Quantum networks play an extremely important role in quantum information science, with application to quantum communication, computation, metrology, and fundamental tests. One of the key challenges ...for implementing a quantum network is to distribute entangled flying qubits to spatially separated nodes, at which quantum interfaces or transducers map the entanglement onto stationary qubits. The stationary qubits at the separated nodes constitute quantum memories realized in matter while the flying qubits constitute quantum channels realized in photons. Dedicated efforts around the world for more than 20 years have resulted in both major theoretical and experimental progress toward entangling quantum nodes and ultimately building a global quantum network. Here, the development of quantum networks and the experimental progress over the past two decades leading to the current state of the art for generating entanglement of quantum nodes based on various physical systems such as single atoms, cold atomic ensembles, trapped ions, diamonds with nitrogen‐vacancy centers, and solid‐state host doped with rare‐earth ions are reviewed. Along the way, the merits are discussed and the potential of each of these systems toward realizing a quantum network is compared.
Quantum networks linking multiple remote quantum nodes consist of quantum memories served as stationary quantum nodes and flying photonic qubits served as quantum channels. This review summarizes and discusses the state of the art and future challenges for constructing quantum networks in various physical systems like single neutral atoms, cold atomic ensembles, trapped ions, NV centers, and rare‐earth‐ion doped solids.
Statins are inhibitors of HMG-CoA reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme of cholesterol biosynthesis, and have been clinically used to treat cardiovascular disease. However, a paradoxical increase of ...reductase protein following statin treatment may attenuate the effect and increase the side effects. Here we present a previously unexplored strategy to alleviate statin-induced reductase accumulation by inducing its degradation. Inspired by the observations that cholesterol intermediates trigger reductase degradation, we identify a potent degrader, namely Cmpd 81, through structure-activity relationship analysis of sterol analogs. Cmpd 81 stimulates ubiquitination and degradation of reductase in an Insig-dependent manner, thus dramatically reducing protein accumulation induced by various statins. Cmpd 81 can act alone or synergistically with statin to lower cholesterol and reduce atherosclerotic plaques in mice. Collectively, our work suggests that inducing reductase degradation by Cmpd 81 or similar chemicals alone or in combination with statin therapy can be a promising strategy for treating cardiovascular disease.
Photocatalytic degradation is one of the most promising methods for addressing environmental issues without introducing pollution sources. Nonetheless, the majority of works are devoted to explore ...high‐efficiency semiconductor photocatalysts, but the potential environmental risks in their application are usually neglected. In this work, an environmentally friendly vesicle‐structured photocatalyst is rationally designed by employing magnetic layered double oxide‐hollow spheres@antimony tin oxide as a core, phospholipid as membrane, and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as channels, yielding a multi‐structural material with robust organic pollutants photocatalytic degradation and mineralization ability. Materials characterization, computational modeling, and cytotoxicity tests suggest that under visible light irradiation, photogenerated charges can be rapidly generated and transfer in the core composite, and H2O2 can be effectively activated to generate hydroxyl radical for organic pollutants rapid degradation. The construction of phospholipid membranes and embedded CNTs not only maintains the photodegradation performance of the material, but also restrains its environmental risk. Such a synthetic approach advances the development of bionic photocatalytic materials.
This work rationally designs an environmentally friendly vesicle‐structured photocatalyst by employing magnetic layered double oxide‐hollow spheres@antimony tin oxide as a core, phospholipid as membrane, and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as channels, yielding a multi‐structural material with robust organic pollutants photocatalytic degradation and mineralization ability. The use of bionic photocatalytic materials avoids potential environmental risks.
Recent studies have demonstrated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were present in the blood of cancer patients and have shown great potential as powerful and non-invasive tumor markers. However, ...little is known about the value of lncRNAs in the diagnosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). We hypothesized that ESCC-related lncRNAs might be released into the circulation during tumor initiation and could be utilized to detect and monitor ESCC.
Ten lncRNAs (HOTAIR, AFAP1-AS1, POU3F3, HNF1A-AS1, 91H, PlncRNA1, SPRY4-IT1, ENST00000435885.1, XLOC_013104 and ENST00000547963.1) which previously found to be differently expressed in esophageal cancer were selected as candidate targets for subsequent circulating lncRNA assay. A four-stage exploratory study was conducted to test the hypothesis: (1) optimization of detected method to accurately and reproducibly measure ESCC-related lncRNAs in plasma and serum; (2) evaluation of the stability of circulating lncRNAs in human plasma or serum; (3) exploration the origin of ESCC-related lncRNAs in vitro and in vivo; (4) evaluation the diagnostic power of circulating lncRNAs for ESCC.
