Multiphoton emission of single CdZnSe/ZnS quantum dots coupled with plasmonic Au nanoparticles.

The fluorescence blinking and low multiphoton emission of quantum dots (QDs) have limited their application in lasing, light-emitting diodes, and so on. Coupling of single QDs to plasmonic nanostructures is an effective approach to control the photon properties. Here plasmon-exciton systems including Au nanoparticles and CdZnSe/ZnS QDs were investigated at the single particle level. With the modulation of the local electromagnetic field, the fluorescence intensity of single QDs is increased, accompanied by a significant suppression in blinking behavior, and the lifetime is shortened from 15 ns to 2 ns. Moreover, the second-order photon intensity correlation at zero lag time g2(0) of coupled single QDs is larger than 0.5, indicating an increased probability of multiphoton emission. The enhancement factors of radiative and nonradiative decay rates of QDs coupled with Au nanoparticles are calculated. The sharply increased radiative decay rate can be comparable to the nonradiative Auger rate, leading to dominated multiple exciton radiative recombination with PL intensity enhancement, suppressed blinking, lifetime shortening, and multiphoton emission. The results of the exciton decay dynamics and emission properties of single QDs in this work are helpful in exploring the mechanism of plasmon-exciton interaction and optoelectronic application of single QDs.

Serum cystatin C is associated with peripheral artery stiffness in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus combined with chronic kidney disease.

OBJECTIVE: Cystatin C (CysC) is associated with arterial stiffness. However, its suitability for evaluating patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the relationship between CysC levels and peripheral arterial stiffness (PAS) in patients with T2DM combined with CKD. METHODS: Participants' arterial stiffness was assessed using brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), and those with a baPWV ≥ 1800 cm/s were included in the PAS group. Additionally, patients were divided into young (18-44 years old), middle-aged (45-59 years old), and older (≥60 years old) groups. RESULTS: Of 200 patients, 94 (47%) were diagnosed with PAS. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that age, pulse pressure, and CysC levels (odds ratio = 1.525, 95% confidence interval: 1.072-2.168, P = 0.019) were independently correlated with PAS in patients with T2DM combined with CKD. The levels of CysC in different age groups were positively correlated with baPWV, and the correlation was significantly higher in the young group (r = 0.739, P < 0.001) than in the middle-aged (r = 0.329, P < 0.001) and older (r = 0.496, P < 0.001) groups. The multifactor linear regression analysis revealed that CysC was significantly correlated with baPWV in the young group (ß = 0.455, P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: CysC was an independent predictor of PAS in patients with T2DM combined with CKD and was more significantly associated with baPWV in young patients than in middle-aged and older patients. CysC may may be an early predictor of peripheral arteriosclerosis in patients with T2DM combined with CKD.

Clinical Factors Associated with Arterial Stiffness in Chronic Kidney Disease.

BACKGROUND: Arterial stiffness influences the prognosis of patients with end-stage kidney disease; however, the factors that promote arterial stiffness in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients remain unknown. We aimed to explore the clinical factors associated with arterial stiffness in CKD. METHODS: Between September 2017 and September 2022, all CKD patients treated at the Department of Nephrology, General Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, excluding dialysis patients, were screened and their medical records within the last month were collected. Arterial stiffness was measured by the augmentation index (AIx). The correlative clinical factors with arterial stiffness were explored in different linear regression models. RESULTS: 559 patients were included in the study. AIx@75 increased as the deterioration of CKDG1-CKDG5, with values of 1 (-9, 11), 5.5 (-4, 13.25), 9 (0, 16), 12 (1.5, 23.5), and 22 (13, 28), respectively (Z = 63.03, p < 0.001). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that AIx@75 was positively associated with female sex (ß = 8.926, 95% confidence interval (CI) 6.291, 11.562, p < 0.001), age (ß = 0. 485, 95% CI 0.39, 0.58, p < 0.001), mean arterial pressure (MAP) (ß = 0.255, 95% CI 0.159, 0.35, p < 0.001), and was negatively associated with ACEI/ARB (ß = -4.466, 95% CI -6.963, -1.969, p < 0.001) and glucocorticoid (ß = -3.163, 95% CI -6.143, -0.183, p = 0.038). Smoking, eGFR, hemoglobin, and cause of disease were associated with AIx@75 in multivariate linear regression models when considering factors partly. CONCLUSIONS: Female, age, smoking, MAP, eGFR, cause of disease, ACEI/ARB, and glucocorticoid were found to be associated with atherosclerosis in CKD patients.

Predictive ability of obesity- and lipid-related indicators for metabolic syndrome in relatively healthy Chinese adults.

