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A bifunctional TPE-based fluorescent sensor (TPE-Q) for both liquid viscosity and amyloid β has been synthesized straightforwardly by the introduction of an ethylene glycol chain and quaternary ammonium to the classical tetraphenyl ethylene core.

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus-associated interstitial lung disease (SLE-ILD) is one of the manifestations of SLE involvement of the lung, and currently, serum markers are lacking for its early prediction. In this study, we investigated the clinical significance of serum tumor markers (TM) in SLE-ILD to further analyze the potential correlation of serum TM with SLE affected of tissues and organs. Methods: Medical records of SLE patients from Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital ＆ University of Electronic Science and Technology of China were retrospectively reviewed. Serum TM including carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigens (CA125, CA15-3, CA19-9), squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC), cytokeratin-19-fragment (CYFRA21-1), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), ferritin (FER) from the peripheral blood of SLE patients with or without ILD were compared and analyzed, to investigate their relevance and clinical value in patients with SLE-ILD. Results: A total of 927 patients eligible for the diagnosis of SLE were enrolled in this study, and 386 patients with SLE were finally included, including 64 patients with SLE-ILD. Age, and levels of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and serum creatine kinase (CK) in patients with SLE-ILD were higher than those with SLE (PP PPConclusions: Serum CA125, CA15-3, and CA19-9 can serve as clinical predictive markers for SLE-ILD. In addition to lungs, serum SCC, CYFRA21-1 and FER detected in tumor-related markers may also related to kidney involvement of SLE.It is recommended to strengthen the monitoring and investigation of serum TM in patients with SLE-ILD to discover its potential clinical value.

Isolated microspore culture has been implemented in breeding programs to produce doubled haploid (DH) lines and thus accelerates the breeding process. However, low microspore embryogenesis frequency in flowering Chinese cabbage remains a key obstacle to the practical application of this technique. This study aimed to establish an efficient microspore culture protocol for flowering Chinese cabbage that would be applied for heterosis breeding. Microspores of five genotypes, 19AY05, 19AY06, 19AY10, 19AY12, and 19AY15, were successfully induced to produce embryos in NLN-13 medium. Microspores of two genotypes, 19AY05 and 19AY15, were cultivated in NLN-13 medium supplemented with different concentrations (0, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, or 0.2 mg·L

Membranes based on covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have demonstrated huge potential to resolve the long-standing bottlenecks in separation fields due to their structural and functional attributes. Herein, a three-dimensional COF featuring interpenetrated apertures, 3D-OH-COF, is rationally synthesized on polyimide supports to generate flexible, robust membranes. The resultant 3D-OH-COF presents excellent crystallinity, prominent porosity, and exceptional solvent resistance, enabling the produced membrane a sharp and durable selectivity to small molecules in water and organic solvents. Impressively, the membrane also exhibits excellent flexibility and robustness as verified by the well-maintained performances after serious bending and solvent soaking under elevated temperatures. We further chemically convert 3D-OH-COF into the carboxyl-decorated 3D-COOH-COF by a postsynthetic strategy. The 3D-COOH-COF retains high crystallinity, and the converted membrane receives a remarkable capture ability for targeted multivalent ions over other competing ions. This study exploits a viable avenue to produce practical 3D COF membranes toward ultimate separations under extreme conditions.

Phosphorus anode is a promising option for energy storage applications because of its high theoretical specific capacity and safe lithiation potential. However, the multiphase phosphorus lithiation/de-lithiation reactions and soluble reaction intermediates cause sluggish reaction kinetics and active materials loss. Herein, a novel local electric field (LEF) strategy is proposed to inhibit the intermediates dissolution and promote the reaction kinetics by optimizing ionic covalent organic frameworks (iCOFs). Among them, the LEF induced by the cationic covalent organic framework effectively enhances the electrochemical performance of phosphorus anode. The strong electrostatic interaction between the polyphosphides and cationic covalent organic framework confines the dissolution of active materials and tailors the electronic structure of polyphosphides to accelerate the reaction kinetics. The cationic covalent organic framework-assisted phosphorus anode provides a high capacity of 1227.8 mAh g

Two novel fluorophore (BODIPY)-bearing complexes, pyriplatin (mCBP) and pyrimidine-chelated cisplatin (dCBP), were synthesized and characterized. The additional BODIPY-pyridine/pyridimine motifs of the two Pt(II) complexes resulted in stronger interactions with DNA in comparison with those of cisplatin. mCBP and cisplatin caused relative decreases in life span and body length in a cisplatin resistant in vivo model, N2 (wild-type) Caenorhabditis elegans. In contrast, dCBP resulted in a dramatic reduction in the two physiological parameters in N2 C. elegans, indicating high toxicity and sensitivity. The resistance factors (RF) of cisplatin, mCBP, and dCBP were determined to be 2.46, 1.04, and 0.91, respectively. The increasing RF folds for mCBP and dCBP against cisplatin were 2.36 and 2.70, respectively. This suggested they were featured with improved anti-chemoresistance capabilities. It is noteworthy that dCBP showed lowest lethal concentration (LC50) values of 0.56 and 0.61 mM in cisplatin resistant and sensitive in vivo models, respectively. Upregulation of several evolutionary conservation genes that regulate cisplatin chemoresistance through cisplatin effluxing, the DNA damage response, the unfolded protein response, and detoxification (asna-1, parp-1, enpl-1, and skn-1) was observed upon exposure to cisplatin but not to mCBP and dCBP. This could explain the improved anti-chemoresistance performances of synthesized Pt(II) complexes.

