Stacking architecture for collimated backlight using cylindrical lens sheet with linear light sources or edge-lit/direct-lit BLU.

Highly collimated and directional backlights are essential for realizing advanced display technologies such as autostereoscopic 3D displays. Previously reported collimated backlights, either edge-lit or direct-lit, in general still suffer unsatisfactory form factors, directivity, uniformity, or crosstalk etc. In this work, we report a simple stacking architecture for the highly collimated and uniform backlights, by combining linear light source arrays and carefully designed cylindrical lens arrays. Experiments were conducted to validate the design and simulation, using the conventional edge-lit backlight or the direct-lit mini-LED (mLED) arrays as light sources, the NiFe (stainless steel) barrier sheets, and cylindrical lens arrays fabricated by molding. Highly collimated backlights with small angular divergence of ±1.45°âˆ¼±2.61°, decent uniformity of 93-96%, and minimal larger-angle sidelobes in emission patterns were achieved with controlled divergence of the light source and optimization of lens designs. The architecture reported here provides a convenient way to convert available backlight sources into a highly collimated backlight, and the use of optically reflective barrier also helps recycle light energy and enhance the luminance. The results of this work are believed to provide a facile approach for display technologies requiring highly collimated backlights.

Microvesicles-hydrogel breaks the cycle of cellular senescence by improving mitochondrial function to treat osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis (OA) is an age-related disease characterised by the accumulation of senescent chondrocytes, which drives its pathogenesis and progression. Senescent cells exhibit distinct features, including mitochondrial dysfunction and the excessive accumulation and release of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are highly correlated and lead to a vicious cycle of increasing senescent cells. Stem cell therapy has proven effective in addressing cellular senescence, however, it still has issues such as immune rejection and ethical concerns. Microvesicles (MVs) constitute the primary mechanism through which stem cell therapy exerts its effects, offering a cell-free approach that circumvents these risks and has excellent anti-ageing potential. Nonetheless, MVs have a short in vivo half-life, and their secretion composition varies considerably under diverse conditions. This study aims to address these issues by constructing a ROS-responsive hydrogel loaded with pre-stimulant MVs. Through responding to ROS levels this hydrogel intelligently releases MVs, and enhancing mitochondrial function in chondrocytes to improving cellular senescence. RESULT: We employed Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) as a stem cell-specific stimulus to generate IFN-γ-microvesicles (iMVs) with enhanced anti-ageing effects. Simultaneously, we developed a ROS-responsive carrier utilising 3-aminophenylboronic acid (APBA)-modified silk fibroin (SF) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). This carrier served to protect MVs, prolong longevity, and facilitate intelligent release. In vitro experiments demonstrated that the Hydrogel@iMVs effectively mitigated cell senescence, improved mitochondrial function, and enhanced cellular antioxidant capacity. In vivo experiments further substantiated the anti-ageing capabilities of the Hydrogel@iMVs. CONCLUSION: The effect of MVs can be significantly enhanced by appropriate pre-stimulation and constructing a suitable carrier. Therefore, we have developed a ROS-responsive hydrogel containing IFN-γ pre-stimulated iMVs to target the characteristics of ageing chondrocytes in OA for therapeutic purposes. Overall, this novel approach effectively improving mitochondrial dysfunction by regulating the balance between mitochondrial fission and fusion, and the accumulation of reactive oxygen species was reduced, finally, alleviates cellular senescence, offering a promising therapeutic strategy for OA.

Injectable Self-Setting Ternary Calcium-Based Bone Cement Promotes Bone Repair.

Bone defects, especially large ones, are clinically difficult to treat. The development of new bone repair materials exhibits broad application prospects in the clinical treatment of trauma. Bioceramics are considered to be one of the most promising biomaterials owing to their good biocompatibility and bone conductivity. In this study, a self-curing bone repair material having a controlled degradation rate was prepared by mixing calcium citrate, calcium hydrogen phosphate, and semi-hydrated calcium sulfate in varying proportions, and its properties were comprehensively evaluated. In vitro cell experiments and RNA sequencing showed that the composite cement activated PI3K/Akt and MAPK/Erk signaling pathways to promote osteogenesis by promoting the proliferation and osteoblastic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells. In a rat model with femoral condyle defects, the composite bone cement showed excellent bone repair effect and promoted bone regeneration. The injectable properties of the composite cement further improved its practical applicability, and it can be applied in bone repair, especially in the repair of irregular bone defects, to achieve superior healing.

