Smartphone-assisted hydrogel platform based on BSA-CeO2 nanoclusters for dual-mode determination of acetylcholinesterase and organophosphorus pesticides.

A dual-mode sensor was developed for detecting acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) via bifunctional BSA-CeO2 nanoclusters (NCs) with oxidase-mimetic activity and fluorescence property. The dual-mode sensor has the characteristics of self-calibration and self-verification, meeting the needs of different detection conditions and provide more accurate results. The colorimetric sensor and fluorescence sensor have been successfully used for detecting AChE with limit of detection (LOD) of 0.081 mU/mL and 0.056 mU/mL, respectively, while the LOD for OPs were 0.9 ng/mL and 0.78 ng/mL, respectively. The recovery of AChE was 93.9-107.2% and of OPs was 95.8-105.0% in actual samples. A novel strategy was developed to monitor pesticide residues and detect AChE level, which will motivate future work to explore the potential applications of multifunctional nanozymes.

When Jupiter Meets Saturn: Aby Warburg, Karl Sudhoff, and Astrological Medicine in the Age of Disenchantment.

As disenchantment began to be recognized as a recurring, never-ending process in recent scholarship, "When Jupiter Meets Saturn" argues that Aby Warburg and Karl Sudhoff's debate on Reformation astrological medicine provided a new theory of the emergence of modern science and rationality. Drawing on their encounter and divergence in interwar Germany, especially their curatorial collaboration for the 1911 Internationale Hygiene-Ausstellung, the article shows that Warburg and Sudhoff generated completely opposite historical evaluations of astrological medicine using the very same materials. Approaching history as healers, they developed different ways of seeing from medical epistemologies and brought out entangled temporalities from images.

Colouring flowers: books, art, and experiment in the household of Margery and Henry Power.

This article examines the early modern household's importance for producing experimental knowledge through an examination of the Halifax household of Margery and Henry Power. While Henry Power has been studied as a natural philosopher within the male-dominated intellectual circles of Cambridge and London, the epistemic labour of his wife, Margery Power, has hitherto been overlooked. From the 1650s, this couple worked in tandem to enhance their understanding of the vegetable world through various paper technologies, from books, paper slips and recipe notebooks to Margery's drawing album and Henry's published Experimental Philosophy. Focusing on Margery's practice of hand-colouring flower books, her copied and original drawings of flowers and her experimental production of ink, we argue that Margery's sensibility towards colour was crucial to Henry's microscopic observations of plants. Even if Margery's sophisticated knowledge of plants never left the household, we argue that her contribution was nevertheless crucial to the observation and representation of plants within the community of experimental philosophy. In this way, our article highlights the importance of female artists within the history of scientific observation, the use of books and paperwork in the botanical disciplines, and the relationship between household science and experimental philosophy.

Nanoporous GaN onp-type GaN: a Mg out-diffusion compensation layer for heavily Mg-dopedp-type GaN.

Embeddingp-type gallium nitride (p-GaN) with controlled Mg out-diffusion in adjacent epitaxial layers is a key for designing various multi-junction structures with high precision and enabling more reliable bandgap engineering of III-nitride-based optoelectronics and electronics. Here, we report, for the first time, experimental evidence of how nanoporous GaN (NP GaN) can be introduced as a compensation layer for the Mg out-diffusion fromp-GaN. NP GaN onp-GaN provides anex-situformed interface with oxygen and carbon impurities, compensating for Mg out-diffusion fromp-GaN. To corroborate our findings, we used two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) formed at the interface of AlGaN/GaN as the indicator to study the impact of the Mg out-diffusion from underlying layers. Electron concentration evaluated from the capacitance-voltage measurement shows that 9 × 1012cm-2of carriers accumulate in the AlGaN/GaN 2DEG structure grown on NP GaN, which is the almost same number of carriers as that grown with nop-GaN. In contrast, 2DEG onp-GaN without NP GaN presents 9 × 109cm-2of the electron concentration, implying the 2DEG structure is depleted by Mg out-diffusion. The results address the efficacy of NP GaN and its' role in successfully embeddingp-GaN in multi-junction structures for various state-of-the-art III-nitride-based devices.

