[Effects of exogenous attapulgite addition on water conservation function of reclaimed soils in a semi-arid mining area].

Large-scale mining has greatly damaged vegetation and caused ecological degradation in the semi-arid area in China. It is urgent to restore the vegetation to solve the deteriorating ecological and environmental problems in mining area. How to reclaim soils for effectively storing and utilizing precipitation is the primary issue for vegetation restoration in the area.

Multifunctional Flavonoid-Silica Nanohydrogel Enables Simultaneous Inhibition of Tumor Recurrence and Bacterial Infection in Post-Surgical Treatment.

A strategy to synthesize water-soluble and fluorescent flavonoid-silica nanocomposites (FSiNCs) simultaneously featuring anti-tumor and anti-bacterial abilities is developed. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the therapeutic effects of FSiNCs are associated with the selective accumulation of reactive oxide species in both tumor and bacteria cells. Following that, the resultant FSiNCs are incorporated with thrombin and fibrinogen, being sprayed onto the tumor surgical wound site to in situ form fibrin gel (FSiNCs@Fibrin).

Controllable silicon nanostructures featuring stable fluorescence and intrinsic in vitro and in vivo anti-cancer activity.

In this manuscript, we demonstrate that the in situ growth of fluorescent silicon (Si) nanomaterials is stimulated when organosilicane molecules interact with different green teas, producing multifunctional Si nanomaterials with controllable zero- (e.g., nanoparticles), two- (e.

Distinct autophagy-inducing abilities of similar-sized nanoparticles in cell culture and live C. elegans.

Nanomaterial-induced autophagy has raised increasing concerns. A variety of nanomaterials, conventional or recently emerged, have the capability of inducing autophagy. As a consequence, it is becoming a popular belief that induction of autophagy is a common response of cells upon exposure to nanoscale materials.

One-pot synthesis of silicon based nanoparticles with incorporated phthalocyanine for long-term bioimaging and photo-dynamic therapy of tumors.

Combining the merits of delivery vectors with drug molecules is one of the key directions for development of efficient cancer monitoring and treatment techniques. In this work, a novel type of silicon based composite nanoparticles (NPs) with incorporated hydrophobic phthalocyanine molecules (Pc) was synthesized via a facile one-pot method. The as-synthesized Pc@Si NPs, with a small size of 4.

In situ rapid growth of fluorescent silicon nanoparticles at room temperature and under atmospheric pressure.

Herein, we demonstrate that at room temperature (20-25 °C) and under atmospheric pressure, small-sized (∼3.1 nm) SiNPs can be rapidly formed in aqueous phase within 60 min, with high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of ∼50%. This approach is readily scalable and could potentially be used to produce high-quality SiNPs at an industrial level.

Impact of fluorescent silicon nanoparticles on circulating hemolymph and hematopoiesis in an invertebrate model organism.

Silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) have attractive potential applications in biological and medical fields, and yet their impact on animals is still controversial, and there have been no reports of their effects on hematopoiesis. In this study, the effects of SiNPs on hemocytes and hematopoiesis were investigated by administering SiNPs via a vascular injection into an invertebrate model, the silkworm. Our results show that the ability of SiNPs to enter different types of circulating hemocytes and their impact on those hemocytes differed significantly.

Plant-derived fluorescent silicon nanoparticles featuring excitation wavelength-dependent fluorescence spectra for anti-counterfeiting applications.

By using gramineae plants as natural and accessible reaction precursors, we herein introduce a green synthetic strategy, which is efficacious for the facile production of crystalline, excitation-wavelength-dependent fluorescent and small-sized silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs). We further explore the prepared SiNPs as a novel kind of fluorescent label for anti-counterfeiting applications.

Linking Subcellular Disturbance to Physiological Behavior and Toxicity Induced by Quantum Dots in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The wide-ranging applications of fluorescent semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have triggered increasing concerns about their biosafety. Most QD-related toxicity studies focus on the subcellular processes in cultured cells or global physiological effects on whole animals. However, it is unclear how QDs affect subcellular processes in living organisms, or how the subcellular disturbance contributes to the overall toxicity.

One-Dimensional Fluorescent Silicon Nanorods Featuring Ultrahigh Photostability, Favorable Biocompatibility, and Excitation Wavelength-Dependent Emission Spectra.

We herein report a kind of one-dimensional biocompatible fluorescent silicon nanorods (SiNRs) with tunable lengths ranging ∼100-250 nm, which can be facilely prepared through one-pot microwave synthesis. In addition to the strong fluorescence (quantum yield value: ∼15%) and negligible toxicity, the resultant SiNRs exhibit excitation wavelength-dependent photoluminescence whose maximum emission wavelength ranges from ∼450 to ∼600 nm under serial excitation wavelengths from 390 to 560 nm, providing feasibility for multicolor biological imaging. More significantly, the SiNRs are ultrahighly photostable, preserving strong and nearly unchanged fluorescence under 400 min high-power UV irradiation, which is in sharp contrast to severe fluorescence quenching of organic dyes (e.

Biomimetic Preparation and Dual-Color Bioimaging of Fluorescent Silicon Nanoparticles.

Fluorescent silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs), as the most important zero-dimensional silicon nanostructures, hold high promise for long-awaited silicon-based optic applications. There currently remain major challenges for the green, inexpensive, and mass production of fluorescent SiNPs, resulting in difficulties in sufficiently exploiting the properties of these remarkable materials. Here, we show that fluorescent small-sized (∼3.

A real-time documentation and mechanistic investigation of quantum dots-induced autophagy in live Caenorhabditis elegans.

Autophagy is a highly important intracellular process for the degradation of endogenous or foreign contents in the cytoplasm. Though nanomaterials-induced autophagy has been extensively studied, real-time information about the autophagic process induced by nanomaterials in live organisms remains unknown. Here by using Caenorhabditis elegans as the model organism and fluorescent semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) as a representative nanomaterial, we systematically investigated the phenomenon of QDs-induced autophagy in live organisms.