Exploring the effects of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBP-A) on silkworm from the insights of metabolome.

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBP-A) are emerging environmental contaminants with recognized potential health and ecological risks. This study investigated the effects of PFOA and TBBP-A exposure on the global of metabolites of silkworm gut with GC-MS metabolomics. Our results revealed distinct metabolic alterations in silkworms exposed to PFOA and TBBP-A, highlighting their differential impacts on silkworm health and productivity.

Correction: Fluorescence detection of three types of pollutants based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer and its comparison with colorimetric detection.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1039/D3RA02647G.].

Effects of short-term florfenicol exposure on the gene expression pattern, midgut microbiota, and metabolome in the lepidopteran model silkworm (Bombyx mori).

Florfenicol (FF), an alternative veterinary antibiotic for chloramphenicol, has been widely utilized in livestock breeding to prevent and treat bacterial diseases. However, the toxicological effects of FF have yet to be fully disclosed. The domesticated silkworm (Bombyx mori), a lepidopteran model, was selected to assess the toxicological effects of FF dietary exposure with multi-omics.

Fluorescence detection of three types of pollutants based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer and its comparison with colorimetric detection.

This study aimed at three representative pollutants, benzidine, cyromazine, and streptomycin, which were commonly used and posed a great threat to both environment and human health, mainly to explore a fast, simple, sensitive, visible naked-eye detection method. Colorimetric detection by gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was first attempted. The cross-linking reaction occurred owing to the strong forces between the targets and AuNPs, leading to aggregation and color change.

The effects of short-term dietary exposure to SiO nanoparticle on the domesticated lepidopteran insect model silkworm (Bombyx mori): Evidence from the perspective of multi-omics.

Silicon dioxide nanoparticles (nSiO) are one of the widely utilized nanoparticle (NPSs) materials, and exposure to nSiO is ubiquitous. With the increasing commercialization of nSiO, the potential risk of nSiO release to the health and the ecological environment have been attracted more attention. In this study, the domesticated lepidopteran insect model silkworm (Bombyx mori) was utilized to evaluate the biological effects of dietary exposure to nSiO.

Thermosensitive and Conductive Hybrid Polymer for Real-Time Monitoring of Spheroid Growth and Drug Responses.

Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture based on polymer scaffold provides a promising tool to mimic a physiological microenvironment for drug testing; however, the next-generation cell activity monitoring technology for 3D cell culture is still challenging. Conventionally, drug efficacy evaluation and cell growth heavily rely on cell staining assays, using optical devices or flow cytometry. Here, we report a dual-function polymer scaffold (DFPS) composed of thermosensitive, silver flake- and gold nanoparticle-decorated polymers, enabling conductance change upon cell proliferation or death for cell activity monitoring and drug screening.

Innovative Systems to Deliver Allergen Powder for Epicutaneous Immunotherapy.

Allergy is a disorder owing to hyperimmune responses to a particular kind of substance like food and the disease remains a serious healthcare burden worldwide. This unpleasant and sometimes fatal allergic disease has been tackled vigorously by allergen-specific immunotherapy over a century, but the progress made so far is far from satisfactory for some allergies. Herein, we introduce innovative, allergen powder-based epicutaneous immunotherapies (EPIT), which could potentially serve to generate a new stream of technological possibilities that embrace the features of super safety and efficacious immunotherapy by manipulating the plasticity of the skin immune system sufficient delivery of not only allergens but also tolerogenic adjuvants.

Bacteria-specific phototoxic reactions triggered by blue light and phytochemical carvacrol.

Development of alternatives to antibiotics is one of the top priorities in the battle against multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infections. Here, we report that two naturally occurring nonantibiotic modalities, blue light and phytochemical carvacrol, synergistically kill an array of bacteria including their planktonic forms, mature biofilms, and persisters, irrespective of their antibiotic susceptibility. Combination but not single treatment completely or substantially cured acute and established biofilm-associated and methicillin-resistant infections of full thickness murine third-degree burn wounds and rescued mice from lethal skin wound infections.

Ultrasonically Patterning Silver Nanowire-Acrylate Composite for Highly Sensitive and Transparent Strain Sensors Based on Parallel Cracks.

