The features of well-conjugated and planar aromatic structures make π-conjugated luminescent materials suffer from aggregation caused quenching (ACQ) effect when used in solid or aggregated states, ...which greatly impedes their applications in optoelectronic devices and biological applications. Herein, we reduce the ACQ effect by demonstrating a facile and low cost method to co-assemble polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) chromophores and octafluoronaphthalene together. Significantly, the solid photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQYs) for the as-resulted four micro/nanococrystals are enhanced by 254%, 235%, 474 and 582%, respectively. Protection from hydrophilic polymer chains (P123 (PEO
-PPO
-PEO
)) endows the cocrystals with superb dispersibility in water. More importantly, profiting from the above-mentioned highly improved properties, nano-cocrystals present good biocompatibility and considerable cell imaging performance. This research provides a simple method to enhance the emission, biocompatibility and cellular permeability of common chromophores, which may open more avenues for the applications of originally non- or poor fluorescent PAHs.
Cisplatin, a typical anticancer drug, is often used to treat different cancers, and leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) is known to be widely distributed in organisms from bacteria to humans, including ...various cancer cells. However, cancer cells display different intrinsic or acquired resistance toward cisplatin, and it is unclear whether intracellular LAP plays a role in the intrinsic drug resistance, mainly due to the lack of a sensitive detection approach for LAP because this enzyme usually exists at trace levels in cancer cells. Herein, by developing an ultrasensitive LAP fluorescent probe (detection limit 0.42 ng mL
) and combining it with confocal fluorescence imaging, we analyze the concentration change of LAP in cancer cells such as HepG2 and A549 cells under cisplatin treatment. We find that a large increase in the LAP concentration occurs in HepG2 rather than in A549 cells. These different changes are further confirmed by an ELISA kit. A cell viability assay reveals that HepG2 cells with a higher level of LAP have much stronger resistance toward cisplatin than A549 cells, suggesting that LAP may serve as a simple indicator to reflect the relative resistance of different cancer cells. Importantly, inhibiting the expression of LAP with siRNA further decreases cell viability. These findings support that LAP may contribute to the intrinsic resistance of cancer cells toward cisplatin. In addition, the proposed probe may find more uses in studying the cellular LAP function, and improving chemotherapeutic cancer treatment.
Although the famous brittle characteristics of molecular crystals are unfavorable when they are used as flexible smart materials (FSMs), an increasing number of organic crystal-based FSMs have been ...reported recently. This breaks the perception of their stiff and brittle properties and promises a bright future for basic research and practical applications. Crystalline smart materials present considerable advantages over polymer materials under certain circumstances, rendering them potential candidates for certain applications, such as rapidly responsive actuators, ON/OFF switching, and microrobots. In this review, we summarize the recent developments in the field of organic crystal-based FSMs, including the derivatives of azobenzene, diarylethene, anthracene, and olefin. These organic crystal-based FSMs can bend, curl, twist, deform, or respond otherwise to external stimuli, such as heat or light. The detailed mechanisms of their smart behaviors are discussed with their potential applications in exciting intelligent fields. We believe this review could provide guidelines toward future fabrication and developments for novel organic crystal-based FSMs and their advanced smart applications.
Schematic illustration of several nuclear-targeted drug delivery strategies, such as charge conversion, size ladder, dual targeting, light irradiation and stimulated responsive, for enhanced gene ...therapy, chemotherapy, phototherapy, combination therapy and CRISPE genome editing based therapy.
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•Recent advances of functional nanomaterials in cancer therapy are overviewed.•Many nuclear targeting ligands are introduced to understand nuclear entry mechanism.•The robust strategies are summarized to improve the nuclear delivery of nanocarriers.•Current challenges in the clinical applications and future perspectives are discussed.
Nucleus, as the machinery for genome transcription, play prominent roles to support the fundamental cellular functions, the destruction of any of these specific parts would significantly modulate the cell function. Therefore, troumendous drug delivery systems with enhanced nucleus targeting ability have been studied for nucleus-related disease regulation. The purpose of this review is to sort out the fundamental nuclear targeting strategy, especially the active mechanism of various nuclear targeting ligands and their extensive applications based on cancer targeting therapy. Various nuclear targeting ligands are first introduced to understand their nuclear entry mechanism. Next, to overcome biological barriers and avoid the serum protein absorption, diverse robust delivery strategies based on different nuclear targeting ligands are discussed. Moreover, other sophisticated carrier systems with enhanced nuclear entry, while without nuclear targeting ligands are also assembled. At the end the challenges and future opportunities in the field of nuclear targeting nanotherapeutics are tentatively proposed, to speed up their clinical translation.
Structurally well‐defined graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) have attracted great interest because of their unique optical, electronic, and magnetic properties. However, strong π–π interactions within GNRs ...result in poor liquid‐phase dispersibility, which impedes further investigation of these materials in numerous research areas, including supramolecular self‐assembly. Structurally defined GNRs were synthesized by a bottom‐up strategy, involving grafting of hydrophilic poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) chains of different lengths (GNR‐PEO). PEO grafting of 42–51 % percent produces GNR‐PEO materials with excellent dispersibility in water with high GNR concentrations of up to 0.5 mg mL−1. The “rod–coil” brush‐like architecture of GNR‐PEO resulted in 1D hierarchical self‐assembly behavior in the aqueous phase, leading to the formation of ultralong nanobelts, or spring‐like helices, with tunable mean diameters and pitches. In aqueous dispersions the superstructures absorbed in the near‐infrared range, which enabled highly efficient conversion of photon energy into thermal energy.
