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Root hairs are outgrowths of the epidermal cells of plant roots. They increase the root's exchange surface with the soil and provide it with good anchorage in the soil. Root hairs are an emblematic model of apical growth, a process also used by yeasts and hyphae to invade their environment. From a mechanical perspective, the root hair is considered as an elastic cylinder under pressure, closed by a dome that behaves like a yield fluid. We introduce here two innovative mechanical setups and protocols to characterize the mechanical properties of single growing root hairs in Arabidopsis thaliana. In the first setup, root hairs grow against an elastic obstacle until buckling. By measuring the critical buckling force, we determine the surface modulus and estimate the Young's modulus of the cell wall, which aligns with previous measurements. Using a 1D elasto-viscoplastic model of root hair growth, we assess the excess pressure beyond the yield threshold (the driver of tip growth) and estimate the axial stiffness of the root hair, reflecting its elastic resistance to compression. For the second protocol, we designed a setup where a single root hair grows against a cantilever with variable stiffness, a technique adapted from our earlier work on rigidity sensing by animal cells. This method provides an independent estimate of the root hair's axial stiffness, confirming our initial findings and suggesting that this stiffness primarily involves tip compression and depends mainly on turgor pressure, at least within the low deformation regime explored.

This study investigated the effects of heat stress (HS), calving period, and farm-level management on the metabolic and productive responses of transition dairy cows. Conducted on three commercial farms in northwestern Spain, the study employed a multifactorial design across two seasons (winter and summer) and four peripartum time points. Biochemical parameters, including non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA), β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), urea, total protein, albumin, glucose, gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), and aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT) were analyzed using repeated-measures MANOVA. No significant three-way interactions were found, but several two-way interactions emerged. Notably, NEFA and urea levels varied significantly between farms, while total protein and albumin were influenced by both partum stage and season. Elevated NEFA and BHB concentrations postpartum indicated intensified lipid mobilization and negative energy balance, exacerbated under HS. Reduced albumin and increased urea levels suggested hepatic stress and altered protein metabolism. Farm-specific differences in ASAT during summer highlighted the role of local environmental and management conditions. These findings underscore the complex interplay between physiological stage, environmental stressors, and farm practices. Tailored intervention (such as nutritional adjustments, cooling systems, and precision monitoring) are essential to mitigate the metabolic burden of HS and safeguard cow health and productivity. Future research should explore long-term impacts and adaptive strategies across diverse production systems.

The demand for accurate perception of the physical world has led to a dramatic increase in visual sensing data, accompanied by challenges in the energy efficiency of data processing. However, conventional vision systems with separated sensor and processing units struggle to handle increasingly intricate and large-scale data. As such, a rethinking of architecture design is necessary. Inspired by human visual systems, neuromorphic vision computing systems in which computation tasks are moved partly to the sensory or memory units offer transformative solutions to these challenges. As crucial hardware support, biomimetic synapses that replicate synaptic functions and dynamics are urgent for the development of future computing, while further progress requires materials that can support synaptic weight modulation. Given their excellent optical, electrical, and ion migration properties, halide perovskite materials have emerged as promising candidates for biomimetic synapses. Here we review the latest efforts of synaptic devices based on halide perovskite materials for neuromorphic vision computing. We demonstrate the operating mechanism of perovskite synapses and introduce their potential applications in realizing neuromorphic vision computing. We address challenges and future directions related to biomimetic perovskite synapses.

Teeth and dental materials are very noteworthy because of their important role in digestion and facial beauty. It is necessary to develop dental materials with suitable physical, chemical and biological properties to improve the quality and beauty of teeth. Fullerene, as a spherical allotrope of carbon, has potent properties for medical applications. In this combinatorial review article, we focus on the application of fullerene C60 in dentistry. By searching the database for suitable keywords ("fullerene", "dental" and "dentistry"), 12 related articles were found. The data extracted from these articles showed that fullerene C60 can improve the mechanical properties of dental materials, prevent bacterial and fungal infections in the mouth, reduce frictional forces during orthodontic tooth movement, reduce the oxidation of orthodontic wires, improve surface topography, and adjust the roughness of dental implants in cell proliferation and connections, reduce the overall roughness of dental implants, increase the biocompatibility of dental materials, improve osteonectography by inducing biomineralization and differentiation of osteoblasts, act as alkaline phosphatase-like catalysts and increase the concentration of phosphate ions, improve the longevity and quality of implants, reduce worn teeth and corrosion, and prevent prosthetic stomatitis and inflammation. One related study showed that the designed fullerene-based system can be used as a probe to evaluate alpha-amylase activity and serve as an alternative analytical method for caries detection. Based on this article, the future of dentistry and dental materials is bright due to the spherical nanostructure of fullerene and the development of research in the field of its use in dentistry.

