Explore the vast range of titles available.

Lateral optical forces induced by linearly polarized laser beams have been predicted to deflect dipolar particles with opposite chiralities toward opposite transversal directions. These “chirality-dependent” forces can offer new possibilities for passive all-optical enantioselective sorting of chiral particles, which is essential to the nanoscience and drug industries. However, previous chiral sorting experiments focused on large particles with diameters in the geometrical-optics regime. Here, we demonstrate, for the first time, the robust sorting of Mie (size ~ wavelength) chiral particles with different handedness at an air–water interface using optical lateral forces induced by a single linearly polarized laser beam. The nontrivial physical interactions underlying these chirality-dependent forces distinctly differ from those predicted for dipolar or geometrical-optics particles. The lateral forces emerge from a complex interplay between the light polarization, lateral momentum enhancement, and out-of-plane light refraction at the particle-water interface. The sign of the lateral force could be reversed by changing the particle size, incident angle, and polarization of the obliquely incident light.Optical sorting: Forcing mirror-image microparticles to go their own wayA setup that uses lasers to automatically sort compounds with nearly imperceptible chemical differences could improve the efficiency of drug manufacturing. Many pharmaceuticals are difficult to purify because they are chiral, meaning they exist as one of two mirror-image structures that rotate in opposite directions under linearly polarized light. Cheng-Wei Qiu from the National University of Singapore and colleagues now report that lateral forces generated by a mix of reflected and refracted light rays can separate chiral microspheres floating on the surface of water. The team developed a line-shaped optical trap to hold a mix of chiral particles in place, and then directed a polarized laser beam into the trap. Microscopic imaging revealed that particles with identical chirality moved laterally when exposed to the beam, with velocities dependent on incident angle and microparticle size.

Osteomyelitis is a destructive disease of bone tissue caused by infection with pathogenic microorganisms. Because of the complex and long‐term abnormal conditions, osteomyelitis is one of the refractory diseases in orthopedics. Currently, anti‐infective therapy is the primary modality for osteomyelitis therapy in addition to thorough surgical debridement. However, bacterial resistance has gradually reduced the benefits of traditional antibiotics, and the development of advanced antibacterial agents has received growing attention. This review introduces the main targets of antibacterial agents for treating osteomyelitis, including bacterial cell wall, cell membrane, intracellular macromolecules, and bacterial energy metabolism, focuses on their mechanisms, and predicts prospects for clinical applications. Various antibacterial agents are developed vigorously for osteomyelitis therapy, including metal‐based antibacterial agents, antibiotics, antibacterial peptides, antibacterial proteins, antibacterial cationic polymers, and so forth, which usually play an anti‐infective role by acting on the targets of cell wall, cell membrane, intracellular macromolecules, and energy metabolism, providing support for the comprehensive treatment of osteomyelitis.

There is a gap in whether relationship power affects the association between gratitude and relationship satisfaction in romantic relationships. Based on the relationship maintenance model and the social distance theory of power, the present study adopted a digital questionnaire design on an online platform to test the mediating role of perceived partner responsiveness between gratitude and satisfaction as well as the moderating role of relationship power. A total of 825 subjects ( M age  = 27.2, SD  = 10.6; female 46.9%) who had been in romantic relationships for more than six months participated in this study. Overall, the results of the moderator–mediator model indicated that, compared to individuals with low levels of relationship power, the relationship between gratitude and perceived partner responsiveness as well as that between perceived partner responsiveness and relationship satisfaction was weaker among those with high levels of power. These findings are revealing for interventions designed to promote satisfaction between couples with power imbalances.

