Perceptions, opportunities and barriers of social engagement among the Chinese older adults: a qualitative study.

Background: Understanding and promoting healthy aging are increasingly important as China transitions into an aging society. Our study examines the challenges and opportunities faced by the older adults in urban areas regarding social engagement, potentially informing the development of effective, context-sensitive interventions and policies.

Methods: The study is based on in-depth interviews with 30 participants from a Northern city in Mainland China regarding their daily lives, attitudes towards and subjective experiences of aging, and involvement in social activities.

Reductive soil disinfestation influences microbial aging of low-density polyethylene and polyhydroxyalkanoate microplastics and microbial communities in plastispheres.

The extensive use of plastic products has led to the accumulation of microplastics (MPs) in agricultural soils, raising concerns about their fate in various environments. Reductive soil disinfestation (RSD) treatment is increasingly being adopted in various countries to address agricultural soil health issues. However, the treatment can alter the soil microbial environment, potentially affecting the fate of contaminants, including MPs.

Environmental level of lanthanum increased phytoextraction of co-occurring cadmium and polystyrene nanoplastics by Sedum alfredii.

Phytoextraction based on hyperaccumulators is a sustainable bioremediation technology. However, hyperaccumulators can only accumulate a single type of pollutants and need long remediation times, inhibiting simultaneous phytoextraction of co-occurring inorganic and organic pollutants. Here, the study indicated that the environmental level of lanthanum, as an emerging pollutant, was absorbed by leaves and induced endocytosis from leaves to roots (systemic endocytosis) in Sedum alfredii.

Metabolomics reveals the potential mechanism of La(III) promoting enrichment of Sodium hydrogen arsenate and Roxarsone in Solanum nigrum L.

The rare earth element lanthanum (La(III)) has been found to effectively enhance crop yields and improve plant growth and development. Arsenic (As), as a class of toxic metals widely found in the environment, poses a serious threat to both ecological and human health. Research on the application of La(III) in phytoremediation to enhance remediation efficiency is currently lacking.

Benthic clade II-type nitrous oxide reducers suppress nitrous oxide emissions in shallow lakes.

Shallow lakes, recognized as hotspots for nitrogen cycling, contribute to the emission of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (NO), but the current emission estimates for this gas have a high degree of uncertainty. However, the role of NO-reducing bacteria (NORB) as NO sinks and their contribution to NO reduction in aquatic ecosystems in response to NO dynamics have not been determined. Here, we investigated the NO dynamics and microbial processes in the nitrogen cycle, which included both NO production and consumption, in five shallow lakes spanning approximately 500 km.

Metal-Graphene Hybrid Terahertz Metasurfaces for Circulating Tumor DNA Detection Based on Dual Signal Amplification.

Terahertz (THz) spectroscopy has impressive capability for label-free biosensing, but its utility in clinical laboratories is rarely reported due to often unsatisfactory detection performances. Here, we fabricated metal-graphene hybrid THz metasurfaces (MSs) for the sensitive and enzyme-free detection of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in pancreatic cancer plasma samples. The feasibility and mechanism of the enhanced effects of a graphene bridge across the MS and amplified by gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were investigated experimentally and theoretically.

Rare earth elements applied to phytoremediation: Enhanced endocytosis promotes remediation of antimony contamination with different valence levels in Solanum nigrum L.

Antimony (Sb) pollution poses a noteworthy risk to human health and ecosystem sustainability, therefore effective, eco-friendly, and widely accepted restoration methods are urgently needed. This study introduces a new approach of using La(III) foliar application on Solanum nigrum L. (S.

Influence of elevated temperature on the species and mobility of chromium in ferrous sulfate-amended contaminated soil.

Ferrous sulfate (FeSO) combined with acid pretreatment is usually employed to remediate contaminated soils containing Cr(VI). However, the long-term efficiency of this stabilization method is important for its sustainability. In this study, a gradient temperature-elevating exposure test was employed to investigate the stability of Cr in FeSO-remediated soil when exposed to elevated temperatures (40 °C, 120 °C, and 500 °C), possibly caused by hot weather and/or wildfires.

