Ag nanoparticles at p-Si/ MAPbI3 perovskite interface: improved photo responsivity and response speed in photodetection.

Although enhanced performances of photovoltaic devices by embedding metal nanoparticals in charge transport layer, doping into active layer bulk, decorating the active layer surface, and inserting at the interface between semiconductor and the electrode were reported, the effect of incorporating metal NPs at the interface of single crystal semiconductor and perovskite is rarely tackled. Herein the effects of incorporating Ag nanoparticals (AgNPs) at p-Si/MAPbI3 perovskite interface on the photodiode performances were investigated. The results showed that compared with reference device (without AgNPs) the photoresponsivity of the device incorporating AgNPs is greatly improved with the exception for light with wavelengths fall in the spectral range where AgNPs have strong optical absorption. This effect is extremely significant for relatively shorter wavelengths in visible region, and a maximal improvement of around 10.6 times in photoresponsivity was achieved. The physical origin of the exception for spectral range that AgNPs have strong optical absorption is the cancelation of scatter resulted enhancement through AgNPs by band-to-band absorption resulted reduction of photocurrent, in which the generated electron has energy near the fermi level and the hole has large effective mass, which relax by nonradiative recombination, thus making not contribution to the photocurrent. More importantly, the AgNP decorated device showed much faster photo response speed than reference device, and a maximal improvement of around 7.9 times in rise and fall time was achieved. These findings provide a novel approach for high responsive and high speed detection for weak light.

Temporal Dynamics and Physical Priori Multimodal Network for Rehabilitation Physical Training Evaluation.

Sensor-based rehabilitation physical training assessment methods have attracted significant attention in refined evaluation scenarios. A refined rehabilitation evaluation method combines the expertise of clinicians with advanced sensor-based technology to capture and analyze subtle movement variations often unobserved by traditional subjective methods. Current approaches center on either body postures or muscle strength, which lack more sophisticated analysis features of muscle activation and coordination, thereby hindering analysis efficacy in deep rehabilitation feature exploration. To address this issue, we present a multimodal network algorithm that integrates surface electromyography (sEMG) and stress distribution signals. The algorithm considers the physical knowledge a priori to interpret the current rehabilitation stage and efficiently handles temporal dynamics arising from diverse user profiles in an online setting. Besides, we verified the performance of this model using a learned-nonuse phenomenon assessment task in 24 subjects, achieving an accuracy of 94.7%. Our results surpass those of conventional feature-based, distance-based, and ensemble baseline models, highlighting the advantages of incorporating multimodal information rather than relying solely on unimodal data. Moreover, the proposed model presents a network design solution for rehabilitation physical training that requires deep bioinformatic features and can potentially assist real-time and home-based physical training work.

Protocatechuic acid enhanced the selective degradation of sulfonamide antibiotics in Fe(III)/peracetic acid process under actually neutral pH conditions.

The practical application of the Fe-catalyzed peracetic acid (PAA) processes is seriously restricted due to the need for narrow pH working range and poor anti-interference capacity. This study demonstrates that protocatechuic acid (PCA), a natural and eco-environmental phenolic acid, significantly enhanced the removal of sulfonamide antibiotics in Fe(III)/PAA process under actually neutral pH conditions (6.0-8.0) by complexing Fe(III). With sulfamethoxazole (SMX) as the model contaminant, the pseudo-first-order rate constant of SMX elimination in PCA/Fe(III)/PAA process was 63.5 times higher than that in Fe(III)/PAA process at pH 7.0, surpassing most of the previously reported strategies-enhanced Fe-catalyzed PAA processes (i.e., picolinic acid and hydroxylamine etc.). Excluding the primary contribution of reactive species commonly found in Fe-catalyzed PAA processes (e.g., •OH, R-O•, Fe(IV)/Fe(V) and 1O2) to SMX removal, the Fe(III)-peroxy complex intermediate (CH3C(O)OO-Fe(III)-PCA) was proposed as the primary reactive species in PCA/Fe(III)/PAA process. DFT theoretical calculations indicate that CH3C(O)OO-Fe(III)-PCA exhibited stronger oxidation potential than CH3C(O)OO-Fe(III), thereby enhancing SMX removal. Four potential removal pathways of SMX were proposed and the toxicity of reaction solution decreased with the removal of SMX. Furthermore, PCA/Fe(III)/PAA process exhibited strong anti-interference capacity to common natural anions (HCO3-, Cl-and NO3-) and humic acid. More importantly, the PCA/Fe(III)/PAA process demonstrated high efficiency for SMX elimination in actual samples, even at a trace Fe(III) dosage (i.e., 5 µM). Overall, this study provided a highly-efficient and eco-environmental strategy to remove sulfonamide antibiotics in Fe(III)/PAA process under actually neutral pH conditions and to strengthen its anti-interference capacity, underscoring its potential application in water treatment.

