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Existing center-point steering models of a tracked omni-vehicle seldom consider the skid of the track (roller) grounding section, which is inconsistent with the actual steering process. In this study, for the three typical layout types, rectangular, hybrid, and centripetal, the steady center-point steering motion of a tracked omni-vehicle under skid conditions is analyzed and a correction model is investigated. The numerical solution of the absolute lateral offset of the steering pole is obtained, and the influences of various structural parameters on the numerical solution are discussed. The steering angular velocity reduction coefficient is calculated, and the angular velocity of vehicles is corrected. The simulation of center-point steering motion is carried out on eight virtual prototypes, and the center-point steering motion experiment is carried out on three physical prototypes. The results show that the established correction model is more in line with the steering reality of the tracked omni-vehicle, and it can play a role in correcting the center-point steering angular velocity.

Although current treatment strategies including systemic chemotherapy, local radiotherapy, biological immunology, and surgical resection have improved the remission rate of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) patients, the recurrence rate of the disease remains high, and the remission rate of retreatment after recurrence is low. Exploring and discovering new strategies for treating NHL has become a critical problem to be solved. Harmine (HM) has demonstrated anti-tumor activity; however, like most traditional Chinese medicines, it does not exhibit targeting behavior and is characterized by poor pharmacokinetics, which limits its clinical application. To solve these problems, we constructed a new anti-lymphoma drug delivery system using mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) loaded with HM. This complex passively targets the tumor tissue, shows pH-responsive drug release, is non-toxic, and has efficient anti-lymphoma properties. Compared with free HM, the tumor inhibition rates of the HM@MSNs was 72.36 ± 5.16% and inhibition of the formation of lymphoma cell clones. Likewise, HM@MSNs could up-regulate the apoptosis rate of Daudi cells to 23.61 ± 0.88%. Moreover, it can inhibit the activation of NF-κB and production of inflammatory cytokines TNF-α (20.9 ± 1.8%) and IL-6 (22.7 ± 2.1%). In nude mice transplanted tumor model treated with HM@MSNs, TUNEL exhibited diffuse red fluorescence in vivo, suggesting that HM@MSNs could significantly induce tumor tissue apoptosis, and HM@MSNs-treated tumor tissue significantly decreased the fluorescence signals of NF-κB p65, TNF-α and IL-6, indicating that it down-regulated the expression of the mentioned three factors, and HM@MSNs significantly inhibited the proliferation of tumor volume. The mentioned results suggested that HM@MSNs finally induced apoptosis of lymphoma cells via anti-inflammatory mechanism. In general, MSNs loaded with HM can be potentially applied to the treatment of NHL.

Toxicity and drug resistance caused by chemotherapeutic drugs have become bottlenecks in treating tumors. The delivery of anticancer drugs based on nanocarriers is regarded as an ideal way to solve the aforementioned problems. In this study, a new antilymphoma nanodrug CD20 aptamer-RBCm@Ag-MOFs/PFK15 (A-RAMP) is designed and constructed, and it consists of two parts: (1) metal-organic frameworks Ag-MOFs (AM) loaded with tumor aerobic glycolysis inhibitor PFK15 (P), forming a core part (AMP); (2) targeted molecule CD20 aptamer (A) is inserted into the red blood cell membrane (RBCm) to form the shell part (A-R). A-RAMP under the guidance of CD20 aptamer actively targets B-cell lymphoma both in vitro and in vivo. As a result, A-RAMP not only significantly inhibits the effect on tumor growth but also shows no obvious side effects on the treated nude mice, indicating that A-RAMP can accurately target tumor cells, reprogram aerobic glycolysis, and exert synergistic antitumor effect by Ag+ and PFK 15. Furthermore, the antitumor mechanism of A-RAMP in vivo by apoptotic pathway and targeting metabonomics are explored. These results suggest that A-RAMP has a promising application prospect as an smart, safe, effective, and synergistic antilymphoma agent.

