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Panax ginseng is highly susceptible to fungus throughout its growth. One of the most pervasive diseases is root rot, caused by Fusarium solani. Defensin family proteins play important roles in resisting biotic stress caused by pathogens such as fungus. In the transcriptome database, pgDEF (Panax ginseng defensin) belongs to the defensin family. The pgDEF has 240 nucleotides, encoding 80 amino acid peptides, with a predicted molecular mass of 8.92 kDa. Based on the transcriptome database, the expression of pgDEF was analyzed in different periods, and the expression of pgDEF in the developing stage of ginseng indicated a higher incidence of F. solani than that in other stages. In this paper, we analyze and reveal the characterization of pgDEF for the first time. After that, we focus on the role of the pgDEF gene in the course of fungal inoculation. PgDEF-overexpressing transgenic Arabidopsis plants enhanced resistance to biotic stresses, compared with the wild-type plants. The expression level of pgDEF was significantly higher in transgenic Arabidopsis than in the wild type. Overexpression of the pgDEF gene increased accumulation of salicylic acid (SA) in Arabidopsis, and enhanced defense responses though SA signaling pathways. These prove that, as a defense-associated gene pgDEF has an antifungal effect and can be used as a candidate gene in disease-resistance breeding of Panax ginseng and other crops.

Osteoporosis is one of the most prevalent age-related diseases worldwide and is characterized by a systemic deterioration of bone strength (bone mineral density and bone quality) with a resulting increase in fragility fractures. Due to the complex osteoporotic pathological environment, it is a huge challenge to induce bone regeneration under osteoporosis conditions. In this study, we successfully nanoengineer a bioinspired mineralized hydrogel from the supramolecular assembly of nano-hydroxyapatite, sodium carbonate, and polyacrylic acid, termed as CHAp-PAA. The resultant nanocomposite hydrogels can maintain their initial morphology and mechanical properties under physiological conditions, while exhibiting good primary stability, biocompatibility, bioactivity, and osteoconductivity. We demonstrate that this optimized hydrogel scaffold has shown superior performance for bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) proliferation, differentiation, and extracellular matrix production in vitro. Remarkably, the mineralized CHAp-PAA hydrogels could be used as scaffolds for the critical-sized bone defect (6.0 mm diameter and 10.0 mm depth) in the osteoporotic rabbit model. Without the delivery of additional therapeutic agents or stem cells, these CHAp-PAA hydrogel scaffolds can improve bone ingrowth and accelerate new bone formation even in complex osteoporotic pathological environments. Therefore, this work presents a type of bioinspired multifunctional mineral hydrogel that offers an alternative strategy to manage osteoporosis. Statement of Significance • We successfully nanoengineer a bioinspired mineralized hydrogel from supramolecular assembly of nano-hydroxyapatite, sodium carbonate, and polyacrylic acid, termed as CHAp-PAA. The resultant nanocomposite hydrogels can maintain their initial morphology and mechanical properties under physiological conditions, while exhibiting good primary stability, biocompatibility, bioactivity, and osteoconductivity. • We demonstrate that this optimized hydrogel scaffold has shown superior performance for bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) proliferation, differentiation, and extracellular matrix production in vitro. • Remarkably, the mineralized CHAp-PAA hydrogels could be used as scaffold for the critical-sized bone defect (6.0 mm diameter and 10.0 mm depth) in osteoporotic rabbit model. Without delivery of additional therapeutic agents or stem cells, these CHAp-PAA hydrogel scaffolds can improve bone ingrowth and accelerate new bone formation even in complex osteoporotic pathological environment.

Luminescent films have received great interest for chemo-/bio-sensing applications owing to their distinct advantages over solution-based probes, including their good stability; ease of storage, transport, and recycling; tunable shape and size; and non-invasive nature. In this study, mechanically stable polyurethane/carbon dot (PU/CDs) composite films with dual-emission for ratiometric temperature sensing were prepared. The films exhibited good light transmissivity, flexibility, and ductility. The obtained PU/CDs hybrid films with dual emission exhibited temperature response and reversible properties from 10 °C to 90 °C. At the appropriate reactive ratio of CDs to PU, the fluorescent color of the films shifted over a relatively large range from blue to green to yellow over a large temperature range. These findings indicate that the stretchable hybrid PU/CDs composite films could potentially be applied for colorimetric detection over a large temperature range (10 °C–90 °C). These materials thus have high application value for macroscopic dual-light temperature detection as well as further development of polymer composite modification.

