Accelerating repair of infected bone defects through post-reinforced injectable hydrogel mediated antibacterial/immunoregulatory microenvironment at bone-hydrogel interface.

Functional injectable hydrogel (IH) is promising for infected bone defects (IBDs) repair, but how to endow it with desired antibacterial/immunoregulatory functions as well as avoid mechanical failures during its manipulation has posed as main challenges. Herein, rosmarinic acid (RosA), a natural product with antibacterial/immunoregulatory activities, was utilized to develop a FCR IH through forming phenylboronic acid ester bonds with 4-formylphenyl phenylboronic acid (4-FPBA) grafted chitosan (CS) (FC). After being applied to the IBD site, the FCR IH was then injected with tobramycin (Tob) solution, another alkaline antibacterial drug, to induce in situ crystallization of the FC, endowing the resultant FCRT hydrogel with adaptively enhanced mechanical strength and structural stability.

Recent Advance in Sensitive Detection of Demethylase FTO.

Methylation modification is a critical regulatory mechanism in epigenetics and plays a significant role in various biological processes. N6-methyladenosine (mA) is the most common modification found in RNA. The fat mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO) facilitate the demethylation of mA in RNA, and its abnormal expression is closely linked to the development of several diseases.

Hijacking endogenous iron to amplify lysosomal-mitochondrial cascade damage for boosting anti-tumor immunotherapy.

The cross-talk between lysosomes and mitochondria is crucial for keeping intracellular homeostasis and metabolic function, providing a promising approach for tumor therapy. Herein, we employed polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-modified Cu-gallic acid (CuGA) complex nano-boosters for amplifying lysosomes-mitochondria cascaded damage, and thereby effectively inducing cuproptosis and pyroptosis of breast tumor cells to boost anti-tumor immunotherapy. The CuGA nano-boosters could hijack lysosomal iron to form a bimetallic catalyst Cu(Fe)GA in situ through ion-exchange reaction, and cause the release of Cu and metal ion dysregulation (i.

Enrichment of polymethoxyflavones from citrus fruits using an optimized enzyme/acid-catalyzed hybrid hydrolysis process and its influence on mice gut microbiota.

Citrus polymethoxyflavones (PMFs) have considerable medicinal, health-promoting, and commercial importance. To provide a stable and reliable source of PMFs, an efficient process of large-scale preparation is warranted. Here, an extraction model for enriching PMFs from citrus fruits was proposed using an enzyme/acid-catalyzed hybrid hydrolysis approach.

Inducing in situ M2 macrophage polarization to promote the repair of bone defects via scaffold-mediated sustained delivery of luteolin.

Immunoregulation mediated bone tissue engineering (BTE) has demonstrated huge potential in promoting repair of critical-size bone defects (CSBDs). The trade-off between stable immunoregulation function and extended immunoregulation period has posed a great challenge to this strategy. Here, we reported a 3D porous biodegradable Poly(HEMA-co-3APBA)/LUT scaffold, in which reversible boronic acid ester bond was formed between the 3APBA moiety and the catechol moiety of luteolin (LUT).

Integration of Isothermal Enzyme-Free Nucleic Acid Circuits for High-Performance Biosensing Applications.

The isothermal enzyme-free nucleic acid amplification method plays an indispensable role in biosensing by virtue of its simple, robust, and highly efficient properties without the assistance of temperature cycling or/and enzymatic biocatalysis. Up to now, enzyme-free nucleic acid amplification has been extensively utilized for biological assays and has achieved the highly sensitive detection of various biological targets, including DNAs, RNAs, small molecules, proteins, and even cells. In this Review, the mechanisms of entropy-driven reaction, hybridization chain reaction, catalytic hairpin assembly and DNAzyme are concisely described and their recent application as biosensors is comprehensively summarized.

Dual-Signal Cascaded Nucleic Acid Amplification Circuit-Loaded Metal-Organic Frameworks for Accurate and Robust Imaging of Intracellular MicroRNA.

Cascaded signal amplification technologies play an important role in the sensitive detection of lowly expressed biomarkers of interests yet are constrained by severe background interference and low cellular accessibility. Herein, we constructed a metal-organic framework-encapsulating dual-signal cascaded nucleic acid sensor for precise intracellular miRNA imaging. ZIF-8 nanoparticles load and deliver FAM-labeled upstream catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) and Cy5-modified downstream hybridization chain reaction (HCR) hairpin reactants to tumor cells, enabling visualization of the target-initiated signal amplification process for double-insurance detection of analytes.

Chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer-based multistage nucleic acid amplification circuits for MiRNA detection with low background.

Chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer (CRET)-based assays have shown great potential in biosensing due to their negligible background autofluorescence, yet are still limited by their low sensitivity and short half-life luminescence. Herein, a multistage CRET-based DNA circuit was constructed with amplified luminescence signals for accurate miRNA detection and fixed reactive oxygen species (ROS) signals for cell imaging. The DNA circuit is designed through an ingenious programmable catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA), hybridization chain reaction (HCR), and the use of DNAzyme to realize target-triggered precise regulation of distance between the donor and acceptor for CRET-mediated excitation of photosensitizers.

An Intelligent Laser-Free Photodynamic Therapy Based on Endogenous miRNA-Amplified CRET Nanoplatform.

Laser-free photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising noninvasive therapeutic modality for deep-seated tumor, yet is constrained by low efficiency due to the limited stimulation strategies. Herein, a novel miRNA-responsive laser-free PDT was developed through metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-mediated chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer (CRET) nanoplatform. The photosensitizer chlorin e6 (Ce6)-loaded MOFs were functionalized with hairpin nucleic acids for sensitive responsiveness of tumor biomarker miRNA through catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA), which enabled the amplified assembly of horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-mimicking hemin/G-quadruplex DNAzyme on MOFs.

Binary Double Network-like Structure: An Effective Energy-Dissipation System for Strong Tough Hydrogel Design.

Currently, hydrogels simultaneously featuring high strength, high toughness, superior recoverability, and benign anti-fatigue properties have demonstrated great application potential in broad fields; thus, great efforts have been made by researchers to develop satisfactory hydrogels. Inspired by the double network (DN)-like theory, we previously reported a novel high-strength/high-toughness hydrogel which had two consecutive energy-dissipation systems, namely, the unzipping of coordinate bonds and the dissociation of the crystalline network. However, this structural design greatly damaged its stretchability, toughness recoverability, shape recoverability, and anti-fatigue capability.

Mitochondria MicroRNA Spatial Imaging via pH-Responsive Exonuclease-Assisted AIE Nanoreporter.

Mitochondrial microRNAs (mitomiRs) critically orchestrate mitochondrial functions. Spatial imaging of mitomiRs is essential to understand its clinical value in diagnosis and prognosis. However, the direct monitoring of mitomiRs in living cells remains a key challenge.

Recent progress in Fenton/Fenton-like reactions for the removal of antibiotics in aqueous environments.

The frequent use of antibiotics allows them to enter aqueous environments via wastewater, and many types of antibiotics accumulate in the environment due to difficult degradation, causing a threat to environmental health. It is crucial to adopt effective technical means to remove antibiotics in aqueous environments. The Fenton reaction, as an effective organic pollution treatment technology, is particularly suitable for the treatment of antibiotics, and at present, it is one of the most promising advanced oxidation technologies.

Rational design of a supramolecular hydrogel with customizable pH-responsiveness on the basis of pH-induced ionization/protonation transition of BSA.

Developing customizable pH-responsiveness for supramolecular hydrogels is of great significance and has drawn tremendous attention. Through systematic simulation analysis, we formulated a simple supramolecular hydrogel (, poly(AAm--NaSS)/BSA on the basis of electrostatic interaction between the sulfonate groups of poly(AAm--NaSS) and the protonated side groups of BSA, and proposed a novel pH-responsive mode for it: changing the internal electric charge composition of the hydrogel through pH-induced ionization/protonation transition of BSA, thereby regulating the structural stability/shrinkage/extension of the supramolecular network. On basis of this theory, the pH-responsiveness of the poly(AAm--NaSS)/BSA hydrogel, in principle, could be pre-designed by adjusting the initial BSA/NaSS ratio.

Acid-improved DNAzyme-based chemiluminescence miRNA assay coupled with enzyme-free concatenated DNA circuit.

DNAzyme-based chemiluminescence assay exhibits excellent performance in bioanalysis but their operation in acid conditions remains challengeable. Herein, we constructed an acid-improved DNAzyme-based isothermal enzyme-free concatenated DNA circuit with significantly reduced background and simultaneously improved signal-to-noise ratio for miRNA detection. The chemiluminescence miRNA assay is composed of catalyzed hairpin assembly (CHA), hybridization chain reaction (HCR), and hemin/G-quadruplex DNAzyme units.

Utilization of Nonradiative Excited-State Dissipation for Promoted Phototheranostics Based on an AIE-Active Type I ROS Generator.

As for effective multimodal phototheranostic AIEgens, it is important to find strategies for manipulating photophysical dissipation to achieve optimized performance. Herein, a "all-in-one" phototheranostic AIEgen, ()-3-(2-(2-(5-(4-(diphenylamino)phenyl)thiophen-2-yl)vinyl)naphtho[1,2-]thiazol-1-ium-1-yl)propane-1-sulfonate (NS-STPA) was constructed by a rigid coplanar grafting flexible rotor. NS-STPA nanoparticles (NPs) exhibited NIR fluorescent luminescence (FL) with φ 2.

