) in BALF and interleukin-5 (IL-5), interleukin-13 (IL-13), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), nuclear factor-kappa B-p65 (NF-κBp65), inhibitor-α of nuclear transcription factor κB (IκBα), p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK), c-jun n-terminal kinase (JNK) and its phosphorylated proteins in lung tissue were also examined and compared among different groups., Results: Our data suggested that the respiratory functions were significantly improved and the pathological changes ameliorated in the DXM group and the PCF group compared to the model group. Both DXM and PCF effectively decreased the number of eosinophils, lymphocytes, and neutrophils in BAL as well as the secretion of α-SMA and TGF-α1, IL-5, IL-13, while increased the expression of TNF-α and IFN-γ. Furthermore, our study indicated that the NF-κBp65, IκBα, p38MAPK and JNK pathways were inhibited under the treatment of PCF., Conclusion: Our data indicated that PCF can attenuate the inflammatory response in asthma through inhibiting the NF-κB/MAPK signaling pathway. This study not only supported the use of PCF in allergic asthma in clinic but also shed light upon afurther understanding of thediseasepathogenesis.

We report on a 1.7 µm Tm-fiber chirped pulse amplification (CPA) system by virtue of a broadband dissipative soliton seed laser. The seed oscillator delivers the dissipative soliton with 10 dB spectral bandwidth of 23 nm and an average power of 4 mW. The duration of the seed pulse is directly stretched to ∼60 p s by a segment of 50 m normal dispersion fiber. Using a two-stage fiber amplifier, the average power of the pulse is amplified to 1.95 W with a slope efficiency of 40.3%. The amplified pulse is then compressed to 348 fs by a pair of fused silica transmission gratings. The compressed average power of 1.3 W and peak power of 155 kW are achieved. These experimental results would pave the way to achieve a high-power femtosecond laser source at 1.7 µm, which could find important applications in fields such as three-photon deep-tissue imaging and material processing.

Soliton pulsation is one of the most fascinating phenomena in ultrafast fiber lasers, owing to its rich nonlinear dynamics and potential generation of high peak power pulse. However, it is still a challenge to efficiently search for pulsating soliton in fiber lasers because it requires a fine setting of laser cavity parameters. Here, we report the autosetting soliton pulsation in a passively mode-locked fiber laser. The parameters of electronic polarization controller are intelligently adjusted to search for pulsating soliton state by the improved depth-first search algorithm. Moreover, the intensity modulation depth of pulsating soliton could be flexibly controlled. These findings indicate that the intelligent control of a fiber laser is an effective way to explore on-demand soliton dynamics and is also beneficial to the optimization of ultrafast laser performance.

The bidirectional ultrafast fiber laser is a promising light source for dual-comb applications. The counter-propagating geometry could lead to soliton interaction through gain sharing, as well as the possible outcome of polarization instability. However, the polarization dynamics hidden behind the soliton interaction process in bidirectional fiber lasers were rarely investigated. Herein, we report on the polarization instability induced by the mutual soliton interactions through fiber gain in a bidirectional mode-locked fiber laser. Depending on the adjustment of the intracavity birefringence, the polarization states of two counter-propagating solitons can exhibit similar periodical polarization switching behaviors with a polarization-rotating transition state. The successive interactions of the bidirectional solitons mediated by the polarization cross-saturation effect of gain fiber could be responsible for the soliton polarization instability. These findings, in addition to the fundamental interest of the soliton nonlinear dynamics in dissipative optical systems, also open up new possibilities for creating dynamical control of the soliton polarization state and performance improvement in bidirectional ultrafast fiber lasers.