Effects of Soluble Phosphate on Phosphate-Solubilizing Characteristics and Expression of gcd Gene in Pseudomonas frederiksbergensis JW-SD2.

Phosphate-solubilizing bacteria have the ability of solubilizing mineral phosphate in soil and promoting growth of plants, but the activity of phosphate solubilization is influenced by exogenous soluble phosphate. In the present study, the effects of soluble phosphate on the activity of phosphate solubilization, acidification of media, growth, and organic acid secretion of phosphate-solubilizing bacterium Pseudomonas frederiksbergensis JW-SD2 were investigated under six levels of soluble phosphate conditions. The activity of phosphate solubilization decreased with the increase of soluble phosphate concentration, accompanying with the increase of media pH. However, the growth was promoted by adding soluble phosphate. Production of gluconic, tartaric, and oxalic acids by the strain was reduced with the increase of concentration of soluble phosphate, while acetic and pyruvic acids showed a remarkable increase. Gluconic acid predominantly produced by the strain at low levels of soluble phosphate showed that this acid was the most efficient organic acid in phosphate solubilization. Pyrroloquinoline quinone-glucose dehydrogenase gene gcd (pg5SD2) was cloned from the strain, and the expressions of pg5SD2 gene were repressed gradually with the increase of concentration of soluble phosphate. The soluble phosphate regulating the transcription of the gcd gene is speculated to underlie the regulation of the secretion of gluconic acid and subsequently the regulation of the activity of phosphate solubilization. Future research needs to consider a molecular engineering strategy to reduce the sensitivity of PSB strain to soluble phosphate via modification of the regulatory mechanism of gcd gene, which could improve the scope of PSB strains' application.

Dual-rotor strategy for organic cocrystals with enhanced near-infrared photothermal conversion.

Organic cocrystal engineering provides a promising route to promote the near-infrared (NIR) light harvesting and photothermal conversion (PTC) abilities of small organic molecules through the rich noncovalent bond interactions of D/A units. Besides, the single-bond rotatable groups known as "rotors" are considered to be conducive to the nonradiative transitions of the excited states of organic molecules. Herein, we propose a single-/double-bond dual-rotor strategy to construct D-A cocrystals for NIR PTC application. The results reveal that the cocrystal exhibits an ultra-broadband absorption from 300 nm to 2000 nm profiting from the strong π-π stacking and charge transfer interactions, and the weakened p-π interaction. More importantly, the PTC efficiency of cocrystals at 1064 nm in the NIR-II region can be largely enhanced by modulating the number of rotor groups and the F-substituents of D/A units. As is revealed by fs-TA spectroscopy, the superior NIR PTC performance can be attributed to the nonradiative decays of excited states induced by the free rotation of the single-bond rotor (-CH3) from the donors and the inactive double-bond rotor ([double bond, length as m-dash]C(C[triple bond, length as m-dash]N)2) being in the active form of [-C(C[triple bond, length as m-dash]N)2] in the excited states from the acceptors. This prototype displays a promising route to extend the functionalization of small organic molecules based on organic cocrystal engineering.

Enhancing bighead carp cutting: Chilled storage insights and machine vision-based segmentation algorithm development.

To enhance market demand and fish utilization, cutting processing is essential for fish. Bighead carp were cut into four primary cuts: head, dorsal, belly, and tail, collectively accounting for 77.03% of the fish's total weight. These cuts were refrigerated at 4 °C for 10 days, during which the muscle from each cut was analyzed. Pseudomonas.fragi proliferated most rapidly and was most abundant in eye muscle (EM), while Aeromonas.sobria showed similar growth patterns in tail muscle (TM). Notably, EM exhibited the highest rate of fat oxidation. TM experienced the most rapid protein degradation. Furthermore, to facilitate the cutting applied in mechanical processing, a machine vision-based algorithm was developed. This algorithm utilized color threshold and morphological parameters to segment image background and divide bighead carp region. Consequently, each cut of bighead carp had a different storage quality and the machine vision-based algorithm proved effective for processing bighead carp.

Impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on physical fitness among college women living in China.

PURPOSES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on physical fitness among college women living in China and to explore how fitness changed with different physical conditions. METHODS: We performed repeated measures of BMI, 800 m running and sit-up performance assessment on college women from one university in China pre and post the COVID-19 lockdown. A total of 3658 (age 19.15 ± 1.08 yr.) college women who completed the same assessment pre and post the COVID-19 lockdown were included in the analysis. We analyzed the data using one way ANOVA and paired-samples t-test. RESULTS: Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the result shows a significant increase in BMI by 2.91% (95% CI =0.33, 0.40) and a significant decline in 800 m running and sit-up by 7.97% (95% CI =0.69, 0.77) and 4.91% (95% CI = -0.27, -0.19), respectively. College women in the highest quartile level of physical condition (Quartile 4) had more decreases than college women in the lowest quartile level (Quartile 1). Their BMI level was increased by 3.69% and 0.98% in college women in Quartile 4 and Quartile 1, respectively. Their performance of 800 m running was decreased by 9.32% and 7.37% in college women in Quartile 4 and Quartile 1, respectively. Their performance of sit-up was decreased by 13.88% in college women in Quartile 4 while it increased by 10.91% in college women in Quartile 1, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 lockdown might increase the BMI level and decrease 800 m running and sit-up performance among college women living in China. The decrease for college women in higher quartile level of physical condition (Quartile 4) were more seriously while college women in lower quartile level of physical condition (Quartile 1) were modest.

This study performed repeated tests on a large sample of 3658 college women before and after the COVID-19 lockdown to estimate the impact of COVID-19 on physical fitness.The COVID-19 lockdown decreased physical fitness (BMI, 800 m running and sit-up performance) among college women living in China.College women in higher level of physical condition at baseline were more seriously affected by the COVID-19 lockdown than college women in lower level of physical condition.

Biophilic classroom environments on stress and cognitive performance: A randomized crossover study in virtual reality (VR).

The emerging Metaverse will likely increase time expenditure in indoor virtual environments, which could impact human health and well-being. The biophilia hypothesis suggests that humans have an innate tendency to seek connections with the natural world and there is increasing evidence that biophilic design such as the incorporation of green plants can yield health benefits. Recently, virtual reality (VR) has been used to regulate stress and improve overall wellness, particularly by incorporating natural settings. In this randomized crossover study, we designed five virtual classroom scenes with different biophilic elements and turbidity in VR and investigated whether the visual stimulations can affect the stress levels and cognitive functions of 30 young adults from a university in China. We measured their physiological indicators of stress reaction by wearable biomonitoring sensors (blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), and skin conductance level (SCL)), conducted verbal cognitive tests on attention and creativity, and evaluated subjective/perceived (self-reported) stress levels and connection with nature. Albeit our results suggested no significant change in physiological stress reactions or cognitive functions induced by the biophilic and turbid interventions in VR, the addition of biophilic elements in the Metaverse could benefit students' health due to significantly decreased perceived stress levels and increased connections with nature.

Organic Photothermal Cocrystals: Rational Design, Controlled Synthesis, and Advanced Application.

Organic photothermal cocrystals, integrating the advantages of intrinsic organic cocrystals and the fascinating photothermal conversion ability, hold attracted considerable interest in both basic science and practical applications, involving photoacoustic imaging, seawater desalination, and photothermal therapy, and so on. However, these organic photothermal cocrystals currently suffer individual cases discovered step by step, as well as the deep and systemic investigation in the corresponding photothermal conversion mechanisms is rarely carried out, suggesting a huge challenge for their further developments. Therefore, it is urgently necessary to investigate and explore the rational design and synthesis of high-performance organic photothermal cocrystals for future applications. This review first and systematically summarizes the organic photothermal cocrystal in terms of molecular classification, the photothermal conversion mechanism, and their corresponding applications. The timely interpretation of the cocrystal photothermal effect will provide broad prospects for the purposeful fabrication of excellent organic photothermal cocrystals toward great efficiency, low cost, and multifunctionality.

