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Background: Young-onset dementia (YOD) refers to dementia occurring before the age of 65, with Alzheimer's disease being the most common form, posing distinct challenges for spousal caregivers. Objective: This study aims to investigate the unique experiences of spousal caregivers of persons with YOD in China, where dementia-specific community care services and primary healthcare professionals are relatively lacking, in order to inform the tailored support services development. Methods: This qualitative-design study utilized semi-structured interviews with 11 spousal caregivers of persons with YOD dwelling in the community. Traditional content analysis was employed to analyze the interview data. Results: Limited dementia-specific healthcare professionals and low public awareness made diagnosing and accepting YOD a prolonged and challenging journey. Spousal caregivers faced skepticism when seeking diagnosis, exacerbating their burden and emotional stress. Disparities in healthcare professionals and insufficient collaboration between institutions worsened the situation. YOD significantly impacted family dynamics and led to changes in emotional communication within the family. The stigma surrounding YOD raised concerns among spousal caregivers about their children's future in marriage and career, emphasizing genetic risks. Conclusions: In settings where dementia-specific community care services and primary healthcare professionals are limited and unevenly distributed, integrating support services at both the primary and community levels is crucial for families dealing with YOD in the community. Additionally, raising public awareness about YOD can foster a more understanding and supportive environment, addressing challenges related to stigma faced by affected families, contributing to increased investment in supporting resources, and encouraging individuals to seek help early on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triple‐negative breast cancer (TNBC), a disease with a poor prognosis and high mortality, is difficult to targeted therapy, due to the metastatic nature of TNBC cells and their lack of estrogen, progesterone, and Her‐2/Neu receptor targets. Here, a novel pretargeting strategy involving self‐assembled peptides and a bioorthogonal reaction are described. This process generates nanofibers on TNBC cell surface that prevent them migration and invasion and deliver untargeted anticancer drugs (e.g., doxorubicin) that synergistically eliminates TNBC cells. The self‐assembled peptide contains four modules: i) an aromatic group‐rich tetraphenylethylene (TPE) unit for promoting self‐assembly and nanofiber formation, ii) a GFFY peptide motif that supports self‐assembly of nanofibers into peptide scaffolds, iii) a targeting RGD motif that binding with the abundant integrin molecules present on TNBC cell surface, and iv) an azide group acting as the bioorthogonal reaction site that reacts with drugs or probes containing the dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO) group. Results of in vitro and in vivo experiments indicate that the self‐assembled peptide inhibits tumor invasion and metastasis, while also pretargeting and killing TNBC cells with superior effectiveness and lower toxicity to that of current chemotherapies. In conclusion, this novel bioorthogonal pretargeting strategy holds promise as an effective anticancer therapeutic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, computational intelligence-assisted autonomous assessment of education quality has become a more and more general concern in the area of smart education management. As education quality assessment is a complicated process with multiple heterogeneous factors, it remains challenging to make effective assessment using simple information modality and criteria. To deal with this issue, this paper introduces multiscale deep learning, and proposes a novel data-driven autonomous assessment framework for education quality. In particular, four aspects of heterogeneous indicators are selected as the basic indexes and a dilated convolutional neural network structure is formulated to perform multiscale feature extraction. Then, the structural equation is adopted to make multivariate characterization and output the final assessment results. At last, some simulations are carried out on realistic education operation data to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed autonomous assessment framework. Two aspects of findings can be deduced from the results. For one thing, multisource fusion of multiple indicators well makes sense to autonomous education assessment. For another, multiscale deep learning can provide some beneficial promotion to assessment efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dementia occurring before age 65 is known as young-onset dementia (YOD), with Alzheimer's disease being the most common type. YOD poses unique challenges for persons and families, impacting their working-age years and family responsibilities. Person-centered interventions and services are essential to improve their quality of life and social engagement. Objective: This study aims to synthesize non-pharmacological interventions for persons with YOD and their families to inform future targeted interventions. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature search across four databases: PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, and CINAHL. The included articles were carefully screened, categorized, and synthesized by following Arksey and O'Malley's five stages framework. Results: We included 20 studies reported in 24 papers, with 11 studies (14 papers) on persons with YOD and nine studies (10 papers) on families. Quantitative intervention results vary, but qualitative interviews show positive feedback. Stakeholders provided positive evaluations, stating these interventions provided a sense of normalcy, facilitated communication among families, enhanced the independence of persons with YOD, and improved the families' caregiving self-efficacy, thereby reducing care burden and psychological distress. The heterogeneity among the studies posed integration challenges. Conclusions: Interventions for YOD can improve the quality of life for both persons with YOD and their families. More extensive intervention studies are urgently needed, especially in developing countries, with a focus on family-centered and life course perspectives. In future intervention research design, a more extensive incorporation of stakeholder involvement is essential for successful implementation. Moreover, the integration of new technologies shows promise as a potential avenue for intervention advancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young adults thrust into the role of caregiving for parents with young-onset dementia (YOD) face unique challenges during their formative years. While existing research acknowledges the crucial role of young adult caregivers, a gap persists in understanding how this group experiences and redefines their identity amidst these circumstances, along with the psychological and societal challenges encountered. This knowledge deficit hinders the identification of suitable social support, adversely affecting the personal growth and well-being of these young adult caregivers. In this single-case study, we used a combination of a semi-structured interview and photovoice to explore the journey of a 19-year-old caregiver, Alice, whose mother had been diagnosed with dementia in the preceding 3 years. Through this unique perspective, we aimed to illuminate how caregiving for a mother with YOD may profoundly redefine familial roles and relationships. Over 3 months, Alice captured significant life moments through photography, selecting meaningful images for bi-weekly meetings. These images served as pivotal themes, triggering in-depth conversations during subsequent interviews to provide nuanced insights into her life experiences. Findings reveal four major themes faced by a young caregiver: (1) challenges adapting to an unexpected role, (2) navigating the complex emotional terrain of losing a loved one to YOD, (3) prioritizing the well-being of the healthy parent, and (4) expressing a profound desire for both informal and formal support. These results underscore the intricate identity and emotional challenges faced by young adult caregivers, emphasizing the urgency of addressing their unique needs through family-centered systemic support services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polysaccharides are one of the major group of bioactive macromolecular derived from plants, bacteria, fungi and seaweeds. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) , a type of scanning probe microscopy, is a powerful technology to visualize biopolymers, such as polysaccharides and proteins, up to a single molecular level in "near-native" conditions. This review gives a brief description of AFM technology involved in polysaccharide research in addition to discussion of factors that might influence polysaccharide imaging. More importantly, its contribution to research progress of a variety of well characterized polysaccharides, including pectin, xanthan, carrageenan, curdlan, scleroglucan, xyloglucan, arabinoxylan, starch, etc., and the detailed nanostructure information was summarized. AFM provides a unique insight into polysaccharide studies in terms of morphological features and molecular characteristics, such as heights (diameters), width, contour length, end-to-end distance, polydispersity, etc. Besides, other promising aspects included probing molecular motion and assemblies, as well as visualizing conformation behavior under different conditions. • Atomic force microscopy technology are employed for various polysaccharides research. • Atomic force microscopy is able to probe polysaccharide at nanometer level. • Deposition methods and polysaccharide preparation are two major aspects that affect polysaccharide imaging. • Morphology and nanostructures of polysaccharides are overviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Polysaccharide is one of the main bioactive substances in Cordyceps sinensis (C. sinensis). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of polysaccharide from natural C. sinensis (CSP) on intestinal mucosal immunity and antioxidant activity in cyclophosphamide (Cy)-induced intestinal immunosuppressed mice, further to explore the potential mechanism. Results showed that in mice with Cy-induced intestinal injury, the supplement of CSP (25, 50, 100 mg/kg·bw) significantly increased the levels of goblet cells and mucus in intestine in a dose-dependent manner. The formation of immunoglobulin A (IgA)-secreting cells and the secretory IgA (sIgA) contents were promoted obviously in CSP groups. Furthermore, CSP significantly promoted the secretion or mRNA expression of T helper (Th) 1 style cytokines, including interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-12 p40, interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), in addition to Th1 style transcription factor T-bet. Besides, the levels of Th2 style cytokines, including IL-4, IL-10 and transcription factor GATA-3, were also improved. The value of T-bet/GATA-3, as well as IFN-γ/IL-4 was increased obviously. These results indicated that CSP effectively enhanced intestinal mucosal immunity and regulated polarization of Th1/Th2 cells. The total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), and the activities of superoxidase dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase (CAT) in liver were increased significantly, and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) was decreased dose-dependently. In conclusion, CSP effectively ameliorated Cy-induced intestinal injury in mice, which provided a good suggestion of the potential utilization of CSP as a natural immunopotentiator and antioxidant. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • CSP provided protection against intestinal mucosal injury induced by Cy. • CSP enhanced intestinal mucosal immunity in intestinal immunosuppressed mice. • CSP regulated Th1/Th2 balance disrupted by Cy. • CSP improved antioxidant status in immunosuppressed mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An α-1, 6-linked galactomannan was isolated and purified from natural Cordyceps sinensis . The fine structure analysis of this polysaccharide was elucidated based on partial acid hydrolysis, monosaccharide composition, methylation and 1D/2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Monosaccharide composition analysis revealed that this polysaccharide was mainly composed of galactose (68.65%), glucose (6.65%) and mannose (24.02%). However, after partial acid hydrolysis the percentages of galactose, glucose and mannose were changed to 3.96%, 13.82% and 82.22%, respectively. The molecular weight of this polysaccharide was 7207. Methylation and NMR analysis revealed that this galactomannan had a highly branched structure, mainly consisted of a mannan skeleton and galactofuranosyl chains. The structure of galactofuranosyl part was formed by alternating (1 → 5)-lined β-Gal f and (1 → 6)-liked β-Gal f or a single (1 → 6)-liked β-Gal f , attaching to the O -2 and O -4 of the mannose chain, and terminated at β-T-Gal f . The mannan core was revealed by analyzing the partial acid hydrolysate of the galactomannan and the structure was composed of (1 → 6)-linked α-Man p backbone, with substituted at C-2 by short chains of 2-substituted Man p or Gal f branches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Without losing symmetry, plasmonic Fano resonances have been observed and investigated in multiple nanorod dimers antennae in this paper. The dipole-dipole Fano resonance in three nanorod dimers can be excited simultaneously due to the resonance detuning, and the induced currents of nanorod dimers on both sides are in-phase and out-of-phase with the middle nanorod dimer, respectively. The sharp Fano dip excited in three nanorod dimers antennae can be used to realize the high sensitive sensing of 1116 nm/RIU in the visible and near infrared regions. Furthermore, the Fano resonance is also observed in plasmonic nanoantennae with four nanorod dimers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A water-soluble polysaccharide, named NCSP-50, was obtained from natural Cordyceps sinensis by hot water extraction and ethanol fractionation precipitation. It was eluted as a single symmetrical peak and had an average molecular weight of 9.76 × 10 5 Da. The structure was determined by monosaccharide composition, methylation analysis, 1D/2D NMR spectroscopy, and enzymatic hydrolysis and characterization of the oligosaccharides by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The repeating unit of this polysaccharide was proposed as follows: Image 2 This glucan showed potent immunostimulatory activity on the basis of its significant abilities to promote macrophage proliferation, enhance NO production, as well as and cytokines (IL-1β and TNF-α) secretion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We numerically investigated the optical properties of planar nanorod antennas metamaterial that exhibits plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) effect. The designed metamaterial is made of a silver nanorod dimer antenna surrounded by two parallel silver nanorods. The interaction between two parallel nanorods and middle nanorod dimer antenna leads to a single PIT band in the transmission spectrum. Moreover, the double PIT windows and slow light can be realized by breaking the structure symmetry. The multi-bands PIT effect offers an excellent potential to manipulate the light speed at multi-frequencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The advance of MALDI MS in food carbohydrates analysis was reviewed. • Strategies to improve food carbohydrates ionization efficiency in MS were summarized. • MS applications in structure analysis of food polysaccharides were also introduced. Carbohydrates, including monosaccharides, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides, are widely distributed in food resources. