Hypo-attenuating Berry Sign as a Novel Imaging Marker of Ruptured Aneurysm in Patients with Subarachnoid Hemorrhage; a Diagnostic Accuracy Study.

Introduction: Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) constitutes a life-threatening condition, and identifying the ruptured aneurysm is essential for further therapy. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of hypo-attenuating berry sign (HBS) observed on computed tomography (CT) scan in distinguishing ruptured aneurysms. Methods: In this diagnostic accuracy study, patients who had SAH and underwent non-enhanced brain CT scan were recruited. The HBS was defined as a hypo-attenuating area with an identifiable border in the blood-filled hyper-dense subarachnoid space. The screening performance characteristics of HBS in identifying ruptured aneurysms were calculated considering the digital subtraction angiography (DSA) as the gold standard. Results: A total of 129 aneurysms in 131 patients were analyzed. The overall sensitivity and specificity of HBS in the diagnosis of aneurysms were determined to be 78.7% (95%CI: 73.1% - 83.4%) and 70.7% (95%CI: 54.3% - 83.4%), respectively. Notably, the sensitivity increased to 90.9% (95%CI: 84.3% - 95.0%) for aneurysms larger than 5mm. The level of inter-observer agreement for assessing the presence of HBS was found to be substantial (kappa=0.734). The diagnostic accuracy of HBS in individuals exhibited enhanced specificity, sensitivity, and reliability when evaluating patients with a solitary aneurysm or assessing ruptured aneurysms. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship between aneurysm size and the presence of HBS (odds ratios of 1.667 (95%CI: 1.238 - 2.244; p < 0.001) and 1.696 (95%CI: 1.231 - 2.335; p = 0.001) for reader 1 and reader 2, respectively). Conclusions: The HBS can serve as a simple and easy-to-use indicator for identifying a ruptured aneurysm and estimating its size in SAH patients.  .

Topological defect-mediated morphodynamics of active-active interfaces.

Physical interfaces widely exist in nature and engineering. Although the formation of passive interfaces is well elucidated, the physical principles governing active interfaces remain largely unknown. Here, we combine simulation, theory, and cell-based experiment to investigate the evolution of an active-active interface. We adopt a biphasic framework of active nematic liquid crystals. We find that long-lived topological defects mechanically energized by activity display unanticipated dynamics nearby the interface, where defects perform "U-turns" to keep away from the interface, push the interface to develop local fingers, or penetrate the interface to enter the opposite phase, driving interfacial morphogenesis and cross-interface defect transport. We identify that the emergent interfacial morphodynamics stems from the instability of the interface and is further driven by the activity-dependent defect-interface interactions. Experiments of interacting multicellular monolayers with extensile and contractile differences in cell activity have confirmed our predictions. These findings reveal a crucial role of topological defects in active-active interfaces during, for example, boundary formation and tissue competition that underlie organogenesis and clinically relevant disorders.

Spontaneous organization and phase separation of skyrmions in chiral active matter.

Skyrmions are topologically protected vortex-like excitations that hold promise for applications such as information processing and electron manipulation. Here we combine theoretical analysis and numerical simulations to show that skyrmions can spontaneously emerge in chiral active matter without external confinements or regulation. Strikingly, these activity-driven skyrmions can either self-organize into a periodic, stable square lattice consisting of half Néel skyrmions and antiskyrmions, where the in-plane flows display an antiferromagnetic vortex array, or undergo phase separation between skyrmions with different topological numbers. We identify that the emerging skyrmion dynamics stems from the competition between the chiral and polar coherence length scales dictated by the interplay of intrinsic chirality, polarity, and elasticity in the system. Our results reveal unanticipated topological excitations, self-organization, and phase separation in non-equilibrium systems and also suggest a potential way towards engineering complicated bespoke skyrmionic structures through manipulating active matter.

Self-rotation regulates interface evolution in biphasic active matter through taming defect dynamics.

