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Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) achieve a milestone in cancer treatment. Despite the great success of ICI, ICI therapy still faces a big challenge due to heterogeneity of tumor, and therapeutic response is complicated by possible immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Therefore, it is critical to assess the systemic immune response elicited by ICI therapy to guide subsequent treatment regimens. Positron emission tomography (PET) molecular imaging is an optimal approach in cancer diagnosis, treatment effect evaluation, follow-up, and prognosis prediction. PET imaging can monitor metabolic changes of immunocytes and specifically identify immuno-biomarkers to reflect systemic immune responses. Here, we briefly review the application of PET molecular imaging to date of systemic immune responses following ICI therapy and the associated rationale.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common dementia worldwide. The exact etiology of AD is unclear as yet, and no effective treatments are currently available, making AD a tremendous burden posed on the whole society. As AD is a multifaceted and heterogeneous disease, and most biomarkers are dynamic in the course of AD, a range of biomarkers should be established to evaluate the severity and prognosis. Positron emission tomography (PET) offers a great opportunity to visualize AD from diverse perspectives by using radiolabeled agents involved in various pathophysiological processes; PET imaging technique helps to explore the pathomechanisms of AD comprehensively and find out the most appropriate biomarker in each AD phase, leading to a better evaluation of the disease. In this review, we discuss the application of PET in the course of AD and summarized radiolabeled compounds with favorable imaging characteristics.

Nanostructured mental-semiconductor-mental photodetectors (MSM-PDs) can assist in future high-speed communication devices for achieving high responsivity characteristics. However, such devices suffer from low responsivity due to low absorption, and the large band gap limits its detection range. Herein, we propose a GaAs-based photodetector with enhanced photoresponse by plasmonic Au-GaAs grating structure. The design of a grating structure on the surface of n-GaAs can excite a plasmon mode to enhance the photoelectric performance of photodetectors. Consequently, under 795 nm incident light irradiation, the grating hybrid detector exhibits a nearly 4.2-fold increase in photocurrent compared to the bare GaAs device. The enhanced absorption can be up to 99% and a specific responsivity of 240 mA/W is realized. These results can thus provide a potential scheme to fabricate high-performance GaAs detector for numerous applications.

A multi-exposures with dose modulation method is presented to fabricate SU-8 mold which is used for microfluidic channels. The method used a maskless digital lithography device with a 405 nm LED source. Digital micromirror device (DMD) maskless lithograph can reach higher precision to meet the requirements of microfluidic chips. For a thick SU-8 layer, multi-exposures with low dose method can effectively suppress the T-shaped structure formed due to top overexposed and bottom underexposed. Two SU-8 molds were fabricated with 55 μm and 25 μm in height in this work. The number of exposures is 62 and 55, respectively. The actual contour of SU-8 structures closely matches the design contour. The PDMS microchannel structure was fabricated using the SU-8 mold. The minimum width of a single microchannel achieved 10 μm. This method provides a more flexible method for fabricating SU-8 molds with higher precision and is well suited for on-chip cell isolation.

The projection lens is the core component of DMD-based maskless lithography and its imaging quality directly affects the transferal of exposure pattern. Based on the traditional projection lens system, we have designed diffractive optical element (DOE) and aspheric surfaces to optimize the refractive/diffractive hybrid projection lens system to improve its imaging quality. We found that the best effect is obtained when DOE is very close to the front lens group before the diaphragm of the hybrid system. Compared with the traditional projection lens system, this hybrid projection lens system has lower wave aberration with the help of DOE, and higher image quality owing to the modulation transfer function (MTF) value being improved. Finally, a hybrid projection lens system with working distance of 29.07 mm, image Space NA of 0.45, and total length of 196.97 mm is designed. We found that the maximum distortion and field curvature are 1.36 × 10−5% and 0.91 μm, respectively.

Hypoxia conditioning could increase the survival of transplanted neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs) in rats with cerebral ischemia but could also hinder neuronal differentiation partly by suppressing mitochondrial metabolism. In this work, the mitochondrial metabolism of hypoxia-conditioned NPCs (hcNPCs) was upregulated via the additional administration of resveratrol, an herbal compound, to resolve the limitation of hypoxia conditioning on neuronal differentiation. Resveratrol was first applied during the in vitro neuronal differentiation of hcNPCs and concurrently promoted the differentiation, synaptogenesis, and functional development of neurons derived from hcNPCs and restored the mitochondrial metabolism. Furthermore, this herbal compound was used as an adjuvant during hcNPC transplantation in a photothrombotic stroke rat model. Resveratrol promoted neuronal differentiation and increased the long-term survival of transplanted hcNPCs. 18-fluorine fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and rotarod test showed that resveratrol and hcNPC transplantation synergistically improved the neurological and metabolic recovery of stroke rats. In conclusion, resveratrol promoted the neuronal differentiation and therapeutic efficiency of hcNPCs in stroke rats via restoring mitochondrial metabolism. This work suggested a novel approach to promote the clinical translation of NPC transplantation therapy.