Intelligent Tumor Microenvironment-Activated Multifunctional Nanoplatform Coupled with Turn-on and Always-on Fluorescence Probes for Imaging-Guided Cancer Treatment.

Intrinsic tumor microenvironment (TME)-related therapeutic resistance and nontumor-specific imaging have limited the application of imaging-guided cancer therapy. Herein, a TME-responsive MnO-based nanoplatform coupled with turn-on and always-on fluorescence probes was designed through a facile biomineralization method for imaging-guided photodynamic/chemodynamic/photothermal therapy (PDT/CDT/PTT). After the tumor-targeting delivery of the AuNCs@MnO-ICG@AS1411 (AMIT) nanoplatform via aptamer AS1411, the TME-responsive dissociation of MnO generated sufficient O and Mn with the consumption of GSH for improving PDT efficacy and Fenton-like reaction-mediated CDT.

Green and efficient degradation of cefoperazone sodium by BiOBr leading to the production of non-toxic products: Performance and degradation pathway.

Photocatalytic process represents a promising approach to overcome the pollution challenge associated with the antibiotics-containing wastewater. This study provides a green, efficient and novel approach to remove cephalosporins, particularly cefoperazone sodium (CFP). BiOBr was chosen for the first time to systematically study its degradation for CFP, including the analysis of material structure, degradation performance, the structure and toxicity of the transformation products, etc.

Cascaded systems analysis of anatomic noise in digital mammography and dual-energy digital mammography.

In x-ray based imaging of the breast, contrast between fibroglandular (Fg) tissue and adipose (Ad) tissue is a source of anatomic noise. The goal of this work was to validate by simulation and experiment a mathematical framework for modelling the Fg component of anatomic noise in digital mammograpy (DM) and dual-energy (DE) DM. Our mathematical framework unifies and generalizes existing approaches.

A red-emitting indolium fluorescence probe for membranes - flavonoids interactions.

The red-emitting indolium derivative compound (E)-2-(4-(diphenylamino)styryl)-1,3,3-trimethyl-3H-indol-1-ium iodide (H3) was demonstrated as a sensitive membrane fluorescence probe. The probe located at the interface of liposomes when mixed showed much fluorescence enhancement by inhibiting the twisted intramolecular charge transfer state. After ultrasonic treatment, it penetrated into lipid bilayers with the emissions leveling off and a rather large encapsulation efficiency (71.

Effective Synthesis of Highly Oxidized Graphene Oxide That Enables Wafer-scale Nanopatterning: Preformed Acidic Oxidizing Medium Approach.

Demand for rapid and massive-scale exfoliation of bulky graphite remains high in graphene commercialization and property manipulation. We report a procedure utilizing "preformed acidic oxidizing medium (PAOM)" as a modified version of the Hummers' method for fast and reliable synthesis of graphene oxide. Pre-mixing of KMnO and concentrated HSO prior to the addition of graphite flakes enables the formation of effectively and efficiently oxidized graphene oxide (EEGO) featured by its high yields and suspension homogeneity.

A Boron 2-(2'-pyridyl) Imidazole Fluorescence Probe for Bovine Serum Albumin: Discrimination over Other Proteins and Identification of Its Denaturation.

Boron 2-(2'-pyridyl) imidazole complex (BOPIM) derivatives, BOPIM-1 and BOPIM-2, involving twisted intra-molecular charge transfer (TICT) characteristic, were investigated to probe bovine serum albumin (BSA). BOPIM-1 was demonstrated to be an efficient fluorescence probe to discriminate BSA from other proteins including human serum albumin (HSA). The encapsulation of BOPIM-1 in the hydrophobic subdomain IIA of BSA inhibited the TICT state and resulted in 70-fold emission enhancement of BOPIM-1.

OFF/ON Red-Emitting Fluorescent Probes for Casein Recognition and Quantification Based on Indolium Derivatives.

Five derivatives of 2, 3, 3-trimethyl-3H-indolium containing different electron donor groups (H1 - H5) were synthesized for the determination of proteins. H3, a sensitive red-emitting fluorescent probe, was found for the discrimination of hydrophobic proteins from hydrophilic. The OFF - ON fluorescence switch of H3 was caused by the formation of twisted intramolecular charge-transfer (TICT) state when it combined with hydrophobic proteins in aqueous buffer.

CT radiation profile width measurement using CR imaging plate raw data.

This technical note demonstrates computed tomography (CT) radiation profile measurement using computed radiography (CR) imaging plate raw data showing it is possible to perform the CT collimation width measurement using a single scan without saturating the imaging plate. Previously described methods require careful adjustments to the CR reader settings in order to avoid signal clipping in the CR processed image. CT radiation profile measurements were taken as part of routine quality control on 14 CT scanners from four vendors.