All-inorganic cesium lead halide perovskites have received much attention, but the study of the formation pathway is relatively little. We report here a new one-step approach for the synthesis of C...

Wound infections are serious medical complications that can endanger human health. Latest researches show that conductive composite materials may make endogenous/exogenous electrical stimulation more effective, guide/comb cell migration to the wound, and subsequently promote wound healing. To accelerate infected wound healing, a novel medical silver nanoparticle-doped conductive polymer-based hydrogel system (Ag NPs/CPH) dressing with good conductivity, biocompatibility, and mechanical and antibacterial properties was fabricated. For the hydrogel dressing, Ag NPs/CPH, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and gelatin were used as the host matrix materials, and phytic acid (PA) was used as the cross-linking agent to introduce conductive polyaniline into the matrix, with antibacterial Ag NPs loaded via impregnation. After a series of analyses, the material containing 5 wt% of PVA by concentration, 1.5 wt% gelatin, 600 μL of AN reactive volume, and 600 μL of PA reactive volume was chosen for Ag NPs/CPH preparation. XPS and FTIR analysis had been further used to characterize the composition of the prepared Ag NPs/CPH. The test on the swelling property showed that the hydrogels had abundant pores with good water absorption (≈140% within 12 h). They can be loaded and continuously release Ag NPs. Thus, the prepared Ag NPs/CPH showed excellent antibacterial property with increasing duration of immersion of Ag NPs. Additionally, to evaluate in vivo safety, CCK-8 experiments of HaCat, LO2 and 293T cells were treated with different concentrations of the Ag NPs/CPH hydrogel soaking solution. The experimental results showed the Ag NPs/CPH had no significant inhibitory effect on any of the cells. Finally, an innovative infection and inflammation model was designed to evaluate the prepared Ag NPs/CPH hydrogel dressing for the treatment of severely infected wounds. The results showed that even when infected with bacteria for long periods of time (more than 20 h), the proposed conductive antibacterial hydrogel could treat severely infected wounds.

Paralyzed exoskeleton robots of upper limb can be used to help patients with paralysis or stroke to carry out rehabilitation training, and it has attracted extensive attention because of its standard and effective help to rehabilitation. However, the exoskeleton robots are coupled highly-nonlinear systems, which is difficult to solve it through the traditional analytical method. The most common method is to obtain the analytic joint angles from joint velocity spaces by using the pseudo-inverse-based calculation method, which may lead to more calculation cost and lower system accuracy. In this paper, a motion planning method based on beetle antenna search algorithm(BAS) was improved. The proposed method greatly enhance the control accuracy of the system, and also improves the efficiency of the original algorithm. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the improved motion planning method.

The dispersion of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in water under thermal excitation has been investigated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The pressure and temperature distribution of the combination of CNTs and water indicate that water molecules have increased kinetic energy under thermal excitation. The absolute value of the potential of mean force (PMF) and the mean square displacement (MSD) of CNTs significantly increase with the increase of temperature in the thermal excitation region. It can be concluded that CNTs have a higher tendency of separation at higher temperatures with the assistant of water.

Diverse rubber composites filled with two types of thermal conductive fillers of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and aluminum nitride (AlN) have been experimentally investigated. AlN in the composite serves as a bridge to join CNTs and to form a heat transfer network in the composites, while CNTs in the composite are either randomly or orientationally aligned. Both types of fillers have been found to improve the viscosity and thermal conductivity of the composite to some extent, while viscosity and thermal conductivity can both reach a maximum value when CNTs and AlN have the same content. Thermal conductivity of the composite with randomly aligned CNTs is superior to that with orientationally aligned CNTs. The highest thermal conductivity of 0.502 W/(m K) is obtained when the two kinds of fillers have a volume ratio of 1/1. AlN can reduce the tensile and tear strength of the composite while CNTs improve them. Tensile properties of the composite filled with oriented CNTs are better than that with random CNTs. The electrical conductivity of the composite can be improved with the increase in the loading of CNTs.