Phenotypic heterogeneity of mycosis fungoides cells leads to the difficulties in determining tumour origin.

Mycosis fungoides (MF) is a low-grade malignant cutaneous T-cell lymphoma that originates from memory T cells. It typically follows a unique and relatively indolent disease course. MF is used to be characterized by a tissue-resident memory T cell (TRM) phenotype, although recent molecular research has revealed its complexity, casting doubt on the cell of origin and the TRM-MF paradigm. Recent clonal heterogeneity studies suggest that MF may originate from immature early precursor T cells. During development, the tumour microenvironment (TME) influences tumour cell phenotype. The exact origin and development trajectory of MF remains elusive. Clarifying the origin of MF cells is vital for accurate diagnosis and effective treatment.

Memristor-based adaptive neuromorphic perception in unstructured environments.

Efficient operation of control systems in robotics or autonomous driving targeting real-world navigation scenarios requires perception methods that allow them to understand and adapt to unstructured environments with good accuracy, adaptation, and generality, similar to humans. To address this need, we present a memristor-based differential neuromorphic computing, perceptual signal processing, and online adaptation method providing neuromorphic style adaptation to external sensory stimuli. The adaptation ability and generality of this method are confirmed in two application scenarios: object grasping and autonomous driving. In the former, a robot hand realizes safe and stable grasping through fast ( ~ 1 ms) adaptation based on the tactile object features with a single memristor. In the latter, decision-making information of 10 unstructured environments in autonomous driving is extracted with an accuracy of 94% with a 40×25 memristor array. By mimicking human low-level perception mechanisms, the electronic neuromorphic circuit-based method achieves real-time adaptation and high-level reactions to unstructured environments.

Single-cell RNA sequencing unveils tumor heterogeneity and immune microenvironment between subungual and plantar melanoma.

Acral melanoma (AM) is a subtype of melanoma with high prevalence in East Asians. AM is characterized by greater aggressiveness and lower survival rates. However, there are still fewer studies on immune mechanisms of AM especially subungual melanoma (SM) versus non-subungual melanoma (NSM). In order to explore tumor heterogeneity and immune microenvironment in different subtypes of AM, we applied single-cell RNA sequencing to 24,789 single cells isolated from the SM and plantar melanoma (PM) patients. Aspects of tumor heterogeneity, melanocytes from PM and SM had significant differences in gene expression, CNV and pathways in which tumor-associated such as NF-kb and Wnt were involved. Regarding the immune microenvironment, PM contained more fibroblasts and T/NK cells. The EPHA3-EFNA1 axis was expressed only in cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) and melanocytes of PM, and the TIGIT-NECTIN2 axis was expressed in both AM subtypes of T/NK cells and melanocytes. Altogether, our study helps to elucidate the tumor heterogeneity in AM subpopulations and provides potential therapeutic targets for clinical research.

A Retrospective Study: Clinical Characteristics and Lifestyle Analysis of Chinese Senile Gluteal Dermatosis Patients.

Purpose: To summarize the clinical, histopathological and therapeutic features of senile gluteal dermatosis. Patients and Methods: Retrospective analysis of 230 cases who visited the outpatient clinic of Hangzhou No. 3 People's Hospital for skin lesions on the buttocks and hips from 2018.8-2023.8 were included in the study, basic clinical information was collected, and they were subjected to physical examination of the buttocks and hips, and 36 cases were senile gluteal dermatosis, of which 7 underwent histopathological biopsy. Results: A total of 230 patients were included, of which 36 were diagnosed with geriatric buttock dermatosis, with a mean age of (84.2±12.6) years, mean body mass index of (21.7±3.8) kg/m2, and a male to female ratio of 2:1. There was a significant correlation between the occurrence of the disease and age, gender, body mass index, sedentary time, type of chair used, and hypertension (P<0.05). The severity of the lesions may be associated with longer sitting time and prolonged use of bamboo chairs (P<0.05). Histopathologic changes were not specific. The skin lesions could subside after general treatment such as improvement of lifestyle, use of pressure-reducing air mattresses, salicylic acid cream, and moisturizing creams. Conclusion: Senile gluteal dermatosis is a common senile physical dermatosis, mainly manifested as brownish scaly plaques, erythema and crusted ulcers, which can often be cured under reasonable treatment.

