Dynamical interplay between superconductivity and pseudogap in cuprates as revealed by terahertz third-harmonic generation spectroscopy.

We report on nonlinear terahertz third-harmonic generation (THG) measurements on YBa2Cu3O6+x thin films. Different from conventional superconductors, the THG signal starts to appear in the normal state, which is consistent with the crossover temperature T* of pseudogap over broad doping levels. Upon lowering the temperature, the THG signal shows an anomaly just below Tc in the optimally doped sample. Notably, we observe a beat pattern directly in the measured real-time waveform of the THG signal. We elaborate that the Higgs mode, which develops below Tc, couples to the mode already developed below T*, resulting in an energy level splitting. However, this coupling effect is not evident in underdoped samples. We explore different potential explanations for the observed phenomena. Our research offers valuable insight into the interplay between superconductivity and pseudogap.

Association of anxiety, depression symptoms and sleep quality with chronic kidney disease among older Chinese.

This study aimed to explore the association of anxiety, depression symptoms and sleep quality with chronic kidney disease (CKD) among older Chinese adults. A total of 1025 participants from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS, 2011-2012) were included in our study. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale was used to assess anxiety and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale was used to evaluate depressive symptoms. Logistic regression models were conducted to explore the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidential intervals (CIs). We found that anxiety, depression symptoms and poor sleep quality were positively associated with albuminuria, impaired estimated glomerular filtration (eGFR) and CKD, after adjusting for other covariates. For anxiety symptom, the ORs and 95% CIs were 1.20 (1.15-1.38) for albuminuria, 1.16 (1.12-1.35) for impaired eGFR and 1.18 (1.12-1.36) for CKD, respectively. For depression symptom, the ORs and 95% CIs were 1.15 (1.05-1.23) for albuminuria, 1.14 (1.05-1.20) for impaired eGFR and 1.14 (1.05-1.22) for CKD, respectively. Compared with good sleep quality, the OR and 95% CI of poor sleep quality were 1.12 (1.04-1.35) for albuminuria, 1.10 (1.02-1.30) for impaired eGFR and 1.11 (1.03-1.32) for CKD, respectively. And the positive association was more evident among females, body mass index ≥ 28, smoking and drinking adults. Anxiety, depression symptoms and poor sleep quality are positively associated with CKD. Future cohort studies are needed to confirm the results.

Revealing the frequency-dependent oscillations in the nonlinear terahertz response induced by the Josephson current.

Nonlinear responses of superconductors to intense terahertz radiation has been an active research frontier. Using terahertz pump-terahertz probe spectroscopy, we investigate the c-axis nonlinear optical response of a high-temperature superconducting cuprate. After excitation by a single-cycle terahertz pump pulse, the reflectivity of the probe pulse oscillates as the pump-probe delay is varied. Interestingly, the oscillatory central frequency scales linearly with the probe frequency, a fact widely overlooked in pump-probe experiments. By theoretically solving the nonlinear optical reflection problem on the interface, we show that our observation is well explained by the Josephson-type third-order nonlinear electrodynamics, together with the emission coefficient from inside the material into free space. The latter results in a strong enhancement of the emitted signal whose physical frequency is around the Josephson plasma edge. Our result offers a benchmark for and new insights into strong-field terahertz spectroscopy of related quantum materials.

Moral courage, job-esteem, and social responsibility in disaster relief nurses.

BACKGROUND: Social responsibility can motivate disaster relief nurses to devote themselves to safeguarding rights and interests of people when facing challenges that threaten public health. However, few studies focused on the relationship of moral courage, job-esteem, and social responsibility among disaster relief nurses. OBJECTIVE: To explore the influence of moral courage and job-esteem on the social responsibility in disaster relief nurses and clarify the relationship model between them. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 716 disaster relief nurses from 14 hospitals in central China through an online survey, including moral courage scale, job-esteem scale, and social responsibility questionnaire. The data were analyzed by Pearson's correlation, and the mechanism of the effect of moral courage and job-esteem on social responsibility was completed. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University (Approval Number: 2019016). RESULTS: Disaster relief nurses' moral courage positively impacted social responsibility (r = 0.677, p < 0.01), and moral courage could affect social responsibility through the mediating role of job-esteem. CONCLUSION: Job-esteem mediated between moral courage and social responsibility among disaster relief nurses. Nursing managers regular assessment of nurses' moral courage and interventions such as meetings and workshops can reduce moral distress, foster morally courageous behavior, enhance job-esteem, and improve social responsibility performance among disaster relief nurses.

Impact of comorbidities on clinical prognosis in 1280 patients with different types of COVID-19.