Hederagenin (HED) is a bioactive natural compound of pentacyclic triterpenes extracted from many medicinal plants. It has a wide range of antitumor cytotoxic effects and significant anti-inflammation effects. However, at present, it is unclear whether HED can inhibit cardiac remodelling caused by diabetic cardiomyopathy. In this study, we evaluated the effects of HED on pathological abnormalities in cardiac structures and cardiac insufficiency caused by diabetic cardiomyopathy and focused on the inflammatory signalling pathways of the diabetic heart. Treatment with HED reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines, the heart and body mass of diabetic db/db mice but had no effect on fasting plasma glucose (FPG). Moreover, after HED treatment, the cardiac dysfunction of diabetic mice was relieved, and myocardial hypertrophy and fibrosis decreased. Furthermore, HED inhibited the nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and Smads and decreased the transcriptional activity of NF-κB and Smads. Additionally, the expression levels of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 and collagen I, which are target downstream molecules of the NF-κB and Smads signalling pathways, were also decreased in diabetic hearts. Taken together, our findings suggest that the cardioprotective effect of HED may be achieved by reducing the activation of inflammation-associated NF-κB and Smads signalling. We suggest that the protective effect of HED on the diabetic heart, as revealed in this study, should be further explored in-depth to elucidate its cell biology and molecular mechanisms.

Jolkinolide B (JB) is a bioactive compound isolated from a Chinese herbal medicine that exerts antitumor activity. However, the anti-lymphoma effect of JB and its mechanism are yet to be revealed. Because free JB has poor pharmacokinetics and weak antitumor efficacy, we opted to use black phosphorus quantum dot (BPQD) nanomaterials as a drug loading platform to synthesize a nano-traditional Chinese medicine (nano-TCM) called BPQDs@JB. Compared with free JB, Raji cells administrated with BPQDs@JB exhibited the cell viability of 19.85 ± 1.02%, and the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) was promoted. Likewise, BPQDs@JB was capable of rising the apoptosis rate of Raji cells to 34.98 ± 1.76%. In nude mice transplanted tumor model administrated with BPQDs@JB, the tumor tissue sections administrated with BPQDS@JB achieved a conspicuous red fluorescence, demonstrating the presence of most ROS production in the BPQDS@JB. TUNEL achieved a number of positive (brown) nuclei in vivo, revealing that BPQDS@JB could significantly induce tumor tissue apoptosis. As revealed from the mentioned results, BPQDs@JB can generate considerable ROS and interfere with the redox state to inhibit tumor. In brief, BPQDs@JB may be adopted as a treatment option for lymphoma.

Zirconia nanoparticles (ZrO2 NPs) are widely applied in the field of biomedicine. In this study, we constructed a nanoplatform of ZrO2 NPs coated with a platelet membrane (PLTm), named PLT@ZrO2. PLTm nanovesicles camouflage ZrO2 NPs, prevent nanoparticles from being cleared by macrophage, and target tumor sites. Compared to ZrO2 alone, PLT@ZrO2 is better at inhibiting the invasion and metastasis of Hela cells in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, PLT@ZrO2 inhibited the growth and proliferation of Hela cells. Scratch-wound healing recovery assay demonstrated that PLT@ZrO2 inhibited Hela cells migration. Transwell migration and invasion assays showed that PLT@ZrO2 inhibited Hela cells migration and invasion. In vivo, PLT@ZrO2 inhibited the tumor growth of Xenograft mice and inhibited the lung and liver metastasis of Hela cells. Immunofluorescence and Western blotting results showed that anti-metastasis protein (E-cadherin) was upregulated and pro-metastasis proteins (N-cadherin, Smad4, Vimentin, E-cadherin,β-catenin, Fibronectin, Snail, Slug, MMP2, Smad2) were down-regulated. Our study indicated that PLT@ZrO2 significantly inhibits tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis.

