With this cohort we previously demonstrated preservation of thigh lean tissue with neuromuscular electrical stimulation combined with protein supplementation (NMES+PRO) treatment during bed rest in healthy older adults. Since macrophage polarization plays a significant role in the repair and maintenance of muscle size and insulin sensitivity, we hypothesized that muscle macrophages would be induced by NMES+PRO and would correspond to an increase in lean mass and an attenuated insulin resistance response altered by bed rest. Older adults (60-80y; BMI 0.10). Pro-inflammatory-like macrophages (CD11b+,CD206-) increased (p less then 0.05) with NMES+PRO treatment and was different than CON. Minor changes in non-contractile tissue were observed. However, changes in muscle macrophages or extra-cellular matrix were not related to the preservation of thigh lean mass or insulin resistance. Daily NMES+PRO treatment during bed rest induced a muscle pro-inflammatory-like macrophage response and was unrelated to muscle size or metabolic function. Study listed as clinical trial NCT02566590. Novelty Bullets • Neuromuscular electrical stimulation combined with protein supplementation (NMES+PRO) increased pro-inflammatory-like macrophages and ECM content in older adults after bed rest. • NMES+PRO changes in macrophages and non-contractile tissue macrophages did not correspond with muscle size preservation or insulin sensitivity.Topical drug delivery has inherent advantages over other administration routes. However, the existence of stratum corneum limits the diffusion to small and lipophilic drugs. Fortunately, the advancement of nanotechnology brings along opportunities to address this challenge. Taking the unique features in size and surface chemistry, nanocarriers such as liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles, and framework nucleic acids have been used to bring drugs across the skin barrier to epidermis and dermis layers. This article reviews the development of these formulations and focuses on their applications in the treatment of skin disorders such as acne, skin inflammation, skin infection, and wound healing. Existing hurdles and further developments are also discussed.Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have recently attracted considerable attention, with appealing properties for terahertz (THz) technology. This includes the demonstration of large thermal bolometric effects in GQDs when illuminated by THz radiation. However, the interaction of THz photons with GQDs in the Coulomb blockade regime, i.e., single electron transport regime, remains unexplored. Here, we demonstrate the ultrasensitive photoresponse to THz radiation (from less then 0.1 to 10 THz) of a hBN-encapsulated GQD in the Coulomb blockade regime at low temperature (170 mK). We show that THz radiation of ∼10 pW provides a photocurrent response in the nanoampere range, resulting from a renormalization of the chemical potential of the GQD of ∼0.15 meV. We attribute this photoresponse to an interfacial photogating effect. Furthermore, our analysis reveals the absence of thermal effects, opening new directions in the study of coherent quantum effects at THz frequencies in GQDs.Achieving propagation lengths in hybrid plasmonic systems beyond typical values of tens of micrometers is important for quantum plasmonics applications. We report long-range optical energy propagation due to excitons in semiconductor quantum dots (SQDs) being strongly coupled to surface lattice resonance (SLRs) in silver nanoparticle arrays. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements provide evidence of an exciton-SLR (ESLR) mode extending at least 600 μm from the excitation region. We also observe additional energy propagation with range well beyond the ESLR mode and with dependency on the coupling strength, g, between SQDs and SLR. Cavity quantum electrodynamics calculations capture the nature of the PL spectra for consistent g values, while coupled dipole calculations show a SQD number-dependent electric field decay profile consistent with the experimental spatial PL profile. Our results suggest an exciting direction wherein SLRs mediate long-range interactions between SQDs, having possible applications in optoelectronics, sensing, and quantum information science.Hagfishes thwart predators by releasing large volumes of gill-clogging slime, which consists of mucus and silk-like fibers. The mucous fraction originates within gland mucous cells, which release numerous vesicles that swell and rupture when ejected into seawater. Several studies have examined the function of hagfish slime mucous vesicles in vitro, but a comprehensive model of their biophysics is lacking. Here, we tested the hypothesis that vesicles contain polyanionic glycoproteins stabilized by divalent cations and deploy in seawater via exchange of divalent for monovalent cations. We also tested the hypothesis that vesicle swelling and stabilization are governed by "Hofmeister effects". We found no evidence for either hypothesis. Our results show that hagfish mucous granules are only stabilized by multivalent anions, and pH titration experiments underscore these results. Our results lead us to the conclusion that the hagfish slime mucous gel is in fact polycationic in nature.We address in this work the question to which extend reaction field schemes for correlated wave function methods give accurate excitation energies and, at the same time, physically consistent potential energy surfaces. The performance of the perturbation on energy (PTE), perturbation on energy and density (PTED), and post-SCF reaction field schemes is compared for the algebraic diagrammatic construction through second-order, ADC(2), as electronic structure and the conductor-like screening model COSMO as solvation model. The conditions on reaction field schemes to give physically consistent potential energies surfaces are discussed at the example of 4-(N,N-dimethylamino)benzonitrile, which is used as a test case to assess the artifacts introduced by state-specific contributions to the effective Hamiltonian. To evaluate the accuracy for excitation energies, we use two benchmark sets with data in gas phase and solution for ππ* and nπ* electronic transitions. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/blebbistatin.html The experimental solvatochromic shifts are compared to the corresponding calculated values at the COSMO-ADC(2) level with the PTE scheme within the frozen solvent approximation, PTED with the linear response (LR) and corrected linear response (cLR) and post-SCF with LR schemes and with the approximate coupled-cluster singles and doubles method CC2 combined with COSMO in the post-SCF (LR) scheme.