Parallel beam splitting based on gradient metasurface: from classical to quantum.

Gradient metasurfaces are extensively utilized for polarized beam splitting (BS) in classical and quantum optics. Specifically, their phase gradient allows the path and polarization of multiple output lights to be locked by corresponding inputs. However, the full potential of this unique path-polarization-locked property in multi-beam splitting has not been investigated.

Quasicrystal metasurface for optical holography and diffraction.

Quasicrystal metasurfaces, a kind of two-dimensional artificial optical materials with subwavelength meta-atoms arranged in quasi-periodic tiling schemes, have attracted extensive attentions due to their novel optical properties. In a recent work, a dual-functional quasicrystal metasurface, which can be used to simultaneously generate the diffraction pattern and holographic image, is experimentally demonstrated. The proposed method expands the manipulation dimensions for multi-functional quasicrystal metasurfaces and may have important applications in microscopy, optical information processing, optical encryption, etc.

Effects of health-related dispositions on citizens' appraisals toward the COVID-19 pandemic and protective behavior.

In this study, health risk attitude and health locus of control were included as dispositional factors in the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to explain people's protective behavior in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Empirical data involved two waves of data with a sample of 526 adults with full-time jobs from Beijing, China, and structural equation model results confirmed a partial successful extension of the PMT. Specifically, health risk attitude had a direct effect on citizens' protective behavior, but without an indirect effect mediated by threat appraisal toward the COVID-19 pandemic; health locus of control did not directly associate with citizens' protective behavior, but had an indirect effect on it fully via coping appraisal toward the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rapamycin Attenuates HO-Induced Oxidative Stress-Related Senescence in Human Skin Fibroblasts.

Background: Oxidative stress plays an important role in the skin aging process. Rapamycin has been shown to have anti-aging effects, but its role in oxidative senescence of skin cells remains unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of rapamycin on oxidative stress-induced skin cell senescence and to illustrate the mechanism.

Advances in large viewing angle and achromatic 3D holography.

Optical holography is a promising technique to achieve a naked-eye 3D display. However, the narrow viewing angle and chromatic aberration are the two key issues that usually limit the holographic display performance. A recent work proposes a novel way to circumvent these constraints by introducing a color liquid crystal grating into a time-sequenced holography system.

Electrochemiluminescence resonance energy transfer detection of HBsAg based on Co doped 3D porous luminol-based conjugates and quencher UiO-66-NH@Au.

An electrochemiluminescence (ECL) biosensor based on ECL resonance energy transfer (ECL-RET) was designed to sensitively detect hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg). In this ECL-RET system, luminol was employed as ECL donor, and gold nanoparticles functionalized zirconium organoskeleton (UiO-66-NH@Au) was prepared and served as ECL acceptor. The UiO-66-NH@Au possessed an ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption between 400 nm and 500 nm, and the absorption spectra overlapped with the ECL spectrum of luminol.

Twist-Angle-Controlled Nonlinear Circular Dichroism on Gold-Crystal Hybrid Metasurfaces.

Optical chirality, which plays important roles in liquid crystal display and biological and chemical detection, has been attracting scientists' attention due to its potential applications in optical information processing. Usually, the chiral optical response of natural molecules is very weak. However, the emergence of metasurfaces offers a promising solution to solve this issue.

Spin Unlocked Vortex Beam Generation on Nonlinear Chiroptical Metasurfaces.

Optical vortices with spin and orbital angular momentum (SAM and OAM) states offer multiple degrees of freedom for manipulating optical fields and thus enable great potentials in optical information processing. Recently, the optical metasurface has become an important platform for vortex beam generation and steering. However, the strong spin-orbit interaction on such metasurfaces usually leads to spin locked OAM generation, which limits the complete control of the angular momentum state of light.

Precore mutation enhances viral replication to facilitate persistent infection especially in HBeAg-negative patients.

Naturally occurred precore (PC, G1896A) and/or basal core promoter (BCP, A1762T/G1764A) mutations are prevalent in chronic HBV-infected patients, especially those under HBeAg-negative status. However, the replicative capacity of HBV with PC/BCP mutations remains ambiguous. Herein, meta-analysis showed that, only under HBeAg-negative status, the serum HBV DNA load in patients with PC mutation was 7.

Time-Dependent Ultrafast Quadratic Nonlinearity in an Epsilon-Near-Zero Platform.

Ultrafast nonlinearity, which results in modulation of the linear optical response, is a basis for the development of time-varying media, in particular those operating in the epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) regime. Here, we demonstrate that the intraband excitation of hot electrons in the ENZ film results in a second-harmonic resonance shift of ∼10 THz (40 nm) and second-harmonic generation (SHG) intensity changes of >100% with only minor (<1%) changes in linear transmission. The modulation is 10-fold enhanced by a plasmonic metasurface coupled to a film, allowing for ultrafast modulation of circularly polarized SHG.

All-optical ultrafast polarization switching with nonlinear plasmonic metasurfaces.

