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Abstract Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the three major malignant tumors of the urinary system and originates from proximal tubular epithelial cells. Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) accounts for approximately 80% of RCC cases and is recognized as a metabolic disease driven by genetic mutations and epigenetic alterations. Through bioinformatic analysis, we found that FK506 binding protein 10 (FKBP10) may play an essential role in hypoxia and glycolysis pathways in ccRCC progression. Functionally, FKBP10 promotes the proliferation and metastasis of ccRCC in vivo and in vitro depending on its peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase (PPIase) domains. Mechanistically, FKBP10 binds directly to lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) through its C-terminal region, the key regulator of glycolysis, and enhances the LDHA-Y10 phosphorylation, which results in a hyperactive Warburg effect and the accumulation of histone lactylation. Moreover, HIFα negatively regulates the expression of FKBP10, and inhibition of FKBP10 enhances the antitumor effect of the HIF2α inhibitor PT2385. Therefore, our study demonstrates that FKBP10 promotes clear cell renal cell carcinoma progression and regulates sensitivity to HIF2α blockade by facilitating LDHA phosphorylation, which may be exploited for anticancer therapy.

The degradation of typical dye wastewater is a focus of research in the printing and dyeing industry. In this study, a combined micro-electrolysis and microbial treatment method was established to treat refractory dye wastewater, and the pivotal factors in the microbial treatment were optimized. In the series and coupled modes, the removal rates of chroma reached 98.75% and 92.50%, and the removal rates of chemical oxygen demand (COD) reached 96.17% and 82.29%, respectively. The high-throughput sequencing results showed that the microbial communities in the microbial system varied at different treatment stages. From the culture stage to the domestication stage, the dominant phylum was Proteobacteria; however, the community abundance of microorganisms decreased. A combination of micro-electrolysis and biological methods can alter the characteristics of the microbial community, increase the number of dominant phyla, and increase the abundance of microorganisms. The degradation effect of the series mode and the overall strengthening effect of micro-electrolysis on the microorganisms were better than those of the coupled mode. In actual wastewater, the maximum removal rates of chroma, COD, total nitrogen (TN), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), and total phosphorus (TP) are 97.50%, 98.90%, 94.35%, 93.95%, and 91.17%, respectively. Three-dimensional fluorescence spectrum analysis showed that microbial processes could significantly degrade fluorescent components in wastewater, and methanogenic active enzymes in anaerobic processes could continue to react. The combined process can realize the efficient treatment of toxic dye wastewater by reducing the toxicity of wastewater and efficiently degrading organic matter, which has important guiding significance for the treatment of refractory dye wastewater.

Kirigami-inspired metasurface has attracted great attention in electromagnetic (EM) wave manipulations, due to its unprecedented and tailorable structural transformations via mechanical approaches. However, it is still challenging for wavefront control because of its unfeasibility in forming a phase gradient at different folding angle β. Here, we report a strategy of kirigami-inspired reconfigurable phase gradient metasurfaces to efficiently control beam steering of scattering wave through mechanically changing β, where the control range of β is theoretically derived based on EM diffraction and generalized Snell’s law. For demonstration, reconfigurable anomalous reflectors with high efficiency are demonstrated in both dual-element and tri-element tunable metadevices. In former case, the reflection angle varies within 37°∼47° under polarization along y axis by changing β within the range of 10°∼40°, whereas it varies within 36°∼50° under that along x axis when β is changed within 10°∼39°, and numerical and experimental results show measured efficiency of beam steering over 78.6%. In latter case, the reconfigurable tri-element metadevice with various folding states are also experimentally characterized to further verify our strategy. Compared with available metasurfaces, our reconfigurable strategy using maneuverable structures to control EM wave is more versatile and shows great potential in engineering applications.

Photonic spin Hall effect (PSHE) in chiral PT-symmetric systems exhibits many exotic features, but the underlying physical mechanism has not been well elucidated. Here, through rigorous calculations based on full-wave theory, we reveal the physical mechanism of the exotic PSHE and identify a chirality-enabled topological phase transition. When circularly polarized light is incident on a chiral PT-symmetric system, the transmitted beam contains two components: a spin-flipped abnormal mode that acquires a geometric phase (exhibiting a vortex or a spin-Hall shift), and a spin-maintained normal mode that does not exhibit such a phase. If the phase difference between the cross-polarized Fresnel coefficients cannot be ignored, it results in a chirality-enabled phase and intensity distribution in the abnormal mode, which induces an exotic PSHE. Consequently, as the incident angle increases, a chirality-induced topological phase transition occurs, namely the transition from the vortex generation to the exotic PSHE. Finally, we confirm that the asymmetric and periodic PSHE in the chiral slab is also related to the phase difference between the cross-polarized Fresnel coefficients. These concepts and findings also provide an opportunity for unifying the phenomena of topological phase transitions in various spin-orbit photonic systems.