Psoralidin inhibits osteosarcoma growth and metastasis by downregulating ITGB1 expression via the FAK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways.

BACKGROUND: Psoralea corylifolia is a medicinal leguminous plant that has long been used to treat various diseases. Psoralidin (PSO) is the main extract compound of P. corylifolia and exhibits antibacterial, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and other pharmacological activities. PSO has demonstrated inhibitory effects in several cancers; however, its inhibitory effect on osteosarcoma has not been reported. This study aimed to evaluate the inhibitory effect of PSO on osteosarcoma and elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms. METHODS: Crystal violet, cell counting kit-8 (CCK8), and 5-Ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) staining assays were used to assess the inhibitory effect of PSO on the proliferation of 143B and MG63 osteosarcoma cells. Wound healing and Transwell assays were conducted to evaluate the effects of PSO on osteosarcoma cell migration and invasion. The cell cycle and apoptosis were analyzed using flow cytometry. To determine the possible molecular mechanisms, RNA-sequencing was performed and protein expression was analyzed by western blotting. The inhibitory effect of PSO on osteosarcoma in vivo was analyzed using a mouse model of orthotopic osteosarcoma and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: PSO inhibited osteosarcoma cell proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner, inhibited cell migration and invasion, and induced cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. Mechanistically, PSO treatment significantly inhibited the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathways by downregulating ITGB1 expression in both MG63 and 143B cells. Furthermore, we demonstrated that PSO restrained osteosarcoma growth in vivo. CONCLUSION: PSO may suppress osteosarcoma via the FAK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways by downregulating ITGB1 expression.

Sox9-Increased miR-322-5p Facilitates BMP2-Induced Chondrogenic Differentiation by Targeting Smad7 in Mesenchymal Stem Cells.

Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) induces effective chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) by promoting Sox9 expression. However, BMP2 also induces chondrocyte hypertrophy and endochondral ossification by upregulating Smad7 expression, which leads to the disruption of chondrogenesis. In addition, Smad7 can be inhibited by Sox9. Therefore, the underlying mechanism is not clear. Currently, an increasing number of studies have shown that microRNAs play a pivotal role in chondrogenic and pathophysiological processes of cartilage. The purpose of this study was to determine which microRNA is increased by Sox9 and targets Smad7, thus assisting BMP2 in maintaining stable chondrogenesis. We found that miR-322-5p meets the requirement through next-generation sequencing (NGS) and bioinformatic analysis. The targeting relationship between miR-322-5p and Smad7 was confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter assays, qPCR, and western blotting (WB). The in vitro study indicated that overexpression of miR-322-5p significantly inhibited Smad7 expression, thus causing increased chondrogenic differentiation and decreased hypertrophic differentiation, while silencing of miR-322-5p led to the opposite results. Flow cytometry (FCM) analysis indicated that overexpression of miR-322-5p significantly decreased the rate of early apoptosis in BMP2-stimulated MSCs, while silencing of miR-322-5p increased the rate. A mouse limb explant assay revealed that the expression of miR-322-5p was negatively correlated with the length of the BMP2-stimulated hypertrophic zone of the growth plate. An in vivo study also confirmed that miR-322-5p assisted BMP2 in chondrogenic differentiation. Taken together, our results suggested that Sox9-increased miR-322-5p expression can promote BMP2-induced chondrogenesis by targeting Smad7, which can be exploited for effective tissue engineering of cartilage.

Donor-acceptor conjugated polymers based on multifused ladder-type arenes for organic solar cells.

