Digital biomarkers for psoriatic arthritis: a qualitative focus group study on patient-perceived opportunities and barriers.

Objectives: The widespread adoption of wearables, for example, smartphones and smartwatches in the daily lives of the general population, allows passive monitoring of physiological and behavioural data in the real world. This qualitative study explores the perspective of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients towards these so-called digital biomarkers (dBMs).

Methods: As part of a Design Thinking approach, six focus groups were conducted involving 27 PsA patients.

Evidence for π-Shifted Cooper Quartets and Few-Mode Transport in PbTe Nanowire Three-Terminal Josephson Junctions.

Josephson junctions are typically characterized by a single phase difference across two superconductors. This conventional two-terminal Josephson junction can be generalized to a multiterminal device where the Josephson energy contains terms with contributions from multiple independent phase variables. Such multiterminal Josephson junctions (MTJJs) are being considered as platforms for engineering effective Hamiltonians with nontrivial topologies, such as Weyl crossings and higher-order Chern numbers.

Early Sagittal Shape of the Spine Predicts Scoliosis Development in a Syndromic (22q11.2DS) Population: A Prospective Longitudinal Study.

Background: Scoliosis is a deformation of the spine and trunk that, in its more severe forms, creates a life-long burden of disease and requires intensive treatment. For its most prevalent form, adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, no underlying condition can be defined, and the pathomechanism appears to be multifactorial; however, it has been suggested that the biomechanics of the spine play a role. For nonidiopathic scoliosis, underlying conditions can be recognized, but what drives the deformity remains unclear.

Revealing Spatial Molecular Heterogeneity of High-Density Biofunctionalized Surfaces Using DNA-PAINT.

The quantification and control of molecular densities and distributions on biofunctionalized surfaces are key for enabling reproducible functions in biosciences. Here, we describe an analysis methodology for quantifying the density and spatial distribution of high-density biofunctionalized surfaces, with densities in the order of 10-10 biomolecules per μm area, in a short measurement time. The methodology is based on single-molecule DNA-PAINT imaging combined with simulation models that compensate for lifetime and spatial undersampling effects, resulting in three distinct molecule counting methods and a statistical test for spatial distribution.

Pore Network Modeling of Intraparticle Transport Phenomena Accompanied by Chemical Reactions.

In this work, a 3D pore network model (PNM) is introduced for modeling reaction-diffusion phenomena, with and without coupled heat transfer, in a spherical porous catalyst particle. The particle geometry is generated by packing thousands of microspheres inside a large sphere to represent the 3D geometry, porosity, and tortuosity of a spherical catalyst particle. A pore-network representation is extracted from this geometry, and a PNM for diffusion-reaction and heat conduction is constructed.

Superchiral Light Emerging from Bound States in the Continuum in Metasurfaces of Si Nanorod Dimers.

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) in all-dielectric metasurfaces enhance light-matter interaction at the nanoscale due to their infinite factors and strong field confinement. Among a variety of phenomena already reported, their impact on chiral light has recently attracted great interest. Here we investigate the emergence of intrinsic and extrinsic optical chirality associated with the excitation of BICs in various metasurfaces made of Si nanorod dimers on a quartz substrate, comparing three cases: parallel nanorods (neutral) and shifted and slanted dimers, with/without index-matching superstrate.

Nanosecond Carrier Lifetime of Hexagonal Ge.

Hexagonal Si Ge with suitable alloy composition promises to become a new silicon compatible direct bandgap family of semiconductors. Theoretical calculations, however, predict that the binary end point of this family, the bulk hex-Ge crystal, is only weakly dipole active. This is in contrast to hex-Si Ge , where translation symmetry is broken by alloy disorder, permitting efficient light emission.

Programmable Optical Synaptic Linking of Neuromorphic Photonic-Electronic RTD Spiking Circuits.

Interconnectivity between functional building blocks (such as neurons and synapses) represents a fundamental functionality for realizing neuromorphic systems. However, in the domain of neuromorphic photonics, synaptic interlinking and cascadability of spiking optical artificial neurons remains challenging and mostly unexplored in experiments. In this work, we report an optical synaptic link between optoelectronic spiking artificial neurons based upon resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) that allows for cascadable spike propagation.

From hydrodynamics to dipolar colloids: Modeling complex interactions and self-organization with generalized potentials.

The self-organization of clusters of particles is a fundamental phenomenon across various physical systems, including hydrodynamic and colloidal systems. One example is that of dense spherical particles submerged in a viscous fluid and subjected to horizontal oscillations. The interaction of the particles with the oscillating flow leads to the formation of one-particle-thick chains or multiple-particle-wide bands, both oriented perpendicular to the oscillation direction.

Rapid On-Site Histology of Lung and Pleural Biopsies Using Higher Harmonic Generation Microscopy and Artificial Intelligence Analysis.

Lung cancer is one of the most prevalent and lethal cancers. To improve health outcomes while reducing health care burden, it becomes crucial to move toward early detection and cost-effective workflows. Currently, there is no method for the on-site rapid histologic feedback on biopsies taken in diagnostic, endoscopic, or surgical procedures.

Odd Viscosity Suppresses Intermittency in Direct Turbulent Cascades.