We systematically explore the origin and evolution of the exceptional points (EP) when a light beam is scattered by a parity-time (PT)-symmetric system using a scattering matrix approach and a full-wave theory. It is demonstrated that the PT-symmetric system switches between symmetry and symmetry-breaking phases at the EPs, giving rise to singular features in the Fresnel coefficients and causing the spin-Hall effect (SHE) near the EPs to exhibit anomalous features such as significantly enhanced transverse spin-Hall shifts and additional in-plane spin-Hall shifts. This exotic SHE can be explained by the significant beam intensity distortion caused by the destructive interference between the spin-maintained normal modes and the spin-reversed abnormal modes in the scattered light. This phenomenon can further be understood in terms of vortex mode decomposition, wherein it can be interpreted as the competition and superposition of three vortex modes with topological charges of −1, 0, and 1, respectively. These findings elucidate the mechanism of the unusual SHE around the EPs and offer potential avenues for EP-based sensing and structured light manipulation.

We find analytically an exact soliton-like solution of cubic-quintic nonlinear Schrödinger equation (CQNLSE) with pure normal fourth-order dispersion (FOD). This exact solitary solution is “fixed-parameter” solitary wave, whose waveform is well described by hyperbolic secant function without oscillating tails. Those characteristics contribute importantly new information on solitons generation compared to the conventional pure-quartic soliton (PQS) in the absence of quintic nonlinearity. The numerical results verify that this exact solitary solution can preserve its shape. The formation of such solitary wave is a result of counterbalance between normal FOD as well as positive Kerr nonlinearity and negative quintic nonlinearity. The stability of such exact solitary wave is discussed as well. Although such exact solitary wave is linearly unstable in the presence of perturbation, our results disclose the role of quintic nonlinearity in the formation of high-energy PQS and its propagation, and also provide a way to control the generation of high-energy PQS laser pulse.

Metformin is a classic type II diabetes drug which possesses anti-tumor properties for various cancers. However, different cancers do not respond to metformin with the same effectiveness or acquire resistance. Thus, searching for vulnerabilities of metformin-resistant prostate cancer is a promising strategy to improve the therapeutic efficiency of the drug. A genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9 activation library search targeting 23,430 genes was conducted to identify the genes that confer resistance to metformin in prostate cancer cells. Candidate genes were selected by total reads of sgRNA and sgRNA diversity, and then a CCK8 assay was used to verify their resistance to metformin. Interestingly, we discovered that the activation of ECE1, ABCA12, BPY2, EEF1A1, RAD9A, and NIPSNAP1 contributed to in vitro resistance to metformin in DU145 and PC3 cell lines. Notably, a high level of RAD9A, with poor prognosis in PCa, was the most significant gene in the CCK8 assay. Furthermore, we discerned the tumor immune microenvironment with RAD9A expression by CIBERSORT. These results suggested that a high level of RAD9A may upregulate regulatory T cells to counterbalance metformin in the tumor immune microenvironment.

Achieving full-polarization (σ) invisibility on an arbitrary three-dimensional (3D) platform is a long-held knotty issue yet extremely promising in real-world stealth applications. However, state-of-the-art invisibility cloaks typically work under a specific polarization because the anisotropy and orientation-selective resonant nature of artificial materials made the σ-immune operation elusive and terribly challenging. Here, we report a deterministic approach to engineer a metasurface skin cloak working under an arbitrary polarization state by theoretically synergizing two cloaking phase patterns required, respectively, at spin-up (σ+) and spin-down (σ−) states. Therein, the wavefront of any light impinging on the cloak can be well preserved since it is a superposition of σ+ and σ− wave. To demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability, several proof-of-concept metasurface cloaks are designed to wrap over a 3D triangle platform at microwave frequency. Results show that our cloaks are essentially capable of restoring the amplitude and phase of reflected beams as if light was incident on a flat mirror or an arbitrarily predesigned shape under full polarization states with a desirable bandwidth of ~17.9%, conceiving or deceiving an arbitrary object placed inside. Our approach, deterministic and robust in terms of accurate theoretical design, reconciles the milestone dilemma in stealth discipline and opens up an avenue for the extreme capability of ultrathin 3D cloaking of an arbitrary shape, paving up the road for real-world applications.