A method is described here for the quickly (

Background Indirubin, isolated from Indigo Naturals, is reported to have the inhibitory activity of MCF-7 human breast cancer cells in vitro. However, studies on its anti-breast cancer activity in vivo and underlying mechanism are insufficient. We explored whether indirubin could trigger ferroptosis of breast cancer cells to exert anti-tumor activity. Methods Bioinformatical analysis was performed to detected the expression of prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (Ptgs2) in breast cancer tissues Ptgs2-related prognosis for patients with breast cancer. Growth of 4T1 cells was assessed using wound healing assay and MTT assay. The levels of 4-HNE, GPX4, PTGS2 and GSK-3β proteins were detected by Western blot, and the mRNA of Ptgs2 was tested by qPCR. The GSH and MDA were determined by commercial kits. Molecular docking was employed to study interaction between indirubin and GSK-3β. An 4T1 murine breast cancer was adopted to evaluate the in vivo antitumor activity of indirubin. Results Indirubin promoted ferroptosis of 4T1 breast cancer cells with deplete of GSH, increased MDA and 4-HNE level, as well as decreased GPX4 expression. Indirubin suppressed the growth of 4T1 breast tumor in vivo. Mechanism study showed indirubin up regulated Ptgs2 expression by promoting phosphorylation (Ser 9) of GSK-3β. Conclusions Indirubin suppresses 4T1 murine breast cancer in vitro and in vivo by induction of ferroptosis and up-regulation of Ptgs2.

As a kind of temperature-responsive hydrogel, polystyrene-co-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)/poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PS-co-PNIPAM/PNIPAM) core-shell nanoparticles prepared by two-step copolymerization are widely studied and used because of their specific structures and properties. Unlike most reports about the steady stability of PS-co-PNIPAM/PNIPAM core-shell nanoparticle hydrogel emulsion, in this work, the PS-co-PNIPAM/PNIPAM core-shell nanoparticle hydrogel emulsion (symbolized as PS/PNIPAM hydrogel emulsion), which is prepared after the second step of synthesis and without washing out a large number of PNIPAM polymer segments, shows a reversible temperature-dependent sol-gel transition characteristic during the temperature range of 34-80 °C. The PS/PNIPAM hydrogel emulsion is a normal solution at room temperature, and it changes from a sol to a gel statue when the temperature approaches up to low critical solution temperature (LCST). As the temperature continues to increase, the gel (core-shell nanoparticles as the crosslinkers and the linear PNIPAM chain as the 3D gel network) of the PS/PNIPAM hydrogel emulsion gradually shrinks and drains linearly. Compared with most crosslinked hydrogels, the hydrogel here can be arbitrarily changed in shape according to use needs, which is convenient for use, transportation, and storage. Here a new route is provided for the preparation of a PS/PNIPAM core-shell hydrogel nanoparticle system, as well as a new supramolecular crosslinking sol-gel system for application in biomedical materials, sensors, biological separation, drug release, macromolecular adsorption, and purification.

Doubly charged pH-responsive core/shell hydrogel nanoparticles with green fluorescence were prepared and were shown to be viable bioprobes for active targeting tumor tissue and imaging of cancer cells. Via emulsionfree copolymerization hydrogel nanoparticles as VANPs were prepared, the core of which was polystyrene (Ps) and the shell was comprised of strongly positive electrolyte (ar-vinylbenzyl)trimethylammonium (VBTAC) with weak negative electrolyte acrylic acid (AA). Through conventional amidation, the shell was conjugated with cell-specific folic acid (FA), denoted as VANPs-FA. Then, negatively charged sulfonated 9,10-distyrylanthracene derivatives (SDSA) based on aggregation induced emission (AIE), was binding tightly to positively charged VBTAC of VANPs-FA shell. The prepared double charged fluorescent core/shell hydrogel nanoparticles abbreviated as VANPs-FS, showed excitation/emission wavelengths at ~420/528 nm. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements were performed to determine the size and surficial zeta potential of VANPs-FS. Under proper ratio of VBTAC to AA, the VANPs-FS was stable (~ 64.63 nm, -20.2 mV) at high pH (7), started to aggregate (~ 683.0 nm, -3.2 mV) at pH around 6, and can redispers at low pH (5). The MTT analysis proved that VANPs-FS had good biocompatibility and low cytotoxicity. The targeting effectiveness of VANPs-FS was confirmed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Graphical abstract Detailed synthetic route of VANPs-FS (top) and schematic cancer tumor-target aggregation of pH-sensitive VANPs-FS with enhanced retention and rapid cancer cell imaging (bottom).