Supramolecular nanostructures of structurally well‐defined graphene nanoribbons grafted with hydrophilic poly(ethylene oxide) chains present excellent dispersibility in the aqueous phase. Aqueous dispersions of graphene nanoribbon superstructures absorb in the near‐infrared range, thereby enabling highly efficient conversion of photon energy into thermal energy.
Longitudinal bulk and single-cell omics data is increasingly generated for biological and clinical research but is challenging to analyze due to its many intrinsic types of variations. We present ...PALMO ( https://github.com/aifimmunology/PALMO ), a platform that contains five analytical modules to examine longitudinal bulk and single-cell multi-omics data from multiple perspectives, including decomposition of sources of variations within the data, collection of stable or variable features across timepoints and participants, identification of up- or down-regulated markers across timepoints of individual participants, and investigation on samples of same participants for possible outlier events. We have tested PALMO performance on a complex longitudinal multi-omics dataset of five data modalities on the same samples and six external datasets of diverse background. Both PALMO and our longitudinal multi-omics dataset can be valuable resources to the scientific community.
Synthesis route of the Fe3O4/P(AAPBA-co-DMAEMA)/(β-CD-EPI) semi-IPN hydrogels. Display omitted
► A novel magnetic, triple-responsive semi-IPN hydrogels were prepared. ► The swelling measurements and ...drug release behavior were investigated. ► The swelling behaviors affected by pH, temperature, and glucose concentration. ► The hydrogels have porous morphologies, superparamagnetism. ► The hydrogels possess targeting capacity.
In this work, Fe3O4/poly(3-acrylamidephenylboronic acid-co-(2-dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate) (Fe3O4/P(AAPBA-co-DMAEMA)) hydrogels possessing magnetic and triple-responsive properties and semi-interpenetrated by β-cyclodextrin-epichlorohydrin (β-CD-EPI) were prepared via radical polymerization. The characteristics of the materials have been investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The swelling measurements and the application of Fe3O4/P(AAPBA-co-DMAEMA)/(β-CD-EPI) hydrogels in controlled release of drug were also investigated. It was found that the magnetic hydrogels exhibit swelling behaviors affected by pH, temperature, glucose concentration and magnetic field, and have porous morphologies, superparamagnetism. Moreover, the hydrogels possess targeting and could control the release of quercetin by adjusting pH value, temperature, glucose concentration and magnetic field.
► TiN/TiCN multilayer films were conducted by plasma nitriding treatment. ► After plasma nitriding treatment, the film structure was changed significantly. ► The variation of the structure leaded to ...improve the film properties. ► The internal stresses and the hardness showed a declining trend slightly. ► The tribological behaviors of the films were improved by plasma-nitriding.
The TiN/TiCN multilayer films were deposited by direct current magnetron sputtering, and then the nitriding treatments were carried out in low pressure plasma excited by single-frequency discharge mode. It could be found that the nitriding time had a considerable influence on the composition of uppermost TiCN layer. These variations mainly embodied on the decrement of the TiC bonds and the increment of the CN and TiN bonds with increasing the nitriding time. Moreover, after the 40min plasma-nitriding treatment, the TiCN layers within the films produced a mass of amorphous carbon (a-C) due to the decomposition of the supersaturated solid solution, and all TiN layers and the uppermost TiCN layer exhibited fine columnar crystals mixed with some amorphous materials. All the results were attributed to the plasma energy breaking the TiC bonds in the film surface, inducing the structure transformation and supporting the carbon diffusion within the films. In the view of the changes of the structure, the internal stresses and the hardness showed a declining trend slightly. Exhilaratingly, the tribological behaviors of the films were improved significantly by the plasma-nitriding. After 40min plasma-nitriding, the mean coefficient of friction (COF) and the wear rate of the film sliding 10h were only about 0.15 and 4.8×10−7mm3/Nm, respectively. In addition, the COF of TiN layer fell from around 0.4–0.6 in other films to around 0.15 in this film.
A thick TiN/TiCN multilayer film was prepared on steel and silicon (Si) substrates using a DC magnetron sputtering technique under a high deposition rate. Its thickness reached about 23.5μm and it ...was composed of 30 bilayer numbers. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), cross-sectional high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and field emitted scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) were employed to characterize the composition and structure of the film on the Si substrates. It was found that the inner TiCN layers consisted of a mixture nanocrystalline TiCN phase and amorphous carbon, and the TiN layers showed nano-columnar structure. The adhesion force and the hardness of the film deposited on steel substrates were 29.0N and 21.4GPa, respectively. It was revealed that the thick film still maintained the excellent mechanical properties. The film sliding against steel ball had good wear resistance and very long service life (>11h) in ambient air under high rotate speed and large load.
► The thickness of the TiN/TiCN multilayer film reaches about 23.5μm. ► The film has a long service life due to good wear resistance and high thickness. ► The TiCN layers consist of the TiCN nanocrystalline and the amorphous carbon. ► The TiN layers show nano-columnar structure. ► The film performs high hardness, good adhesion and excellent wear resistance.
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