Photonic spin Hall effect (SHE) can be an effective sensor for determining the refractive index (RI) variation of a sensing medium. How to further improve its sensitivity is a very interesting and important issue. In this paper, we theoretically propose a weak measurement method for enhancing the sensitivity of the photonic SHE-based RI sensor by reducing the influence of the in-plane wavevector. Of particular interest, our results indicate that the sensitivity of the presented configuration reaches about 3.16 × 10-7 RIU/μm which shows nearly two orders of magnitude improvement compared with the conventional one. Remarkably, this method can be applied for wide range of RI variation of the sensing medium while keeping the high sensitivity.

Abstract The approximate analytical expressions of tripole-mode and quadrupole-mode solitons in (1 + 1)-dimensional nematic liquid crystals are obtained by applying the variational approach. It is found that the soliton powers for the two types of solitons are not equal with the same parameters, which is much different from their counterparts in the Snyder-Mitchell model (an ideal and typical strongly nolocal nonlinear model). The numerical simulations show that for the strongly nonlocal case, by expanding the response function to the second order, the approximate soliton solutions are in good agreement with the numerical results. Furthermore, by expanding the respond function to the higher orders, the accuracy and the validity range of the approximate soliton solutions increase. If the response function is expanded to the tenth order, the approximate solutions are still valid for the general nonlocal case.

A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. However, the precise and real-time detection of the reaction rate remains challenging due to its fast and dynamical process. In this paper, the photonic spin Hall effect is proposed to realize the ultrasensitive and real-time detection of the reaction rate of sucrose hydrolysis. By incorporating with quantum weak measurement, the photonic spin-Hall shift acts as the measurement pointer, and the optical rotation in the process of sucrose hydrolysis acts as the postselection state. The high measurement resolution with 1.25 × 10−4 degree is achieved due to the weak-value amplification in quantum weak measurement which outperforms the standard polarimeter. In our scheme, the amplified measurement pointer is real-time monitoring the chemical reaction process. It does not involve any mechanical adjustment of optical elements once the experimental setup is established and thereby realizes a real-time detection of the dynamic chemical reaction.

In this paper, the propagation properties of hollow Gaussian beams (HGBs) are discussed in detail when they are off-waist incident in strongly nonlocal media. A set of mathematic expressions are given to describe the evolutions of the beam intensity, the beam width, and the real beam radius. Numerical simulations are carried out to illustrate these propagation properties depended on the off-waist incidence. It is found that a HGB always periodically transforms its transverse patterns during propagation. Accordingly, the beam width and the real beam radius are also periodic during propagation. Keywords: Hollow Gaussian beam, Strongly nonlocal media, Propagation property, Off-waist incident case

In this paper, by considering the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect, we theoretically study the photonic spin Hall effect (SHE) in a three-layer structure composed of glass, metal, and air. It is revealed that the obtained spin-dependent splitting in photonic SHE is far greater than the previously reported results in refraction when the incident angle is near the resonant angle. The inherent physics behind this interesting phenomenon is attributed to the sharp decrease in Fresnel reflective coefficients around the SPR. We also find that there exists an optimal thickness for minimal resonant reflection, above which the huge beam displacement is also observed. These findings provide us a pathway for modulating the photonic SHE and open the possibility of developing nanophotonic applications such as the SPR-based sensor.