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI), a soft ionization technique, is extensively applied in carbohydrates analysis. MALDI mass spectrometers are capable to generate spectra rapidly and record mass profiles or fingerprints from foods, usually with simple sample preparation or pretreatment. Therefore, this review described recent research progress on MALDI mass spectrometry (MS) detection in food carbohydrates, especially for the improvement of ionization efficiency and their application in structure characterization of polysaccharides from food and edible herbs. Furthermore, the quantitative study and mass spectrometry imaging were also briefly summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the chemical composition and bioactive components of three natural Cordyceps sinensis and one culture mycelium, and further compares the antioxidant properties of their aqueous extracts. The contents of crude fat and total amino acids were significantly higher in cultured sample. Glutamic acid was the most abundant amino acid in all samples; arginine was the second major amino acid in natural samples, while in cultured sample it contained large quantity of aspartic acid and leucine. The contents of minerals, except for Cr, Mo, Sn, V and Cd, were significantly different between natural and cultured samples. The content of mannitol in natural samples was significantly higher, ranging from 9.85% to 11.51%, while in the mycelium the value was less than half. On the contrary, the levels of polysaccharide, adenine and adenosine in cultured sample amounted to 10.43%, 0.50 mg/g and 2.61 mg/g, respectively, considerably higher than the natural ones. There was no difference in content of guanosine among four samples. Cordycepin was not detected in the four samples examined. Additionally, in vitro antioxidant activity evaluations showed that water extracts of cultured sample had a stronger ability in scavenging DPPH and hydroxyl radicals, as well as a higher reducing power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reaction pathways to synthesize Zr2P2 WO12 ( ZPW) from ZrO2, WO3, and P2O5 are studied. It is found that there exist two different reaction pathways: One is direct reaction, while another is through an intermediate phase ZrP2O7. The reaction pathways are determined by drying and sintering temperatures. By controlling the reaction pathways, namely avoiding the intermediate phase, negative thermal expansion ceramic ZPW can be synthesized within several minutes. Besides, as-synthesized specimens possess much smaller and uniform grain size distribution than those synthesized by conventional methods. The investigation paves a way toward rapid and environmental friendly synthesis of ZPW and related compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We numerically investigated the optical properties of planar resonators metamaterial that exhibits two narrow transmitted dips with quality factors of 23 and 50 in the optical regions. The results show that, both of the two resonances reveal a distinct plasmon shift with respect to a small fluctuation in the refractive index of the surrounding medium, and calculated average refractive index sensitivities are 900 nm/RIU and 493 nm/RIU, and corresponding figure of merits of two modes are 16 and 32 in vacuum, respectively. The sensing performance can be improved by changing the geometric parameters of planar metamaterial due to the plasmon modes coupling effect, which offer an excellent potential for optical nanosensing applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By changing or fine-tuning the surface structure of the metal, the characteristics of surface plasmon – especially the interaction with light – can be customized. In this work, we numerically design a plasmonic nanostructure composed of a pair of symmetrical bifurcation nanostructures. An underlying optical property of the observed scattering and absorption cross section spectra and physical mechanism is illustrated by analyzing spatial distributions of the magnetic field, electric field, and surface current component at resonant wavelengths. Moreover, the extremely intense and highly confined electromagnetic fields induced in the bifurcation plasmonic nanostructure provide a sensitive environment to probe minor changes in the dielectric environment. Such high-performance composite nanostructure provides great potential for the application of sensing. • For this composite nanostructure, we focus on the optical properties of bifurcated nanostructure as shown in Fig. 2 (this paper). Especially in Fig. 2 (b) and (c), we can see the optical properties of single nanorod tetramer and fork dimer. It is clearly observed that the scattering spectrum of the bifurcation nanostructure is split into two resonance peaks by comparing with single nanorod tetramer or fork dimer, and a groove is formed in the middle with a sharp dip in scattering intensity and the corresponding absorption spectrum is significantly enhanced. The extremely intense and highly confined electromagnetic fields induced in the bifurcation plasmon nanostructure provides a sensitive environment to probe minor changes in the dielectric environment. • In this article, the structure we designed has both excellent sensing performance and field enhancement performance which can be used to design multi-function chips. • Our design is a simple flat structure, which is easy to process and manufacture in actual production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sharp plasmonic Fano resonance is found to appear in a silver nanorod pair structure with broken length symmetry. It is shown that it arises from strong interference between a narrow plasmon mode of inter-nanorod near-field coupling and broad scattering from the nanorod. The inter-nanorod coupling is the result of the magnetic dipole plasmon resonance induced by the anti-parallel current of the nanorod pair, while the broad scattering is caused by electric dipole oscillation. The numerical results show that a giant local field enhancement (197), a high quality factor (52) and a sensing sensitivity of 1426 nm per refractive index unit in the symmetry-broken nanorod pair with a displacement Δl = 40 nm originated from a pronounced Fano resonance in the near-infrared spectrum. Huge local field enhancement and high sensitivity make this simple structure promising for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy and sensing applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI TOF MS) in glycan was limited due to their poor ionization efficiency, compared with biomolecules such as proteins and peptides. Aiming to improve the ionization efficiency and simplify preparation procedure simultaneously during MALDI MS analysis, an on-target derivatization method using 3-aminoquinoline (3-AQ)/α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (CHCA) as matrix was employed and it was conducted both in the positive and negative ion MALDI TOF MS. Results indicated that after on-target derivatization, the ions generated had substantially improved S/N ratios and sensitivity in the tandem mass spectra. The B/Y− type ions