An indole-amide-based phosphine ligand enabling a general palladium-catalyzed sterically hindered Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction.

A novel family of indole-amide-based phosphine ligands was designed and synthesized. The Pd/InAm-phos (L1) catalytic system exhibited excellent efficiency in the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling of sterically hindered (hetero)aryl chlorides to synthesize tri--substituted biaryls. Excellent product yields were obtained in a short reaction time (, 10 min), and a Pd catalyst loading down to 50 ppm was also achieved.

Controlled synthesis of Bi- and tri-nuclear Cu-oxo nanoclusters on metal-organic frameworks and the structure-reactivity correlations.

Precisely tuning the nuclearity of supported metal nanoclusters is pivotal for designing more superior catalytic systems, but it remains practically challenging. By utilising the chemical and molecular specificity of UiO-66-NH (a Zr-based metal-organic framework), we report the controlled synthesis of supported bi- and trinuclear Cu-oxo nanoclusters on the ZrO nodal centres of UiO-66-NH. We revealed the interplay between the surface structures of the active sites, adsorption configurations, catalytic reactivities and associated reaction energetics of structurally related Cu-based 'single atoms' and bi- and trinuclear species over our model photocatalytic formic acid reforming reaction.

Inhalable Antibiotic Resistome from Wastewater Treatment Plants to Urban Areas: Bacterial Hosts, Dissemination Risks, and Source Contributions.

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are commonly detected in the atmosphere, but questions remain regarding their sources and relative contributions, bacterial hosts, and corresponding human health risks. Here, we conducted a qPCR- and metagenomics-based investigation of inhalable fine particulate matter (PM) at a large wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and in the ambient air of Hong Kong, together with an in-depth analysis of published data of other potential sources in the area. PM was observed with increasing enrichment of total ARGs along the coastal-urban-WWTP gradient and clinically relevant ARGs commonly identified in urban and WWTP sites, illustrating anthropogenic impacts on the atmospheric accumulation of ARGs.

Inverting Conventional Chemoselectivity in the Sonogashira Coupling Reaction of Polyhalogenated Aryl Triflates with TMS-Arylalkynes.

A newly developed phosphine ligand with a -cyclohexyl group on the indole ring was successfully applied in a chemoselective Sonogashira coupling reaction with excellent chemoselectivity, affording an inversion of the conventional chemoselectivity order of C-Br > C-Cl > C-OTf. This study also provided an efficient approach to the synthesis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the natural product analogue trimethyl-selaginellin L by merging of chemoselective Sonogashira and Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions.

Light on osteoarthritic joint: from bench to bed.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the rapidly growing disability-associated conditions with population aging worldwide. There is a pressing need for precise diagnosis and timely intervention for OA in the early stage. Current clinical imaging modalities, including pain radiography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, and optical coherent tomography, are limited to provide structural changes when the damage has been established or advanced.

Nitroreductase-Induced Aggregation of Gold Nanoparticles for "Off-On" Photoacoustic Imaging of Tumor Hypoxia.

Hypoxia is an important phenomenon due to insufficient oxygen supply in tumor tissue, and nitroreductase (NTR) is a characteristic enzyme used for evaluating hypoxia level in tumors. In this work, we designed a smart gold nanoparticle (AuNPs), modified by 16-mercaptoundecanoic acid (MHDA) and hypoxia-responsive 11-(2-nitro-1H-imidazol-1-yl)undecane-1-thiol (NI) ligand, that responds to the hypoxic environment in tumor sites. With proper surface ligand composition, the responsive nanoprobe exhibited aggregation through the bioreduction of the nitro group on NI ligands under hypoxic conditions and the UV-vis absorption peak maximum would shift to 630 nm from 530 nm, which acts as an "off-on" contrast agent for tumor hypoxic photoacoustic (PA) imaging.

Exploring the photocatalytic conversion mechanism of gaseous formaldehyde degradation on TiO-OV surface.

To understand the conversion mechanism of photocatalytic gaseous formaldehyde (HCHO) degradation, strontium (Sr)-doped TiO-OV catalysts was designed and synthesized in this study, with comparable HCHO removal performance. Our results proved that foreign-element doping reduced Ti to the lower oxidation state Ti, and that the internal charge kinetics was largely facilitated by the unbalanced electron distribution. Oxygen vacancies (OVs) were developed spontaneously to realize an electron-localized phenomenon in TiO-OV, thereby boosting O adsorption and activation for the enhanced generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS).

Low-consumption photoacoustic method to measure liquid viscosity.

