Impact of Yupingfengsan Oral Liquid on the Expression of IL-4, IFN-<i>γ</i>and NF-<i>κ</i>B of Allergic Rhinitis Mice

To observe the impact of Yupingfengsan Oral Liquid on the expression of IL-4 and IFN-γ in AR mice’s serum and expression level of nuclear factor—κB (NF-κB) protein and gene in nasal mucosa. Method: Forty BALB/c mice were randomly divided into the normal group, model group, Yupingfengsan Oral Liquid group (6 g/kg) and Loratadine group, with 10 mice per group. AR mice model was established by OVA, and IL-4 and IFN-γ contents can be measured with ELISA. The morphological changes of nasal mucosa were observed by hematoxylin eosin (HE) staining and NF-κB expression in the nasal mucosa of mice was tested with Real-Time PCR and Western blot. Results: Compared with the model group, the nasal symptoms in the Yupingfengsan Oral Liquid group and Loratadine group were obviously relieved. HE staining showed that there was a little inflammatory cell infiltration in the nasal mucosa of Yupingfengsan Oral Liquid group and Loratadine group and it was significantly reduced when compared with the model group. IL-4 level in the serum and expression of NF-κB protein and gene in the nasal mucosa was consistent and it was decreased when compared with the model group (P < 0.01), but the IFN-γ level in the serum was increased (P < 0.01). Conclusion: Yupingfengsan Oral Liquid can improve the clinical symptoms and histopathological manifestations of AR mice sensitized by OVA, inhibit the NF-κB expression, balance the percentage of Th1/Th2 cells, increase the IFN-γ level in the serum and decrease the IL-4 level.

数字化背景下小学阅读教学优化路径研究

当前阅读教学在小学课程中的比例越来越大。阅读有利于学生树立正确的价值观、提高素质,而正确的阅读方法和阅读书目的选择是阅读高效进行的有力保障。文章以数字化背景下的蓝思分级阅读平台为例,概述了数字化分级阅读的发展及优势,介绍了具体实践案例,并从连贯的阅读教学角度提出:学校提供充足阅读资源,开设阅读特色班级;教师充分利用资源,进行因势利导;家长进行亲子阅读,注重家风建设等建议,以期能够抛砖引玉,为数字化分级阅读的研究提供帮助,为小学阅读教学提供建议。

Light People:Prof.Kei May Lau,newly elected US NAE member in Hong Kong,talks about future of photonics and women in science

Editorial Photonics technology remains a driving force in today’s scientific landscape,marked by continuous innovation and crossdisciplinary relevance.In an enlighting conversation with Light:Science&Applications,Prof.Kei May Lau,a pioneer in photonics research,shares her deep insights on the evolution of technologies of LEDs,lasers,challenges of hetero-epitaxy,and the future of micro-LEDs and quantum dot lasers.Recently honored as a member of the US National Academy of Engineering(NAE)for her significant contributions to photonics and electronics using III-V semiconductors on silicon,Prof.Lau stands out as the sole Hong Kong scholar inducted into the NAE this year,joining 114 new and 21 international members.In this exclusive Light People interview,Prof.Lau shares her journey as a pioneering woman in engineering,her commitment to mentorship and academia,and her perspective on advancing female representation in science.The summary provided is distilled from Prof.Lau’s thoughtful responses during the interview.For a deeper exploration of Prof.Lau’s experiences and advice,the full interview is available in the Supplementary material.

