A "well+barrier"-type, single-mode optical waveguide structure was created in a Nd:YLiF4 (Nd:YLF) crystal through H-ion irradiation at an energy level of 300 keV and a fluence of 5.6 x 1016 ions/cm2. The electronic energy loss (Se) and nuclear energy loss (Sn) induced by inelastic and elastic collisions, respectively, were simulated using the SRIM 2013 software. The cross-sectional image of the Nd:YLF crystal after H-ion irradiation was captured using a microscope. The prism coupling and end-face coupling methods were utilized to capture the effective refractive index of waveguide modes and near-field intensity distributions. The spectral characteristics of the Nd:YLF crystal were examined after H-ion irradiation based on absorption spectra and Raman spectra. This study is of considerable significance for the advancement of integrated optical devices utilizing Nd:YLF crystals.

Herein, an neodymium-doped yttrium lithium fluoride (Nd:YLF) crystal was irradiated with 200-MeV Kr ion at a fluence of 1.0 x 1014 ions/cm2. The near-surface structural changes in the Nd:YLF crystal induced by Kr ion irradiation were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and Raman spectra. Planar scanning Raman spectroscopy was employed at the micrometer scale. The microstructure and lattice damage characteristics were investigated using metallographic and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). After ion irradiation process, the crystal near the surface exhibited a "well" structure with an elevated refractive index, which was attributed to electronic damage caused by Kr ions. The waveguide properties of the Nd:YLF crystal were evaluated using prism and end-face coupling methods in visible- and near-infrared bands. The I-V characteristic curves were utilized to investigate the electrical characteristics of Nd:YLF crystals irradiated with Kr ions. The Nd:YLF crystal waveguide structure shows promising potential for integrated optical devices.

Electrochromic capacitors, which are capable of altering their appearances in line with their charged states, are drawing substantial attention from both academia and industry. Tungsten oxide is usually used as an electrochromic layer material for electrochromic devices, or as an active material for high-performance capacitor electrodes. Despite this, acceptable visual aesthetics in electrochromic capacitors have almost never been achieved using tungsten oxide, because, in its pure form, this compound only displays a onefold color modulation from transparent to blue. Herein, we have designed W/WO3/TiO2 multilayer films by a magnetron sputtering device. The impact of TiO2 layer on the optical and electrochemical properties was investigated. The results show that the optimum thickness of the TiO2 layer is 10 nm. The as-prepared film displays a high coloration efficiency (CE) of 74.2 cm2 C−1, a high areal capacitance of 32.0 mF/cm2, an excellent rate performance (with the areal capacitance still retaining 87% of the maximum capacitance at a current density of 1 mA/cm2), and a high cycle life (with a capacity retention of 91% after 1000 cycles).

Low-damage single-mode waveguide structure with enhanced index well and buried barrier in YSGG crystal using 300 key H ion irradiation with a fluence of 5.6 x 1016 ions/cm2 was fabricated in this work. The displacement per atom, elastic collisions between the irradiated ions and target nuclei were calculated using SRIM. The characteristic of guided wave in YSGG crystal (dark mode characteristic curve and near field intensity profile) were measured by prism coupling and end face coupling method at 633 nm wavelength. A typical "well + barrier" type waveguide structure was created in YSGG crystal irradiated by ions irradiation process. The absorption and Raman spectra of YSGG crystal irradiated by 300 key H ion with a fluence of 5.6 x 1016 ions/cm2 were measured. The fabricated YSGG waveguide structure shows potential application for waveguide lasers, amplifiers, and optoelectronic sensors with exceptional sensitivity.

Neodymium-doped yttrium fluoride crystal has emerged as one of the most valuable functional materials, and has thus become a research hotspot and shown promising application value in recent years. In this work, utilizing 460 keV H and 6.0 MeV C ions implantation, the damage behavior, lattice structure change, spectral, and electrical characteristics of the Nd:YLF crystal induced by electronic and nuclear energy loss were investigated, utilizing complementary characterization techniques (X-ray diffraction, hardness and elastic (Young’s) modulus, micro-Raman, absorption, fluorescence spectra, and I–V characteristic curve). Thus, the annealing effect on the waveguide properties and the surface damage of the samples was discussed. The fabricated waveguide structure shows potential application in highly sensitive optoelectronic sensors.