Objective: To examine the effect of multisensory exercise on balance disorders., Methods: PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science were searched to identify eligible studies published before January 1, 2020. Eligible studies included randomized control trials (RCTs), non-randomized studies, case-control studies, and cohort studies. The methodological quality of the included studies was evaluated using JBI Critical Appraisal Checklists for RCTs and for Quasi-Experimental Studies by two researchers independently. A narrative synthesis of intervention characteristics and health-related outcomes was performed., Results: A total of 11 non-randomized studies and 9 RCTs were eligible, including 667 participants. The results supported our assumption that multisensory exercise improved balance in people with balance disorders. All of the 20 studies were believed to be of high or moderate quality., Conclusion: Our study confirmed that multisensory exercise was effective in improving balance in people with balance disorders. Multisensory exercises could lower the risk of fall and enhance confidence level to improve the quality of life. Further research is needed to investigate the optimal strategy of multisensory exercises and explore the underlying neural and molecular mechanisms of balance improvement brought by multisensory exercises., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Background/aims: Asthma is a common chronic respiratory disease. It has been reported that Pingchuan formula (PCF) can control asthma attacks by reducing airway inflammation, muscle spasm and mucus secretion. However, PCF's mechanism for reducing airway mucus hypersecretion remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effect of PCF on airway mucus secretion in asthmatic mice and to explore changes in the PNEC-GABA-IL13-Muc5ac axis., Methods: Male Babl/c mice were used to establish the asthma model via sensitisation with OVA. Mice were randomly divided into Normal, OVA, DEX, and PCF groups. After treatment, lung histopathology was observed with H&E and PAS staining. BALF levels of IL-5 and IL-13 were detected using ELISA. The levels of mRNA and protein expression for GAD1, GABA A Rβ1, GABA A Rα1 and Muc5ac in the lung tissue were measured by RT-PCR and Western blot assays. PNECs were observed with AgNOR staining., Results: PCF treatment effectively reduced goblet cell (P < 0.01) and PNEC (P < 0.05) proliferation, lung tissue inflammation and airway mucus hypersecretion. In addition, PCF also markedly downregulated mRNA and protein expression of GAD1, GABA A Rβ1, GABA A Rα1 and Muc5ac (P < 0.05, compared with OVA), thus inhibiting the GABA-IL-13 pathway in the lung tissue of asthmatic mice., Conclusion: These findings suggest that PCF controls asthma attacks by reducing airway inflammation and mucus hypersecretion via the PNEC-GABA-IL13-Muc5ac axis., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To analyze the clinical efficacy of multisensory training and rehabilitation treatment in patients with balance disorders. Methods: From January to December 2020, 95 patients with balance disorders in the Vertigo Center of Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Union Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology were enrolled. All patients were treated according to the treatment guidelines of Chinese Medical Association or expert consensus. Those with poor recovery or unsatisfactory treatment results underwent multisensory training and rehabilitation for 1 month after a comprehensive evaluation. The scores of Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI), Berg Balance Scale (BBS), and Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC), Somatization Symptom Self-Rating Scale (SSS), 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9) and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD7) were evaluated and compared before and after the treatment. Results: Totally, 95 patients were enrolled. There were 34 males and 61 females, aged (44±14) years. VAS (2.1±1.1 vs 5.9±2.5, P <0.01), DHI (15.6±7.7 vs 33.1±13.2, P< 0.01), SSS (1.5±0.6 vs 2.4±0.8, P <0.01), PHQ9 (6.0±2.7 vs 8.6±4.3, P =0.01) and GAD7 (5.2±2.6 vs 9.5±2.8, P <0.01) decreased after treatment, while BBS (53.4±10.0 vs 34.8±10.7, P< 0.01) and ABC (89.6±8.0 vs 55.7±21.8, P <0.01) increased. Conclusion: Multisensory training and rehabilitation therapy can effectively enhance the vertigo control rate and balance ability in patients with balance disorders, reduce the risk of falling, promote their mental and psychological state, and thus improve the quality of life.

Objective: To investigate the role and mechanism of progranulin (PGRN) in asthma. Methods: Control group and model group were set up in wild and IL-6 knockout (IL-6 ko) mice, respectively. For asthma model, mice were intraperitoneally sensitized with 100 μg OVA on days 0 and 7, followed by aerosol challenges with 5% OVA for 30 min per day from day 14 to 21, and mice were sacrificed 24 h after the last challenge. The mice in control group were treated in the same way with PBS. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was collected for leukocytes count and differential count. The pathological changes of lung tissues were observed by H&E staining. The cytokines in lung homogenate, serum and BALF were detected by Q-PCR and ELISA. The in vitro model of asthma was induced by stimulating A549 or BEAS-2B cells with IL-13. Each group was replicated in three wells and four groups were designed: PBS group, IL-13 treatment group, IL-13 + rhPGRN treatment group, inhibitors of p38 phosphorylation (SB203508) treatment group. The cells or supernatant were collected after 0~48 h. PGRN and IL-6 levels were determined by Q-PCR and ELISA, the level of p38 phosphorylation was tested by Western blot (WB). Results: Compared with control group, PGRN levels were decreased in lung homogenate and BALF ( P ＜0.05), and PGRN presented a downtrend in serum, however, the level of IL-6 in BALF was increased in asthma mice ( P ＜0.01). In IL-6 ko asthma mice, compared with the wild asthma mice, leukocytes, especially neutrophils in BALF were decreased ( P ＜0.05), but PGRN was increased ( P ＜0.05), lung pathological damage was significantly alleviated. In vitro experiments, compared with PBS group, PGRN level was decreased ( P ＜0.05), IL-6 level was increased ( P ＜0.01), phosphorylation of p38 was activated in IL-13 treatment group. Compared with IL-13 treatment group, in IL-13 + PGRN treatment group, IL-6 level was decreased ( P ＜0.05); phosphorylation of p38 was inhibited ( P ＜0.05); and the production of IL-6 ( P ＜0.05) was decreased after treatment with inhibitor of p38 phosphorylation. Conclusion: PGRN inhibited the production of IL-6 by suppressing the p38 phosphorylation to alleviate asthmatic airway inflammation.

We report the spatiotemporal mode-locked multimode fiber laser operating at 1.55 µm based on semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors with the mode-locking threshold as low as 104 mW. Benefiting from the multimode interference filtering effect introduced in the laser cavity not only the central wavelength can be continuously tuned from 1557 nm to 1567 nm, but also the number of the output pulses can be adjusted from 1 to 4 by simply adjusting the polarization controllers. This work provides a new platform for exploring the dynamic characteristics of spatiotemporal mode-locked pulses at negative dispersion regime. Moreover, this kind of tunable laser has potential applications in fields of all-optical signal processing, fiber sensing and information coding.