Speckle-Free, Angle-Free, Cavity-Free White Laser with a High Color Rendering Index

The freedom from efficiency droop motivates monochromatic lasers to progress in general lighting applications due to the demand for more efficient and sustainable light sources. Still, a white light based on monochromatic lasers with high lighting quality, such as a high color rendering ability, an angle-independent output, and a speckle-free illumination, has not yet been fabricated nor demonstrated. Random lasers, with the special mechanism caused by multiple scattering, the angle-free emission, and the uncomplicated fabrication processes, inspire us to investigate the feasibility of utilizing them in general lighting. In this work, a white random laser with a high color rendering index (CRI) value, regardless of pumping energy and observing direction, was performed and discussed. We also investigated the stability of white RL as its CIE chromaticity coordinates exhibit negligible differences with increasing pump energy density, retaining its high-CRI measurement. Also, it exhibits angle-independent emission while having a high color rendering ability. After passing through a scattering film, it generated no speckles compared to the conventional laser. We demonstrated the advances in white laser illumination, showing that a white random laser is promising to be applied for high-brightness illumination, biological-friendly lighting, accurate color selections, and medical sensing

Thickness-Dependent Order-to-Order Transitions of Bolaform-like Giant Surfactant in Thin Films

Controlling self-assembled nanostructures in thin films allows the bottom-up fabrication of ordered nanoscale patterns. Here we report the unique thickness-dependent phase behavior in thin films of a bolaform-like giant surfactant, which consists of butyl- and hydroxyl-functionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (BPOSS and DPOSS) cages telechelically located at the chain ends of a polystyrene (PS) chain with 28 repeating monomers on average. In the bulk, BPOSS-PS₂₈-DPOSS forms a double gyroid (DG) phase. Both grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy techniques are combined to elucidate the thin film structures. Interestingly, films with thicknesses thinner than 200 nm exhibit an irreversible phase transition from hexagonal perforated layer (HPL) to compressed hexagonally packed cylinders (c-HEX) at 130 °C, while films with thickness larger than 200 nm show an irreversible transition from HPL to DG at 200 °C. The thickness-controlled transition pathway suggests possibilities to obtain diverse patterns via thin film self-assembly

DataSheet_1_Pathological granuloma fibrosis induced by agar-embedded Mycobacterium abscessus in C57BL/6JNarl mice.docx

IntroductionPulmonary granuloma diseases caused by Mycobacterium abscessus (M. abscessus) have increased in past decades, and drug-resistance in this pathogen is a growing public health concern. Therefore, an animal model of chronic granuloma disease is urgently needed.MethodsIn this study, M. abscessus embedded within agar beads (agar-AB) was used to develop such a model in C57BL/6JNarl mice.ResultsChronic infection was sustained for at least 3 months after agar-AB infection, visible granulomas spread in the lungs, and giant cells and foamy cells appeared in the granulomas. More importantly, pulmonary fibrosis progressed for 3 months, and collagen fibers were detected by Masson trichrome staining. Further, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) was highly expressed within the alveolar space, and the fibrosis-mediator transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) began to be expressed at 1 month. Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1α) expression also increased, which aided in normalizing oxygen partial pressure.DiscussionAlthough the transient fibrosis persisted for only 3 months, and the pulmonary structure resolved when the pathogen was cleard, this pulmonary fibrosis model for M. abscessus infection will provide a novel test platform for development of new drugs, regimens, and therapies.</p

Comparison between two IncQ plasmids pFSIS22029592-2 (CP100656.1) and pFSIS22133035-2 (CP100659.1).

Comparison between two IncQ plasmids pFSIS22029592-2 (CP100656.1) and pFSIS22133035-2 (CP100659.1).</p

The phylogeny of <i>Salmonella</i> Infantis strains (collected before 2016) with pESI plasmid from four clusters.

(A) Comparison of chromosome (left) and plasmid (right) reference-based trees with Infantis strains collected before 2016 from four clusters in Table 1. The lines between two trees connect the same isolates. (B) Chromosomal reference-based tree with detailed meta data. The inner ring details the collection year; the outer ring details the location; USA:West Coast includes California, Oregon, Washington; USA:East Coast includes Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia.</p

Detailed information for all isolates in cluster ESI-CTX-M-65 (PDS000089910.296).

Tab “ESI-CTX-M-65_ PDS000089910.296” includes all isolates of the cluster and the metadata downloaded from NCBI Pathogen Broswer Database; Tab “pESI markers” includes the reference sequences of seven markers used to detect pESI; Tab “snplist Fig 7” shows the snp list generated by CFSAN snp pipeline, with pESI (CP047882.1) as reference and the column C is used to generate the snp map on Fig 7A. (XLSX)</p

The SNP clusters resulted from the search on Jan. 23^rd, 2023.

Details of clusters with pESI (In bold) are listed in S1 and S2 Tables.</p

The change of AMR gene in food animal sources and human strains between 2014–2022.

(A) the structure of the Region 1 and 2, and Prevalence of AMR genes in Region 1 and 2 between 2014 and 2022 from left to right; the bars represent the percentage of the isolates in a given year carried the gene indicated on the map. (B) Prevalence of AMR genes in Region 2. The isolates from 2012 to 2014 were excluded since there were less than ten isolates for each group to compare with. The data points represent the percentage of the clinal isolates (in red) and food animal and retail meat isolates (in green) in a given year carried indicated genes in each plot. The error bar was calculated by sqrt(prop*(1-prop)/n) where prop is frequency of the gene’s presence. All the resistance gene presence information were obtained from the result of AMR Finder under Pathogen detection database (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pathogens/).</p

Alignment between plasmid pN16S024 (CP052840.1) and chromosome N16S024 (CP052839.1).

The Alignment is generated by Mauve (https://darlinglab.org/mauve/mauve.html). The color blocks show the regions with homology over 80%. (TIF)</p

Asymmetric Giant “Bolaform-like” Surfactants: Precise Synthesis, Phase Diagram, and Crystallization-Induced Phase Separation

A series of unique heterofunctionalized asymmetric giant “bolaform-like” surfactants composed of a polystyrene (PS) chain end-capped with two distinctly functionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) cages [one with seven isobutyl groups (BPOSS) and the other with 14 hydroxyl groups (DPOSS)] were designed and synthesized, and their self-assembly behaviors were investigated. Combining the atomic transfer radical polymerization using a BPOSS-containing initiator and the sequential “click” approach, BPOSS-PS_<i>n</i>-DPOSS samples with different PS molecular weights were obtained. Investigation on their self-assembly behaviors revealed that they could form a variety of different ordered structures, such as lamellae, double gyroids, hexagonally packed cylinders, and body-center-cubic spheres, with feature sizes around or below 10 nm. Functional groups on the POSS cages govern the interaction parameters of different POSS cages with the PS interconnect and thus their compatibility. Hydrophilic DPOSS cages are phase-separated from the PS domains, while BPOSS cages are favorably associated within the PS domains. However, in the lamellae phase where the geometry of confinement seems compatible with the close-packing of BPOSS, the BPOSS cages tend to crystallize due to the existence of the flat interfaces, leading to further phase separation of the BPOSS cages from the PS interconnects. These results provide insights into the design of novel self-assembling materials based on POSS–polymer conjugates toward desired physical properties