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With the existing medical diagnostic technology, the diagnosis of atherosclerosis (AS) is mainly focused on the later stage of AS development rather than plaque imaging in the period before plaque formation. It is impractical to apply the existing theoretical methods for the purpose of early detection of AS. Herein, this study uses a naphthalimide-based fluorescent probe for recognition of cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). A platelet membrane (Mp) with foam cell targeting was wrapped around the probes to prepare two vesicle structures TBNG@Mp and GNTB@Mp. The animal experiment results show that the screened nano-detection system TBNG@Mp could accumulate in the thoracic aorta of early AS rats. Under the effect of intracellular ROS, fluorescence signals can be observed. In addition, acute biological toxicity was not observed in pathological sections. Therefore, the foam cell targeting system TBNG@Mp with acceptable biocompatibility can realize the detection of AS one to two decades in advance as well as has a good application prospect.

We designed a pH intelligently driven self-assembled nano-platform (GOx@ZIF-OVA). The nano-platform was composed of glucose oxidase (GOx), ovalbumin (OVA) and zeolitic imidazolate skeleton-8 (ZIF-8). The goal was to address the depth and cumulative limits of the drug at the tumor site. Firstly, OVA-modified GOx@ZIF could greatly increase tumor accumulation due to spontaneous self-assembly from 142.2 ± 9.1 to 705.5 ± 52.1 nm and the 5779.4 ± 598.3 nm giant at pH values of 7.4, 6.5, and 5.0, respectively. More importantly, the tumor-like sphere experiments demonstrated that the encapsulated GOx "vampires" can cut off the energy source of tumors and poisonous tumor cells without depth limitations. Furthermore, immunofluorescence assay and cytotoxicity assay tests in vivo proved that T cell infiltration could be significantly increased, triggering an effective anti-tumor immune response and inhibiting lung metastasis. Therefore, the experimental results demonstrated that the acid-smart-driven nano-platform has the potential to address the limitations of tumor depth and drug accumulation in solid tumors.

Objectives To evaluate the impact of medication on antibody response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 mRNA vaccines in Japanese patients with rheumatic diseases. Methods This prospective multicentre cohort study evaluated the humoral response in 12 different medication groups. Antibody levels before the first vaccination and 3–6 weeks after the second vaccination were measured using the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S assay. Statistical analysis included comparing antibody titres among the different medication groups using the Kruskal–Wallis test followed by the Bonferroni–Dunn test and multiple linear regression analysis. Results 295 patients were analysed. The seroconversion rate was 92.2% and the median antibody titre was 255 U/ml (interquartile range, 34.1–685) after the second mRNA vaccination. Antibody levels were significantly lower in the groups treated with Tumour necrosis factor inhibitor with methotrexate, abatacept, mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), MMF or mizoribine combined with calcineurin inhibitor, and rituximab or cyclophosphamide compared with those treated with sulfasalazine and/or bucillamine or calcineurin inhibitor (p Conclusions Additional early vaccination is required in patients treated with Tumour necrosis factor inhibitor and methotrexate, abatacept, MMF, MMF or mizoribine combined with calcineurin inhibitor and rituximab or cyclophosphamide.

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a challenging clinical problem with respect to both diagnosis and management. As a newly emerging biomarker of liver injury, miR122 shows great potential in early and sensitive in situ detection of DILI. Glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) possesses desirable therapeutic effect on DILI, but its certain dose-dependent side effects after long-term and/or high-dose administration limit its clinical application. In this study, in order to improve the precise diagnosis and effective treatment of DILI, GA loaded all-in-one theranostic nanoplatform was designed by assembling of upconversion nanoparticles and gold nanocages. As a proof of concept, we demonstrated the applicability of this single-wavelength laser-triggered theranostic nanoplatform for the spatiotemporally controllable in situ imaging of DILI and miR122-controlled on-demand drug release in vitro and in vivo. This novel nanoplatform opens a promising avenue for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of DILI.