Chirality can endow nonequilibrium active matter with unique features and functions. Here, we explore the chiral dynamics in biphasic active nematics composed of self-rotating units that continuously inject energy and angular momentum at the microscale. We show that the self-rotation of units can regularize the boundaries between two phases, rendering sinusoidal-like interfaces, which allow lateral wave propagation and are characterized by chains of ordered antiferromagnetic cross-interface flow vortices. Through the spontaneous coordination of counter-rotating units across the interfaces, topological defects excited by activity are sorted spatiotemporally, where positive defects are locally trapped at the interfaces but, unexpectedly, are transported laterally in a unidirectional rather than wavy mode, whereas inertial negative defects remain spinning in the bulks. Our findings reveal that individual chirality could be harnessed to modulate interfacial morphodynamics in active systems and suggest a potential approach toward controlling topological defects for programmable microfluidics and logic operations.

Collective Polarization of Cancer Cells at the Monolayer Boundary.

Cell polarization, a process depending on both intracellular and intercellular interactions, is crucial for collective cell migration that commonly emerges in embryonic development, tissue morphogenesis, wound healing and cancer metastasis. Although invasive cancer cells display weak cell-cell interactions, they can invade host tissues through a collective mode. Yet, how cancer cells without stable cell-cell junctions polarize collectively to migrate and invade is not fully understood. Here, using a wound-healing assay, we elucidate the polarization of carcinoma cells at the population level. We show that with loose intercellular connections, the highly polarized leader cells can induce the polarization of following cancer cells and subsequent transmission of polarity information by membrane protrusions, leading to gradient polarization at the monolayer boundary. Unlike the polarization of epithelial monolayer where Rac1/Cdc42 pathway functions primarily, our data show that collective polarization of carcinoma cells is predominantly controlled by Golgi apparatus, a disruption of which results in the destruction of collective polarization over a large scale. We reveal that the Golgi apparatus can sustain membrane protrusion formation, polarized secretion, intracellular trafficking, and F-actin polarization, which contribute to collective cancer cell polarization and its transmission between cells. These findings could advance our understanding of collective cancer invasion in tumors.

Pattern Formation and Defect Ordering in Active Chiral Nematics.

Many biological systems display intriguing chiral patterns and dynamics. Here, we present an active nematic theory accounting for individual spin to explore the collective handedness in chiral rod-shaped aggregations. We show that coordinated individual spin and motility can engender a vortex-array pattern with chirality and drive ordering of topological defects. During this chiral process, the stationary trefoil-like defects self-organize into a periodic, hexagon-dominated polygonal network, which segregates persistently rotating cometlike defects in pairs within each polygon, leading to a translation symmetry at the global scale while a broken reflection symmetry at the local scale. Such defect ordering agrees exactly with the Voronoi tiling of two-dimensional space and the emergence of the hexagonal symmetry is deciphered in analogy with topological charge neutralization. We calculate energy barriers to the topological transition of the defect ordering and explain the existing metastable states with nonhexagonal polygons. Our findings shed light on the chiral morphodynamics in life processes and also suggest a potential route towards tuning self-organization in active materials.

Zn2Ln2 complexes with carbonate bridges formed by the fixation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere: single-molecule magnet behaviour and magnetocaloric effect.

Three novel isostructural Zn2Ln2 cluster complexes with carbonate bridging ligands, {Zn2Ln2(µ3-CO3)2L2(acacF6)2}·CH3OH [H2L = N,N'-dimethyl-N,N'-(2-hydroxy-3-methoxy-5-methyl-benzyl)ethylenediamine; HacacF6 = hexafluoroacetylacetone; Ln = Dy, 1; Ln = Gd, 2; Ln = Eu, 3], have been prepared by fixing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Such carbonate bridging ligands may mediate ferromagnetic exchange between Ln3+ ions. The Zn2Dy2 compound (1) displays the properties of a single molecule magnet (SMM), showing slow magnetic relaxation at a 1500 Oe dc field, with an obviously larger Ueff/k value (83 K) with respect to the other carbonate-bridged Zn2Dy2 SMMs (≤34 K) and ZnDy dinuclear SMMs derived from the same ligand H2L used in this work (≤36.5 K), while the Zn2Gd2 compound (2) shows a moderate magnetocaloric effect and can be looked upon as a potential molecular material for low temperature magnetic refrigeration.