Mechanochemistry toward Organic "Salt" via Integer-Charge-Transfer Cocrystal Strategy for Rapid, Efficient, and Scalable Near-Infrared Photothermal Conversion.

Invited for this month's cover is the group of Shun-Li Chen and Ming-De Li at the Shantou University. The image shows that one electron can be transferred easily from donor to acceptor unit to obtain integer-charge-transfer cocrystals for realizing high-efficient solar-harvesting and photothermal conversion. The Research Article itself is available at 10.1002/cssc.202300644.

Mechanochemistry toward Organic "Salt" via Integer-Charge-Transfer Cocrystal Strategy for Rapid, Efficient, and Scalable Near-Infrared Photothermal Conversion.

Inspired by the concept of ionic charge-transfer complexes for the Mott insulator, integer-charge-transfer (integer-CT) cocrystals are designed for NIR photo-thermal conversion (PTC). With amino-styryl-pyridinium dyes and F4TCNQ (7,7',8,8'-Tetracyano-2,3,5,6-tetrafluoroquinodimethane) serving as donor/acceptor (D/A) units, integer-CT cocrystals, including amorphous stacking "salt" and segregated stacking "ionic crystal", are synthesized by mechanochemistry and solution method, respectively. Surprisingly, the integer-CT cocrystals are self-assembled only through multiple D-A hydrogen bonds (C-H⋅⋅⋅X (X=N, F)). Strong charge-transfer interactions in cocrystals contribute to the strong light-harvesting ability at 200-1500 nm. Under 808 nm laser illumination, both the "salt" and "ionic crystal" display excellent PTC efficiency beneficial from ultrafast (∼2 ps) nonradiative decay of excited states. Thus integer-CT cocrystals are potential candidates for rapid, efficient, and scalable PTC platforms. Especially amorphous "salt" with good photo/thermal stability is highly desirable in practical large-scale solar-harvesting/conversion applications in water environment. This work verifies the validity of the integer-CT cocrystal strategy, and charts a promising path to synthesize amorphous PTC materials by mechanochemical method in one-step.

Lateral injection using a Whitacre needle with patients in the lateral decubitus position maintained for a prolonged time period produces symmetric sensory block.

BACKGROUND: The directional flow of injection through a Whitacre needle can be used to modify the level of sensory blockade. We hypothesized that injection of hyperbaric local anesthetic through a Whitacre needle with the bevel oriented laterally can produce a more symmetric sensory block. METHODS: Patients scheduled for lower limb surgery under spinal anesthesia with the patient in lateral decubitus position were randomized to receive 10 mg, 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine with the Whitacre needle orifice in 1 of 2 orientations, cephalad and lateral. The patient's position was maintained for 15 min after the injection, and sensory blocks were recorded. The primary outcome was the sensory levels between the dependent and nondependent side. The Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney U-test odds was used to compare unpaired nonparametric data. For the paired samples, 95% confidence intervals (CI) of differences between group medians were calculated using the Hodges-Lehman estimator for the median difference in number of blocked segments. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in block level between dependent and nondependent sides in the lateral group. The Hodges-Lehmann point estimator was 0.5% and 95% CI was 0-2.5, suggesting a more symmetric sensory block in patients in the lateral decubitus position maintained for a sufficient period of time. A significantly lower level of blockade was noticed on the nondependent side compared to the dependent side in the cephalad group. The Hodges-Lehmann point estimator was 2.5 segments and 95% CI was 0.5-5. CONCLUSIONS: Injection of 10 mg of 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine with the bevel of the Whitacre needle oriented laterally produces more symmetric sensory levels of blockade between the dependent and nondependent sides.

Development and Validation of Nutrition Environment Scoring for Chinese Style University/Work-Site Canteens (NESC-CC) and Oil-Salt Visual Analogue Scale (OS-VAS).

