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The concept of lateral optical force (LOF) is of general interest in optical manipulation as it releases the constraint of intensity gradient in tightly focused light, yet such a force is normally limited to exotic materials and/or complex light fields. Here, we report a general and controllable LOF in a nonchiral elongated nanoparticle illuminated by an obliquely incident plane wave. Through computational analysis, we reveal that the sign and magnitude of LOF can be tuned by multiple parameters of the particle (aspect ratio, material) and light (incident angle, direction of linear polarization, wavelength). The underlying physics is attributed to the multipolar interplay in the particle, leading to a reduction in symmetry. Direct experimental evidence of switchable LOF is captured by polarization-angle-controlled manipulation of single Ag nanowires using holographic optical tweezers. This work provides a minimalist paradigm to achieve interface-free LOF for optomechanical applications, such as optical sorting and light-driven micro/nanomotors. It is a significant challenge to create an interface-free lateral optical force under the illumination of a single polarized plane wave. Here, the authors provide a minimalist paradigm to address this challenge by exploiting multipolar interplay in a single elongated particle.

Transdermal drug delivery is of vital importance for medical treatments. However, user adherence to long-term repetitive drug delivery poses a grand challenge. Furthermore, the dynamic and unpredictable disease progression demands a pharmaceutical treatment that can be actively controlled in real-time to ensure medical precision and personalization. Here, we report a spatiotemporal on-demand patch (SOP) that integrates drug-loaded microneedles with biocompatible metallic membranes to enable electrically triggered active control of drug release. Precise control of drug release to targeted locations (<1 mm 2 ), rapid drug release response to electrical triggers (<30 s), and multi-modal operation involving both drug release and electrical stimulation highlight the novelty. Solution-based fabrication ensures high customizability and scalability to tailor the SOP for various pharmaceutical needs. The wireless-powered and digital-controlled SOP demonstrates great promise in achieving full automation of drug delivery, improving user adherence while ensuring medical precision. Based on these characteristics, we utilized SOPs in sleep studies. We revealed that programmed release of exogenous melatonin from SOPs improve sleep of mice, indicating potential values for basic research and clinical treatments. Microneedle patches that can actively address individual needles are challenging to realize. Here, the authors introduce a spatiotemporal on-demand patch for precise and personalized drug delivery, utilizing electrically triggered control with drug-loaded microneedles and biocompatible metallic membranes.

The photons in circularly polarized light can transfer their quantized spin angular momentum to micro- and nanostructures via absorption and scattering. This normally exerts positive torque on the objects wher the sign (i.e., handedness or angular direction) follows that of the spin angular momentum. Here we show that the sign of the optical torque can be negative in mesoscopic optical matter arrays of metal nanoparticles (NPs) assembled in circularly polarized optical traps. Crossover from positive to negative optical torque, which occurs for arrays with different number, separation and configuration of the constituent particles, is shown to result from many-body interactions as clarified by electrodynamics simulations. Our results establish that both positive and negative optical torque can be readily realized and controlled in optical matter arrays. This property and reconfigurability of the arrays makes possible programmable materials for optomechanical, microrheological and biological applications. Negative optical torque has been predicted theoretically, but experimental demonstrations have been scarce. Here, the authors show that the optical torque in a mesoscopic optical matter array can be reversed depending on number, separation and configuration of nanoparticles in a circularly polarized optical trap.

Potential energy surfaces are the central concept in understanding the assembly of molecules; atoms form molecules via covalent bonds with structures defined by the stationary points of the surfaces. Similarly, dispersion interactions give Lennard-Jones potentials that describe atomic clusters and liquids. The formation of molecules and clusters can follow various pathways depending on the initial conditions and the potentials. Here we show that analogous mechanistic effects occur in light-mediated self-organization of metal nanoparticles; atoms are replaced by silver nanoparticles that are arranged by electrodynamic (that is, optical trapping and optical binding) interactions. We demonstrate this concept using simple Gaussian optical fields and the formation of stable clusters with various two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) geometries. The formation of specific clusters is ‘path-dependent’; the particle motions follow an electrodynamic potential energy surface. This work paves the way for rational design of photonic clusters with combinations of imposed beam shapes, gradients and optical binding interactions. Understanding the interactions between nanoparticles is vital for controlling their assembly. Here, the authors show how photonic control and binding of nanoparticles can be understood with the concept of potential energy surfaces, giving path-dependent formation of clusters.

