The association between circulating short-chain fatty acids and blood pressure in Chinese elderly population.

The gut microbiome primarily generates short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) by fermenting dietary fibers. Though previous studies have linked SCFAs to blood pressure, there remains a lack of research on the relationship between SCFAs levels in the serum of elderly individuals and blood pressure. Based on this, we investigated the associations of serum SCFAs with blood pressure in Chinese older adults in a cross-sectional study.

Harnessing Enantioselective Optical Forces by Quasibound States in the Continuum.

Enantioselective optical forces have garnered significant attention, because they provide a noninvasive means to separate chiral objects. A promising approach to enhance enantioselective optical forces is spatially overlapping and boosting electric and magnetic fields to create giant superchiral fields. Here, we utilize metasurfaces composed of asymmetric silicon dimers that support two distinct quasibound states in the continuum (quasi BICs).

Preparation of Perovskite-Type LaMnO and Its Catalytic Degradation of Formaldehyde in Wastewater.

Formaldehyde (HCHO) is identified as the most toxic chemical among 45 organic compounds found in industrial wastewater, posing significant harm to both the environment and human health. In this study, a novel approach utilizing the Lanthanum-manganese complex oxide (LaMnO)/peroxymonosulfate (PMS) system was proposed for the effective removal of HCHO from wastewater. Perovskite-Type LaMnO was prepared by sol-gel method.

Observation of spatiotemporal optical vortices enabled by symmetry-breaking slanted nanograting.

Providing additional degrees of freedom to manipulate light, spatiotemporal optical vortex (STOV) beams carrying transverse orbital angular momentum are of fundamental importance for spatiotemporal control of light-matter interactions. Unfortunately, existing methods to generate STOV are plagued by various limitations such as inefficiency, bulkiness, and complexity. Here, we theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate a microscale singlet platform composed of a slanted nanograting to generate STOV.

Effects of amoxicillin and metronidazole as an adjunct to scaling and root planing on glycemic control in patients with periodontitis and type 2 diabetes: A short-term randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To assess the effects of amoxicillin and metronidazole with scaling and root planing (SRP) on periodontal parameters and glycemic control in patients with severe periodontitis and diabetes mellitus.

Background: Adjunctive antibiotics use is advantageous for treating periodontitis in patients with severe periodontitis and diabetes. However, the effects of adjunctive antibiotic use on hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels remain unclear.

Compact meta-optics infrared camera based on a polarization-insensitive metalens with a large field of view.

Metasurfaces have recently emerged as a crucial tool because they achieve spherical-aberration-free focusing when exposed to normal incident light. Nevertheless, these metasurfaces often exhibit considerable coma when subjected to oblique incident light, thereby limiting their imaging field of view. In light of this, our study presents the design and an experimental demonstration of a polarization-insensitive, large-field-of-view metalens that uses a silicon metasurface.

miR-27a-5p alleviates periodontal inflammation by targeting phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten.

Introduction: MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a type of non-coding RNA, have been demonstrated to be essential posttranscriptional modulators in oral diseases and inflammatory responses. However, the specific role of miR-27a-5p in periodontitis requires further investigation. In this study, we used both cellular and animal models to determine how miR-27a-5p affects the pathogenesis of periodontitis and its associated biological functions.

Dielectric Metasurface for Synchronously Spiral Phase Contrast and Bright-Field Imaging.

Spiral phase contrast imaging and bright-field imaging are two widely used modes in microscopy, providing distinct morphological information about objects. However, conventional microscopes are always unable to operate with these two modes at the same time and need additional optical elements to switch between them. Here, we present a microscopy setup that incorporates a dielectric metasurface capable of achieving spiral phase contrast imaging and bright-field imaging synchronously.

Lithium-plasmon-based low-powered dynamic color display.

Display and power supply have been two essential and independent cornerstones of modern electronics. Here, we report a lithium-plasmon-based low-powered dynamic color display with intrinsic dual functionality (plasmonic display and energy recycling unit) which is a result of the electric-field-driven transformation of nanostructured lithium metals. Dynamic color displays are enabled by plasmonic transformation through electrodeposition (electrostripping) of lithium metals during the charging (discharging) process, while the consumed energy for coloring can be retrieved in the inverse process respectively.

Generation of Perfect Electron Vortex Beam with a Customized Beam Size Independent of Orbital Angular Momentum.

The electron vortex beam (EVB)-carrying quantized orbital angular momentum (OAM) plays an essential role in a series of fundamental research. However, the radius of the transverse intensity profile of a doughnut-shaped EVB strongly depends on the topological charge of the OAM, impeding its wide applications in electron microscopy. Inspired by the perfect vortex in optics, herein, we demonstrate a perfect electron vortex beam (PEVB), which completely unlocks the constraint between the beam size and the beam's OAM.

Versatile full-colour nanopainting enabled by a pixelated plasmonic metasurface.

The growing interest to develop modern digital displays and colour printing has driven the advancement of colouration technologies with remarkable speed. In particular, metasurface-based structural colouration shows a remarkable high colour saturation, wide gamut palette, chiaroscuro presentation and polarization tunability. However, previous approaches cannot simultaneously achieve all these features.

Synthesizing ultrafast optical pulses with arbitrary spatiotemporal control.

The ability to control the instantaneous state of light, from high-energy pulses down to the single-photon level, is an indispensable requirement in photonics. This has, for example, facilitated spatiotemporal probing and coherent control of ultrafast light-matter interactions, and enabled capabilities such as generation of exotic states of light with complexity, or at wavelengths, that are not easily accessible. Here, by leveraging the multifunctional control of light at the nanoscale offered by metasurfaces embedded in a Fourier transform setup, we present a versatile approach to synthesize ultrafast optical transients with arbitrary control over its complete spatiotemporal evolution.