Optical switching has important applications in optical information processing, optical computing, and optical communications. The long-term pursuit of optical switch is to achieve short switching time and large modulation depth. Among various mechanisms, all-optical switching based on Kerr effect represents a promising solution.

Cephalopod-inspired polymer composites with mechanically tunable infrared properties.

Cephalopods have evolved an all-soft skin that can rapidly display colors for protection, predation, or communication. Development of synthetic analogs to mimic such color-changing abilities in the infrared (IR) region is pivotal to a variety of technologies ranging from soft robotics, flexible displays, dynamic thermoregulatory systems, to adaptive IR disguise platforms. However, the integration of tissue-like mechanical properties and rapid IR modulation ability into smart materials remains challenging.

CREBH promotes autophagy to ameliorate NASH by regulating Coro1a.

Dysfunctional autophagy aggravates oxidative stress and inflammation in hepatocytes and accelerates the progression of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Here, we demonstrated that cAMP-responsive element-binding protein H (CREBH) is a transcriptional regulator of hepatic autophagy in response to diet-induced NASH. The results showed that the upregulation of CREBH in lipid-overloaded hepatocytes improves cell damage, dysfunction of autophagic flux and associated abnormal accumulation of the autophagosome marker LC3-II and autophagic substrate p62.

Significant Enhancement of Circular Polarization in Light Emission through Controlling Helical Pitches of Semiconductor Nanohelices.

Circularly polarized light emission (CPLE) can be potentially applied to three-dimensional displays, information storage, and biometry. However, these applications are practically limited by a low purity of circular polarization, i.e.

The A1762T/G1764A mutations enhance HBV replication by alternating viral transcriptome.

The A1762T/G1764A mutations, one of the most common mutations in the hepatitis B virus basal core promoter, are associated with the progression of chronic HBV infection. However, effects of these mutations on HBV replication remains controversial. This study aimed to systematically investigate the effect of the mutations on HBV replication and its underlying mechanisms.

Holographic THz Beam Generation by Nonlinear Plasmonic Metasurface Emitters.

The advancement of terahertz (THz) technology hinges on the progress made in the development of efficient sources capable of generating and shaping the THz emission. However, the currently available THz sources provide limited control over the generated field. Here, we use near-field interactions in nonlinear Pancharatnam-Berry phase plasmonic metasurfaces to achieve deep subwavelength, precise, and continuous control over the local amplitude of the emitted field.

Microbiome predators in changing soils.

Microbiome predators shape the soil microbiome and thereby soil functions. However, this knowledge has been obtained from small-scale observations in fundamental rather than applied settings and has focused on a few species under ambient conditions. Therefore, there are several unaddressed questions on soil microbiome predators: (1) What is the role of microbiome predators in soil functioning? (2) How does global change affect microbiome predators and their functions? (3) How can microbiome predators be applied in agriculture? We show that there is sufficient evidence for the vital role of microbiome predators in soils and stress that global changes impact their functions, something that urgently needs to be addressed to better understand soil functioning as a whole.

Nematode biomass changes along an elevational gradient are trophic group dependent but independent of body size.

Aboveground, large and higher trophic-level organisms often respond more strongly to environmental changes than small and lower trophic-level organisms. However, whether this trophic or size-dependent sensitivity also applies to the most abundant animals, microscopic soil-borne nematodes, remains largely unknown. Here, we sampled an altitudinal transect across the Tibetan Plateau and applied a community-weighted mean (CWM) approach to test how differences in climatic and edaphic properties affect nematode CWM biomass at the level of community, trophic group and taxon mean biomass within trophic groups.

Cuproptosis-related gene SERPINE1 is a prognostic biomarker and correlated with immune infiltrates in gastric cancer.

Purpose: The serine protease inhibitor clade E member 1 (SERPINE1) has been studied as a potential biomarker in a variety of cancers, but poorly studied in gastric cancer (GC). The purpose of this study was to explore the prognostic value of SERPINE1 in GC and primarily analyze its functions.

Methods: We analyzed the the prognostic value of SERPINE1 and studied the relationship with clinicopathologic biomarkers in gastric cancer.

A Centimeter-Scale Dielectric Metasurface for the Generation of Cold Atoms.

The single-beam magneto-optical trap (MOT) based on the diffractive optical element offers a new route to develop compact cold atom sources. However, the optical efficiency in the previous single-beam MOT systems is usually low and unbalanced, which will affect the quality of the trapped atoms. To solve this issue, we developed a centimeter-scale dielectric metasurface optical chip with dynamic phase distributions, which was used to split a single incident laser beam into five separate ones with well-defined polarization states and uniform energy distributions.

Cationic Gelatin Cross-Linked with Transglutaminase and Its Electrospinning in Aqueous Solution.

Gelatin (GE) is a renewable biopolymer with abundant active groups that are beneficial for manufacturing functional biomaterials via GE modification. An antibacterial fibrous GE film was prepared by electrospinning the modified GE in an aqueous solution. The original GE was modified by reacting it with ,-dimethyl epoxypropyl octadecyl ammonium chloride (QAS), and then it was cross-linked with transglutaminase (TGase).