Background Dietary inflammation has been linked to various diseases. The dietary inflammatory index (DII) is a tool used to assess the inflammatory potential of a diet. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between the DII and the risk of developing cardiovascular–kidney–metabolic syndrome (CKMS) in a U.S. population. Methods Cross-sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2001 to 2020, which included 24,071 participants, were analyzed. CKMS was defined as the coexistence of cardiometabolic syndrome (CMS) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). The DII was calculated on the basis of the anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory scores of foods and nutrients. Weighted multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the associations between the DII and the risk of developing CKMS. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) regression was conducted to test nonlinear relationships. Subgroup analyses were performed by sex, age, race, smoking status, and alcohol consumption status. Results After adjusting for confounders, compared with those of the lowest quartile of the DII, the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for higher DII quartiles were 1.17 (0.93–1.47), 1.43 (1.13–1.81), and 1.76 (1.42–2.18), respectively. Each one-unit increase in the DII was associated with a 12% greater risk of developing CKMS (OR: 1.12, 95% CI: [1.08, 1.18]). RCS regression indicated a significant nonlinear positive association between the DII and the risk of developing CKMS. Conclusions This study revealed a nonlinear positive association between the DII and the risk of developing CKMS in the U.S. population. Further longitudinal studies are needed to establish causality and explore the underlying biological mechanisms involved.

Optical trapping has been implemented in many areas of physics and biology as a noncontact sample manipulation technique to study the structure and dynamics of nano- and mesoscale objects. It provides a unique approach for manipulating microscopic objects without inducing undesired changes in structure. Combining optical trapping with hard X-ray microscopy techniques, such as coherent diffraction imaging and crystallography, provides a nonperturbing environment where electronic and structural dynamics of an individual particle in solution can be followed in situ. It was previously shown that optical trapping allows the manipulation of micrometer-sized objects for X-ray fluorescence imaging. However, questions remain over the ability of optical trapping to position objects for X-ray diffraction measurements, which have stringent requirements for angular stability. Our work demonstrates that dynamic holographic optical tweezers are capable of manipulating single micrometer-scale anisotropic particles in a microfluidic environment with the precision and stability required for X-ray Bragg diffraction experiments—thus functioning as an “optical goniometer.” The methodology can be extended to a variety of X-ray experiments and the Bragg coherent diffractive imaging of individual particles in solution, as demonstrated here, will be markedly enhanced with the advent of brighter, coherent X-ray sources.

SuoquanYishen formula (SQYSF), a traditional Chinese herbal prescription for treating diabetic kidney disease (DKD), has demonstrated clinical efficacy in lowering blood glucose and alleviating renal damage. Emerging evidence implicates cellular senescence as a critical contributor to DKD progression. This study aimed to elucidate the mechanism by which SQYSF improves renal cellular senescence using both in vivo (db/db mice) and in vitro (high glucose-induced HK-2 cells) DKD models, with interventions involving SQYSF aqueous extract and SQYSF-containing serum. We screened 59 chemical compounds by UHPLC-QTOF-MS and used network pharmacology approach to discover that autophagy and cellular senescence are important pathways for pharmacological treatment of disease. Experimental validation demonstrated that senescence and damage occurred in the kidneys of db/db mice and HK-2 cells under high glucose environment, and SQYSF ameliorated these abnormal changes. Then, we also found that SQYSF enhanced autophagy in renal tissues and cells, whereas co-treatment with the autophagy inhibitor Bafilomycin A1 abolished SQYSF’s anti-senescence effects. Notably, DKD progression was associated with elevated Rubicon expression at mRNA and protein levels, accompanied by increased m6A modification. While SQYSF effectively downregulated Rubicon mRNA and protein expression, it did not influence m6A modification levels. Further investigation identified that SQYSF was able to target to reduce YTHDF1 expression level. Overexpression of YTHDF1 in HK-2 cells increased Rubicon mRNA stability and protein expression, while concurrently reversing SQYSF-induced autophagy enhancement and senescence amelioration. These results suggest that SQYSF exerts its role in ameliorating renal cellular senescence in DKD by targeting to reduce the expression level of YTHDF1, which inhibits the level of Rubicon mRNA and protein translation, and thus promotes autophagy. Our results reveal the active components and mechanisms of SQYSF for the treatment of DKD, which may provide useful information to guide the clinical application of SQYSF as well as the therapeutic pathway for DKD.

