Systematic mapping of TF-mediated cell fate changes by a pooled induction coupled with scRNA-seq and multi-omics approaches.

Transcriptional regulation controls cellular functions through interactions between transcription factors (TFs) and their chromosomal targets. However, understanding the fate conversion potential of multiple TFs in an inducible manner remains limited. Here, we introduce iTF-seq as a method for identifying individual TFs that can alter cell fate toward specific lineages at a single-cell level. iTF-seq enables time course monitoring of transcriptome changes, and with biotinylated individual TFs, it provides a multi-omics approach to understanding the mechanisms behind TF-mediated cell fate changes. Our iTF-seq study in mouse embryonic stem cells identified multiple TFs that trigger rapid transcriptome changes indicative of differentiation within a day of induction. Moreover, cells expressing these potent TFs often show a slower cell cycle and increased cell death. Further analysis using bioChIP-seq revealed that GCM1 and OTX2 act as pioneer factors and activators by increasing gene accessibility and activating the expression of lineage specification genes during cell fate conversion. iTF-seq has utility in both mapping cell fate conversion and understanding cell fate conversion mechanisms.

Risk factors for initial and recurrent severe infections in first hospitalized patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: A retrospective study of a Chinese cohort.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incidence and associated factors of initial and recurrent severe infections in hospitalized patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: SLE patients that first hospitalized between 2010 and 2021 were studied retrospectively and divided into SLE with and without baseline severe infection groups. The primary outcome was the occurrence of severe infection during follow-up. Cox regression models were used to calculate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for initial and recurrent severe infections. RESULTS: Among 1051 first hospitalized SLE patients, 164 (15.6%) had severe infection on admission. During a median follow-up of 4.1 years, 113 (10.8%) patients reached severe infection outcomes, including 27 with reinfection and 86 with initial severe infection (16.5% vs. 9.7%, p = .010). Patients with baseline severe infection had a higher cumulative incidence of reinfection (p = .007). After adjusting for confounding factors, renal involvement, elevated serum creatinine, hypoalbuminemia, cyclophosphamide, and mycophenolate mofetil treatment were associated with an increased risk of severe infection, especially initial severe infection. Low immunoglobulin, anti-dsDNA antibody positivity, and cyclophosphamide use significantly increased the risk of recurrent severe infection, with adjusted HR (95% CI) of 3.15 (1.22, 8.14), 3.60 (1.56, 8.28), and 2.14 (1.01, 5.76), respectively. Moreover, baseline severe infection and low immunoglobulin had a multiplicative interaction on reinfection, with adjusted RHR (95% CI) of 3.91 (1.27, 12.09). CONCLUSION: In this cohort of SLE, patients with severe infection had a higher risk of reinfection, and low immunoglobulin, anti-dsDNA antibody positivity, and cyclophosphamide use were independent risk factors for recurrent severe infection.

In Situ Exfoliation Growth Strategy Realizing Controlled Synthesis of 3D to 2D MOF Materials as High-Performance Electrochemical Biosensors.

Two-dimensional (2D) metal-organic framework (MOF) nanosheets with large surface area, ultrathin thickness, and highly accessible active sites have attracted great research attention. Developing efficient approaches to realize the controllable synthesis of well-defined 2D MOFs with a specific composition and morphology is critical. However, it is still a significant challenge to construct thin and uniform 2D MOF nanosheets and resolve the reagglomeration as well as poor stability of target 2D MOF products. Here, an "in situ exfoliation growth" strategy is proposed, where a one-step synthetic process can realize the successful fabrication of PBA/MIL-53(NiFe)/NF nanosheets on the surface of nickel foam (NF) via in situ conversion and exfoliation growth strategies. The PBA/MIL-53(NiFe)/NF nanosheets combine the individual advantages of MOFs, Prussian blue analogues (PBAs), and 2D materials. As expected, the resulting PBA/MIL-53(NiFe)/NF as a glucose electrode exhibits an extremely high sensitivity of 25.74 mA mM-1 cm-2 in a very wide concentration range of 180 nM to 4.8 µM. The present exciting work provides a simple and effective strategy for the construction of high-performance nonenzymatic glucose electrochemical biosensors.

The transcriptional regulatory network modulating human trophoblast stem cells to extravillous trophoblast differentiation.