Harvesting solar energy from sunlight to generate electricity is considered as one of the most important technologies to address the future sustainability of humans. Polymer solar cells (PSCs) have attracted tremendous interest and attention over the past two decades due to their potential advantage to be fabricated onto large area and light-weight flexible substrates by solution processing at a lower cost. PSCs based on the concept of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) configuration where an active layer comprises a composite of a p-type (donor) and an n-type (acceptor) material represents the most useful strategy to maximize the internal donor-acceptor interfacial area allowing for efficient charge separation. Fullerene derivatives such as [6,6]-phenyl-C61 or 71-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) are the ideal n-type materials ubiquitously used for BHJ solar cells. The major effort to develop photoactive materials is numerously focused on the p-type conjugated polymers which are generally synthesized by polymerization of electron-rich donor and electron-deficient acceptor monomers. Compared to the development of electron-deficient comonomers (acceptor segments), the development of electron-rich donor materials is considerably flourishing. Forced planarization by covalently fastening adjacent aromatic and heteroaromatic subunits leads to the formation of ladder-type conjugated structures which are capable of elongating effective conjugation, reducing the optical bandgap, promoting intermolecular π-π interactions and enhancing intrinsic charge mobility. In this review, we will summarize the recent progress on the development of various well-defined new ladder-type conjugated materials. These materials serve as the superb donor monomers to prepare a range of donor-acceptor semi-ladder copolymers with sufficient solution-processability for solar cell applications.

Synthesis and molecular properties of tricyclic biselenophene-based derivatives with nitrogen, silicon, germanium, vinylidene, and ethylene bridges.

A new class of biselenophene-based materials including an sp(3)-silicon-bridged diselenosilole (DSS), an sp(3)-germanium-bridged diselenogermole (DSG), and an sp(3)-nitrogen-bridged diselenopyrrole (DSP) as well as an sp(2)-vinylidene-bridged dicyanodiselenofulvene (CDSF), a diacetylenediselenofulvene (ADSF), and a dioctylethylene-bridged benzodiselenophene (BDS) have been successfully synthesized and characterized. The bridging moieties play an important role in determining the optical and electrochemical properties. The six brominated derivatives are ready to construct various biselenophene-based conjugated materials with tunable properties for organic photovoltaics and field effect transistors.

Synthesis and supramolecular assembly of pentacyclic dithienofluorene and diselenophenofluorene derivatives.

2,7-Diiodo-3,6-dibromofluorene and 2,7-dichloro-3,6-dibromofluorene have been successfully synthesized. The two key intermediates enable us to implement a regioselective Sonogashira reaction followed by intramolecular thiolate/acetylene cyclization, forming two regiospecific pentacyclic dithieno[2,3-b:7,6-b']fluorene (2,7-DTF) and dithieno[3,2-b:6,7-b']fluorene (3,6-DTF) isomeric molecules, respectively. By using a similar strategy, selenophene-based diselenopheno[2,3-b:7,6-b']fluorene (2,7-DSF) as well as diselenopheno[3,2-b:6,7-b']fluorene (3,6-DSF) were also prepared. The isomeric and sulfur/selenium effects determine the optical, electrochemical, and orbital properties. X-ray crystallography revealed that 2,7-DTF and 3,6-DTF molecules assemble into supramolecular helical structures.

Synthesis and molecular properties of four isomeric dialkylated angular-shaped naphthodithiophenes.

A new strategy to synthesize 4,9- and 5,10-dialkylated α-aNDTs as well as 4,9- and 5,10-dialkylated ß-aNDTs is described. Four isomeric precursors with different dithienyl-ene-diyne arrangements undergo base-induced double 6π-cyclization to construct the central naphthalene cores, leading to the formation of the regiospecific products. These 2,7-distannylated dialkylated aNDT-based monomers can be used for Stille cross-coupling to produce promising conjugated materials for various optoelectronic applications.

Diindenothieno[2,3-b]thiophene arene for efficient organic photovoltaics with an extra high open-circuit voltage of 1.14 ev.

We report a novel diindenothieno[2,3-b]thiophene ladder-type hexacyclic arene for constructing a donor-acceptor copolymer PDITTDTBT. A device based on PDITTDTBT:PC(71)BM exhibited a high V(oc) of 0.92 V with an impressive PCE of 5.8%, while a PDITTDTBT:DMPCBA-based device showed an extra high V(oc) of 1.14 V.

Anticholinergic poisoning from a large dose of Scopolia extract.

Scopolia extract (SE) contains hyoscyamine and scopolamine, which are both anticholinergic. It is usually used as a patent medicine to treat gastrointestinal disorders, to relieve spasmotic discomfort, or to decrease the secretion of gastric acid. Poisoning by SE presents similar symptoms and signs as other types of anticholinergic poisoning. We report a case of severe anticholinergic poisoning after accidentally drinking 8 ml of SE. The patient presented with acute delirium and was successfully treated with physostigmine.