Herein, a pH/ultrasound dual‐responsive gas generator is reported, which is based on mesoporous calcium carbonate (MCC) nanoparticles by loading sonosensitizer (hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether ...(HMME)) and modifying surface hyaluronic acid (HA). After pinpointing tumor regions with prominent targeting efficiency, HMME/MCC‐HA decomposes instantaneously under the cotriggering of tumoral inherent acidic condition and ultrasound (US) irradiation, concurrently accompanying with CO2 generation and HMME release with spatial/temporal resolution. Afterward, the CO2 bubbling and bursting effect under US stimulus results in cavitation‐mediated irreversible cell necrosis, as well as the blood vessel destruction to further occlude the blood supply, providing a “bystander effect.” Meanwhile, reactive oxygen species generated from HMME can target the apoptotic pathways for effective sonodynamic therapy. Thus, the combination of apoptosis/necrosis with multimechanisms consequently results in a remarkable antitumor therapeutic efficacy, simultaneously minimizing the side effects on major organs. Moreover, the echogenic property of CO2 make the nanoplatform as a powerful ultrasound contrast agent to identify cancerous lesions. Based on the above findings, such all‐in‐one drug delivery platform of HMME/MCC‐HA is utilized to provide the US imaging guidance for therapeutic inertial cavitation and sonodynamic therapy simultaneously, which highlights possibilities of advancing cancer theranostics in biomedical fields.
The sonosensitizer loaded mesoporous calcium carbonate nanoparticles decompose instantaneously under the cotriggering of tumoral inherent acidic condition and ultrasound irradiation. The released CO2 and sonosensitizer exploited the merits of synergistic combination of therapeutic inertial cavitation and sonodynamic therapy simultaneously, resulting in antitumor effects with multimechanisms.
In real life, there will be a lot of uncertainty problems, one of which is due to the vagueness of the concept of things, that is, it is difficult to determine whether an object conforms to this ...concept. This situation widely exists in some states, phenomena, parameters and interrelationships between things. For such uncertain events with heavy subjective influencing factors and incomplete data, it is suitable to use fuzzy methods to deal with them. In present our work, we firstly introduce the notion of D-number cognitive maps (DCMs), which are intelligent framework models based on D-number theory and cognitive maps. Compared with Evidential Cognitive Maps (ECMs) and Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs), DCMs can fuse multiple sources of information with uncertainty and construct a cognitive map model with incomplete and conflicting information. To better solve the problem of knowledge combination, D-number fuzzy cognitive maps (DFCMs) are also constructed based on D-number theory and fuzzy cognitive maps. In many practical applications, the establishment of fuzzy cognitive maps is usually completed by using a simple arithmetic average method for multiple experts to obtain comprehensive fuzzy cognitive maps. This simple processing method may lead to the loss of some important information so that the synthesized results do not reflect reality. To overcome this challenge, we synthesize the knowledge of multiple experts by using D-number theory and the characteristics of the representation of expert knowledge in FCMs. It is based on expert knowledge, and the synthesized reliability distribution function is used as the basis of final weight synthesis.
Atherosclerosis (AS) is a critical pathological event during the progression of cardiovascular diseases. It exhibits fibrofatty lesions on the arterial wall and lacks effective treatment. ...N.sup.6-methyladenosine (m.sup.6A) is the most common modification of eukaryotic RNA and plays an important role in regulating the development and progression of cardiovascular diseases. However, the role of m.sup.6A modification in AS remains largely unknown. Therefore, in this study, we explored the transcriptome distribution of m.sup.6A modification in AS and its potential mechanism. Methylation Quantification Kit was used to detect the global m.sup.6A levels in the aorta of AS mice. Western blot was used to analyze the protein level of methyltransferases. Methylated RNA immunoprecipitation with next-generation sequencing (MeRIP-seq) and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) were used to obtain the first transcriptome range analysis of the m.sup.6A methylene map in the aorta of AS mice, followed by bioinformatics analysis. qRT-PCR and MeRIP-qRT-PCR were used to measure the mRNA and m.sup.6A levels in target genes. The global m.sup.6A and protein levels of methyltransferase METTL3 were significantly increased in the aorta of AS mice. However, the protein level of demethylase ALKBH5 was significantly decreased. Through MeRIP-seq, we obtained m.sup.6A methylation maps in AS and control mice. In total, 26,918 m.sup.6A peaks associated with 13,744 genes were detected in AS group, whereas 26,157 m.sup.6A peaks associated with 13,283 genes were detected in the control group. Peaks mainly appeared in the coding sequence (CDS) regions close to the stop codon with the RRACH motif. Moreover, functional enrichment analysis demonstrated that m.sup.6A-containing genes were significantly enriched in AS-relevant pathways. Interestingly, a negative correlation between m.sup.6A methylation abundance and gene expression level was found through the integrated analysis of MeRIP-seq and RNA-seq data. Among the m.sup.6A-modified genes, a hypo-methylated but up-regulated (hypo-up) gene Fabp5 may be a potential biomarker of AS. Our study provides transcriptome-wide m.sup.6A methylation for the first time to determine the association between m.sup.6A modification and AS progression. Our study lays a foundation for further exploring the pathogenesis of AS and provides a new direction for the treatment of AS.