During human pregnancy, extravillous trophoblasts play crucial roles in placental invasion into the maternal decidua and spiral artery remodeling. However, regulatory factors and their action mechanisms modulating human extravillous trophoblast specification have been unknown. By analyzing dynamic changes in transcriptome and enhancer profile during human trophoblast stem cell to extravillous trophoblast differentiation, we define stage-specific regulators, including an early-stage transcription factor, TFAP2C, and multiple late-stage transcription factors. Loss-of-function studies confirm the requirement of all transcription factors identified for adequate differentiation, and we reveal that the dynamic changes in the levels of TFAP2C are essential. Notably, TFAP2C pre-occupies the regulatory elements of the inactive extravillous trophoblast-active genes during the early stage of differentiation, and the late-stage transcription factors directly activate extravillous trophoblast-active genes, including themselves as differentiation further progresses, suggesting sequential actions of transcription factors assuring differentiation. Our results reveal stage-specific transcription factors and their inter-connected regulatory mechanisms modulating extravillous trophoblast differentiation, providing a framework for understanding early human placentation and placenta-related complications.

Diagnostic Efficacy of Plasma-Based Real-Time PCR for Schistosomiasis Japonica in Mice before and after Treatment with Praziquantel.

The prevalence of schistosomiasis japonica in China is now characterized by a low epidemic rate and low-intensity infections. Some diagnostic methods with high sensitivity and specificity are urgently needed to better monitor this disease in the current situation. In this study, the detection efficacy of a real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay was assessed for schistosomiasis japonica in mice, and before and after treatment with praziquantel (PZQ). Our results showed that the sensitivity of the qPCR was 99.3% (152/153, 95% CI: 96.41-99.98%) and its specificity was 100% (77/77, 95% CI: 95.32-100%) in mice infected with different numbers of Schistosoma japonicum. After the oral administration of PZQ, mice infected with 10 cercariae or 40 cercariae were all Schistosoma japonicum-negative 6 weeks after treatment. However, the negativity rates on a soluble egg antigen (SEA)-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were only 34.8% (8/23, 10 cercariae group) and 6.7% (1/15, 40 cercariae group) at the sixth week after PZQ treatment. These results demonstrated that the qPCR method had good sensitivity and specificity, and suggested that its sensitivity correlated with the infection intensity in mice. Moreover, this method had better potential utility for evaluating the treatment efficacy of PZQ in schistosome-infected mice than SEA-based ELISA.

Association Between Mycophenolate Mofetil Use and Subsequent Infections Among Hospitalized Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Nested Case-Control Study.

INTRODUCTION: The association between mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and infection in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has not been clarified. This study evaluated the degree and factors in effect of MMF use on infection in patients with SLE. METHODS: A hospitalized-based observational study was conducted to collect medical records on patients with SLE during 2010-2021. A nested case-control study was performed among 3339 patients with SLE, including 1577 cases and 1762 controls by whether they developed any type of infection. The exposure of MMF use was determined within 1 year before diagnosed infection or the end of follow-up. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for association between MMF and subsequent infection. RESULTS: MMF was significantly associated with the risk of overall infection (adjusted OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.48-2.44) and different types of infections, including bacterial infection (adjusted OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.55-2.75), viral infection (adjusted OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.23-3.01), and opportunistic infection (adjusted OR 2.13, 95% CI 1.31-3.46). The top three risks of specific types of infections were bacteremia/septicemia, urinary tract infection/pyelonephritis, and herpes zoster. Stratification analysis showed risk of overall infection increased especially in MMF users with age over 55 years, diabetes, central nervous system involvement, and thrombocytopenia. Moreover, the risk of infection increased with increasing dosage and duration of MMF use. Additionally, the combination of MMF with CYC and other immunosuppressants significantly increases the risk of infections compared to using a single one. CONCLUSIONS: MMF use is associated with various type of infections in patients with SLE, particularly in those with longer use, older age, complications with comorbidities, and concomitant use of CYC or other immunosuppressants.