of 3-AQ-labeled glycans could be easily recognized, and cross-ring A− type ions provided additional information to reveal the linkage patterns. Specifically, positive ion mass spectra with protonated adduct as precursor ion produced a simple fragmentation pattern benefited for sequencing and observation of branches. Furthermore, this method was successfully applied in polysaccharides analysis, including arabinoxylan, xylan, arabinogalactan and dextran after enzymatic or acid degradation. This study demonstrated that it was feasible to analyze higher molecular weight polysaccharides by MALDI TOF MS using 3-AQ/CHCA matrix through appropriate hydrolysis, and it allowed much efficient structural interpretation with increased sensitivity and characteristic fragment ions. [Display omitted] • On-target derivatization using 3-AQ/CHCA increased the ionization efficiency of polysaccharides. • The fragmentation of (A)XOS, malto-oligosaccharides and cyclodextrins in MALDI TOF MS were elucidated. • This method was applied to characterize the polysaccharides after degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] and form by substitution of Bi3+ for Zn2+/Sn4+ in Zn2SnO4. [•] High dopant solubility relates to interattraction between and in lattice. [•] An n–p codopant band forms between CB and VB by high content and . [•] Visible light absorption is enhanced for SPS/PL by high Bi3+ solubility in Zn2SnO4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We theoretically investigate the optical properties in one-dimensional graded soft photonic crystals (1D GSPCs). The proposed structure is constituted of the stacked ferrofluids layer and the dielectric layer. Due to the supermagnetic response of the ferromagnetic nanoparticles, they will align in a line under the influence of the initiated magnetic field, thereby modulating the refractive index of the ferrofluids layer. By resorting to the transfer matrix method, the dispersion relation, transmittance and reflectance in 1D GSPCs were calculated. Numerical results show that a broad photonic band gap appears in such systems, which can even be broadened by increasing the volume fraction of ferromagnetic nanoparticles. Moreover, perfect transmittance of our proposed structure can be realized with an increased number of ferrofluid layers. In comparison with conventional PCs materials, 1D GSPCs composed of liquid material offer a very flexible route to implementation, which can be widely used in the application of optical filters, waveguides, reflectors and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbohydrates are the most abundant organic compounds in nature, widely distributed in animals, plants and microorganisms. In order to understanding their structure properties, the following critical aspects should be revealed: a) building blocks (compositional monosaccharide); b) glycosidic linkages and anomeric configuration; c) sequence of sugar residues; d) molecular mass or degree of polymerization; e) substitutions. Mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful technology for carbohydrate analysis. The development of ionization sources and mass analysers, as well as the possibility in coupling with different separation methods, extend their potential to carbohydrates research. Therefore, in this review, the research progress of carbohydrates investigated by MS technologies was summarized, mainly emphasized on how their structural features were elucidated, and a brief description of their applications in characterizing herbal and food polysaccharides, as well as proposing some suggestion of future development prospects. • The advance of mass spectrometry (MS) in structure characterization of carbohydrates was reviewed. • MS-based analytical strategies were introduced. • MS applications in analysis of herbal and food carbohydrates were also summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the structure of noncrystalline rocks by total radial distribution function (RDF) which was derived from the wide angular X-ray scattering (WAXS). Kinds of noncrystalline rocks; Information on RDF; Experiment and data treatment; Results.

The development of new and simple surface-enhanced substrates is primarily motivated by the ability to design and investigate the plasmonic structures to achieve the optimal performance in enhanced spectroscopy. In this work, we numerically design the plasmonic substrates by embedding a nanorod dimer antenna into a nanoring resonator. The single-layer composite substrate reveals a double-resonance response with a broad-spectrum electric field enchantment due to the plasmon hybridization of nanorod dimer and nanoring. The sandwiched substrate shows a complicated optical spectrum with multiple plasmon resonances, which can be attributed to the interaction of intralayer and interlayer plasmons. It is also worth mentioning that the electric field hot spots keep unmodified and concentrate at the middle gap of nanorod dimers in composite substrates at different excitation frequencies. The enhanced plasmonic substrate with consistent hot spots at different excitation frequencies can be used in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and nonlinear optics. • The dual-band plasmon resonances with wide SERS activity can be realized in hybridized nanorod dimer plasmon substrate. • The multi-band plasmon enhanced substrates with unchanged hot spots can be realized in hybridized nanorod dimer. • The hot spots in designed plasmon-enhanced substrates remain unchanged at different excited wavelengths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene and its derivatives are widely used in the field of energy conversion and management due to their excellent physical and chemical properties. In this paper, ultra-thin graphite film (GF) with thickness of 100–150 nm prepared by chemical vapor deposition was transferred to oxygen plasma-treated polyimide (PI) substrate as flexible heating film. The electrothermal and photothermal properties of GF on PI substrates with different treatment time were studied. The experimental results show that the PI substrate pretreated by oxygen plasma can change the surface morphology of GF, increase its electrical conductivity and light absorption capacity, and significantly improve the electrothermal and photothermal properties of GF heater. Under the low applied voltage of 5 V (power density of 0.81 W cm−2), the surface temperature of GF on 40 min plasma-treated PI substrate can rise to 250 °C, which is nearly 50 °C higher than that of GF on untreated PI substrate. When 100 nm thick commercial multilayer graphene film (MLG) is used, plasma-treated PI substrate can increase the electric heating temperature of MLG by 70 °C. In terms of photothermal performance, the surface temperature of GF on 50 min plasma-treated PI substrate can reach 73 °C under one Sun irradiation, which is 8 °C higher than that on untreated substrate. The experimental results are in good agreement with the simulation research. Our strategy has important implications for the development of efficient and energy-saving graphene/graphite-based heating films for advanced electrothermal and photothermal conversion devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estrogen–induced cholestasis is a common etiology of hepatic diseases in women with contraceptives administration, pregnancy or hormone replacement therapy. Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) is a member of nuclear receptor super family of ligand-activated transcription factors that is highly expressed in liver. FXR is acknowledged to contribute to the bile acid homeostasis, as well as the pathogenesis and progression of cholestasis. Specific targeting of FXR is an innovative approach for the treatment of cholestasis. The current study aimed to verify the anti-cholestasis effect of yangonin that is a natural product isolated from Kava via FXR signaling pathway in vivo and in vitro. The analyses of FXR gain- or loss-of-function were performed. Yangonin treatment ameliorates estrogen-induced cholestasis through increasing bile flow and biliary bile acid output. The mechanisms were an induction in the hepatic efflux transporters (Bsep and Mrp2) and an inhibition in hepatic uptake transporter (Ntcp) by yangonin. Likewise, yangonin through repressing Cyp7a1, Cyp8b1 and inducing Sult2a1 expression suppressed bile acid synthesis and promoted bile acid metabolism. Furthermore, yangonin improved estrogen–induced inflammatory cell infiltration and the inflammation gene expression. In vitro experiments further consolidated that yangonin alleviated estrogen–caused cholestasis via FXR activation. Noteworthily, the effects of yangonin were enhanced by FXR expression plasmids but abrogated by FXR siRNA. In conclusion, yangonin alleviates estrogen–induced cholestasis, due to FXR-mediated gene regulation. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasmonic nanostructures have important applications for surface-enhanced Raman chips, optical sensors, perfect absorbers, and so on. In this paper, we theoretically investigate the optical properties of a T-shaped dimer (TD) nanostructure and a TD with nanowire loads (TD/NL) nanostructure. By depositing the NLs around the TD, the optical property of the TD is significantly modified, and the extinction spectrum of composite TD/NL appears the splitting resonance peak and shows the asymmetric characteristic of Fano resonance due to the plasmon hybridization. Besides, a stronger electric field enhancement can be obtained in the composite TD/NL nanostructure, and the calculated results show the field enhancement effect of the dark mode in designed TD/NL nanostructure is three times than that in the TD nanostructure. Furthermore, the Fano resonance in TD/NL nanostructure reveals the narrow spectral linewidth and high quality factor, which is advantageous to optical refractive index sensors, and the corresponding sensing sensitivity is as high as 1083 nm RIU−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A polysaccharide from tamarind seeds (TSP) was characterized in terms of backbone and side chain structural features, as well as conformational property using methylation and GC–MS analysis, 2D NMR, MALDI-TOF MS, and high performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC). Results showed that TSP was a galactoxyloglucan (GXG) consisting of glucose, xylose, and galactose in a molar ratio of 3.1: 1.7: 1.0. The Mw was determined to be 524.0 kDa with radius of gyration (R g) of 55.6 nm. The chemical structure was confirmed as a classical β-(1 → 4)-glucan with short side chains of T-β-Gal p -(1 → 2)-α-Xyl p -(1 → and T-α-Xyl p -(1 → attached to O -6 position of glucose. MALDI-TOF MS analysis indicated that TSP mainly composed of nonasaccharide (XLLG) and octasaccharide (XLXG or XXLG) blocks in periodic or interrupted sequence in a ratio of 3: 2, occasionally interrupted by heptasaccharide (XXXG), hexasaccharide (XLG or XXGG), or even hendesaccharide blocks. Conformational study indicated that TSP was in a random-coil shape with relative extended stiff chain in aqueous solution. This study provided more evidences to make an amendment to the fine structure of tamarind GXG. Unlabelled Image • A classic cellulosic backbone of β-(1 → 4)-glucan was confirmed for TSP. • Short branches consisted of Xyl p and Gal p were distributed along the backbone. • TSP composed of XLLG and XLXG/XXLG units with slight XXXG, XLG/XXGG, and hendesaccharide blocks. • TSP showed as relative extended stiff random coil in aqueous solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the synthesis of indium-silver bimetallic nanocomposites by chemical reduction method under atmospheric condition and their activity for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). It is found that the indium-silver bimetallic nanocomposites have better SERS activity with larger enhancement factors (EF) than pure silver nanoparticles with similar size. The SERS EF can reach 107 for 4-mercaptobenzoic acid and 109 for crystal violet and rhodamine 6G adsorbed on the nanocomposites and the detection limits can be at least down to 10−7 and 10−10 M, respectively. The results demonstrate that the indium-silver bimetallic nanocomposites are promising as SERS substrate for a myriad of chemical and biological sensing applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a multi-physics field coupled model of electric, flow and particle fields was constructed by COMSOL to compare the effects of three different corrugated dust collector plates on electric field distribution, airflow field, particle trajectories and dust removal efficiency in an electrostatic precipitator, and to compare them with a conventional electrostatic precipitator with a parallel plate structure. The results indicated that the corrugated dust collection plate influenced the electric field within the ESP channel, while the wire plate spacing directly affected the size and distribution of space charge density. Furthermore, the corrugated dust collection plate also affected the EHD flow within the channel, with the D2-ESP and D3-ESP being the most strongly influenced by the ionic wind. By comparing the dust removal efficiency of the four ESPs, we found that D2-ESP has the highest dust removal efficiency, followed by D3-ESP, then Flat-ESP, and finally D1-ESP. The ranking order of the four ESPs' dust removal efficiency is consistent with the ranking order of the space charge density within the four ESP channels, which shows that the size of the space charge density directly affects the dust removal efficiency of ESPs. Numerical simulation results show that the change of wire plate spacing is the main reason why corrugated ESP affects the dust removal efficiency of electrostatic precipitators. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A micro-structured gold surface, consisting of a periodic square-based anti-pyramidal array (Klarite) with a smooth boundary surface on which silver nanoparticles (diameter: 60 nm) were deposited, produced an active surface enhanced Raman scattering substrate. With p-aminothiophenol as a probe molecule, the Raman activity of the micro-structured surface was compared before and after deposition of the silver nanoparticles. Experimental results show that the Raman spectra on the silver/p-aminothiophenol/Klarite structure is stronger than that on the silver/p-aminothiophenol/gold film and the Raman spectra on the silver/p-aminothiophenol/gold film is stronger than that on silver/p-aminothiophenol, p-aminothiophenol/Klarite structure, p-aminothiophenol/gold film, which is confirmed by numerical simulations. A similar result is obtained with crystal violet as test molecule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We theoretically investigate the optical properties of a nanostructure consisting of the two identical and symmetrically arranged crisscrosses. A plasmonic Fano resonance is induced by a strong interplay between bright mode and dark modes, where the bright mode is due to electric dipole resonance while dark modes originate from the magnetic dipole induced by LC resonances. In this article, we find that the electric field "hotspots" corresponding to three different wavelengths can be positioned at the same spatial position, and its spectral tunability is achieved by changing geometric parameters. The crisscrosses system can be designed as a plasmonic substrate for enhancing Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) signal. This discovery provides a new method to achieve single