Hypotonic Stress Induces Fast, Reversible Degradation of the Vimentin Cytoskeleton via Intracellular Calcium Release.

The dynamic response of the cell to osmotic changes is critical to its physiology and is widely exploited for cell manipulation. Here, using three-dimensional stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (3D-STORM), a super-resolution technique, the hypotonic stress-induced ultrastructural changes of the cytoskeleton of a common fibroblast cell type are examined. Unexpectedly, these efforts lead to the discovery of a fast, yet reversible dissolution of the vimentin intermediate filament system that precedes ultrastructural changes of the supposedly more dynamic actin and tubulin cytoskeletal systems as well as changes in cell morphology.

Development of improved dual-diazonium reagents for faster crosslinking of tobacco mosaic virus to form hydrogels.

New bench-stable reagents with two diazonium sites were designed and synthesized for protein crosslinking. Because of the faster diazonium-tyrosine coupling reaction, hydrogels from the crosslinking of tobacco mosaic virus and the reagent DDA-3 could be prepared within 1 min at room temperature. Furthermore, hydrogels with the introduction of disulfide bonds DDA-4 could be chemically degraded by dithiothreitol.

Noble Metal Particles Confined in Zeolites: Synthesis, Characterization, and Applications.

Noble metal nanoparticles or subnanometric particles confined in zeolites, that is, metal@zeolite, represent an important type of functional materials with typical core-shell structure. This type of material is known for decades and recently became a research hotspot due to their emerging applications in various fields. Remarkable achievements are made dealing with the synthesis, characterization, and applications of noble metal particles confined in zeolites.

A review of modification of carbon electrode material in capacitive deionization.

Capacitive deionization (CDI) technology has attracted wide attention since its advent and is considered as one of the most promising technologies in the field of desalination and ion recycling. It is constructed with an electric field by applying a low voltage of direct-current to make ions migrate directionally in solution to achieve the purpose of ion separation and removal. The performance of CDI is heavily dependent on the electrode material.

Realizing a High-Performance Na-Storage Cathode by Tailoring Ultrasmall NaFePOF Nanoparticles with Facilitated Reaction Kinetics.

In this paper, the synthesis of ultrasmall NaFePOF nanoparticles (≈3.8 nm) delicately embedded in porous N-doped carbon nanofibers (denoted as NaFePOF@C) by electrospinning is reported. The as-prepared NaFePOF@C fiber film tightly adherent on aluminum foil features great flexibility and is directly used as binder-free cathode for sodium-ion batteries, exhibiting admirable electrochemical performance with high reversible capacity (117.

Facile construction of magnetic core-shell covalent organic frameworks as efficient solid-phase extraction adsorbents for highly sensitive determination of sulfonamide residues against complex food sample matrices.

Integration of advanced sample pretreatment techniques, with the involvement of functional nano/micro-materials as adsorbents, is of great importance and value for food-safety precise inspection. For now, the major demands for functional adsorbents are ease of fabrication, fast adsorption and separation performance, low toxicity, robustness, and reusability. In the present work, core-shell structured magnetic covalent organic frameworks (COFs) that employed FeO microspheres as the magnetic core and TpBD COFs as the adsorption shell have been successfully constructed as efficient solid phase extraction (SPE) adsorbents for complex food sample analysis.

What will happen when thermoresponsive poly(-isopropylacrylamide) is tethered on poly(ionic liquid)s?

The thermoresponsive ionic liquid diblock copolymer of poly[1-(4-vinylbenzyl)-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate]--poly(-isopropylacrylamide) (P[VBMI][BF]--PNIPAM) containing a hydrophilic poly(ionic liquid) block of P[VBMI][BF] is prepared by sequential reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. This P[VBMI][BF]--PNIPAM exhibits an abnormal thermoresponsive phase transition at a temperature above the phase transition temperature (PTT) of the PNIPAM block. For P[VBMI][BF]--PNIPAM including a short P[VBMI][BF] block, its aqueous solution becomes turbid at a temperature above the PTT of the thermoresponsive PNIPAM block, whereas for P[VBMI][BF]--PNIPAM containing a relatively long P[VBMI][BF] block even in the case of a relatively long PNIPAM block, the aqueous solution remains transparent at a temperature far above the PTT of the PNIPAM block, although a soluble-to-insoluble phase transition of the PINIPAM block is confirmed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis and variable temperature H NMR analysis.