Development of Mandarin Lexical Tone Identification in Noise and Its Relation With Working Memory.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to examine the developmental trajectory of Mandarin tone identification in quiet and two noisy conditions: speech-shaped noise (SSN) and multitalker babble noise. In addition, we evaluated the relationship between tonal identification development and working memory capacity. METHOD: Ninety-three typically developing children aged 5-8 years and 23 young adults completed categorical identification of two tonal continua (Tone 1-4 and Tone 2-3) in quiet, SSN, and babble noise. Their working memory was additionally measured using auditory digit span tests. Correlation analyses between digit span scores and boundary widths were performed. RESULTS: Six-year-old children have achieved the adultlike ability of categorical identification of Tone 1-4 continuum under both types of noise. Moreover, 6-year-old children could identify Tone 2-3 continuum as well as adults in SSN. Nonetheless, the child participants, even 8-year-olds, performed worse when tokens from Tone 2-3 continuum were masked by babble noise. Greater working memory capacity was associated with better tone identification in noise for preschoolers aged 5-6 years; however, for school-age children aged 7-8 years, such correlation only existed in Tone 2-3 continuum in SSN. CONCLUSIONS: Lexical tone perception might take a prolonged time to achieve adultlike competence in babble noise relative to SSN. Moreover, a significant interaction between masking type and stimulus difficulty was found, as indicated by Tone 2-3 being more susceptible to interference from babble noise than Tone 1-4. Furthermore, correlations between working memory capacity and tone perception in noise varied with developmental stage, stimulus difficulty, and masking type.

Factors associated with 25-hydroxyvitamin D level in Chinese hospitalized patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a retrospective cohort study.

We aimed to investigate the factors associated with vitamin D deficiency and changes in 25 (OH)D levels, as well as the impact of those changes on disease activity and renal function among SLE patients. This retrospective cohort study was based on the medical records of SLE patients hospitalized between 2010 and 2021. We collected relevant information from this patient population. Logistic regression analysis was employed to determine the factors associated with vitamin D deficiency and increased 25 (OH)D levels, and we calculated the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) accordingly. At baseline, among the 1257 SLE patients, the median and interquartile range of 25 (OH)D levels were 14 (9, 20) ng/ml, with 953 (75.8%) patients exhibiting 25 (OH)D deficiency (< 20 ng/ml). The presence of 25 (OH)D deficiency was found to be associated with renal involvement and a high glucocorticoid (GC) maintenance dose. Among the 383 patients who were followed up for an average of 18 months, an increase of at least 100% in 25 (OH)D levels was positively associated with a decreased GC maintenance dose and vitamin D3 supplementation, with adjusted odds ratios(OR) (95% confidence interval [CI]) of 2.16 (1.02, 4.59) and 1300 (70, 22300), respectively. Furthermore, an increased level of 25 (OH)D was significantly associated with a decrease in the Disease Activity Index 2000 score and the urinary protein/creatinine ratio. Patients with SLE have low vitamin D levels, especially those with impaired kidney function. Increased 25 (OH)D levels can be achieved through supplementation with high doses of vitamin D3 and are associated with improvements in disease activity and the urinary protein/creatinine ratio.

Robust fusion for skin lesion segmentation of dermoscopic images.

Robust skin lesion segmentation of dermoscopic images is still very difficult. Recent methods often take the combinations of CNN and Transformer for feature abstraction and multi-scale features for further classification. Both types of combination in general rely on some forms of feature fusion. This paper considers these fusions from two novel points of view. For abstraction, Transformer is viewed as the affinity exploration of different patch tokens and can be applied to attend CNN features in multiple scales. Consequently, a new fusion module, the Attention-based Transformer-And-CNN fusion module (ATAC), is proposed. ATAC augments the CNN features with more global contexts. For further classification, adaptively combining the information from multiple scales according to their contributions to object recognition is expected. Accordingly, a new fusion module, the GAting-based Multi-Scale fusion module (GAMS), is also introduced, which adaptively weights the information from multiple scales by the light-weighted gating mechanism. Combining ATAC and GAMS leads to a new encoder-decoder-based framework. In this method, ATAC acts as an encoder block to progressively abstract strong CNN features with rich global contexts attended by long-range relations, while GAMS works as an enhancement of the decoder to generate the discriminative features through adaptive fusion of multi-scale ones. This framework is especially good at lesions of varying sizes and shapes and of low contrasts and its performances are demonstrated with extensive experiments on public skin lesion segmentation datasets.

Growth hormone supplementation ameliorates blastocyst euploidy rates and improves pregnancy outcomes in women undergoing preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy cycles.

