Zebrafish Behavioral Phenomics Links Artificial Sweetener Aspartame to Behavioral Toxicity and Neurotransmitter Homeostasis.

Artificial sweeteners (ASs) are extensively used as food additives in drinks and beverages to lower calorie intake and prevent lifestyle diseases such as obesity. Although clinical and epidemiological data revealed the link between the chronic overconsumption of ASs and adverse health effects, there still exist controversies over the potential adverse neural toxic effect of ASs such as aspartame (APM), with acceptable daily intake (ADI) for a long time, on human health. In addition, whether APM and its metabolites are neurotoxic remains debatable due to a lack of data from an animal experiment or clinical investigation.

Phenotyping Aquatic Neurotoxicity Induced by the Artificial Sweetener Saccharin at Sublethal Concentration Levels.

Artificial sweeteners (ASs) have generally been applied as food additives to improve the taste of sweetness. Thus, their potential toxic effects have received extensive attention. Saccharin (SAC), discovered more than a century ago, has been used as the first noncaloric AS in foods and beverages for over 100 years.

Zebrafish neuro-behavioral profiles altered by acesulfame (ACE) within the range of "no observed effect concentrations (NOECs)".

Recently, artificial sweeteners have received widespread attention as the emerging environmental pollutants, among which, acesulfame (ACE) is ubiquitously present and extremely persistent in the ecosystem. Although the environmental behavior of ACE has already been well studied, its chronic eco-toxicological effects on aquatic organisms are rarely reported. Thus, more researches should be performed to determine the concentration which exerted the observable toxicological effect.

Discovery of Nonpeptide, Environmentally Sensitive Fluorescent Probes for Imaging p53-MDM2 Interactions in Living Cell Lines and Tissue Slice.

Based on structural optimization work, probes - with practical activity and selectivity in tissue as well as living cell lines are well designed and synthesized. All the probes showed potent inhibitory and acceptable cell toxicity compared with the commercially available p53-MDM2 inhibitor Nutlin-3, and can increase the protein expression level of p53 and MDM2 in the A549 cell line; in particular, probes and can increase the protein expression level of p53 better than Nutlin-3. Moreover, their application in imaging and detecting wild-type p53-MDM2 protein-protein interactions have been well demonstrated in at the cell and tissue levels.

Novel photoactivatable substrates for Renilla luciferase imaging in vitro and in vivo.

To develop a photoactivatable bioluminescence imaging technique, a set of high and efficient photoactivatable substrates for Renilla luciferase has been well designed and synthesized. Surprisingly, all of them could release the free luciferin that presented robust bioluminescent signals ex vivo and in living animals after UV irradiation at 365 nm.

Novel caged luciferin derivatives can prolong bioluminescence imaging and .

Based on -cyclobutylaminoluciferin (cybLuc), a set of high and efficient caged bioluminescent derivatives (Clucs) as firefly luciferase pro-substrates has been developed herein. After careful examination, these molecules exhibited low cytotoxicity and prolonged bioluminescence imaging up to 6 h and . Importantly, these caged luciferin derivatives have the potential to serve as long-term tracking tools to explore some biological process by using bioluminescent imaging.

Mixed shell mesoporous silica nanoparticles for controlled drug encapsulation and delivery.

Aim: Smart mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with mixed polymeric shell (MS-MSNs) were prepared to realize controlled encapsulation and responsive delivery of anticancer drugs.

Materials & Methods: Two kinds of polymers, including nonthermoresponsive poly(ethylene glycol) and thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide), were grafted onto the outlets of the MSNs through acidic liable Schiff base bonds.

Results: Poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) chains could control the release rate of drugs through phase transition, while poly(ethylene glycol) chains could maintain the colloid stability of MSNs.

Magnetic field assisted photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes in the presence of Ag/TiO(2) coated composite.

Ag/TiO(2) coated composite was prepared via sol-gel method in order to elucidate its application in magnetic field assisted photocatalytic degradation of dyes. Through the degradation of organic dyes, the key influences such as Ag amount, heat-treated temperature and time on the photocatalytic activity of Ag/TiO(2), as well as UV irradiation time, rotational speed, dye concentration and magnetic sheet number on the photocatalytic degradation were studied. Results showed that the Ag/TiO(2) with 25 wt% Ag content heat-treated at 550 °C for 60 min has the best photocatalytic activity.

A new approach for rhenium(VII) recovery by using modified brown algae Laminaria japonica adsorbent.

Brown algae Laminaria japonica was chemically modified with sulfuric acid to obtain a crosslinked brown algae gel (CAS). The CAS gel showed a high affinity for Re(VII) comparing with other biomass gels, and the maximum adsorption capacity was evaluated as 37.20 mg g(-1) in case of pH 6, which could be explained by their different adsorption mechanisms.

Spectroscopic analyses on sonocatalytic damage to bovine serum albumin (BSA) induced by ZnO/hydroxylapatite (ZnO/HA) composite under ultrasonic irradiation.

ZnO/hydroxylapatite (ZnO/HA) composite with HA molar content of 6.0% was prepared by the method of precipitation and heat-treated at 500°C for 40min and was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). The sonocatalytic activities of ZnO/HA composite was carried out through the damage of bovine serum albumin (BSA) in aqueous solution.