The I-III-VI silver indium gallium sulfide (AIGS) quantum dots (QDs) have gained extensive attention owing to their tunable emission wavelength and ecofriendly composition; however, the performance of AIGS QD-based light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) remains constrained by suboptimal surface state, significantly lagging behind that of other heavy-metal-containing QD counterparts. Herein, we propose a ligand-reshaped strategy aimed at optimizing the surface state of AIGS QDs to enhance the performance of QLEDs. A polyfunctional ligand, dimercaptosuccinic acid (DSA), is introduced to reshape the QD surface through passivation of uncoordinated Ga³⁺ and suppression of S vacancies. After DSA passivation, the QDs exhibit not only exceptional luminescent properties with a photoluminescence quantum yield of 89%, but also pure emission with a narrow full width at half maximum of 31 nm. Concurrently, DSA passivation markedly improves the electrical transport characteristic of QDs, thereby ensuring efficient carrier injection. Resultantly, the reshaped QLED achieves a maximum peak external quantum efficiency of 8.4% along with a narrow FWHM of 31 nm, representing a record performance reported thus far for the AIGS system. The proposed DSA ligand-reshaped strategy endows AIGS QLEDs with both high efficiency and color purity, substantially advancing their potential for the application in QD lightings and display technologies .

Epilepsy is a complex neurological disorder shaped by oxidative stress, imbalances in trace elements, and psychological distress, yet the mechanisms linking these factors to seizure severity and psychiatric outcomes remain poorly understood. This study investigated their interplay through clinical, biochemical, and in silico approaches. A cross sectional analysis was conducted on 200 epilepsy patients and 200 controls with comparable age and sex distributions. Psychological distress was measured using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). Serum levels of copper (Cu²⁺), zinc (Zn²⁺), selenium (Se^2-), iron (Fe²⁺), chromium (Cr³⁺), and magnesium (Mg²) were quantified via atomic absorption spectrophotometry, while oxidative stress markers malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), and 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) were assessed by ELISA. Hierarchical regression identified predictors of stress and anxiety, and molecular docking was employed to evaluate interactions of Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, Se^2-, and MDA with SOD. Results revealed that epilepsy patients had significantly higher stress, anxiety, depression, Cu²⁺, and MDA levels, along with reduced Zn²⁺, Se^2-, SOD, and GSH. Regression analyses indicated that Cu²⁺ and MDA were positive predictors of psychological distress, while Zn²⁺, Se^2-, and SOD exerted protective effects. Docking studies demonstrated strong binding of Cu²⁺ and MDA to SOD, potentially impairing its activity, whereas Zn²⁺ and Se^2- promoted stabilization of antioxidant defenses. These findings suggest that trace element dysregulation and oxidative stress contribute to both seizure pathology and psychiatric comorbidities, reinforcing a cycle of neuronal excitatory imbalance, and psychological vulnerability. Integrating antioxidant based therapies and trace element correction with mental health monitoring may improve personalized management of epilepsy. This study is distinctive in combining clinical, biochemical, psychological, and molecular docking analyses to unravel the synergistic effects of trace elements and oxidative stress on epilepsy outcomes.

