Engineering surfaces that can accelerate droplet detachment are of great importance to a wide range of practical applications, including dropwise condensation, anti-icing, and self-cleaning. Considering the pragmatic effect of reducing contact time (zc), c ), the cylindrical surface is one of the most popular passive approaches for achieving this purpose. Owing to the absence of a suitable way for the experimental observation, we use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to obtain an in-depth understanding of droplet impingement on the curved surface at the molecular level together with the contact time variation. Accordingly, the regimes of zcupon c upon curved surfaces are well recognized by summarizing the zcvariation, c variation, which are stable reducing zc c regime and hybrid zc c regime. . We propose a law of zc c proportional to alpha-0.226 to predict the zc c variation in the stable reducing zc c regime. And for the hybrid zc c regime, , the zc c variation is specifically defined as three parts, including the delayed zc, c , limited zc, c , and transitional zc c regions. Moreover, we investigate the effect of the dimensionless length of curved surfaces on the zc c variation in detail. This work paves the way to design a more effective curved surface to promote the nanodroplet rebound.

Previous researches have reported the relationship between uric acid and cardiovascular disease. We aimed to investigate the association of Life’s Essential 8, a recently updated measurement of cardiovascular health, with the prevalence of hyperuricemia (HUA) and gout among US adults. Additionally, we also explored the relationship between LE8 and all-cause mortality among patients with HUA or gout. Participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2007–2016 were involved in this study. LE8 score was categorized into low, moderate, high CVH groups according to American Heart Association definitions. Multivariable logistic regression and cox regression analyses, restricted cubic spline models, subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis were used to explore the associations. A total of 23,619 adult participants were included in this study, which included 4,775 hyperuricemia patients and 1,055 gout patients. Among all participants, the overall median LE8 score was 65.62 (21.25) and the prevalence of hyperuricemia and gout of were 20.2

Despite the fact that observational studies have reported associations between serum uric acid (SUA) and depressive symptoms risk in East Asian populations, there is a lack of evidence demonstrating a causal relationship between them. This study aimed to perform a comprehensive assessment of the relationship between SUA and depressive symptoms. This study included two cohort studies and a two-sample Mendelian randomization study. The cross-sectional cohort was derived from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) wave 3 (in 2015), and the baseline data of participants were extracted from the CHARLS wave 1(in 2011), excluding those with depressive symptoms in 2011 and forming a longitudinal cohort from 2011 to 2015. Logistic multiple regression was performed to investigate the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of SUA with depressive symptoms in the two cohorts. Furthermore, we performed two-sample Mendelian randomization analyses to explore the potential causal relationships between them. We included two cohorts of 9056 and 3177 individuals respectively. Logistic regression showed that individual with higher SUA levels had a lower risk of depressive symptoms (OR = 0.921; 95

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a clinical syndrome characterized by multiple metabolic disorders and is a serious global health problem. The coffee effect, acting as one of the most prevalent beverages on metabolic syndrome, is debatable. We included patients from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003–2018 and used a comprehensive evaluation called the MetS z-score to assess the severity of metabolic syndrome. The relationship between coffee, decaffeinated coffee, tea, and MetS z-scores was explored using a weighted linear regression. We also divided the participants into metabolic and non-metabolic syndrome groups according to the NCEP/ATP III criteria for the subgroup analysis. A total of 14,504 participants were included in this study. The results demonstrated that drinking more than three cups of coffee daily was significantly linked to lower MetS z-scores (p < 0.001). Daily coffee consumption was also associated with lower BMI (p = 0.02), systolic blood pressure (p < 0.001), Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (p < 0.001), and triglycerides (p < 0.001), while it was positively correlated with HDL-C (p = 0.001). Participants who consumed more than three cups of coffee daily had a lower MetS z-score in the MetS (p < 0.001) and non-MetS (p = 0.04) groups. This research indicates that coffee consumption is linked to MetS severity. However, decaffeinated coffee and tea intake were unrelated to MetS severity.