Microspore embryogenesis is an effective method of obtaining double haploid (DH) lines in only 1 year. However, the microspore embryogenesis protocol was not efficient in pakchoi. This study aimed to establish an effective microspore culture protocol in pakchoi for hybrid breeding. The embryos were obtained from three genotypes (18SY01, 18SY02, 18SY03), but the frequency of microspore embryogenesis was significantly different. Globular embryos from three genotypes were placed into a rotary shaker (50 r/min, 25 ℃) for further culture to improve microspore embryogenesis and plantlet regeneration without callus development. Shake culture not only increased the frequency of cotyledonary embryos but also accelerated microspore embryogenesis in the NLN-13 liquid medium. Moreover, the doubled haploid rates of regenerated plants for the three genotypes were above 50%. The morphological characters and plot yield of DH lines were identified, and there were significant differences between them. According to the measurement of the self-compatibility index, all the DH lines were self-incompatible. Furthermore, the hybrid combination was prepared with the selected DH lines and the pakchoi genic male sterile line GMS010 to develop excellent hybrids. This work contributes to accelerating the application of microspore embryogenesis and supplying the DH lines in pakchoi hybrid breeding.

In vivo toxicity of aromatic ring (BODIPY, 1,3,5,7,8-pentamethyl dipyrrin borondifluoride) attached monofunctional Pt(II) complexes mCBP {[cis-Pt(NH3)2Cl] 8-(para-pyridine-methylene),1,3,5,7-tetramethyl dipyrrin borondifluoride}+ Nitrate- and dCBP {[cis-Pt(NH3)2Cl]28-(1,3-pyrimidine-5-methylene),1,3,5,7-tetramethyl dipyrrin borondifluoride}2+ diNitrate2- were tested in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). dCBP showed promising reactive oxygen ROS (reactive oxygen species) generating capability. This complex resulted reduction of lifespan, body length and egg laying rate under dark and light irradiation in both N2 (wild-type, cisplatin resistant) and ok938 (asna-1, cisplatin sensitive) C. elegans. Expressional change of several key cancer related pathway (JNK (c-Jun N-terminal kinase) and Wnt/β-catenin (Wingless/Integrated/β-catenin)) related genes (for instance, jnk-1, wrm-1 and gst-4) were confirmed by RNA sequencing experiments. These transcriptional alternations could explain physiological parameters change in nematode and partially revealed how both Pt(II) based complexes influence cancer related pathways. Furthermore, these associated genes exhibited the function of apoptosis, reduced chemoresistance of cancer cells and most of those expressional changes were linked to extended survival of cancer patients.

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Two novel fluorophore (BODIPY)-bearing complexes, pyriplatin (

Tight ultrafiltration (TUF) membranes featuring specific pore sizes are increasingly developed to bridge the gap between nanofiltration and ultrafiltration. So far, a wealth of efforts has been devoted to tackle the limitation found in TUF, but there still lacks a facile accessibility to upgrade TUF membranes with simultaneously improved permeance and selectivity. Herein, we report a large-pore covalent organic framework (LP-COF) as the building material to prepare ultra-permeable TUF membranes for fast separations. The LP-COF layers with an exceptionally large aperture size of up to ~3.6 nm are synthesized on macroporous substrates through a unidirectional diffusion method. The resultant LP-COF layers show a moderate crystallinity and low thickness down to ~60 nm, and allow ultrafast water permeation. Surprisingly, the optimal LP-COF membrane exhibits an unprecedented water permeance of ~3147 L m−2 h−1 MPa−1 with a high Congo red rejection (~92.6%), which is basically unchanged after several cycles of filtration. Moreover, the large-pore channels enable an unimpeded pass of ions, thus affording the membrane an excellent dye/salt separation competence, and largely exceeding state-of-the-art membranes. Therefore, this work opens up a new opportunity in producing high-performance TUF membranes by large-pore COFs for rapid and precise separations.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), with their inherent merits of specific pore size and uniform channels, have been extensively employed to produce nanofiltration (NF) membranes. However, COF-based NF towards precise separations, especially for ion separations, are often unsatisfying due to the intercrystalline defects in selective layers. Herein, a pressure-modulated synthesis method has been explored to prepare crystalline and defect-free COF membranes on seeded substrates for fast NF. Amine and aldehyde solutions are separately placed with a level interval to create vertical hydraulic pressure, which can regulate the mobility of the amine monomers and thus results in the self-repairing of defects in the COF planes and remediation of intercrystalline gaps. The abundant nucleation sites on seeded substrates promote the confined growth of COF crystallites in top layers, leading to an ultrathin selective layer with improved permeance. The resultant COF membrane shows tight methyl orange (~90.4%) and Na2SO4 (~63.6%) rejections with a pronounced water permeance of up to ~44.2 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, which is ~2–10 times higher than other NF membranes with similar rejections. This pressure-modulated synthetic strategy establishes not only the self-repairing synthesis of COFs but also the controllable preparation of defect-free COF-based NF membranes, thus enabling precise and fast separation of molecules and ions.

