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The objective of this study was to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms of mitochondrial Ca2+ homeostasis disequilibrium in mitochondrial apoptosis and its impact on yak meat tenderness. Results indicated that CaCl2 treatment significantly promoted glycolysis by increasing lactic acid level and decreasing glycogen content, pH, and ATP production (P +-K+-ATPase pump and Ca2+-ATPase pump in the early aging stage were significantly influenced by CaCl2 treatment. The activities of synchronous digital hierarchy and citrate synthase were also significantly improved by CaCl2 treatment (P 2 group than in the control group (P 2+ group was 64.27% higher than that in the control group. Furthermore, CaCl2 treatment significantly enhanced the mitochondrial apoptosis cascade reaction and meat tenderization by improving the myofibril fragmentation index and shear force (P 2+ homeostasis played a significant role in the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway by regulating energy metabolism factors, meat intracellular environment, mitochondrial functions, and ROS-mediated oxidative stress. These conditions further improved meat tenderization during postmortem aging.

Porphyrinic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising photosensitizers due to the lack of self-aggregation of porphyrin in aqueous solution. However, how the topology of porphyrinic MOFs affects the generation of singlet oxygen (1 O2 ) is unclear. Here, the effect of the topology of porphyrinic MOFs on their photodynamic performance is reported. Four porphyrinic zirconium MOFs (MOF-525, MOF-545, PCN-223 and PCN-224 with different topologies: ftw, csq, shp and she, respectively) were selected to study the influence of topology on the photodynamic antibacterial performance. The 1 O2 generation and the photodynamic antibacterial performance followed an decreasing order of MOF-545>MOF-525>PCN-224>PCN-223. The results reveal that the pore size, the distance between porphyrin, and the number of porphyrin per Zr6 O8 cluster in MOFs greatly affected 1 O2 generation. This work provides guidance for designing new MOFs for efficient photodynamic sterilization.

Antibiotics are widely used for treatment of bacterial infections, and their overuse has contributed to microbial resistance. Currently, an alternative antibiotic-free therapy for inactivating bacteria is of great interest. Black phosphorus (BP), a biocompatible and nontoxic rising-star two-dimensional layered material, has gained remarkable interest in many bioapplications including biosensing, cancer therapy, drug delivery, and also antibacterial treatment. However, BP nanosheets suffer from instability in ambient environments due to rapid oxidation and degradation. To address this issue, BP nanosheets were modified with quaternized chitosan (QCS) by electrostatic adsorption to prepare a BP-QCS composite for photothermal/pharmaco treatment of bacterial infection. The BP-QCS has obviously enhanced solubility and chemical stability in aqueous suspensions. We have demonstrated that under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation, the BP-QCS can synergistically inactivate more than 95% methicillin-resistant

The NiFe2O4 magnetic nanoparticles (NF‐MNPs) were prepared for one‐step selective affinity purification and immobilization of His‐tagged recombinant glucose dehydrogenase (GluDH). The prepared nanoparticles were characterized by a Fourier‐transform infrared spectrophotometer and microscopy. The immobilization and purification of His‐tagged GluDH on NF‐MNPs were investigated. The optimal immobilization conditions were obtained that mixed cell lysis and carriers in a ratio of 0.13 in pH 8.0 Tris‐HCl buffer at 30℃ and incubated for 2 h. The highest activity recovery and protein bindings were 71.39% and 38.50 μg mg–1 support, respectively. The immobilized GluDH exhibited high thermostability, pH‐stability and it can retain more than 65% of the initial enzyme after 10 cycles for the conversion of glucose to gluconolactone. Comparing with a commercial Ni‐NTA resin, the NF‐MNPs displayed a higher specific affinity with His‐tagged recombinant GluDH.

We created CRISPR-Cas9 knock-out and overexpressing OsbZIP72 transgenic rice plants to gain a better understanding of the role and molecular mechanism of OsbZIP72 gene in stress tolerance, which has remained largely elusive. OsbZIP72 was expressed and integrated into rice transgenic plant genomes, and the OsbZIP72 transcript in overexpression lines was elicited by salinity, abscisic acid (ABA) and drought stresses. OsbZIP72 overexpressing plants showed higher tolerance to drought and salinity stresses, while knock-out transgenic lines showed higher sensitivity to these stresses. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from RNA-sequencing data encompassed several abiotic stress genes, and the functional classification of these DEGs demonstrated the robust transcriptome diversity in OsbZIP72. Yeast one-hybrid, along with luciferase assay, indicated that OsbZIP72 acted as a transcriptional initiator. Remarkably, electrophoresis mobility assay revealed that OsbZIP72 bound directly to the ABA- responsive element in the OsHKT1;1 promoter region and activated its transcription. Overall, our findings revealed that OsbZIP72 can act as a transcriptional modulator with the ability to induce the expression of OsHKT1;1 in response to environmental stress through an ABA-dependent regulatory pathway, indicating that OsbZIP72 can play a crucial role in the ABA-mediated salt and drought tolerance pathway in rice.

Emerging evidence has demonstrated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) are abnormally expressed in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). However, the contributions of circRNAs to the tumorigenesis of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), one of the subtypes of NSCLC, remain unclear. Based on a microarray assay, we found that hsa_circ_0072309 was significantly upregulated in NSCLC compared with matched normal samples. Moreover, functional experiments demonstrated that hsa_circ_0072309 promotes the proliferation, migration, and invasion of NSCLC cells. In vitro precipitation of circRNAs, luciferase reporter assays, and biotin-coupled microRNA capture assays were carried out to investigate the mechanisms by which hsa_circ_0072309 regulates NSCLC. Through the above work, we found that hsa_circ_0072309 interacted with miR-607 via its miRNA response element to upregulate the expression of FTO, an m6A demethylase and downstream target of miR-607, thus promoting tumorigenesis of NSCLC. In total, our findings indicated the oncogenic role of hsa_circ_0072309 in NSCLC and provide a potential target for treatment.

Magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) were prepared with isoprocarb as template molecule and applied to extraction of carbamates pesticides in different water samples. This method based on magnetic solid-phase extraction (SPE) avoided the time-consuming column-passing process of loading large volume samples in conventional SPE. In the study, only 0.1 g MMIPs could be used to obtain satisfactory recoveries, due to the high-surface area and excellent adsorption capacity of these nano-magnetic adsorbents. Owing to the excellent selectivity of MMIPs, in high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis, the matrix effects of this technique were obviously lower than the conventional SPE method. Under the optimal conditions, the detection limits of carbamates were in the range of 2.7–11.7 ng L−1. The relative standard deviations of intra-day and inter-day were 2.5–7.4% and 3.6–8.4%, respectively. At all the spiked level, the recoveries of four analyzed carbamates in environmental water samples were in the range of 74.2–94.2%. The significant positive results were achieved in the proposed method for the determination of four carbamates in water samples from different lakes and rivers. In the three samples we tested, the carbaryl was found in the lake water obtained from Yitong River, and the content was 2.4 ng L−1.

Isothiocyanate liquid crystals containing cyclohexene core unit were designed and synthesised through a practical synthetic route. The structures of the designed mesogens and intermediate products ...

Selective and sensitive determination of trace kanamycin in complex food samples is of great importance for food safety because of its high toxicity. Here, we report a sensitive and autofluorescence-free persistent luminescence (PL) aptasensor for selective, sensitive, and autofluorescence-free determination of kanamycin in food samples. The aptamer for kanamycin was first conjugated onto the surface of magnetic nanoparticles Fe3O4 to serve as the recognition unit as well as the separation element, while the PL nanoparticles ZnGa2O4:Cr (PLNPs) were functionalized with the aptamer complementary DNA (cDNA) as the PL signal. The PL aptasensor consisted of the aptamer-conjugated MNPs (MNPs-apt) and cDNA-functionalized PLNPs (PLNPs-cDNA) and combined the merits of the long-lasting luminescence of PLNPs, the magnetic separation ability of MNPs as well as the selectivity of the aptamer, offering a promising approach for autofluorescence-free determination of kanamycin in food samples. The proposed aptasensor showed excellent linearity in the range from 1 pg mL-1 to 5 ng mL-1 with a limit of detection of 0.32 pg mL-1. The precision for 11 replicate determinations of 100 pg mL-1 kanamycin was 3.1% (relative standard deviation). The developed aptasensor was applied for the determination of kanamycin in milk and honey samples with the recoveries of 95.4-106.3%. The proposed aptasensor is easily extendable to other analytes by simply replacing the aptamer, showing great potential as a universal aptasensor platform for selective, sensitive, and autofluorescence-free detection of hazardous analytes in food samples.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a plasma cell malignancy of bone marrow. In the present study, we aimed to study the function and potential mechanism of the antisense non-coding RNA in the INK4 Locus (ANRIL) in MM. The expression levels of ANRIL in MM patients and healthy donors were evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The effects and mechanisms of ANRIL in MM were evaluated by cell viability assay, BrdU incorporation assay, tumor xenograft model, flow cytometry, western blot, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), transcriptome RNA sequencing, and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). We found that ANRIL was upregulated in MM patients and cell lines, and associated with advanced international staging system (ISS) stage and poor overall survival. Enforced ANRIL expression promoted proliferation and tumor xenograft growth of MM cells, while knockdown of ANRIL exhibited opposite effects. Moreover, ANRIL overexpression increased the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of bortezomib and reduced bortezomib-induced apoptosis in MM cells. ANRIL was found to accumulate in the nuclei of MM cells, and interact with EZH2 by RIP assay. Transcriptome RNA sequencing identified PTEN as a target of ANRIL in MM cells. In the ChIP assay, knockdown of ANRIL reduced EZH2 occupancy and H3K27me3 binding to the promoter region of PTEN. Furthermore, EZH2 knockout or PTEN restoration abrogated the effects caused by ANRIL overexpression in MM cells. Our results indicated that ANRIL exerted oncogenic functions and conferred chemoresistance of MM cells by EZH2-mediated epigenetically silencing of PTEN.

Phototherapy has great potential to revolutionize conventional therapeutic modalities. However, most phototherapeutic strategies based on multicomponent therapeutic agents generally lack tumor-specificity, resulting in asynchronous therapy and superimposed side-effects. Severe heat damage is also inevitable because of the necessity of continuous external irradiation. Here we show the design of an acid-activated and continuous external irradiation-free photothermal and photodynamic (PTT/PDT) synchronous theranostic nanoplatform for precision tumor-targeting near-infrared (NIR) image-guided therapy. pH-reversibly responsive brominated asymmetric cyanine is designed as the tumor-specific NIR PTT/PDT-in-one agent to enhance anticancer efficiency and reduce side-effects. Ultra-small NIR persistent luminescence nanoparticles are prepared as both the imaging unit and renewable nanoimplant. Biotin functionalized polyethylene glycol is introduced to endow active tumor-targeting ability and prolong blood-circulation. The developed smart platform offers merits of reversible activation, PTT/PDT synergetic enhancement, tumor targetability and continuous external irradiation-free properties, allowing autofluorescence-free image-guided phototherapy only in tumor sites. This work paves the way to developing smart theranostic nanoplatforms for precision medicine., A smart NIR photothermal/photodynamic-in-one agent integrated with renewable nanoimplants for autofluorescence- and continuous external irradiation-free image-guided precision tumor-targeting phototherapy.