Influence of Anion Species on Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation in [EMIm+][X-]/Benzene Mixtures.

When a molar excess of benzene is mixed with an ionic liquid (IL), liquid-liquid phase separation may appear with a pure liquid phase almost composed of only benzene molecules separated from a liquid clathrate phase with benzene molecules dissolved in the IL. Our previous study (J. Phys. Chem. B, 124, 7929, 2020) on long-chain IL/benzene systems has concluded that benzene molecules, as planar nonpolar ones, majorly dissolve in the IL nonpolar domains consisting of cationic alkyl side chains. Nevertheless, the above mechanism is inadequate for explaining the experimental observations that benzene can also dissolve in IL systems with very short alkyl side chains. In this study, by molecular dynamics simulation of the [EMIm+][X-]/benzene mixtures with X- being Cl-, NO3-, PF6-, or Tf2N-, we still observe liquid-liquid phase separation of the pure benzene phase from a liquid clathrate (mixed IL/benzene) phase where benzene molecules are almost equally distributed near imidazolium rings through π-stacking or near alkyl side chains. The anion species strongly influences the solubility of benzene and the ratio of the two liquid phases via the alteration of anionic charge density, which tunes the strength of the electrostatic interaction among ions and thus the probability of benzene molecules interacting with both imidazolium rings and alkyl side chains: a larger anionic charge density corresponds to a lower solubility of benzene.

Towards high photoresponse of perovskite nanowire/copper phthalocyanine heterostructured photodetector.

One-dimensional nanowire structures composed of perovskite are widely recognized for their exceptional optoelectronic performance and mechanical properties, making them a popular area of investigation in photodetection research. In this work, a perovskite nanowire/copper phthalocyanine heterojunction-based photodetector was fabricated, which exhibits high photoresponse in the visible-near-infrared region. The incorporation of a heterojunction significantly enhanced the photoelectric performance. Specifically, the photoresponsivity and external quantum efficiency of the nanowire-based device were elevated from 58.5 A W-1and 1.35 × 104% to 84.5 A W-1and 1.97 × 104% at 532 nm, respectively. The enhanced photoresponse of the heterojunction device can be attributed to the unique microstructure of nanowire arrays. The wrapping of the nanowires by copper phthalocyanine forms heterojunctions with a larger dissociation area, which facilitated exciton dissociation and enhanced device performance. This work provides a promising example for optimizing the performance of nanowire devices.

A novel anti-washout curing solution of calcium phosphate cement prepared via irradiation polymerization.

The anti-washout ability of calcium phosphate cement (CPC) determines its effectiveness in clinical application. In the current research, the common method for improving the anti-washout ability of CPC is to add anti-washout polymer agents. Sodium polyacrylate powder is an excellent anti-washout agent but when bonded with CPC it basically degrades the anti-washout performance of CPC after γ-ray irradiation, and is widely used in the sterilization process of CPC products. Therefore, we propose a method for the preparation of a sodium polyacrylate solution through irradiation polymerization as curing solution for CPC. This method first uses γ-ray irradiation sterilization to improve the anti-washout ability of CPC directly. It not only avoids the adverse effects of γ-rays on anti-washout agents, but also the CPC blended using this sodium polyacrylate solution had good biological properties and injectability. It provides a new method for promoting the anti-washout properties of calcium phosphate cement, which is of great significance for expanding the clinical application of CPC.