A three-dimensional computational model was developed to study the thermal behaviour of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT)-polymer composites. A lattice Boltzmann algorithm has been introduced to ...

Phenacyl quinolinium bromide (PaQBr), an old-fashioned corrosion inhibitor in strong acid medium, was reinvestigated and a new indolizine derivative (DiPaQBr) was synthesized from PaQBr. DiPaQBr is classified as an indolizine quaternary ammonium salt. Based on high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), the formula and chemical structure of DiPaQBr was accurately confirmed and characterized. The formation mechanism of DiPaQBr from the condensation of two molecules of PaQBr through 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition was proposed. The corrosion inhibition of PaQBr and DiPaQBr on N80 steel in 15% HCl was investigated by weight loss measurements, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Polarization results indicate that the two compounds examined are mixed-type inhibitors. The adsorption of the studied inhibitors obeyed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The obtained results from gravimetric research as well as electrochemical studies indicated that compared with the inhibitive PaQBr, its indolizine derivative DiPaQBr exhibited a better corrosion prevention performance at a much lower concentration. The achieved results indicate that the derivative (the indolizine quaternary ammonium salt) of heterocyclic quaternary ammonium salts could inhibit the steel more effectively in acid medium.

Eukaryotic elongation factor 2 kinase (eEF2K) is a Ca2+/calmudulin-dependent protein kinase, belonging to a small family of an atypical Ser/Thr-protein kinase. eEF2K has been recently reported to be highly activated or overexpressed in many types of cancer; therefore, eEF2K would be regarded as a promising therapeutic target. In this study, we discovered a β-phenylalanine scaffold by virtual high-throughput screening, as well as designed and synthesized 46 derivatives with assessment of inhibition activity against eEF2K and cytotoxicity. After several rounds of kinase and anti-proliferative activity screening, we discovered an eEF2K inhibitor (21l) with best eEF2K enzymatic activity (IC50 of 5.5 μM) and anti-proliferative activity (MDA-MB-231 cells, IC50 of 12.6 μM, MDA-MB-436 cells, IC50 of 19.8 μM). Moreover, we found that 21l could induce cell death via the apoptotic pathways in MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-436 cells. Subsequently, we evaluated its anti-tumor activity and apoptosis-inducing mechanisms in vivo. These results suggested that 21l inhibited tumor growth by apoptosis in the xenograft mouse model of breast cancer (MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-436). Collectively, our results demonstrate a novel small-molecule inhibitor targeting eEF2K with mechanism of apoptosis and a therapeutic potential in breast cancer.

Gold nanoclusters have attracted widespread attention because of their unique optical and physical properties. However, traditional synthesis methods are complicated and require additional reducing agents, while the yield is often very low. Such resource and time-consuming synthesis processes limit their further application. Herein, a rapid sonochemical route is used to synthesize fluorescent Au nanoclusters in large quantities using glutathione (GSH) both as a capping and reducing agent. These Au nanoclusters are synthesized quickly (∼40 min) due to the presence of ultrasonic waves, and show orange red photoluminescence (Em = 598 nm), small size (∼2 nm) and good dispersion in aqueous solution. Moreover, GSH, as a protecting agent on the surface of resultant Au nanoclusters, has many functional groups including carboxyl and amino groups because of which the nanoclusters show high photo-, storage-, metal- and pH-stability. A stable Au nanoclusters-based nano-sensor is designed for highly sensitive and selective label-free detection of Cu2+ with a low limit of detection of 7 ppb (based on S/N = 3). The fluorescent probe can be used in versatile nanothermometry devices, because their photoluminescence intensity correlates strongly with temperature and varies considerably over a wide temperature range (20–80 °C). Therefore, the novel fluorescent sensing probe has great application prospects in Cu2+ detection and temperature sensing.

