Exploring Carbon Dots for Biological Lasers.

Biological lasers, representing innovative miniaturized laser technology, hold immense potential in the fields of biological imaging, detection, sensing, and medical treatment. However, the reported gain media for biological lasers encounter several challenges complex preparation procedures, high cost, toxicity concerns, limited biocompatibility, and stability issues along with poor processability and tunability. These drawbacks have impeded the sustainable development of biological lasers.

Who Will Be My Friend? The Role of the Liking Gap in Preschooler Friend Selection.

Friend selection is a crucial aspect of social development, particularly during preschool years. This study investigated the role of the liking gap in shaping preschoolers' friend selection mechanisms through two experiments. In Experiment 1 ( = 120), a liking gap task was used to examine whether preschoolers perceive a discrepancy between how much they like familiar friends and how much they believe those friends like them in return.

Rhodamine B-Derived Low-Toxicity Full-Color Carbon Dots with Wide Tunable High-Stable Liquid-State Lasers.

Carbon dots (CDs) serve as a novel, non-toxic, cost-effective, and highly-stable solution-processable nanolaser material. However, compared to commonly used commercial laser dyes, CDs exhibit lower photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs), radiation transition rates, and gain coefficients. Consequently, this leads to higher laser thresholds that significantly impede the expansion of practical applications for CDs.

Fully Atomistic Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Ice Nucleation Near an Antifreeze Protein.

Heterogeneous ice nucleation is a widespread phenomenon in nature. Despite extensive research on ice nucleation near biological antifreeze proteins, a probe for ice nucleation and growth processes at the atomic level is still lacking. Herein, we present simulation evidence of the heterogeneous ice nucleation process on the ice-binding surface (IBS) of the antifreeze protein (TmAFP).

Rich Phase Behaviors of One-Dimensional Interfacial Water via Tuning Interfacial Water-Solid Interaction.

Despite numerous studies of water structures at the two-dimensional water-solid interfaces, much less is known about the phase behaviors of water at the one-dimensional (1D) liquid-solid interface. In this work, the 1D interfacial water phase behavior on the outer surface of carbon nanotube-like (CNT-like) models is studied by tuning the Lennard-Jones potential parameter ε of the surface atoms at various temperatures. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations show that ice nanotubes (INTs) can be spontaneously formed on CNT-like model surfaces without nanoconfinement.

Exploring the characteristics of detrusor after contraction in females with pure urodynamic stress incontinence.

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate detrusor after contraction (DAC) characteristics in females with pure urodynamic stress incontinence (USI).

Methods: We examined the urodynamics database from our urodynamic study center. Urodynamic data from pure USI cases with and without DAC were compared.

Modulating Perovskite Surface Energetics Through Tuneable Ferrocene Interlayers for High-Performance Perovskite Solar Cells.

Achieving rational control over chemical and energetic properties at the perovskite/electron transport layer (ETL) interface is crucial for realizing highly efficient and stable next-generation inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs). To address this, we developed multifunctional ferrocene (Fc)-based interlayers engineered to exhibit adjustable passivating and electrochemical characteristics. These interlayers are designed to reduce non-radiative recombination, and to modulate the work function (WF) and uniformity of the perovskite surface, thereby enhancing device performance.

Highly Efficient Monolithic Perovskite/TOPCon Silicon Tandem Solar Cells Enabled by "Halide Locking".

Perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells (TSCs) are promising candidates for commercialization due to their outstanding power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). However, controlling the crystallization process and alleviating the phases/composition inhomogeneity represent a considerable challenge for perovskite layers grown on rough silicon substrates, ultimately limiting the efficiency and stability of TSC. Here, this study reports a "halide locking" strategy that simultaneously modulates the nucleation and crystal growth process of wide bandgap perovskites by introducing a multifunctional ammonium salt, thioacetylacetamide hydrochloride (TAACl), to bind with all types of cations and anions in the mixed halide perovskite precursor.

Oral microbiota as a biomarker for predicting the risk of malignancy in indeterminate pulmonary nodules: a prospective multicenter study.

Background: Determining the benign or malignant status of indeterminate pulmonary nodules (IPN) with intermediate malignancy risk is a significant clinical challenge. Oral microbiota-lung cancer (LC) interactions have qualified oral microbiota as a promising non-invasive predictive biomarker in IPN.

Materials And Methods: Prospectively collected saliva, throat swabs, and tongue coating samples from 1040 IPN patients and 70 healthy controls across three hospitals.

Can earlobe stimulation serve as a sham for transcutaneous auricular vagus stimulation? Evidence from an alertness study following sleep deprivation.

Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has garnered increasing attention as a safe and effective peripheral neuromodulation technique in various clinical and cognitive neuroscience fields. However, there is ongoing debate about whether the commonly used earlobe control interferes with the objective assessment of taVNS regulatory effects. This study aims to further explore the regulatory effects of taVNS and earlobe stimulation (ES) on alertness levels and physiological indicators following 24 h of sleep deprivation (SD), based on previous findings that both taVNS and ES showed significant positive effects.