molecule detection. At the same time, it also has many important applications for multi-photon imaging and other nonlinear optical processes, such as four-wave mixing and stimulated Raman scattering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High conversion efficiency and quantum efficiency is essential for the phosphor in an efficient phosphor-based white light LEDs. Here, based on the coherent harmonic and the random independent emitter model, we demonstrate theoretically that the silicon nanoantenna array can dramatically enhance the output power of emitters in a phosphor layer by investigating the far-field radiation enhancement of an electric dipole assisted by silicon nanopillars in a waveguide structure. Compared with the plasmonic silver nanoantenna array, the silicon nanoantenna array can increase the enhancement factor of light extraction efficiency (LEE) over 50% for the dipole source at the wavelength of 620 nm, thus showing potential applications in white light LEDs. The enhanced LEE is ascribed to the low-loss directional light scattering of silicon nanoantennas and the strong guided mode resonances caused by their array. The calculation results also indicate that the far-field radiation can be tailored significantly by changing the aspect ratio of silicon nanopillars while presenting a good directivity. Our research is expected to give more insights into the design and optimization of the solid-state lighting, gaining and lasing systems by integrating silicon-based nanoantennas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitophagy can selectively remove damaged mitochondria, which is critical in regulating mitochondrial homeostasis in diseases, such as cancer. Herein, we found that Aloe gel glucomannan (AGP) significantly inhibited the proliferation of colon cancer cells. RNA-seq analysis revealed that AGP upregulated autophagy, lysosome and mitochondrial fission signal pathways in colon cancer cell line CT26. Notably, AGP induced the accumulation of impaired and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-generating mitochondria, which triggered excessive mitophagy. Interestingly, the mitophagy activator enhanced AGP-induced mitophagy and cytotoxicity, whereas the mitophagy inhibitor reversed the influence of AGP. Furthermore, activation of PINK1/Parkin mitophagy pathway and transcription factor EB (TFEB) signaling was dependent on ROS overproduction. Taken together, these results indicated that AGP induced cytotoxic mitophagy through ROS-related PINK1/Parkin pathway and TFEB activation in CT26 cells. The research would provide theoretical basis for the development of AGP as a promising anticancer agent. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Polygonatum cyrtonema, one of origins of Polygonata Rhizoma (HuangJing in Chinese), is traditionally steamed repeatedly before being used as herbal medicine in China. However, there has no standard for steaming of HuangJing. Therefore, a comprehensive study for effects of steam on polysaccharides from Polygonatum cyrtonema based on saccharide mapping, a powerful method developed for polysaccharides analysis, and pharmacological activity are still necessary, which is helpful to explore the effect of steam on the physiochemical and biological activities of its polysaccharides and develop steaming standard of Polygonatum cyrtonema. Methods: To explore the effect of steam on physiochemical and biological activities of P. cyrtonema polysaccharides (PCP), six polysaccharides named PCP0, PCP1, PCP2, PCP3, PCP4 and PCP5 were extracted from the herb consecutively steamed for 0–5 times, respectively. Their molecular weight distribution, monosaccharide composition and PACE fingerprints were investigated through HPSEC-MALLS-RID, HPAEC-PAD and saccharide mapping based on polysaccharides analysis by using carbohydrate gel electrophoresis (PACE) and HPTLC, respectively. In addition, their antioxidant ability and immunostimulatory activities on RAW 264.7 cells in terms of NO production and phagocytosis were compared. Results: Results suggested that molecular weights could be changed during steam, which increased by first steaming and then decreased with further steaming though all polysaccharides' molecular weights were 105-107 Da. They all showed irregularly spherical conformation in aqueous solution based on AFM imaging. Their monosaccharide composition and PACE fingerprints were significantly different after steaming, i.e., galactose increased while glucose and mannose decreased, and β-1,4-Galp appeared while β-1,4-Manp increased, after steaming. Steamed PCP significantly increased scavenging activity against ABTS radicals, while PCP0 had the best immunostimulatory effect on RAW 264.7 in terms of NO production and phagocytosis. Conclusions: In summary, steam significantly affected the chemical composition and bioactivities of polysaccharides from P. cyrtonema. Considering the balance beneficial effects of steaming on antioxidant and immunopotentiation activities of PCP, 2 times of continuous steam is the optimal choice under the given conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanohole arrays or individual nanohole oligomers in metallic films have attracted intense attention due to their unique optical properties such as extraordinary optical transmission or Fano resonance. However, the nanohole oligomer array still remains largely unexplored. In this work, we numerically investigate the heptamer-hole arrays in an optically thin silver film, which can support double Fano-type resonances in the transmission spectra. The two Fano-type transmissions arise from the interference between the non-resonant direct transmission through holes and the resonant indirect scatterings based on the excitations of surface plasmons polaritons (SPPs, set up by the array periodicity) and a sub-radiant localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR, arising from the anti-bonding hybridization between the central and the surrounding holes). Because of their different physical mechanisms, the two Fano resonances can be tuned independently. In addition, the LSPR-related Fano resonance shows an ultra-high sensitivity to surrounding dielectric medium with a figure of merit of 25 due to its sub-radiant feature, far larger than the SPP-related Fano resonance, offering tremendous potentials for plasmonic biosensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ag–Fe 3 O 4 nanocomposites were synthesized by the redox reaction between Ag 2 O and Fe(OH) 2 in the absence of additional reductant at moderate temperature and atmospheric condition. The as-synthesized Ag–Fe 3 O 4 nanocomposites are assembled into an orderly arrayed SERS substrate holding clean and reproducible properties with an applied external magnetic field. 