With the world’s focus on wearable electronics, the scientific community has anticipated the plasticine-like processability of electrolytes and electrodes. A bioinspired composite of polymer and phase-changing salt with the similar bonding structure to that of natural bones is a suitable electrolyte candidate. Here, we report a water-mediated composite electrolyte by simple thermal mixing of crystallohydrate and polymer. The processable phase-change composites have significantly high mechanical strength and high ionic mobility. The wide operating voltage range and high faradic capacity of the composite both contribute to the maximum energy density. The convenient assembly and high thermal-shock resistance of our device are due to the mechanical interlocking and endothermic phase-change effect. As of now, no other non-liquid electrolytes, including those made from ceramics, polymers, or hydrogels, possess all of these features. Our work provides a universal strategy to fabricate various thermally manageable devices via phase-change electrolytes., Here the authors report composite electrolytes combining polymer chains and hydrated salts with a similar bonding structure to that of natural bones. The design breaks the trade-off between strength and ionic mobility of solid electrolytes and allows for good electrochemical performance in supercapacitors.

International audience; In the Chinese high-level radioactive waste geological disposal program, Gaomiaozi (GMZ) bentonite has been selected as the potential buffer/backfill material. After the closure of the repository, the Ca-OH-type alkaline solution (evolved cement water) released by cement degradation may last for more than 100,000 years. The bentonite will undergo the corrosion of evolved cement water (ECW) for a long period. This work focuses on the sorption property of GMZ bentonite altered by ECW. Firstly, the corrosion experiments on compacted GMZ specimens with the dry density of 1.70 Mg/m3 were carried out under constant volume conditions at two temperatures. Then, the sorption of europium (Eu (III)) onto the corroded GMZ bentonite was studied by batch experiments. The results of batch sorption tests indicate that the altered GMZ bentonite keeps an effective removal property with the uptake of Eu (III) more than 99%. The effect of high-temperature conditions of the repository on the sorption property of bentonite is not significant. The results also suggest that the evolved cement water presents no detrimental effect on the long-term adsorption performance of bentonite even under higher temperature conditions.

Polymer gel electrolytes (PGEs) have been considered as one of the most promising candidates to solve safety and flexibility issues in wearable devices. To supply energy for the daily-used epidermal electronic systems, biaxial stretchability and temperature tolerance are essential for energy storage units. However, the limited choices of PGEs, including fragile poly(vinyl alcohol) and uniaxial stretchable polyacrylamide hydrogel, lag far behind the requirement of wearable supercapacitors. Herein, an adhesive organohydrogel with a water/ethylene glycol binary solvent is tailored as the electrolyte of an all-climate, biaxially stretchable pseudocapacitor. The adhesive organohydrogel electrolyte facilitates the device assembly with carbon nanotube (CNT) paper electrodes and electroactive 2-pyridinethiol. The final pseudocapacitor has the highest specific capacitance 364 F/g and all-climate stability ranging from -40 to 80 °C. More importantly, this pseudocapacitor can be biaxially stretched up to 400% of its area. This work provides the first example of using organohydrogel electrolytes in biaxially stretchable and all-climate pseudocapacitors and a platform to design stretchable electronics and devices with high performance and all-climate tolerance.

Conductive hydrogels combined the electronic properties and soft nature of tissue-like materials can mimic the functions of human skin with mechanical and sensory properties and thus considered as one of the most promising platforms for fabricating human-motion sensors. However, the bottlenecks in inevitable water evaporation, low transparency and constraints on conductivity seriously hinder their practical application. The traditional strategies employing water-locking agent or high concentrated salt solutions are difficult to reconcile the paradox of ionic conductivity, mechanical and optical properties due to the phase separation. Herein, a novel ionohydrogel platform is prepared by employing hydrated ionic liquid as multifunctional solvent, which synchronously realize the high conductivity, transparency and wide temperature window. The multifunctional hydrated ionic liquids (HILs) ensure the ionohydrogel with high ionic conductivity (38.86 mS·cm−1 at 25 °C) and transparency (94.36% at 550 nm, 3 times of traditional hydrogels). Moreover, multiple hydrogen bonds formed by polymer chains, water and ionic liquid greatly improve the long-term stability (＞30 days) and broaden the working window (−40 °C to 80 °C). Furthermore, the wearable sensor device was fabricated through integrating ionohydrogel and silicon circuits to realize real-time motion monitoring with excellent durability (>5000 cycles) and high sensitivity (GF = 6.78 at 800% strain). This work provides a promising and versatile method to construct the next generation of gel platform for strain sensors.