Intelligent soft materials have been intensively investigated during the past few decades. Herein, nanocomposite hydrogels are constructed for detection of multiple external stimuli by the naked-eye. The nanocomposite hydrogels were prepared by reacting oxidized sodium hyaluronate with carbon dots. As a result, the hydrogels are capable of self-healing and strong fluorescence, as well as having multiple stimuli-responsive properties. The gelation mechanism of the dynamic crosslinked reaction in these hydrogels was demonstrated. Interestingly, the hydrogels exhibit sharp phase transitions and fluorescence changes in response to multiple external stimuli, including various chemical redox reactions, enzymes, biomolecules, cations, and pH values. This stimuli-responsive property has been successfully exploited to design programmable logic-gate responses. This investigation opens the door to developing logic-gate responsive hydrogels, which may become a powerful method to visually detect multiple environmental changes through the observation of the phase transition and fluorescence change.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a clinical conundrum with distinct clinical and pathologic features, which is characterized by high aggression, poor prognosis, and lack of targeted therapies. In this study, based on the structural features of type II kinase inhibitors, we designed and synthesized a focused library of 41 pyrimidine derivatives possessing potent anti-proliferation activity, Y29 showed the most potent activity against MDA-MB-231 cells. Subsequently, we carried out target prediction, homology modeling, molecular docking, dynamics simulation and determination of enzymatic activity. The results suggested that PDGFR-β was its potential target. In vitro experiments revealed that Y29 attenuated metastasis by PDGFR-β inhibition-induced autophagy and could enhance autophagy-related cell death through AKT-MAPK feedback loop in MDA-MB-231 cells.

Five flavones, including four flavonoids and one prenylated chalcone (paratocarpin E), were isolated from E. humifusa. and their chemical structures were established by spectroscopic analyses. We assessed the efficacy of these compounds against the growth of human breast cancer, leukemic, kidney cancer cell lines. Among them, paratocarpin E showed significant cytotoxicity against these cancer cell lines with an IC50 of 19.6μM on the growth of MCF-7 cells. Paratocarpin E treatment of MCF-7 cells resulted in typical apoptotic features via increasing expression of activated caspase-8 and -9 and PARP cleavage. Moreover, paratocarpin E altered the expression of Bax and Bcl-2, leading to the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria into the cytosol, suggesting that the mitochondria-mediated apoptosis was initiated. In addition, paratocarpin E increased the MDC-positive autophagic vacuoles, the ratio of LC3-II/LC3-I protein levels of Beclin-1, but decreased p62 expression, indicating the potent pro-autophagic effects of paratocarpin E in MCF-7 cells. Mechanistically, cell death induced by paratocarpin E is able to induce apoptosis of MCF-7 cells by activating p38 and JNK signaling pathway while inhibiting Erk pathway. Furthermore, paratocarpin E promotes the activation and nuclear translocation of NF-κB, which plays an important role in balancing paratocarpin E-mediated apoptosis and autophagy. The molecular docking study also revealed that paratocarpin E bound to Fas and NF-κB complex. These findings provide initial evidences that paratocarpin E can be used as a potential anti-cancer drug in future for breast cancer therapy.

Multiple functions incorporated in one single component material offer important applications in biosystems. Here we prepared a divalent state of rare earth EuS nanocrystals (NCs), which provides luminescent and magnetic properties, using both 1-Dodecanethiol (DT) and oleylamine (OLA) as reducing agents. The resultant EuS NCs exhibit controllable shapes, uniform size, and bright luminescence with a quantum yield as high as 3.5%. OLA as a surface ligand plays an important role in tunable morphologies, such as nanowires, nanorods, nanospheres et al. Another attractive nature of the EuS NCs is their paramagnetism at room temperature. In order to expand the biological applications, the resultant EuS NCs were modified with amphiphilic block copolymer F127 and transferred from oil to water phase. The excellent biocompatibility of EuS NCs is demonstrated as well as preservation of their luminescence and paramagnetic properties. The EuS NCs offer multifunction and great advantages of bright luminescence, paramagnetic, controllable morphologies, and good biocompatibility promising applications in the field of simultaneous magnetic resonance and fluorescence bioimaging.