The assessment of the use of cooking oil/fat and salt in dining food is an unsolved issue in non-quantitative nutrition environment evaluation, and the nutrition environment of Chinese-style dining establishments has not been effectively assessed. This study developed two evaluation tools: the Nutrition Environment Scoring for Chinese Style University/Work-site Canteens (NESC-CC) and the Oil-Salt Visual Analogue Scale (OS-VAS) and applied them in nine university canteens. The NESC-CC, which includes comprehensive items from the healthiness of food availability, cooking methods to other factors that support healthy choices, is featured by adjusting the scoring categories and items to suit Chinese food culture and canteen operation model. The OS-VAS is a novel virtual analog scale (VAS) based on the fuzzy judgement of the diners. It requires the randomly recruited respondents to rate their personal preference for salty taste/greasy food preference, overall saltiness/greasiness of canteen dishes, and personal demands for salt/cooking oil reduction. The oil use score, the salt use score, and the total score are derived from the given formula. The field tests of the NESC-CC in nine university canteens at three time points showed that this tool was able to effectively distinguish the nutrition environment of the Chinese food-style canteens with good reliability and validity. The result of OS-VAS scoring achieved a good resolution of the overall salt and oil/fat use and confirmed our hypothesis on the fuzzy judgement of the diners These tools are suitable for the comprehensive evaluation of Chinese-style canteens and have the potential to be applied to more group-meal-providing establishments.

Impact of COVID-19 on 1000 m Running and Pull-Up Performance among College Men Living in China.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to estimate the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on fitness performance among Chinese college men during the pandemic period and to explore how fitness changed with a different college grade. METHODS: We conducted repeated measures of 1000 m running and pull-up testing on students from one university in China before and after the lockdown. A total of 7107 (age 19.21 ± 1.17 yr.) male students who completed the same 1000 m running and pull-up testing in 2019 and 2020 were included in the analysis. RESULTS: The paired t-test result indicates a reduction in 1000 m running and pull-up performance by 10.91% (95% CI = 0.89, 0.95) and 23.89% (95% CI = -0.36, -0.31), respectively. Interestingly, college men in the 2017 grade (the third-year college men) had more decreases than in the 2019 grade (the first-year college men). The 1000 m running performance was decreased by 14.43% and 6.48% in the third- and the first-year college men, respectively. The pull-up performance was decreased by 39.11 % in the third-year college men while increased by 10.98% in the first-year college men. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 lockdown reduced 1000 m running and pull-up performances among Chinese college men. The reduction varies by grade and it seems to be particularly seriously decreased for the third-year college men while being modest for the first-year college men. Public policy was urgently needed to improve Chinese college men's fitness performance after the lockdown.

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Restrictions on Sedentary Behavior Among Chinese University Students: A Retrospectively-Matched Cohort Study.

Purpose: This study was to estimate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on sedentary behavior (SB) for Chinese university students during the pandemic period, as well as explore how sedentary behavior changed as a function of sex. Methods: We conducted an online questionnaire (the Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire) on students from one university in China during the pandemic period (March 29-April 15, 2020) and students retrospectively recalled pre-pandemic physical activity levels (before January 26, 2020). Sedentary behavior was measured using the short version of the Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire (SBQ). SB in a typical week during the COVID-19 pandemic period and before the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were measured based on SBQ. The data was analyzed using a paired-samples t-test. Chi-square tests were to compare categorical variables. Results: A total of 1487 (947 males & 513 females; Age 19.72± 1.32yr., BMI = 21.12 ± 4.50) participated in this study. Before the COVID-19-associated lockdown restriction, on weekdays, survey participants averaged engaged in 11.41 (SD =3.93) hours of SB, 10.97 (SD = 3.85) hours of SB in males, 12.25 (SD =3.94) hours of SB in females; on weekends, survey participants averaged engaged in 13.18 (SD =4.06) hours of SB, 12.74 (SD = 3.96) hours of SB in males, 14.04 (SD =4.11) hours of SB in females. During the COVID-19-associated lockdown restriction, on weekdays, survey participants averaged engaged in 13.34 (SD =3.78) hours of SB, 12.90 (SD = 3.67) hours of SB in males, 14.19 (SD =3.83) hours of SB in females; on weekends, survey participants averaged engaged in 14.48 (SD =3.93) hours of SB, 14.10 (SD = 3.81) hours of SB in males, 15.22 (SD =4.04) hours of SB in females. Overall, on weekdays, The COVID-19-associated lockdown restriction on average appeared to increase SB by 1.93 (16.91%↑, 95% CI = 1.74, 2.12) hours, an increase in daily total SB by 1.92 (17.50%↑, 95% CI = 1.92, 2.15) hours for males, and an increase 1.94 (15.84%↑, 95% CI = 1.62, 2.27) hours in females. On weekends, The COVID-19-associated lockdown restriction on average appeared to increase SB by 1.30 (9.86%↑, 95% CI = 1.12, 1.48) hours, an increase in daily total SB by 1.36 (10.68%↑, 95% CI = 1.13, 1.58) hours for males, and an increase 1.18 (8.40%↑, 95% CI = 0.87, 1.50) hours in females. Conclusions: The COVID-19 restriction may lead to an increase in SB of Chinese university students. The total sedentary time of female students per week was higher than that of male students. Public policy action might be urgently needed to decrease the sedentary behavior of Chinese university students.

