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Plasmonic materials can generate strong electromagnetic fields to boost the Raman scattering of surrounding molecules, known as surface-enhanced Raman scattering. However, these electromagnetic fields are heterogeneous, with only molecules located at the 'hotspots', which account for ≈ 1% of the surface area, experiencing efficient enhancement. Herein, we propose patterned plasmonic trimers, consisting of a pair of plasmonic dimers at the bilateral sides and a trap particle positioned in between, to address this challenge. The trimer configuration selectively directs probe molecules to the central traps where 'hotspots' are located through chemical affinity, ensuring a precise spatial overlap between the probes and the location of maximum field enhancement. We investigate the Raman enhancement of the Au@Al2O3-Au-Au@Al2O3 trimers, achieving a detection limit of 10−14 M of 4-methylbenzenethiol, 4-mercaptopyridine, and 4-aminothiophenol. Moreover, single-molecule SERS sensitivity is demonstrated by a bi-analyte method. Benefiting from this sensitivity, our approach is employed for the early detection of lung tumors using fresh tissues. Our findings suggest that this approach is sensitive to adenocarcinoma but not to squamous carcinoma or benign cases, offering insights into the differentiation between lung tumor subtypes. SERS spectroscopy critically relies on the accumulation of analyte molecules in electromagnetic 'hotspots'. Here, the authors demonstrate plasmonic trimers with central particles that act as chemical traps, enabling the subtyping of lung tumors using fresh tissue samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Understanding variation and coordination of leaf traits at multiscales along elevational gradients can help predict the likely responses of dominant species to climate change. We seek to determine the extent to which variation in leaf stomatal, anatomical and morphological traits is associated with environmental factors, and whether ecological strategies of Cyclobalanopsis species shift with elevations. Methods In a tropical forest landscape in Jianfengling, South China, we determined leaf traits related to stomata, anatomy and morphology of six evergreen oak species (Cyclobalanopsis bambusaefolia , C. hui , C. patelliformis , C. fleuryi , C. tiaoloshanica and C. phanera) along a long elevational gradient (400–1400 m above sea level). Important Findings We found that stomatal density and stomatal pore index increased, whereas spongy mesophyll thickness to leaf thickness ratios decreased, significantly with elevation. The leaf area and leaf dry matter content increased and decreased, respectively, with elevation. Variations in stomatal, anatomical and morphological traits were mainly correlated to the mean annual temperature, mean annual sum precipitation and soil pH. At low and high elevations, the oak species exhibited strong stress tolerance combined with competition strategy, while they shifted toward more clearly the competitive strategy at intermediate elevations. And the changes in soil phosphorus concentration and soil pH along the elevation may drive the shift of ecological strategy. The results showed that the dominant oak species in tropical forests respond to environmental change by modulating traits at multiple levels, from that of the individual cell, through tissue and up to the whole leaf scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is the third most common cardiovascular disease. Its clinical therapeutic effect is unsatisfactory due to the high rate of postthrombotic syndrome. Several studies have demonstrated the involvement of miRNAs in DVT. Therefore, we identified differentially expressed miRNAs in patients with DVT and explored their effects and underlying mechanism on endothelial cell (EC) injury.Differentially expressed miRNAs were identified via microRNA sequencing and verified using real-time quantitative PCR. The biological function of miR-181c-5p in human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) injury stimulated by oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) was investigated. The target gene of miR-181c-5p was analyzed using bioinformatics and verified via dual-luciferase reporter assay.miRNA sequencing showed that miR-181c-5p was downregulated in the peripheral blood of patients with DVT. Furthermore, miR-181c-5p had a high clinical diagnostic value for DVT by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. An in vitro cell model of EC injury, miR-181c-5p, was repressed in ox-LDL-treated HUVECs. Enhancing miR-181c-5p expression could alleviate the inhibition cell viability, cell apoptosis, raising ROS and MDA production, the reducing SOD level, and the elevated levels of thrombosis-related factor, ET-1 and vWF induced by ox-LDL. Further analysis revealed that FBJ osteosarcoma oncogene (FOS) is a target of miR-181c-5p and could antagonize the protective role of miR-181c-5p in ox-LDL-induced HUVEC injury.Our research demonstrated that miR-181c-5p could attenuate ox-LDL-induced EC injury and thrombosis-related factor expression by negatively regulating FOS. These findings suggest that the miR-181c-5p/FOS axis is a promising therapeutic target for DVT.