Tungsten-based nanocatalysts with different structures for visible light responsive photocatalytic degradation of bisphenol A.

Environmental pollution, such as water contamination, is a critical issue that must be absolutely addressed. Here, three different morphologies of tungsten-based photocatalysts (WO nanorods, WO/WS nanobricks, WO/WS nanorods) are made using a simple hydrothermal method by changing the solvents (HO, DMF, aqueous HCl solution). The as-prepared nanocatalysts have excellent thermal stability, large porosity, and high hydrophilicity.

A review of biosensor for environmental monitoring: principle, application, and corresponding achievement of sustainable development goals.

Human health/socioeconomic development is closely correlated to environmental pollution, highlighting the need to monitor contaminants in the real environment with reliable devices such as biosensors. Recently, variety of biosensors gained high attention and employed as application, in real-time, and cost-effective analytical tools for healthy environment. For continuous environmental monitoring, it is necessary for portable, cost-effective, quick, and flexible biosensing devices.

ODNA: identification of organellar DNA by machine learning.

Motivation: Identifying organellar DNA, such as mitochondrial or plastid sequences, inside a whole genome assembly, remains challenging and requires biological background knowledge. To address this, we developed ODNA based on genome annotation and machine learning to fulfill.

Results: ODNA is a software that classifies organellar DNA sequences within a genome assembly by machine learning based on a predefined genome annotation workflow.

Correction: Highly efficient degradation of reactive black KN-B dye by ultraviolet light responsive ZIF-8 photocatalysts with different morphologies.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1039/D2RA08312D.].

Highly efficient degradation of reactive black KN-B dye by ultraviolet light responsive ZIF-8 photocatalysts with different morphologies.

Zeolitic imidazolate framework ZIF-8, a type of metal-organic framework, has diverse applications in multiple catalytic fields due to its outstanding properties. Herein, ZIF-8 photocatalysts with three different morphologies (dodecahedral, pitaya-like, and leaf-like) are successfully synthesized under ambient conditions from zinc salts by altering the volume ratio of methanol and water used as a solvent. The as-synthesized ZIFs have high crystallinity with distinct BET surface areas.

Epilepsy surgery program in a resource-limited setting in Vietnam: A multicentered collaborative model.

Objective: Although epilepsy surgery is more effective than medical therapy for drug-resistant patients, it is underutilized in both high-income and low- and middle-income countries. In light of our efforts to establish an epilepsy surgery program in a resource-limited setting, this study aimed to determine the outcome of the epilepsy surgery program in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam.

Methods: In 2018, we developed the HCMC epilepsy core multidisciplinary team with members from various hospitals and centers.

Microplastics in sewage sludge: Distribution, toxicity, identification methods, and engineered technologies.

Microplastic pollution is becoming a global challenge due to its long-term accumulation in the environment, causing adverse effects on human health and the ecosystem. Sludge discharged from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) plays a critical role as a carrier and primary source of environmental microplastic contamination. A significantly average microplastic variation between 1000 and 301,400 particles kg has been reported in the sludge samples.

AI-Based Soft Module for Safe Human-Robot Interaction towards 4D Printing.

Soft robotic modules have potential use for therapeutic and educational purposes. To do so, they need to be safe, soft, smart, and customizable to serve individuals' different preferences and personalities. A safe modular robotic product made of soft materials, particularly silicon, programmed by artificial intelligence algorithms and developed via additive manufacturing would be promising.

Occurrence and distribution of microplastics in peatland areas: A case study in Long An province of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.

Vietnam is known as one of the high plastic consumption countries in Southeast Asia. This study initially determined characteristics of microplastics (MPs) including morphology, polymer type, and abundance at peatland areas in Mekong Delta in Vietnam. The MPs level was found with an average abundance of 192.

Evaluate the role of biochar during the organic waste composting process: A critical review.

Composting is very robust and efficient for the biodegradation of organic waste; however secondary pollutants, namely greenhouse gases (GHGs) and odorous emissions, are environmental concerns during this process. Biochar addition to compost has attracted the interest of scientists with a lot of publication in recent years because it has addressed this matter and enhanced the quality of compost mixture. This review aims to evaluate the role of biochar during organic waste composting and identify the gaps of knowledge in this field.

Nanotechnology-based drug delivery for central nervous system disorders.

Drug delivery to central nervous system (CNS) diseases is very challenging since the presence of the innate blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier that impede drug delivery. Among new strategies to overcome these limitations and successfully deliver drugs to the CNS, nanotechnology-based drug delivery platform, offers potential therapeutic approach for the treatment of some common neurological disorders like Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease. This review aimed to highlight advances in research on the development of nano-based therapeutics for their implications in therapy of CNS disorders.

Hydrogel microspheres for spatiotemporally controlled delivery of RNA and silencing gene expression within scaffold-free tissue engineered constructs.

