Combinatorial leaky probiotic for anticancer immunopotentiation and tumor eradication.

Combination therapies present a compelling therapeutic regimen against the immunosuppressive and heterogeneous microenvironment of solid tumors. However, incorporating separate therapeutic modalities in regimen designs can be encumbered by complex logistical, manufacturing, and pharmacokinetic considerations. Herein, we demonstrate a single-vector combinational anticancer therapy using an lpp gene knockout leaky probiotic for simultaneous secretion of immunotherapeutic and oncolytic effector molecules.

A community effort in SARS-CoV-2 drug discovery.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a substantial threat to human lives and is likely to do so for years to come. Despite the availability of vaccines, searching for efficient small-molecule drugs that are widely available, including in low- and middle-income countries, is an ongoing challenge. In this work, we report the results of an open science community effort, the "Billion molecules against COVID-19 challenge", to identify small-molecule inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2 or relevant human receptors.

Thiele's Fluorocarbons: Stable Diradicaloids with Efficient Visible-to-Near-Infrared Fluorescence from a Zwitterionic Excited State.

Thiele's hydrocarbon was the first synthesized diradicaloid in the search for stable open-shell structures, but it remains sensitive to oxygen and light. We here report the synthesis of Thiele's fluorocarbon (TFC) and its derivatives exhibiting exceptional thermal, oxidative, and photostability. TFCs have remarkable luminescent properties with yellow to NIR fluorescence and up to 100% quantum yields.

Silver nanoparticle enhanced metal-organic matrix with interface-engineering for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.

Integrating plasmonic nanoparticles into the photoactive metal-organic matrix is highly desirable due to the plasmonic near field enhancement, complementary light absorption, and accelerated separation of photogenerated charge carriers at the junction interface. The construction of a well-defined, intimate interface is vital for efficient charge carrier separation, however, it remains a challenge in synthesis. Here we synthesize a junction bearing intimate interface, composed of plasmonic Ag nanoparticles and matrix with silver node via a facile one-step approach.

Efficient room-temperature phosphorescence of covalent organic frameworks through covalent halogen doping.

Organic room-temperature phosphorescence, a spin-forbidden radiative process, has emerged as an interesting but rare phenomenon with multiple potential applications in optoelectronic devices, biosensing and anticounterfeiting. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with accessible nanoscale porosity and precisely engineered topology can offer unique benefits in the design of phosphorescent materials, but these are presently unexplored. Here, we report an approach of covalent doping, whereby a COF is synthesized by copolymerization of halogenated and unsubstituted phenyldiboronic acids, allowing for random distribution of functionalized units at varying ratios, yielding highly phosphorescent COFs.

Development and verification of the glycolysis-associated and immune-related prognosis signature for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) refers to the malignant tumor associated with a high mortality rate. This work focused on identifying a robust tumor glycolysis-immune-related gene signature to facilitate the prognosis prediction of HCC cases. This work adopted t-SNE algorithms for predicting glycolysis status in accordance with The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)-derived cohort transcriptome profiles.

RetroGNN: Fast Estimation of Synthesizability for Virtual Screening and De Novo Design by Learning from Slow Retrosynthesis Software.

De novo molecule design algorithms often result in chemically unfeasible or synthetically inaccessible molecules. A natural idea to mitigate this problem is to bias these algorithms toward more easily synthesizable molecules using a proxy score for synthetic accessibility. However, using currently available proxies can still result in highly unrealistic compounds.

Development of a TNF-α-mediated Trojan Horse for bacteria-based cancer therapy.

Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) is upregulated in a chronic inflammatory environment, including tumors, and has been recognized as a pro-tumor factor in many cancers. Applying the traditional TNF-α antibodies that neutralize TNF-α activity, however, only exerts modest anti-tumor efficacy in clinical studies. Here, we develop an innovative approach to target TNF-α that is distinct from the neutralization mechanism.

Bidirectional Phase Transformation of Supramolecular Networks Using Two Molecular Signals.