Self-Assembly Construction of WS2-rGO Architecture with Green EMI Shielding.

Accurately tailoring electromagnetic (EM) materials for achieving high-performance EM interference (EMI) shielding is significantly imperative with increasing EM pollution worldwide. Green EMI shielding materials are attracting extensive attention because of the less additional environmental hazard caused by the lower secondary reflection. However, the conflict between high efficiency and eco-friendly nature makes green EMI shielding still challenging. In this work, a new strategy of turning a guest into a host is developed for the first time, and a unique WS2-rGO architecture of mountain-like wall is constructed successfully achieving efficient and green EMI shielding. The shielding efficiency (SE) is over 20 dB in the investigated frequency range (2-18 GHz) and the maximum was 32 dB with an endearing green index (gs ≈ 1.0). The efficient and green EMI SE is ascribed to the multilevel structure and intrinsic dielectric properties of the WS2-rGO architecture, including the synergy of relaxation and conduction, multi-scattering between the interface and void, and the equivalent wedge effect. These results demonstrate that the WS2-rGO architecture is a promising candidate in EM transducers, microwave imaging, EM protection, and energy devices.

A homochiral Zn-Dy heterometallic left-handed helical chain complex without chiral ligands: anion-induced assembly and multifunctional integration.

Both second-order nonlinear optical and single-molecule magnet properties are observed in a novel 1D homochiral Zn-Dy heterometallic left-handed helical chain complex (1) without chiral ligands, which evolves from a Zn3Dy2 pentanuclear cluster complex (2), thanks to the structural guiding role of perchlorate anions.

Single-Molecule Magnet Behavior of 1D Coordination Polymers Based on DyZn2(salen)2 Units and Pyridin- N-Oxide-4-Carboxylate: Structural Divergence and Magnetic Regulation.

Two 1D coordination polymers composed of DyZn2(salen)2 units and pyridin- N-oxide-4-carboxylate have been prepared by solvothermal reactions. Complex 1 with the formula {[DyZn2(La)2(POC)](OH)(ClO4)}·H2O·MeOH [H2La] = N, N'-bis(3-methoxysalicylidene)-1,3-diaminopropane, POC- = pyridin- N-oxide-4-carboxylate] is composed of a zigzag chain cation [DyZn2(La)2(POC)] n2 n+ as well as isolated hydroxide and perchlorate anions. Complex 2 with the formula {[Dy3Zn7(Lb)6(POC)6](OH)3(ClO4)2}·9H2O [H2Lb] = N, N'-bis(3-methoxysalicylidene)-1,2-diaminoethane] is also an ionic compound containing isolated hydroxide and perchlorate anions, but its cation shows a novel nanowire structure, in which six-coordinate zinc(II) ions with C3 symmetry act as the axis and [DyZn2(Lb)2(POC)]2+ structural units as spiral leaves. Complex 1 shows good single-molecule magnet performance with an Ueff/ k value of 235.3(3.1) K ( Hdc = 0 Oe), one of the largest values for coordination polymers. A butterfly-shaped magnetic hysteresis loop can be monitored at as high as 3.8 K for 1, while a dc field is necessary for complex 2 to display slow magnet relaxation owing to the quantum-tunneling effect, with a much smaller Ueff/ k value of 14.6(0.2) K ( Hdc = 1000 Oe). The difference of magnetic properties has been explained using detailed ab initio calculations.

Arraying Octahedral {Cr2Dy4} Units into 3D Single-Molecule-Magnet-Like Inorganic Compounds with Sulfate Bridges.

Two novel 3D pure inorganic compounds based on [Cr2Dy4(µ4-O)2(µ3-OH)4]10+ cluster units and sulfate anions are presented. Both complexes exhibit single-molecule-magnet (SMM)-like behavior. Permutation of the magnetic moment direction among SMM-like cluster units has a significant effect on the performance of molecular nanomagnets, and directional consistency shows obvious advantages.

