Nonlinear optics processes lie at the heart of photonics and quantum optics for their indispensable role in light sources and information processing. During the past decades, the three- and four-wave mixing (χ(2) and χ(3)) effects have been extensively studied, especially in the micro-/nano-structures by which the photon-photon interaction strength is greatly enhanced. So far, the high-order nonlinearity beyond the χ(3) has rarely been studied in dielectric materials due to their weak intrinsic nonlinear susceptibility, even in high-quality microcavities. Here, an effective five-wave mixing process (χ(4)) is synthesized by incorporating χ(2) and χ(3) processes in a single microcavity. The coherence of the synthetic χ(4) is verified by generating time-energy entangled visible-telecom photon pairs, which requires only one drive laser at the telecom waveband. The photon-pair generation rate from the synthetic process shows an estimated enhancement factor over 500 times upon intrinsic five-wave mixing. Our work demonstrates a universal approach of nonlinear synthesis via photonic structure engineering at the mesoscopic scale rather than material engineering, and thus opens a new avenue for realizing high-order optical nonlinearities and exploring functional photonic devices.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease that can cause pain and disability in adults. The main pathological characteristic of OA is cartilage degeneration, which is caused by chondrocyte apoptosis, cartilage matrix degradation, and inflammatory factor destruction. The current treatment for patients with OA focuses on delaying its progression, such as oral anti-inflammatory analgesics or injection of sodium gluconate into the joint cavity. Primary cilia are an important structure involved in cellular signal transduction. Thus, they are very sensitive to mechanical and physicochemical stimuli. It is reported that the primary cilia may play an important role in the development of OA. Here, we review the correlation between the morphology (location, length, incidence, and orientation) of chondrocyte primary cilia and OA and summarize the relevant signaling pathways in chondrocytes that could regulate the OA process through primary cilia, including Hedgehog, Wnt, and inflammation-related signaling pathways. These data provide new ideas for OA treatment.

ObjectivesThe epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is causing global health concerns. The aim of this study was to evaluate influence of clinical characteristics on outcomes during the Omicron outbreak.MethodsA total of 25182 hospitalized patients were enrolled, including 39 severe patients and 25143 non-severe patients. Propensity score matching (PSM) was applied to balance the baseline characteristics. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the risk of severe disease, as well as the risk of prolonged viral shedding time (VST) and increased length of hospital stay (LOS).ResultsBefore PSM, patients in the severe group were older, had higher symptom scores, and had a higher proportion of comorbidities (p<0.001). After PSM, there were no significant differences in age, gender, symptom score and comorbidities between severe (n=39) and non-severe (n=156) patients. Symptoms of fever (OR=6.358, 95%CI 1.748-23.119, p=0.005) and diarrhea (OR=6.523, 95%CI 1.061-40.110, p=0.043) were independent risk factors for development of severe disease. In non-severe patients, higher symptom score was associated with prolonged VST (OR=1.056, 95% CI 1.000-1.115, p=0.049) and LOS (OR=1.128, 95% CI 1.039-1.225, p=0.004); older age was associated with longer LOS (OR=1.045, 95% CI 1.007-1.084, p=0.020).ConclusionThe overall condition of the Shanghai Omicron epidemic was relatively mild. Potential risk factors for fever, diarrhea, and higher symptom score can help clinicians to predict clinical outcomes in COVID‐19 patients.

Background The aim of this study was to identify the key genes that changed after weight loss intervention in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) at different ages by identifying differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Methods GSE114007 and GSE158850 gene expression data were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, DEGs were found using R software, and overlapping DEGs were obtained. The results were screened and validated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and boxplot. The immune cell infiltration and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) of the two genes were analyzed. Results There were two overlapping DEGs between OA dataset with the young group of obese men who had weight loss intervention, after screening, MAFB was remaining. There were two overlapping DEGS with the aged group, and the remaining one was BPGM. The results of immunological cell infiltration showed that these two genes were associated with macrophages. Enrichment analysis showed that MAFB was associated with the “Linoleic acid metabolism” pathway in both datasets. Conclusion MAFB and BPGM may be the therapeutic targets for obese patients with OA, and may be the indicators for evaluating the effectiveness of intervention.