Abstract Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as crucial regulators across diverse biological processes and diseases. While high-throughput sequencing has enabled lncRNA discovery, functional characterization remains limited. The EVLncRNAs database is the first and exclusive repository for all experimentally validated functional lncRNAs from various species. After previous releases in 2018 and 2021, this update marks a major expansion through exhaustive manual curation of nearly 25 000 publications from 15 May 2020, to 15 May 2023. It incorporates substantial growth across all categories: a 154% increase in functional lncRNAs, 160% in associated diseases, 186% in lncRNA-disease associations, 235% in interactions, 138% in structures, 234% in circular RNAs, 235% in resistant lncRNAs and 4724% in exosomal lncRNAs. More importantly, it incorporated additional information include functional classifications, detailed interaction pathways, homologous lncRNAs, lncRNA locations, COVID-19, phase-separation and organoid-related lncRNAs. The web interface was substantially improved for browsing, visualization, and searching. ChatGPT was tested for information extraction and functional overview with its limitation noted. EVLncRNAs 3.0 represents the most extensive curated resource of experimentally validated functional lncRNAs and will serve as an indispensable platform for unravelling emerging lncRNA functions. The updated database is freely available at https://www.sdklab-biophysics-dzu.net/EVLncRNAs3/.

T4 polynucleotide kinase (PNK) plays a key role in maintaining genome integrity and repairing DNA damage. In this paper, we proposed a label-free fluorescent biosensor for amplified detection of T4 PNK activity based on rolling circle amplification (RCA) and catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA). Firstly, we designed a padlock probe with a 5 '-hydroxyl terminus for phosphorylation reaction, a complementary sequence of the primer for initiating RCA, and a complementary sequence of the trigger for triggering CHA. T4 PNK catalyzed the phosphorylation reaction by adding a phosphate group to the 5 '-hydroxyl terminus of padlock probe, generating a phosphorylated padlock probe. Then it hybridized with the primer to generate a circular probe under the action of ligase. Subsequently, the primer initiated an RCA reaction along the circular probe to synthesize a large molecular weight product with repetitive trigger sequences. The triggers then triggered the cyclic assembly reactions be-tween hairpin probe 1 and hairpin probe 2 to generate a large amount of complexes with free G-rich sequences. The free G-rich sequences folded into G-quadruplex structures, and the N-methylmesoporphyrin IXs were inserted into them to produce an amplified fluorescent signal. Benefiting from high amplification efficiency of RCA and CHA, this fluorescent biosensor could detect T4 PNK as low as 6.63 x 10-4 U mL-1, and was suc-cessfully applied to detect its activity in HeLa cell lysates. Moreover, this fluorescent biosensor could effectively distinguish T4 PNK from other alternatives and evaluate the inhibitory effect of inhibitor, indicating that it had great potential in drug screening and disease treatment.

Cyanobacteria outbreaks are serious water pollution events, causing water crises around the world. Photocatalytic disinfection, as an effective approach, has been widely used to inhibit blue algae growth. In this study, a tiny reaction room containing a TiO2 film was designed to fulfill in situ optical observation of the destruction process of a one-dimensional multicellular microorganism, Anabaena sp. PCC 7120, which is also a typical bacterial strain causing water blooms. It was found that the fragment number increased exponentially with the activation time. The fracture mechanics of the algae chains were hypothesized to be the combining functions of increased local tensile stress originated from the cell contracting as well as the oxidative attacks coming from reactive oxygen species (ROSs). It was assumed that the oxidative species were the root cause of cellular structure changes in and chain fractures of Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 in the photocatalytic inactivation activity.