Fine Tuning the Energy Barrier of Molecular Nanomagnets via Lattice Solvent Molecules.

Solvents play important roles in our lives, they are also of interest in molecular materials, especially for molecular magnets. The solvatomagnetic effect is generally used for trigger and/or regulation of magnetic properties in molecule-based systems, however, molecular nanomagnets showing solvatomagnetic effects are very difficult to obtain. Here we report four 3d-4f heterometallic cluster complexes containing ROH lattice solvent molecules, [Cu3Tb2(H3L)2(OAc)2(hfac)4]∙2ROH {H6L = 1,3-Bis[tris(hydroxymethyl)methylamino]propane, hfac- = hexafluoroacetylacetonate; R = CH3, 1; R = C2H5, 2; R = C3H7, 3; R = H, 4}. Single-molecule magnet (SMM) properties of these four complexes were observed to be dependent on the ROH lattice solvent molecule. There is an interesting magneto-structural correlation: the larger the R group, the higher the energy barrier. For the first time, the solvatomagnetic effect is used for the continuous fine adjustment of the energy barrier of 0D molecular nanomagnets. Additionally, [Cu3Dy2(H3L)2(OAc)2(hfac)4]∙2MeOH (5), an analogue of [Cu3Tb2(H3L)2(OAc)2(hfac)4]∙2MeOH (1), is also reported for comparison.

A Chinese Pane-Like 2D Metal-Organic Framework Showing Magnetic Relaxation and Luminescence Dual-Functions.

The discovery of graphene kicked off the curtain of atom-type two-dimensional (2D) materials. Layered metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as parallel molecule-based 2D materials are more designable and more diverse, and magnetism may be induced by their metal ion nodes. However, the multifunctional 2D plane-like MOFs are very difficult to obtain. Here we describe a Chinese pane-like 2D MOF constructed from the Ln3+ cation and the nanoscale luminescent tritopic ligand tris(4'-carboxybiphenyl)-amine, responding to the slow magnetic relaxation and luminescence properties, respectively. Notably, the Dy-Dy distances separated by the tritopic ligand are up to 2 nm. Such a 2D molecular material is expected to have potential applications in optoelectronics and multimodal sensing.

Diketopyrrolopyrrole-Based Conjugated Polymer Entailing Triethylene Glycols as Side Chains with High Thin-Film Charge Mobility without Post-Treatments.

Side chain engineering of conjugated donor-acceptor polymers is a new way to manipulate their optoelectronic properties. Two new diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-terthiophene-based conjugated polymers PDPP3T-1 and PDPP3T-2, with both hydrophilic triethylene glycol (TEG) and hydrophobic alkyl chains, are reported. It is demonstrated that the incorporation of TEG chains has a significant effect on the interchain packing and thin-film morphology with noticeable effect on charge transport. Polymer chains of PDPP3T-1 in which TEG chains are uniformly distributed can self-assemble spontaneously into a more ordered thin film. As a result, the thin film of PDPP3T-1 exhibits high saturated hole mobility up to 2.6 cm2 V-1 s-1 without any post-treatment. This is superior to those of PDPP3T with just alkyl chains and PDPP3T-2. Moreover, the respective field effect transistors made of PDPP3T-1 can be utilized for sensing ethanol vapor with high sensitivity (down to 100 ppb) and good selectivity.

[NIR-SERS Spectra Detection of Cytidine on Nano-Silver Films].

The polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) protected silver glass-like nanostructure (PVA-Ag-GNS) with high surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity was prepared and employed to detect the near-infrared surface enhanced Raman scattering (NIR-SERS) spectra of cytidine aqueous solution (10(-2)-10(-8) mol x L(-1)). In the work, the near-infrared laser beam (785 nm) was used as the excitation light source. The experiment results show that high-quality NIR-SERS spectra were obtained in the ranges of 300 to 2 000 cm(-1) and the detection limit of cytidine aqueous solution was down to 10(-7) mol x L(-1). Meanwhile, the PVA-Ag-GNS shows a high enhancement factor (EF) of -10(8). In order to test the optical reproducibility of PVA-Ag-GNS, ten samples of cytidine aqueous solution (10(-2)-10(-5) mol x L(-1)) had been dropped onto the surface of PVA-Ag-GNS respectively. Meanwhile, these samples were measured by the portable Raman spectrometer. As a result, the PVA-Ag-GNS demonstrated good optical reproducibility in the detection of cytidine aqueous solution. In addition, to explain the reason of enhancement effect, the ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) extinction spectrum and scanning electron microscope (SEM) of cytidine molecules adsorbed on the surface of PVA-Ag-GNS were measured. There is plasmon resonance band at 800 nm in the UV-Vis extinction Spectrum of the compound system. Therefore, when the near-infrared laser beam (785 nm) was used as excitation light source, the compound system may produce strongly surface plasmon resonance (SPR). According to the SEM of PVA-Ag-GNS, there are much interstitial between the silver nanoparticles. So NIR-SERS is mainly attributed to electromagnetic (EM) fields associated with strong surface plasmon resonance. At last, the geometry optimization and pre-Raman spectrum of cytidine for the ground states were performed with DFT, B3LYP functional and the 6-311G basis set, and the near-infrared laser with wavelength of 785 nm was employed in the pre-Raman spectrum calculation process. The calculation results without imaginary frequency and the results match pretty well with the experimental Raman spectrum. At the same time, the assignations of Raman bands and adsorption behaviors of cytidine molecules on the surface of PVA-Ag-GNS are also discussed. According to our experiment and calculations, cytidine molecules mainly adsorbed on silver nanoparticles via the ribose moiety and amino group may get close to the local electromagnetic field.

A 3D MOF constructed from dysprosium(III) oxalate and capping ligands: ferromagnetic coupling and field-induced two-step magnetic relaxation.

A novel 3D MOF based on dysprosium(iii) oxalate and 1,10-phenanthroline (phen), {[Dy(C2O4)1.5phen]·0.5H2O}n (1), has been hydrothermally synthesized. The Dy(3+) ion acts as a typical Y-shaped node, linking to each other to generate an interesting 3D topology structure. Complex 1 is the first 3D DyMOF displaying both ferromagnetic coupling and field-induced two-step magnetic relaxation.

[In Situ Research on Ginger Oil Cell with Raman].

This article presents a novel and original approach to analyze the main components of the essential oils in ginger oil cell by means of Raman spectroscopy. Fresh ginger sample was prepareed with free-hand section. Under the DXR Laser confocal micro Raman spectrometer, the oil cell has 20 objective lens. As to the ginger oil cell, the Raman spectrum, all together 21 spectroscopic bands, was obtained. It has been found that the obtained Raman spectrums at different oil cells are very similar. The Raman spectrum of the commercial essential oils of ginger, together 37 spectroscopic bands, was obtained. It has been found that the 19 presented spectroscopic bands of ginger oil cell correlate very well with those obtained by the commercial essential oils. Density Functional Theory (DFT) of zingiberene calculations were performed in order to interpret the spectra of the essential oils of the ginger oil cell and essential oils of ginger. There are 31 spectroscopic bands of the essential oils of ginger, and 19 spectroscopic bands of ginger oil cell correlate very well with calculations. All these investigations are helpful tools to generate a fast and easy method to control the quality of the essential oils with Raman spectroscopic techniques in combination with DFT calculations.

Multiscale Assembly of Grape-Like Ferroferric Oxide and Carbon Nanotubes: A Smart Absorber Prototype Varying Temperature to Tune Intensities.