Background: Growth hormone (GH) supplementation has been shown to improve oocyte quality and live birth, but few studies have examined whether GH can reduce embryonic aneuploidy. Chromosomal abnormalities in preimplantation embryos have been regarded as the principal cause of implantation failure and miscarriage, and an increased percentage of aneuploid embryos has been observed in patient cohorts with unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), recurrent implantation failure (RIF), and advanced maternal age. Methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted on women whose previous PGT-A cycle ended up with no transferrable blastocysts, or the aneuploidy rate was above 50% and no live birth was acquired. The participants were divided into GH co-treatment and comparison groups according to whether GH was administered in the subsequent PGT-A cycle. In addition, within the GH co-treatment group, the previous failed cycle constituted the self-control group. Results: 208 women were recruited in the study (GH co-treatment group: 96 women, comparison group: 112 women). Compared to the self-control and comparison groups, the rate of euploid blastocysts was significantly higher in the GH co-treatment group (GH vs self-control: 32.00% vs 9.14%, odds ratio [OR]: 4.765, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.420-9.385, P < 0.01; GH vs comparison: 32.00% vs. 21.05%, OR: 1.930, 95% CI: 1.106-3.366, P = 0.021), and their frozen embryo transfers resulted in more pregnancies and live births. In the subgroup analysis, for the <35 and 35-40 years groups, the euploidy rate in the GH co-treatment group was significantly higher than those in the self-control and comparison groups, but in the >40 years group, there was no difference in euploidy rate. Conclusion: Our study presents preliminary evidence that GH supplementation may ameliorate blastocyst aneuploidy and improve pregnancy outcomes in women who have previously experienced pregnancy failures along with high aneuploidy rates, particularly in those younger than 40 years. Therefore, the use of GH in such women should be considered. However, considering the limited sample size and mixed indications for PGT-A, further scientific research on the underlying mechanism as well as clinical trials with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm the effects and optimal protocols.

Development of Achieving Constancy in Lexical Tone Identification With Contextual Cues.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to explore when and how Mandarin-speaking children use contextual cues to normalize speech variability in perceiving lexical tones. Two different cognitive mechanisms underlying speech normalization (lower level acoustic normalization and higher level acoustic-phonemic normalization) were investigated through the lexical tone identification task in nonspeech contexts and speech contexts, respectively. Besides, another aim of this study was to reveal how domain-general cognitive abilities contribute to the development of the speech normalization process. METHOD: In this study, 94 five- to eight-year-old Mandarin-speaking children (50 boys, 44 girls) and 24 young adults (14 men, 10 women) were asked to identify ambiguous Mandarin high-level and mid-rising tones in either speech or nonspeech contexts. Furthermore, in this study, we tested participants' pitch sensitivity through a nonlinguistic pitch discrimination task and their working memory using the digit span task. RESULTS: Higher level acoustic-phonemic normalization of lexical tones emerged at the age of 6 years and was relatively stable thereafter. However, lower level acoustic normalization was less stable across different ages. Neither pitch sensitivity nor working memory affected children's lexical tone normalization. CONCLUSIONS: Mandarin-speaking children above 6 years of age successfully achieved constancy in lexical tone normalization based on speech contextual cues. The perceptual normalization of lexical tones was not affected by pitch sensitivity and working memory capacity.

Effect and mechanism of NaHS on tobacco bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum.

Since its discovery as a third unique gaseous signal molecule, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been extensively employed to resist stress and control pathogens. Nevertheless, whether H2S can prevent tobacco bacterial wilt is unknown yet. We evaluated the impacts of the H2S donor sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) on the antibacterial activity, morphology, biofilm, and transcriptome of R. solanacearum to understand the effect and mechanism of NaHS on tobacco bacterial wilt. In vitro, NaHS significantly inhibited the growth of Ralstonia solanacearum and obviously altered its cell morphology. Additionally, NaHS significantly inhibited the biofilm formation and swarming motility of R. solanacearum, and reduced the population of R. solanacearum invading tobacco roots. In field experiments, the application of NaHS dramatically decreased the disease incidence and index of tobacco bacterial wilt, with a control efficiency of up to 89.49%. The application of NaHS also influenced the diversity and structure of the soil microbial community. Furthermore, NaHS markedly increased the relative abundances of beneficial microorganisms, which helps prevent tobacco bacterial wilt. These findings highlight NaHS's potential and efficacy as a powerful antibacterial agent for preventing tobacco bacterial wilt caused by R. solanacearum.

Reduced volume of diabetic pancreatic islets in rodents detected by synchrotron X-ray phase-contrast microtomography and deep learning network.

