Development of carboxymethyl cellulose/starch films enriched with ZnO-NPs and anthocyanins for antimicrobial and pH-indicating food packaging.

Active packaging, which can monitor food freshness and extend the shelf life, has gained significant attention in recent years. This study aims to develop a novel carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)/starch/anthocyanins/ZnO active films with enhanced properties and specific functionalities. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed that the addition of anthocyanins and nano-ZnO particles (ZnO-NPs) led to heterogeneous microstructures and a slight decrease in the crystallinity.

Simulation-Guided Preparation of Copper Chalcogenide Nanoparticle-Based Transparent Photothermal Coating with Enhanced Deicing Performance.

In this investigation, transparent photothermal coatings utilizing plasmonic copper chalcogenide (CuS) nanoparticles were designed and fabricated for the deicing of glass surfaces. CuS nanoparticles, chosen for their high near-infrared (NIR) absorption and efficient photothermal conversion, were analyzed via finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations to optimize nanoparticle morphology, thus avoiding costly trial-and-error synthesis. FDTD simulations determined that CuS nanorods (Cu-NRs) with an optimal aspect ratio of 2.

Recent Advances in Engineering Carriers for siRNA Delivery.

RNA interference (RNAi) technology has been a promising treatment strategy for combating intractable diseases. However, the applications of RNAi in clinical are hampered by extracellular and intracellular barriers. To overcome these barriers, various siRNA delivery systems have been developed in the past two decades.

Creation of Chitosan-Based Nanocapsule-in-Nanofiber Structures for Hydrophobic/Hydrophilic Drug Co-Delivery and Their Dressing Applications in Diabetic Wounds.

Nanofiber meshes (NFMs) loaded with therapeutic agents are very often employed to treat hard-to-heal wounds such as diabetic wounds. However, most of the NFMs have limited capability to load multiple or hydrophilicity distinctive-therapeutic agents. The therapy strategy is therefore significantly hampered.

A Simulation of the Effect of External and Internal Parameters on the Synthesis of a Carbyne with More than 6000 Atoms for Emerging Continuously Tunable Energy Barriers in CNT-Based Transistors.

Transistors made up of carbon nanotube CNT have demonstrated excellent current-voltage characteristics which outperform some high-grade silicon-based transistors. A continuously tunable energy barrier across semiconductor interfaces is desired to make the CNT-based transistors more robust. Despite that the direct band gap of the carbyne inside a CNT can be widely tuned by strain, the size of the carbyne cannot be controlled easily.

Highly biocompatible chlorin e6-poly(dopamine) core-shell nanoparticles for enhanced cancer phototherapy.

Cancer is a life-threatening disease worldwide. Although several approaches, such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, have been proven effective for many patients in clinics, they usually suffer from drug resistance, severe toxic-side effects, patient discomfort, and sometimes, unsatisfactory efficacies. In recent years, phototherapy, as a less invasive but effective therapeutic method, has brought hope for cancer treatment.

Recent advances in nanotechnology approaches for non-viral gene therapy.

Gene therapy has shown great potential in the treatment of many diseases by downregulating the expression of certain genes. The development of gene vectors as a vehicle for gene therapy has greatly facilitated the widespread clinical application of nucleic acid materials (DNA, mRNA, siRNA, and miRNA). Currently, both viral and non-viral vectors are used as delivery systems of nucleic acid materials for gene therapy.

Exciton Luminescence and Optical Properties of Nanocrystalline Cubic YO Films Prepared by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering.

This paper presents a comprehensive study of the energy structure, optical characteristics, and spectral-kinetic parameters of elementary excitations in a high-purity nanocrystalline cubic YO film synthesized by reactive magnetron sputtering. The optical transparency gaps for direct and indirect interband transitions were determined and discussed. The dispersion of the refractive index was established based on the analysis of interference effects.

Deep-Brain Three-Photon Imaging Enabled by Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogens with Near-Infrared-III Excitation.

Understanding the morphology and hemodynamics of cerebral vasculature at large penetration depths and microscale resolution is fundamentally important to decipher brain diseases. Among the various imaging technologies, three-photon (3P) microscopy is of significance by virtue of its deep-penetrating capability and submicron resolution, which especially benefits vascular imaging. Aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) have been recognized to be extraordinarily powerful as 3P probes.

A biocompatible photosensitizer with a high intersystem crossing efficiency for precise two-photon photodynamic therapy.

Photodynamic efficiency is strongly dependent on the generation rate of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the tissue penetration depth. Recent advances in materials science reveal that organic molecules with room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) can potentially serve as efficient photosensitizers owing to their limited dark cytotoxicity and abundant triplet excitons upon light irradiation. In this study, we combine RTP materials with two-photon excitation to improve the ROS generation, therapeutic precision, and tissue penetration of photodynamic therapy.

Organic/Inorganic Self-Assembled Hybrid Nano-Architectures for Cancer Therapy Applications.

Since the conceptualization of nanomedicine, numerous nanostructure-mediated drug formulations have progressed into clinical trials for treating cancer. However, recent clinical trial results indicate such kind of drug formulations has a limited improvement on the antitumor efficacy. This is due to the biological barriers associated with those formulations, for example, circulation stability, extravasation efficiency in tumor, tumor penetration ability, and developed multi-drug resistance.

Development of poly(vinyl alcohol)/starch/ethyl lauroyl arginate blend films with enhanced antimicrobial and physical properties for active packaging.

