Hollow Gaussian beam-based experimental investigation on echo measurements under atmospheric turbulence and central obstruction.

Despite their potential, Cassegrain systems face challenges due to central obstruction, resulting in reduced emitting efficiency. Optical vortex (OV) beams, known for their unique orbital angular momentum (OAM) characteristics, show promise in enhancing transmission efficiency. However, the existence of central phase singularity in OV beams may limits their effectiveness in laser ranging.

An Integrated Neural Optrode with Modification of Polymer-Carbon Composite Films for Suppression of the Photoelectric Artifacts.

Optogenetics-based integrated photoelectrodes with high spatiotemporal resolution play an important role in studying complex neural activities. However, the photostimulation artifacts caused by the high level of integration and the high impedance of metal recording electrodes still hinder the application of photoelectrodes for optogenetic studies of neural circuits. In this study, a neural optrode fabricated on sapphire GaN material was proposed, and 4 μLEDs and 14 recording microelectrodes were monolithically integrated on a shank.

Characteristics of the Mixed Yogurt Fermented from Cow-Soy Milk in the Presence of Transglutaminase.

The mixed yogurt was fermented from Cow-Soy milk and modified by transglutaminase (TG). The effects of mixed milk and TG on the quality characteristics of mixed yogurt were investigated by texture characteristics, rheology (rheometer) and structure (scanning electron microscopy). The findings revealed that the mixed yogurt with 50% cow milk exhibited lower hardness, viscosity and consistency.

Wireless Intelligent Patch for Closed-loop In Situ Wound Management.

Wound infections pose a major healthcare issue, affecting the well-being of millions of patients worldwide. Effective intervention and on-site detection are important in wound management. However, current approaches are hindered by time-consuming analysis and a lack of technology for real-time monitoring and prompt therapy delivery.

Ultra-low frequency magnetic energy focusing for highly effective wireless powering of deep-tissue implantable electronic devices.

The limited lifespan of batteries is a challenge in the application of implantable electronic devices. Existing wireless power technologies such as ultrasound, near-infrared light and magnetic fields cannot charge devices implanted in deep tissues, resulting in energy attenuation through tissues and thermal generation. Herein, an ultra-low frequency magnetic energy focusing (ULFMEF) methodology was developed for the highly effective wireless powering of deep-tissue implantable devices.

Co-selection mechanism for bacterial resistance to major chemical pollutants in the environment.

Bacterial resistance is an emerging global public health problem, posing a significant threat to animal and human health. Chemical pollutants present in the environment exert selective pressure on bacteria, which acquire resistance through co-resistance, cross-resistance, co-regulation, and biofilm resistance. Resistance genes are horizontally transmitted in the environment through four mechanisms including conjugation transfer, bacterial transformation, bacteriophage transduction, and membrane vesicle transport, and even enter human bodies through the food chain, endangering human health.

Structural basis of the American mink ACE2 binding by Y453F trimeric spike glycoproteins of SARS-CoV-2.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) enters the host cell by binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). While evolutionarily conserved, ACE2 receptors differ across various species and differential interactions with Spike (S) glycoproteins of SARS-CoV-2 viruses impact species specificity. Reverse zoonoses led to SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks on multiple American mink (Mustela vison) farms during the pandemic and gave rise to mink-associated S substitutions known for transmissibility between mink and zoonotic transmission to humans.

China's current forest age structure will lead to weakened carbon sinks in the near future.

Forests are chiefly responsible for the terrestrial carbon sink that greatly reduces the buildup of CO concentrations in the atmosphere and alleviates climate change. Current predictions of terrestrial carbon sinks in the future have so far ignored the variation of forest carbon uptake with forest age. Here, we predict the role of China's current forest age in future carbon sink capacity by generating a high-resolution (30 m) forest age map in 2019 over China's landmass using satellite and forest inventory data and deriving forest growth curves using measurements of forest biomass and age in 3,121 plots.

Multi-Target Neural Differentiation (MTND) Therapeutic Cocktail to Suppress Brain Tumor.

Brain tumors have been proved challenging to treat. Here we established a Multi-Target Neural Differentiation (MTND) therapeutic cocktail to achieve effective and safe treatment of brain malignancies by targeting the important hallmarks in brain cancers: poor cell differentiation and compromised cell cycle. In-vitro and in-vivo experiments confirmed the significant therapeutic effect of our MTND therapy.

Worm Generator: A System for High-Throughput Screening.

Large-scale screening of molecules in organisms requires high-throughput and cost-effective evaluating tools during preclinical development. Here, a novel screening strategy combining hierarchically structured biohybrid triboelectric nanogenerators (HB-TENGs) arrays with computational bioinformatics analysis for high-throughput pharmacological evaluation using is described. Unlike the traditional methods for behavioral monitoring of the animals, which are laborious and costly, HB-TENGs with micropillars are designed to efficiently convert animals' behaviors into friction deformation and result in a contact-separation motion between two triboelectric layers to generate electrical outputs.

Ferromagnetic Flexible Electronics for Brain-Wide Selective Neural Recording.