The pancreatic islet is a highly structured micro-organ that produces insulin in response to rising blood glucose. Here we develop a label-free and automatic imaging approach to visualize the islets in situ in diabetic rodents by the synchrotron radiation X-ray phase-contrast microtomography (SRµCT) at the ID17 station of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. The large-size images (3.2 mm × 15.97 mm) were acquired in the pancreas in STZ-treated mice and diabetic GK rats. Each pancreas was dissected by 3000 reconstructed images. The image datasets were further analysed by a self-developed deep learning method, AA-Net. All islets in the pancreas were segmented and visualized by the three-dimension (3D) reconstruction. After quantifying the volumes of the islets, we found that the number of larger islets (=>1500 µm3) was reduced by 2-fold (wt 1004 ± 94 vs GK 419 ± 122, P < 0.001) in chronically developed diabetic GK rat, while in STZ-treated diabetic mouse the large islets were decreased by half (189 ± 33 vs 90 ± 29, P < 0.001) compared to the untreated mice. Our study provides a label-free tool for detecting and quantifying pancreatic islets in situ. It implies the possibility of monitoring the state of pancreatic islets in vivo diabetes without labelling.

The impact of disclosure of risk information on risk propagation in the industrial symbiosis network.

The interdependent symbiotic relationship between enterprises may bring potential risks to the stability of the industrial symbiosis network (ISN). In order to reduce the damage caused by further risk propagation to the system, this paper establishes the multiplex network to study the impact of disclosure of risk information on risk propagation. In the multiplex network, we use a small-world network to simulate a social network and propose an evolutionary model with scale-free characteristics to simulate the symbiotic relationships between enterprises. Then we establish a risk propagation model by defining transition rules among various states. Through theoretical analysis using the Microscopic Markov Chain Approach (MMCA), we find that the proportion of disclosed enterprises, the network structure of the ISN, the recovery rate of enterprises, and the degree of symbiotic dependence affect the risk propagation threshold of the ISN. Numerical simulation results show that increasing the disclosure probability of risk information can reduce the scope of risk propagation. Moreover, once the disclosure probability of risk information reaches a certain value, the risk propagation threshold can be increased. Finally, relevant suggestions are put forward: (i) strengthening the information communication between symbiotic enterprises may reduce risks caused by information asymmetry. (ii) In addition to the authenticity and integrity of risk information, it is necessary to prevent risk information from being over-interpreted or exaggerated. (iii) Enterprises should strengthen the ability to recover from risks, appropriately reduce the degree of symbiotic dependence, and enhance risk awareness to reduce the possibility of risk occurrence.

Impacts of Internet Use on Chinese Patients' Trust-Related Primary Healthcare Utilization.

Background: The internet has greatly improved the availability of medical knowledge and may be an important avenue to improve patients' trust in physicians and promote primary healthcare seeking by reducing information asymmetry. However, very few studies have addressed the interactive impacts of both patients' internet use and trust on primary healthcare-seeking decisions. Objective: To explore the impact of internet use on the relationship between patients' trust in physicians and primary healthcare seeking among Chinese adults 18 years of age and older to understand the varieties of effects in different cities. Methods: Generalized linear mixed models were applied to investigate the interactive impacts of internet use and patients' trust in physicians on primary healthcare seeking using pooled data from the China Family Panel Study of 2014 to 2018. We also compared these effects based on different levels of urbanization, ages, and PHC services. Results: Overall, a higher degree of patients' trust (p < 0.001) was able to directly predict better primary healthcare seeking, and internet use significantly increased the positive effect of patients' trust on primary healthcare seeking (p < 0.001). However, the marginal effect analysis showed that this effect was related to the level of patients' trust and that internet use could reduce the positive effect of patients' trust on primary healthcare seeking when the individual had a low level of trust (≤ 3 units). Further, the heterogeneity analysis indicated that the benefits from internet use were higher in cities with high urbanization, high aging, and high PHC service levels compared to cities with low levels of these factors. Conclusions: The internet use may enhance patients' trust-related PHC utilization. However, this impact is effective only if patients' benchmark trust remains at a relatively high level. Comparatively, the role of internet use is more effective in areas with high urbanization, high aging and high PHC level. Thus, with increasing accessibility to the internet, the internet should be regulated to disseminate correct healthcare information. Moreover, in-depth integration of the internet and PHC should be promoted to provide excellent opportunities for patient participation, and different strategies should be set according to each city's characteristics.

Image Segmentation-Based Cervical Spine MRI Images to Evaluate the Treatment of Patients with Chronic Pain.

