Selective fluorescence sensors for Cu and Hg ions using acridinium-polymer complexes.

The photophysical properties of two acridinium derivatives, 9-phenyl-10-methylacridinium (Ph-Arc) and 9-mesityl-10-methyl acridinium (Mes-Acr) were investigated in aqueous solutions of poly(methacrylic acids) (PMAA) at various pH values with various polymer to dye (R/D) ratios. In acidic conditions, PMAA effectively turned on the emission of both acridinium derivatives. Micromolar concentrations of copper (II) ions can selectively turn off the emission of dye/PMAA mixtures with a linear response range from 0.

Research on carbon dioxide capture materials used for carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage technology: a review.

In recent years, climate change has increasingly become one of the major challenges facing mankind today, seriously threatening the survival and sustainable development of mankind. Dramatically increasing carbon dioxide concentrations are thought to cause a severe greenhouse effect, leading to severe and sustained global warming, associated climate instability and unwelcome natural disasters, melting glaciers and extreme weather patterns. The treatment of flue gas from thermal power plants uses carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology, one of the most promising current methods to accomplish significant CO emission reduction.

One-step synthesis of a ZIF-8/90-based type I porous liquid.

A Type I porous liquid based on the mixed-linker zeolitic imidazolate framework, ZIF-8/90-PL, has been prepared by a one-step imine condensation reaction and characterized by X-ray diffraction, FT-IR spectroscopy, TGA and rheology analysis. This facile preparation strategy of a porous liquid has enormous industrial production and application potential, with over one kilogram of ZIF-8/90-PL being successfully prepared. ZIF-8/90-PL can be directly used as a liquid absorbent or be co-processed with alumina hollow fibers to form a composite membrane with improved selectivity in the context of CO separation from CH or N.

A fluorescent turn-on sensor for mercury (II) ions in near neutral poly(metharylic acid) solution.

The conformational change of poly (methacrylic acid) (PMAA) at various pH values is well studied; however, the application of PMAA in the field of analytical chemistry has been very limited. This investigation takes advantage of the conformational change of PMAA at various pH levels and the conformational change induced by metal ions. By adjusting the pH, thiophene-phenylanilide-acridinium molecules can serve as turn-on sensors for Hg ions.

Activation of TGF-β1 Pathway by SCUBE3 Regulates TWIST1 Expression and Promotes Breast Cancer Progression.

Recently, signal peptide-CUB-EGF-like domain containing protein 3 (SCUBE3) has been found to be associated with the development of several cancers. However, the biological role of SCUBE3 in breast cancer progression has not been reported. Western blotting and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction were used to measure the expressions of SCUBE3, TGF-β (transforming growth factor-β) signaling pathway markers, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers.

Efficacy and safety of bupropion hydrochloride extended-release versus escitalopram oxalate in Chinese patients with major depressive disorder: Results from a randomized, double-blind, non-inferiority trial.

Background: This study evaluated the non-inferiority of bupropion extended-release (XL) compared to escitalopram for acute-phase treatment of Chinese patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).

Methods: This randomized (1:1), double-blind, active-control study conducted between February 2015 and October 2016 included patients with MDD (DSM-IV) (N = 538). The treatment phase had three dose levels (level 1 [Week 1], level 2 [Week 2-4], and level 3 [Week 5-8]), which included either bupropion XL 150 mg, 300 mg, 300 mg or escitalopram 10 mg, 10 mg, 10-20 mg (once-daily), respectively.

Population Pharmacokinetics, Safety and Tolerability of Extended-Release Bupropion and Its Three Metabolites in Chinese Healthy Volunteers.

Background And Objective: Bupropion is used for the treatment of major depressive disorder. We determined the pharmacokinetics, safety, and tolerability of extended-release bupropion XL in healthy Chinese volunteers.

Methods: This open-label, single-center pharmacokinetic study was conducted between May 2016 and June 2016.

Detection of Zn, Cd, Hg, and Pb ions through label-free poly-L-glutamic acid.

Detection of heavy metal ions in water is important for environmental sustainability and food safety. Current fluorescent sensors interact with metal ions directly through chelation or chemical reactions. Those sensors are expensive to produce and often can detect only one ion at a time.

Phase Error Correction for Approximated Observation-Based Compressed Sensing Radar Imaging.

Defocus of the reconstructed image of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) occurs in the presence of the phase error. In this work, a phase error correction method is proposed for compressed sensing (CS) radar imaging based on approximated observation. The proposed method has better image focusing ability with much less memory cost, compared to the conventional approaches, due to the inherent low memory requirement of the approximated observation operator.

An open-label extension study to evaluate the safety of ropinirole prolonged release in Chinese patients with advanced Parkinson's disease.

Objective: This open-label extension (OLE) study evaluated the safety profile of ropinirole prolonged release (PR) administered for 24 weeks as adjunctive to levodopa in Chinese patients with advanced Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: This was a 24 week, flexible-dose, OLE study in Chinese patients with advanced PD who received 24 week treatment with ropinirole PR in the preceding double-blind (DB), phase III study (NCT01154166) and had no break in receiving study treatment while switching from the DB study to the OLE study. In the OLE study, patients received ropinirole PR once daily, starting with 2 mg/d and increasing up to 8 mg/d at week 4 (2 mg increment/week); if tolerable, the dose could be further increased in 4 mg increments up to 24 mg/d according to clinical judgment.

Amyloid histology stain for rapid bacterial endospore imaging.

Bacterial endospores are some of the most resilient forms of life known to us, with their persistent survival capability resulting from a complex and effective structural organization. The outer membrane of endospores is surrounded by the densely packed endospore coat and exosporium, containing amyloid or amyloid-like proteins. In fact, it is the impenetrable composition of the endospore coat and the exosporium that makes staining methodologies for endospore detection complex and challenging.

Long-lived photogenerated states of alpha-oligothiophene-acridinium dyads have triplet character.

Photoinduced processes, leading to charge-transfer states with extended lifetimes, are of key importance for solar-energy-conversion applications. Utilizing external heavy-atom effect allowed us to photogenerate long-lived transients of electron donor-acceptor dyads. For an electron acceptor and a principal chromophore of the dyads, we selected N-methylacridinium, and for electron donors thiophene, bithiophene, and terthiophene were selected.

Photoinduced electron transfer in arylacridinium conjugates in a solid glass matrix.

The photophysical properties of a series of 9-arylacridinium conjugates in solid glass matrices composed of sucrose octaacetate have been determined. The fluorescence of the charge-shift states is significantly enhanced because of the retardation of nonradiative pathways for back-electron transfer. Changes of more than 3 orders of magnitude in back-electron-transfer rates (sucrose octaacetate glass vs conventional solvents at room temperature) were observed.