Improving Photoelectric Conversion with Broadband Perovskite Metasurface.

The miniaturization and integration of optoelectronic devices require progressive size reduction of active layers, resulting in less optical absorption and lower quantum efficiency. In this work, we demonstrate that introducing a metasurface made of hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite (HOIP) can significantly enhance broadband absorption and improve photon-to-electron conversion, which roots from exciting Mie resonances together with suppressing optical transmission. On the basis of the HOIP metasurface, a broadband photodetector has been fabricated where photocurrent boosts more than 10 times in the frequency ranging from ultraviolet to visible.

Vertically Aligned Micropillar Arrays Coated with a Conductive Polymer for Advanced Pseudocapacitance Energy Storage.

With the development of high-performance supercapacitors, a conductive polymer (CP)-based pseudocapacitance electrode with good electrical conductivity and low processing costs holds a promising application prospect. As the core component of supercapacitors, the CP electrode with adjustable spacing, a high specific surface area, and a faster ion diffusion path has been extensively investigated. Herein, based on accurate top-down photolithography and electropolymerization approaches, we fabricate a CP-coated vertically aligned micropillar array (MPA) electrode.

Multifunctional metasurfaces enabled by simultaneous and independent control of phase and amplitude for orthogonal polarization states.

Monochromatic light can be characterized by its three fundamental properties: amplitude, phase, and polarization. In this work, we propose a versatile, transmission-mode all-dielectric metasurface platform that can independently manipulate the phase and amplitude for two orthogonal states of polarization in the visible frequency range. For proof-of-concept experimental demonstration, various single-layer metasurfaces composed of subwavelength-spaced titanium-dioxide nanopillars are designed, fabricated, and characterized to exhibit the ability of polarization-switchable multidimensional light-field manipulation, including polarization-switchable grayscale nanoprinting, nonuniform cylindrical lensing, and complex-amplitude holography.

Broadband generation of perfect Poincaré beams via dielectric spin-multiplexed metasurface.

The term Poincaré beam, which describes the space-variant polarization of a light beam carrying spin angular momentum (SAM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM), plays an important role in various optical applications. Since the radius of a Poincaré beam conventionally depends on the topological charge number, it is difficult to generate a stable and high-quality Poincaré beam by two optical vortices with different topological charge numbers, as the Poincaré beam formed in this way collapses upon propagation. Here, based on an all-dielectric metasurface platform, we experimentally demonstrate broadband generation of a generalized perfect Poincaré beam (PPB), whose radius is independent of the topological charge number.

Broadband detection of multiple spin and orbital angular momenta via dielectric metasurface.

Light beams carrying spin angular momentum (SAM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM) have created novel opportunities in the areas of optical communications, imaging, micromanipulation and quantum optics. However, complex optical setups are required to simultaneously manipulate, measure and analyze these states, which significantly limits system integration. Here, we introduce a novel detection approach for measuring multiple SAM and OAM modes simultaneously through a planar nanophotonic demultiplexer based on an all-dielectric metasurface.

Failure Analysis of the Tree Column Structures Type AlSi10Mg Alloy Branches Manufactured by Selective Laser Melting.

AlSi10Mg alloy branches were fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM), and the branches were employed to evaluate their effect on the mechanical properties. When the porous branches were compressed along its building direction, the tree column structures-type AlSi10Mg alloy branches collapsed twice, which had typical elastic, shear, collapse, and densification stages. The compressive stress concentration at the interface between the support and the porous body caused the fracture of the tree column structures-type AlSi10Mg alloy branches.

Photonic Spin-Multiplexing Metasurface for Switchable Spiral Phase Contrast Imaging.

As the two most representative operation modes in an optical imaging system, bright-field imaging and phase contrast imaging can extract different morphological information on an object. Developing a miniature and low-cost system capable of switching between these two imaging modes is thus very attractive for a number of applications, such as biomedical imaging. Here, we propose and demonstrate that a Fourier transform setup incorporating an all-dielectric metasurface can perform a two-dimensional spatial differentiation operation and thus achieve isotropic edge detection.

Photorealistic full-color nanopainting enabled by low-loss metasurface.

We realize a dielectric metasurface that enables full-color generation and ultrasmooth brightness variation. The reproduced artwork "Girl with a Pearl Earring" features photorealistic color representation and stereoscopic image impression, mimicking the texture of an oil-painting.

Photonic Metamaterial Absorbers: Morphology Engineering and Interdisciplinary Applications.

Recent advances in nanofabrication technologies have spurred many breakthroughs in the field of photonic metamaterials that provide efficient ways of manipulating light-matter interaction at subwavelength scales. As one of the most important applications, photonic metamaterials can be used to implement novel optical absorbers. First the morphology engineering of various photonic metamaterial absorbers is discussed, which is highly associated with impendence matching conditions and resonance modes of the absorbers, thus directly determines their absorption efficiency, operational bandwidth, incident angle, and polarization dependence.

Interactions among moderate/severe periodontitis, ADIPOQ-rs1501299, and LEPR-rs1137100 polymorphisms on the risk of type 2 diabetes in a Chinese population.

Objective: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a complex disease influenced by genes and the environment. Periodontitis a demonstrated risk factor of T2DM. Previous studies related to gene-environment interactions on the risk of T2DM mainly focused on gene-obesity interactions.