Novel hydrophilic NaYF4:Yb3+,Tm3+@NaGdF4:Ce3+,Eu3+ double-jacket microtubes (DJMTs) with upconversion/ downconversion dual-mode luminescence were designed and prepared through epitaxial growth of NaGdF4:Ce3+, Eu3+ shell onto the NaYF4:Yb3+,Tm3+ microtube via poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) mediated hydrothermal method. It is demonstrated that PAA ligand played an important role in guiding the direct growth of NaGdF4:Ce3+,Eu3+ shell onto the surface of NaYF4:Yb3+,Tm3+ parent microtubes. The growth of NaGdF4:Ce3+,Eu3+ shell experienced a crystal phase transition from β-NaGdF4 and β-NaYF4 mixture to β-NaYF4@NaGdF4 composite crystal, and morphology evolution from mixture of β-NaGdF4:Ce3+,Eu3+ nanorods and β-NaYF4:Yb3+,Tm3+ microtubes to NaYF4:Yb3+,Tm3+@NaGdF4: Ce3+,Eu3+ DJMTs. The formation mechanism of DJMTs was the dissolution−renucleation of β-NaGdF4:Ce3+,Eu3+ nanorods and the growth of β-NaGdF4:Ce3+,Eu3+ shell via the classical Ostwald ripening mechanism. The as-prepared DJMTs could exhibit blue upconversion and red downconversion luminescence, which was further made into environmentally benign luminescent inks for creating highly secured and fluorescent-based anti-counterfeiting patterns via inkjet printing.

Hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is suggested to potentially promote HSC activation. Superoxide dismutase 3 (SOD3) is an extracellular antioxidant defense against oxidative damage. Here, we found downregulation of SOD3 in a mouse model of liver fibrosis induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4 ). SOD3 deficiency induced spontaneous liver injury and fibrosis with increased collagen deposition, and further aggravated CCl4 -induced liver injury in mice. Depletion of SOD3 enhanced HSC activation marked by increased α-smooth muscle actin and subsequent collagen synthesis primarily collagen type I in vivo, and promoted transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)-induced HSC activation in vitro. SOD3 deficiency accelerated EMT process in the liver and TGF-β1-induced EMT of AML12 hepatocytes, as evidenced by loss of E-cadherin and gain of N-cadherin and vimentin. Notably, SOD3 expression and its pro-fibrogenic effect were positively associated with sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) expression. SOD3 deficiency inhibited adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling to downregulate SIRT1 expression and thus involving in liver fibrosis. Enforced expression of SIRT1 inhibited SOD3 deficiency-induced HSC activation and EMT, whereas depletion of SIRT1 counteracted the inhibitory effect of SOD3 in vitro. These findings demonstrate that SOD3 deficiency contributes to liver fibrogenesis by promoting HSC activation and EMT process, and suggest a possibility that SOD3 may function through modulating SIRT1 via the AMPK pathway in liver fibrosis.

Issues like morphology control and further multifunctional applications are of significant importance for rare earth nano-oxides, e.g., cerium dioxide (CeO2) nanostructures, however, relevant results in this respect are rather limited up to now. In the present work, ultrathin CeO2 nanosheets were synthesized through a facile low-temperature hydrothermal method. The structure, morphology and specific surface area of these CeO2 nanosheets were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and N2 adsorption–desorption. Significantly, CeO2 nanosheets have the potential as bifunctional sensing materials to detect both humidity and formaldehyde vapor. The CeO2 nanosheet humidity sensor exhibited excellent sensing characteristics in the relative humidity range of 11%–97% with the response value as high as 3.1 × 104. Meanwhile, the CeO2 nanosheet gas sensor showed superior sensitivity and repeatability with fast response/recovery speed toward formaldehyde vapor at 300 °C. Finally, the humidity and formaldehyde sensing mechanism were discussed as well.

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) can be indexed as a high-content N-doped carbon material, appealing great attentions in energy storage devices. However, poor conductivity and serious irreversible capacity loss were found for the g-C3N4 due to its high nitrogen content. Urea, dicyandiamide or melamine can be used as organic precursor to form g-C3N4 because they can be pyrolyzed into g-C3N4 easily. In this work, high nitrogen content (up to 17 at.%)-doped carbon materials embedded with superfine-Sn particle are synthesized by one-step thermal treatment of the g-C3N4 organic precursor and SnCl2 in a simple self-designed quartz tube. Regarding their high nitrogen doping content, large surface area and porous structure, the obtained material could deliver a high specific capacity and excellent capacity retention when applied as lithium ion battery anode. Its excellent rate performance is attributed to the high Li diffusion coefficient demonstrated by the GITT kinetics analysis. This extremely simple and low-cost preparation process could provide a new strategy to obtain high nitrogen content carbon-based materials.