Surfaces with hierarchical structures significantly enhance the hydrophobic properties of solids, proving crucial for diverse applications including self-cleaning, anti-icing, and contamination prevention. In this study, we directly observe the dynamic wetting transitions of nanoscale water films on desirable textured surfaces decorated with dual-scale roughness between various wetting states encompassing Cassie–Cassie, Wenzel–Cassie, Cassie–Wenzel, and Wenzel–Wenzel states. Additionally, detailed information on the wetting of the water film on desirable textured surfaces decorated with dual-scale roughness is obtained using atomistic simulations in conjunction with sampling techniques. Through observation of the dynamic wetting transition, two common types of wetting pathways are directly captured, dubbed the preferential primary intrusion and secondary intrusions. The wetting follows which pathway is dependent on Hs/Ss of the small-scale roughness. The mechanisms behind the wetting transitions are revealed based on corresponding free-energy pathways. Moreover, the effect of aspect ratio and intrinsic contact angle on the wetting behavior has been studied. Subsequently, we construct a wetting phase diagram to exhibit all the possible outcomes and identify different wetting regimes. This work paves the way to understanding the wetting mechanisms on nanoscale textured surfaces with two-tier roughness, which can help to design a hydrophobic surface with superior robustness.

A series of uranium and magnesium co-doped LN crystals (LN: U, Mg) were successfully grown using the modified vertical Bridgman method. At 532 nm, the response time of LN: U, Mg was approximately 2 s. The saturated diffraction efficiency, refractive index modulation, and sensitivity decreased first and then increased with the enhanced MgO doping concentration. The electron was the dominant carrier, and the diffusion was the main migration mechanism. When co-doped with 7 mol% MgO, the optical damage threshold of LN: U was significantly improved to be as high as 2.36 x 10(5) W/cm(2). The result of the OH- spectrum showed that only 7 mol% exceeded the real threshold concentration of MgO in LN: U, which is consistent with the calculated result based on the Li-vacancy model. In addition, the photorefractive centers and optical damage were also discussed.

In this work, the second harmonic (SH) of higher-order Poincaré sphere (HOPS) beam was introduced and demonstrated with two orthogonal 5%MgO:PPLN crystals. Based on the quasi-phase-matching technique, the vectorial coupled wave equations were derived to simulate the SH of HOPS beams through the two crystals, including the cylindrical vector beams (CVBs), elliptically polarized CVBs (EPCVBs), and circularly polarized vortex beams. Then, the experimental setup was established to reveal that the SH of CVBs and EPCVBs present the four-lobed structure and still exhibit vector characteristics. Meanwhile, the circularly polarized vortex beams become the linearly polarized vortex beams with double phase topology, confirming the conservation of orbital angular momentum. Moreover, the maximum SH conversion efficiency of CVBs, EPCVBs, and circularly polarized vortex beams can reach 25.3%, 23.4%, and 29.4%, respectively, which may be instructive for promoting the SH generation of vector vortex beams with high efficiency.

The present study numerically investigated the heat transfer process occurred in a wavy channel enhanced by electrohydrodynamics (EHD). The mechanisms of the EHD-enhanced heat transfer in wavy channels differ from those in a straight channel. An advantageous position for single electrode is proposed to be above the peak of wave in a continuous wavy channel. Strategies for aligning multielectrodes in the EHD-enhanced continuous or discontinuous wavy channels are proposed based on interpretation on the simulation outcomes for single electrode. The ratio of horizontal section length to wave length (l/lambda) significantly affects the heat transfer enhancement, unlike the case in continuous wavy channel (l/lambda = 0). The optimal electrode arrangement for continuous wavy channels is inappropriate for discontinuous wavy channels, the electrodes should be placed above the junction of wave and horizontal section. The design criteria are proposed for enhanced heat transfer performance in discontinuous wavy channels with multiple electrodes: the electrode spacing should be as large as possible to minimize the barrier effect when the ratio l/lambda < 0.15; however it is beneficial to reduce the electrode spacing when the ratio l/lambda > 0.15.