Realization of multifunctional transformation based on the vanadium dioxide-assisted metamaterial structure.

In this paper, a multifunctional device and a design method are proposed based on the vanadium dioxide (VO)-assisted metamaterial structure. The structure comprises several layers arranged from top to bottom, including a VO patch layer, a polyimide (PI) dielectric layer, an elliptical metal layer, a VO thin film layer, another PI dielectric layer, and a bottom metal layer. The research results show that the metamaterial structure enables linear-to-linear (LTL) polarization conversion and linear-to-circular (LTC) polarization conversion across multiple frequency bands when the VO is in the insulating state.

Rapid and sensitive detection of Staphylococcus aureus using a THz metamaterial biosensor based on aptamer-functionalized FeO@Au nanocomposites.

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) poses a serious threat to global public health, necessitating the establishment of rapid and simple tools for its accurate identification. Herein, we developed a terahertz (THz) metamaterial biosensor based on aptamer-functionalized FeO@Au nanocomposites for quantitative S.

A comprehensive review on the source, ingestion route, attachment and toxicity of microplastics/nanoplastics in human systems.

Microplastics (MPs)/nanoplastics (NPs) are widely found in the natural environment, including soil, water and the atmosphere, which are essential for human survival. In the recent years, there has been a growing concern about the potential impact of MPs/NPs on human health. Due to the increasing interest in this research and the limited number of studies related to the health effects of MPs/NPs on humans, it is necessary to conduct a systematic assessment and review of their potentially toxic effects on human organs and tissues.

Lanthanum promotes Solanum nigrum L. growth and phytoremediation of cadmium and lead through endocytosis: Physiological and biochemical response, heavy metal uptake and visualization.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are important to enhance agricultural productivity. The utilization of phytoremediation as a green technology for addressing heavy metal (HMs) contamination in soil and wastewater has gained significant attention. In our research, we conducted indoor hydroponic experiments to examine the impacts of lanthanum (La) on the growth and enrichment capacity of Solanum nigrum L.

Enhancement of wide-band trace terahertz absorption spectroscopy based on microstructures: a review.

Research on the interaction between nanoscale materials and light holds significant scientific significance for the development of fields such as optoelectronic conversion and biosensing. The study of micro- and nano-optics has produced numerous outstanding research achievements by utilizing the dielectric optical coupling mechanism and plasmon effects to enhance the interaction between light and matter. These findings have demonstrated tremendous potential for applications in the field of molecular fingerprint sensing.

Foliar spraying of lanthanum activates endocytosis in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) root cells, increasing Cd and Pb accumulation and their bioaccessibility.

Cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) accumulate easily in leafy vegetables and can harm human health. Lanthanum (La) have been used to improve agricultural yield and quality, but the effect of La application on Cd/Pb enrichment in leafy vegetables remains incomplete currently. A previous study reported that the endocytosis in lettuce leaf cells can be activated by La, leading to an increase in Pb accumulation in lettuce leaves.

Terahertz beam characterization by temporal-spatial mapping with a reflecting echelon.

A terahertz beam imaging method was proposed that involves scanning a reflecting echelon with temporal-spatial mapping inversion based on self-developed translation-scan and rotation-scan temporal-spatial mapping (TTSM and RTSM) algorithms. The beam characteristics of a terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) system, such as its size, shape, and energy distribution, were obtained. Besides the weak terahertz beam emitted from a TDS system, this scheme is also suitable for imaging large-size terahertz or laser beams in time-domain systems where existing beam imaging is impractical.

A Meta-Analysis of Influencing Factors on the Activity of BiVO-Based Photocatalysts.

With the continuous advancement of global industrialization, a large amount of organic and inorganic pollutants have been discharged into the environment, which is essential for human survival. Consequently, the issue of water environment pollution has become increasingly severe. Photocatalytic technology is widely used to degrade water pollutants due to its strong oxidizing performance and non-polluting characteristics, and BiVO-based photocatalysts are one of the ideal raw materials for photocatalytic reactions.