Photodynamic sterilization is the most promising method to combat bacterial infection, especially multidrug-resistant bacterial infection. However, the absorption of conventional photosensitizers is mostly located in the UV-vis region, leading to limited penetration depth and poor therapeutic efficacy for deep-tissue bacterial infection. Besides, most of the photosensitizers are always in the activated state and lack bacteria-targeting ability, which inevitably causes severe nonspecific damage to normal tissues. Here, we show the design of a pH reversibly switchable near-infrared photosensitizer-based nanocapsule for precision bacteria-targeting fluorescence imaging-guided photodynamic sterilization. pH reversibly activatable asymmetric cyanine was synthesized as a bacteria-specific imaging unit and smart photosensitizer to realize precision imaging-guided targeting sterilization without side effects. An allicin mimic was introduced into the smart photosensitizer as the auxiliary bactericidal group to further enhance antibacterial efficiency. Meanwhile, amphipathic functionalized polyethylene glycol was employed to fabricate the nanocapsule by self-assembly to endow the charge-reversed intelligent targeting ability and prolong blood circulation. The developed switchable nanocapsule not only enables precision bacterial infection-targeted imaging without background fluorescence interference but also gives an efficient bactericidal effect with excellent specificity and negligible side effects, holding great potential for practical application.

To evaluate the influence of flavonoids on the biogeochemistry of sulfur in mangrove sediments polluted with Cd, Avicennia marina individuals were cultivated in rhizoboxes under different concentrations of Cd and flavonoid. The reduced inorganic sulfur concentrations in the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere sediments were examined. According to the results, acid-volatile sulfide concentrations in non-rhizosphere sediments were from 12.77 ± 1.01 to 19.21 ± 0.05 umol/g (DW) and significantly higher than those in rhizosphere, and flavonoids increased acid-volatile sulfide concentrations under Cd stress. High Eh (from 103.00 ± 3.21 to 197.33 ± 14.74 mV) and Cd stress in the rhizosphere led to more elemental sulfur formation, and flavonoid applications significantly increased elemental sulfur in both rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere sediments. Chromium-reducible sulfur from the non-rhizosphere was the source of the Chromium-reducible sulfur in the rhizosphere sediments, in addition to acid-volatile sulfide and elemental sulfur in both rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere sediments. In the rhizosphere with high Eh microenvironments, acid-volatile sulfide could be converted into Chromium-reducible sulfur effectively, while its conversion efficiency was significantly lower in non-rhizosphere. In addition, flavonoid applications reduced acid-volatile sulfide to Chromium-reducible sulfur conversion efficiency. In conclusion, flavonoid treatments in mangrove rhizosphere sediments polluted with Cd increased reduced inorganic sulfur concentrations and influenced sulfur biogeochemistry significantly.

In order to effectively remove mercury from raw natural gas, a preparation method of columnar sulfur-impregnated activated petroleum coke was proposed and mercury adsorption experiments were conduc...

In this paper, new liquid crystal compounds with negative dielectric anisotropy were synthesised by regulating the substituents on the benzofuran ring. Their structures were confirmed by 1H-nuclear...

New liquid crystal compounds with 5,6-difluorobenzofuran core were synthesised by palladium catalysed coupling and ring-closing reaction. Their structures were identified using 1HNMR, 13CNMR and MS...

Effects of sodium lactate (SL) coating enriched with nisin on beef strip loins (M. Longissimus lumborum) quality were evaluated in this research. Samples were coated with different chemical preservatives (2% SL, 4% SL, 2 g/L nisin, 2% SL + 2 g/L nisin, and 4% SL + 2 g/L nisin). Deionised water was used as negative control. Sensory evaluation, microbial, total viable counts, weight loss, surface colour, pH, and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), were examined. In order to explore a new way for beef quality rapid evaluation, electronic nose (e-nose) was used to measure beef samples. E-nose stochasic resonance (SR) and double-layered cascaded series stochastic resonance responses were used to conduct multiple variable regression (MVR) with key physio-chemical indexes to investigate their correlation relationship. Results indicated that the most effective treatment was 4% SL + 2 g/L nisin. By the optimal preservative, beef showed lower microbial propagation, less moisture loss and TVB-N content. Also, this method maintained original colour and pH, and displayed higher sensory acceptability. Therefore, thus coating with 4% SL + 2 g/L nisin effectively prolonged the shelf life of beef samples. Electronic nose was used to evaluate the quality of different beef samples. MVR results indicated that SR based e-nose discriminated the beef in different quality, and also presented a closer correlation with beef quality indexes.

The application of solvent-aided crystallization (SAC) is based on the addition of a solvent, here 1-butanol, to crude biodiesel to catalyze the purification process by separating biodiesel from contaminants via crystallization process. Response surface methodology was applied to optimize the process parameters of SAC, represented by biodiesel purity. The purified biodiesel was analyzed by means of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for the composition of the present fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). Under the predicted optimum process conditions within the experimental ranges for the highest biodiesel purity, the predicted biodiesel purity was 99.375 . © 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Carbon dots (CDs) have been used for the first time as a sensitizer to initiate and activate free radical and controlled radical polymerization, respectively, based on an ATRP protocol with blue LEDs. Consideration of diverse heteroatom‐doped CDs indicated that N‐doped CDs could serve as an effective photocatalyst and photosensitizer in combination with LEDs emitting either at 405 nm or 470 nm. Free radical polymerization was initiated by combining the CDs with an iodonium or sulfonium salt in tri(propylene glycol) diacrylate. Polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) by photo‐induced ATRP was achieved with CDs and ethyl α‐bromophenylacetate using CuII as catalyst in the ppm range. The polymers obtained showed temporal control, narrower dispersity ≲1.5, and chain‐end fidelity. The first‐order kinetics and ON/OFF experiments additionally gave evidence of the constant concentration of polymer radicals. No remarkable cytotoxic activity was observed for the CDs, underlining their biocompatibility., On the dot: Carbon dots isolated from seaweed work well as a photocatalyst and sensitizer in living and free radical polymerization, while their low cytotoxic activity makes them interesting for medical applications.

Six benzoxazole-terminated mesogenic compounds with fluoro substituent at different positions were prepared and their properties investigated. The compounds give a high birefringence (Δn~ 0.45) and...

