Holograms, the optical devices to reconstruct predesigned images, show many applications in our daily life. However, applications of hologram are still limited by the constituent materials and ...therefore their working range is trapped at a particular electromagnetic region. In recent years, the metasurfaces, an array of subwavelength antenna with varying sizes, show the abilities to manipulate the phase of incident electromagnetic wave from visible to microwave frequencies. Here, we present a reflective-type and high-efficiency meta-hologram fabricated by metasurface for visible wavelength. Using gold cross nanoantennas as building blocks to construct our meta-hologram devices with thickness ∼ λ/4, the reconstructed images of meta-hologram show polarization-controlled dual images with high contrast, functioning for both coherent and incoherent light sources within a broad spectral range and under a wide range of incidence angles. The flexibility demonstrated here for our meta-hologram paves the road to a wide range of applications related to holographic images at arbitrary electromagnetic wave region.
Size‐selected 3 nm gas‐phase Au clusters dispersed by cluster beam deposition (CBD) on a conducting fluorine‐doped tin oxide template show strong enhancement in mass activity for the methanol ...electro‐oxidation (MEO) reaction compared to previously reported nanostructured gold electrodes. Density functional theory‐based modeling on the corresponding Au clusters guided by experiments attributes this high MEO activity to the high density of exposed under‐coordinated Au atoms at their faceted surface. In the description of the activity trends, vertices and edges are the most active sites due to their favorable CO and OH adsorption energies. The faceted structures occurring in this size range, partly preserved upon deposition, may also prevent destructive restructuring during the oxidation‐reduction cycle. These results highlight the benefits of using CBD in fine‐tuning material properties on the nanoscale and designing high‐performance fuel cell electrodes with less material usage.
Size‐selected Au clusters dispersed by cluster beam deposition on fluorine‐doped tin oxide show strong enhancement of methanol electro‐oxidation activity. A detailed characterisation of their structure in combination with density functional theory‐based modelling attribute this enhancement to the high density of exposed under‐coordinated Au atoms at their faceted surface. Vertices and edges are the most active sites due to their favorable CO and OH adsorption energies.
Abstract
Without an existing large-scale coherent magnetic field in the early universe, Population III stars would likely rotate at or near breakup speed. In this work, focusing on the accretion ...phase of Population III stars, we investigate the possibility of generating a coherent magnetic field through large-scale dynamo processes, as well as the corresponding field saturation level. Using results from hydrodynamic simulations performed with a cylindrical grid, we demonstrate that primordial accretion disks are turbulent with a Shakura–Sunyaev disk parameter
α
ss
≳ 10
−3
and evidence for helical turbulence with a dynamo number ∣
D
α
Ω
∣ ≫ 10. The presence of helical turbulence at these levels allows large-scale dynamo modes to grow, and the saturation level is determined by the amount of net helicity remaining in the dynamo active regions (i.e., the quenching problem). We demonstrate that if the accretion could successfully alleviate the quenching problem, the magnetic field can reach approximate equipartition with
B
/
B
eq
∼ 3.