As the use of textile polypropylene (PP) fibers becomes more common in commercial textiles and sportswear, the investigation of the effects of UV-curable ink on the heat-sensitive PP knitted fabrics is crucial to optimize functional clothing design. This study investigated the effects of UV-curable ink on the heat-sensitive PP knitted fabrics when the ink was cured using UV light at room temperature, to avoid degradation of the PP fabric by high temperature, and provided an alternative coloring method for PP fabric used in sportswear. The influences of printing parameters such as the printing distance, number of overprints, and color of ink on fabrics as well as aesthetic, physical, and low-stress mechanical properties in terms of tensile, bending, shearing, surface, and compression were systematically investigated. The results indicated that the physical properties and low-stress mechanical properties of PP fabrics printed with UV-curable ink were significantly affected by the number of overprints and the color of the prints, whereas the color appearance was affected mainly by the number of overprints and the printing distance. In terms of the fabric’s hand value, only 2HB and 2HG5 were significantly affected by the number of overprints and the color of the prints, with the prediction rate exceeding 40 % among the low-stress mechanical properties. The fabric’s hand value was not significantly affected by the thin UV-cured ink film when compared with the fabric itself. Fabric printed in a color with the greatest lightness and the fewest overprints had the lowest fabric weight, thickness, and color difference (ΔE) towards the reference color, in addition to better bending recovery and resilience properties. The new knowledge from this study can provide an alternative coloring method for PP knitted fabric to increase the design variety available to textile designers who use PP fabric. The results from this study contribute to the textile and knitwear design industry.

The use of children’s buoyant swimwear has become more common. However, its bulkiness and hardness restrict the wearer’s movement. For better fit, comfort and mobility, a knitted buoyant swimming vest is developed. It is compared with two market samples using subjective evaluation according to the Functional, Expressive and Aesthetic (FEA) Consumer Needs Model and laboratory tests of objective measurements. The results of a paired-sample t-test show that a tightly fitting buoyant swimming vest should be worn out of water, as the vest becomes a perfect fit in water. Tests on the knitted buoyant swimming vest demonstrate improved functionality and higher buoyancy than that of two market samples conforming to British Standard EN13138-1:2014. The results of repeated measures analysis of variance show an overall significant higher satisfaction level in the knitted buoyant swimming vest than two market samples in terms of fit, comfort and mobility. The results of this study are significant for both the textile industry and the fast-growing sportswear industry.

This paper proposes the use of digital knitting to fabricate three-dimensional stretchable fabric with transformative properties. The research focus is on the application of the curling effect and the resultant stitch structures. Rib, purl, and links structures, which have alternating face and back loops in the structural knit cell and produced the curling effect, are investigated. Thirty-six samples based on the three structures along with 12 different stitch combinations are produced through the digital knitting process. The properties of the samples, including the dimensional changes, surface texture, weight and thickness, and tensile properties, are subsequently evaluated and compared by using both quantitative and qualitative assessment methods. The results show that the developed knitted fabrics that use the curling effect through alternating face and back loops are significantly three-dimensional in surface texture and have considerable stretchability. These effects in general increase with the growth of stitch number in a structural knit cell. However, only the links structures show considerable extensibility along both course and wale directions, while the rib and purl structures have enhanced stretchability in only the course and wale directions, respectively. Therefore, this design-led textile study provides a simple but effective means for producing new materials that offer both function and aesthetics for fashion with transformable designs. The work here also provides a technical-based integrated approach for innovative textile and fashion developments.