Abstract Background Fibromyalgia (FM) is a multifaceted disease. Along with the genetic, environmental and neuro-hormonal factors, inflammation has been assumed to have role in the pathogenesis of FM. The aim of the present study was to explore the differences in clinical features and pathophysiology of FM patients under different inflammatory status. Methods The peripheral blood gene expression profile of FM patients in the Gene Expression Omnibus database was downloaded. Differentially expressed inflammatory genes were identified, and two molecular subtypes were constructed according to these genes used unsupervised clustering analysis. The clinical characteristics, immune features and pathways activities were compared further between the two subtypes. Then machine learning was used to perform the feature selection and construct a classification model. Results The patients with FM were divided into micro-inflammation and non-inflammation subtypes according to 54 differentially expressed inflammatory genes. The micro-inflammation group was characterized by more major depression (p = 0.049), higher BMI (p = 0.021), more active dendritic cells (p = 0.010) and neutrophils. Functional enrichment analysis showed that innate immune response and antibacterial response were significantly enriched in micro-inflammation subtype (p < 0.050). Then 5 hub genes (MMP8, ENPP3, MAP2K3, HGF, YES1) were screened thought three feature selection algorithms, an accurate classifier based on the 5 hub DEIGs and 2 clinical parameters were constructed using support vector machine model. Model scoring indicators such as AUC (0.945), accuracy (0.936), F1 score (0.941), Brier score (0.079) and Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test (χ2 = 4.274, p = 0.832) proved that this SVM-based classifier was highly reliable. Conclusion Micro-inflammation status in FM was significantly associated with the occurrence of depression and activated innate immune response. Our study calls attention to the pathogenesis of different subtypes of FM.

Based on the synergistic design concept, double-layered microchannel heat sinks with parallel and symmetric wavy porous fins are developed with the desire to simultaneously attain pressure drop reduction, heat transfer enhancement, and cooling uniformity improvement. Using a 3D fluid-solid conjugate model, the hydrodynamic and thermal details are numerically studied to compare two wavy configurations with the solid- and porous-fin designs. The results demonstrate that for wavy microchannel heat sinks, the porous-fin design can significantly enhance heat transfer performance and reduce pressure drop. The symmetric configuration yields a higher pressure drop reduction, whereas the parallel one provides a higher increment in thermal performance. As a result, using the porous design, two wavy configurations have nearly the same level of pressure drop penalty, but the parallel configuration contributes to higher thermal performance. The decreased flow rate of the channel due to the permeation of coolant fluids into porous ribs and the slip effect on the channel wall contribute to the pressure drop reduction. The permeation effect of coolant greatly restrains secondary flow characteristics induced by wavy walls which are responsible for the enhanced coolant mixing in conventional heat sinks. Consequently, the increased inlet flow velocity at a constant pumping power contributes to the improved thermal performance, namely the reduced thermal resistance and the increased Nusselt number. With a stronger coolant permeation owing to the jet-like impingement flow, the parallel configuration yields a slightly lower thermal performance compared to the symmetric configuration in the new design. Finally, the parametric analysis at a fixed pumping power is further carried out for optimizing the proposed design.

Previous studies have generally reported the association between serum uric acid (SUA) and diabetic complications, but large-scale research exploring the above association in U.S. adults with diabetes is limited. To explore the association between SUA and chronic complications of diabetes among U.S. patients aged ≥40, we used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2008. SUA was divided into three levels: T1 (SUA ≥ 420 μmol/L), T2 (300 ≤ SUA < 420 μmol/L), and T3 (SUA < 300 μmol/L). Binary logistic regression and restricted cubic spline analysis were applied to evaluate the association between SUA and chronic complications of diabetes. A trend test was performed as the SUA increased substantially. After full-adjusted confounding factors, patients in the T3 group had a lower risk of diabetic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, and peripheral neuropathy compared with the T1 group, with a OR (95% CIs) of 0.33 (0.21–0.52), 0.56 (0.36–0.87), and 0.49 (0.27–0.89), respectively. The restricted cubic spline showed a significant positive relationship between SUA and cardiovascular disease and diabetic kidney disease in diabetes patients, but not peripheral neuropathy. Maintaining a SUA of less than 300 μmol/L might be protective against the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetic kidney disease, and peripheral neuropathy other than diabetic retinopathy compared with a SUA of more than 420 μmol/L in U.S. diabetes patients aged 40 and over.

