Tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) has recently demonstrated the exceptional sensitivity to observe vibrational structures on the atomic scale. However, it strongly relies on electromagnetic ...enhancement in plasmonic nanogaps. Here, we demonstrate that atomic point contact (APC) formation between a plasmonic tip and the surface of a bulk Si sample can lead to a dramatic enhancement of Raman scattering and consequently the phonons of the reconstructed Si(111)-7 × 7 surface can be detected. Furthermore, we demonstrate the chemical sensitivity of APC-TERS by probing local vibrations resulting from Si–O bonds on the partially oxidized Si(111)-7 × 7 surface. This approach will expand the applicability of ultrasensitive TERS, exceeding the previous measurement strategies that exploit intense gap-mode plasmons, typically requiring a plasmonic substrate.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
To investigate the widely concerned issue about positive real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results after discharge in patients recovered from coronavirus disease ...2019 (COVID-19).
We identified seven cases of COVID-19 who was readmitted to hospital because of positive RT-PCR after discharge, including three pediatrics and four young adult patients.
Six patients had positive rectal swabs but negative throat swabs, and one patient had positive throat swabs. All the patients continued to be asymptomatic and had unchanged chest computed tomography from previous images. The time from hospital discharge to positive RT-PCR after recovery was 7–11 days. The time from positive to negative rectal swabs was 5-23 days.
The study might suggest the positive RT-PCR after recovery did not mean disease relapse or virus reinfection. Adding RT-PCR test of rectal swabs to the criteria for discharge or discontinuation of quarantine might be necessary.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
We report plasmon-assisted resonant electron tunneling from a Ag or Au tip to field emission resonances (FERs) of a Ag(111) surface induced by cw laser excitation of a scanning tunneling microscope ...(STM) junction at visible wavelengths. As a hallmark of the plasmon-assisted resonant tunneling, we observe a downshift of the first peak in the FER spectra by a fixed amount equal to the incident photon energy. STM-induced luminescence measurement for the Ag and Au tip reveals the clear correlation between the laser-induced change in the FER spectra and the plasmonic properties of the junction. Our results clarify a novel resonant electron transfer mechanism in a plasmonic nanocavity.
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CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Solution-processed nickel oxides (s-NiO x ) are used as hole injection and transport layers in solution-processed organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). By increasing the annealing temperature, the ...nickel acetate precursor fully decomposes and the s-NiO x film shows larger crystalline grain sizes, which lead to better hole injection and transport properties. UV–ozone treatment on the s-NiO x surface is carried out to further modify its surface chemistry, improving the hole injection efficiency. The introduction of more dipolar species of nickel oxy-hydroxide (NiO(OH)) is evidenced after the treatment. Dark injection–space charge limited (DI–SCL) transient measurement was carried out to compare the hole injection efficiency of s-NiO x and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) hole injection layers (HIL). The UV–ozone treated s-NiO x shows significantly better hole injection, with a high injection efficiency of 0.8. With a p-type thin film transistor (TFT) configuration, the high-temperature annealed s-NiO x film shows a hole mobility of 0.141 cm2 V–1 s–1, which is significantly higher compared to conventional organic hole transport layers (HTLs). Because of their improved hole injection and transport properties, the solution-processed phosphorescent green OLEDs with NiO x HIL/HTL show a maximum power efficiency of 75.5 ± 1.8 lm W–1, which is 74.6 + 2.1% higher than the device with PEDOT:PSS HIL. The device with NiO x HIL/HTL also shows a better shelf stability than the device with PEDOT:PSS HIL. The NiO x HIL/HTL is further compared with PEDOT:PSS HIL/N,N′-Di(1-naphthyl)-N,N′-diphenyl-(1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine (NPB) HTL in the thermal-evaporated OLEDs. The device with NiO x HIL/HTL shows a comparable efficiency at high electroluminescence (EL) intensities.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
We report on the nanoscale heating mechanism of an ultrathin ZnO film using low-temperature tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Under the resonance condition, intense Stokes and anti-Stokes Raman ...scattering can be observed for the phonon modes of a two-monolayer (ML) ZnO on an Ag(111) surface, enabling us to monitor local heating at the nanoscale. It is revealed that the local heating originates mainly from inelastic electron tunneling through the electronic resonance when the bias voltage exceeds the conduction band edge of the 2-ML ZnO. When the bias voltage is lower than the conduction band edge, the local heating arises from two different contributions, namely direct optical excitation between the interface state and the conduction band of 2-ML ZnO or injection of photoexcited electrons from an Ag tip into the conduction band. These optical heating processes are promoted by localized surface plasmon excitation. Simultaneous mapping of tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and scanning tunneling spectroscopy for 2-ML ZnO including an atomic-scale defect demonstrates visualizing a correlation between the heating efficiency and the local density of states, which further allows us to analyze the local electron-phonon coupling strength with ∼2 nm spatial resolution.
