Two cadmium(II) coordination polymers as multi-functional luminescent sensors for the detection of Cr(VI) anions, dichloronitroaniline pesticide, and nitrofuran antibiotic in aqueous media.

Two ternary cadmium(II) coordination polymers, with the formulas being {[Cd(tptc)0.5(bpz)(H2O)]·0.5H2O}n (CP 1), and [Cd(tptc)0.5(bpy)]n (CP 2), were designed through mixed ligands strategy. Benefiting from the excellent chemical stability and luminescent property, two Cd(II) CPs possessing efficient multi-functional fluorescent responses toward Cr(VI) anions, 2,6-dichloro-4-nitroaniline pesticide, and nitrofuran antibiotic in aqueous media with high sensitivity, selectivity, and excellent recyclable behaviors with the detection limits (LODs) are 235 ppb for CrO42- anion, 343 ppb for Cr2O72- anion, 112 ppb for DCN pesticide, 62 ppb for NFT antibiotic for CP 1, and 173 ppb for CrO42- anion, 270 ppb for Cr2O72- anion, 638 ppb for DCN pesticide, 184 ppb for NFT antibiotic for CP 2, respectively. Besides, the mechanisms of luminescence quenching were revealed from the viewpoint of internal filter effect (IFE) and photoinduced electron transfer (PET).

Upregulation of miR-874-3p decreases cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury by directly targeting BMF and BCL2L13.

Ischemic stroke represents a major cause of adult physical disability, which is triggered by cerebral artery occlusion induced blood flow blockage. MiR-874-3p has been reported to be down-regulated in the brain injury induced by ischemia-reperfusion (I/R), but the direct evidence associated with injury of I/R remains unknown. In this study, we found that miR-874-3p levels significantly decreased in rat I/R brain induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R) and SH-SY5Y cells following oxygen-glucose deprivation and reperfusion (OGD/R) treatment. Upregulation of miR-874-3p reduced infarct volumes and cell apoptosis in the in vivo I/R stroke model using TTC and TUNEL staining, as well as increased proliferation and inhibited apoptosis in OGD/R induced SH-SY5Y cells by CCK-8, Edu staining and flow cytometry analysis. Mechanistically, bioinformatics analysis and luciferase reporter assay confirmed BCL-2-modifying factor (BMF) and Bcl-2 family protein Bcl-rambo (BCL2L13) were the direct targets of miR-874-3p. Furthermore, BMF or BCL2L13 knockdown also provided significant protection against OGD/R induced injury, while their overexpression reversed the protective effects of miR-874-3p on SH-SY5Y cells following OGD/R. In summary, our results suggest that miR-874-3p attenuated ischemic injury by negatively regulating BMF and BCL2L13, highlighting a novel therapeutic target for ischemic stroke.

3D printed graphene/polydimethylsiloxane composite for stretchable strain sensor with tunable sensitivity.

Materials with tunable and high strain sensitivities have a great potential to be used in next generation flexible electronic devices. Conventional methods, which focus on tailoring the material composition to obtain controllable sensitivities, face the issues of complicated fabrication process and instability, restricting their use in real applications. In this work, we propose the idea of tuning the sensitivities through precisely controlled micro-structures. Based on 3D printing technique, we successfully fabricate graphene/polydimethylsiloxane composites with long range ordered porous structures. The resultant composites present tunable and high gauge factors, along with excellent durability. The tunable sensitivity comes from different strain distributions on the composites under stretching, arising from the different micro-structures constructed. Taking full advantage of the composites in terms of sensitivity and durability, we demonstrate the application of the 3D printed porous sensors as wearable human motion detectors.