In this study, a naphthalene Schiff-base P which serves as a dual-analyte probe for the quantitative detection of Al3+ and Mg2+ has been designed. The proposed probe showed an ‘‘off–on’’ fluorescent response toward Al3+ in ethanol–water solution (1 : 9, v/v, pH 6.3, 20 mM HEPES) over other metal ions and anions, while the detection by the probe could be switched to Mg2+ by regulating the pH from 6.3 to 9.4. The sensing mechanisms of P to Al3+/Mg2+ are attributed to inhibition of the photo-induced electron transfer (PET) process by the formation of 1 : 1 ligand–metal complexes. More importantly, the probe was applied successfully in living cells for the fluorescent cell-imaging of Al3+ and Mg2+.

The giant potash deposit on the Khorat Plateau is one of the most promising targets for exploitation of potassium salts. So far, many researches and geologic survey have been conducted on the giant potash deposits. Hence, it is necessary to make an overall review on the potash deposits. The potash deposit on the Khorat Plateau was formed during the Middle to Late Cretaceous, during which seawater was enriched in Ca2+ and depleted in SO42- compared with those of modem seawater. In addition to seawater, continental water and hydrothermal fluids could have affected the evaporite basins. The seawater was probably derived from Tethys ocean, and the brine should have evaporated to some extent before entering into the basin systems based on the evidence of absence of carbonates and unproportionate sulphate compared with chloride salts. The paleo-climate during Middle to Late Cretaceous was characterized as high temperature and extremely arid environment, which is favourable for deposition of potassium-magnesium saline minerals. The major saline minerals are of anhydrite, halite, camallite, sylvite and, tachyhydrite, with trace amounts of borates. The resources of the potash deposit on the Khorat Plateau could be approximately as much as 400×109 t of camallite and 7×109 t of sylvite. The evaporite sequences have been deformed and altered by postdepositinal processes, including tectonic movements and chemical alteration. Salt domes were formed in the postdepositional processes. Based on the analyses of geophysical surveys and drilling projects, high-quality sylvinite ores are commonly found at the flanks of those salt domes due to incongruent dissolution of camallite. The future potential prospecting areas for the high-quality sylvinite ores would be on the edges of the Khorat Plateau.

Multifunctional nanoprobes with both imaging and drug delivery capabilities represent an emerging approach to the diagnosis and treatment of tumor. However, poor accumulation in tumor cells and low drug availability are the main limitations for their further application. Here we show a pH-driven targeting nanoprobe with dual-responsive drug release for persistent luminescence imaging and chemotherapy of tumor. The nanoprobe is constructed by conjugating the pH-low-insertion-peptide (pHLIP) to the surface of the core-shell structure of mesoporous silica-coated persistent luminescence nanoparticles (MSPLNPs) with the peptide GFLG and disulfide bond as bridges. The pHLIP functionalized nanoprobe exhibits higher cellular uptake for A549 and HepG2 cells in an acidic extracellular microenvironment (pH < 6.5) than in normal physiological condition (pH 7.4). The nanoprobe possesses well-defined NIR persistent luminescence performance and can be effectively accumulated in the tumor site, leading to the visual HepG2 tumor target imaging without autofluorescence interference. Furthermore, the nanoprobe realizes the dual-responsive release of doxorubicin loaded in the mesoporous channels in systems containing cathepsin B and glutathione, and can effectively kill tumor cells and inhibit the growth of tumor. This integrated nanoprobe possesses great potential for the diagnosis and treatment of tumors with high specificity and efficiency.

An effective and clean aerobic oxidative method for the synthesis of 2,6-disubstituted benzobisoxazole using the free radical catalysis was obtained. 2, 6-Di(pyridin-4-yl)-benzo[1,2-d:4,5-d']bisoxazole was synthesized and characterized by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, UV–vis and emission spectroscopy, as well as by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. In the crystal structure, a self-assembled two-dimensional (2-D) layer supramolecular frameworks is formed with the help of intermolecular hydrogen bonds and π···π stacking interactions. On the basis of experimental results, a plausible reaction mechanism of 2,2′-disubstituted benzoxdiazoles with 4-methoxy-TEMPO as the catalyst is proposed. To obtain more insights into the structure and bonding, DFT calculations were performed. The obtained calculation results were compared with the X-ray diffraction data. The electronic transitions and spectral features of 5a and 5b were discussed by TD-DFT calculations. In addition, the noncovalent interactions among compounds have been also analyzed using Hirshfeld surface analysis.

Multivariate optical computing (MOC) is a compressed sensing technique enabling the measurement of analytes in a complex interfering mixture under harsh conditions. In this work, we describe the design, modeling, fabrication, and validation of a sensor for the measurement of dissolved methane in petroleum crude oil at high and variable combinations of pressure (up to 82.727 MPa) and temperature (up to 121.1 °C). Both laboratory and field validation results are presented, with five separate MOC sensors yielding a RMS error of 0.0089 g/cm3 methane in high pressure/high temperature laboratory and field samples compared to 0.0086 g/cm3 methane for a room temperature laboratory Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer using partial least-squares (PLS) regression models.