We report, for the first time, the synthesis of CdS magic-size clusters (MSCs) which exhibit a single sharp absorption peaking at ∼ 361 nm, along with sharp band edge photoemission at ∼ 377 nm and broad trap emission peaking at ∼ 490 nm. These MSCs are produced in a single-ensemble form without the contamination of conventional quantum dots (QDs) and/or other-bandgap clusters. They are denoted as MSC-361. We present the details of several controlled syntheses done in oleylamine (OLA), using Cd(NO3)2 or Cd(OAc)2 as a Cd source and thioacetamide (TAA) or elementary sulfur (S) as a S source. A high synthetic reproducibility of the reaction of Cd(NO3)2 and TAA to single-ensemble MSC-361 is achieved, the product of which is not contaminated by other bandgap clusters and/or QDs. In some cases, the reaction product exhibits an additional absorption peak at ∼ 322 nm. We demonstrate that the two peaks, at 361 and 322 nm, do not evolve synchronously. Therefore, the 322 nm peak is not a higher order electronic transition of MSC-361, but due to the presence of another ensemble, namely MSC-322. The present study suggests that there is an outstanding need for the development of a physical model to narrow the knowledge gap regarding the electronic structure in these colloidal semiconductor CdS MSCs.

Alloy semiconductor magic-size clusters (MSCs) have received scant attention and little is known about their formation pathway. Here, we report the synthesis of alloy CdTeSe MSC-399 (exhibiting sharp absorption peaking at 399 nm) at room temperature, together with an explanation of its formation pathway. The evolution of MSC-399 at room temperature is detected when two prenucleation-stage samples of binary CdTe and CdSe are mixed, which are transparent in optical absorption. For a reaction consisting of Cd, Te, and Se precursors, no MSC-399 is observed. Synchrotron-based in-situ small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) suggests that the sizes of the two samples and their mixture are similar. We argue that substitution reactions take place after the two binary samples are mixed, which result in the formation of MSC-399 from its precursor compound (PC-399). The present study provides a room-temperature avenue to engineering alloy MSCs and an in-depth understanding of their probable formation pathway., Alloy magic-size clusters (MSCs) are difficult to synthesize, in part because so little is known about how they form. Here, the authors produce single-ensemble alloy CdTeSe MSCs at room temperature by mixing prenucleation-stage solutions of CdTe and CdSe, uncovering a formation pathway that may extend to the synthesis of other alloy MSCs.

Ethnopharmacological relevance Si-Miao-Yong-An decoction (SMYAD) is a traditional Chinese herbal formulation. SMYAD first appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty according to the “Shen Yi Mi Zhuan”. Then the formula was recorded in the “Yan Fang Xin Bian” edited by medical scientist Bao Xiangao in the Qing Dynasty. This well-known prescription has been traditionally used for gangrene and vascular vasculitis. It is mainly used for cardiovascular and endocrine diseases in current clinical applications and research. Aim of study In this study, the potential mechanisms of SMYAD against cardiac fibrosis and hypertrophy in the β-adrenoceptor agonist isoprenaline induced heart failure model were investigated. Materials and methods The heart failure animal model was established via injected isoprenaline in rats. Echocardiography was used to detect the structure and function of the heart. HE staining and Masson's trichrome staining was performed to assess myocardial tissue morphology. The serum biochemical indexes were detected by dedicated biochemical kit. BNP was tested by ELISA kit. The levels of mRNA were detected by RT-qPCR. Cardiomyocyte morphology was assessed by immunofluorescence. Phosphorylated and total p38, Akt were analyzed by Western blot. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was tested by CM-H2DCFDA probe. Formula identification of chemical constituents of SMYAD in plasma was disclosed through ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q/TOF-MS). Results SMYAD was able to improve the heart function in ISO induced heart failure rat model via protecting rat from developing cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis. SMYAD also decreased plasma expression of these biochemical indexes. It was found that SMYAD could regulate cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis makers’ mRNA levels in vitro and vivo. In addition, SMYAD inhibited the phosphorylation of p38 and Akt, which are key mediators in the pathological process of ISO-induced cardiac hypertrophy and myocardial fibrosis. It also showed that the components of SMYAD in rat plasma exerted myocardial cell protective activity. Conclusion In summary, SMYAD may comprise more than one active ingredient to the pursuit of combination therapies instead of specifically target a single disease-causing molecule. These experimental results suggest that SMYAD may be a potential drug candidate in diseases of cardiac hypertrophy and myocardial fibrosis caused by β-adrenoceptor abnormalities.