Boosting Near-Infrared Photothermal Conversion by Intermolecular Interactions in Isomeric Cocrystals.

Organic cocrystal exhibits excellent photothermal conversion (PTC), but how the intermolecular interactions of cocrystals regulate the PTC is obscure. Here, two isomeric donor molecules (phenanthrene and anthracene) and two electron-withdrawing molecules (7,7,8,8,8-tetracyanodimethylquinone and 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinone dimethane) are self-assembled into the four cocrystals (PTQ, PFQ, ATQ, and AFQ). By changing the molecular configuration of the donor and the electron-withdrawing ability of the acceptor, the intrinsic influencing factors of the intermolecular interaction on the PTC were explored. Under near-infrared laser (808 nm) irradiation, the PTC efficiencies of PTQ, PFQ, AFQ, and ATQ are 35.85, 44.74, 57.00, and 60.53%, respectively. Based on the single-crystal X-ray diffraction, ultrafast time-resolved transient absorption, and excited-state theoretical calculations, we found that the π-π stacking in ATQ and AFQ is conducive to promoting the near-infrared light-harvesting ability and the p-π interaction of cocrystals can regulate the nonradiative rotation of -C(C≡N)2 groups, resulting in a tunable near-infrared PTC via the isomeric cocrystals. Accordingly, the evaporation rate of the porous polyurethane-AFQ foam can reach 1.33 kg·m-2·h-1 in the simulated solar-driven water evaporation system. This work provides a strategy to boost the PTC by the intermolecular interactions of cocrystal materials.

Bioconjugates of versatile ß-diketonate-lanthanide complexes as probes for time-gated luminescence and magnetic resonance imaging of cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and optical imaging (OI) are attractive for constructing bimodal probes due to their complementary imaging characteristics. The combination of these two techniques could be a useful tool to simultaneously obtain both anatomical and molecular information as well as to significantly improve the accuracy of detection. In this study, we found that ß-diketonate-lanthanide complexes, BHHBCB-Ln3+, could covalently bind to proteins to exhibit long-lived and intense luminescence (Ln3+ = Eu3+, τ = 0.52 ms, Φ = 0.40) and remarkably high relaxivity (Ln3+ = Gd3+, r1 = 35.67 mM-1 s-1, r2 = 43.25 mM-1 s-1) with excellent water solubility, stability and biocompatibility. Hence, we conjugated BHHBCB-Ln3+ with a tumor-targetable biomacromolecule, transferrin (Tf), to construct the probes, Tf-BHHBCB-Ln3+, for time-gated luminescence (TGL, Ln3+ = Eu3+) and MR (Ln3+ = Gd3+) imaging of cancerous cells in vitro and in vivo. As expected, the as-prepared probes showed high specificity to bind with the transferrin receptor-overexpressed cancerous cells, to enable the probe molecules to be accumulated in these cells. Using Tf-BHHBCB-Ln3+ as probes, the cultured cancerous cells and the tumors in tumor-bearing mice have been clearly visualized by background-free TGL and in vivo MR imaging. The research outcomes suggested the potential of ß-diketonate-lanthanide complexes for use in constructing bimodal TGL/MR imaging bioprobes.