The study aimed to compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with different types (ordinary, severe, and critical) of COVID-19. A total of 1280 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were retrospectively studied, including 793 ordinary patients, 363 severe patients and 124 critical patients. The impact of comorbidities on prognosis in ordinary, severe, and critical patients were compared and analyzed. The most common comorbidities were hypertension (33.0%), followed by diabetes (14.4%). The length of hospital stay and time from the onset to discharge were significantly longer in ordinary patients with comorbidities compared with those without comorbidities. Critical patients with comorbidities had significantly lower cure rate (19.3% vs 38.9%, p<0.05) and significantly higher mortality rate (53.4% vs 33.3%, p<0.05) compared with those without comorbidities. The time from onset to discharge was significantly longer in ordinary patients with hypertension compared with those without hypertension. The mortality rate of critical patients with diabetes was higher than that of patients without diabetes (71.4% vs 42.7%, p<0.05). Men had a significantly increased risk of death than women (OR=4.395, 95% CI 1.896 to 10.185, p<0.05); patients with diabetes had higher risk of death (OR=3.542, 95% CI 1.167 to 10.750, p<0.05). Comorbidities prolonged treatment time in ordinary patients, increased the mortality rate and reduced the cure rate of critical patients; hypertension and diabetes may be important factors affecting the clinical course and prognosis of ordinary and critical patients, respectively.

Multiple organ injury on admission predicts in-hospital mortality in patients with COVID-19.

Multiorgan injury has been implicated in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We aim to assess the impact of organ injury (OI) on prognosis according to the number of affected organs at admission. This is a retrospective cohort study of patients with confirmed COVID-19 in Wuhan Third Hospital & Tongren Hospital of Wuhan University from February 17 to March 22, 2020. We classified the patients according to the presence and number of damaged organs (heart, liver, and kidney). The percentage of patients with no, one, two, or three organs affected was 59.75%, 30.46%, 8.07%, and 1.72%, respectively. With the increasing number of OI, there is a tendency of gradual increase regarding the white blood cell counts, neutrophil counts, levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrogenase, D-dimer, and fibrinogen as well as the incidence of most complications. In a Cox regression model, individuals with OI, old age, and an abnormal level of CRP were at a higher risk of death compared with those without. Patients with three organ injuries had the highest mortality rate (57.9%; hazard ratio [HR] with 95% confidence interval [CI] vs. patients without OI: 22.31 [10.42-47.77], those with two [23.6%; HR = 8.68, 95% CI = 4.58-16.48], one [8.6%; HR = 3.1, 95% CI = 1.7-5.7], or no OI [2.6%]; p < .001). The increasing number of OI was associated with a high risk of mortality in COVID-19 infection.

Cancer increases risk of in-hospital death from COVID-19 in persons <65 years and those not in complete remission.

The impact of cancer on outcome of persons with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) after infection with acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is controversial. We studied 1859 subjects with COVID-19 from seven centers in Wuhan, China, 65 of whom had cancer. We found having cancer was an independent risk factor for in-hospital death from COVID-19 in persons <65 years (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.45, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04, 5.76; P = 0.041) but not in those ≥65 years (HR = 1.12 [0.56, 2.24]; P = 0.740). It was also more common in those not in complete remission. Risks of in-hospital death were similar in subjects with solid cancers and those with hematological cancers. These data may help predict outcomes of persons with cancer and COVID-19.

Risk factors for death in 1859 subjects with COVID-19.

We studied 1859 subjects with confirmed COVID-19 from seven centers in Wuhan 1651 of whom recovered and 208 died. We interrogated diverse covariates for correlations with risk of death from COVID-19. In multi-variable Cox regression analyses increased hazards of in-hospital death were associated with several admission covariates: (1) older age (HR = 1.04; 95% Confidence Interval [CI], 1.03, 1.06 per year increase; P < 0.001); (2) smoking (HR = 1.84 [1.17, 2.92]; P = 0.009); (3) admission temperature per °C increase (HR = 1.32 [1.07, 1.64]; P = 0.009); (4) Log10 neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR; HR = 3.30 [2.10, 5.19]; P < 0.001); (5) platelets per 10 E + 9/L decrease (HR = 0.996 [0.994, 0.998]; P = 0.001); (6) activated partial thromboplastin (aPTT) per second increase (HR = 1.04 [1.02, 1.05]; P < 0.001); (7) Log10 D-dimer per mg/l increase (HR = 3.00 [2.17, 4.16]; P < 0.001); and (8) Log10 serum creatinine per µmol/L increase (HR = 4.55 [2.72, 7.62]; P < 0.001). In piecewise linear regression analyses Log10NLR the interval from ≥0.4 to ≤1.0 was significantly associated with an increased risk of death. Our data identify covariates associated with risk of in hospital death in persons with COVID-19.