A new cycloartane triterpenoid, named gardenolic acid C (

The profiling of disease-related biomarkers is an essential procedure for the accurate diagnosis and intervention of metabolic disorders. Therefore, the development of ultrasensitive and highly selective fluorogenic biosensors for diverse biomarkers is extremely desirable. There is still a considerable challenge to prepare nanocluster-based fluorescence turn-on probes capable of recognizing multiple biomolecules. We herein provide a novel nanocluster-based chemical information processing system (CIPS) for the programmable detection of various metabolites and enzymes. This CIPS consists of biocatalytic reactions between substrates and their respective oxidases to generate H2O2, which was then employed to synthesize bright fluorescent silver nanoclusters (Ag NCs). Utilizing this system, we are able to accurately probe a series of substrates/corresponding oxidases with high sensitivity and specificity, including glucose/glucose oxidase, uric acid/uric acid oxidase, sarcosine/sarcosine oxidase, choline/cholin...

As a kind of temperature-responsive hydrogel, polystyrene-co-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)/poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PS-co-PNIPAM/PNIPAM) core-shell nanoparticles prepared by two-step copolymerization are widely studied and used because of their specific structures and properties. Unlike most reports about the steady stability of PS-co-PNIPAM/PNIPAM core-shell nanoparticle hydrogel emulsion, in this work, the PS-co-PNIPAM/PNIPAM core-shell nanoparticle hydrogel emulsion (symbolized as PS/PNIPAM hydrogel emulsion), which is prepared after the second step of synthesis and without washing out a large number of PNIPAM polymer segments, shows a reversible temperature-dependent sol-gel transition characteristic during the temperature range of 34-80 °C. The PS/PNIPAM hydrogel emulsion is a normal solution at room temperature, and it changes from a sol to a gel statue when the temperature approaches up to low critical solution temperature (LCST). As the temperature continues to increase, the gel (core-shell nanoparticles as the crosslinkers and the linear PNIPAM chain as the 3D gel network) of the PS/PNIPAM hydrogel emulsion gradually shrinks and drains linearly. Compared with most crosslinked hydrogels, the hydrogel here can be arbitrarily changed in shape according to use needs, which is convenient for use, transportation, and storage. Here a new route is provided for the preparation of a PS/PNIPAM core-shell hydrogel nanoparticle system, as well as a new supramolecular crosslinking sol-gel system for application in biomedical materials, sensors, biological separation, drug release, macromolecular adsorption, and purification.

Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) is a very important receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) that can induce angiogenesis, increase cell growth and metastasis, reduce apoptosis, alter cytoskeletal function, and affect other biologic changes. Moreover, it is identified to be deregulated in varieties of human cancers. Therefore, VEGFR turn out to be a remarkable target of significant types of anticancer drugs in clinical trials. On the other side, c-Met is the receptor of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and a receptor tyrosine kinase. Previous studies have shown that c-Met elicits many different signaling pathways mediating cell proliferation, migration, differentiation, and survival. Furthermore, the correlation between aberrant signaling of the HGF/c-Met pathway and aggressive tumor growth, poor prognosis in cancer patients has been established. Recent reports had shown that c-Met/HGF and VEGFR/VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) can act synergistically in the progression of many diseases. They were also found to be over expressed in many human cancers. Thus, in a variety of malignancies, VEGFR and c-Met receptor tyrosine kinases have acted as therapeutic targets. With the development of molecular biology techniques, further understanding of the human tumor disease pathogenesis and interrelated signaling pathways known to tumor cells, using a single target inhibitors have been difficult to achieve the desired therapeutic effect. At this point, with respect to the combination of two inhibitors, a single compound which is able to inhibit both VEGFR and c-Met may put forward the advantage of raising anticancer activity. With the strong interest in these compounds, this review represents a renewal of previous works on the development of dual VEGFR and c-Met small molecule inhibitors as novel anti-cancer agents. Newly collection derivatives have been mainly describing in their biological profiles and chemical structures.

