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The convergence of topology and correlations represents a highly coveted realm in the pursuit of new quantum states of matter1. Introducing electron correlations to a quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulator can lead to the emergence of a fractional topological insulator and other exotic time-reversal-symmetric topological order2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7–8, not possible in quantum Hall and Chern insulator systems. Here we report a new dual QSH insulator within the intrinsic monolayer crystal of TaIrTe4, arising from the interplay of its single-particle topology and density-tuned electron correlations. At charge neutrality, monolayer TaIrTe4demonstrates the QSH insulator, manifesting enhanced nonlocal transport and quantized helical edge conductance. After introducing electrons from charge neutrality, TaIrTe4shows metallic behaviour in only a small range of charge densities but quickly goes into a new insulating state, entirely unexpected on the basis of the single-particle band structure of TaIrTe4. This insulating state could arise from a strong electronic instability near the van Hove singularities, probably leading to a charge density wave (CDW). Remarkably, within this correlated insulating gap, we observe a resurgence of the QSH state. The observation of helical edge conduction in a CDW gap could bridge spin physics and charge orders. The discovery of a dual QSH insulator introduces a new method for creating topological flat minibands through CDW superlattices, which offer a promising platform for exploring time-reversal-symmetric fractional phases and electromagnetism2, 3–4,9,10.

Moiré quantum materials host exotic electronic phenomena through enhanced internal Coulomb interactions in twisted two-dimensional heterostructures1–4. When combined with the exceptionally high electrostatic control in atomically thin materials5–8, moiré heterostructures have the potential to enable next-generation electronic devices with unprecedented functionality. However, despite extensive exploration, moiré electronic phenomena have thus far been limited to impractically low cryogenic temperatures9–14, thus precluding real-world applications of moiré quantum materials. Here we report the experimental realization and room-temperature operation of a low-power (20 pW) moiré synaptic transistor based on an asymmetric bilayer graphene/hexagonal boron nitride moiré heterostructure. The asymmetric moiré potential gives rise to robust electronic ratchet states, which enable hysteretic, non-volatile injection of charge carriers that control the conductance of the device. The asymmetric gating in dual-gated moiré heterostructures realizes diverse biorealistic neuromorphic functionalities, such as reconfigurable synaptic responses, spatiotemporal-based tempotrons and Bienenstock–Cooper–Munro input-specific adaptation. In this manner, the moiré synaptic transistor enables efficient compute-in-memory designs and edge hardware accelerators for artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Kesterite Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4(CZTSSe) has been considered as the most promising absorber material for inorganic thin-film solar cells. Among the three main interfaces in CZTSSe-based solar cells, the CZTSSe/Mo back interface plays an essential role in hole extraction as well as device performance. During the selenization process, the reaction between CZTSSe and Mo is one of the main reasons that lead to a large open circuit voltage (VOC) deficit, low short circuit current (Jsc), and fill factor. In this study, 2D Ti3C2-MXene was introduced as an intermediate layer to optimize the interface between the CZTSSe absorber layer and Mo back contact. Benefiting from the 2D Ti3C2-MXene intermediate layer, the reaction between CZTSSe and Mo was effectually suppressed, thus, significantly reducing the thickness of the detrimental Mo(S,Se)2layer as well as interface recombination at the CZTSSe/Mo back interface. As a result, the power conversion efficiency of the champion device fabricated with the 2D Ti3C2-MXene intermediate layer was improved from 10.89 to 13.14% (active-area efficiency). This study demonstrates the potential use of the 2D Ti3C2-MXene intermediate layer for efficient CZTSSe solar cells and promotes a deeper understanding of the back interface in CZTSSe solar cells.

Kangfuxin liquid (KFX), an extract of the American cockroach, has been clinically proven to be effective in various skin damage disorders, but there are no reports on its use in photodamage. We explored the effect of KFX on ultraviolet B (UVB)-induced photodamage and whether its mechanism was related to autophagy. We found that KFX treatment reduced UVB-induced reactive oxygen species production and improved the vitality of cells inhibited by UVB irradiation. The expression of LC3 (A/B), which was inhibited after UVB irradiation, could be rescued by KFX treatment. Furthermore, KFX may upregulate the level of cellular autophagy by regulating the AMPK-mTOR signaling pathway. When the autophagy inhibitor wortmannin was used to inhibit autophagy, the protective effect of KFX on cells was diminished or even disappeared. Our study suggests that KFX may resist UVB-mediated oxidative stress damage of HaCaT through the induction of autophagy.Graphical AbstractKangfuxin liquid reduces photodamage.

Effectiveness of a non-physician community health-care provider-led intensive blood pressure intervention on cardiovascular disease has not been established. We aimed to test the effectiveness of such an intervention compared with usual care on risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause death among individuals with hypertension.