Graphene, a novel nanofiller with excellent mechanical properties and high thermal and electrical conductivity, has the potential to enhance the value-added properties of polymer composites. In this study, we synthesized furan diepoxide (FdE) monomer and used it as a graphene dispersant. Graphene suspensions with concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg/mL were used as epoxy reactive diluents to improve the properties of graphene/epoxy nanocomposites. The UV and Raman spectra show that π–π interactions between the graphene nanosheets and FdE stabilized the graphene in the FdE suspension. Dispersion of 2.0 mg/mL of nanosheets into an epoxy resin enhanced the tensile strength by 26.8%, tensile modulus by 40.4%, flexural strength by 21.6%, flexural modulus by 16.8%, and glass transition temperature by 7.2%.

Graphene nanosheets (GNSs) possess outstanding conductivity, good thermal and chemical stabilities and desirable mechanical strengths. However, the unfunctionalized GNSs are hydrophobic and insoluble in water, which limits their application in many technological areas. Herein, we report a design strategy to exfoliate few-layered aqueous dispersible graphene by a simple ball-milling technique. The modifier of sodium lignosulfonate (LS) enables to synthesize LS-decorated GNSs from natural graphite based on the strong π–π interaction, greatly improving GNSs dispersion in water. The resultant GNSs exhibit a high production yield (∼100%), high dispersion concentration and excellent film formation ability. The electrical and thermal conductivities of the as-prepared graphene paper were up to 2385 S cm−1 and 1324 W m−1 K−1, respectively, superior to those of most previously reported graphene materials. This graphene paper with the superb electrical and thermal conduction properties also exhibits excellent mechanical flexibility and structure intensity during bending, which has potential usages in electronic packaging and high power thermal management.

Correction for ‘An ultrahigh thermal conductive graphene flexible paper’ by Jiheng Ding et al., Nanoscale, 2017, 9, 16871–16878, DOI: 10.1039/C7NR06667H.

The antioxidant effect weakens the ability of PDT to resist melanoma, and the hypoxic tumor environment further restricts the application of photosensitizers in tumors. Therefore, to enhance the ability of PDT to resist melanoma, we designed a sequential enhanced PDT theranostic platform (Au@MTM-HA). Firstly, the nanotherapeutic platform uses TiO2 as a photosensitizer, which is doped with MnO2 to form a mesoporous MTM. The MTM can continuously provide oxygen, thereby increasing the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reducing the metastatic effect by alleviating tumor hypoxia. Furthermore, the released Au25Sv9 could inhibit the activity of antioxidant defense enzymes and reduce the scavenging of ROS and further enhance the PDT effect. Simultaneously, surface-modified HA could not only recognize CD44 receptor but also act as a sealing agent for carriers. Result: Au@MTM-HA could explosively produce a 3-fold higher ROS and improve the PDT effect. Therefore, this work may provide strong evidence for Au@MTM-HA as a new and promising PDT candidate for the treatment of metastatic melanoma.

To tackle the barrier of the insufficient intra-cellular delivery of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and heat, we designed a multifunctional nanoplatform to release ROS and heat directly in the cell nucleus for enhancing combined photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) of tumors. As a photothermal agent, WS2 nanoparticles were adsorbed photosensitive Au25(Captopril)18− (Au25) nanoclusters via electrostatic interaction. And Dexamethasone (Dex), a glucocorticoid with nucleus targeting capability, played a key role in the intra-nuclear process of heat and ROS. PTT can increase intra-tumoral blood flow to promote Au25 produce more ROS for PDT. Under near infrared (NIR) laser irradiation at a single 808 nm, these nucleus targeting WS2 nanoplatforms showed a significant decreased cell viability of 18.2 ± 1.7% and a high DNA damage degree of 59.6 ± 8.3%. Furthermore, the WS2 nanoplatform could be further used for X-ray computed tomography (CT) images. Taken together, our study provided a new prospect for effectively diagnostic and enhancing PTT/PDT efficacy.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) considered as the third health "killer" has seriously threatened the health of the elderly. However, the modern diagnostic strategies of AD present several disadvantages: the low accuracy and specificity resulting in some false-negative diagnoses, and the poor sensitivity leading to a delayed treatment. In view of this situation, a enzyme-free and target-triggered signal amplification strategy, based on graphene oxide (GO) and entropy-driven strand displacement reaction (ESDR) principle, was proposed. In this strategy, when the hairpin structure probes (H)specially binds with beta-amyloid-(1-42) oligomers (Aβ42 oligomers), it's structure will be opened, causing the bases complementary to FAM-labeled replacement probes R (R1 and R2) exposed. At this time, R1 and R2 will hybridize with H, resulting in the bound Aβ42 oligomers released. The released Aβ42 oligomers would participate in the next cycle reaction, making the signal amplified. As a quencher, GO could absorb the free single-stranded DNA R1 and R2 and quench their fluorescence; however, the DNA duplex still exists free and keeps its signal-on. Through the detection of Aβ42 oligomers in exosomes, this ultrasensitive detection method with the advantages of low limit of detection (LOD, 20 pM), great accuracy, excellent precision and convenience provides an excellent prospect for AD's early diagnosis.