In this study, positively charged polystyrene-co-poly (ar-vinylbenzyl) trimethylammonium nanoparticles loading with Aggregation Induced Emission (AIE) fluorescent molecule sulfonated 9,10-distyrylanthracene derivatives (SDSA) by coulomb force denoted as SDSA/PS-co-PVBTAC have been prepared. The size, size distribution and morphology of nanoparticles have been tested by Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Scanning electron microscope (SEM). The synthesized nanoparticles possess uniform size, good monodispersity and low biological toxicity. The AIE-type SDSA/PS-co-PVBTAC showed good fluorescence stability at pH from 3 to 10. It has been proved that the biological macromolecules including Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA), DNA and RNA can amplify the cell imaging signals. Moreover, the AIE-type nanoparticles have been shown to perform fluorescent imaging of various cells. It suggests that the prepared SDSA/PS-co-PVBTAC can be used as a new biological probe in the field of cell imaging and detection, as well as expanding the application of AIE fluorescent molecules in biosensing field.

Gold nanoclusters have attracted widespread attention because of their unique optical and physical properties. However, traditional synthesis methods are complicated and require additional reducing agents, while the yield is often very low. Such resource and time-consuming synthesis processes limit their further application. Herein, a rapid sonochemical route is used to synthesize fluorescent Au nanoclusters in large quantities using glutathione (GSH) both as a capping and reducing agent. These Au nanoclusters are synthesized quickly (∼40 min) due to the presence of ultrasonic waves, and show orange red photoluminescence (Em = 598 nm), small size (∼2 nm) and good dispersion in aqueous solution. Moreover, GSH, as a protecting agent on the surface of resultant Au nanoclusters, has many functional groups including carboxyl and amino groups because of which the nanoclusters show high photo-, storage-, metal- and pH-stability. A stable Au nanoclusters-based nano-sensor is designed for highly sensitive and selective label-free detection of Cu2+ with a low limit of detection of 7 ppb (based on S/N = 3). The fluorescent probe can be used in versatile nanothermometry devices, because their photoluminescence intensity correlates strongly with temperature and varies considerably over a wide temperature range (20-80 °C). Therefore, the novel fluorescent sensing probe has great application prospects in Cu2+ detection and temperature sensing.

Correction for ‘Indolizine quaternary ammonium salt inhibitors part II: a reinvestigation of an old-fashioned strong acid corrosion inhibitor phenacyl quinolinium bromide and its indolizine derivative’ by Yefei Wang et al., New J. Chem., 2018, 42, 12977–12989.

In this work, a simple, low-cost and one-step microwave approach has been demonstrated for the synthesis of water-soluble carbon dots (C-dots). The average size of the resulting C-dots is about 4 nm. From the photoluminescence (PL) measurements, the C-dots exhibit excellent biocompatibility and intense PL with the high quantum yield (QY) at Ca. 25%. Significantly, the C-dots have excellent biocompatibility and the capacity to specifically target the cells overexpressing the folate receptor (FR). These exciting results indicate the as-prepared C-dots are promising biocompatible probe for cancer diagnosis and treatment.

A novel quaternary ammonium (BQD) with good inhibitive performance is separated from the synthesis of N-Benzylquinolinium Chloride (BQC). The formula of BQD was C32H23N2Cl and its structure is characterized by NMR, LC-HRMS, FT-IR. The formation mechanism of BQD is proposed. The corrosive inhibition of BQD is investigated in 15% HCl. The corrosion rate is 1.98 g m−2 h−1 when the concentration of BQD is 0.744 mmol L−1. The adsorption of BQD on the steel obeyed Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The standard free energy of adsorption of BQD is −54.48 kJ mol−1, indicating a strong chemisorption of BQD onto the steel.