Using circularly polarized light to control quantum matter is a highly intriguing topic in physics, chemistry and biology. Previous studies have demonstrated helicity-dependent optical control of chirality and magnetization, with important implications in asymmetric synthesis in chemistry; homochirality in biomolecules; and ferromagnetic spintronics. We report the surprising observation of helicity-dependent optical control of fully compensated antiferromagnetic order in two-dimensional even-layered MnBi2Te4, a topological axion insulator with neither chirality nor magnetization. To understand this control, we study an antiferromagnetic circular dichroism, which appears only in reflection but is absent in transmission. We show that the optical control and circular dichroism both arise from the optical axion electrodynamics. Our axion induction provides the possibility to optically control a family of PT-symmetric antiferromagnets (P, inversion; T, time-reversal) such as Cr2O3, even-layered CrI3and possibly the pseudo-gap state in cuprates. In MnBi2Te4, this further opens the door for optical writing of a dissipationless circuit formed by topological edge states.

•Recurrence/metastasis-associated proteins modulate the effects of DOX/DDP in OS.•DIA proteomics revealed signaling pathways contributing to DOX/DDP efficacy.•High CTSG expression suggests poor outcomes after DOX/DDP treatment in OS patients.•NET formation plays a pivotal role in the low efficacy of DOX/DDP treatment in OS.

Background/Objectives: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global public health problem, including in China. The aim of this study was to identify the risk factors for the development and progression of subclinical renal disease (SRD) in a Chinese population. We also examined whether the impact of the risk factors on SRD changed over time. Subjects/Methods: To identify the predictors of SRD, we performed a cross-sectional study of the 2432 subjects in our Hanzhong Adolescent Hypertension Cohort. A subgroup of 202 subjects was further analyzed over a 12-year period from 2005 to 2017 to determine the risk factors for the development and progression of SRD. Results: In cross-sectional analysis, elevated blood pressure, male gender, diabetes, body mass index, and triglyceride were independently associated with a higher risk of SRD. In longitudinal analysis, an increase in total cholesterol over a 4-year period and an increase in serum triglyceride over a 12-year period were independently associated with progression of albuminuria. Finally, increases in both total cholesterol and serum uric acid over a 4-year follow-up showed an independent association with a modest reduction in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Conclusions: In this study of a Chinese cohort, we show several metabolic abnormalities as independent risk factors for subclinical renal disease in a Chinese cohort. In addition, we demonstrate that the effects of total cholesterol, triglycerides and uric acid on the development and progression of albuminuria or the decline in eGFR vary at different points of follow-up. These findings highlight the importance of early detection of metabolic abnormalities to prevent SRD.

The prevalence of uncontrolled hypertension is high and increasing in low-income and middle-income countries. We tested the effectiveness of a multifaceted intervention for blood pressure control in rural China led by village doctors (community health workers on the front line of primary health care).

Objectives: The aim of the research is to create an experimental data set of coronal section images of a human head.Methods: The head of a 49-year-old male cadaver was scanned by computed tomography (CT), then perfused with a green filling material via the bilateral common carotid artery, before being frozen and embedded. The head was sectioned along the coronal plane by a computer-controlled 5520 engraving and milling machine, capable of either 0.03-mm or 0.06-mm interspacing. All images were captured with a Canon 5D-Mk III digital camera.Results: A total of 3854 section images were obtained, each with a resolution of 5760 × 3840 pixels. The number of section images at 0.03- and 0.06-mm interspacing were 1437 and 2417, respectively. All the images were stored in JPG and RAW formats. The image size of each RAW format was about 24.5 MB, whereas for JPG format, the equivalent size was about 5.9 MB. All the RAW and JPG images together occupied 117.35 GB of disk space.Conclusions: The interspacing of this data set section was thinner than those of any comparable studies, and the image resolution was higher, too. This data set was also the first to take coronal sections of the human head. The data set contains image information from the smallest structures within the human head and can satisfy the needs of future developments and applications, such as the virtual operation training systems for otolaryngology, ophthalmology, stomatology, and neurosurgery, and help develop medical teaching software and maps.

Emergent phenomena arising from the collective behaviour of electrons is expected when Coulomb interactions dominate over the kinetic energy, and one way to create this situation is to reduce the electronic bandwidth. Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene intrinsically supports saddle points in the band structure that are predicted to host a variety of spontaneous symmetry-broken states1–7. Here we show that bilayer graphene displays a cascade of symmetry-broken states with spontaneous spin and valley isospin ordering at zero magnetic field. We independently tune the carrier density and electric displacement field to explore the phase space of isospin order. Itinerant ferromagnetic states emerge near the conduction and valence band edges with complete spin and valley polarization. At larger hole densities, twofold degenerate quantum oscillations manifest in an additional symmetry-broken state that is enhanced by the application of an in-plane magnetic field. Both symmetry-broken states display enhanced layer polarization, suggesting a coupling to the layer degree of freedom1,7. These states occur in the absence of a moiré superlattice and are intrinsic to natural graphene bilayers. Therefore, we demonstrate that bilayer graphene represents a related but distinct approach to produce collective behaviour from flat dispersion, complementary to engineered moiré structures.