Significance Lithium niobate (LN) crystal is a kind of multi -function and multi -purpose artificial crystal material, which has the advantages of good temperature stability, easy optical cold processing, and properties control. As a typical photorefractive (PR) crystal, LN is widely used in research and applications in high -density optical storage, laser physics, information processing, computing, etc. With the rapid development of information science and technology, magnetic tape, disk, and optical disc cannot meet the increasing demand for data storage. The theoretical limit of holographic three-dimensional (3D) storage capacity can reach 10(12) bit/cm(3), which is much higher than the traditional one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) memory. Meanwhile, real immersion experience makes 3D display a huge market demand. The dreamed 3D display in the future should be viewed without auxiliary wearing devices. Holographic display is one of the techniques to realize 3D display. Then, with the enormous demand and rapid development of massive storage and dynamic holographic display, 3D optical storage and dynamic display based on LN crystals have once again become a research hotspot.Progress Here, we present an overview of the principles, history, and recent advances in holographic data storage and display based on LN crystal. Compared with the commonly used liquid crystal display materials, LN crystals present many advantages, such as good temperature and chemical stability, high diffraction efficiency, and no need to apply high voltage. The photorefractive response of LN crystal is significantly improved by the doping of cations containing lone -pair electron, and the response time of bismuth and magnesium co -doped LN crystal is reduced to 7.2 ms under the activation of 442 nm laser, which meets the requirements of real-time dynamic holographic display. The crystal has been used to demonstrate a real-time holographic display with a refresh rate of 60 Hz, as that of the high -definition television. It seems that LN:Bi, Mg is a suitable candidate material for holographic 3D display. Meanwhile, a reasonable calculation is carried out to understand the mechanism of its fast response. The results indicate that the electron mobility while Bi occupying Nb-site is significantly greater than that in Li -site, which directly induces the fast response of LN:Bi, Mg crystals when the concentration of Mg is beyond its doping threshold. This work provides an ideal candidate material for holographic 3D display and expands the technique for performance control of LN crystals. In addition, doping high valence ions (vanadium and molybdenum) can significantly affect the photorefractive performance of LN crystals. Molybdenum and magnesium co -doped LN crystal can exhibit excellent photorefractive performance in all visible light bands, bringing hopes for real-time refreshable color holographic displays.Conclusion and Prospects Due to its excellent photorefractive properties, LN has become a major candidate material for holographic 3D storage and display. With the rapid development of Internet technology, such as cloud computing, high -density and large -capacity optical holographic 3D storage based on LN crystals provides a solution to the increasingly urgent demand for massive data throughput. However, the improvement of information loading and extraction speed and the extension of fixed and storage life still need further study. With the rise of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), meta -universe, and other concepts, 3D display has shown great application prospects and economic benefits. Photorefractive holographic display that can be written and read in real time is an important technology for realizing 3D dynamic display. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to carry out in-depth research on the improvement of the response of LN crystal in red, green, and blue bands and to arrange dynamic holographic display devices and technology research in advance.In addition, thanks to the sub -micron LN single crystal thin film preparation as well as the industrialization of mature semiconductor micro -nano processing technology in preparation of LN micro -nano devices, just after a few years, the research on the new effect of LN on insulator (LNOI) and micro -nano optics has made remarkable achievements. High-performance electro-optical modulators, lasers, amplifiers, waveguides, and other functional devices and transmission devices on the LN chips have been successfully fabricated, and LNOI has become one of the new generations of excellent integrated photonics platforms. With the in- depth research of LNOI-based integrated optics and new effects, photorefractive effect is also shown in the research of on -chip micro and nanodevices. Like bulk LN crystals, photorefractive effect is also a double-edged sword for applying micro and nanodevices of submicron LN films. On the one hand, photorefractive effect can adversely affect the performance of frequency comb and microwave photonics devices, but some micro and nanodevices, on the other hand, also show fast photorefractive response, which provides an opportunity for the research of editable photonics devices. Therefore, the photorefractive effects and applications of LNOI-based micro -nano systems and related integrated optical systems are also worthy of attention.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is chronic inflammatory disease. Although coffee impacts metabolism, no evidence has shown an association between coffee consumption and decreased risk for developing metabolic syndrome (MetS) among RA patients. Hence, we examined the association between coffee consumption and metabolic syndrome severity among 1094 participants with self-reported RA. Accordingly, patients with MetS z-scores of <0 and ≥0 were designated as low- and high-risk groups, respectively. In the fully adjusted model, drinking over two cups of coffee daily was associated with a decrease in the MetS z-score (p = 0.04). Subgroup analysis showed that in the low-risk group, daily intake of <2 cups of coffee was associated with low MetS z-scores (p = 0.003), scores (p = 0.03). Coffee intake was associated with low body mass index (p = 0.03 for 0–2 cups per day; p = 0.02 for >2 cups per day) and low HOMA-IR (β, −2.62; 95%CI, −5.13 to −0.11; p = 0.04). Our study suggests that coffee, but not decaffeinated coffee consumption and total caffeine intake, is associated with MetS severity in RA.