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA) is chosen as the probe molecule to test the enhancement factors (EF), uniformity and reproducibility of the SERS substrate. Experimental results indicate that the EF of 4-MBA on our proposed SERS substrate is up to 5.2 × 10 6 and the detection limit is down to ∼10 −10 M. The SERS spectra of 4-MBA molecules ranging from 200 cm −1 to 2000 cm −1 were randomly collected from a number of positions on the substrate and six Ag–Fe 3 O 4 nanocomposites substrates are measured with the same procedure. It is shown that the SERS substrate have the good uniformity and reproducibility with low standard deviation, indicating our proposed Ag–Fe 3 O 4 nanocomposites with external magnetic field control abilities have potential applications in the fields of magnetic separation and SERS techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-protected silver nanostructures of various shapes, including nanocubes, nanospheres, and hybrid shapes with nanospheres and nanorods, on the surface of glass or Si substrates (PVP-Ag films) are prepared by using electrostatic self-assembly. With 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA) as a probe molecule, it is demonstrated that the PVP-protected silver nanocubes films (PVP-Ag NCs) have better surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity with an order of magnitude larger enhancement factors (EF) than the PVP-protected silver nanospheres films and the PVP-protected silver hybrid shapes films, which is confirmed by our numerical simulations. The EF of 4-MBA on the PVP-Ag NCs film are up to ~5.38 × 10, and the detection limit is at least down to ~10 M. The uniformity and reproducibility of the SERS signals on PVP-Ag NCs film are tested by point-to-point and batch-to-batch measurements. Meanwhile, the PVP-Ag films are also shown to be an excellent SERS substrate with good biocompatibility for hemoglobin detection. It is shown that the PVP-Ag NCs films can be used as excellent SERS substrate with good activity, uniformity, reproducibility, and biocompatibility and are promising for a myriad of chemical and biochemical sensing applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report that the gain threshold of a core–shell nanoparticle-based spaser can be reduced significantly by offsetting the gain-doped dielectric core within the metallic shell. By investigating the optical cross sections of the reduced symmetry core–shell nanoparticle with different levels of gain, we determined the gain threshold of the asymmetric nanoparticle-based spaser fueled by different plasmon modes. The calculation results indicate that when multipolar plasmon oscillations excited in asymmetric core–shell nanostructures are used as lasing modes, the gain threshold of an asymmetric spaser particle can drop by 30% as compared to the case of a perfect or symmetric particle. The underlying physics of low-threshold surface plasmon amplification is explained by investigating the Q factor and the optical field confinement and enhancement associated with the lasing mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a promising three-dimensional (3D) graphene architecture, graphene foam has excellent structural, electrical and thermal properties. However, due to the growth template limitation of commercial nickel/copper foam, graphene foam prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has a fixed 3D framework architecture, which limits its performance and application scenarios. In this paper, independent 3D graphite foam (GF) with different thickness and longitudinal compressibility was prepared by CVD method, and it was confirmed that mechanical compression of nickel foam template before graphite film deposition had a positive effect on the electrothermal, photothermal and mechanical properties of GF. At a low driving voltage of 3 V, the heating temperature of compressed GF with a low density of 8.9 mg/cm3 and a high porosity of 99.59 % can reach nearly 600 °C, which is nearly 250 °C higher than that of uncompressed GF. The excellent electrothermal performance of compressed GF is mainly attributed to the high crystallinity and thicker thickness (150–350 nm) of the graphite layers that make up the 3D framework, thus resulting in higher electrical conductivity. Under 1 and 2 sun illumination, the temperature of compressed GF can reach 83 °C and 109 °C respectively, which is 4–7 °C higher than that of the original GF. Compressed GF has better electrothermal, photothermal and radiant heating properties than traditional graphene/graphite foam and 2D graphene/graphite film. It not only has great application potential in high-efficient and energy-saving high-temperature electric heaters and photothermal converters, but also can be used as conductive supports or fillers with better performance, and has broad application prospects in flexible electronics, household appliances, artificial intelligence, medical care and other fields. [Display omitted] • Graphite foam with a denser 3D framework was prepared by compressed Ni foam template-assisted CVD method. • Compressed graphite foam has significantly improved electrothermal, photothermal and mechanical properties. • Compressed graphite foam can be heated to nearly 600 °C at a low driving voltage of 3 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uniform and reproducible substrates for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) are fabricated by self-assembly of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) on 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTES) modified glass. Experimental results indicate that the Ag NPs with a narrow size distribution were assembled as a sub-monolayer which exhibits an excellent SERSactivity. The SERS enhancement factor is estimated to be 7.5 × 10 and the detection limit for crystal violet (CV) solution is about ∼10 M. The uniformity and reproducibility of the SERS signals are tested by point-to-point and batch-to-batch measurements. It is confirmed that the self-assembled Ag NPs substrates has a high SERS reproducibility and a low standard deviation with respect to the Ag NPs on non-functionalized glass substrates. The self-assembled Ag NPs substrates can be widely used for the application of chemical and biochemical sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Dendrobium officinale Polysaccharide (DOP) inhibits colon cancer cells growth. • DOP triggers autophagy, oxidative stress and AMPK signaling in colon cancer cells. • DOP-induced Mitochondrial damage causes autophagic cell death via ROS-AMPK pathway. The homeostasis between mitochondrial function and autophagy is crucial to the physiological activity of cancer cells, and its mechanism is conducive to the development of anti-tumor drugs. Here, we aimed to explore the effect and mechanism of Dendrobium officinale polysaccharide (DOP) on colon cancer cell line CT26. Our data showed that DOP significantly inhibited the proliferation of CT26 cells and elevated autophagy level. Moreover, DOP disrupted mitochondrial function through increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reducing mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), thereby impairing ATP biosynthesis, which activated AMPK/mTOR autophagy signaling. Intriguingly, the further experiments demonstrated that DOP-induced cytotoxicity, excessive autophagy and mitochondrial dysfunction were reversed after CT26 cells pretreated with antioxidant (N-acetyl- l -cysteine). Herein, these findings implied that DOP-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and cytotoxic autophagy repressed the propagation of CT26 cells via ROS-ATP-AMPK signaling, providing a new opinion for the study of antineoplastic drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on Dirac semimetal metamaterials, the tunable plasmon induced transparency (PIT) is investigated elaborately in this work. The designed unit cell consists of a strip and a square bracket, which is periodically aligned on the dielectric substrate. Our numerical results illustrate that a pronounced transparency window exists due to near field coupling between two bright modes, which can be dynamically tuned with Fermi energy. Namely, the transparency window demonstrates a distinct blue shift with a larger Fermi energy. Moreover, an on-to-off switch of the PIT transparency window is realized with different polarization angles. In addition, the accompanied slow light property is examined with the calculation of phase and group delay. Finally, a small variation of the refractive index of the substrate can induce a clear movement of the PIT transparency window which delivers a guidance in the application of optical sensing. Thus, this work provides us a new strategy to design compact and adjustable