Construction of anisotropic fluorescent nanofibers assisted by electro-spinning and its optical sensing applications.

Fixing the gap between "nano-scaled" pieces and "product-scale" materials, devices or machines is an ineluctable challenge that people have to tackle. Herein, we show that combining self-assembly and electrospinning processes results in the fabrication of anisotropic fluorescent nanofibers (PDI@PVDF) in which the well-defined rod-like perylene bisimide derivative assemblies are embedded in a highly oriented way along the axis of the poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) fiber. Compared to fragile individual PDI assemblies, the electrospinning anisotropic fluorescent PDI@PVDF nanofibers not only maintain high sensitivity for aniline vapour but also exhibit an unexpected short response time for both quenching and recovering.

Mechanisms of isomerization and oxidation in heated trilinolein by DFT method.

In order to investigate the molecular mechanisms of the heat-induced / isomerization and oxidative cleavage of trilinolein, a highly purified sample was heated at a range of temperatures (120, 140, 160, 180, 200, 220 °C) for 5 h. The reaction process of / isomerization of C18:2 was studied by a combination of the gas chromatogram (GC) method with density functional theory (DFT). When trilinolein was heated to 180 °C, a small amount of / C18:2 was obtained (0.

Discovery of human TyrRS inhibitors by structure-based virtual screening, structural optimization, and bioassays.

The human tyrosyl transfer-RNA (tRNA) synthetase (TyrRS), which is well known for its essential aminoacylation function in protein synthesis, has been shown to translocate to the nucleus and protect against DNA damage caused by external stimuli. Small molecules that can fit into the active site pocket of TyrRS are thought to affect the nuclear role. The exploitation of TyrRS inhibitors has attracted attention recently.

Target DNA mutagenesis-based fluorescence assessment of off-target activity of the CRISPR-Cas9 system.

The RNA-guided CRISPR/Cas9 system could cleave double-stranded DNA at the on-target sites but also induce off-target mutations in unexpected genomic regions. The base-pairing interaction of sgRNA with off-target DNA was still not well understood and also lacked a direct cell-based assay. Herein we developed a fast target DNA mutagenesis-based fluorescence assay to directly detect the Cas9 activity at different off-target sites in living cells.

Preparation of Ni based mesoporous AlO catalyst with enhanced CO methanation performance.

A Ni based mesoporous γ-AlO (MA) catalyst was prepared partial hydrolysis without organic surfactants and employed in the carbon dioxide methanation reaction. The obtained catalysts were characterized by N adsorption-desorption, H-TPR, XRD, XPS, TG, SEM and TEM-EDS techniques. CO methanation was performed in a fixed-bed reactor.

Multistage Delivery Nanoparticle Facilitates Efficient CRISPR/dCas9 Activation and Tumor Growth Suppression In Vivo.

CRISPR/dCas9 systems can precisely control endogenous gene expression without interrupting host genomic sequence and have provided a novel and feasible strategy for the treatment of cancers at the transcriptional level. However, development of CRISPR/dCas9-based anti-cancer therapeutics remains challenging due to the conflicting requirements for the design of the delivery system: a cationic and membrane-binding surface facilitates the tumor accumulation and cellular uptake of the CRISPR/dCas9 system, but hinders the circulating stability in vivo. Here, a multistage delivery nanoparticle (MDNP) that can achieve tumor-targeted delivery of CRISPR/dCas9 systems and restore endogenous microRNA (miRNA) expression in vivo is described.

Preparation of triazine containing porous organic polymer for high performance supercapacitor applications.

By condensing M and TFP under solvothermal conditions, a new porous organic polymer POP was obtained. The electrode modified with triazine containing POP exhibits well-defined rapid redox processes and showed a high specific capacitance of 130.5 F g at 2 A g, suggesting well electrochemical performance.

formation and superior lithium storage properties of tentacle-like ZnO@NC@CNTs composites.

As a typical conversion-type electrode, ZnO has high theoretical Li storage capacity and is low cost. However, its practical application is far away due to its limited rate performance and cycle stability. Herein, a novel structure of double carbon coated tentacle-like ZnO composite has been synthesized, which features grown carbon nanotubes (CNTs) embedded in yolk-shell polyhedra, consisting of nitrogen-doped carbon layer (NC) coated ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO@NC@CNTs).