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Whereas ferromagnets have been known and used for millennia, antiferromagnets were only discovered in the 1930s1. At large scale, because of the absence of global magnetization, antiferromagnets may seem to behave like any non-magnetic material. At the microscopic level, however, the opposite alignment of spins forms a rich internal structure. In topological antiferromagnets, this internal structure leads to the possibility that the property known as the Berry phase can acquire distinct spatial textures2,3. Here we study this possibility in an antiferromagnetic axion insulator—even-layered, two-dimensional MnBi2Te4—in which spatial degrees of freedom correspond to different layers. We observe a type of Hall effect—the layer Hall effect—in which electrons from the top and bottom layers spontaneously deflect in opposite directions. Specifically, under zero electric field, even-layered MnBi2Te4shows no anomalous Hall effect. However, applying an electric field leads to the emergence of a large, layer-polarized anomalous Hall effect of about 0.5e2/h(where eis the electron charge and his Planck’s constant). This layer Hall effect uncovers an unusual layer-locked Berry curvature, which serves to characterize the axion insulator state. Moreover, we find that the layer-locked Berry curvature can be manipulated by the axion field formed from the dot product of the electric and magnetic field vectors. Our results offer new pathways to detect and manipulate the internal spatial structure of fully compensated topological antiferromagnets4–9. The layer-locked Berry curvature represents a first step towards spatial engineering of the Berry phase through effects such as layer-specific moiré potential.

A novel metal-free C–H [5 + 1] carbonylative annulation of 2-alkenyl/pyrrolylanilines with dioxazolones has been established for the assembly of the privileged quinolinones and pyrrolyl-fused quinoxalinones. Entirely differing from the existing reports, the dioxazolones herein behave with an innovative chemistry and first emerge as carbonylating reagents to participate in annulation reactions. Moreover, this process features exceedingly simple operation (only solvent) and tolerates both vinyl and aryl substrates. Comprehensive mechanistic studies indicate that the formed isocyanate intermediate plays a crucial role in enabling the carbonylation annulation.

Background: Although it is well established that obesity is a risk factor for chronic kidney disease, the impact of distinct long-term body mass index (BMI) developmental patterns on renal function in later life is poorly understood. Methods: This study utilized data derived from the Hanzhong Adolescent Hypertension Cohort, a prospective cohort followed over 30 years. We used latent class growth mixture modeling method to identify the BMI trajectories of participants who had received BMI measurements at least three times from childhood (age: 6–15 years) to adulthood (age: 36–45 years). The modified Poisson regression model was used to identify potential associations between BMI trajectories and subclinical renal damage (SRD) in midlife. Results: Within a total of 2162 individuals, we identified four distinct long-term BMI trajectories: stable normal (54.72%), moderately increasing overweight (32.42%), resolving (10.27%), and progressively increasing obese (2.59%). By the latest follow-up in 2017, a total of 257 (13.1%) individuals were diagnosed with SRD. Compared with the stable normal group, the moderately increasing overweight group and the progressively increasing obese group exhibited significantly a higher urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio and a higher odd of existing SRD in 2017 (risk ratio [RR], 1.70 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.33–2.19] and 4.35 [95% CI, 3.00–6.30], respectively). However, individuals who resolved their elevated BMI in early life had a similar risk for SRD as those who had never been obese or overweight (RR, 1.17 [95% CI, 0.77–1.79]). Conclusions: Child-to-adult BMI trajectories that worsen or persist at high levels were associated with an increased risk for SRD in midlife. Maintaining a normal BMI or reversing an elevated BMI in early life may be beneficial to renal function over the long term.

For many materials, a precise knowledge of their dispersion spectra is insufficient to predict their ordered phases and physical responses. Instead, these materials are classified by the geometrical and topological properties of their wavefunctions. A key challenge is to identify and implement experiments that probe or control these quantum properties. In this Review, we describe recent progress in this direction, focusing on nonlinear electromagnetic responses that arise directly from quantum geometry and topology. We give an overview of the field by discussing theoretical ideas, experiments and the materials that drive them. We conclude by discussing how these techniques can be combined with device architectures to uncover, probe and ultimately control quantum phases with emergent topological and correlated properties.