A novel 4-amino-1, 8-naphthalimide-based fluorescent sensor, with mono iminoethoxyacetic acid as receptor, was developed. It was applied successfully to detect Zn2+ in living cells. Under physiological pH conditions, it demonstrates high selectivity and sensitivity for sensing Zn2+ with about 5-fold enhancement in aqueous solution, with a characteristic emission band of 4-amino-1, 8-naphthalimide with a green color centered at 550 nm. DFT calculations shows Zn2+ is coordinated by the N and O atoms of the iminoethoxyacetic acid arms and methoxy group to form the distorted four-coordination geometry.

A new asymptotic formula for the constant e is proposed by the continued fraction approximation. As a consequence, we deduce inequalities for the sequence \((1+1/n)^n\), and show an application of the inequalities to the proof of Keller’s limit. Numerical computations and comparisons are conducted to illustrate the superiority of our new inequalities.

To improve the electrical properties of modified CaMnO3 powders, we synthesized Ca1−xErxMnO3 (CEM) (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.3) powders by sol–gel autocombustion technology. The effects of the Er-doping concentration on the structure and electrical properties of the powders were studied. The results show that Er-doping can decrease the resistivity of the CEM powders effectively and the variation of the resistivity presents a typical V-type with increasing Er-doping concentration. The resistivity reaches the lowest point of 0.5258 Ω m at x = 0.25. Meanwhile, the Ca0.75Er0.25MnO3 powder showed good frequency stability and higher conductivity at high temperatures. x-Ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and valence analysis illustrate that the grain size and average valence of the Mn ions, which relate to the resistivity of the CEM powders, are affected by the Er-doping concentration. When x = 0.25, the average valence of the Mn ions reaches the lowest point of 3.576. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis demonstrates that higher Er-doping concentration leads to smaller grain size in the CEM powders. Er-doping restrains the growth of the powder particles while decreasing the porosity and increasing the unit cell volume, resulting in improvement of the electrical properties of the modified powders.

In order to explore the role of cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (cdk4) in neurodegenerative diseases, lentiviral-delivered RNA interference (RNAi) was used to silence the expression of the murine cdk4 gene in vitro. Three cdk4-shRNAs of mouse and a negative sequence were designed. After synthesis and annealing, double strand oligonucleotides were cloned into a linearized pSIH1-H1-copGFP shRNA vector. It was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing that three pairs of cdk4-shRNAs and a negative shRNA were correctly inserted into the pSIH1-H1-copGFP vector. The above recombinants were transfected by lipofectamine into BV-2 cells. The gene silencing efficacy rates of the 3 targets were compared by Western blotting. The cdk4-siRNA2 was the most effective in silencing cdk4. The optimized pSIH1-cdk4-siRNA2 and pSIH-negative-siRNA were cotransfected into 293T cells with the lentiviral packaging plasmids respectively. The culture supernatant was harvested and condensed at the 24th and 48th h after transfection. Interference efficiency of the lentivirus expressing cdk4-siRNA was determined by reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) and Western blotting in BV-2 cells. Lentivector-mediated RNAi could efficiently down-regulate the expression of the murine cdk4 gene in vitro, which provides a potential tool for studying and treating cdk4-related diseases.

The chronological and spatial rules of changes during focal cerebral ischemia and reperfusion in different brain regions with magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in a model of occlusion of middle cerebral artery (MCAO) and the development of cytotoxic edema in acute phase were explored. Fifteen healthy S-D rats with MCA occluded by thread-emboli were randomly divided into three groups. 15 min after the operation, the serial imaging was scanned on DWI for the three groups. The relative mean signal intensity (RMSI) of the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, lateral cauda-putamen, medial cauda-putamen and the volume of regions of hyperintense signal on DWI were calculated. After the last DWI scanning, T2 WI was performed for the three groups. After 15 min ischemia, the rats was presented hyperintense signals on DWI. The regions of hyperintense signal were enlarged with prolonging ischemia time. The regions of hyperintense signal were back to normal after 60 min reperfusion with a small part remaining to show hyperintense signal. The RMSIs of parietal lobe and lateral cauda-putamen were higher than that of the frontal lobe and medial cauda-putamen both in ischemia phase and recanalization phase. The three groups were normal on T2 WI imaging. DWI had good sensitivity to acute cerebral ischemia, which was used to study the chronological and spatial rules of development of early cell edema in ischemia regions.