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a malignancy with a poor prognosis and high mortality rate. A high tumor mutational burden (TMB) has been found to be associated with poor prognosis in ACC. Thus, exploring ACC biomarkers based on TMB holds significant importance for patient risk stratification. In our research, we utilized weighted gene coexpression network analysis and an assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with highthroughput sequencing to identify genes associated with TMB. Through the comprehensive analysis of various public datasets, Lamin B1 (LMNB1) was identified as a biomarker associated with a high TMB and low chromatin accessibility. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrated high expression of LMNB1 in ACC compared to noncancerous tissues. Functional enrichment analyses revealed that the function of LMNB1 is associated with cell proliferation and division. Furthermore, cell assays suggested that LMNB1 promotes tumor proliferation and invasion. In addition, mutation analysis suggested that the high expression of LMNB1 is associated with TP53 mutations. Additionally, LMNB1 was highly expressed in the vast majority of solid tumors across cancers. In our immune analysis, we discovered that the high expression of LMNB1 might suppress the infiltration of CD8+ T cells in the ACC microenvironment. In summary, LMNB1 is a predictive factor for the poor prognosis of adult and pediatric ACC. Its high expression in ACC is positively associated with high TMB and lower chromatin accessibility, and it promotes ACC cell proliferation and invasion. Therefore, LMNB1 holds promise as a novel biomarker and potential therapeutic target for ACC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the photonic spin-Hall effect (PSHE) at optical interfaces has been widely studied in past years, its physical origin remains obscure. Here, through studying the scatterings of circularly polarized beams obliquely incident on a series of junctions linking two homogenous optical media, how the physical origin of the PSHE evolves as the interface changes from a slowly varying junction to a step-like sharp one is explored. Beams transmitted through a generic interface consist of two modes, a spin-maintained normal mode carrying a spin-redirection Berry (SRB) phase and a spin-flipped abnormal mode exhibiting a Pancharatnam-Berry (PB) phase. Under linear-polarization incidence, a spin-polarized beam transmitted through each junction is generally an interference of normal and abnormal modes corresponding to two different incident circular polarizations, and thus the resulting PSHE is dictated by the interplay and competition between two effects dictated by SRB and PB phases, respectively. Shrinking the interfacial region can increase the strength of the abnormal mode, making the measured PSHE change from the SRB-dominated one to the PB-dominated one. The results establish a unified framework to understand the PSHE at generic interfaces, offering practical ways to control the PSHE by "designing" the abnormal scatterings on optical interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photonic spin Hall effect (SHE) manifesting itself as spin-dependent splitting escapes detection in previous photon tunneling experiments due to the fact that the induced beam centroid shift is restricted to a fraction of wavelength. In this work, we report on the first observation of this tiny effect in photon tunneling via weak measurements based on preselection and postselection technique on the spin states. We find that the spin-dependent splitting is even larger than the potential barrier thickness when spin-polarized photons tunneling through a potential barrier. This photonic SHE is attributed to spin-redirection Berry phase which can be described as a consequence of the spin-orbit coupling. These findings provide new insight into photon tunneling effect and thereby offer the possibility of developing spin-based nanophotonic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the realization of tunable spin-dependent splitting in intrinsic photonic spin Hall effect. By breaking the rotational symmetry of a cylindrical vector beam, the intrinsic vortex phases that the two spin components of the vector beam carries, which is similar to the geometric Pancharatnam-Berry phase, are no longer continuous in the azimuthal direction, and leads to observation of spin accumulation at the opposite edge of the beam. Due to the inherent nature of the phase and independency of light-matter interaction, the observed photonic spin Hall effect is intrinsic. Modulating the topological charge of the vector beam, the spin-dependent splitting can be enhanced and the direction of spin accumulation is switchable. Our findings may provide a possible route for generation and manipulation of spin-polarized photons, and enables spin-based photonics applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in the field of photonic spin Hall effect (SHE) offer new opportunities for advantageous measurement of the optical parameters (refractive index, thickness, etc.) of nanostructures and enable spin-based photonics applications in the future. However, it remains a challenge to develop a tunable photonic SHE with any desired spin-dependent splitting for generation and manipulation of spin-polarized photons. Here, we demonstrate experimentally a scheme to realize the photonic SHE tunably by tailoring the space-variant Pancharatnam-Berry phase (PBP). It is shown that light beams whose polarization with a tunable spatial inhomogeneity can contribute to steering the space-variant PBP which creates a spin-dependent geometric phase gradient, thereby possibly realizing a tunable photonic SHE with any desired spin-dependent splitting. Our scheme provides a convenient method to manipulate the spin photon. The results can be extrapolated to other physical system with similar topological origins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a simple and convenient method to yield cylindrical vector (CV) beams and realize its polarization evolution on higher-order Poincare sphere based on inhomogeneous birefringent metasurface. By means of local polarization transformation of the metasurface, it is possible to convert a light beam with homogeneous elliptical polarization into a vector beam with any desired polarization distribution. The Stokes parameters of the output light are measured to verify our scheme, which show well agreement with the theoretical prediction. Our method may provide a convenient way to generate CV beams, which is expected to have potential applications in encoding information and quantum computation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]