Moiré engineering is being intensively investigated as a method to tune the electronic, magnetic and optical properties of twisted van der Waals materials. Advances in moiré engineering stem from the formation of peculiar moiré superlattices at small, specific twist angles. Here we report configurable nanoscale light–matter waves—phonon polaritons—by twisting stacked α-phase molybdenum trioxide (α-MoO3) slabs over a broad range of twist angles from 0° to 90°. Our combined experimental and theoretical results reveal a variety of polariton wavefront geometries and topological transitions as a function of the twist angle. In contrast to the origin of the modified electronic band structure in moiré superlattices, the polariton twisting configuration is attributed to the electromagnetic interaction of highly anisotropic hyperbolic polaritons in stacked α-MoO3slabs. These results indicate twisted α-MoO3to be a promising platform for nanophotonic devices with tunable functionalities.

The constituent particles of matter can arrange themselves in various ways, giving rise to emergent phenomena that can be surprisingly rich and often cannot be understood by studying only the individual constituents. Discovering and understanding the emergence of such phenomena in quantum materials—especially those in which multiple degrees of freedom or energy scales are delicately balanced—is of fundamental interest to condensed-matter research1,2. Here we report on the surprising observation of emergent ferroelectricity in graphene-based moiré heterostructures. Ferroelectric materials show electrically switchable electric dipoles, which are usually formed by spatial separation between the average centres of positive and negative charge within the unit cell. On this basis, it is difficult to imagine graphene—a material composed of only carbon atoms—exhibiting ferroelectricity3. However, in this work we realize switchable ferroelectricity in Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene sandwiched between two hexagonal boron nitride layers. By introducing a moiré superlattice potential (via aligning bilayer graphene with the top and/or bottom boron nitride crystals), we observe prominent and robust hysteretic behaviour of the graphene resistance with an externally applied out-of-plane displacement field. Our systematic transport measurements reveal a rich and striking response as a function of displacement field and electron filling, and beyond the framework of conventional ferroelectrics. We further directly probe the ferroelectric polarization through a non-local monolayer graphene sensor. Our results suggest an unconventional, odd-parity electronic ordering in the bilayer graphene/boron nitride moiré system. This emergent moiré ferroelectricity may enable ultrafast, programmable and atomically thin carbon-based memory devices.

Controlling the twist angles between three α-phase molybdenum trioxide single layers enables the programmable and reconfigurable canalization of phonon polaritons along multiple in-plane directions.

Chirality is ubiquitous in nature, and populations of opposite chiralities are surprisingly asymmetric at fundamental levels1,2. Examples range from parity violation in the subatomic weak force to homochirality in biomolecules. The ability to achieve chirality-selective synthesis (chiral induction) is of great importance in stereochemistry, molecular biology and pharmacology2. In condensed matter physics, a crystalline electronic system is geometrically chiral when it lacks mirror planes, space-inversion centres or rotoinversion axes1. Typically, geometrical chirality is predefined by the chiral lattice structure of a material, which is fixed on formation of the crystal. By contrast, in materials with gyrotropic order3–6, electrons spontaneously organize themselves to exhibit macroscopic chirality in an originally achiral lattice. Although such order—which has been proposed as the quantum analogue of cholesteric liquid crystals—has attracted considerable interest3–15, no clear observation or manipulation of gyrotropic order has been achieved so far. Here we report the realization of optical chiral induction and the observation of a gyrotropically ordered phase in the transition-metal dichalcogenide semimetal 1T-TiSe2. We show that shining mid-infrared circularly polarized light on 1T-TiSe2while cooling it below the critical temperature leads to the preferential formation of one chiral domain. The chirality of this state is confirmed by the measurement of an out-of-plane circular photogalvanic current, the direction of which depends on the optical induction. Although the role of domain walls requires further investigation with local probes, the methodology demonstrated here can be applied to realize and control chiral electronic phases in other quantum materials4,16.

Background: A high atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) is associated with increased cardiovascular risk and higher serum uric acid levels, but whether AIP is a strong risk factor for developing subclinical renal damage (SRD) is unknown. This study aimed to explore the effect of AIP variations on the prevalence of SRD in a 12-year follow-up study. Methods: (1) The cross-sectional study enrolled 2485 participants from the Hanzhong cohort in 2017; (2) A total of 202 participants were included in the small longitudinal cohort from 2005 to 2017. Longitudinal analysis was used to determine whether an elevated AIP predicts the development of SRD. Results: In the cross-sectional analysis, the AIP level was correlated with the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and urinary albumin-to-creatine ratio (uACR) (P< 0.05). The age-adjusted odds ratio (OR) for prevalent SRD in men in the high AIP group was 1.924 (1.355–2.732) (P<0.001), while in women, the OR was 1.616 (1.049–2.490) (P= 0.030) in the high AIP group. In the longitudinal analysis, significantly higher uACR levels were found in participants with normal AIP at baseline and elevated AIP in 2013 (P< 0.05). The adjusted OR for prevalent SRD in the incident AIP group was 4.741 (1.668–13.472) (P= 0.003) compared with the control group. Conclusions: Our study indicates that elevated AIP increased the risk of developing SRD and was associated with uACR and eGFR. As a simple marker of CVD risk, AIP may emerge as a novel and reliable indicator of SRD.