A method involving multi-exposure with low-power is presented to fabricate an SU-8 mold based on a digital micromirror device (DMD) maskless lithography with an LED source at a wavelength of 405 nm. The SU-8 mold is used for the fabrication of a PDMS concentration gradient generator (CGG). During a one-time exposure, it is easy to over-expose at the top and under-expose at the bottom of a thick SU-8, which then forms a T-shaped structure. This is more obvious for high-absorption coefficients such as 365 nm. We found that by taking advantage of the partially absorbed and partially transmissive characteristics of the 405-nm wavelength, multi-exposure can form an effective photochemical reaction channel in SU-8 and can solve the problem mentioned above. However, excessive exposure will cause the linewidth to increase, therefore, it is necessary to find a tradeoff for the number of multi-exposure times. For a 55-µm thick SU-8, the tradeoff threshold is found to be 25. Three types of SU-8 CGG molds were fabricated at this threshold. The results indicate that the actual profile of the SU-8 mold shows good agreement with the design profile without any T-shaped structures.

Aging is an inevitable process that all individuals experience, of which the extent differs among individuals. It has been recognized as the risk factor of neurodegenerative diseases by affecting gut microbiota compositions, microglia, and cognition abilities. Aging-induced changes in gut microbiota compositions have a critical role in orchestrating the morphology and functions of microglia through the gut-brain axis. Gut microbiota communicates with microglia by its secreted metabolites and neurotransmitters. This is highly associated with age-related cognitive declines. Here, we review the main composition of microbiota in the aged individuals, outline the changes of the brain in age-related cognitive decline from a neuroinflammation perspective, especially the changes of morphology and functions of microglia, discuss the crosstalk between microbiota and microglia in the aged brain and further highlight the role of microbiota-microglia connections in neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease).

As the use of buoyant swimwear by children in residential swimming becomes more common, the investigation of the effects of buoyant textiles is crucial for the optimisation of functional buoyant clothing design. This study investigated buoyant knitted fabrics developed using an inlaid knitting technique for buoyant swimwear application. The impact of the inner diameter, outer diameter, and the linear density of the inlaid tube on the buoyant ability of the buoyant fabrics was analyzed using multiple linear regression. The result demonstrated that the fabric’s net buoyant force was significantly affected by all three parameters, with inner diameter having the greatest effect, followed by the outer diameter and linear density of the inlaid tube. The increase in the net buoyant force of the fabric can be predicted by the increase in the inner diameter of its inlaid tube and linear density and decrease in the outer diameter. The divergence of the results for specimens inlaid with Silicon tube and from the result predicted by multiple linear regression indicates that the net buoyant force is also affected by the linear density and the wall thickness of the inlaid tube. The new knowledge of this study can contribute to the production of buoyant layers inside the buoyant swimwear in replace of air chambers to improve the limitation of non-distributed buoyancy, accidental punctuation and bulkiness in conventional buoyant swimwear.

A novel chip-scale metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) refractive-index sensor is proposed and investigated in this paper by using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method and multimode interference coupled-mode theory (MICMT), respectively. A slot cavity with an embedded tooth-shape cavity and a side-coupled semi-ring cavity are inserted between the input and output MDM waveguides. According to the simulation results, dual ultra-sharp and asymmetrical Fano peaks emerge in transmission spectrum with high performances. Besides, the transmission responses for the primary parameters of this structure are also investigated. To focus on developing integrated photonic devices, the original structure is successfully expanded by two additional semi-ring cavities through an innovative coupling approach, generating up to eight Fano peaks with outstanding characteristics. It is believed that this novel MDM structure will be a guideline for designing the chip-scale plasmonic devices.

Microstructures are fabricated with a fast fabrication speed, submicron-scale precision and a minimum feature size of 1.5 μm. The proposed rapid prototyping fabrication method takes advantage of the maskless lithography technique based on a digital mirror device (DMD) and photocurable resin, which has a broad range of uses in three-dimensional (3D) printing. To illustrate the feasibility of this method, a Dammann grating is fabricated. Using a series of experiments and optimized designs, we analyze the characteristics of the photocurable resin, quantify the dose modulation for lithography and redesign the mask pattern. Consequently, a Dammann grating with a 50% diffraction efficiency is successfully fabricated, which can not only guarantee the precision but also maintain the fabrication speed. This work demonstrates the potential of this method to rapidly and directly manufacture binary optical elements or structures at the nanoscale based on photocurable resin and DMD-based maskless lithography.

In order to design a five-port grating with good uniformity, a single-groove reflective beam splitter with an incident wavelength of 1550 nm is designed. The incident structure is under normal incidence. We get better optimized parameters by rigorous coupled waves. The five diffraction order efficiencies of the grating are each close to 20%. The optimized data shows that grating structure has high efficiency and high tolerance, which will have good application value in the field of beam splitter. Furthermore, by investigating the coupling overlap integration and field distribution, the mechanism can be well explained for such a grating.