Four prenylated flavonoids compounds 1-4, named sinopodophyllines A-D, and a flavonoid glycoside (compound 13), sinopodophylliside A, together with 19 known compounds (compounds 5-12 and 14-24) were isolated from the fruits of Sinopodophyllum hexandrum. The structures of new compounds were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis, including HRESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR. Compounds 1-6, 9-11, and 14-17 were tested for their cytotoxicity against human breast-cancer T47D, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells in vitro, and compounds 2, 5, 6, 10 and 11 showed significant cytotoxicity (IC50 values < 10 μmol·L-1) against T47D cells.

The metabolism of d-serine by d-amino acid oxidase was developed to induce radical polymerization and formation of a powder-remoldable PAAM–CS hydrogel.

Hederagenin (HED) has poor anticancer activity whose mechanism remains unclear and unsystematic. Free drugs for cancer treatment exhibit disadvantages such as poor targeting and efficacy. To address this problem, we constructed a nanoplatform of black phosphorus quantum dots (BPQDs) camouflaged with a platelet membrane (PLTm) carrying HED, termed PLT@BPQDs-HED. PLTm vesicles serve as a shell to encapsulate multiple high-efficiency drug-loaded nanocores, which can target tumor sites and significantly improve antitumor activity. Compared with free HED, this platform significantly reduced tumor cell viability and the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), while increasing the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). The platform also significantly increased the amounts of terminal deoxyribonucleotide transferase mediated dUTP nick-end-labeling (TUNEL)-positive cells and decreased the number of Ki-67-positive cells. In addition, the platform upregulated proapoptotic factor Bax, downregulated the anti-apoptotic molecule Bcl-2, activated Caspase-9 and Caspase-3, and stimulated Cytochrome C release. Moreover, the platform promoted the formation of autophagosomes, upregulated Beclin-1, and promoted LC3-I conversion into LC3-II. This study demonstrated that the above platform significantly enhances tumor targeting and promotes mitochondria-mediated cell apoptosis and autophagy in tumor cells.

Although nonliquid electrolytes have been developed rapidly under the condition of safe demand of energy storage devices, the inherent weaknesses in ionic conductivity, mechanical properties, or interfacial compatibility severely hinder their application under a harsh environment. Inspired by the hybridized characteristics of composite materials and the potential advantages of hydrated crystals, a processable crystal-type gel electrolyte with good comprehensive performance via the dissolution-crystallization transition of NaAc within hydrogel is creatively prepared. The use of NaAc crystal within a hydrogel leads to nearly 26 000 times greater modulus (474.24 MPa) and higher operating voltage (2.0 V) than the hydrogel without the crystal. The reliable supercapacitor using this electrolyte can work in extreme environment (-40 to 80 °C, even in the fire or in liquid nitrogen within a short time) benefiting from its phase-transition capacity. This investigation offers a facile and versatile way to construct an ideal gel electrolyte for next-generation energy storage devices.