ESCC-related lncRNAs were detectable and stable in plasma of cancer patients, and derived largely from ESCC tumor cells. Furthermore, plasma levels of POU3F3, HNF1A-AS1 and SPRY4-IT1 were significantly higher in ESCC patients compared with normal controls. By receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, among the three lncRNAs investigated, plasma POU3F3 provided the highest diagnostic performance for detection of ESCC (the area under the ROC curve (AUC), 0.842; p < 0.001; sensitivity, 72.8%; specificity, 89.4%). Moreover, use of POU3F3 and SCCA in combination could provide a more effective diagnosis performance (AUC, 0.926, p < 0.001, sensitivity, 85.7%; specificity, 81.4%). Most importantly, this combination was effective to detect ESCC at an early stage (80.8%).
Plasma POU3F3 could serve as a potential biomarker for diagnosis of ESCC, and the combination of POU3F3 and SCCA was more efficient for ESCC detection, in particular for early tumor screening.
Abstract Supramolecular photosensitizers (supraPSs) have emerged as effective photodynamic therapy (PDT) agents. Here, we propose the assembling capacity of supraPSs as a new strategy to construct ...theranostic nanoplatform with versatile functions aming at high-performance tumor therapy. By coating tirapazamine (TPZ)-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with layer-by-layer (LbL) assembled multilayer, the versatile nanoplatform (TPZ@MCMSN-Gd3+ ) was obtained with the formation of supraPSs via host-guest interaction and the chelation with paramagnetic Gd3+ . The TPZ@MCMSN-Gd3+ could be specifically uptaken by CD44 receptor overexpressed tumor cells and respond to hyaluronidase (HAase) to trigger the release of therapeutics. As confirmed by in vivo studies, TPZ@MCMSN-Gd3+ showed preferential accumulation in tumor site and significantly inhibited the tumor progression by the collaboration of PDT and bioreductive chemotherapy under NIR fluorescence/MR imaging guidance. Taken together, this supraPSs based strategy paves a new paradigm of the way for the construction of theranostic nanoplatform.
This paper describes a novel electrochemiluminescence (ECL) imaging platform for simultaneous detection of cancer biomarkers based on a closed bipolar electrode (BPE) array. It consists of two ...separated channel arrays: detection channel array and sensing channel array, which are connected by a group of parallel ITO BPEs on a glass substrate. Besides, two parallel ITO strips are fabricated at the two sides of BPE array and employed as driving electrodes. After Au films are electrochemically deposited on the cathodes of the BPE array, nanobioprobes including biorecognition elements (aptamer or antibody) and a novel electrochemical tag, which is synthesized by doping thionine in silica nanoparticles (Th@SiO2 NPs), are introduced into the cathodes by immunoreaction or DNA hybridization. The Th@SiO2 coupled nanobioprobes as both recognition probes and signal amplification indicators could mediate the ECL signals of Ru(bpy)3(2+)/tripropylamine (TPA) on the anodes of BPE array through faradaic reaction due to the charge neutrality of BPE. Thus, multiplex detection of cancer biomarkers (adenosine triphosphate (ATP), prostate-specific antigen (PSA), α-fetoprotein (AFP) and thrombin) is realized by forming specific sensing interfaces onto the cathodic poles of BPEs in different sensing channels and reported by the ECL images of the Ru(bpy)3(2+)/TPA system on the anodic poles of BPEs in detection channels. The results demonstrate that this visual ECL platform enables sensitive detection with excellent reproducibility, which may open a new door toward the development of simple, sensitive, cost-effective, and high throughput detection methods on biochips.
Nanostructured carbon materials with large surface area and desired chemical functionalities have been attracting considerable attention because of their extraordinary physicochemical properties and ...great application potentials in catalysis, environment, and energy storage. However, the traditional approaches to fabricating these materials rely greatly on complex procedures and specific precursors. We present a simple, effective, and scalable strategy for the synthesis of functional carbon materials by transition metal-assisted carbonization of conventional small organic molecules. We demonstrate that transition metals can promote the thermal stability of molecular precursors and assist the formation of thermally stable polymeric intermediates during the carbonization process, which guarantees the successful preparation of carbons with high yield. The versatility of this synthetic strategy allows easy control of the surface chemical functionality, porosity, and morphology of carbons at the molecular level. Furthermore, the prepared carbons exhibit promising performance in heterogeneous catalysis and electrocatalysis.