COVID-19 of differing severity: from bulk to single-cell expression data analysis.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is raging worldwide and causes an immense disease burden. Despite this, the biomarkers and targeting drugs of COVID-19 of differing severity remain largely unknown. Based on the GSE164805 dataset, we identified modules most critical for mild COVID-19 (mCOVID-19) and severe COVID-19 (sCOVID-19) through WGCNA, respectively. We subsequently constructed a protein-protein interaction network, and detected 16 hub genes for mCOVID-19 and 10 hub genes for sCOVID-19, followed by the prediction of upstream transcription factors (TFs) and kinases. The enrichment analysis then showed downregulation of TNFA signaling via NFKB for mCOVID-19, as well as downregulation of MYC targets V1 for sCOVID-19. Infiltration degrees of many immune cells, such as macrophages, were also sharply different between mCOVID-19 and sCOVID-19 samples. Predicted protein targeting drugs with the highest scores nearly all belong to naturally derived or synthetic glucocorticoids. For the two single-cell RNA-seq datasets, we explored the expression distribution of hub genes for mCOVID-19/sCOVID-19 in each cell type. The expression levels of PRKCA, MCM5, TYMS, RBBP4, BCL6, FLOT1, KDM6B, and TLR2 were found to be cell-type-specific. Furthermore, the expression levels of 10 hub genes for mCOVID-19 were significantly upregulated in PBMCs between eight healthy controls and eight mCOVID-19 patients at our institution. Collectively, we detected critical modules, pathways, TFs, kinases, immune cells, targeting drugs, hub genes, and their expression distributions in different cell types that may involve the pathogenesis of COVID-19 of differing severity, which may propel earlier diagnosis and more effective treatment of this intractable disease in the future.

Physicochemical properties and cytocompatibility of radiation-resistant and anti-washout calcium phosphate cement by introducing artemisia sphaerocephala krasch gum.

The anti-washout ability of calcium phosphate cement (CPC) determines the effectiveness of CPC in clinical application. The γ-ray irradiation method often used in the sterilization process of CPC products is easy to degrade some commonly polymer anti-washout agent, which greatly reduces its anti-washout performance. Artemisia sphaerocephala Krasch gum (ASKG) has the potential of radiation resistance and anti-washout, but no one has considered its performance as anti-washout agent of CPC and mechanism of radiation resistance and anti-washout so far. In this study, we report the effect of γ-ray on ASKG and the effectiveness of ASKG for enhancing of radiation resistance and anti-washout ability of CPC, the physical, chemical properties and in vitro cell behaviors of ASKG-CPCs were also investigated. The results showed that addition of ASKG before and after irradiation could significantly enhanced the anti-washout performance of CPC, which is differ from conventional anti-washout agents. Meanwhile, ASKG-CPCs had an excellent injectable property and biocompatibility, and low content of irradiated ASKG could promote bone differentiation well. We anticipate that the radiation-resistant and anti-washout ASKG-CPCs have potential application prospect in orthopaedic surgery.

Ultranarrow-band filterless photodetectors based on CH3NH3PbClxBr3-xmixed-halide perovskite single crystals.

Narrow-band photodetectors based on halide perovskite have recently attracted significant attention due to their exceptional narrow-band detection performance and tunable absorption peaks covering a wide optical range. In this work, we report mixed-halide CH3NH3PbClxBr3-xsingle crystal-based photodetectors have been fabricated, where the Cl/Br ratios were varied (3:0, 10:1, 5:1, 1:1, 1:7, 1:14 and 0:3). Vertical and parallel structures devices were fabricated which exhibited ultranarrow spectral responses under bottom illumination, with a full-width at half-maximum less than 16 nm. The observed performance can be ascribed to the unique carrier generation and extraction mechanisms within the single crystal under short and long wavelength of illumination. These findings offer valuable insights into the development of narrow-band photodetectors that do not necessitate the use of filters and hold tremendous potential for a diverse array of applications.

A Case Report of Dyschromatosis Symmetrica Hereditaria with Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency.

Dyschromatosis symmetrica hereditaria (DSH) is a pigmented genetic skin disorder with an incompletely understood pathogenesis characterized by reticular hyper- and hypopigmented skin patches on the dorsal aspect of the extremities, freckle-like patches on the face, and unaffected palms and feet. There is no effective treatment available. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency has not been reported in the literature of DSH. We describe for the first time a case of DSH with G6PD deficiency and a family history of psychosis.

A rare case of refractory facial phaeohyphomycosis caused by Cladosporium halotolerans successfully treated with aminolevulinic acid photodynamic therapy.