In this paper, we investigate a nonlinear inverse problem of identifying a time-dependent zeroth-order coefficient in a time-fractional diffusion-wave equation by using the measured data at a ...boundary point. We firstly prove the existence, uniqueness and regularity of the solution for the corresponding direct problem by using the contraction mapping principle. Then we try to give a conditional stability estimate for the inverse zeroth-order coefficient problem and propose a simple condition for the initial value and zeroth-order coefficient such that the uniqueness of the inverse coefficient problem is obtained. The Levenberg-Marquardt regularization method is applied to obtain a regularized solution. Based on the piecewise linear finite elements approximation, we find an approximate minimizer at each iteration by solving a linear system of algebraic equations in which the Fréchet derivative is obtained by solving a sensitive problem. Two numerical examples in one-dimensional case and two examples in two-dimensional case are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Although many genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of hyperuricemia or gout have been reported, the related genetic factors and the mechanisms from hyperuricemia to gouty attack remain unclear. ...This study aimed to identify genetic factors and pathogenesis of gout from hyperuricemia by genome-wide association study (GWAS). 747 gout patients, 747 hyperuricemia and 2071 age-matched controls were recruited and analyzed with Affymetrix 650 K chip to find the related genetic variants. The functions of the related genes were investigated in an endothelial cell (EC) with urate crystal stimulation. The GWAS results showed 36 SNPs to be strongly associated with gout compared to controls (all p-values < 10
). Whereas the rs2231142 in ABCG2 gene had significant associations between gout and controls, between gout and hyperuricemia, and between hyperuricemia and controls (all p-values < 10
), and the ORs were 4.34, 3.37 and 2.15 (all p-values < 0.001) after adjustment of potential confounders, respectively. The cell model showed significantly higher IL-8 release from EC combined with ABCG2 knockdown. We concluded that ABCG2 gene contributed to hyperuricemia but also gout, and that it was involved in the inflammation dysregulation via augmented IL-8 release in EC.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with a high risk of osteoporosis and fracture. Interleukin (IL)-6 inhibitors may suppress osteoclast activation. Anticitrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) ...titers are inversely associated with bone mineral density (BMD). However, the differential effect of ACPA on bone turnover marker (BTM) and BMD changes after IL-6 inhibition remains unclear. This prospective study recruited patients with active RA with inadequate response to methotrexate or biologics. BMD was measured before and after 2-year tocilizumab (TCZ) treatment. Serum osteocalcin, N-terminal propeptide of type I collagen (P1NP), and C-terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX) levels were assessed at the baseline and after treatment. We enrolled 76 patients with RA (89.5% women, age: 57.2 ± 13.3 years) receiving TCZ. The 28-joint disease activity score was negatively correlated with BMD and T-scores of the lumbar spine and bilateral femoral neck. ACPA-positive patients had lower lumbar spine and femoral neck T-scores. After 2-year TCZ treatment, CTX levels significantly decreased (0.32 ± 0.21 vs. 0.26 ± 0.17, p = 0.038). Femoral neck BMD increased significantly (0.71 ± 0.22 vs. 0.69 ± 0.55, p = 0.008). Decreased CTX levels and improved BMD were observed only in ACPA-positive patients. After treatment, femoral neck BMD significantly increased only in patients receiving a glucocorticoid dose of ≥5 mg/day. Two-year TCZ treatment reduced bone resorption and increased femoral BMD in ACPA-positive patients. The net effects of glucocorticoids and IL-6 inhibition on BMD imply that strict inflammation control might affect bone metabolism.
Exposure to arsenic is a global health issue. Long‐term arsenic exposure may associate with various cancers and many other pathological effects. Over 100 million people worldwide are exposed to ...arsenic particularly in countries such as Bangladesh, Chile, China, India, Mexico, Taiwan and the USA. Drinking of water contaminated with arsenic is the major route of human exposure. Skin lesions are considered to be the most common adverse effects associated with chronic arsenic exposure. Skin lesions usually develop with the latency period spanning more than 20 years from first exposure. Arsenic‐induced Bowen's disease, the most frequently encountered carcinoma in situ resulting from chronic arsenic exposure, is characterized by multiple and recrudescent lesions. Long‐term arsenic exposure results in impaired immunity in susceptible individuals. In the prenatal stage, enhanced placental inflammatory responses and reduced placental T cells by arsenic may result in decreased thymic size and functions in newborns. In childhood, arsenic exposure may reduce peripheral CD4+ cells and interleukin‐2 secretion which leads to susceptibility to opportunistic infections. There was an impairment of macrophage function and oxidative DNA damage of peripheral polymorphonuclear leukocytes in adults with skin lesions. In arsenic‐induced Bowen's disease lesions, a decrease in the number and functions of Langerhans cells and, in parallel, a selective CD4+ cell apoptosis was noticed. These findings provide scientific evidence for understanding the phenomenon of arsenic‐induced immune escape in the early stage of carcinogenesis and a reasonable explanation for multiple and recrudescent arsenic cancers in the skin.