Linewidth narrowing in self-injection-locked on-chip lasers

Stable laser emission with narrow linewidth is of critical importance in many applications,including coherent communications,LIDAR,and remote sensing.In this work,the physics underlying spectral narrowing of self-injection-locked on-chip lasers to Hz-level lasing linewidth is investigated using a composite-cavity structure.Heterogeneously integrated III–V/SiN lasers operating with quantum-dot and quantum-well active regions are analyzed with a focus on the effects of carrier quantum confinement.The intrinsic differences are associated with gain saturation and carrier-induced refractive index,which are directly connected with 0-and 2-dimensional carrier densities of states.Results from parametric studies are presented for tradeoffs involved with tailoring the linewidth,output power,and injection current for different device configurations.Though both quantum-well and quantum-dot devices show similar linewidth-narrowing capabilities,the former emits at a higher optical power in the self-injection-locked state,while the latter is more energy-efficient.Lastly,a multi-objective optimization analysis is provided to optimize the operation and design parameters.For the quantum-well laser,minimizing the number of quantum-well layers is found to decrease the threshold current without significantly reducing the output power.For the quantum-dot laser,increasing the quantum-dot layers or density in each layer increases the output power without significantly increasing the threshold current.These findings serve to guide more detailed parametric studies to produce timely results for engineering design.

Light people:Prof.Evelyn Hu's adventure:from semiconductors to quantum-from industry to academia

Editorial As part of our Light People series,we are delighted to have invited Prof.Evelyn Hu,a highly accomplished scientist from Harvard University,to share with us her personal journey.Prof.Hu's remarkable contributions in both academia and industry have taken her from industry giants to academia's most prestigious institutions,traversing various research frontiers that have played a critical role in the ongoing digital revolution.Through this interview,we aim to offer the Light community valuable insights into nanophotonics,quantum engineering,and Prof.Hu's research methodology and life philosophy,while also celebrating her outstanding achievements as a female role model.Ultimately,our goal is to inspire more women to pursue careers in this important and rapidly expanding field,which has a profound impact on all sectors of society.The following is a summary of an interview with Professor Evelyn Hu,available in the Supplementary Information.

Directly modulated quantum dot lasers on silicon with a milliampere threshold and high temperature stability

Microring lasers feature ultralow thresholds and inherent wavelength-division multiplexing functionalities, offering an attractive approach to miniaturizing photonics in a compact area. Here, we present static and dynamic properties of microring quantum dot lasers grown directly on exact(001) GaP/Si. Effectively, a single-mode operation was observed at 1.3 μm with modes at spectrally distant locations. High temperature stability with T_0~103 K has been achieved with a low threshold of 3 mA for microrings with an outer ring radius of 15 μm and a ring waveguide width of 4 μm. Small signal modulation responses were measured for the first time for the microrings directly grown on silicon, and a 3 dB bandwidth of 6.5 GHz was achieved for a larger ring with an outer ring radius of 50 μm and a ring waveguide width of 4 μm. The directly modulated microring laser,monolithically integrated on a silicon substrate, can incur minimal real estate cost while offering full photonic functionality.

Electrically pumped quantum-dot lasersgrownon 300 mm patterned Si photonic wafers

Monolithic integration of quantum dot(QD)gain materials onto Si photonic platforms via direct epitaxial growth is a promising solution for on-chip light sources.Recent developments have demonstrated superior device reliability in blanket hetero-epitaxy ofⅡ-Ⅴdevices on Si at elevated temperatures.Yet,thick,defect management epi designs prevent vertical light coupling from the gain region to the Si-on-lnsulator waveguides.Here,we demonstrate the frst electrically pumped QD lasers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a 300 mm patterned(001)Si wafer with a buttcoupled configuration.Unique growth and fabrication challenges imposed by the template architecture have been resolved,contributing to continuous wave lasing to 60℃and a maximum double-side output power of 126.6 mW at 20℃with a double-side wall-plug efficiency of 8.6%.The potential for robust on-chip laser operation and effcient lowloss light coupling to Si photonic circuits makes this heteroepitaxial integration platform on Si promising for scalable and low-cost mass production.

Silicon photonics for high-capacity data communications

In recent years,optical modulators,photodetectors,(de)multiplexers,and heterogeneously integrated lasers based on silicon optical platforms have been verified.The performance of some devices even surpasses the traditional III-V and photonic integrated circuit(PIC)platforms,laying the foundation for large-scale photonic integration.Silicon photonic technology can overcome the limitations of traditional transceiver technology in high-speed transmission networks to support faster interconnection between data centers.In this article,we will review recent progress for silicon PICs.The first part gives an overview of recent achievements in silicon PICs.The second part introduces the silicon photonic building blocks,including low-loss waveguides,passive devices,modulators,photodetectors,heterogeneously integrated lasers,and so on.In the third part,the recent progress on high-capacity silicon photonic transceivers is discussed.In the fourth part,we give a review of high-capacity silicon photonic networks on chip.