The objective of this research was to investigate the application effect of cervical spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image segmentation algorithm guidance in the treatment of chronic pain with cervical epidural puncture. A total of 72 patients with chronic pain were selected and divided into a cervical spine MRI image-guided group (group A) and a blind puncture group with traditional experience (group B). The results showed that the puncture time of group A was 9.9 ± 8.2 (min), while that of group B was 15.2 ± 8.9 (min), so the puncture time of patients in group A was significantly shorter than that of group B (P < 0.05). The incidences of pain at the puncture site of patients in group A and group B were 6% and 10%, respectively. The incidence of pain at the puncture site in group A was significantly lower than that in group B (P < 0.05). The success rate of the first puncture in group A was 78%, and that in group B was 54%. The success rate of the first puncture in group A was significantly higher than that in group B (P < 0.05). The complication rate of group A was 22.22%, and that of group B was 80.56%. The incidence of complications in group A was significantly lower than that in group B (P < 0.05). In addition, there was no significant difference in the puncture depth between the two groups (P > 0.05). In summary, the guidance of cervical spine MRI image segmentation algorithm can reduce the time and times of puncture and improve the success rate of puncture, thereby reducing the incidence of postoperative complications.

Chlorpheniramine poisoning as a potential cause of rhabdomyolysis.

Chlorpheniramine is an H1 receptor antagonist of the alkylamine class. It is a widely used anti-allergy drug due to its strong antihistamine effect and mild adverse effects. In the case of chlorpheniramine overdose or poisoning, the primary manifestation is central nervous system symptoms. To date, no case of rhabdomyolysis induced by acute poisoning with chlorpheniramine has ever been reported. This study reports a case of acute chlorpheniramine poisoning at an oral dose of 4000 mg, which is the highest reported poisoning dose to date. The diagnosis of rhabdomyolysis (creatine kinase, 195,489 U/L) and acute kidney injury (serum creatinine, 150.1 umol/L) was confirmed based on laboratory results. After haemoperfusion and continuous renal replacement therapy, the patient's renal function fully recovered. This paper aims to analyse the clinical data of this patient and summarize its clinical characteristics. At the same time, the mechanism of chlorpheniramine-induced rhabdomyolysis is also explored in the context of the literature review.

Ultra-strong optical four-wave mixing signal induced by strong exciton-phonon and exciton-plasmon couplings.

We propose a scheme to generate ultra-strong four-wave mixing (FWM) signal based on a suspended monolayer graphene nanoribbon nanomechanical resonator (NR) coupled to an Au nanoparticle (NP). It is shown that, the FWM spectrum can switch among two-peaked, three-peaked, four-peaked or five-peaked via the modulation of exciton-phonon and exciton-plasmon couplings. This is mainly attributed to the vibrational properties of NR related to the exciton-phonon coupling, and the energy-level splitting of the localized exciton correlated to three classes of resonances consisting of three-photon resonance, Rayleigh Resonance, and AC-Stark atomic resonance. Especially, in a dual-strong coupling regime, the gains for these peaks can be as high as nine orders of magnitude (∼ 109) around the lower bistable threshold due to a combined effect of two couplings. Our findings not only offer an efficient way to measure the vibrational frequency of NR and the exciton-phonon coupling strength but also provide a possibility to fabricate high-performance optoelectronic nanodevices.

Highly selective electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to HCOOH over an in situ derived hydrocerussite thin film on a Pb substrate.

A metal oxide electrode has been developed for the electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (eCO2RR). It exhibits superior activity and product selectivity towards eCO2RR by circumventing the previously encountered problem of self-reduction with high-valence metals. Specifically, a hydrocerussite [Pb3(CO3)2(OH)2] thin film has been synthesized in situ on a Pb substrate (denoted as ER-HC) by an electroreduction method using a lead-based metal-organic framework (Pb-MOF) as a precursor. The ER-HC electrode exhibits a high selectivity of 96.8% towards HCOOH production with a partial current density of 1.9 mA cm-2 at -0.88 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). A higher HCOOH partial current density of 7.3 mA cm-2 has been achieved at -0.98 V vs. RHE. Physicochemical and electrochemical characterization results demonstrate that the defective hydrocerussite surface exhibits appropriate adsorption free energy of formate (HCOO-) and a lower reaction free energy for HCOOH production from CO2, which greatly boosts the eCO2RR activity and HCOOH production selectivity. The structure and eCO2RR performance of the hydrocerussite thin film remain stable in 0.1 M KHCO3 as electrolyte, ensuring its durability. Overall, this work not only provides a metal oxide electrode (metal hydroxide, to be more precise) with excellent eCO2RR performance, but also expands the in situ electrochemical derivatization strategy for the fabrication of metal oxide electrodes.