A 55-year-old female presented with a gradually enlarged red plaque and ulceration on the right side of her nose, face and suborbital region for ten years. The histopathologic features indicated infectious granuloma. The results of the fungal culture of the tissue and DNA sequencing identified as Cladosporium halotolerans infection. The patient was diagnosed with phaeohyphomycosis due to Cladosporium halotolerans. In this case, it was unsuitable for surgical treatment since the lesion was located periorbital. Furthermore, the patient had a poor response to oral itraconazole (400 mg/d) for 9 months. Therefore, ALA-PDT was added to the treatment regimen. The patient received ALA-PDT irradiation 5 times at 2-week intervals and achieved significant clinical remission. We believe that ALA-PDT may be an effective and safe adjuvant therapy.

Atypical Linear Atrophoderma of Moulin Complicated with Elevated Immunoglobulin M: A Case Report.

Linear atrophoderma of Moulin (LAM) is a rare acquired skin disease. Clinically, LAM is characterized by hyperpigmented and atrophic unilateral band-like or linear dermatoses of variable size following the Blaschko lines. The lesions do not present induration or sclerosis. Its course is asymptomatic without systemic involvement or progression. The etiology of LAM is still unclear. Based on the characteristics of its skin lesions distributed along the Blaschko lines, some scholars speculate that its pathogenesis may be related to chromosome mosaicism. We hereby present a case report of LAM in a 29-year-old Chinese female who had persistent brown patches distributed along the Blaschko lines on the left lower back, buttocks, and lower limbs with positive antinuclear antibody (ANA, 1:320, nucleolar type) and elevated immunoglobulin M (3.47 g/L). Including this case, a total of 6 LAM cases have been reported to have abnormal serum immunological markers.

A versatile platform for colorimetric, fluorescence and photothermal multi-mode glyphosate sensing by carbon dots anchoring ferrocene metal-organic framework nanosheet.

Concerns regarding pesticide residues have driven attempts to exploit accurate, prompt and straightforward approaches for food safety pre-warning. Herein, a nanozyme-mediated versatile platform with multiplex signal response (colorimetric, fluorescence and temperature) was proposed for visual, sensitive and portable detection of glyphosate (GLP). The platform was constructed based on a N-CDs/FMOF-Zr nanosensor that prepared by in situ anchoring nitrogen-doped carbon dots onto zirconium-based ferrocene metal-organic framework nanosheets. The N-CDs/FMOF-Zr possessed excellent peroxidase (POD)-like activity and thus could oxide colorless 3, 3', 5, 5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) into a blue oxidized TMB (oxTMB) in presence of H2O2. Intriguingly, owing to the blocking effect triggered by multiple interaction between GLP and N-CDs/FMOF-Zr, its POD-like activity of the latter was remarkably suppressed, which can modulate the transformation of TMB into oxTMB, generating tri-signal responses of fluorescence enhancement, absorbance and temperature decrease. More significantly, the temperature mode can be facilely realized by a portable home-made mini-photothermal device and handheld thermometers. The proposed multimodal sensing was capable of providing sensitive results by fluorescence mode and simultaneously realized visual/portable testing by colorimetric and photothermal channels. Consequently, it exhibited more adaptability for practical applications, which can satisfy different testing requirements according to sensitivity and available instruments/meters, presenting a new horizon for exploiting multifunctional sensors.

WMNN: Wearables-Based Multi-Column Neural Network for Human Activity Recognition.

In recent years, human activity recognition (HAR) technologies in e-health have triggered broad interest. In literature, mainstream works focus on the body's spatial information (i.e. postures) which lacks the interpretation of key bioinformatics associated with movements, limiting the use in applications requiring comprehensively evaluating motion tasks' correctness. To address the issue, in this article, a Wearables-based Multi-column Neural Network (WMNN) for HAR based on multi-sensor fusion and deep learning is presented. Here, the Tai Chi Eight Methods were utilized as an example as in which both postures and muscle activity strengths are significant. The research work was validated by recruiting 14 subjects in total, and we experimentally show 96.9% and 92.5% accuracy for training and testing, for a total of 144 postures and corresponding muscle activities. The method is then provided with a human-machine interface (HMI), which returns users with motion suggestions (i.e. postures and muscle strength). The report demonstrates that the proposed HAR technique can enhance users' self-training efficiency, potentially promoting the development of the HAR area.