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Abstract Background Acute lung injury (ALI) is a fatal respiratory disease caused by overreactive immune reactions (e.g., SARS-CoV-2 infection), with a high mortality rate. Its treatment is often compromised by inefficient drug delivery barriers and insufficient potency of the currently used drugs. Therefore, developing a highly effective lung-targeted drug delivery strategy is a pressing clinical need. Results In this study, the micro-sized inclusion cocrystal of asiatic acid/γ-cyclodextrin (AA/γCD, with a stoichiometry molar ratio of 2:3 and a mean size of 1.8 μm) was prepared for ALI treatment. The dissolution behavior of the AA/γCD inclusion cocrystals followed a “spring-and-hover” model, which meaned that AA/γCD could dissolve from the cocrystal in an inclusion complex form, thereby promoting a significantly improved water solubility (nine times higher than free AA). This made the cyclodextrin-based inclusion cocrystals an effective solid form for enhanced drug absorption and delivery efficiency. The biodistribution experiments demonstrated AA/γCD accumulated predominantly in the lung (Cmax = 50 µg/g) after systemic administration due to the micron size-mediated passive targeting effect. The AA/γCD group showed an enhanced anti-inflammatory therapeutic effect, as evidenced by reduced levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the lung and bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF). Histological examination confirmed that AA/γCD effectively inhibited inflammation reactions. Conclusion The micro-sized inclusion cocrystals AA/γCD were successfully delivered into the lungs by pulmonary administration and had a significant therapeutic effect on ALI. Graphic abstract

Accurate identification of individual goat identity is necessary for precision farming. Previous studies have primarily focused on using front face images for goat identification, leaving the potential of other appearances and multi-source appearance fusion unexplored. In this study, we used a self-developed multi-view appearance image acquisition platform to capture five different appearances (left face, right face, front face, back body, and side body) from 54 Wanlin white goats. The recognition ability of different goat appearance images and its multi-source appearance fusion for its identity recognition was then systematically examined based on the four basic network models, namely, MobileNetV3, MobileViT, ResNet18, and VGG16, and the best combination of goat appearance and network was screened. When only one kind of goat appearance image was used, the combination of side body image and MobileViT was the best, with an accuracy of 99.63%; under identity recognition based on multi-source image appearance fusion, all recognition models after outlook fusion of two viewpoints generally outperformed single viewpoint appearance identity recognition models in recognizing the identity of individual goats; when three or more kinds of goat appearance images were utilized for fusion, any of the four models were capable of identifying the identity of an individual goat with 100% accuracy. Based on these results, a goat individual identity recognition strategy was proposed that balances accuracy, computation, and time, providing new ideas for goat individual identity recognition in complex farming contexts.

Abstract Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs)/nanopreparations as viral antagonists exhibited a structure–function correlation, i.e., the differences in surface area/volume ratio caused by the variations in shape and size could result in different biochemical properties and biological activities, suggesting an important impact of morphology and structure on the antiviral activity of TCM-based nanoparticles. However, few studies paid attention to this aspect. Here, the effect of TCM-based nanoparticles with different morphologies on their antiviral activity was explored by synthesizing rhein/silver nanocomposites (Rhe@AgNPs) with spherical (S-Rhe/Ag) and linear (L-Rhe/Ag) morphologies, using rhein (an active TCM ingredient) as a reducing agent and taking its self-assembly advantage. Using porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) as a model virus, the inhibitory effects of S-Rhe/Ag and L-Rhe/Ag on PRRSV were compared. Results showed that the product morphology could be regulated by varying pH values, and both S- and L-Rhe/Ag exhibited good dispersion and stability, but with a smaller size for L-Rhe/Ag. Antiviral experiments revealed that Rhe@AgNPs could effectively inhibit PRRSV infection, but the antiviral effect was morphology-dependent. Compared with L-Rhe/Ag, S-Rhe/Ag could more effectively inactivate PRRSV in vitro and antagonize its adsorption, invasion, replication, and release stages. Mechanistic studies indicated that Rhe@AgNPs could reduce the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by PRRSV infection, and S-Rhe/Ag also had stronger ROS inhibitory effect. This work confirmed the inhibitory effect of Rhe@AgNPs with different morphologies on PRRSV and provided useful information for treating PRRSV infection with metal nanoparticles synthesized from TCM ingredients. Graphical abstract

Due to their unique optical property, low toxicity, high hydrophilicity, and low cost, sulfur quantum dots (SQDs), an emerging luminescent nanomaterial, have shown great potential in various application fields, such as sensing, bioimaging, light emitting diode, catalysis, and anti-bacteria. This minireview updates the synthetic methods and sensing/bioimaging applications of SQDs in the last few years, followed by discussion of the potential challenges and prospects in their synthesis and sensing/bioimaging applications, with the purpose to provide some useful information for researchers in this field.