Delivery systems for controlled release of RNA interference (RNAi) molecules, including small interfering (siRNA) and microRNA (miRNA), have the potential to direct stem cell differentiation for regenerative musculoskeletal applications. To date, localized RNA delivery platforms in this area have focused predominantly on bulk scaffold-based approaches, which can interfere with cell-cell interactions important for recapitulating some native musculoskeletal developmental and healing processes in tissue regeneration strategies. In contrast, scaffold-free, high density human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) aggregates may provide an avenue for creating a more biomimetic microenvironment.

Magnesium Aminoclay (MgAC) as an Additive in Anti-Icing Mixture of Propylene Glycol Applied to Railway Electrical Wires: A Preliminary Study.

Ice accumulation on the surface of railway electrical wires can cause significant problems in the winter season. Different anti-icing liquids have been used to prevent the formation of ice on different surface substrates. The most common anti-icing liquids are ethylene glycol mixtures.

Microalgal ecotoxicity of nanoparticles: An updated review.

Nowadays, nanotechnology and its related industries are becoming a rapidly explosive industry that offers many benefits to human life. However, along with the increased production and use of nanoparticles (NPs), their presence in the environment creates a high risk of increasing toxic effects on aquatic organisms. Therefore, a large number of studies focusing on the toxicity of these NPs to the aquatic organisms are carried out which used algal species as a common biological model.

Covalently tethering siRNA to hydrogels for localized, controlled release and gene silencing.

Small interfering RNA (siRNA) has found many applications in tissue regeneration and disease therapeutics. Effective and localized siRNA delivery remains challenging, reducing its therapeutic potential. Here, we report a strategy to control and prolong siRNA release by directly tethering transfection-capable siRNA to photocrosslinked dextran hydrogels.

ART-RRT: As-Rigid-As-Possible search for protein conformational transition paths.

The possible functions of a protein are strongly related to its structural rearrangements in the presence of other molecules or environmental changes. Hence, the evaluation of transition paths of proteins, which encodes conformational changes between stable states, is important since it may reveal the underlying mechanisms of the biochemical processes related to these motions. During the last few decades, different geometry-based methods have been proposed to predict such transition paths.

Generating conformational transition paths with low potential-energy barriers for proteins.

The knowledge of conformational transition paths in proteins can be useful for understanding protein mechanisms. Recently, we have introduced the As-Rigid-As-Possible (ARAP) interpolation method, for generating interpolation paths between two protein conformations. The method was shown to preserve well the rigidity of the initial conformation along the path.

RNA interfering molecule delivery from in situ forming biodegradable hydrogels for enhancement of bone formation in rat calvarial bone defects.

Unlabelled: RNA interference (RNAi) may be an effective and valuable tool for promoting the growth of functional tissue, as short interfering RNA (siRNA) and microRNA (miRNA) can block the expression of genes that have negative effects on tissue regeneration. Our group has recently reported that the localized and sustained presentation of siRNA against noggin (siNoggin) and miRNA-20a from in situ forming poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels enhanced osteogenic differentiation of encapsulated human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). Here, the capacity of the hydrogel system to accelerate bone formation in a rat calvarial bone defect model is presented.

Dual non-viral gene delivery from microparticles within 3D high-density stem cell constructs for enhanced bone tissue engineering.

High-density mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) aggregates can be guided to form bone-like tissue via endochondral ossification in vitro when culture media is supplemented with proteins, such as growth factors (GFs), to first guide the formation of a cartilage template, followed by culture with hypertrophic factors. Recent reports have recapitulated these results through the controlled spatiotemporal delivery of chondrogenic transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and chondrogenic and osteogenic bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) from microparticles embedded within human MSC aggregates to avoid diffusion limitations and the lengthy, costly in vitro culture necessary with repeat exogenous supplementation. However, since GFs have limited stability, localized gene delivery is a promising alternative to the use of proteins.

ART-RRT: As-Rigid-As-Possible exploration of ligand unbinding pathways.

This article proposes a method to efficiently generate approximate ligand unbinding pathways. It combines an efficient tree-based exploration method with a morphing technique from Computer Graphics for dimensionality reduction. This method is computationally cheap and, unlike many existing approaches, does not require a reaction coordinate to guide the search.

Cytocompatible Catalyst-Free Photodegradable Hydrogels for Light-Mediated RNA Release To Induce hMSC Osteogenesis.

Macroscopic hydrogels provide valuable platforms for controlling the release of genetic materials such as small interfering RNA (siRNA) and microRNA (miRNA) for biomedical applications. However, after these hydrogels are formed, it is challenging to alter the release rate of genetic materials. In this report, a Michael addition catalyst-free photodegradable poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based hydrogel system has been developed that provides an active means of controlling the release of genetic materials postgelation using external UV light application.

Endochondral Ossification in Critical-Sized Bone Defects via Readily Implantable Scaffold-Free Stem Cell Constructs.

The growing socioeconomic burden of musculoskeletal injuries and limitations of current therapies have motivated tissue engineering approaches to generate functional tissues to aid in defect healing. A readily implantable scaffold-free system comprised of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells embedded with bioactive microparticles capable of controlled delivery of transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) and bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) was engineered to guide endochondral bone formation. The microparticles were formulated to release TGF-β1 early to induce cartilage formation and BMP-2 in a more sustained manner to promote remodeling into bone.