Integrated optical systems based on lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) have shown great potential in recent years. However, the LNOI platform is facing a shortage of active devices. Considering the significant progress made in rare-earth-doped LNOI lasers and amplifiers, the fabrication of on-chip ytterbium-doped LNOI waveguide amplifiers based on electron-beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching was investigated. The signal amplification at lower pump power (<1 mW) was achieved by the fabricated waveguide amplifiers. A net internal gain of ∼18 dB/cm in the 1064 nm band was also achieved in the waveguide amplifiers under a pump power of 10 mW at 974 nm. This work proposes a new, to the best of our knowledge, active device for the LNOI integrated optical system. It may become an important basic component for lithium niobate thin-film integrated photonics in the future.

The ability to amplify optical signals is of paramount importance in photonic integrated circuits(PICs).Recently,lithium niobate on insulator(LNOI)has attracted increasing interest as an emerging PIC platform.However,the shortage of efficient active devices on the LNOI platform limits the development of optical amplification.Here,we report an efficient waveguide amplifier based on erbium and ytterbium co-doped LNOI by using electron beam lithography and an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching process.We have demonstrated that signal amplification emerges at a low pump power of 0.1 mW,and the net internal gain in the communication band is 16.52 dB/cm under pumping of a 974 nm continuous laser.Benefiting from the efficient pumping fa-cilitated by energy transfer between ytterbium and erbium ions,an internal conversion efficiency of 10％has been achieved,which is currently the most efficient waveguide amplifier under unidirectional pumping reported on the LNOI platform,to our knowledge.This work proposes an efficient active device for LNOI integrated optical systems that may become an important fundamental component of future lithium niobate photonic integration platforms.

Holographic storage with fast response speed, high saturation diffraction efficiency and high sensitivity are realized in LN:U at multiple visible wavelengths.