Viscosity measurement is important in many areas of biomedicine and industry. Traditional viscometers are usually time-consuming and require huge sample volumes. Microfluidic viscometry may overcome the challenge of large sample consumption but suffers from a long process time and a complicated structure design and interaction.

Room-temperature multiple ligands-tailored SnO quantum dots endow in situ dual-interface binding for upscaling efficient perovskite photovoltaics with high V.

The benchmark tin oxide (SnO) electron transporting layers (ETLs) have enabled remarkable progress in planar perovskite solar cell (PSCs). However, the energy loss is still a challenge due to the lack of "hidden interface" control. We report a novel ligand-tailored ultrafine SnO quantum dots (QDs) via a facile rapid room temperature synthesis.

High-resolution photoacoustic microscopy with deep penetration through learning.

Optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) enjoys superior spatial resolution and has received intense attention in recent years. The application, however, has been limited to shallow depths because of strong scattering of light in biological tissues. In this work, we propose to achieve deep-penetrating OR-PAM performance by using deep learning enabled image transformation on blurry living mouse vascular images that were acquired with an acoustic-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (AR-PAM) setup.

A new cobalt(II) complex nanosheet as an electroactive medium for plasmonic switching on Au nanoparticles.

2D metal-organic complex nanosheets with the merits of high stability and structure tunability are an emerging topic in recent years. To extend the promising ultrathin architectures, a new Co(II) complex nanosheet (Co-nanosheet) is designed and prepared a readily operated interface-assisted coordination reaction between the ligand 4,4'',4'''-(2,4,6-trimethylbenzene-1,3,5-triyl)tris(2,2':6',2''-terpyridyl) (L) and Co ions. The as-formed Co(II) complex nanosheet exhibits both a uniform layered structure and good thermostability as proposed, which were verified by various chemical and physical analytical methods.

Transferred metal gate to 2D semiconductors for sub-1 V operation and near ideal subthreshold slope.

Ultrathin two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors are regarded as a potential channel material for low-power transistors with small subthreshold swing and low leakage current. However, their dangling bond–free surface makes it extremely difficult to deposit gate dielectrics with high-quality interface in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) field-effect transistors (FETs). Here, we demonstrate a low-temperature process to transfer metal gate to 2D MoS for high-quality interface.

Imaging damage in plate waveguides using frequency-domain multiple signal classification (F-MUSIC).

Earlier, an ameliorated MUSIC (Am-MUSIC) algorithm is developed by the authors [1], aimed at expanding conventional MUSIC algorithm from linear array-facilitated nondestructive evaluation to in situ health monitoring with a sparse sensor network. Yet, Am-MUSIC leaves a twofold issue to be improved: i) the signal representation equation is constructed at each pixel across the inspection region, incurring high computational cost; and ii) the algorithm is applicable to monochromatic excitation only, ignoring signal features scattered out of the excitation frequency band which also carry information on structural integrity. With this motivation, a multiple-damage-scattered wavefield model is developed, with which the signal representation equation is constructed in the frequency domain, avoiding computationally expensive pixel-based calculation - referred to as frequency-domain MUSIC (F-MUSIC).

Mast Cells Are Identified in the Lung Parenchyma of Wild Mice, Which Can Be Recapitulated in Naturalized Laboratory Mice.

Background: It is well documented that laboratory mice bred and maintained in ultra-hygienic specific pathogen-free (SPF) barriers display reduced richness and complexity of microbiota compared with wild mice. The laboratory mice profoundly lack lung parenchymal mast cells. Hence, we aimed to investigate the lung distribution of mast cells in free-living wild mice.

A multifunctional targeted nanoprobe with high NIR-II PAI/MRI performance for precise theranostics of orthotopic early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma.

Early diagnosis and effective treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is quite critical for improving patients' prognosis. The combination of second near-infrared window photoacoustic imaging (NIR-II PAI) and -magnetic resonance imaging (-MRI) is promising for achieving omnibearing information on HCC diagnosis due to the complementary advantages of outstanding optical contrast, high temporospatial resolution and soft-tissue resolution. Thus, the rational design of a multifunctional targeted nanoplatform with outstanding performance in dual-modal NIR-II PAI/-MRI is particularly valuable for precise diagnosis and imaging-guided non-invasive photothermal therapy (PTT) of early-stage HCC.

Extract Attenuates Dextran Sodium Sulfate-Induced Acute Colitis in Mice by Inhibiting Macrophage Activation and Monocyte Chemotaxis.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an idiopathic inflammatory disease affecting the gastrointestinal tract. IBD is characterized by courses of relapse and remission, and remains incurable. Although multiple factors are related to the pathogenesis of IBD, disruption of intestinal mucosa homeostasis has been proposed to be a major contributor to IBD, and abnormal activation of immune cells is key for initiation of the inflammatory response.