External trigeminal nerve stimulation (eTNS) Exhibits relaxation effects in fatigue states following napping deprivation.

Background: In the face of inevitable declines in alertness and fatigue resulting from sleep deprivation, effective countermeasures are essential for maintaining performance. External trigeminal nerve stimulation (eTNS) presents a potential avenue for regulating alertness by activating the locus coeruleus and reticular activating system.

Methods: Here, we conducted a within-subject study with 66 habitual nappers, subjecting them to afternoon nap-deprivation and applying either 20-minute of 120 Hz eTNS or sham stimulation.

Integration of genomics, clinical characteristics and baseline biological profiles to predict the risk of liver injury induced by high-dose methotrexate.

Background: High-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) is commonly employed in the treatment of malignant tumors in children and young adults due to its distinctive therapeutic efficacy. Nonetheless, the systemic exposure to MTX often results in liver injury (drug induced liver injury, DILI), thereby imposing limitations on the sustained administration of HD-MTX. Additionally, individual variations including genetic underpinnings attributable to disparities in therapeutic effects and clinical toxicity remain to be elucidated.

Diagnostic potential of salivary microbiota in persistent pulmonary nodules: identifying biomarkers and functional pathways using 16S rRNA sequencing and machine learning.

Background: The aim of this study was to explore the microbial variations and biomarkers in the oral environment of patients with persistent pulmonary nodules (pPNs) and to reveal the potential biological functions of the salivary microbiota in pPNs.

Materials And Methods: This study included a total of 483 participants (141 healthy controls and 342 patients with pPNs) from June 2022 and January 2024. Saliva samples were subjected to sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene to assess microbial diversity and differential abundance.

Different regulative effects of high- and low-frequency external trigeminal nerve stimulation (eTNS) on sleep activity: Preliminary study.

Study Objective: With the growing prominence of peripheral nerve stimulation technology, the clinical applications and potential neurophysiological mechanisms of external trigeminal nerve stimulation (eTNS) have garnered increasing attention. Despite its status as the sole neuromodulation method commonly employed in sleep, no studies have explored the effects of eTNS at varying frequencies on sleep activities. This study aims to investigate the regulatory effects of high-frequency and low-frequency eTNS on sleep activities using polysomnography.

Stronger Empathy and Better Peer Relationship? One-Year Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis in Preschoolers.

The development of empathy and the establishment of peer relationships significantly influence the quality of preschoolers' social lives. Past research consistently demonstrates a strong correlation between empathy and peer relationships. However, debates persist regarding causality.

A Feature Integration Network for Multi-Channel Speech Enhancement.

Multi-channel speech enhancement has become an active area of research, demonstrating excellent performance in recovering desired speech signals from noisy environments. Recent approaches have increasingly focused on leveraging spectral information from multi-channel inputs, yielding promising results. In this study, we propose a novel feature integration network that not only captures spectral information but also refines it through shifted-window-based self-attention, enhancing the quality and precision of the feature extraction.

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals immune microenvironment niche transitions during the invasive and metastatic processes of ground-glass nodules and part-solid nodules in lung adenocarcinoma.

Background: Radiographically, ground-glass nodules (GGN) and part-solid nodules (PSN) in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) have significant heterogeneity in their clinical manifestations, biological characteristics, and prognosis. This study aimed to explore the heterogeneity of LUAD in different radiological phenotypes and associated factors influencing tumor evolution.

Methods: We performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) on tumor tissues from eight and seven cases of GGN- and PSN-LUAD, respectively, at different disease stages, including minimally invasive adenocarcinoma (MIA), invasive adenocarcinoma (IAC), and metastatic lung cancer (MLC).

Nanopore Identification of Polyglutamine Length via Cross-Slit Sensing.

Nanopore sensing is now reshaping analytical proteomics with its simplicity, convenience, and high sensitivity. Determining the length of polyglutamine (polyQ) is crucial for the rapid screening of Huntington's disease. In this computational study, we present a cross-nanoslit detection approach to determine the polyQ length, where the nanoslit is carved within a two-dimensional (2D) in-plane heterostructure of graphene (GRA) and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN).

HSP70 promotes amino acid-dependent mTORC1 signaling by mediating CHIP-induced NPRL2 ubiquitination and degradation.

Mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) is a master regulator of cell growth and its dysregulation leads to a variety of human diseases. Although NPRL2, an essential component of the GATOR1 complex, is reported to effectively suppress amino acid-induced mTORC1 activation, the regulation of NPRL2 protein stability is unclear. In this study, we show that chaperon-associated ubiquitin ligase CHIP interacts with NPRL2 and promotes its polyubiquitination and proteasomal degradation.

Mechanistic Study of Highly Active Bifunctional Double-Atom Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction and Oxygen Evolution Reactions.

Dual-atom catalysts (DACs) can be very effective for catalyzing both oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, we present theoretical evidence of a new class of highly active DACs, namely, the double-atom embedded in nitrogen-doped graphene sheet 2M-N-C (M = Mn, Fe) on the basis of density functional theory calculations. Importantly, we find that the double active sites of 2M-N-C DACs entail an unconventional catalytic reaction pathway for ORR and OER.