In this work, adsorption behaviors of pyrene (PYR), fluoranthene (FLT), phenanthrene (PHE), and fluorene (FLU) on the coordination cluster [Zn5(H2Ln)6](NO3)4]·8H2O·2CH3OH (Zn5) were studied. The adsorption mechanism and spectrum analyses revealed that the synergistic effect of hydrophobic interaction, π–π stacking, and N–H···π interaction played a crucial role during the adsorption process. The maximum adsorption capacities of PYR, FLT, PHE, and FLU were 406.4, 399.7, 153.7, and 114.3 mg g–1, respectively, resulting from the Langmuir isotherm model. Quick removal of PYR and FLT was found in kinetic experiments with the adsorption equilibrium being reached within 1 min. Competitive adsorption indicated that the adsorption sites for PYR, FLT, PHE, and FLU on Zn5were identical, and synergistic effects also existed in the adsorption process. Therefore, Zn5has the potential to be used as an adsorbent in the field of wastewater treatment.

A novel ruthenium-catalyzed [5 + 1] annulation of 2-alkenylanilines with sulfoxonium ylides was developed for the rapid assembly of highly functionalized quinolines. This new catalytic process employs challenging but synthetically ideal free amino functionality to achieve alkenyl C–H activation with sulfoxonium ylides as one-carbon coupling partners. Various 2-acylquinolines could be obtained with good yields and excellent functional group tolerance. Moreover, the potential synthetic application of this methodology was exemplified by several chemical transformations.

When the Fermi level is aligned with the Dirac point of graphene, reduced charge screening greatly enhances electron–electron scattering1–5. In an optically excited system, the kinematics of electron–electron scattering in Dirac fermions is predicted to give rise to novel optoelectronic phenomena6–11. In this paper, we report on the observation of an intrinsic photocurrent in graphene, which occurs in a different parameter regime from all the previously observed photothermoelectric or photovoltaic photocurrents in graphene12–20: the photocurrent emerges exclusively at the charge neutrality point, requiring no finite doping. Unlike other photocurrent types that are enhanced near p–n or contact junctions, the photocurrent observed in our work arises near the edges/corners. By systematic data analyses, we show that the phenomenon stems from the unique electron–electron scattering kinematics in charge-neutral graphene. Our results not only highlight the intriguing electron dynamics in the optoelectronic response of Dirac fermions, but also offer a new scheme for photodetection and energy harvesting applications based on intrinsic, charge-neutral Dirac fermions.

The electrical Hall effect is the production, upon the application of an electric field, of a transverse voltage under an out-of-plane magnetic field. Studies of the Hall effect have led to important breakthroughs, including the discoveries of Berry curvature and topological Chern invariants1,2. The internal magnetization of magnets means that the electrical Hall effect can occur in the absence of an external magnetic field2; this ‘anomalous’ Hall effect is important for the study of quantum magnets2–7. The electrical Hall effect has rarely been studied in non-magnetic materials without external magnetic fields, owing to the constraint of time-reversal symmetry. However, only in the linear response regime—when the Hall voltage is linearly proportional to the external electric field—does the Hall effect identically vanish as a result of time-reversal symmetry; the Hall effect in the nonlinear response regime is not subject to such symmetry constraints8–10. Here we report observations of the nonlinear Hall effect10in electrical transport in bilayers of the non-magnetic quantum material WTe2under time-reversal-symmetric conditions. We show that an electric current in bilayer WTe2leads to a nonlinear Hall voltage in the absence of a magnetic field. The properties of this nonlinear Hall effect are distinct from those of the anomalous Hall effect in metals: the nonlinear Hall effect results in a quadratic, rather than linear, current–voltage characteristic and, in contrast to the anomalous Hall effect, the nonlinear Hall effect results in a much larger transverse than longitudinal voltage response, leading to a nonlinear Hall angle (the angle between the total voltage response and the applied electric field) of nearly 90 degrees. We further show that the nonlinear Hall effect provides a direct measure of the dipole moment10of the Berry curvature, which arises from layer-polarized Dirac fermions in bilayer WTe2. Our results demonstrate a new type of Hall effect and provide a way of detecting Berry curvature in non-magnetic quantum materials.