In this paper, we proposed polarization-dependent terahertz reflective beam splitters under normal incidence, in which resonance-domain diffraction gratings with period comparable to incident wavelength are adopted to achieve multi-channel beam separation, appropriate total diffraction efficiency, and good efficiency uniformity. At the frequency of 2.5200 THz (correspondingly the wavelength λ = 118.83 μm), the beam splitters can implement energy output varying from dual- to seven-port. For transverse electric (TE) polarization, the total efficiency of the beam splitters can reach ~ 95% (assuming the values 96.04%, 96.84%, 94.71%, 96.32%, 96.47%, and 95.08%, respectively, when the splitter’s output ports change from two to seven). For transverse magnetic (TM) polarization, under different structural parameters (namely the heights of the grating ridges h1 and h2) from TE polarization, the corresponding values are 96.62%, 95.23%, 92.81%, 93.11%, 92.99%, and 93.19%, respectively. Our results ( Table 2 ) demonstrate that all splitters, irrespective of the number of output ports, can provide appropriate total diffraction efficiency and good uniformity. Through rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA), we derived the fabrication tolerance of the incident wavelength and period, which highlights the reliability of the proposed terahertz beam splitters.

In this paper, we investigate and analyze numerically and theoretically a coupled plasmonic resonant system by using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method and multimode interference coupled-mode theory (MICMT), respectively. First, by employing an end-coupled cavity associated with two side-coupled cavities, three ultra-sharp and asymmetrical Fano resonant peaks are observed in the transmission spectrum. High refractive index sensitivities and high figure of merits are achieved for all the peaks. In the interest of highly integrated optical devices, up to seven Fano peaks with asymmetrical line shapes are achieved when the composite structure is successfully extended by two additional cavities, whereas most of the reported results are about 1-4 Fano resonances in a single structure. Preferred performances are also obtained for this chip-scale structure. This proposed structure may have great potential applications for on-chip optical sensing and optical communication in highly integrated photonic circuits.

In this paper, multiple Fano resonances based on semi-ring-rectangular composite cavity (SRRCC) structure are numerically investigated and explained by the finite-difference time-domain method and the multiple interference coupled mode theory method. High refractive-index sensitivities and high figure of merits (FOMs) are obtained in SRRCC system, and thus it may be preferred in the chip-scale optical sensing area. Besides, the phase response and the delay time within the Fano resonant windows are also investigated. Additionally, two more Fano resonances with high sensitivities and FOMs emerge through adding a new semi-ring cavity. These structures show widely applications in the sensing area and promote development of on-chip integrated photonics.

Wearable fiber-shaped supercapacitor (SC) is a kind of one-dimensional flexible devices that can be directly knitted or sewn into various kinds of textile soft-substrate for wearable energy storage. Herein, acid-pretreated stainless steel yarn (SSY) has been developed to support electrodeposition of active materials of nickel/cobalt composite and polypyrrole (PPy) as the positive and negative electrodes, respectively. The asymmetric all-solid-state supercapacitors (AASs) showed both high electrochemical properties and excellent mechanical flexibility under various degrees of deformation. The highest volumetric capacitance reached 14.69 F cm−3 at the current density of 25 mA cm−3, and the maximum energy density was 3.83 mWh·cm−3 (0.032 mWh·cm−2) at a power density of 18.75 mW cm−3 (0.284 mW cm−2). The AASs were highly flexible and durable for directly being sewn into textile fabrics, and exhibited a good electrochemical stability under 6000 charging/discharging cycles. This work uses the common materials and facile methods to fabricate the flexible and wearable AASs with enhanced electrochemical properties, showing a decent way in developing flexible SC devices.

We propose a new kind of compound optical vortex (COV) generator in this paper. The device consists of an inner spiral phase plate (SPP) and an outer annular spiral phase plate. There is an opaque band between two SPPs. Under the flat-top beam irradiation, concentric multi-ring COV rings with different topological charges in different radial radii can be generated. The theoretical analysis lays a theoretical foundation for the design of the COV generator, and the simulation results prove the effectiveness of the design. The unique characteristics of COV are discussed and some of its potential application scenarios are presented. This work provides a design method for generating COV using compound SPPs, and the advanced COV structure can help to expand the scope of utilization of vortex beam in optical tweezers, optical communication and other fields.