Tetra-fluorinated aromatic azide for highly efficient bioconjugation in living cells.

We developed a fast strain-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction (SPAAC) by tetra-fluorinated aromatic azide with a kinetic constant of 3.60 M s, which is among the fastest SPAAC ligations reported so far. We successfully employed the reaction for covalent labelling of proteins with high efficiency and for bioimaging of mitochondria in living cells.

Five-fold twinned β-PbF nanocrystals in oxyfluoride glass ceramics.

Oxyfluoride glass ceramics (GCs) doped with trivalent lanthanide ions (Ln) have been prepared using a conventional melting-quenching method and studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD). β-PbF nanocrystals (NCs) doped with Ln ions (β-PbF:Ln) in GCs were released from the GCs by etching off the glass matrix. β-PbF:Ln NCs can be clearly observed by eliminating the influence of the glass matrix.

An efficient nickel/silver co-catalyzed remote C-H amination of 8-aminoquinolines with azodicarboxylates at room temperature.

A highly efficient nickel/silver co-catalyzed C-H amination at the C5 position of 8-aminoquinolines with azodicarboxylates at room temperature is reported. The reaction undergoes a self-redox process without the necessity of external oxidant. It proceeded under simple and mild conditions without any additional ligand, base or oxidant and provided the desired products in good to excellent yields.

Research on biochar a comprehensive scientometric approach.

A comprehensive statistical study related to biochar was conducted by using the scientometric method. The publications are mainly in the form of articles (over 16 000), accounting for 87.7% of the total, which demonstrates that researchers have great interest in this research field.

Fabrication of an activatable hybrid persistent luminescence nanoprobe for background-free bioimaging-guided investigation of food-borne aflatoxin .

The development of and real-time analytical methods for specifically probing food-borne hazardous substances is promising for clarifying their harmful behaviors and related disease mechanisms inside the living body through investigation of their behaviors. Herein, optical nanoimaging with the ability of non-damage detection and real-time monitoring was introduced for specific recognition of aflatoxin in cellular levels and the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) protocol. Persistent luminescence nanophosphors (PLNPs) with distinct advantages of improved sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio were employed in bioimaging as photoluminescence nanoprobes, while copper sulfide nanoparticles were utilized as the quencher.

Spherical covalent organic frameworks as advanced adsorbents for preconcentration and separation of phenolic endocrine disruptors, followed by high performance liquid chromatography.

As a promising generation of porous micro-materials, covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have great potentials for applications in separation and adsorption. In the present study, an advanced food-safety inspection method involving COFs as the adsorbents of solid phase extraction (SPE) is proposed for sensitive and accurate determination of target hazardous substances. Typical spherical TpBD COFs with large surface area and superior chemical stability were utilized as adsorbents for the preconcentration of phenolic endocrine disruptors (PEDs), followed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis.

Synthesis of an oxygen-linked germinal frustrated Lewis pair and its application in small molecule activation.

Reaction of MesP(O)Li with (CF)BCl gave access to an oxygen-linked germinal intramolecular frustrated Lewis pair MesP(O)B(CF) (1). Compound 1 is stable at room temperature and only decomposes when heated to 90 °C. NMR analysis and theoretical analysis revealed the frustrated nature between the boron and phosphorus centers.

Screening Small Metabolites from Cells as Multifunctional Coatings Simultaneously Improves Nanomaterial Biocompatibility and Functionality.

Currently, nanomaterials face a dilemma due to their advantageous properties and potential risks to human health. Here, a strategy to improve both nanomaterial biocompatibility and functionality is established by screening small metabolites from cells as nanomaterial coatings. A metabolomics analysis of cells exposed to nanosilver (nAg) integrates volcano plots (-tests and fold change analysis), partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), and significance analysis of microarrays (SAM) and identifies six metabolites (l-aspartic acid, l-malic acid, myoinositol, d-sorbitol, citric acid, and l-cysteine).

A New Nonfullerene Acceptor with Near Infrared Absorption for High Performance Ternary-Blend Organic Solar Cells with Efficiency over 13.

A new acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A) type nonfullerene acceptor, , which has three fused thieno[3,2-b]thiophene as the central core and difluoro substituted indanone as the end groups, is designed and synthesized. exhibits broad and strong absorption with extended onset absorption to 995 nm and a low optical bandgap of 1.25 eV.