Recent experimental evidence for the quantum spin Hall (QSH) state in monolayer WTe2has linked the fields of two-dimensional materials and topological physics1–7. This two-dimensional topological crystal also displays unconventional spin–torque8and gate-tunable superconductivity7. Whereas the realization of the QSH has demonstrated the nontrivial topology of the electron wavefunctions of monolayer WTe2, the geometrical properties of the wavefunction, such as the Berry curvature9, remain unstudied. Here we utilize mid-infrared optoelectronic microscopy to investigate the Berry curvature in monolayer WTe2. By optically exciting electrons across the inverted QSH gap, we observe an in-plane circular photogalvanic current even under normal incidence. The application of an out-of-plane displacement field allows further control of the direction and magnitude of the photocurrent. The observed photocurrent reveals a Berry curvature dipole that arises from the nontrivial wavefunctions near the inverted gap edge. The Berry curvature dipole and strong electric field effect are enabled by the inverted band structure and tilted crystal lattice of monolayer WTe2. Such an electrically switchable Berry curvature dipole may facilitate the observation of a wide range of quantum geometrical phenomena such as the quantum nonlinear Hall10,11, orbital-Edelstein12and chiral polaritonic effects13,14. Optoelectronic experiments show that a monolayer of WTe2is a material that simultaneously has topological electronic states and electron wavefunctions with a dipole in their Berry curvature.

Imaging materials and inner structures with resolution below the diffraction limit has become of fundamental importance in recent years for a wide variety of applications. We report subdiffractive internal structure diagnosis of hexagonal boron nitride by exciting and imaging hyperbolic phonon polaritons. On the basis of their unique propagation properties, we are able to accurately locate defects in the crystal interior with nanometer resolution. The precise location, size, and geometry of the concealed defects are reconstructed by analyzing the polariton wavelength, reflection coefficient, and their dispersion. We have also studied the evolution of polariton reflection, transmission, and scattering as a function of defect size and photon frequency. The nondestructive high-precision polaritonic structure diagnosis technique introduced here can be also applied to other hyperbolic or waveguide systems and may be deployed in the next-generation biomedical imaging, sensing, and fine structure analysis.

BackgroundMixed-type depression among college students is a common mental health problem. The concept of simultaneous development of the five educations emphasizes comprehensive quality education and has been widely applied in higher education.Subjects and MethodsStudents selected from a university are the research subjects and are divided into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group received comprehensive quality education that conforms to the concept of simultaneous development of the five educations, including academic education, physical exercise, moral cultivation, artistic cultivation, and social practice; The control group continued to receive traditional academic education. The study collected students’ depression scores and mental health questionnaire survey data as research indicators and used Stata statistical software for data processing and analysis.ResultsThe depression scores of the experimental group students significantly decreased. The specific numerical change data shows that the depression score of the experimental group students decreased from the initial 24.5 to 16.3, while the depression score of the control group students decreased from the initial 25.2 to 20.1.ConclusionsThe research results indicate that the concept of combining five educations has a positive effect on college students. The implementation of comprehensive quality education, including academic education, physical exercise, moral cultivation, artistic cultivation, and social practice, can effectively reduce the occurrence and degree of mixed depression among college students.AcknowledgementThe graduate education research project of Southwest Jiaotong University in 2020 (No. yjg4-2020-tz03-1).

BackgroundCollege counselors are faced with great psychological pressure and challenges in their daily work, which leads to anxiety disorders in some counselors, which seriously affects their work effect and mental health. The concept of five education emphasizes the balanced development of intellectual education, physical education, aesthetic education, labor education and moral education. However, the same idea applies to the counselor’s own mental health and career development.Subjects and MethodsA questionnaire survey was used to quantify a large group of college counselors. The questionnaire included measures related to the concept of anxiety disorder and five educations, such as anxiety level, job satisfaction, physical health, etc. By distributing questionnaires and collecting data, the overall situation of the counselors was statistically analyzed, so as to understand the general effect and influencing factors of the concept of five education development in reducing anxiety disorders.Results3D-CAM (comprehensive literature analysis, in-depth interview, and questionnaire survey) was used to analyze the positive effects of the concept of five education on anxiety disorder in college counselors and found that the concept of five education has a regulating effect on anxiety disorder in 56.65% of college counselors. About 22.65% of patients with anxiety disorders showed significant improvement.ConclusionsBy applying the concept of five education, college counselors can pay better attention to their own physical health, artistic creation, participation in labor and cultivate moral quality. The balanced development of these aspects will help to reduce work stress, improve job satisfaction, enhance the counselors’ psychological resilience and adaptability, better respond to the needs of students, and provide more appropriate support and guidance.AcknowledgementThe graduate education research project of Southwest Jiaotong University in 2020 (No. yjg4-2020-tz03-1).