It has long been a challenge to develop strain sensors with large gauge factor (GF) and high transparency for a broad strain range, to which field silver nanowires (AgNWs) have recently been applied. A dense nanowire (NW) network benefits achieving large stretchability, while a sparse NW network favors realizing high transparency and sensitive response to small strains. Herein, a patterned AgNW-acrylate composite-based strain sensor is developed to circumvent the above trade-off issue via a novel ultrasonication-based patterning technique, where a water-soluble, UV-curable acrylate composite was blended with AgNWs as both a tackifier and a photoresist for finely patterning dense AgNWs to achieve high transparency, while maintaining good stretchability.

Engineering the Protein Corona Structure on Gold Nanoclusters Enables Red-Shifted Emissions in the Second Near-infrared Window for Gastrointestinal Imaging.

The application of NIR-II emitters for gastrointestinal (GI) tract imaging remains challenging due to fluorescence quenching in the digestive microenvironment. Herein, we report that red-shifting of the fluorescence emission of Au nanoclusters (AuNCs) into NIR-II region with improved quantum yields (QY) could be achieved by engineering a protein corona structure consisting of a ribonuclease-A (RNase-A) on the particle surfaces. RNase-A-encapsulated AuNCs (RNase-A@AuNCs) displayed emissions at 1050 nm with a 1.

Photon induced quantum yield regeneration of cap-exchanged CdSe/CdS quantum rods for ratiometric biosensing and cellular imaging.

Full water-dispersion of commercial hydrophobic CdSe/CdS core/shell quantum rods (QRs) was achieved by cap-exchange using a dihydrolipoic acid zwitterion ligand at a low ligand:QR molar ratio (LQMR) of 1000. However, this process almost completely quenched the QR fluorescence, greatly limiting its potential in downstream fluorescence based applications. Fortunately, we found that the QR fluorescence could be recovered by exposure to near ultra-violet to blue light radiation (e.

Microneedles for transdermal diagnostics: Recent advances and new horizons.

Point-of-care testing (POCT), defined as the test performed at or near a patient, has been evolving into a complement to conventional laboratory diagnosis by continually providing portable, cost-effective, and easy-to-use measurement tools. Among them, microneedle-based POCT devices have gained increasing attention from researchers due to the glorious potential for detecting various analytes in a minimally invasive manner. More recently, a novel synergism between microneedle and wearable technologies is expanding their detection capabilities.

Comprehensive Stability Improvement of Silver Nanowire Networks via Self-Assembled Mercapto Inhibitors.

Instability of silver nanowire (AgNW) has been regarded as a major obstacle to its practical applications in optoelectrical devices as transparent electrodes. Physical barrier layers such as polymer, metal, and graphene have been generally employed to improve the stability of AgNW in previous study. Herein, we first report self-assembled organothiols as an inhibitor for AgNW to achieve an overall enhancement in antioxidation, antisulfidation, thermal stability, and anti-electromigration.

Ultraefficient Cap-Exchange Protocol To Compact Biofunctional Quantum Dots for Sensitive Ratiometric Biosensing and Cell Imaging.

An ultraefficient cap-exchange protocol (UCEP) that can convert hydrophobic quantum dots (QDs) into stable, biocompatible, and aggregation-free water-dispersed ones at a ligand:QD molar ratio (LQMR) as low as 500, some 20-200-fold less than most literature methods, has been developed. The UCEP works conveniently with air-stable lipoic acid (LA)-based ligands by exploiting tris(2-carboxylethyl phosphine)-based rapid in situ reduction. The resulting QDs are compact (hydrodynamic radius, R, < 4.

Facile synthesis of β-lactoglobulin capped AgS quantum dots for in vivo imaging in the second near-infrared biological window.

Effective in vivo fluorescence imaging for cancer screening and diagnostics requires bright and biocompatible fluorophores whose emission can effectively penetrate biological tissues. Recent studies have confirmed that the second near-infrared window (NIR-II, 1000-1400 nm) is the most sensitive spectral range for in vivo imaging due to ultralow tissue absorption and autofluorescence. We report herein a facile synthesis of AgS quantum dots (QDs) that emit at ∼1100 nm using β-lactoglobulin (β-LG) as a biological template.

Highly Fluorescent Ribonuclease-A-Encapsulated Lead Sulfide Quantum Dots for Ultrasensitive Fluorescence Imaging in the Second Near-Infrared Window.