Phototheranostics has attracted great interest in cancer therapy. Small-molecule self-reporting photosensitizers, one kind of idea agent in phototheranostics, enables simultaneous photodynamic therapy (PDT) and feedback of therapeutic efficacy. However, previous such photosensitizers exclusively employed the change of single emission to monitor cell death, which can be disturbed by variations in photosensitizer concentration and the excitation intensity. Herein, we report a unique self-reporting photosensitizer TPA-3PyA+ constructed from a twisted triphenylamine unit (TPA), three benzene ring units and three cyanovinyl-pyridinium units (PyA) for PDT and its real-time monitoring in a dynamic dual-color mode. TPA-3PyA+ possesses a rotatable electron donor-π bridge-electron acceptor framework and exhibits high singlet oxygen quantum yield (124%) and a twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) effect. TPA-3PyA+ not only enables effective staining of cancer cells with dual-color fluorescence due to the TICT effect but also shows excellent PDT performance. The simultaneous change in emission color, intensity and intracellular location of TPA-3PyA+ during cell death allows it to self-report cell death. Moreover, the change of dual-emission color allows distinguishing living and dead cells and effectively avoids interference in previous single-emission self-reporting photosensitizers. This work highlights the great potential of a self-reporting photosensitizer with dual-color emissions for efficient feedback of theranostics.

Hyperlipidemia is an important lipid disorder and a risk factor for health. Aspirin eugenol ester (AEE) is a novel synthetic compound which is made up of two chemical structural units from aspirin and eugenol. Therapeutic effect of AEE on hyperlipidemia has been confirmed in animal model. But the action mechanism of AEE on hyperlipidemia is still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the effects of AEE on liver and feces metabolic profile through UPLC-Q-TOF/MS-based untargeted metabolomics in hyperlipidemia hamster induced with high fat diet (HFD), and the effects of AEE on the expression of genes and proteins related to cholesterol and bile acid (BA) in HFD-induced hyperlipidemia SD rat. The concentrations of 26 bile acids (BAs) in the liver from hyperlipidemia SD rat were also quantified with the application of BA targeted metabolomics. The results of untargeted metabolomics showed that the underlying mechanism of AEE on hyperlipidemia was mainly associated with amino acid metabolism, glutathione metabolism, energy metabolism, BA metabolism, and glycerophospholipid metabolism. AEE induced the expression of the BA-synthetic enzymes cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) by the inhibition of BA nuclear receptor farnesoid X receptor (FXR) in liver, which resulted in accelerating the conversion of cholesterol into bile acids and excrete in feces. The results of BA targeted metabolomics showed that AEE elevated the glycine-conjugated BA level and decreased the tauro-conjugated BA level. In conclusion, this study found that AEE decreased FXR and increased CYP7A1 in the liver, which might be the possible molecular mechanisms and targets of AEE for anti-hyperlipidemia therapies.

Multifunctional nanotheranostic platforms are emerging for the treatment of bacterial infections. Uncontrollable drug release and poor response in target location leads to inefficient therapy and failure to offer timely antibacterial monitoring. Here, we report a multifunctional nanoplatform that can be triggered by the bacterial microenvironment for effective bacterial killing and high-sensitive persistent luminescence (PL) “turn-on” imaging. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is grafted on the surface of mesoporous silica-coated persistent luminescence nanoparticles (PLNPs@MSN) loaded with cinnamaldehyde (CA). Further in situ growth of MnO2 shells gives PLNPs@MSN@CA-HA-MnO2 (PMC-HA-MnO2). MnO2 shell of PMC-HA-MnO2 can be reduced to Mn2+ by the H2O2 in the bacterial microenvironment to trigger persistent luminescence (PL) “turn-on” imaging along with chemodynamic therapy (CDT). Meanwhile, HA can response to bacterially secreted hyaluronidase to make the packaged CA release controllable and “on-demand”. Consequently, PMC-HA-MnO2 enables effective response to bacterial-infected region, ensuring high-sensitive “turn-on” imaging, synergistic CDT, accurate targeting and “on-demand” CA release to give great antibacterial effect. This nanoplatform has great potential for the diagnosis and treatment of multidrug-resistant bacterial infection with high specificity and efficiency.

Natural gases in China are mainly coal-derived gas, with assistance from oil-typed gas. At present, many genetic identification methods, from hydrocarbon composition and isotope to light hydrocarbon and biomarker indexes, have been formed, but combined methods from non-hydrocarbon gases are lacking. Based on compositions and isotopes geochemical characteristics and the differences of non-hydrocarbon nitrogen gas in coal-derived gas and oil-typed gas, and combining the isotopic geochemical characteristics of non-hydrocarbon helium, the comprehensive identification methods of coal-derived gas and oil-typed gas for hydrocarbon gases according to the associated non-hydrocarbon gases of nitrogen and helium are established and the preliminary applications have been engaged. The main recognitions are as follows:1)Coal-derived gas generally has relatively lower nitrogen abundance, mainly distributed from 0 to 31.2% with main frequency from 0 to 2%. Oil-typed gas, on the other hand, usually has relatively higher nitrogen abundance, mainly distributed from 1.1 to 57.1% with main frequency from 2 to 16%. 2) Coal-derived gas generally has relatively heavier nitrogen isotope values, mainly distributed from -8 to 19.3‰ with main frequency from -8 to 8‰.Oil-typed gas usually has relatively lower nitrogen isotope values, mainly distributed from -10.6 to 4.6‰ with main frequency from -8 to 4‰.3)The geochemical characteristic differences of coal-derived gas and oil-typed gas are mainly due to the fact that the sapropel parent material is relatively rich in nitrogen element and rich in light δ14N, while the humic parent material is relatively poor in nitrogen element and rich in heavy δ15N. The differences on thermal maturity of source rocks, the redox conditions of source rock sedimentary environment, and the salinity of water body are also important effective factors.4)Differences on nitrogen abundances and isotopes in coal-derived gas and oil-typed gas have great significance in genetic identification. The genetic identification chart of R/Ra-δ15N for organic and inorganic nitrogen in natural gas and the comprehensive joint identification charts of R/Ra-δ15N-N2 of nitrogen and helium for coal-derived gas and oil-typed gas have been established, and are of great reference in investigating the origins and sources of natural gas and guiding natural gas exploration in China.