The homogeneous polyaniline (PAni)/TiO2 nanocomposites were synthesized via a facile emulsion polymerization with the assistance of peroxo-titanium complex (PTC), where PTC was used as both the TiO2 ...precursor and the oxidant for the polymerization of PAni/TiO2 nanocomposites. Display omitted
► PTC was used as both the TiO2 precursor and the oxidant for the polymerization of PAni/TiO2 nanocomposites. ► Anatase TiO2 were well-dispersed in the PAni chains without aggregation. ► The TiO2 were anchored on the polymer chains through chemical interactions. ► The PAni/TiO2 composites could be well dispersed in common solvent, and showing good photocatalytic and conductivity properties.
The homogeneous polyaniline (PAni)/TiO2 nanocomposites were successfully synthesized via a facile emulsion polymerization with the assistance of peroxo-titanium complex (PTC), where PTC was used as both the TiO2 precursor and the oxidant for the polymerization of PAni/TiO2 nanocomposites. Comprehensive analysis indicated that anatase TiO2 nanocrystals (about 4–6nm) were well-dispersed in the PAni chains without aggregation, and the TiO2 were anchored on the polymer chains through chemical interactions, such as TiONC and TiOC, which made the PAni/TiO2 composite possess better thermal stability. The PAni/TiO2 composite could be well dispersed in common solvent, such as acetone, and stay stability without any precipitation for a month. Since the PAni/TiO2 composite could be well dispersed in common solvent, the PAni/TiO2 dispersion may be coated on the surface of Poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) film, showing good processable properties, and the prepared PAni/TiO2/PET films exhibit good photocatalysis and best conductivity (2.08×10−2scm−1), when the molar ratio of aniline (AN) and Ti in the PAni/TiO2 composite is 1/1. The possible reaction mechanism was also discussed. The facile synthesized method proposed can also be used for the preparation of other conducting polymer/semiconductor nanocomposites.
Herein, Zn3In2S6 photocatalyst with (110) exposed facet was prepared by low temperature solvothermal method. On this basis, a highly efficient binary Zn3In2S6/g-C3N4 was obtained by low temperature ...solvothermal method and applied to the degradation of tetracycline (TC). The samples of the preparation were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, UV–vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Furthermore, the degradation performance of photocatalysts on TC was investigated under different experimental conditions. Finally, the mechanism of Zn3In2S6/g-C3N4 composite material degrading TC is discussed. The results show that Zn3In2S6 and Zn3In2S6/g-C3N4 photocatalysts with excellent performance could be successfully prepared at lower temperature. The Zn3In2S6/g-C3N4 heterojunction photocatalyst could significantly improve the photocatalytic activity compared with g-C3N4. After 150 min of illumination, the efficiency of 80%Zn3In2S6/g-C3N4 to degrade TC was 1.35 times that of g-C3N4. The improvement of photocatalytic activity was due to the formation of Zn3In2S6/g-C3N4 heterojunction, which promoted the transfer of photogenerated electron–holes. The cycle experiment test confirmed that Zn3In2S6/g-C3N4 composite material had excellent stability. The free radical capture experiment showed that ·O2− was the primary active material. This study provides a new strategy for the preparation of photocatalysts with excellent performance at low temperature.
Heterocyclic compounds with excellent nonlinear optical (NLO) properties are highly significant and have many potentials uses in various fields such as nuclear science, optoelectronics etc. Herein, ...an organic dye JK-201 was used theoretically to design a series of novel D-π-A based NLO molecules (DTA1-DTA12). This novel series of NLO molecules was quantum chemically designed by structural tailoring at the 1st π-spacer and acceptors unit of the JK-201 molecule. To explore the effect of spacers and acceptors on the electronic, photophysical, and NLO properties of DTA1-DTA12, density functional theory (DFT) investigations were performed for different simulation analyses. UV–Vis spectra revealed that all these novel compounds exhibited broader absorption spectra with the largest shift and a narrowed bandgap (1.84–2.07 eV) compared to the parent molecule (JK-201). Among all the designed compounds, the largest redshift was examined in DTA11 (538.99 nm). Furthermore, with the help of frontier molecular orbital (FMO) study, charge transfer processes between the orbitals and chemical reactivity of designed molecules were explained. Moreover, the Energy gap (ELUMO-EHOMO) was also used to express global reactivity parameters (GRPs). These GRP findings evaluated that all molecules (DTA1-DTA12) had higher global softness (σ = 13.15–14.77 a.u) and lower hardness (η = 0.034–0.038 a.u) values, which indicated that these compounds were more reactive. Nevertheless, significantly higher NLO behavior was examined in all compounds. Overall, compound DTA5 showed a larger value of the linear polarizability (<α>= 2868.08 a.u.), while compound DTA12 displayed a larger hyperpolarizability (βtotal = 268494.71 a.u) value. This present work presented that by controlling the type of π-spacer and acceptor units, metal-free NLO materials can be designed, which can be valuable for hi-tech NLO applications.