This work mainly focuses on the passive manipulation of the impact dynamics of nanodroplets using superhydrophobic surfaces decorated with a stepped surface via molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Based on various impact conditions, we observe a series of novel impact dynamics that are quite different from the normal impact on smooth surfaces, mainly including the deflected rebound at the top/base of the stepped surface, and directional transport and splitting of droplets. The reason why the stepped texture can produce these fascinating dynamic characteristics is detailly investigated by calculating the centroid coordinate, free energy, and spread factor variations. The asymmetric dynamics of impacting droplets on stepped surfaces should be the primary reason for observed phenomena. The phase diagram is established to obtain overall insights into the impacting dynamics. This work can pave the way to assist practical applications, which require manipulating droplets at the nanoscale.

Holographic display has attracted widespread interest because of its ability to show the complete information of the object and bring people an unprecedented sense of presence.The absence of ideal recording materials has hampered the realization of their commercial applications.Here we report that the response time of a bismuth and magnesium codoped lithium niobate (LN:Bi,Mg) crystal is shortened to 7.2 ms and a sensitivity as high as 646 cm/J.The crystal was used to demonstrate a real-time holographic display with a refresh rate of 60 Hz, as that of the popular high-definition television.Moreover, the first-principles calculations indicate that the electron mobility while Bi occupying Nb-site is significantly greater than that in Li-site, which directly induces the fast response of LN:Bi,Mg crystals when the concentration of Mg is above its doping threshold.

In this study, microchannel heat sinks with symmetric and parallel wavy microchannels are studied in a wide range of Reynolds numbers from 50 to 700 via a three-dimensional fluid-solid conjugate model. The results show that the symmetric configuration yields higher Nusselt numbers than the parallel one, and it is especially true at higher Reynolds numbers and larger amplitude-to-wavelength ratios. The heat transfer enhancement can be attributed to the fact that the symmetric configuration induces four Dean vortices in the cross sections perpendicular to the flow path, whereas there are only two Dean vortices in the parallel configuration, leading to stronger coolant mixing and hence the higher Nusselt numbers in the symmetric configuration. However, because of the presence of channel throats, the symmetric configuration also achieves a significantly high pressure penalty. As a result, the overall performance of the symmetric configuration is slightly lower than that of the parallel configuration. To enhance the performance of wavy microchannel heat sinks, modified symmetric and parallel wavy configurations are proposed, in which several transverse gaps are added into ribs to connect adjacent microchannels. The results demonstrate that such a secondary branch design significantly enhances Nusselt numbers for both the parallel wavy configurations owing to the enhanced fluid mixing between adjacent microchannels. Moreover, it is found that, as compared with its original wavy configurations, secondary branches slightly increase the pressure drop across the modified parallel configuration. Thus, the overall performances are markedly enhanced for the modified parallel configurations. As expected, secondary branches greatly reduce the pressure drop across the modified symmetric configuration. Beyond expectation, the suction effect of channel throats due to secondary branches can weaken the Dean vortices in the valley vs valley regions and worsen the heat transfer performance, especially for the heat sink with larger Re and amplitude-towavelength ratios. As a result, the modified symmetric wavy configurations are suggested to employ with a wider gap and small amplitude-to-wavelength ratio. Generally speaking, the modified parallel wavy configuration is more dominant than the symmetric one.

Two extreme wetting states, a highly non-wetting Cassie state and a wetting Wenzel state, can coexist or even mutually convert on patterned surfaces. Such a conversion process may be spontaneous or induced by external stimuli. This work studies the wetting transition of a nanodroplet on pillar-arrayed surfaces induced by an external electric field via an energy-minimization method in conjunction with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The simulation results reveal that driven by the electric field, the initial Cassie state could go through a partial wetting state, and eventually converts to the Wenzel state. The free-energy landscape reveals that there are multiple local energy minima, corresponding to multiple metastable states. For the metastable Cassie state, the wetting transition is irreversible, i.e., the droplet would remain in the Wenzel state when the electric field is removed. Conversely, the spontaneous dewetting transition from the Wenzel to the Cassie state can occur, if only the Cassie droplet is in a global energy minimum configuration. Thus, the stable Cassie wetting configuration is essential for triggering the spontaneous dewetting transition. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.