Methamphetamine (METH) is a major psychostimulant drug of abuse worldwide, and its neurotoxicity has been studied extensively. In addition to neurotoxicity, METH can also induce hepatotoxicity. The underlying mechanism of intestinal microorganisms in METH-induced hepatotoxicity remains unclear. In this study, mice have received antibiotics intragastrically or PBS once each day for 1 week, followed by METH or saline. The antibiotics attenuated METH-induced hepatotoxicity as evidenced by histopathological observation and biochemical analysis; furthermore, they alleviated METH-induced oxidative stress. The effect of antibiotics on METH-induced hepatotoxicity was investigated using RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq). The RNA-seq results demonstrated that antibiotics could regulate 580 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which 319 were upregulated after METH treatment and then downregulated with antibiotic pretreatment and 237 were first downregulated after METH administration and then upregulated after antibiotic pretreatment, in addition to 11 upregulated and 13 downregulated ones simultaneously in METH and antibiotic-pretreated groups. RNA-seq analyses revealed that TLR4 is one of the hub genes. Western blot analysis indicated that antibiotics inhibited the increase of TLR4, MyD88 and Traf6 induced by METH. This research suggests that antibiotics may play an important role in preventing METH-induced liver injury by regulating oxidative stress and TLR4/MyD88/Traf6 axis, though further investigation is required.

Evidence suggests that the invasion of Spartina alterniflora (S. alterniflora) poses potentially serious risks to the stability of coastal wetlands, an ecosystem that is extremely vulnerable to both biological and non-biological threats. However, the effects and mechanisms of sulfur (S) in mediating the growth and expansion of S. alterniflora are poorly understood, particularly when sediments are contaminated with cadmium (Cd). A 6-month greenhouse study was conducted to evaluate the mediating effect of S on Cd tolerance and growth of S. alterniflora. Treatments consisted of a factorial combination of three S rates (applied as Na2SO4; 0, 500, 1000 mg kg−1 dry weight (DW), as S0, S500, and S1000) and four Cd rates (applied as CdCl2; 0, 1, 2, 4 mg kg−1 DW, as Cd0, Cd1, Cd2, and Cd4). Results showed that although the exogenous S supply obviously increased Cd accumulation in roots (up to 71.22 ± 6.43 mg kg−1 DW) due to the decrease of Fe concentration in iron plaque (down to 4.02 ± 1.18 mg g−1 DW), biomass reduction and oxidative stress in plant tissues were significantly alleviated. The addition of S significantly up-regulated the concentration of compounds related to Cd tolerance, including proline and glutathione. Therefore, the translocation of Cd was restricted, and plant growth was not impacted. The present study demonstrated that the exogenous sulfur supply could promote the growth of S. alterniflora and enhance its tolerance to Cd. Therefore, under the effects of S. alterniflora, the increased fluctuations of S pool caused by the release and deposition of S might further exacerbate S. alterniflora expansion in Cd contaminated coastal wetlands.

A vancomycin (Van) modification strategy on a porphyrinic metal-organic framework (MOF) PCN-224 is presented. The obtained Van-PCN-224 gives the combined advantages of porphyrinic MOF and Van with high photosensitive activity and excellent targeted antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. The features make Van-PCN-224 promising for antimicrobial therapy.

Abuse of methamphetamine (METH), an illicit psychostimulant, is a growing public health issue. METH abuse during pregnancy is on the rise due to its stimulant, anorectic, and hallucinogenic properties. METH can lead to multiple organ toxicity in adults, including neurotoxicity, cardiovascular toxicity, and hepatotoxicity. It can also cross the placental barrier and have long-lasting effects on the fetus. This review summarizes neurotoxicity, cardiovascular toxicity, hepatotoxicity, toxicity in other organs, and biomonitoring of prenatal METH exposure, as well as the possible emergence of sensitization associated with METH. We proposed the importance of gut microbiota in studying prenatal METH exposure. There is rising evidence of the adverse effects of METH exposure during pregnancy, which are of significant concern.

Persistent luminescence nanoparticles (PLNPs) hold great promise for bioimaging owing to no demand for in situ excitation and negligible tissue autofluorescence interference. Nevertheless, huge challenges remain in the further development of single-emissive PLNPs due to the great variation of luminescence with time after excitation ceases. Herein, we report the controllable fabrication of dual-emissive monodispersed PLNPs (ZnGa2O4:Cr) by a surfactant-assisted hydrothermal method in combination with postcalcination for bioimaging. The prepared PLNPs emit luminescence at 508 and 714 nm with a constant luminescence ratio (I508/I714) for more than 1 h after UV excitation stops. Moreover, the prepared PLNPs give a constant I508/I714 ratio signal after repeated excitation by a LED lamp, allowing luminescence ratio imaging to ensure the long-term accuracy for in vivo imaging. In vivo ratio imaging demonstrates the potential of the prepared PLNPs for precision bioimaging. In addition, the prepared PLNPs have been applied to fabricate a theranostic nanoprobe with intelligent tumor-targeted imaging and chemo-photothermal synergistic therapy to further reveal their unique advantage for imaging guided therapy. We believe that the dual-emissive PLNPs will provide a promising nanoplatform for bioimaging and biomedical applications.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) contamination is one of the most critical global issues in food safety. The high carcinogenic nature necessitates rapid and specific methods for the determination of AFB1 in foodstuffs at ultratrace levels. Here, we report an enhanced bienzymatic chemiluminescence competitive immunoassay for ultrasensitive and high-throughput determination of AFB1. In this assay, protein G was first coated on the wells of a microplate for recognizing the Fc fragment of anti-AFB1 mAbs to reduce the antibody dosage and guarantee high immunological reaction efficiency. The target AFB1 competed with glucose oxidase labeled AFB1 for the limited anti-AFB1 mAbs in the wells of the microplate. p-Bromophenol was employed as an enhancer to obtain intense and long-lasting chemiluminescence. The utilization of an enhancer and bienzymatic catalysts effectively improved the detection sensitivity. The developed method offered a good linearity over 5 orders of magnitude, a detection limit of 5 pg L-1, and a relative standard deviation of 1.9% for AFB1. The application of the developed method to the analysis of grain samples gave quantitative recoveries from 94.0% to 97.0%. The developed method provides a universal platform for high-throughput, ultrasensitive, and high specific detection of pollutants or nutrients in foods.