A Weyl semimetal is a novel topological phase of matter, in which Weyl fermions arise as pseudo-magnetic monopoles in its momentum space. The chirality of the Weyl fermions, given by the sign of the monopole charge, is central to the Weyl physics, since it directly serves as the sign of the topological number and gives rise to exotic properties such as Fermi arcs and the chiral anomaly. Here, we directly detect the chirality of the Weyl fermions by measuring the photocurrent in response to circularly polarized mid-infrared light. The resulting photocurrent is determined by both the chirality of Weyl fermions and that of the photons. Our results pave the way for realizing a wide range of theoretical proposals for studying and controlling the Weyl fermions and their associated quantum anomalies by optical and electrical means. More broadly, the two chiralities, analogous to the two valleys in two-dimensional materials, lead to a new degree of freedom in a three-dimensional crystal with potential novel pathways to store and carry information.

Heart failure (HF) is the end-stage of cardiovascular diseases, which is associated with a high mortality rate and high readmission rate. Household early diagnosis and real-time prognosis of HF at bedside are of significant importance. Here, we developed a highly sensitive and quantitative household prognosis platform (termed as UC-LFS platform), integrating a smartphone-based reader with multiplexed upconversion fluorescent lateral flow strip (LFS). Dual-color core–shell upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) were synthesized as probes for simultaneously quantifying two target antigens associated with HF, i.e., brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (ST2). With the fluorescent LFS, we achieved the specific detection of BNP and ST2 antigens in spiked samples with detection limits of 5 pg/mL and 1 ng/mL, respectively, both of which are of one order lower than their clinical cutoff. Subsequently, a smartphone-based portable reader and an analysis app were developed, which could rapidly quantify the result and share prognosis results with doctors. To confirm the usage of UC-LFS platform for clinical samples, we detected 38 clinical serum samples using the platform and successfully detected the minimal concentration of 29.92 ng/mL for ST2 and 17.46 pg/mL for BNP in these clinical samples. Comparing the detection results from FDA approved clinical methods, we obtained a good linear correlation, indicating the practical reliability and stability of our developed UC-LFS platform. Therefore, the developed UC-LFS platform is demonstrated to be highly sensitive and specific for sample-to-answer prognosis of HF, which holds great potential for risk assessment and health monitoring of post-treatment patients at home.

Objective Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a debilitating disease that cannot be cured at present. Kaempferol (KPL) has proven neuroprotective, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties. However, the neuroprotective effect of KPL on SCI and its potential mechanism are still unclear.Methods Network pharmacology and molecular docking were used to determine the potential mechanisms of KPL on SCI. In vitro studies were used to validate the results. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-exposed PC12 cells were pretreated with or without KPL. The safe concentrations of KPL, H2O2, and MK2206 in PC12 cells were determined via cell counting kit-8 assays. Then, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling staining and Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining were used to detect apoptotic cells. In addition, Western blotting was utilized to measure apoptosis-related gene and protein expression levels.Results Network pharmacology and molecular docking data demonstrated an interaction between KPL and Akt1 and identified apoptosis as a potential target of the KPL/Akt1 complex. The data verified that KPL could inhibit mitochondrial apoptosis in vivo by inducing Akt1 phosphorylation. Subsequently, MK2206, a pharmacological Akt1 inhibitor, was used to assess the role of Akt1 in this process, and we found that MK2206 attenuated the antiapoptotic effect of KPL on PC12 cells.Conclusion This study demonstrates that KPL could inhibit mitochondrial apoptosis by inducing the phosphorylation of Akt1, suggesting that KPL is a very promising candidate for SCI treatment.

ABSTRACTDrug resistance has always been the main problem in osteosarcoma treatment, and hypoxia seems to be one of the many causes for drug resistance. Therefore, in this study, we investigated how hypoxia triggers chemotherapy resistance in osteosarcoma. We first screened hypoxia- and normoxia- cultured osteosarcoma cells in silicoto identify the differentially expressed genes specifically related to drug resistance. This led to the identification of spindle and kinetochore associated complex subunit 1 (SKA1) as a probable gene of interest. SKA1 was further overexpressed by a lentiviral vector into an osteosarcoma cell line to study its role in chemoresistance. Our data revealed that SKA1 overexpression reduced the expression of some multidrug resistance genes, and enhanced the sensitivity of two common chemotherapeutic drugs used in osteosarcoma patients, epirubicin (EPI) and ifosfamide (IFO). In addition, we also confirmed the role of SKA1 in EPI drug sensitivity in vivo. Taken together, our study indicated that hypoxia mediated downregulation of SKA1 expression increased the chemotherapy resistance in human osteosarcoma cells.