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CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Ultra-wideband (UWB) nonlinear frequency modulation (NLFM) waveforms have the advantages of low sidelobes and high resolution. By extending the frequency domain wideband synthesis method to the NLFM ...waveform, the synthetic bandwidth will be limited, and the grating lobe will grow as the number of subpulses increases at a fixed synthetic bandwidth. Aiming for the highly periodic grating lobes caused by equally spaced splicing and small subpulse time-bandwidth products (TxBW), a multisubpulse UWB NLFM waveform synthesis method is proposed in this paper. Random frequency hopping and spectral correction are utilized to disperse the energy of periodic grating lobes and optimize the matched filter of the subpulse, thereby reducing notches and Fresnel ripples in the synthesized spectrum. The results of the hardware-in-the-loop simulation experiment show that the peak sidelobe ratio (PSLR) and the integral sidelobe ratio (ISLR) of the NLFM synthetic wideband waveform (SWW) obtained by 50 subpulses with a bandwidth of 36 MHz are improved by 4.8 dBs and 4.5 dBs, respectively, when compared to the frequency domain wideband synthesis method, and that the grating lobe is suppressed by an average of 10.6 dBs. It also performs well in terms of point target resolution, and it has potential for 2D radar super-resolution imaging.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
The exciton quenching properties of solution-processed nickel oxide (NiO x ) and vanadium oxide (VO x ) are studied by measuring the photoluminescence (PL) of a thin emitting layer (EML) deposited on ...top of the metal oxides. Strong exciton quenching is evidenced at the metal oxide/EML interface, which is proved to be detrimental to the performance of optoelectronic devices. With a thin polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) passivation polymer adsorbed on top of metal oxides, the PL quenching is found to be effectively suppressed. A short UV–O3 treatment on top of the PVP-passivated metal oxides turns out to be a key procedure to trigger the chemical binding between the PVP passivation polymer and the metal oxide surface species, which turns out to be necessary for efficient hole injection and extraction for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and solar cell devices, respectively. With the PVP passivation layer followed by UV–O3 treatment, the OLEDs incorporating NiO x as a hole transport layer (HTL) shows a record current efficiency of 90.8 ± 2.1 Cd A–1 with significantly suppressed efficiency roll-off, the OLEDs incorporating VO x as a hole injection layer (HIL) also shows higher current efficiencies at higher luminescence. Both perovskite solar cells and polymer solar cells incorporating NiO x HTLs show a 60% enhancement in power conversion efficiency (PCE) with PVP passivation polymer.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
The objective of this meta-analysis was to identify whether headache increase the risk of dry eye disease (DED).
PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and EMBASE databases were searched for ...relevant studies. The odds ratio (OR) of DED in all-cause headache was calculated via Stata software. To explore the source of heterogeneity, subgroup and sensitivity analyses were conducted. Funnel plots and Egger's test were performed to assess publication bias.
This meta-analysis included 11 studies. Pooled analysis indicated that all-cause headache was related to a higher risk of DED (OR = 1.586, 95% CI : 1.409-1.785, I
2
= 89.3%, p < .001). Migraine headache, tension headache and cluster headache were all related to a higher risk of DED (OR = 1.503, 95% CI: 1.369-1.650, I
2
= 81.8%, p < .001; OR = 1.610, 95% CI: 1.585-1.635, p < .001; OR = 2.120, 95% CI: 1.104-4.073, p = .024), respectively. The risk of DED in case-control studies was slightly higher than in cross-sectional studies and cohort study (OR = 1.707, 95% CI: 1.291-2.258, I
2
= 85.0%, p < .001; OR = 1.600, 95% CI: 1.590-1.610, I
2
= 0.0%, p < .001; OR = 1.440, 95% CI: 1.096-1.893, p = .009), respectively. Subgroup analysis in territory type showed that all-cause headache in America, Europe, Asia and Oceania were all related to a higher risk of DED.
This study indicates that headache is related to a higher risk of DED, especially in the migraine patients. These results suggest that headaches should be regarded as an independent risk factor for DED.
KEY MESSAGES
In this meta-analysis, 11 studies (one cohort study, four case-control studies and six cross-sectional studies) covering 3,575,957 individuals were included.
Pooled analysis indicated that all-cause headache was related to a higher risk of dry eye (OR = 1.586, 95% CI: 1.409-1.785, I
2
= 89.3%, p < .001).
These results suggest that headaches should be regarded as an independent risk factor for dry eye.
Parkinson's disease is typically characterized by the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. Many studies have been performed based on the supplementation of ...lost dopaminergic neurons to treat Parkinson's disease. The initial strategy for cell replacement therapy used human fetal ventral midbrain and human embryonic stem cells to treat Parkinson's disease, which could substantially alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson's disease in clinical practice. However, ethical issues and tumor formation were limitations of its clinical application. Induced pluripotent stem cells can be acquired without sacrificing human embryos, which eliminates the huge ethical barriers of human stem cell therapy. Another widely considered neuronal regeneration strategy is to directly reprogram fibroblasts and astrocytes into neurons, without the need for intermediate proliferation states, thus avoiding issues of immune rejection and tumor formation. Both induced pluripotent stem cells and direct reprogramming of lineage cells have shown promising results in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. However, there are also ethical concerns and the risk of tumor formation that need to be addressed. This review highlights the current application status of cell reprogramming in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, focusing on the use of induced pluripotent stem cells in cell replacement therapy, including preclinical animal models and progress in clinical research. The review also discusses the advancements in direct reprogramming of lineage cells in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, as well as the controversy surrounding in vivo reprogramming. These findings suggest that cell reprogramming may hold great promise as a potential strategy for treating Parkinson's disease.
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