Topologically Protected Vortex Knots in an Experimentally Realizable System.

Ordered media often support vortex structures with intriguing topological properties. Here, we investigate non-Abelian vortices in tetrahedral order using the mathematical formalism of colored links. Due to the generality of our methods, the results apply to all physical systems governed by tetrahedral order, such as the cyclic phase of spin-2 Bose-Einstein condensates and the tetrahedratic phase of bent-core nematic liquid crystals.

Relational anonymity in reducing the harms of illicit drug use: accounts of users of dark web- and street-based services in Finland.

Background: Protecting individual anonymity is a common practice in harm reduction (HR), as it can mitigate the fears that may prevent people from accessing services. Protecting anonymity usually means applying for services with a pseudonym. However, anonymity protection practices have diversified in current HR environments, for example, on the streets or in the Tor network, which relies on technology to guarantee exceptionally strong anonymity.

Temporal Trends of Ischemic Stroke Risk in Patients With Incident Atrial Fibrillation Before Anticoagulation.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major risk factor for ischemic stroke (IS), but whether the magnitude of this risk has changed over time is unknown.

Objectives: This study sought to investigate temporal trends in IS rates in patients with incident AF before oral anticoagulant agent (OAC) therapy.

Methods: The nationwide FinACAF (Finnish Anticoagulation in Atrial Fibrillation) study covers patients with AF at all levels of care in Finland from 2007 to 2018.

Comparative assessment of airborne infection risk tools in enclosed spaces: Implications for disease control.

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, highlighted the importance of understanding transmission modes and implementing effective mitigation strategies. Recognizing airborne transmission as a primary route has reshaped public health measures, emphasizing the need to optimize indoor environments to reduce risks. Numerous tools have emerged to assess airborne infection risks in enclosed spaces, providing valuable resources for public health authorities, researchers, and the general public.

Mechanistic Insights and Technical Challenges in Sulfur-Based Batteries: A Comprehensive / Monitoring Toolbox.

Batteries based on sulfur cathodes offer a promising energy storage solution due to their potential for high performance, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability. However, commercial viability is challenged by issues such as polysulfide migration, volume changes, uneven phase nucleation, limited ion transport, and sluggish sulfur redox kinetics. Addressing these challenges requires insights into the structural, morphological, and chemical evolution of phases, the associated volume changes and internal stresses, and ion and polysulfide diffusion within the battery.

Probabilistic analysis of spatial viscoelastic cues in 3D cell culture using magnetic microrheometry.

Breast tumors are typically surrounded by extracellular matrix (ECM), which is heterogeneous, not just structurally but also mechanically. Conventional rheometry is inadequate for describing cell-size-level spatial differences in ECM mechanics that are evident at micrometer scales. Optical tweezers and passive microrheometry provide a microscale resolution for the purpose but are incapable of measuring ECM viscoelasticity (the liquid-like viscous and solid-like elastic characteristics) at stiffness levels as found in breast tumor biopsies.

Causes of care discontinuity in chronic outpatient care: A mixed method case study.

Background: While health systems are primarily designed for acute health issues, managing life-long conditions often results in chronic care discontinuity. This refers to situations where a chronic patient's planned care fails to actualise.

Research Design: This study descriptively explores the reasons behind chronic care discontinuity in outpatient care.

Controlling Raman enhancement in particle-aperture hybrid nanostructures by interlayer spacing.

Here we show how surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) features can be fine-tuned in optically active substrates made of layered materials. To demonstrate this, we used DNA-assisted lithography (DALI) to create substrates with silver bowtie nanoparticle-aperture pairs and then coated the samples with rhodamine 6G (R6G) molecules. By varying the spacing between the aperture and particle layer, we were able to control the strength of the interlayer coupling between the plasmon resonances of the apertures and those of the underlying bowtie particles.

Precise Large-Scale Chemical Transformations on Surfaces: Deep Learning Meets Scanning Probe Microscopy with Interpretability.

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques have shown great potential in fabricating nanoscale structures endowed with exotic quantum properties achieved through various manipulations of atoms and molecules. However, precise control requires extensive domain knowledge, which is not necessarily transferable to new systems and cannot be readily extended to large-scale operations. Therefore, efficient and autonomous SPM techniques are needed to learn optimal strategies for new systems, in particular for the challenge of controlling chemical reactions and hence offering a route to precise atomic and molecular construction.

Health information system support for collaboration between physicians and registered nurses: National cross-sectional user experience surveys from 2010 to 2023.

Background: In addition to storing patient data, health information systems (HISs) should advance continuity and quality of care by supporting collaboration between physicians and registered nurses (RNs). Our aim was to study how physicians and RNs experience this support and how the situation has evolved from 2010 to 2023.

Methods: Nationwide usability-focused cross-sectional surveys were conducted among Finnish physicians in 2010, 2014, 2017, and 2021 and RNs in 2017, 2020, and 2023.

Intrinsic-dimension analysis for guiding dimensionality reduction and data fusion in multi-omics data processing.

Multi-omics data have revolutionized biomedical research by providing a comprehensive understanding of biological systems and the molecular mechanisms of disease development. However, analyzing multi-omics data is challenging due to high dimensionality and limited sample sizes, necessitating proper data-reduction pipelines to ensure reliable analyses. Additionally, its multimodal nature requires effective data-integration pipelines.