Ultrafast electron thermalization—the process leading to carrier multiplication via impact ionization, and hot-carrier luminescence—occurs when optically excited electrons in a material undergo rapid electron–electron scattering to redistribute excess energy and reach electronic thermal equilibrium. Owing to extremely short time and length scales, the measurement and manipulation of electron thermalization in nanoscale devices remains challenging even with the most advanced ultrafast laser techniques. Here, we overcome this challenge by leveraging the atomic thinness of two-dimensional van der Waals (vdW) materials to introduce a highly tunable electron transfer pathway that directly competes with electron thermalization. We realize this scheme in a graphene–boron nitride–graphene (G–BN–G) vdW heterostructure, through which optically excited carriers are transported from one graphene layer to the other. By applying an interlayer bias voltage or varying the excitation photon energy, interlayer carrier transport can be controlled to occur faster or slower than the intralayer scattering events, thus effectively tuning the electron thermalization pathways in graphene. Our findings, which demonstrate a means to probe and directly modulate electron energy transport in nanoscale materials, represent a step towards designing and implementing optoelectronic and energy-harvesting devices with tailored microscopic properties.

The non-collinear spin structure and nontrivial Berry curvature of Mn3Ge give rise to a long-range supercurrent in superconductor–Mn3Ge–superconductor lateral Josephson junctions.

This paper proposed the measuring device for the casting powder crystallization and the crystalline proportion test by the double thermocouple. The two different dual platinum-rhodium thermocouple wires are acted as heating element and temperature measurer at the same time, so that, the temperature of both wires apart can be controlled accurately. Adjusting the two wires distance discretionarily, the crystalline state can be observed under the different range of temperature of flux film on the both sides. The fast temperature raising and high efficiency of metering technology is designed for the measurement device and achieved great sense to research the casting powder characters in the crystallizer.

In this paper, nano-copper/paraffin thermosensitive composite materials were prepared by high-energy ball milling, and pressed into the glass cylindrical tube by hot press molding. The micro-morphology and particle shape and microstructure of composite particles were observed by SEM, FI-IR, etc, the temperature sensibility of thermosensitive composite materials were tested by self-manufactured thermosensitive testing device. It shows that the way by which high-energy ball milling are prepared, the composite particle coated with good results, dense arrangement of particles, copper particles on the paraffin structure does not produce damage. With copper mass ratio increasing, the thermal conductivity of temperature sensitive composite is improved.

Aim: to screen the pulmonary metastasis-associated molecules of Osteosarcoma and evaluate their functions concerning prognosis prediction. Methods: cDNA microarrray analysis has been applied to 2 pairs of osteosarcoma cell sublines with differential metastatic potentials to the lung. Immunohistochemistry and survival analysis have been performed to clinical samples of osteosarcoma patients. Result: Analysis detected 484 differentially expressed genes between the high metastatic subline, F5M2, and the low metastatic subline, F4. There were 1257 genes differentially expressed between newly established high-metastatic sublines named Saos-2M2 and its parental cell line Saos-2. Furthermore, 16 commonly up-regulated genes and 5 commonly down-regulated genes were identified by clustering analysis. EREG and CHST2, two genes not previously described in osteosarcoma, were finally seen to be differentially expressed in all examined osteosarcoma cell lines and in samples between the different prognosis sample groups. Survival analysis also confirmed these two molecules could be used to predict the outcome of OSA patients. Conclusion: This work represents a rationale approach to the evaluation of microarray data and will be useful to identify genes that may be causally associated with metastasis. EREG and CHST2 will be likely considered as clinical molecular markers to predict the outcome of OSA.

Abstract: Objective: To establish the rapid and accurate methods for detecting cancer cells from the sputum of patients with lung cancer. Methods: Sputum sediment section examination and sputum smear examination were performed. For 142 cases of lung cancer patients diagnosed by bronchia fibrous lens and confirmed by pathologic diagnosis. Results: (a) The positive diagnosis rate of lung cancer cell was 71.83% (102/142) when using sputum sediment examination while that was 32.39% (46/142) when using sputum smear examination, when using sputum sediment examination jointly with sputum smear examination, the positive diagnosis rate of lung cancer was 91.55% (130/142). According to the positive diagnosis rate of lung cancer, the sputum sediment examination was significantly higher than sputum smear examination (P<0.001), joint examination of both of them was significantly higher than the single sputum sediment examination (P<0.001); (b) As to the histopathological types of lung cancers, 66 cases could be identified among 102 cases whom were confirmed by sputum sediment examination, the identification rate was 64.71%; and 8 cases could be identified among 46 cases whom were confirmed by sputum smear examination, with an identification rate of 17.39%, it was significantly lower than that by sputum sediment examination (P<0.001); (c) Immunohistochemistry technique could be used in the sections of sputum sediment to identify some histopathological types which could not be identified by routine HE stain, with an identification rate of 94.44% (34/36). Conclusion: the sputum sediment examination has some advantages compared to the sputum smear examination such as the specimen may include more materials, the higher cancer cell identification positive rate and immunohistochemistry method can be used to identify the histopathological type.