The stress state of primary rocks is redistributed during coal mining, which leads to deformation and failure of the floor strata. Coal seam floor experiences repeated additional stress from the mining of two overlying seams in close-distance mining. An assessment of floor stability is required in the presence of a confined aquifer within the floor strata. The failure characteristics of floor rock strata are crucial for analyzing water inrush from floor. This mechanical response of floor deformation and failure becomes particularly pronounced when the roof is treated using the full caving method. Floor strata were analyzed for the 220,105 working face at Xinji 2 # Coal Mine, with an elastic half‑plane theory established. The stress distribution characteristics of the floor were investigated using software MATLAB. The width of the plastic zone and the maximum failure depth of floor were determined based on the slip line field theory of floor rock mass. A reference was provided for water damage control during repeated mining of the 1 # coal seam. Continuous field observation of floor failure was performed through drilling combined with the network parallel electrical method. Apparent resistivity at the depth of 19.6 m below floor was approximately twice the background resistivity of the corresponding stratum. The apparent resistivity of rock strata below 19.6 m remained constant, indicating a protective zone. These results confirm the reliability of the theoretical analysis and provide a technical foundation for safe mining in the working face.

The optical force exerted on a dipole particle can be divided into gradient force, scattering force, and spin–curl force, all of which can be derived from Maxwell’s stress tensor with the dipole approximation. Here, we identify an additional spin–curl force for arbitrary objects beyond the dipole approximation, which is named the generalized spin–curl force in this paper. The generalized spin–curl force originates from the Minkowski force density and depends on the imaginary parts of the permittivity, permeability, and chirality of the object. However, it remains imperceptible in conventional optical force calculations due to its exact cancellation by a compensatory surface force during MST surface integration. The study of the generalized spin–curl force provides critical insights into elucidating the mechanisms underlying optical momentum transfer and internal force distribution within complex media. Furthermore, the generalized spin–curl force offers a novel mechanism for enhancing optical sensors, enabling highly sensitive detection of absorptive or chiral perturbations in systems such as microcavities and metasurfaces. Its ability to manipulate internal force distributions also provides new pathways for advancing optical force probes and chirality-selective sensing at the nanoscale.

•We aimed to investigate the underlying neural correlates of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) facilitating interpersonal relationship closeness (IRC) using a multi-brain neuroimaging (i.e., hyperscanning) in friend partners.•Cognitive reappraisal (CR) is more effective to down-regulate the target's sadness, and expressive suppression (ES) is more effective to decrease other's anger.•Interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) associated regions within intrapersonal emotion regulation, mentalizing and social cognition systems played an important role in facilitating the IRC through the effectiveness of IER. Interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) refers to the dynamic process where a regulator employs specific strategies to alleviate a target's distress. It remains unclear whether successful IER could facilitate interpersonal relationship closeness (IRC). The present study aimed to explore whether successful IER, based on two typical strategies—cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES)—for down-regulating the target's negative emotions, could enhance IRC among friend dyads, and to identify the underlying neural correlates of this process using functional near-infrared spectroscopy system. Seventy-four female dyads (friends) were randomly assigned to one of two strategy groups (CR vs. ES), with one participant as the target and the other as the regulator. Our findings revealed that both strategies have down-regulated the target's negative emotions, however, CR strategy was associated with more successful IER outcomes (more improvement of the targets’ negative emotions; higher IRC) than ES strategy. IER recruited the enhanced interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) of the prefrontal and temporal areas among friend dyads. CR strategy recruited higher IBS of the above-mentioned brain networks than ES strategy in down-regulating the target's sadness, and the reversed IBS pattern was found in down-regulating the target's anger, inferring that CR was more successive in IER of sadness, and ES was more effective in IER of anger. The increased IBS pattern of these brain regions played a mediational role between the effectiveness of down-regulating targets’ negative emotions and the increment of IRC. Our findings revealed a neural coupling mechanism through which successful IER fostered supportive social bonds.

Plasmon chirality has garnered significant interest in sensing application due to its strong electromagnetic field localization and highly tunable optical properties. Understanding the effects of mode coupling in chiral structures on chiral optical activity is particularly important for advancing this field. In this work, we numerically investigate the circular dichroism (CD) of elliptical nanodisk dimers arranged in an up-and-down configuration with a specific rotation angle. By adjusting the inter-particle distance and geometric parameters, we introduce the coupling between dipole and electric hexapole modes, forming an extended Born–Kuhn model that achieves strong CD. Our findings show that the coupling of dipole modes with electric hexapole modes in elliptical nanodisks can also show obvious Fano resonance and a strong CD effect, and the structure with the largest Fano asymmetry factor shows the highest CD. In addition, CD spectroscopy is highly sensitive to changes in the refractive index of the surrounding medium, especially in the visible and near-infrared regions, highlighting its potential for application in high-sensitivity refractive index sensors.

