Red/near‐infrared (NIR) emissive carbon nanodots (CNDs) with photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY) of 57% are prepared via an in situ solvent‐free carbonization strategy for the first time. ...1‐Photon and 2‐photon cellular imaging is demonstrated by using the CNDs as red/NIR fluorescence agent due to the high PL QY and low biotoxicity. Further study shows that the red/NIR CNDs exhibit multiphoton excited (MPE) upconversion fluorescence under excitation of 800–2000 nm, which involves three NIR windows (NIR‐I, 650–950 nm; NIR‐II, 1100–1350; NIR‐III, 1600–1870 nm). 2‐Photon, 3‐photon, and 4‐photon excited fluorescence of the CNDs under excitation of different wavelengths is achieved. This study develops an in situ solvent‐free carbonization method for efficient red/NIR emissive CNDs with MPE upconversion fluorescence, which may push forward the application of the CNDs in bioimaging.
Red/near‐infrared (NIR) emissive carbon nanodots (CNDs) with photoluminescence quantum yield of 57% are demonstrated via an in situ solvent‐free strategy. 1‐Photon and 2‐photon cellular imaging is demonstrated. Furthermore, multiphoton excited red/NIR fluorescence of the CNDs is achieved.
Background and Purpose
The cytokine activin C is mainly expressed in small‐diameter dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons and suppresses inflammatory pain. However, the effects of activin C in ...neuropathic pain remain elusive.
Experimental Approach
Male rats and wild‐type and TRPV1 knockout mice with peripheral nerve injury ‐ sciatic nerve axotomy and spinal nerve ligation in rats; chronic constriction injury (CCI) in mice – provided models of chronic neuropathic pain. Ipsilateral lumbar (L)4–5 DRGs were assayed for activin C expression. Chronic neuropathic pain animals were treated with intrathecal or locally pre‐administered activin C or the vehicle. Nociceptive behaviours and pain‐related markers in L4–5 DRGs and spinal cord were evaluated. TRPV1 channel modulation by activin C was measured.
Key Results
Following peripheral nerve injury, expression of activin βC subunit mRNA and activin C protein was markedly up‐regulated in L4–5 DRGs of animals with axotomy, SNL or CCI. Correction added on 26 November 2020, after first online publication: The preceding sentence has been corrected in this current version. Intrathecal activin C dose‐dependently inhibited neuropathic pain in spinal nerve ligated rats. Local pre‐administration of activin C decreased neuropathic pain, macrophage infiltration into ipsilateral L4–5 DRGs and microglial reaction in L4–5 spinal cords of mice with CCI. In rat DRG neurons, activin C enhanced capsaicin‐induced TRPV1 currents. Pre‐treatment with activin C reduced capsaicin‐evoked acute hyperalgesia and normalized capsaicin‐evoked persistent hypothermia in mice. Finally, the analgesic effect of activin C was abolished in TRPV1 knockout mice with CCI.
Conclusion and Implications
Activin C inhibits neuropathic pain by modulating TRPV1 channels, revealing potential analgesic applications in chronic neuropathic pain therapy.
The importance of the early diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and its cutaneous complications has become increasingly recognized. When diabetic non-injured skin was stained with Masson's trichrome, ...its dermal collagen was found to be disordered, its density was variable, and it was dispersed or arranged in vague fascicles. The collagen type I sequencing results of RNA sequencing-based transcriptome analysis of three primary human skin cell types-dermal fibroblasts, dermal microvascular endothelial cells, and epidermal keratinocytes-under high glucose were analyzed. The results showed that both COL1A1 and COL1A2 mRNA expressions were reduced in human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs). The ratio of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2/tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-2 and MMP-9/TIMP-1 in HDFs increased when treated with high glucose. By inhibiting MMP-2 and MMP-9 with SB-3CT, collagen deposition disorder of the skin in streptozotocin-induced diabetes mice was alleviated. The imbalance of MMP2/TIMP2 and MMP9/TIMP1 contributes to the non-injured skin disorder of collagen deposition in diabetes, suggesting a possibility for early treatment of diabetes skin complications.
Lung ischemia-reperfusion injury (LIRI) is a cause of poor prognosis in several lung diseases and after lung transplantation. In LIRI, matrix metalloproteinases and pyroptosis indicators change in ...parallel, both of them involvement of inflammatory modulation, but it is unclear whether they are related to each other.
We analyzed the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) changes from RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) data of human transplantation and rat ischemia-reperfusion lung tissues in the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) database. Then established the mouse LIRI model to validate the changes. Further, the severity of lung injury was measured after intervening the matrix metalloproteinases changes with their selective inhibitor during Lung ischemia-reperfusion. Meanwhile, lung, pyroptosis was assessed by assaying the activity of Caspase-1 and interleukin 1β (IL-1β) before and after intervening the matrix metalloproteinases changes.
The RNA-Seq data revealed that matrix metallopeptidase 2 (MMP2), matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP9) mRNA expression was elevated both in human lung transplantation and rat lung ischemia-reperfusion tissues, consistent with the change in our mouse model. At the same time, the activity of Caspase-1 and IL-1β were increased after LIRI. While, the lung injury was attenuated for the use of MMP2 and MMP9 selective inhibitor SB-3CT. Likewise, lung pyroptosis alleviated when treatment the mice with SB-3CT in LIRI.
We conclude that MMP2 and MMP9 are involved in the process of LIRI, the mechanism of which is related to the promotion of lung pyroptosis.