Ideal electromagnetic attenuation material should not only shield the electromagnetic interference but also need strong absorption. Lightweight microwave absorber with thermal stability and high efficiency is a highly sought-after goal of researchers. Tuning microwave absorption to meet the harsh requirements of thermal environments has been a great challenge. Here, grape-like Fe3O4-multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are synthesized, which have unique multiscale-assembled morphology, relatively uniform size, good crystallinity, high magnetization, and favorable superparamagnetism. The Fe3O4-MWCNTs is proven to be a smart microwave-absorber prototype with tunable high intensities in double belts in the temperature range of 323-473 K and X band. Maximum absorption in two absorbing belts can be simultaneously tuned from ∼-10 to ∼-15 dB and from ∼-16 to ∼-25 dB by varying temperature, respectively. The belt for reflection loss ≤-20 dB can almost cover the X band at 323 K. The tunable microwave absorption is attributed to effective impedance matching, benefiting from abundant interfacial polarizations and increased magnetic loss resulting from the grape-like Fe3O4 nanocrystals. Temperature adjusts the impedance matching by changing both the dielectric and magnetic loss. The special assembly of MWCNTs and magnetic loss nanocrystals provides an effective pathway to realize excellent absorbers at elevated temperature.

Mixed behavior of p-phenylenediaminium guest binding with the inverted cucurbit[6]uril host.

The binding interaction between inverted cucurbit[6]uril (iQ[6]) and p-phenylenediaminium both in the solid state and in aqueous solution has been investigated by X-ray crystallography, (1)H NMR spectroscopy and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). The experimental results suggest that the binding interaction between iQ[6] and p-phenylenediaminium may generate two different types of complexes in the solid state: one is an inclusion structure and the other is a sandwich structure. In aqueous solution, the iQ[6] host has an ability to accommodate the p-phenylenediaminium guest and in-out guest exchange is fast on the NMR time scale. ITC data indicate that the complexation of iQ[6] with p-phenylenediaminium is entropy driven.

[Research on volatiles of rakkyo (Allium Chinense G. Don) and Chinese chive (Allium Tuberosum Rottl. ex Sprengel) based on headspace and the molecular recognition of SERS].

The head space and the molecular recognition of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) were used to research volatiles of rakkyo and Chinese chive. Their volatiles SERS spectra were obtained using nano-silver colloid as the substrate. Then, volatiles SERS spectra of rakkyo and Chinese Chive were compared respectively with the volatiles SERS spectra of liquid allyl methyl sulfide, 1-propanethiol, diallyl disulfide and all possible pairings of the three compounds. The results showed that the repeatability of volatiles SERS spectra of rakkyo and Chinese Chive were all good. The volatiles SERS spectrum of rakkyo was basically consistent with the volatiles SERS spectrum of the mixture of liquid allyl methyl sulfide and 1-propanethiol. The volatiles SERS spectrum of rakkyo included both characteristic peaks at 626 and 674 cm(-1) in volatiles SERS spectrum of allyl methyl sulfide and characteristic peaks at 702, 893, 1024,1085, 1215 and 1320 cm(-1) in volatiles SERS spectrum of 1-Propanethiol. The volatiles SERS spectrum of Chinese chive was basically consistent with the volatiles SERS spectrum of the mixture of liquid allyl methyl sulfide and diallyl disulfide. The volatiles SERS spectrum of Chinese chive included both characteristic peak at 674 cm(-1) in volatiles SERS spectrum of allyl methyl sulfide and characteristic peaks at 407, 577, 716, 1189, 1291 and 1401 cm(-1) in volatiles SERS spectrum of diallyl disulfide. These illustrated that volatiles of rakkyo contained allyl methyl sulfide and 1-Propanethiol and volatiles of Chinese chive contained allyl methyl sulfide and diallyl disulfide. The volatiles of rakkyo and Chinese chive were different, but they all contained allyl methyl sulfide. All of the above have revealed that the headspace combined with molecular recognition of SERS can be directly used to study volatiles of rakkyo and Chinese chive. The technology under room temperature, can guarantee the volatiles obtained were the primitive constituents in plant volatiles. By comparison with the standard sample, the constituents in plant volatiles can be determined.