The (La, Sr)(Al, Ta)O 3 crystal was irradiated via 20.0 MeV C ion with fluence of 1.0×10 15 ions/cm 2 . The Rutherford backscattering (RBS)/channeling spectra, the hardness and elastic modulus as continuous functions of the depth, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) are used to analyze the irradiation damage, hardness, and structural changes in the near-surface area of samples. Prism coupling and end-face coupling methods were used to study the changes of optical waveguide properties under different annealing conditions. Considering the potential applications of low-loss waveguide structure in photoelectric sensors, electrical properties of (La, Sr)(Al, Ta)O 3 samples were studied as an important detection indicator of sensors.

Intestinal organoids, derived from intestinal stem cell self-organization, recapitulate the tissue structures and behaviors of the intestinal epithelium, which hold great potential for the study of developmental biology, disease modeling, and regenerative medicine. The intestinal epithelium is exposed to dynamic mechanical forces which exert profound effects on gut development. However, the conventional intestinal organoid culture system neglects the key role of mechanical microenvironments but relies solely on biological factors. Here, we show that adding cyclic stretch to intestinal organoid cultures remarkably up-regulates the signature gene expression and proliferation of intestinal stem cells. Furthermore, mechanical stretching stimulates the expansion of SOX9+ progenitors by activating the Wnt/β-Catenin signaling. These data demonstrate that the incorporation of mechanical stretch boosts the stemness of intestinal stem cells, thus benefiting organoid growth. Our findings have provided a way to optimize an organoid generation system through understanding cross-talk between biological and mechanical factors, paving the way for the application of mechanical forces in organoid-based models.

As the major energy molecule of cells, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) regulates various biological processes and has been found to be closely related to many diseases. Therefore, ATP detection in trace amounts is very useful for understanding various biological processes, studying cellular events such as proliferation and apoptosis, and estimating contaminated degree of food and medical instrument. To date, the trace sensing ATP at picomolar level in biological systems is still a major challenge. Because of unique electrical and structural properties, graphene has attracted much attention in biosensing applications. Here, a sensitive and selective graphene foam field-effect transistor (GF-FET) biosensor for ATP detection is demonstrated. The lowest detection limit of the biosensors for analyzing ATP is down to 0.5 pM, which is one or several orders lower than the reported results. Moreover, the GF-FET biosensor show a good linear current response to ATP concentrations in a broad range from 0.5 pM to 50 mu M. The GF-FET sensor surface can be regenerated for many times and used for up to weeks without significant loss of functionality. Based on this sensing platform, label-free measurements of ATP concentrations in human serum as well as in cell lysate are demonstrated. The work may provide a novel platform to study ATP release and energy-regulated biological processes, suggesting a promising future for biosensing applications.

Graphene has attracted much attention in biosensing applications due to its unique properties. In this paper, the monolayer graphene was grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Using the graphene as the electric channel, we have fabricated a graphene field-effect transistor (G-FET) biosensor that can be used for label-free detection of RNA. Compared with conventional method, the G-FET RNA biosensor can be run in low cost, be time-saving, and be miniaturized for RNA measurement. The sensors show high performance and achieve the RNA detection sensitivity as low as 0.1 fM, which is two orders of magnitude lower than the previously reports. Moreover, the G-FET biosensor can readily distinguish target RNA from noncomplementary RNA, showing high selectivity for RNA detection. The developed G-FET RNA biosensor with high sensitivity, fast analysis speed, and simple operation may provide a new feasible direction for RNA research and biosensing.

A functional metasurface of both transparent medium slices and multiple deflection prisms is proposed, where phase retardations for generating non-diffracting vortex lattices are integrated and encoded as rotation angles of nano-apertures. Under plane-wave illumination, the transmitted waves from the thin flat metasurface act analogously as multiple beams, each with a designed propagating direction and pre-scribed phase shift, that generate an optical lattice within their overlapping region of space. By altering the design parameters of the metasurface, lattice type and size can be controlled. Both numerical simulations and experiments were conducted, verifying the possibility of the proposed method and the non-diffracting properties of the generated vortex lattices.