Hematological features of persons with COVID-19.

We studied admission and dynamic demographic, hematological and biochemical co-variates in 1449 hospitalized subjects with coronavirus infectious disease-2019 (COVID-19) in five hospitals in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. We identified two admission co-variates: age (Odds Ratio [OR] = 1.18, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] [1.02, 1.36]; P = 0.026) and baseline D-dimer (OR = 3.18 [1.48, 6.82]; P = 0.003) correlated with an increased risk of death in persons with COVID-19. We also found dynamic changes in four co-variates, Δ fibrinogen (OR = 6.45 [1.31, 31.69]; P = 0.022), Δ platelets (OR = 0.95 [0.90-0.99]; P = 0.029), Δ C-reactive protein (CRP) (OR = 1.09 [1.01, 1.18]; P = 0.037), and Δ lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (OR = 1.03 [1.01, 1.06]; P = 0.007) correlated with an increased risk of death. The potential risk factors of old age, high baseline D-dimer, and dynamic co-variates of fibrinogen, platelets, CRP, and LDH could help clinicians to identify and treat subjects with poor prognosis.

Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio as prognostic and predictive factor in patients with coronavirus disease 2019: A retrospective cross-sectional study.

This retrospective study was designed to explore whether neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a prognostic factor in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A cohort of patients with COVID-19 admitted to the Tongren Hospital of Wuhan University from 11 January 2020 to 3 March 2020 was retrospectively analyzed. Patients with hematologic malignancy were excluded. The NLR was calculated by dividing the neutrophil count by the lymphocyte count. NLR values were measured at the time of admission. The primary outcome was all-cause in-hospital mortality. A multivariate logistic analysis was performed. A total of 1004 patients with COVID-19 were included in this study. The mortality rate was 4.0% (40 cases). The median age of nonsurvivors (68 years) was significantly older than survivors (62 years). Male sex was more predominant in nonsurvival group (27; 67.5%) than in the survival group (466; 48.3%). NLR value of nonsurvival group (median: 49.06; interquartile range [IQR]: 25.71-69.70) was higher than that of survival group (median: 4.11; IQR: 2.44-8.12; P < .001). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, after adjusting for confounding factors, NLR more than 11.75 was significantly correlated with all-cause in-hospital mortality (odds ratio = 44.351; 95% confidence interval = 4.627-425.088). These results suggest that the NLR at hospital admission is associated with in-hospital mortality among patients with COVID-19. Therefore, the NLR appears to be a significant prognostic biomarker of outcomes in critically ill patients with COVID-19. However, further investigation is needed to validate this relationship with data collected prospectively.

Ultrabroadband photosensitivity from visible to terahertz at room temperature.

Charge density wave (CDW) is one of the most fundamental quantum phenomena in solids. Different from ordinary metals in which only single-particle excitations exist, CDW also has collective excitations and can carry electric current in a collective fashion. Manipulating this collective condensation for applications has long been a goal in the condensed matter and materials community. We show that the CDW system of 1T-TaS2 is highly sensitive to light directly from visible down to terahertz, with current responsivities on the order of ~1 AW-1 at room temperature. Our findings open a new avenue for realizing uncooled, ultrabroadband, and sensitive photoelectronics continuously down to the terahertz spectral range.

[Impact of sewage discharging on environmental geochemical processes of nutrients in the Yangtze estuarine and tidal flats].

Influences of sewage discharge on environmental geochemical processes of nutrients were investigated in the Yangtze estuarine and tidal flats. The result indicated that the environmental elements obviously responded to sewage discharging. There was obvious enrichment of NH4+ -N, TIN, TDP, Ads-P, Fe-P and CFAP + Ca-P in overlying water, surface sediments and its pore waters adjacent to sewage outlets in the Yangtze Estuary. The enrichment of nutrients N and P was considered to be related not only to the inputs of nutrients from sewage outlets, but also to the changes of environmental factors induced by sewage discharge. On the contrary, there was no significant enrichment of NO(x)(-) -N in the tidal water, pore waters and surface sediments from the Yangtze Estuary, which showed that external inputs of nutrients was not the primary factor controlling the distributions of NO(x)(-) -N. It was also shown that the diffusive fluxes of nutrients N and P across sediment-water interface was markedly higher at sewage outlets than the control sampling sites in tidal flats, indicating that sewage discharge not only increased the accumulation of nutrients N and P in the tidal flats, but also strengthened the exchange processed of nutrients across tidal sediment-water interface.