Background
The autonomic activity plays a critical role in generating paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF). This study aimed to evaluate the changes in the autonomic nerve activity before and after ...PAF events in patients with and without ischemic heart disease (IHD).
Methods
The study included 49 patients (71.43 ± 12.24 years old, 26 males) with PAF events lasting more than 30 s during 24‐hr ambulatory Holter monitoring. The 20‐min intervals before and after PAF events were divided into eight segments of 5 min each. Heart rate variability (HRV) analyses of the time and frequency domains were applied to each time segment.
Results
Patients with IHD had significant increases in the root mean square successive differences (r‐MSSD, p = .008) and HF component (p = .04), followed by a significant increase in the LF/HF ratio (p = .02) preceding the onset of PAF. Patients without IHD had only a significant increase in the r‐MSSD (p = .045) preceding the onset of PAF. During the termination of PAF events, patients in both the IHD and control groups had a significantly decreased r‐MSSD and HF, respectively.
Conclusion
Ischemic heart disease causes a sympathovagal imbalance in the initiation of PAF. Decreased parasympathetic activity regulated the termination of PAF in both the IHD and control groups. The modification of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity should be individualized due to the autonomic complexity in AF arrhythmogenesis and termination.
Pulmonary lymphoepithelioma‐like carcinoma (PLELC) is a rare and histologically distinctive subtype of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). High expression of programmed death ligand 1 (PD‐L1) and ...scarcity of druggable driver mutations raise the potential of immunotherapy for advanced PELEC. However, evidence on the clinical impact of immune‐checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) remained limited and unconvincing. The present study retrospectively enrolled advanced PLELC patients who received ICIs either as up‐front or salvage therapy in SYSUCC between March 15, 2017 and March 15, 2022. The comparative efficacy of chemoimmunotherapy vs chemotherapy in the first‐line setting and chemoimmunotherapy vs ICIs monotherapy in the ≥2 line setting was investigated. A total of 96 patients were finally enrolled; 49 PLELC patients received immunotherapy plus platinum‐based chemotherapy, while 45 patients received platinum‐based chemotherapy as first‐line treatment. Patients with chemoimmunotherapy significantly obtain more survival benefits than those receiving chemotherapy (median progression‐free survival PFS: 15.6 vs 8.6 months, P = .0015). Additionally, patients with chemoimmunotherapy obtained more PFS benefits than those with ICIs monotherapy in the ≥2 line of therapy (median PFS: 21.7 months vs 7.8 months, P = .094). A significant correlation was observed between prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and favorable treatment outcomes in patients receiving first‐line chemoimmunotherapy (median PFS: 17.8 months vs 7.6 months, P < .0001). Likewise, patients in the monocyte‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (MLR)‐high group had significantly shorter PFS than the MLR‐low group (median PFS: 11.2 months vs not reached, P = .0009). Our study elucidated the superior efficacy of ICIs therapy, especially chemoimmunotherapy in advanced PLELC, which may provide new insight into the role of immunotherapy in advanced PLELC.
What's new?
The high expression of PD‐L1 and scarcity of druggable driver mutations raise the potential of immunotherapy in treating advanced pulmonary lymphoepithelioma‐like carcinoma. However, evidence on the clinical impact of immune checkpoint inhibitors remains limited. Our study shows that patients receiving first‐line chemoimmunotherapy obtain more survival benefits than patients receiving traditional chemotherapy. Chemoimmunotherapy also shows a favorable treatment outcome compared to immune checkpoint inhibitors monotherapy after progression on first‐line platinum‐based chemotherapy. Moreover, the study supports the potential of the pretreatment serum prognostic nutritional index and monocyte‐to‐lymphocyte ratio as prognostic markers for immunotherapy in advanced pulmonary lymphoepithelioma‐like carcinoma.
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