Interplays between drugs and the gut microbiome

The gut microbiota is considered a key‘metabolic organ’.Its metabolic activities play essential roles complementary to the host metabolic functions.The interplays between gut microbes and commonly used non-antibiotic drugs have garnered substantial attention over the years.Drugs can reshape the gut microorganism communities and,vice versa,the diverse gut microbes can affect drug efficacy by altering the bioavailability and bioactivity of drugs.The metabolismof drugs by gut microbial action or by microbiota–host cometabolism can transform the drugs into various metabolites.Secondary metabolites produced from the gut microbial metabolismof drugs contribute to both the therapeutic benefits and the side effects.In view of the significant effect of the gut microbiota on drug efficiency and clinical outcomes,it is pivotal to explore the interactions between drugs and gut microbiota underlying medical treatments.In this review,we describe and summarize the complex bidirectional interplays between gut microbes and drugs.We also illustrate the gut-microbiota profile altered by non-antibiotic drugs,the impacts and consequences of microbial alteration,and the biochemical mechanism of microbes impacting drug effectiveness.Understanding how the gut microbes interact with drugs and influence the therapeutic efficacy will help in discovering diverse novel avenues of regulating the gut microbes to improve the therapeutic effects and clinical outcomes of a drug in precision.

Nonlinear optical metal-organic frameworks for ratiometric temperature sensing in physiological range

The precise and real-time sensing of the temperature within the physiological range is of great significance in biology and medicine.Here,a Zn-based metal-organic framework(MOF)named ZnTCOMA is synthesized with good SHG performance due to its unique structure of the ligand and 3 D frameworks.By encapsulating the two-photon fluorescent dye DMASE into the pores of Zn-TCOMA,the composite Zn-TCOMA■DMASE is obtained and simultaneously exhibits SHG response and two-photon fluo rescence.Utilizing the intensity ratio between two-photon fluorescence of DMASE and SHG signal of Zn-TCOMA,Zn-TCOMA■DMASE exhibits ratiometric temperature sensing property at physiological temperature region of 20~60℃with high sensitivity.This MOF thermometer also shows excellent repeatability,good biocompatibility,and high temperature resolution of 0.018℃,opening a new avenue to develop diverse optical thermometric or thermographic applications in biotechnology or other areas.

Light People:Prof.John Bowers spoke about silicon photonics

Editorial Silicon photonics is advancing rapidly with many scientific and engineering advances and many new applications for photonics.To highlight the topic,Light:Science&Applications invited John Bowers,director of the Institute for Energy Efficiency and distinguished professor from the University of California,Santa Barbara,to talk about the fundamentals and industries,and give a future perspective of silicon photonics.The below is summarized from the video interview of Prof.Bowers.The original interview can be accessed in Supplementary video.

Multi-omic analyses identify mucosa bacteria and fecal metabolites associated with weight loss after fecal microbiota transplantation

Fecal microbiota transplantation(FMT)has shown promising results in animal models of obesity,while results in human studies are inconsistent.We aimed to determine factors associated with weight loss after FMT in nine obese subjects using serial multi-omics analysis of the fecal and mucosal microbiome.The mucosal microbiome,fecal microbiome,and fecal metabolome showed individual clustering in each subject after FMT.The colonic microbiome in patients showed more marked variance after FMT compared with the duodenal microbiome,characterized by an increased relative abundance of Bacteroides.Subjects who lost weight after FMT sustained enrichment of Bifidobacterium bifidum and Alistipes onderdonkii in the duodenal,colonic mucosal,and fecal microbiome and increased levels of phosphopantothenate biosynthesis and fecal metabolite eicosapentaenoic acid(EPA),compared with those without weight loss.Fecal levels of amino acid metabolism-associated were positively correlated with the fecal abundance of B.bifidum,and fatty acid metabolism-associated metabolites showed positive correlations with A.onderdonkii.