Development and characterization of a miRNA-responsive circular RNA expression system with cell type specificity.

Although microRNAs (miRNAs) binding to messenger RNAs (mRNAs) generally results in mRNA degradation and reduced protein expression, their interaction with the internal ribosome entry sites (IRES) of certain RNA viruses enhances viral amplification and expression. In this study, we utilized the natural hepatitis C cirus (HCV) 5' UTR region, which contains miR-122 binding sites, as the IRES of circular RNA (circRNAs) constructs. These circRNAs allowed inducible expression of downstream genes with high specificity in response to both exogenous and endogenous miR-122.

Electron paramagnetic resonance and photoluminescence study on local structure of Gd ions in Gd-doped CaF crystals.

Employing electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and excitation and photoluminescence (PL) spectra, changes of the local structure of Gd ions were investigated for the CaF crystals containing 0.00015, 0.17, 1.

Supercontinuum intrinsic fluorescence imaging heralds free view of living systems.

Optimal imaging strategies remain underdeveloped to maximize information for fluorescence microscopy while minimizing the harm to fragile living systems. Taking hint from the supercontinuum generation in ultrafast laser physics, we generated supercontinuum fluorescence from untreated unlabeled live samples before nonlinear photodamage onset. Our imaging achieved high-content cell phenotyping and tissue histology, identified bovine embryo polarization, quantified aging-related stress across cell types and species, demystified embryogenesis before and after implantation, sensed drug cytotoxicity in real-time, scanned brain area for targeted patching, optimized machine learning to track small moving organisms, induced two-photon phototropism of leaf chloroplasts under two-photon photosynthesis, unraveled microscopic origin of autumn colors, and interrogated intestinal microbiome.

Synthesis and Characteristics of Self-Assembled Multifunctional Ln -DNA Hybrid Coordination Polymers.

Owing to the unique catalytic, optical and magnetic properties, lanthanides (Ln) as multicomponent biomarkers, are widely used in the field of optical sensing, mass spectrometry and magnetic resonance imaging. As ligands, DNA molecules have good biocompatibility, high stability, cost efficiency, programmability and biodegradability. Based on the coordination-driven self-assembly between Ln ions (Ln ) and DNA molecules, a multifunctional Ln -DNA hybrid coordination polymers (CPs) were synthesized.

Multiview Subspace Dual Clustering.

A single clustering refers to the partitioning of data such that the similar data are assigned into the same group, whereas the dissimilar data are separated into different groups. Recently, multiview clustering has received significant attention in recent years. However, most existing works tackle the single-clustering scenario, which only use single clustering to partition the data.

Exfoliated Graphene Leads to Exceptional Mechanical Properties of Polymer Composite Films.

Polymers with superior mechanical properties are desirable in many applications. In this work, polyethylene (PE) films reinforced with exfoliated thermally reduced graphene oxide (TrGO) fabricated using a roll-to-roll hot-drawing process are shown to have outstanding mechanical properties. The specific ultimate tensile strength and Young's modulus of PE/TrGO films increased monotonically with the drawing ratio and TrGO filler fraction, reaching up to 3.

Effect of cooling on droplet size in supersaturation-induced emulsions.

In this work, the droplet size in a water-in-oil emulsion obtained by supersaturation is studied. The emulsion is obtained by cooling down a saturated water/oil solution by a certain temperature difference. The effects of the cooling rate and temperature difference on the produced droplet size are experimentally investigated.

Functionalized Graphene Enables Highly Efficient Solar Thermal Steam Generation.

The ability to efficiently utilize solar thermal energy to enable liquid-to-vapor phase transition has great technological implications for a wide variety of applications, such as water treatment and chemical fractionation. Here, we demonstrate that functionalizing graphene using hydrophilic groups can greatly enhance the solar thermal steam generation efficiency. Our results show that specially functionalized graphene can improve the overall solar-to-vapor efficiency from 38% to 48% at one sun conditions compared to chemically reduced graphene oxide.

Effect of electric field non-uniformity on droplets coalescence.

Electric field assisted coalescence is one of the most efficient methods for water-in-oil emulsion separation. In this paper, we experimentally study water droplet evolution in an oil phase under different electric field configurations. We determine that non-uniform fields can enhance the performance of electrocoalescence compared to uniform fields.