Active packaging films have emerged as alternatives to replace petroleum-based packaging materials. In this work, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/starch/ethyl lauroyl arginate (LAE) films possessing enhanced properties were prepared. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that PVA and starch were compatible, the concentrations of LAE greatly affected the structural integrity.

Metal organic framework-coated gold nanorod as an on-demand drug delivery platform for chemo-photothermal cancer therapy.

Chemo-photothermal therapy based on nanoparticles has emerged as a promising strategy for cancer treatment. However, its therapeutic efficacy and application potential are largely subjected to the uncontrollability and biotoxicity of functional nanoplatforms. Herein, a novel biocompatible and biodegradable metal organic framework (MOF), which was constructed by growing crystalline zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 on gold nanoroad (Au@ZIF-8), was designed and fabricated for efficient drug loading and controlled release.

Seawater Desalination by Interfacial Solar Vapor Generation Method Using Plasmonic Heating Nanocomposites.

With the ever-growing demand in fresh water supply, great efforts have been devoted to developing sustainable systems which could generate fresh water continuously. Solar vapor generation is one of the promising strategies which comprise an unlimited energy source and efficient solar-to-heat generators for overcoming fresh water scarcity. However, current solar vapor generation systems suffer either from inefficient utilization of solar energy or an expensive fabrication process.

Biodegradable Polymers for Gene-Delivery Applications.

Gene-based therapies have emerged as a new modality for combating a myriad of currently incurable diseases. However, the fragile nature of gene therapeutics has significantly hampered their biomedical applications. Correspondingly, the development of gene-delivery vectors is of critical importance for gene-based therapies.

Aqueous Phase Synthesis of Cu S Nanostructures and Their Photothermal Generation Study.

Size- and shape-dependent features of plasmonic nanocrystals govern the development of their applications. In the past decades, gold nanostructures, such as gold nanorods and nanoshells, have been well studied and applied for sensing, bioimaging, and photothermal generation. However, knowledge of copper chalcogenide, a new generation of plasmonic nanomaterials, is limited, especially about their preparation and size- and shape-dependent photothermal properties.

Development of Direct-Laser-Printable Light-Powered Nanocomposites.

Four-dimensional (4D) printable light-powered materials have emerged as a new generation of materials for the development of functional devices. The design of these types of materials is mostly based on the trans-cis transformation of azobenzene moieties in a liquid crystalline elastomer (LCE) matrix, in which the motion is triggered by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. In this paper, we first report on a direct laser printable photoresist for producing light-powered 4D structures with enhanced mechanical properties and near-infrared (NIR) responsive mechanical deformation.

Intensifying the Antimicrobial Activity of Poly[2-( tert-butylamino)ethyl Methacrylate]/Polylactide Composites by Tailoring Their Chemical and Physical Structures.

Poly[2-( tert-butylaminoethyl) methacrylate] (PTA), an important class of antimicrobial polymers, has demonstrated its great biocidal efficiency, favorable nontoxicity, and versatile applicability. To further enhance its antimicrobial efficiency, an optimization of the chemical structure of PTA polymers is performed via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) in terms of the antimicrobial ability against Escherichia coli ( E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus ( S.

Wearable Fluid Capture Devices for Electrochemical Sensing of Sweat.

Wearable sensing technologies are vital for realizing personalized health monitoring. Noninvasive human sweat sampling is essential for monitoring an individual's physical state using rich physiological data. However, existing wearable sensing technologies lack the controlled capture of body sweat and in performing on-device measurement without inflammatory contact.

Effects of Cd-based Quantum Dot Exposure on the Reproduction and Offspring of Kunming Mice over Multiple Generations.

The potential health risks associated with heavy-metal containing quantum dots (QDs) are a major concern accompanying their increased application in both research and industry. In this contribution, we investigate the effects of QDs on reproductive outcomes in Kunming mice across three generations. Rather than being exposed to QDs during pregnancy, mice were intravenously injected with phospholipid micelle encapsulated CdSe/CdS/ZnS QDs at a dosage of 0.

Hyper-elastic modeling and mechanical behavior investigation of porous poly-D-L-lactide/nano-hydroxyapatite scaffold material.

Poly-D-L-lactide/nano-hydroxyapatite (PDLLA/nano-HA) can be used as the biological scaffold material in bone tissue engineering as it can be readily made into a porous composite material with excellent performance. However, constitutive modeling for the mechanical response of porous PDLLA/nano-HA under various stress conditions has been very limited so far. In this work, four types of fundamental compressible hyper-elastic constitutive models were introduced for constitutive modeling and investigation of mechanical behaviors of porous PDLLA/nano-HA.

Manganese-doped near-infrared emitting nanocrystals for in vivo biomedical imaging.

Nanoprobes with multiple imaging modality have attracted a great deal of attention due to the capability of offering complementary information from each individual component. This work presents a hybrid approach to synthesize manganese doped near infrared (NIR) emitting quantum dots. The Mn-doping process was accomplished in aqueous phase followed by a phase transfer to organic phase for ZnS coating.

Biodegradable charged polyester-based vectors (BCPVs) as an efficient non-viral transfection nanoagent for gene knockdown of the BCR-ABL hybrid oncogene in a human chronic myeloid leukemia cell line.

First-line therapy of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) has always involved the use of BCR-ABL tyrosine-kinase inhibitors which is associated with an abnormal chromosome called Philadelphia chromosome. Although the overall survival rate has been improved by the current therapeutic regime, the presence of resistance has resulted in limited efficacy. In this study, an RNA interference (RNAi)-based therapeutic regime is proposed with the aim to knockdown the BCR-ABL hybrid oncogene using small interfering RNA (siRNA).