Reversible control of molecular self-assembly is omnipresent in adaptive biological systems, yet its realization in artificial systems remains a major challenge. Using scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory calculations, we show that a 2D supramolecular network formed by terthienobenzenetricarboxylic acid (TTBTA) can undergo a reversible structural transition between a porous and dense phase in response to different molecular signals (trimethyltripyrazolotriazine (TMTPT) and C). TMTPT molecules can induce a phase transition from the TTBTA honeycomb to the dense phase, whereas a reverse transition can be triggered by introducing C molecules.

Assessment of indocyanine green tracer-guided lymphadenectomy in laparoscopic gastrectomy after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for locally advanced gastric cancer: results from a multicenter analysis based on propensity matching.

Background: This study evaluated the safety, effectiveness, and feasibility of indocyanine green (ICG) tracing in guiding lymph-node (LN) dissection during laparoscopic D2 radical gastrectomy in patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC).

Method: We retrospectively analyzed data on 313 patients with clinical stage of cT1-4N0-3M0 who underwent laparoscopic radical gastrectomy after NAC between February 2010 and October 2020 from two hospitals in China. Grouped according to whether ICG was injected.

Phase-enabled metal-organic framework homojunction for highly selective CO photoreduction.

Conversion of clean solar energy to chemical fuels is one of the promising and up-and-coming applications of metal-organic frameworks. However, fast recombination of photogenerated charge carriers in these frameworks remains the most significant limitation for their photocatalytic application. Although the construction of homojunctions is a promising solution, it remains very challenging to synthesize them.

Efficacy and Mechanism of a Chinese Classic Prescription of Yueju in Treating Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis and Protecting Hepatocytes from Apoptosis.

Yueju, a famous classic Chinese prescription, has been extensively used in treating depression syndromes for hundreds of years. Recent studies have reported that Yueju showed good effects in treating metabolic diseases, such as obesity and hyperlipidemia. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which leads to cirrhosis and severe cardiovascular diseases, is closely linked to obesity and abnormal lipid metabolism.

Treatment of murine colitis by Saccharomyces boulardii secreting atrial natriuretic peptide.

Inflammatory bowel disease is a lifelong disorder that involves chronic inflammation in the small and large intestines. Current therapies, including aminosalicylates, corticosteroids, and anti-inflammatory biologics, can only alleviate the symptoms and often cause adverse effects with long-term usage. Engineered probiotics provide an alternative approach to treat inflammatory bowel disease in a self-renewable and local delivery fashion.

A Pure-Red Doublet Emission with 90 % Quantum Yield: Stable, Colorless, Iodinated Triphenylmethane Solid.

Red luminescence is found in off-white tris(iodoperchlorophenyl)methane (3I-PTM ) crystals which is characterized by a high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY 91 %) and color purity (CIE coordinates 0.66, 0.34).

Transformation between 2D and 3D Covalent Organic Frameworks via Reversible [2 + 2] Cycloaddition.

We report the first transformation between crystalline vinylene-linked two-dimensional (2D) polymers and crystalline cyclobutane-linked three-dimensional (3D) polymers. Specifically, absorption-edge irradiation of the 2D poly(arylenevinylene) covalent organic frameworks (COFs) results in topological [2 + 2] cycloaddition cross-linking of the π-stacked layers in 3D COFs. The reaction is reversible, and heating to 200 °C leads to a cycloreversion while retaining the COF crystallinity.

Combining Proximity Labeling and Cross-Linking Mass Spectrometry for Proteomic Dissection of Nuclear Envelope Interactome.

Proximity labeling (PL) and chemical cross-linking (XL) mass spectrometry are two powerful methods to dissect protein-protein interactions (PPIs) in cells. Although PL typically captures neighboring proteins within a range of 10-20 nm of a single bait protein, chemical XL defines direct protein-protein contacts within 1 nm in a systemic manner. Here, we develop a new method, named PL/XL-MS, to harness the advantages of both PL and XL.

Synthesis and carbothermal nitridation mechanism of ultra-long single crystal α-SiN nanobelts.

One-dimensional SiN nanostructures are desirable for constructing nanoscale electric and optoelectronic devices due to their peculiar morphologies. Herein, a facile and environmentally friendly catalyst-free method is proposed to synthesize ultra-long single crystal α-SiN nanobelts via carbothermal nitridation of carbon nanotubes at 1750 °C. The obtained α-SiN nanobelts with a flat surface (thickness of ∼150 nm, length of several millimeters) exhibited an extremely high aspect ratio, perfect crystal structure, and high specific surface area of 7.