Intermittency refers to the broken self-similarity of turbulent flows caused by anomalous spatiotemporal fluctuations. In this Letter, we ask how intermittency is affected by a nondissipative viscosity, known as odd viscosity (also Hall viscosity or gyroviscosity), which appears in parity-breaking fluids such as magnetized polyatomic gases, electron fluids under magnetic field, and spinning colloids or grains. Using a combination of Navier-Stokes simulations and theory, we show that intermittency is suppressed by odd viscosity at small scales.

Role of Structural and Compositional Changes of CuO Nanocubes in Nitrate Electroreduction to Ammonia.

Nitrate electroreduction reaction (NORR) to ammonia (NH) still faces fundamental and technological challenges. While Cu-based catalysts have been widely explored, their activity and stability relationship are still not fully understood. Here, we systematically monitored the dynamic alterations in the chemical and morphological characteristics of CuO nanocubes (NCs) during NORR in an alkaline electrolyte.

Supramolecular Polymer Additives as Repairable Reinforcements for Dynamic Covalent Networks.

Employing rigid (in)organic materials as reinforcement for dynamic covalent networks (DCNs) is an effective approach to develop high-performance materials. Yet, recycling of these materials after failure often necessitates inefficient chemical reprocessing or inevitably alters their performance due to unrepairable inert components. Here, a non-covalent reinforcement strategy is presented by introducing a supramolecular additive to a DCN that can reversibly depolymerize and reform on demand, therefore acting as an adaptive and repairable reinforcement.

On the loss in NiO-based inverted metal halide perovskite solar cells.

Recent reports have shown that nickel oxide (NiO) when adopted as a hole transport layer (HTL) in combination with organic layers, such as PTAA or self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), leads to a higher device yield for both single junction as well as tandem devices. Nevertheless, implementing NiO in devices without PTAA or SAM is seldom reported to lead to high-performance devices. In this work, we assess the effect of key NiO properties deemed relevant in literature, namely- resistivity and surface energy, on the device performance and systematically compare the NiO-based devices with those based on PTAA.

In Situ IR Spectroscopy Studies of Atomic Layer-Deposited SnO on Fullerenes for Perovskite Photovoltaics.

In recent years, atomic layer deposition (ALD) has established itself as the state-of-the-art technique for the deposition of SnO buffer layers grown between the fullerene electron transport layer (ETL) and the ITO top electrode in metal halide perovskite-based photovoltaics. The SnO layer shields the underlying layers, i.e.

Heterogeneous force response of chromatin in isolated nuclei.

A quantitative description of nuclear mechanics is crucial for understanding its role in force sensing within eukaryotic cells. Recent studies indicate that the chromatin within the nucleus cannot be treated as a homogeneous material. To elucidate its material properties, we combine optical tweezers manipulation of isolated nuclei with multi-color fluorescence imaging of lamin and chromatin to map the response of nuclei to local deformations.

Toughening Immiscible Polymer Blends: The Role of Interface-Crystallization-Induced Compatibilization Explored Through Nanoscale Visualization.

This study explores the novel approach of interface-crystallization-induced compatibilization (ICIC) via stereocomplexation as a promising method to improve the interfacial strength in thermodynamically immiscible polymers. Herein, two distinct reactive interfacial compatibilizers, poly(styrene--glycidyl methacrylate)--poly(l-lactic acid) (SAL) and poly(styrene--glycidyl methacrylate)--poly(d-lactic acid) (SAD) are synthesized via reactive melt blending in an integrated grafting and blending process. This approach is demonstrated to enhance the interfacial strength of immiscible polyvinylidene fluoride/poly l-lactic acid (PVDF/PLLA) 50/50 blends via ICIC.

Point-Spread Function Deformations Unlock 3D Localization Microscopy on Spherical Nanoparticles.

Nanoparticles (NPs) have proven their applicability in biosensing, drug delivery, and photothermal therapy, but their performance depends critically on the distribution and number of functional groups on their surface. When studying surface functionalization using super-resolution microscopy, the NP modifies the fluorophore's point-spread function (PSF). This leads to systematic mislocalizations in conventional analyses employing Gaussian PSFs.

Speckle Vibrometry for Contactless Instantaneous Heart Rate and Respiration Rate Monitoring on Mechanically Ventilated Patients.

: Contactless monitoring of instantaneous heart rate and respiration rate has a significant clinical relevance. This work aims to use Speckle Vibrometry (i.e.

The role of DNA methylation in chondrogenesis of human iPSCs as a stable marker of cartilage quality.

Background: Lack of insight into factors that determine purity and quality of human iPSC (hiPSC)-derived neo-cartilage precludes applications of this powerful technology toward regenerative solutions in the clinical setting. Here, we set out to generate methylome-wide landscapes of hiPSC-derived neo-cartilages from different tissues-of-origin and integrated transcriptome-wide data to identify dissimilarities in set points of methylation with associated transcription and the respective pathways in which these genes act.

Methods: We applied in vitro chondrogenesis using hiPSCs generated from two different tissue sources: skin fibroblasts and articular cartilage.

Nanostructured Fe-Doped NiS Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction with High Stability at an Industrially-Relevant Current Density.

A novel oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst was prepared by a synthesis strategy consisting of the solvothermal growth of NiS nanostructures on Ni foam, followed by hydrothermal incorporation of Fe species (Fe-NiS/Ni foam). This electrocatalyst displayed a low OER overpotential of 230 mV at 100 mA·cm, a low Tafel slope of 43 mV·dec, and constant performance at an industrially relevant current density (500 mA·cm) over 100 h in a 1.0 M KOH electrolyte, despite a minor loss of Fe in the process.