Soil moisture (SM) is a key parameter of the hydrological process, which affects exchanges of water and heat at the land/atmosphere interface. The "trapezoid" (or "triangle") method has been widely ...applied to SM monitoring based on the pixel distribution within the thermal and optical remote sensing observations. However, the trapezoid method is a linear empirical model highly related to the retrieval accuracy of the surface temperature. In the article, the moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) data were applied to retrieve SM through an improved method over the Tibetan Plateau. The improved method is integrated with the "trapezoid" model and multiple learning techniques, Random Forest (RF) and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). Meanwhile, RF and XGBoost were both trained with SM target data (the scale of SM and soil temperature) derived from the Tibetan Plateau observations, and the input variables were derived from MODIS observations. Compared with the SM measured, the results showed the root mean square error, the mean absolute error, and the correlation coefficient of the ensemble retrievals were 0.046-0.081 m 3 m -3 , 0.030-0.065 m 3 m -3 , and 0.60-0.87, respectively, which is better than that of the separate model. The ideas to implement the combination of traditional inversion algorithms and machine learning methods are helpful for researches in remote sensing fields.
Oasis cities are deeply affected by human activities in arid and semi-arid regions. Vegetation is an important repository in the carbon cycle of oasis urban ecosystems. The continuous expansion of ...urban has a disproportionate impact on the carbon sequestration capacity of vegetation. Till now, studies have been conducted to quantify the impact of urbanization on vegetation carbon sequestration capacity, the mechanism of such impact remains unclear and lacks systematic investigations, especially in oasis urban. Understanding the impact mechanism greatly benefits the sustainable development of oasis urban and regional carbon neutrality. To fill this knowledge gap, we design a theoretical framework to analyze the impact of urbanization on vegetation carbon sequestration capacity by isolating the direct and indirect impacts in Urumqi, China. Some results based on Landsat images indicated that the Impervious Surface Areas (ISAs) expanded by 436.98 km
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during 2000 - 2019. The Net Primary Productivity (NPP) calculated using the Vegetation Photosynthesis Model (VPM) was directly caused by the loss of 51.45 Gg C (1 Gg = 109 g). Another important finding proved that the direct carbon loss caused by urbanization did not change the upward trend of the total carbon sequestration capacity of vegetation, but only slowed down this upward trend by 20.86%. Our results provide new insights into urban vegetation carbon sinks and contribute to a better understanding of the uncertainty of urbanization toward carbon neutrality. This study will provide scientific data support and suggestions for the sustainable development of oasis cities and the regional carbon budget.
Psoriasis is the most common skin disease in adults. Current experimental and clinical evidences suggested the infiltrating immune cells could target local skin cells and thus induce psoriatic ...phenotype. However, recent studies indicated the existence of a potential feedback signaling loop from local resident skin cells to infiltrating immune cells. Here, we deconstructed the full-thickness human skins of both healthy donors and patients with psoriasis vulgaris at single cell transcriptional level, and further built a neural-network classifier to evaluate the evolutional conservation of skin cell types between mouse and human. Last, we systematically evaluated the intrinsic and intercellular molecular alterations of each cell type between healthy and psoriatic skin. Cross-checking with psoriasis susceptibility gene loci, cell-type based differential expression, and ligand-receptor communication revealed that the resident psoriatic skin cells including mesenchymal and epidermis cell types, which specifically harbored the target genes of psoriasis susceptibility loci, intensively evoked the expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, upregulated interferon (INF), tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signalling and increased cytokine gene expression for primarily aiming the neighboring dendritic cells in psoriasis. The comprehensive exploration and pathological observation of psoriasis patient biopsies proposed an uncovered immunoregulatory axis from skin local resident cells to immune cells, thus provided a novel insight for psoriasis treatment. In addition, we published a user-friendly website to exhibit the transcriptional change of each cell type between healthy and psoriatic human skin.
The concentration of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural (HMF) is an important quality-related index in milk and milk products. Fast, cost-effective and environmentally friendly determination of HMF is of ...great significance in milk products control. In this study, a three-dimensional (3D) graphene-like surface (3DGrls) was successfully prepared within 5 min by an electrochemical amperometric pretreatment on a pencil graphite electrode (PGE). The fast-obtained 3D graphene-like surface increased the electrode surface area and enhanced the electron transfer capability without the addition of any harmful chemicals. The morphology and chemical composition of the obtained electrode were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results found that the electrochemical response to HMF at the prepared 3DGrls/PGE was 34 times higher than that at PGE. The modified electrode showed a good linear response to HMF in a concentration range of 0.35~116 μM with a low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.099 μM. The integrated electrode also exhibited excellent stability and wonderful antifouling property. Furthermore, the 3DGrls/PGE was successfully applied for the determination of HMF in three processed cheese samples with satisfactory results.
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