Endophytic fungi play important roles for host's stress tolerance including invasion by pathogenic microbes. Small molecules are common weapons in the microbe–microbe interactions. Panax notoginseng ...is a widely used traditional Chinese medicinal plant and harbors many endophytes, some exert functions against pathogens. Here, we report six new compounds named myrothins A–F (1–6) produced by Myrothecium sp. BS‐31, an endophyte isolated from P. notoginseng, and their antifungal activities against pathogenic fungi causing host root‐rot disease. Their structures were elucidated with analysis of spectroscopic data including 1D and 2D NMR, HR‐ESI‐MS. Myrothins B (2) and E (5) showed the weak activity against Fusarium oxysporum and Phoma herbarum, and myrothins F (6) showed weak activity against F. oxysporum.
To develop and validate a nomogram model for predicting chronic ocular graft-versus-host disease (coGVHD) in patients after allogenic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT).
This study ...included 61 patients who survived at least 100 days after allo-HSCT. Risk factors for coGVHD were screened using LASSO regression, then the variables selected were subjected to logistic regression. Nomogram was established to further confirm the risk factors for coGVHD. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to assess the performance of the predictive model with the training and test sets. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated by using logistic regression analysis.
Among the 61 patients, 38 were diagnosed with coGVHD. We selected five texture features: lymphocytes (LYM) (OR = 2.26), plasma thromboplastin antecedent (PTA) (OR = 1.19), CD3 + CD25 + cells (OR = 1.38), CD3 + HLA-DR + cells (OR = 0.95), and the ocular surface disease index (OSDI) (OR = 1.44). The areas under the ROC curve (AUCs) of the nomogram with the training and test sets were 0.979 (95% CI, 0.895-1.000) and 0.969 (95% CI, 0.846-1.000), respectively.And the Hosmer-Lemeshow test was nonsignificant with the training (p = 0.9949) and test sets (p = 0.9691).
We constructed a nomogram that can assess the risk of coGVHD in patients after allo-HSCT and help minimize the irreversible loss of vision caused by the disease in high-risk populations.
COVID-19 is a serious infectious disease that has recently swept the world, and research on its causative virus, SARS-CoV-2, remains insufficient. Therefore, this study uses bioinformatics analysis ...techniques to explore the human digestive tract diseases that may be caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. The gene expression profile data set, numbered GSE149312, is from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and is divided into a 24-h group and a 60-h group. R software is used to analyze and screen out differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and then gene ontology (GO) term and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses are performed. In KEGG, the pathway of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease exists in both the 24-h group and 60-h group. STRING is used to establish a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network, and Cytoscape is then used to visualize the PPI and define the top 12 genes of the node as the hub genes. Through verification, nine statistically significant hub genes are identified: AKT1, TIMP1, NOTCH, CCNA2, RRM2, TTK, BUB1B, KIF20A, and PLK1. In conclusion, the results of this study can provide a certain direction and basis for follow-up studies of SARS-CoV-2 infection of the human digestive tract and provide new insights for the prevention and treatment of diseases caused by SARS-CoV-2.
In this paper, a classical Lorentz oscillator is quantized via Bohr–Sommerfeld quantum theory and 1- and 2-photon absorption (1PA and 2PA) selection rules of quantum mechanics. Based on the ...Bohr–Sommerfeld model of a hydrogen-like atom in the adiabatic approximation, the computational formulas of the linear and nonlinear parameters and the damping coefficient of the quantized oscillator are derived and further expressed in terms of microphysical quantities, such as electronic charge and mass, Bohr radius, and effective quantum number. In accordance with Boltzmann thermal equilibrium distribution, here, the atom number density in general electric susceptibility is changed to the energy level transition one from the initial to the final state at equilibrium between atomic emission and absorption under light field. A new relationship is proposed to determine the transition eigenfrequency according to the peak frequency and full width at half maximum of an absorption spectrum. Our theoretical simulations of the 1PA spectra of atomic hydrogen and lithium and 1PA and 2PA spectra of two kinds of organic molecules turn out to be in good agreement with the experimental ones. These results suggest that our advancement in the quantization of the Lorentz oscillator is likely successful to make it available for use in the quantitative description of atomic or molecular 1PA and 2PA processes. Generally, the improved Lorentz oscillator may also be more suitable for approximating both linear and nonlinear properties of many dielectric or optoelectronic materials due to its relative simplicity.
A nitrogen deficiency always causes bog bilberry syrup wine to have a poor sensory feature. This study investigated the effect of nitrogen source addition on volatile compounds during bog bilberry ...syrup wine fermentation. The syrup was supplemented with 60, 90, 120 or 150 mg/L dibasic ammonium phosphate (DAP) before fermentation. Results showed that an increase of DAP amounts accelerated fermentation rate, increased alcohol content, and decreased sugar level. Total phenol and total flavonoid content were also enhanced with the increase of DAP amounts. A total of 91 volatile compounds were detected in the wine and their concentrations were significantly enhanced with the increase of DAP. Ethyl acetate, isoamyl acetate, phenethyl acetate, ethyl butanoate, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl octanoate, ethyl decanoate, isobutanol, isoamyl alcohol,
-2,3-butanediol, 2-phenylethanol,
-2,3-butanediol, isobutyric acid, hexanoic acid, and octanoic acid exhibited a significant increase of their odor activity value (OAV) with the increase of DAP amounts. Bog bilberry syrup wine possessed fruity, fatty, and caramel flavors as its major aroma, whereas a balsamic note was the least present. The increase of DAP amounts significantly improved the global aroma attributes, thereby indicating that DAP supplementation could promote wine fermentation performance and enhance the sensory quality of bog bilberry syrup wine.