PIT devices and has potential applications in highly tunable optical switchers, sensors, and slow light devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we have proposed a thermal emitter composing of triangular prism metamaterials deposited on a multilayer film. Ultra-high average emissivity and broadband spectra have been realized in the first and second atmospheric windows, where the patterned metamaterial is responsible for the high transmission and the multilayer serves as a reflector in the solar band. The corresponding electric field distribution at resonant positions are explored elaborately to figure out the origin of such high emissivity. Moreover, controllable emissivity is achieved with different incident angles for both the transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarization. In particular, the net cooling power approaches a high value with considering the radiative cooling performance in the daytime and night-time separately. Finally, the influence of the geometry parameters is also demonstrated to obtain optimal high emissivity. Our proposed inorganic metamaterials design paves a new avenue in the application of thermal emitter and thermal management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A tunable selective emitter with hollow zigzag SiO2 metamaterials, which are deposited on Si3N4 and Ag film, is proposed and numerically investigated for achieving excellent radiative cooling effects. The average emissivity reaches a high value of 98.7% in the atmospheric window and possesses a high reflectivity of 92.0% in the solar spectrum. To reveal the enhanced absorptivity, the confined electric field distribution is investigated, and it can be well explained by moth eye effects. Moreover, tunable emissivity can also be initiated with different incident angles and it stays above 83% when the incident angle is less than 80°, embodying the excellent cooling performance in the atmospheric transparency window. Its net cooling power achieves 100.6 W⋅m−2, with a temperature drop of 13°, and the cooling behavior can persist in the presence of non-radiative heat exchange conditions. Therefore, high and tunable selective emitters based on our designed structure could provide a new route to realizing high-performance radiative cooling. This work is also of great significance for saving energy and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel broadband solar absorber is numerically studied based on the commercial digital versatile disc (DVD). Refractory titanium (Ti) material is artificially coated onto the surface of the DVD, which then forms the plasmonic resonant metasurface. Spectral average absorption reaches 91.3% in the whole visible and near-infrared range (0.38–1.50 μm). The total solar absorption in these energy regions is also up to 92.1%. Moreover, the high spectral absorption is insensitive to the incident angle. Interestingly, the absorption is observed to be with high tolerance for the polarized light even if the grating structure is used in the platform. These features suggest that the broadband solar absorption can be maintained well under complex electromagnetic surroundings. Otherwise, the absorbed energy is mainly confined at the proximity surface area of the Ti cavity, which suggests the strong plasmonic near-field localization and paves the feasible way to carry out the local heating operation for thermal antibacterial/antivirus applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metamaterials (MMs) offer great potential for achieving optical absorption due to their novel electromagnetic properties. MM absorbers can overcome the thickness limitation and provide excellent absorption performance over the wide frequency range, thereby enable the swift emergence of some promising applications. Moreover, the optical sensors based on MM absorbers have shown great potential in several fields. This review concentrates on the recent progresses in MM-based optical absorbers and spectral sensing. We present four aspects of MM-based optical absorption: the metal-insulation-metal arrangements, the optical coherence, the functional materials, and some novel approaches. Also, we present three aspects of MM-based optical sensing: the refractive index sensing, gas and molecule sensing, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering. Finally, the current challenges and prospects in device designs, fabrications have been discussed. This review is with the purpose to give a generalized knowledge of MMs for optical absorption and sensing, thus inspiring the investigations on MMs for other devices and their practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross‐sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence of the co‐occurrence of physical frailty and cognitive impairment and to identify its associated demographic, psychosocial and behavioural factors. Participants were recruited from 32 neighbourhoods using multistage sampling method in Xuhui District, Shanghai, China. A total of 1585 older adults were included who lived in community, were 75 years or older and without a clinical diagnosis of dementia. Based on the presences of frailty (using the modified frailty phenotype criteria) and/or cognitive impairment (using Chinese version Mini‐Mental Status Examination stratified by educational level), the participants were classified into four groups: normal, cognitive impairment alone, frailty alone and co‐occurrence. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the demographic, psychosocial (depression, social participation and social support) and behavioural (sedentary lifestyle and sleep problems) characteristics associated with the co‐occurrence of physical frailty and cognitive impairment. The prevalence of frailty alone, cognitive impairment alone and the co‐occurrence of physical frailty and cognitive impairment in the study sample were 7%, 26.94% and 7.19% respectively. The results of multinomial logistic regression show the following characteristics significantly associated with the co‐occurrence of physical frailty and cognitive impairment: advanced age (81–85 years old, Odds Ratio, OR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.10–3.59; 86 years or older, OR = 6.43, 95% CI = 3.66–11.29), number of co‐morbidities (OR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.01–1.77), depression (OR = 3.88, 95% CI = 2.39–6.29), social participation (OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.39–0.96), sedentary lifestyle (OR = 2.69, 95% CI = 1.66–4.34) and sleep problems (insomnia occasionally, OR = 1.84, 95% CI = 1.07–3.17; insomnia every day, OR = 2.38, 95% CI = 1.33–4.26). The co‐occurrence of physical frailty and cognitive impairment is a prevalent health issue in oldest old community‐dwelling older adults. Advanced age, co‐morbidity, depression, sedentary lifestyle and sleep problems are risk factors for cognitive frailty while good social participation may have a protective effect on it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We theoretically present the selective remote-excitation of the gap mode in the silver nanowire-nanoparticle (Ag NW-NP) system based on the excitation of the ±1-order chiral surface plasmonic polaritons (SPPs) modes, which have the crescent-shaped transverse intensity distributions and the helical propagation traces. When the gap mode at junction between the Ag-NW and the Ag-NP is excited via the +1-order chiral SPPs mode, the −1-order chiral SPP mode cannot effectively excite the gap mode, because the propagation traces of the ±1-order spiral SPPs modes have complementary intensity distributions. This selective remote-excitation method may be used in the nanowire photonics and nano-optical spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]