In this study, a pH sensitive chimeric peptide is developed to codeliver a photosensitizer, protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), and plasmid DNA simultaneously. In the presence of matrix metalloproteinase‐2 ...(MMP‐2), the chimeric peptide undergoes the process of hydrolysis of PLGVR peptide sequence, exfoliation of PEG, and increase of positive charges. As a result, the chimeric peptide can be preferentially uptaken by MMP‐2 rich tumor cells. To realize synergistic effect of drug and gene delivery, a dual‐stage light irradiation strategy is developed, i.e., the short time light irradiation can efficiently enhance the endosomal escape of the chimeric peptide/PpIX/DNA complexes by the formation the reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting in synergistic endosomal escape and improved DNA expression. In addition, due to the screened phototoxicity of PpIX, short time light irradiation does not lead to detectable changes in the cell viability. After the gene transfection, the screened phototoxicity of PpIX is subsequently stimulated by long time irradiation to achieve high synergistic efficacy of photodynamic and gene therapies. Both in vitro and in vivo studies confirm the chimeric peptide‐based nanocarrier with a good synergistic effect is a promising nanoplatform for tumor treatments.
A MMP‐2 responsiveness chimeric peptide is reported to transport the photosensitizer PpIX and DNA to the target cells. Importantly, a dual‐stage light irradiation strategy is used to enhance the endosome escape via photochemical internalization. A high therapeutic index is achieved due to the synergistic effect between gene therapy and photodynamic therapy.
MAPbBr
3
(MA = CH
3
NH
3
+
) doping with bismuth increases electric conductivity, charge carrier density and photostability, reduces toxicity, and expands light absorption. However, Bi doping ...shortens excited-state lifetimes due to formation of DY
−
charge recombination centers. Using nonadiabatic molecular dynamics and time-domain density functional theory, we demonstrate that the DY
−
center forms a deep, highly localized hole trap, which accelerates nonradiative relaxation ten-fold and is responsible for 90% of carrier losses. Hole trapping occurs by coupling between the valence band and the trap state, facilitated by the Br atoms surrounding the Bi dopant. Passivation of the DY
−
center with chlorines heals the local geometry distortion, eliminates the trap state, and makes the carrier lifetimes longer than even in pristine MAPbBr
3
. The decreased charge recombination arises from reduced nonadiabatic coupling and shortened coherence time, due to diminished electron-hole overlap around the passivated defect. Our study demonstrates accelerated nonradiative recombination in Bi-doped MAPbBr
3
, suggests a strategy for defect passivation and reduction of nonradiative energy losses, and provides atomistic insights into unusual defect properties of metal halide perovskites needed for rational design of high-performance perovskite solar cells and optoelectronic devices.
Aims
Low caspofungin exposure is frequently encountered in patients with invasive candidiasis caused by Candida albicans. This study aimed to investigate the effects of caspofungin on C. albicans at ...sub‐inhibitory concentrations.
Methods and Results
First, a comparative transcriptomics analysis was performed on C. albicans receiving caspofungin at sub‐minimum inhibitory concentrations (sub‐MICs). The results showed that caspofungin significantly changed the mRNA expression profile in DAY185, with DE‐mRNAs enriched in the functions of cell wall biosynthesis, metabolism, etc. Subsequently, cellular fitness, cell aggregation, energy metabolism activity and the proportion of persister cells of C. albicans were quantitatively and/or qualitatively assessed after sub‐MIC caspofungin exposure. No significant changes in cell fitness and aggregation formation were observed during treatment of C. albicans with sub‐MIC caspofungin. In C. albicans aggregation treated with sub‐MIC caspofungin, we observed a decrease in respiratory metabolism and an increase in persister cells; this effect was more pronounced in als1ΔΔ than in DAY185.
Conclusions
Pre‐exposure to sub‐MIC caspofungin suppresses C. albicans respiratory metabolism and promotes persister cell development.
Significance and Impact of the Study
Caspofungin should be used with caution in patients with C. albicans infections, as anti‐infection therapy may fail due to persister cells.
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