Flexible microelectronics capable of straightforward implantation, remotely controlled navigation, and stable long-term recording hold great promise in diverse medical applications, particularly in deciphering complex functions of neural circuits in the brain. Existing flexible electronics, however, are often limited in bending and buckling during implantation, and unable to access a large brain region. Here, an injectable class of electronics with stable recording, omnidirectional steering, and precise navigating capabilities based on magnetic actuation is presented.

An implantable ultrasound-powered device for the treatment of brain cancer using electromagnetic fields.

Brain tumors have been proved challenging to treat. Here, we present a promising alternative by developing an implantable ultrasound-powered tumor treating device (UP-TTD) that electromagnetically disrupts the rapid division of cancer cells without any adverse effects on normal neurons, thereby safely inhibiting brain cancer recurrence. In vitro and in vivo experiments confirmed the significant therapeutic effect of the UP-TTD, with ~58% inhibition on growth rate of clinical tumor cells and ~78% reduction of cancer area in tumor-bearing rats.

3D Upconversion Barcodes for Combinatory Wireless Neuromodulation in Behaving Animals.

Upconversion techniques offer all-optical wireless alternatives to modulate targeted neurons in behaving animals, but most existing upconversion-based optogenetic devices show prefixed emission that is used to excite just one channelrhodopsin at a restricted brain region. Here, a hierarchical upconversion device is reported to enable spatially selective and combinatory optogenetics in behaving rodent animals. The device assumes a multiarrayed optrode format containing engineered upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) to deliver dynamic light palettes as a function of excitation wavelength.

Effects of composting on the fate of doxycycline, microbial community, and antibiotic resistance genes in swine manure and broiler manure.

Aerobic composting is an economical and effective technology that is widely used to treat animal manure. To study the fate of doxycycline (DOX), the microbial community, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) during composting, aerobic composting of broiler manure and swine manure was carried out under natural environmental conditions. Aerobic composting effectively removed DOX (with a removal rate > 97%) and most ARGs from animal manure.

Fish Capsules: A System for High-Throughput Screening of Combinatorial Drugs.

Large-scale screening of molecules heavily relies on phenotyping of small living organisms during preclinical development. However, deep profiling candidate therapeutics on whole animals typically requires laborious manipulations and anesthetic treatment using traditional techniques or automated tools. Here, a novel fish capsule system that combines automated zebrafish encapsulating technology and droplet microarray strategy for in vivo functional screening of mono/polytherapies is described.

Dissecting Cellular Heterogeneity Based on Network Denoising of scRNA-seq Using Local Scaling Self-Diffusion.

Identifying the phenotypes and interactions of various cells is the primary objective in cellular heterogeneity dissection. A key step of this methodology is to perform unsupervised clustering, which, however, often suffers challenges of the high level of noise, as well as redundant information. To overcome the limitations, we proposed self-diffusion on local scaling affinity (LSSD) to enhance cell similarities' metric learning for dissecting cellular heterogeneity.

Keggin-type polyoxometalates as Cu(II) chelators in the context of Alzheimer's disease.

Two Keggin polyoxometalates were used as new copper ligands to counteract the effects of Cu(Amyloid-β) interaction. Their ability to remove Cu from Cu(Amyloid-β), to stop Cu(Amyloid-β) induced formation of reactive oxygen species and to restore apo-like self-assembly of Cu(Amyloid-β) was shown.

Injectable Black Phosphorus Nanosheets for Wireless Nongenetic Neural Stimulation.

Neurons can be modified to express light-sensitive proteins for enabling stimulation with a high spatial and temporal resolution, but such techniques require gene transfection and systematical implantation. Here, a black phosphorus nanosheet-based injectable strategy is described for wireless neural stimulation both in vitro and in vivo without cell modifications. These nanosheets, with minimal invasiveness, high biocompatibility, and biodegradability, are anchored on cell membranes as miniature near-infrared (NIR) light transducers to create local heating for neural activity excitation.

Large segmented sparse aperture collimation by curvature sensing.

Fine alignment of large, segmented telescopes is critical for achieving high angular resolution. Building an instrument with an equally large monolithic aperture is difficult because of the increasing mass and volume. Sparse aperture testing is a lower-cost solution to alignment and metrology, both in the optics shop and at the observatory.

Low-Invasive Cell Injection based on Rotational Microrobot.

The advancement of cell injections has created a need for accurate, efficient, and low-invasive injections. However, the conventional approaches to reduce cell damage during penetration, mainly optimization of micropipette tips and vision-based automatic injections, have almost reached the limit. Here, described are the design and implementation of a robotic-aided rotatory microinjection system to reduce cell deformation and penetration force during the injection.

High pressure-assisted vacuum-freeze drying: A novel, efficient way to accelerate moisture migration in shrimp processing.

High pressure processing (HPP), as nonthermal processing technology, has the potential to increase the drying rate due to its improvement of heat and mass exchange in different processes. In this study, the moisture migration in shrimps during HPP-vacuum-freeze drying (HPP-VFD) processes has been monitored by using low-field nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance image (MRI) in comparison with hot air-drying and VFD. Based on the T relaxation spectra, three water fractions corresponding to bound water (hydrogen-bonded water), immobile water (water trapped by organization structure or cell member), and free water were observed.