Lymphoma is a well-known malignant tumor in the human body. Although many anticancer drugs have been developed to improve the survival rate of patients, about 40% of patients continue to be recurrent or refractory, a key issue needing remedy. Therefore, it is necessary to identify alternative treatments to reduce the disease's mortality. To this effect, a new type of anti-lymphoma nanocomplex FA@RBCm-AgNPs was prepared using AgNPs as the core of nanoparticles along with the targeting molecule folic acid inserted erythrocyte membrane as the shell. The biomimetic properties of red blood cell membrane (RBCm) endow F-RAN with good biocompatibility as well as the ability to evade clearance of the reticuloendothelial system. In addition, F-RAN was modified with folic acid to actively and selectively identify tumor cells. In vivo and in vitro experiments demonstrate that F-RAN can inhibit lymphoma cells and induce apoptosis of stem cells while promoting apoptosis of lymphoma with no obvious side effects. Hence, F-RAN may serve as a new treatment for lymphoma.

The highly stretchable, flexible and self-healing strain sensor is considered as a promising wearable device for motion detection in fields such as robotics and human-machine interface. Herein, a strain sensor with high stretchability and sensitivity is designed and fabricated based on the poly(acrylamide) (PAAm) hydrogel. The ionic conductive PAAm hydrogel shows an excellent self-healing property with fast electrical self-healing speed (within 1.8 s) and high self-healing efficiency (99%). The PAAm hydrogel based strain sensor exhibits excellent performance with large stretchability (>900%), high sensitivity (with maximum gauge factor of 6.44), fast response time (~150 ms), and good cycling durability (>3000 cycles). As the wearable device, the strain sensor can detect various human motions and is able to transmit the data to the smart phone combined with a readout and wireless system. Furthermore, a smart glove was fabricated by coupling multiple strain sensors and the corresponding circuit. The smart glove is capable of expressing and recognizing American Sign Language and can be used to control a robotic hand wirelessly through the hand gestures. Thus, the highly stretchable, self-healing hydrogel-based strain sensor shows a potential application for the human-machine interface, personal healthcare and sports training.

Bioelectronic platforms convert biological signals into electrical signals by utilizing biocatalysts that provide tools to monitor the activity of cells and tissues. Traditional conducting materials such as solid conductors and conducting polymers are confronted with a great challenge in sophisticated production processes and mismatch at biological tissues-machine interfaces. Furthermore, the biocatalyst, the key functional component in the electron-transfer reaction for bio-signal detection denatures easily in an ionic conductive solution. Herein, a bionic strategy is elaborately developed to synthesize an ionohydrogel bioelectronic platform that possesses extracellular-matrix-like habitat by employing hydrated ionic liquids (HILs) as ionic solvent and bioprotectant. This strategy realizes an integration of ionic and enzymatic electronic circuits and minimization of the disparities between tissues and artificial machines. The Hofmeister effect of HILs on enzyme proteins and polymer chains ensures the high bioactivity of the enzymes and greatly improves the mechanical properties of the ionohydrogels. Moreover, hydrogen bonds formed by ILs, water, and polymer chains greatly improve the water-retention of the ionohydrogel and give it more practical significance. Consequently, the promising ionohydrogel is partly printed and fabricated into wearable devices as a pain-free humoral components monitor and a wireless motion-sensor.

Cinnamic acid sugar ester derivatives (CASEDs) are a class of natural product with one or several phenylacrylic moieties linked with the non-anomeric carbon of a glycosyl skeleton part through ester bonds. Their notable anti-depressant and brains protective activities have made them a topic of great interest over the past several decades. In particular the compound 3',6-disinapoylsucrose, the index component of Yuanzhi (a well-known Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM), presents antidepressant effects at a molecular level, and has become a hotspot of research on new lead drug compounds. Several other similar cinnamic acid sugar ester derivatives are reported in traditional medicine as compounds to calm the nerves and display anti-depression and neuroprotective activity. Interestingly, more than one third of CASEDs are distributed in the family Polygalaceae. This overview discusses the isolation of cinnamic acid sugar ester derivatives from plants, together with a systematic discussion of their distribution, chemical structures and properties and pharmacological activities, with the hope of providing references for natural product researchers and draw attention to these interesting compounds.