New analogues of antitubercular drug Delamanid were prepared, seeking drug candidates with enhanced aqueous solubility and high efficacy. The strategy involved replacement of phenoxy linker proximal to the 2-nitroimidazooxazole of Delamanid by piperidine fused 5 or 6-membered ring heterocycles (ring A). The new compounds were all more hydrophilic than Delamanid, and several class of analogues showed remarkable activities against M. bovis. And among these series, the tetrahydro-naphthyridine-linked nitroimidazoles displayed excellent antimycobacterial activity against both replicating (MABA) and nonreplicating (LORA) M. tb H37Rv and low cytotoxicity. Compared to Delamanid, these new compounds (6, 7, 45) demonstrated dramatically improved physicochemical properties and are suitable for further in vitro and in vivo evaluation.

Mn–Fe/ZSM-5 catalysts with different Fe loading amounts were prepared using wet impregnation and the effects of these catalysts on SO3 formation during the catalytic reduction of NOx were assessed. Variations in the catalysts’ physicochemical properties with different Fe contents were also investigated using BET, XRD, SEM–EDS, FT-IR, H2-TPR and XPS techniques. The 9Mn9Fe catalyst gave the highest SO2-to-SO3 and NOx conversions, and adding Fe also improved the catalyst’s SO2 resistance. The presence of NO2 caused the formation of nitrate ions on the catalyst surface during fast SCR. These nitrate ions re-oxidized the active sites more rapidly than O2 at low temperatures, thereby promoting the redox reaction. BET, XRD and SEM–EDS showed that optimal Fe loading amount reduced MnOx crystallinity while improving surface dispersion. Adding excessive Fe caused the active compositions to accumulate on the catalyst surface. FT-IR, H2-TPR and XPS demonstrated that optimal Fe loading amount increased the quantity of Mn4+=O bonds while raising the concentrations of Mn4+ ions and lattice oxygen, thus enhancing SO2-to-SO3-conversion. Therefore, although suitable amounts of Fe and NO2 promoted NOx conversion, these species also significantly increased SO2-to-SO3 conversion.

Hierarchical structured materials represent an interesting platform for many potential applications such as separation, catalyst and drug delivery etc. However, controlled fabrication of this special structure still remains a big challenge. In the present work, a controllable sol-gel procedure was developed to precisely fabricate polysilsesquioxane particles with bowls-on-sphere structure from mixed organoalkoxysilane precursors with sodium ligninsulfonate as surfactant and polystyrene spheres as structure-directing agents. The morphology of the particles can be fine-tuned by judiciously adjusting the ratio of two silane precursors, amount of ammonia, surfactant content and polystyrene amount. The formation mechanism of spheres-on-sphere structured polysilsesquioxane particles was explored.

Although the health benefits attributed to urolithin A, such as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effects, are based on numerous, diverse studies carried out in vitro, the bio...

A method for the synthesis of aryl trifluoroethyl ethers from fluoroalcohols and diaryliodonium salts in the presence of NaH and warm 1,2-dichloroethane has been developed. This transition metal free reaction is mild and facile. Various functional group including electron-withdrawing and electron-donating substrates in the diaryliodonium salts were tolerated in this transformation to afford the products in moderate to high yields.

The influence of aluminum and copper content in the starting Nd-Fe-B magnet on grain boundary diffusion process (GBDP) was studied by observing the phase transformation behaviors of the magnets in-situ at high temperature. A higher coercivity increment is discovered in the sample with higher Al/Cu despite the fact that its Dy diffusion amount is the same as the other. DSC analysis shows an evident melting behavior in the higher Al/Cu sample. Laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) in-situ characterization shows a large amount of melted intergranular phase spills out to the surface simultaneously at around 600 °C in the high Al/Cu sample, while the phase spills out gradually one after another in the range between 623 and 680 °C in the other sample, which indicates that the intergranular phase can be more easily melted in the sample containing more Al/Cu. The area fraction of matrix phase remarkably shrinks while that of intergranular phase enlarges after LSCM heating, which demonstrates the outer region of the Nd2Fe14B grains melt at the temperature of 900 °C. Electron probe microanalyzer result (EPMA) shows that the Nd and Dy concentrate in edge regions and subsequently mix into the intergranular phase with the melting of the grain edge, while a large amount of Al and Cu in the intergranular phase spill out. Nevertheless, the sample with higher starting Al/Cu still remains higher residual contents after LSCM experiments, and that could probably be the main reason why the high Al/Cu magnet shows smaller coercivity decrement after LSCM experiment. Overall, the increase of Al/Cu in the starting magnet optimizes the Dy distribution and the wettability of intergranular phase, enhancing coercivity increment effect further.