Background and objective: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is an important risk factor for cardiovascular complications and kidney damage. Obesity- and lipid-related indices are closely related to MetS, and different indices have different predictive abilities for MetS. This study aimed to evaluate the predictive value of eight obesity- and lipid-related indicators, namely, body mass index (BMI), lipid accumulation product (LAP), body roundness index (BRI), Chinese visceral adiposity index (CVAI), body adiposity index (BAI), abdominal volume index (AVI), triglyceride glucose index (TYG), and visceral adiposity index (VAI), for MetS. Methods: A total of 1,452 relatively healthy people in Beijing were enrolled in 2016, and the correlation between the eight indicators and MetS was analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under the curve (AUC) were used to analyze the predictive ability of the eight indicators for MetS. The Delong test was used to compare the AUC values of the eight indicators. MetS was defined according to the Chinese Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes (2020 edition), the revised National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Group (NCEP-ATPIII), and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). Results: Using these three sets of criteria, LAP, TYG, CVAI, and VAI, which are based on blood lipids, had higher AUC values for MetS prediction than BMI, BRI, AVI, and BAI, which are based on anthropometry. LAP had the highest AUC values of 0.893 (0.874-0.912), 0.886 (0.869-0.903), and 0.882 (0.864-0.899), separately, based on the three sets of criteria. Conclusion: The eight obesity- and lipid-related indicators had screening value for MetS in relatively healthy people, and of the eight indicators, LAP performed the best.

Status and Trends of the Association Between Diabetic Nephropathy and Diabetic Retinopathy From 2000 to 2021: Bibliometric and Visual Analysis.

Background: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) are microvascular complications of diabetes that share a similar pathogenesis and clinical relevance. The study aimed to visually analyze the research status and development trend of the relationship between DN and DR by means of bibliometrics and knowledge mapping. Methods: Publications were collected from the Science Citation Index-Expanded of the Web of Science Core Collection between 2000 and 2021. CiteSpace, Alluvial Generator, and Microsoft Excel were used to analyze and present the data. Results: A total of 3,348 publications were retrieved and 3,285 were included in the analysis after deduplication. The publications demonstrated an annually increasing trend. The results of the collaborative network analysis showed that the United States, Steno Diabetes Center, and Tien Y. Wong were the most influential country, institution and author, in this field of research, respectively. The analysis of references and keywords showed that the pathogenesis of DN and DR and their relationship with cardiovascular disease are research hotspots. The clinical relevance and drug therapy for DN and DR will become frontiers of future research in this field. Conclusion: This study is the first to visualize the correlation between DN and DR using a bibliometric approach. This study provides a reference of research trends for scholars.

Utilization of Drivers' Dynamic Visual Characteristics to Find the Appropriate Information Quantity of Traffic Engineering Facilities on Straight Roads of Grassland Highways.

To find the appropriate range of information quantity, we studied how the information quantity of traffic engineering facilities (TEFs) on straight roads of grassland highways affects a driver's eye movements. We used a combination of survey, statistics, analysis of variance, and the establishment of virtual scene to do this research, and carried out simulated driving tests at six levels (Z0, Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4, and Z5) of TEF information quantity. The driver's fixation duration, visual search breadth, and glance speed were evaluated in a quantitative way. Results showed that the information quantity had a significant impact on eye movements. It is concluded that the information quantity from 0 to 10 bits/km may cause problems to drivers, whereas the information quantity of 40 bits/km serves as the limit. The information quantity from 30 to 40 bits/km is the appropriate one for TEF on grassland highways.

Optimal Obesity- and Lipid-Related Indices for Predicting Metabolic Syndrome in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients with and without Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in China.

Existing obesity- and lipid-related indices are inconsistent with metabolic syndrome (MetS) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. We compared seven indicators, including waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), visceral fat area (VFA), subcutaneous fat area (SFA), visceral adiposity index (VAI), Chinese VAI and lipid accumulation product (LAP), to evaluate their ability to predict MetS in CKD patients with and without Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) under various criteria. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the independent associations between the indices and metabolic syndrome among 547 non-dialysis CKD patients, aged ≥18 years. The predictive power of these indices was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. After adjusting for potential confounders, the correlation between VAI and MetS was strongest based on the optimal cut-off value of 1.51 (sensitivity 86.84%, specificity 91.18%) and 2.35 (sensitivity 83.54%, specificity 86.08%), with OR values of 40.585 (8.683-189.695) and 5.076 (1.247-20.657) for males and females with CKD and T2DM. In CKD patients without T2DM, based on the optimal cut-off values of 1.806 (sensitivity 98.11%, specificity 72.73%) and 3.11 (sensitivity 84.62%, specificity 83.82%), the OR values were 7.514 (3.757-15.027) and 3.008 (1.789-5.056) for males and females, respectively. The area under ROC curve (AUC) and Youden index of VAI were the highest among the seven indexes, indicating its superiority in predicting MetS in both male and female CKD patients, especially those with T2DM.