Flaviviruses are arthropod-borne RNA viruses that have been used extensively to study host antiviral responses. Often selected just to represent standard single-stranded positive-sense RNA viruses in early studies, the Flavivirus genus over time has taught us how truly unique it is in its remarkable ability to target not just the RNA sensory pathways but also the cytosolic DNA sensing system for its successful replication inside the host cell. This review summarizes the main developments on the unexpected antagonistic strategies utilized by different flaviviruses, with RNA genomes, against the host cyclic GAMP synthase (cGAS)/stimulator of interferon genes (STING) cytosolic DNA sensing pathway in mammalian systems. On the basis of the recent advancements on this topic, we hypothesize that the mechanisms of viral sensing and innate immunity are much more fluid than what we had anticipated, and both viral and host factors will continue to be found as important factors contributing to the host innate immune system in the future.

•The fNIRS hyperscanning was used to investigate positive emotional contagion.•Observing positive facial expressions triggered perceivers’ automatic mimicry.•Positive emotional contagion increased IBS in mirror neuron and control networks.•Automatic mimicry may underlie positive emotional contagion among strangers. Emotional contagion refers a process that by which the emotions of a perceiver become more similar to those of others as a result of exposure to these emotions. The present study investigated the behavioral and interpersonal neural coupling mechanisms underlying positive emotional contagion. We recruited forty-six stranger dyads and created an emotional contagion task using the fNIRS-based hyper-scanning technique to track brain activities of interactive partners (the sender, the perceiver), examining brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex and temporo-parietal junction, which are parts of the cognitive control and mirroring brain networks. In each dyad, the senders were demanded to watch positive/neutral clips or imitate the actor’s non-emotional facial actions, the perceivers were demanded to observe the senders’ positive/neutral facial expressions or non-emotional facial movements passively. Results revealed that interactive partners exhibited more synchronous facial expressions, higher interpersonal brain synchronizations (IBS) associated with the mirror neuron system (IFG, SMG) and the cognitive control system (DLPFC) and reported more positive emotions in the positive condition than neural condition or facial movements condition, indicating positive emotional contagion has occurred. Furthermore, the perceiver’s self-rated valence scores positively mediated the relationship between facial expression synchrony and IBS of mirror neuron system between dyads (IFG_TRI sender - left_SMG perceiver). Our findings revealed that automatic mimicry of other’s positive emotional expressions (indicating by facial expression synchronization) might be one of the mechanisms responsible for the contagion of positive emotions among strangers. We discussed the evolutional benefits of positive emotional contagion adhering to an automatic mimicry process.

Some plant sensor nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) receptors detect pathogen effectors through their integrated domains (IDs). Rice RGA5 sensor NLR recognizes its corresponding effectors AVR-Pia and AVR1-CO39 from the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae through direct binding to its heavy metal-associated (HMA) ID to trigger the RGA4 helper NLR-dependent resistance in rice. Here, we report a mutant of RGA5 named RGA5 HMA5 that confers complete resistance in transgenic rice plants to the M. oryzae strains expressing the noncorresponding effector AVR-PikD. RGA5 HMA5 carries three engineered interfaces, two of which lie in the HMA ID and the other in the C-terminal Lys-rich stretch tailing the ID. However, RGA5 variants having one or two of the three interfaces, including replacing all the Lys residues with Glu residues in the Lys-rich stretch, failed to activate RGA4-dependent cell death of rice protoplasts. Altogether, this work demonstrates that sensor NLRs require a concerted action of multiple surfaces within and outside the IDs to both recognize effectors and activate helper NLR-mediated resistance, and has implications in structure-guided designing of sensor NLRs. An engineered sensor NLR RGA5 HMA5 carrying multiple resurfaced interfaces was generated to confer complete resistance to the rice blast fungus strains expressing the non-corresponding effector AVR-PikD, paving a way to broaden the resistance spectra of NLRs.