A Two-Dimensional Poly(azatriangulene) Covalent Organic Framework with Semiconducting and Paramagnetic States.

The black crystalline (aza)triangulene-based covalent organic framework was synthesized from its trinitro-TANG precursor via a one-pot, two-step reaction involving Pd-catalyzed hydrogenation and polycondensation with an aromatic dialdehyde. High crystallinity and permanent porosity of the layered two-dimensional (2D) structure were established. The rigid, electron-rich trioxaazatriangulene (TANG) building block enables strong π-electron interactions manifested in broad absorptions across the visible and NIR regions ( ≈ 1.

Strong Enhancement of π-Electron Donor/Acceptor Ability by Complementary DD/AA Hydrogen Bonding.

π-Conjugated organic materials possess a wide range of tunable optoelectronic properties which are dictated by their molecular structure and supramolecular arrangement. While many efforts have been put into tuning the molecular structure to achieve the desired properties, rational supramolecular control remains a challenge. Here, we report a novel series of supramolecular materials formed by the co-assembly of weak π-electron donor (indolo[2,3-a]carbazole) and acceptor (aromatic o-quinones) molecules via complementary hydrogen bonding.

Understanding the Photovoltaic Behavior of A-D-A Molecular Semiconductors through a Permutation of End Groups.

The facile synthesis of a series of benzodithiophene (BDT)- and indacenodithiophene (IDT)-based A-D-A oligomers with different end groups is reported, and their properties are studied by optical spectroscopy, electrochemistry, and density functional theory calculations. The permutation of central and terminal units tunes the optoelectronic properties and photovoltaic device characteristics in a predictable way, aiding in the rational design of small molecule semiconducting materials. Among the three rhodanine-derived terminal groups, -alkylthiazolonethione revealed the strongest electron-withdrawing character, resulting in the lowest band gap, the highest stability, and the best photovoltaic device performance.

2D Poly(arylene vinylene) Covalent Organic Frameworks via Aldol Condensation of Trimethyltriazine.

Designing structural order in electronically active organic solids remains a great challenge in the field of materials chemistry. Now, 2D poly(arylene vinylene)s prepared as highly crystalline covalent organic frameworks (COFs) by base-catalyzed aldol condensation of trimethyltriazine with aromatic dialdehydes are reported. The synthesized polymers are highly emissive (quantum yield of up to 50 %), as commonly observed in their 1D analogues poly(phenylene vinylene)s.

Optimization of NO oxidation by H2O2 thermal decomposition at moderate temperatures.

H2O2 was adopted to oxidize NO in simulated flue gas at 100-500°C. The effects of the H2O2 evaporation conditions, gas temperature, initial NO concentration, H2O2 concentration, and H2O2:NO molar ratio on the oxidation efficiency of NO were investigated. The reason for the narrow NO oxidation temperature range near 500°C was determined.

Construction of a Molecular Switch and Selector under Electrochemical Control.

In this work, we designed and synthesized a special axle guest hexyldimethyl(ferrocenylmethyl)ammonium ( ) bromide. The binding interactions of and its oxidized form with cucurbit[7]uril (Q[7]) and cyclohexanocucurbit[6]uril (Cy6Q[6]) were investigated by H NMR, cyclic voltammogram, and isothermal titration calorimetry techniques. Our data indicate that both hosts Cy6Q[6] and Q[7] can form stable [2]pseudorotaxanes with in their different redox states.

The fetal mouse metatarsal bone explant as a model of angiogenesis.

The mouse fetal metatarsal provides a unique tool for studying angiogenesis. In comparison with other commonly used in vitro or ex vivo angiogenesis assays, vessel outgrowth from mouse fetal metatarsals is more representative of sprouting angiogensis in vivo. It allows the analysis of blood vessel growth, and the mechanisms underpinning this process, in a multicellular microenvironment that drives the formation of a robust and complex vascular network in the absence of exogenous growth factors.