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD), one of the microvascular complications in patients with diabetes mellitus, is a common cause of end-stage renal disease. Cellular senescence is believed to be an essential participant in the pathogenesis of DKD. Although there is evidence that Alpiniae oxyphyllae fructus (AOF) can ameliorate DKD progression and organismal senescence, its ability to ameliorate renal cellular senescence in DKD as well as active components and molecular mechanisms remain to be explored. This study aimed to investigate the role of AOF in the treatment of cellular senescence in DKD and to explore its active components and potential molecular mechanisms. The pharmacological efficacy of AOF in ameliorating cellular senescence in DKD was assessed by establishing DKD mouse models and HK-2 cells under high glucose stress. UHPLC-QTOF-MS was used to screen the active compounds in AOF, which were used in conjunction with network pharmacology to predict the molecular mechanism of AOF in the treatment of cellular senescence in DKD. experiments showed that AOF reduced GLU, mAlb, Scr, BUN, MDA, SOD levels, and ameliorated renal pathological damage and renal cell senescence in DKD mice. experiments showed that AOF-containing serum improved the decline in HK-2 cell viability and alleviated cellular senescence under high glucose intervention. The results of the UHPLC-QTOF-MS screened 26 active compounds of AOF. The network pharmacological analyses revealed that Cubebin, 2',6'-dihydroxy-4'-methoxydihydrochalcone, Chalcone base + 3O,1Prenyl, Batatasin IV, and Lucidenolactone were the five core compounds and TP53, SRC, STAT3, PIK3CA, and AKT1 are the five core targets of AOF in the treatment of DKD. Molecular docking simulation results showed that the five core compounds had good binding ability to the five core targets. Western blot validated the network pharmacological prediction results and showed that AOF and AOF-containing serum down-regulate the expression of TP53, and phosphorylation of SRC, STAT3, PIK3CA, and AKT. Our study shows that AOF may delay the development of cellular senescence in DKD by down-regulating the levels of TP53, and phosphorylation of SRC, STAT3, PIK3CA, and AKT.

Monitoring the long-term changes in antibody and cellular immunity following Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is crucial for understanding immune mechanisms that prevent reinfection. In March 2023, we recruited 167 participants from the Changning District, Shanghai, China. A subset of 66 participants that were infected between November 2022 and January 2023 was selected for longitudinal follow-up. The study aimed to investigate the dynamics of the immune response, including neutralizing antibodies (NAbs), anti-spike (S)-immunoglobulin G (IgG), anti-S-IgM, and lymphocyte profiles, by analyzing peripheral blood samples collected three to seven months post infection. A gradual decrease in NAbs and IgG levels were observed from three to seven months post infection. No significant differences in NAbs and IgG titers were found across various demographics, including age, sex, occupation, and symptomatic presentation, across five follow-up assessments. Additionally, a strong correlation between NAbs and IgG levels was identified. Lymphocyte profiles showed a slight change at five months but had returned to baseline levels by seven months post infection. Notably, healthcare workers exhibited lower B-cell levels compared to police officers. Our study demonstrated that the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection persisted for at least seven months. Similar patterns in the dynamics of antibody responses and cellular immunity were observed throughout this period.