Based on their unique material properties, two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials such as graphene, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), and boron nitride (BN) have been attracting increased research interest. The potential of 2D materials, in the form of nanoplatelets that are used as new materials, will be important to both nanomaterials and advanced materials. Water is usually considered to be the ideal dispersed medium, and the essential hydrophobicity and limitations to mass production of 2D nanoplatelets have become quite serious obstacles to their usage in various fields. In this paper, pulping black liquor was used as dispersant, with high concentration of lignin to get single- and few-layered nanoplatelets. The whole process required only the high-shear mixing of 2D layered materials and pulping waste liquor. This method was not only simple and efficient but also environmentally friendly and resource-recycling. Moreover, the fabricated single- or few-layered nanoplatelets possessed good solubility in aqueous solution due to their edge functionalization, and could be well dispersed in water at concentrations (10 mg ml-1 for graphene, 6.3 mg ml-1 for MoS2, and 6.0 mg ml-1 for BN) which were much higher than that of other methods. The dispersions of graphene, MoS2, and BN nanosheets were highly stable over several months, which allowed us to easily prepare graphene, MoS2, and BN films through simple vacuum filtration or spraying. These results indicated that pulping black liquor can be used as a material or reagent, and the mass production of 2D material is possible in a simple and fast method.

Due to their high thermal conductivity and insulation performance, boron nitride nanosheets (BNNS) have great promise to fabricate thermal management equipment for application in power electronics. The liquid-phase exfoliation route has been regarded as the most commonly used approach to produce single and few-layered BNNS for many research fields. However, this process takes a long time, and the production yield is extremely low. In this work, an efficient technique to obtain few-layered (mostly < 5 layers), high-yield (~33%), and plane-defect-free BNNS by the combination of liquid N2 (L-N2) gasification and liquid exfoliation was developed. The as-obtained BNNS suspensions could be vacuum filtered to make a thermal conductive film named a BNNS heat spreader which possessed a superior thermal conductivity of 61.2 W m−1 K−1 at room temperature. In addition, we also proved that the thermal conductivity of the BNNS heat spreader increased with the increase of density, creating an approach for fine tuning the thermal property of this heat spreader.

Dielectric oxides are traditionally used to fabricate resistive surface humidity-sensing devices, as well as capacitive sandwich-structured sensors. In the present work, relative humidity (RH) sensors were fabricated by employing vertically aligned TiO(2) nanotubes array (TNA) film produced using electro-chemical anodization of Ti foil followed by a nitrogen-doping process, simultaneously showing resistive and capacitive humidity-sensing properties in the range of 11.3-93.6%. For the sample formed at optimized experimental conditions, the capacitance (C(S)) and resistance (R(S)) of the as-fabricated RH sensors made from nitrogen-doped TiO(2) nanotubes film could be simultaneously obtained. Both the resistive and capacitive sensitivity (K(R) and K(C)) of the as-fabricated TiO(2) nanotube RH sensors show distinct dependence on the frequency of alternating current (AC) voltage signal and RH. At higher water coverage, water-water interaction will result in lowering of the water dissociation barrier, leading to an increase of conductance. With the increase of RH, the polarization of as-adsorbed water molecules will also occur, causing a sharp increase of capacitance. For an explanation of the frequency response of both C(S) and R(S), ionic transport, as well as the polarization effect, should be comprehensively considered. The changes of capacitance and resistance at different temperatures are plausibly caused by thermal expansion and surface state modification by adsorption and desorption of oxygen and water.