Uptake, transport and accumulation of micro- and nano-plastics in terrestrial plants and health risk associated with their transfer to food chain - A mini review.

Waste plastics enter the environment (water, soil, and atmosphere) and degrade into micro- and nano-plastics (MNPs) through physical, chemical, or biological processes. MNPs are ubiquitous in the environment and inevitably interact with terrestrial plants. Terrestrial plants have become important potential sinks, and subsequently, the sources of MNPs.

Using multi-technology to characterize transboundary Hg pollution in the largest presently active Hg deposit in China.

Active Hg mines are primary sources of Hg contamination in the environment of mining districts and surrounding areas. Alleviation of Hg pollution requires knowledge of pollution sources, migration, and transform pathways across various environmental media. Accordingly, the Xunyang Hg-Sb mine, the largest active Hg deposit in China, presently was selected as the study area.

Highly boosted trace-amount terahertz vibrational absorption spectroscopy based on defect one-dimensional photonic crystal.

Although terahertz (THz) spectroscopy demonstrates great application prospects in the fields of fingerprint sensing and detection, traditional sensing schemes face unavoidable limitations in the analysis of trace-amount samples. In this Letter, a novel, to the best of our knowledge, absorption spectroscopy enhancement strategy based on a defect one-dimensional photonic crystal (1D-PC) structure is proposed to achieve strong wideband terahertz wave-matter interactions for trace-amount samples. Based on the Fabry-Pérot resonance effect, the local electric field in a thin-film sample can be boosted by changing the length of the photonic crystal defect cavity, so that the wideband signal of the sample fingerprint can be greatly enhanced.

Flexible Metamaterial Quarter-Wave Plate and Its Application in Blocking the Backward Reflection of Terahertz Waves.

A terahertz flexible metamaterial quarter-wave plate (QWP) is designed and fabricated using polyimide as the substrate in this paper, with a 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth of 0.51 THz and high polarization conversion efficiency and transmittance. The effect of the incidence angle on the polarization conversion performance of the QWP is discussed by measuring the transmissions at multiple incidence angles.

A double-edged sword: Reductive soil disinfestation changes the fates of trace metal elements in soil.

Although the effects of reductive soil disinfestation (RSD) in soil sterilization have been proven in several countries, the potential risks of trace metal elements (TMEs) caused by RSD require further assessment. Here, freshly Cd-spiked soil and historically contaminated greenhouse soil were exposed to RSD and the fates of TMEs, Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn, were investigated. All RSD treatments lasted for 21 days and subsamples were collected at different time intervals.

Foliar application of lanthanum promotes growth and phytoremediation potential Solanum nigrum L.

The hormetic effect of rare earth elements (REEs) has been found in a variety of crops and has been promoting crop growth for decades. Spraying leaves with REEs can enhance the endocytosis of plant roots. The non-selectivity of endocytosis is conducive to the direct absorption of environmental pollutants.

Optimize lettuce washing methods to reduce the risk of microplastics ingestion: The evidence from microplastics residues on the surface of lettuce leaves and in the lettuce washing wastewater.

Airborne microplastics have been identified as an emerging contaminant that can adhere to the surface of leafy vegetables, and if not completely removed by washing, there is a high risk that human consumption of these plastics may cause harm to humans. In this study, we simulated atmospheric pollution by spraying microplastic particles (MPs) with particle sizes of 100 nm and 500 nm to determine whether MPs particles would adhere to the lettuce surface and whether different common cleaning methods (water rinsing, ultrasonic vibration cleaning, and edible detergent cleaning) would be effective in removing MPs from the leaf surfaces. We scanned the leaf surface with a laser confocal microscope and examined the wash water with a flow cytometer and found that simple rinsing was not effective in removing plastic particles from lettuce leaves.

Polymer negative curvature ring-core fiber for OAM modes guidance.

In this paper, a novel, to the best of our knowledge, polymer-based negative curvature ring-core fiber (NC-RCF) is proposed and investigated. The hollow-core NC-RCF is composed of TOPAS as background material. The inner and outer negative curvature structure layers are connected to the annular area, and the orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes can propagate in the annular core.