Two-dimensional scattering features of the mixed second harmonic A0 mode Lamb waves for incipient damage localization.

Inspection of incipient structural damage is of great significance. Existing techniques based on nonlinear guided waves have shown great promise for the detection of incipient damage due to material microstructure changes, but with only limited success for damage localization, which is technically more challenging. Our previous work uncovered the existence of the second harmonic A0 mode Lamb waves in a PZT-driven system, as a result of the mixing of the primary A0 and S0 mode Lamb waves, thus pointing at the possibility of performing damage localization through tuning the size of the wave mixing zone.

A Three-Dimensional Printed Foot Orthosis for Flexible Flatfoot: An Exploratory Biomechanical Study on Arch Support Reinforcement and Undercut.

The advancement of 3D printing and scanning technology enables the digitalization and customization of foot orthosis with better accuracy. However, customized insoles require rectification to direct control and/or correct foot deformity, particularly flatfoot. In this exploratory study, we aimed at two design rectification features (arch stiffness and arch height) using three sets of customized 3D-printed arch support insoles (R+U+, R+U-, and R-U+).

Surface/sub-surface crack-scattered nonlinear rayleigh waves: A full analytical solution based on elastodynamic reciprocity theorem.

High-order harmonics and sub-harmonics that are engendered upon interaction between surface Rayleigh waves and material flaws have been exploited intensively, for characterizing material defects on or near to waveguide surfaces. Nevertheless, theoretical interpretation on underlying physics of defect-induced nonlinear features of Rayleigh waves remains a daunting task, owing to the difficulty in analytically modeling the stress and displacement fields of a Rayleigh wave in the vicinity of defect, in an explicit and accurate manner. In this study, the Rayleigh wave scattered by a surface or a sub-surface micro-crack is scrutinized analytically, and the second harmonic triggered by the clapping and rubbing behaviors of the micro-crack is investigated, based on the elastodynamic reciprocity theorem.

Integrating Clinical Data and Tear Proteomics to Assess Efficacy, Ocular Surface Status, and Biomarker Response After Orthokeratology Lens Wear.

Purpose: This study evaluated the efficacy and ocular surface status of Breath-O Correct, novel orthokeratology (OK) lenses, worn overnight for 3 months. Lens-induced changes in the tear proteome were evaluated.

Methods: Thirty-one subjects, aged 19 to 26 years with refractive error from -1.

Home-based self-help telerehabilitation of the upper limb assisted by an electromyography-driven wrist/hand exoneuromusculoskeleton after stroke.

Background: Most stroke survivors have sustained upper limb impairment in their distal joints. An electromyography (EMG)-driven wrist/hand exoneuromusculoskeleton (WH-ENMS) was developed previously. The present study investigated the feasibility of a home-based self-help telerehabilitation program assisted by the aforementioned EMG-driven WH-ENMS and its rehabilitation effects after stroke.

Optimization of Beclin 1-Targeting Stapled Peptides by Staple Scanning Leads to Enhanced Antiproliferative Potency in Cancer Cells.

Beclin 1 is an essential autophagy gene and a haploinsufficient tumor suppressor. Beclin 1 is the scaffolding member of the Class III phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase complex (PI3KC3) and recruits two positive regulators Atg14L and UVRAG through its coiled-coil domain to upregulate PI3KC3 activity. Our previous work has shown that hydrocarbon-stapled peptides targeted to the Beclin 1 coiled-coil domain reduced Beclin 1 homodimerization and promoted the Beclin 1-Atg14L/UVRAG interaction.

Pathway-specific cortico-muscular coherence in proximal-to-distal compensation during fine motor control of finger extension after stroke.

Proximal-to-distal compensation is commonly observed in the upper extremity (UE) after a stroke, mainly due to the impaired fine motor control in hand joints. However, little is known about its related neural reorganization. This study investigated the pathway-specific corticomuscular interaction in proximal-to-distal UE compensation during fine motor control of finger extension post-stroke by directed corticomuscular coherence (dCMC).

Helicate-to-tetrahedron transformation of chiral lanthanide supramolecular complexes induced by ionic radii effect and linker length.

Controlled formation of desired lanthanide supramolecular complexes is challenging because of the difficulties in predicting coordination geometry, as well as a labile coordination number. Herein, we explore the effect of ionic radii and linker length on supramolecular species formation. A helicate-to-tetrahedron transformation occurred between [LnL1] and [LnL1] (Ln = La, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb and Lu).