TMS-evoked potential propagation reflects effective brain connectivity.

Cognition is achieved through communication between brain regions. Consequently, there is considerable interest in measuring effective connectivity. A promising effective connectivity metric is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) evoked potentials (TEPs), an inflection in amplitude of the electroencephalogram recorded from one brain region as a result of TMS applied to another region.

Highly stable and conformal Ti-organic thin films from sustainable precursors atomic/molecular layer deposition towards green energy applications.

Thin-film deposition using sustainable precursors is required for various next-generation green energy applications. Here we report two atomic/molecular layer deposition processes for appreciably stable and conformal Ti-organic thin films and TiO:organic superlattices with potential in battery, photocatalysis and thermoelectric applications. These processes are based on the safe and sustainable titanium isopropoxide as the titanium precursor.

Multimodal prediction of the need of clozapine in treatment resistant schizophrenia; a pilot study in first-episode psychosis.

As many as one third of the patients diagnosed with schizophrenia do not respond to first-line antipsychotic medication. This group may benefit from the atypical antipsychotic medication clozapine, but initiation of treatment is often delayed, which may worsen prognosis. Predicting which patients do not respond to traditional antipsychotic medication at the onset of symptoms would provide fast-tracked treatment for this group of patients.

Refined Industrial Tannins via Sequential Fractionation: Exploiting Well-Defined Molecular Structures for Controlled Performance in Pickering Emulsions Costabilized with Chitin Nanofibrils.

Tannins from (black wattle) are one of the few industrially available sources of nonlignin polyphenols. The intrinsic chemical heterogeneity and high dispersity of industrial tannins complicate their use in applications where the reactivity or colloidal interactions need to be precisely controlled. Here, we employ a solubility-centered sequential fractionation to obtain homogeneous tannin fractions with a dispersity index lower than 2.

Accelerated design of solid bio-based foams for plastics substitutes.

Biobased substitutes for plastics are a future necessity. However, the design of substitute materials with similar or improved properties is a known challenge. Here we show an example case of optimizing the mechanical properties of a fully biobased methylcellulose-fiber composite material.

Ultrafast Control over Stiffening and Softening of Coherent Interlayer Coupling in WSe/WS Heterobilayers.

Twisted van der Waals heterostructures have led to emerging layer-dependent correlated physics in moiré potentials. While optoelectronic controls over interlayer electronic coupling have been reported, the concomitant interlayer vibration has not yet been controlled. Here, we report experimental evidence of ultrafast optical control over the amplitude and oscillation period of interlayer breathing phonons in WSe/WS heterobilayers.

Functionalized cellulose nanocrystals reinforced PLA-gelatin electrospun fibers for potential antibacterial wound dressing and coating applications.

This study addresses the critical need for effective antibacterial materials by exploring the innovative integration of dimethyloctadecyl [3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl] ammonium chloride (DTSACl) onto cellulose nanocrystal (CNC), followed by its incorporation into polylactic acid and gelatin matrices to engineer antibacterial nanofiber mats. The modification of CNC with DTSACl (QACNC) was studied and confirmed by FT-IR, C NMR, and XRD analysis. Furthermore, the impact of such addition on the morphology, mechanical, hydrophobic properties, and antibacterial efficacy of the resultant QACNC nanofibers were thoroughly investigated.

Human-in-the-loop active learning for goal-oriented molecule generation.

Machine learning (ML) systems have enabled the modelling of quantitative structure-property relationships (QSPR) and structure-activity relationships (QSAR) using existing experimental data to predict target properties for new molecules. These property predictors hold significant potential in accelerating drug discovery by guiding generative artificial intelligence (AI) agents to explore desired chemical spaces. However, they often struggle to generalize due to the limited scope of the training data.

Operando Investigation of Zr Doping in NMC811 Cathode for High Energy Density Lithium Ion Batteries.

LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.

Micellization of Lipopeptides Containing Toll-like Receptor Agonist and Integrin Binding Sequences.

Short bioactive peptide sequences are of great interest in biomaterials development. We investigate the self-assembly of a lipopeptide containing both the highly cationic CSK toll-like receptor agonist hexapeptide sequence and RGDS integrin-binding motif, i.e.

Sensory Entrained TMS (seTMS) enhances motor cortex excitability.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied to the motor cortex has revolutionized the study of motor physiology in humans. Despite this, TMS-evoked electrophysiological responses show significant variability, due in part to inconsistencies between TMS pulse timing and ongoing brain oscillations. Variable responses to TMS limit mechanistic insights and clinical efficacy, necessitating the development of methods to precisely coordinate the timing of TMS pulses to the phase of relevant oscillatory activity.

Metasurface spectrometers beyond resolution-sensitivity constraints.

Conventional spectrometer designs necessitate a compromise between their resolution and sensitivity, especially as device and detector dimensions are scaled down. Here, we report on a miniaturizable spectrometer platform where light throughput onto the detector is instead enhanced as the resolution is increased. This planar, CMOS-compatible platform is based around metasurface encoders designed to exhibit photonic bound states in the continuum, where operational range can be altered or extended simply through adjusting geometric parameters.