The ultrathin metal electrode in semitransparent organic photovoltaics (STOPVs) usually suffers from limited charge collection capability and conductivity and thus hinders the power conversion efficiency (PCE). Herein, a new strategy of enhancing the π-delocalization of electron transport layer (ETL) via lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide doping is developed. The enhanced π-delocalization in ETL benefits sizeable intermolecular π-π overlap, prone to harvesting electrons and thereby improving charge collection range. Doping also improves the conductivity of both ETL and ultrathin silver electrode. Furthermore, the trap densities in ETL and STOPV devices are reduced after doping, contributing to suppressed recombination and higher PCE. Consequently, ETL doping maintains an average visible transmittance of ~ 30% while promotes the PCE of STOPVs from 13.0% to 14.3% and light utilization efficiency from 3.74% to 4.15%, which is among the highest values of optical structure-free STOPVs. This work provides a new insight of π-delocalization manipulation in ETL for efficient STOPVs.

Lithium metal batteries (LMBs) represent one of the most promising energy storage systems due to unparalleled energy density. However, in commercial electrolytes, their practical high-power performance is still hampered by unstable electrolyte interfaces, leading to severe anode dendrite growth and cathode degradation. Here, 4-fluoro-3-nitrophenylboronic acid is introduced as a dual-function additive, contributing to uniform N-/F-rich interphase layers at both electrodes of the LMBs. Therefore, in the optimized electrolyte, Li-metal electrodes demonstrate enhanced plating/stripping reversibility of > 700 h (vs. 250 h at 1 mA cm^-2 and 0.5 mAh cm^-2) and coulombic efficiency of 98.2% (vs. 84.2%). Moreover, the corresponding LMBs achieve 99.9% capacity retention (vs. 44.7%) after 500 cycles at 3C rate, simultaneously maintaining > 99.9% coulombic efficiencies. The impressive fast-charging performance attributes to not only the uniform and compact Li deposition at the anode, but also the inhibited uncontrolled electrolyte decomposition and active species loss at the cathode due to the robust electrolyte interphases. This work highlights that proper electrolyte additive is crucial for fast-charging metal batteries.

The global control of tuberculosis (TB) urgently demands diagnostic tools that are rapid, specific, and amenable to resource-limited settings. Here, we report a novel, label-free aptasensor for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) H37Rv, which operates on an innovative two-step "pre-incubation & hybridization-capture" strategy, fundamentally departing from conventional competitive displacement designs. First, a high-affinity, in-house selected aptamer specifically complexes with target bacteria in solution. This pre-formed complex is then efficiently captured on a gold interdigitated electrode via hybridization with a short, dithiol-anchored DNA probe, which is pre-assembled with conductive gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to form a robust sensing interface. This architecture decouples target recognition from signal transduction, enhancing assay robustness. The captured bulky and negatively charged bacterial complex synergistically creates pronounced steric and electrostatic barriers at the interface, drastically impeding charge transfer and generating a measurable frequency shift in a multichannel piezoelectric quartz crystal (MSPQC) system. The sensor demonstrates exceptional specificity, clearly distinguishing H37Rv (ΔF = 116 Hz) from non-target bacteria, including Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) (ΔF < 30 Hz). It exhibits a wide linear response from 10³ to 10⁶ CFU/mL (R² = 0.9666) and a low experimental detection limit of 100 CFU/mL within a total assay time of 65 min. With excellent reproducibility (RSD 2.1-4.6%) and stability, this work establishes a new paradigm for rapid, label-free and equipment-simplified whole-cell detection, holding significant promise for point-of-need TB diagnosis.

Groundwater arsenic contamination in the middle Indo-Gangetic plains poses an emerging threat to livestock health. We determine the arsenic concentration in water and its bioaccumulation levels in feed and cattle reared in areas with arsenic groundwater contamination. Based on a preliminary survey and observations, ten cattle each from Akbapur village in the Naubatpur block as the control and from Kasimchak village in the Danapur block as the test group, were selected. All selections adhered to established inclusion criteria. Samples of feed, water, and other biological materials were collected from each group. The mean arsenic (mg/L) in water (0.0785 ± 0.004) and feed (1.046 ± 0.076) from test village were above the permissible levels and significantly higher than the control village. The arsenic concentrations in blood, milk, hair, urine, and dung were also significantly higher in test group compared to the control cattle. This study indicates that exposed cattle bio-accumulates arsenic.