Sonocatalytic degradation of organic dyes and comparison of catalytic activities of CeO2/TiO2, SnO2/TiO2 and ZrO2/TiO2 composites under ultrasonic irradiation.

The CeO(2)/TiO(2), SnO(2)/TiO(2) and ZrO(2)/TiO(2) composites were prepared by dispersing various nano-sized oxides (CeO(2), SnO(2), ZrO(2) and TiO(2)) with ultrasound and mixing TiO(2) with CeO(2), SnO(2) and ZrO(2), respectively, in boiling water in a molar ratio of 4:1, followed by calcining temperature 500 degrees C for 60 min. Then a series of sonocatalytic degradation experiments were carried out under ultrasonic irradiation in the presence of CeO(2)/TiO(2), SnO(2)/TiO(2) and ZrO(2)/TiO(2) composites and nano-sized TiO(2) powder. Also, the influences of heat-treatment temperature and heat-treatment time on the sonocatalytic activities of CeO(2)/TiO(2), SnO(2)/TiO(2) and ZrO(2)/TiO(2) composites, and of irradiation time and solution acidity on the sonocatalytic degradation of Acid Red B were investigated by UV-vis spectra.

Assisted sonodynamic damage of bovine serum albumin by metronidazole under ultrasonic irradiation combined with photosensitive antitumor drug-Amsacrine.

By research, it was found that the Amsacrine (AMSA) can interact with bovine serum albumin (BSA). In this work, the AMSA was adopted as a sonosensitizer and the Metronidazole (MET) was used as a sensitizer to further damage BSA molecules under ultrasonic irradiation. It could be concluded that the damage degree of BSA molecules in the presence of AMSA and MET was more serious than in the presence of pure AMSA.

Two 3D chiral coordination polymers with 4-connected 6(6) topological net: synthesis, structure and magnetic properties.

The hydrothermal reaction of Co(II)/Cu(II), 5-hydroxyisophthalic acid and dipyridophenazine leads to the generation of two 3D chiral coordination polymers, [M(hip)(DPPZ)](n) (M = Co(), Cu(), H(2)hip = 5-hydroxyisophthalic acid, DPPZ = dipyridophenazine), which contain M-hip-M helical chains (M = Co, Cu) and possess a new four-connected 6(6) topological net. The resulting crystals were not a racemic mixture but an enantiomeric excess, which was confirmed by the measurement of optical rotation of the bulk samples using solid state vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) and solid circular dichroism (CD) based on the large crystals from one crystallization. The magnetic properties of 1 and 2 have been investigated by variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility and magnetization measurements, and the results reveal that antiferromagnetic interactions exist in 1 and 2.

Investigation on solar photocatalytic degradation of various dyes in the presence of Er(3+):YAlO(3)/ZnO-TiO(2) composite.

In this work, Er(3+):YAlO(3)/ZnO-TiO(2) and ZnO-TiO(2) composites were prepared by the ultrasonic dispersion and liquid boiling method. In succession, they were then characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Acid red B as a model dye compound was degraded under solar light irradiation to evaluate the photocatalytic activities of the Er(3+):YAlO(3)/ZnO-TiO(2) and ZnO-TiO(2) composites.

Preparation of nano-sized mixed crystal TiO2-coated Er3+:YAlO3 by sol-gel method for photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes under visible light irradiation.

In this work, an upconversion luminescence agent, crystallized Er(3 + ):YAlO(3), was synthesized and then coated by the nano-sized TiO(2) film through sol-gel technique. A novel TiO(2) photocatalyst, Er(3 + ):YAlO(3)/TiO(2), with high activity in visible light was subsequently prepared. The Er(3 + ):YAlO(3) and Er(3 + ):YAlO(3)/TiO(2) were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM).

[Determination of aluminum in sediments by atomic absorption spectrophotometer without FIA spectrophotometric analysis].

To search for a new method of determining, we developed a new flow injection analyzer, applied to the atomic absorption spectrophotometer, relying on it without flame in place of visible spectrophotometer, and studied the appropriate condition for the determination of aluminum in sediments, thus built up a kind of new analytical test technique. Three peak and two valley absorption values (A1, A2, A3, A4 and A5) can be continuously obtained simultaneously that all can be used for quantitative analysis, then we discussed its theory and experiment technique. Based on the additivity of absorbance (A = A1+A2+A3+A4+ A5), the sensitivity of FIA is enhanced, and its precision and linear relation are also good, raising the efficiency of AAS.

Poly[[diaqua-μ(4)-tartrato-μ(2)-tartrato-dimanganese(II)] dihydrate].

In the title compound, {[Mn(C(4)H(4)O(6))(H(2)O)]·H(2)O}(n), the Mn(2+) ion is connected to three different tartrate anions and a water mol-ecule, resulting in a distorted MnO(6) octa-hedral geometry. There are two tartrate half-anions in the asymmetric unit, both of which are completed by crystallographic twofold rotation symmetry. The tartrate dianions bridge the Mn(2+) ions to form a wave-like infinite layer.