Ribonuclease-A (RNase-A) encapsulated PbS quantum dots (RNase-A@PbS Qdots) which emit in the second near-infrared biological window (NIR-II, . 1000-1400 nm) are rapidly synthesized under microwave heating. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the Qdots can be tuned across the entire NIR-II range by simply controlling synthesis temperature.

Direct water-phase synthesis of lead sulfide quantum dots encapsulated by β-lactoglobulin for in vivo second near infrared window imaging with reduced toxicity.

Compared to conventional fluorescence imaging in the visible (400-700 nm) and NIR-I regions (700-900 nm), optical fluorescence imaging in the second near infrared window (NIR-II, 1000-1400 nm) offers reduced photon scattering, deeper tissue penetration and lower auto-fluorescence. Despite excellent imaging capabilities, current NIR-II probes have not yet reached their full potential due to weak quantum yield, low water solubility and suboptimal biocompatibility. To address these problems, we report herein a new NIR-II fluorescent PbS quantum dots (QDs) that are fabricated in water using β-lactoglobulin (LG) as a biological template.

Near-infrared fluorescent ribonuclease-A-encapsulated gold nanoclusters: preparation, characterization, cancer targeting and imaging.

Ultra-small gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have unique size-dependent optical, electrical and chemical properties. They have emerged as a new nanomaterial with broad applications in optoelectronics, catalysis, biosensing, and bioimaging. Several strategies have been exploited to prepare AuNCs of different "magic number" sizes, using different templates e.

Protein-induced structural evolution of silver sulfide at the nanoscale: from hollow particles to solid spheres.

Herein, a novel structural transformation of Ag(2)S nanoparticles from hollow particles to solid spheres is reported. The features of these structures are identified through a set of characterizations based on which the formation mechanism is also investigated.

Bacterial glyphosate resistance conferred by overexpression of an E. coli membrane efflux transporter.

Glyphosate herbicide-resistant crop plants, introduced commercially in 1994, now represent approximately 85% of the land area devoted to transgenic crops. Herbicide resistance in commercial glyphosate-resistant crops is due to expression of a variant form of a bacterial 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase with a significantly decreased binding affinity for glyphosate at the target site of the enzyme. As a result of widespread and recurrent glyphosate use, often as the only herbicide used for weed management, increasing numbers of weedy species have evolved resistance to glyphosate.

BRCAA1 monoclonal antibody conjugated fluorescent magnetic nanoparticles for in vivo targeted magnetofluorescent imaging of gastric cancer.

Background: Gastric cancer is 2th most common cancer in China, and is still the second most common cause of cancer-related death in the world. How to recognize early gastric cancer cells is still a great challenge for early diagnosis and therapy of patients with gastric cancer. This study is aimed to develop one kind of multifunctional nanoprobes for in vivo targeted magnetofluorescent imaging of gastric cancer.

Copper selenide nanosnakes: bovine serum albumin-assisted room temperature controllable synthesis and characterization.

Herein we firstly reported a simple, environment-friendly, controllable synthetic method of CuSe nanosnakes at room temperature using copper salts and sodium selenosulfate as the reactants, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) as foaming agent. As the amounts of selenide ions (Se2-) released from Na2SeSO3 in the solution increased, the cubic and snake-like CuSe nanostructures were formed gradually, the cubic nanostructures were captured by the CuSe nanosnakes, the CuSe nanosnakes grew wider and longer as the reaction time increased. Finally, the cubic CuSe nanostructures were completely replaced by BSA-CuSe nanosnakes.

Signaling pathways of PDZ2 domain: a molecular dynamics interaction correlation analysis.

PDZ domains are found in many signaling proteins. One of their functions is to provide scaffolds for forming membrane-associated protein complexes by binding to the carboxyl termini of their partners. PDZ domains are thought also to play a signal transduction role by propagating the information that binding has occurred to remote sites.

The signaling pathway of rhodopsin.

The signal-transduction mechanism of rhodopsin was studied by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the high-resolution, inactive structure in an explicit membrane environment. The simulations were employed to calculate equal-time correlations of the fluctuating interaction energy of residue pairs. The resulting interaction-correlation matrix was used to determine a network that couples retinal to the cytoplasmic interface, where transducin binds.