Enhanced Photothermal Property of NDI-Based Conjugated Polymers by Copolymerization with a Thiadiazolobenzotriazole Unit.

Solar steam generation (SSG) is a promising photothermal technology to solve the global water storage issue. The potential of π-conjugated polymers as photothermal materials is significant, because their absorption range can be customized through molecular design. In this study, naphthalenediimide (NDI) and thiadiazolobenzotriazole (TBZ) were employed as bifunctional monomers to produce conjugated polymers. There are two types of polymers, P1 and P2. P1 is based on NDI, while P2 is a copolymer of NDI and TBZ in a ratio of 9:1. Both polymers had high molecular weights and sufficient thermal stability. UV-vis-near-infrared (NIR) absorption spectra revealed that both polymers have large extinction coefficients ascribed to the NDI and TBZ chromophores. Notably, the absorption spectrum of P2 exhibited a significant red shift compared to P1, resulting in a narrow optical bandgap and absorption in the NIR range. This result suggested that P2 has a higher light absorption than P1. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra were measured to elucidate the conversion of the absorbed light into thermal energy. It was found that P2 has a reduced fluorescence quantum yield as a result of the TBZ unit, signifying a proficient conversion of the photothermal energy. Based on the results, it appears that the P2 film has a greater photothermal property compared to that of the P1 film. The surface temperature of the P2 film reached approximately 50 °C under the investigated conditions. In addition, copolymer P2 exhibited an impressive SSG efficiency of 72.4% under 1 sun (1000 W/m2) irradiation. All the results suggested that narrow bandgap conjugated polymers containing the TBZ unit are highly effective materials for achieving optimal performance in SSGs.

Self-Assembled Nanoflowers Realizes Synergistic Sterilization with Photothermal and Chemical Kinetics Therapy.

Wounds caused by bacterial infections have become a major challenge in the medical field; however, the overuse of antibiotics has led to increased resistance and bioaccumulation. Therefore, it is urgent to develop an antibacterial agent with excellent antibacterial properties and biosafety. Here, we designed an antibacterial platform that combines photothermal and chemical kinetics therapies. Platinum-cobalt (PtCo) bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) were first prepared, and then PtCo@MnO2 nanoflowers were obtained by adding MES buffer solution and KMnO4 to the PtCo bimetallic nanoparticle suspension using ultrasound. When light strikes metal NPs, they can strongly absorb the photon energy, resulting in photothermal properties. In addition, Pt and Co were used as the oxidase mimics, and MnO2 was used as the catalase mimic. In summary, the photothermal capacity of PtCo@MnO2 nanoflowers with rough surfaces can effectively disrupt the permeability of the bacterial cell membranes. Further, by catalyzing H2O2, PtCo@MnO2 nanoflowers can generate large amounts of hydroxyl free radicals, which can damage bacterial cell membranes, proteins, and DNA. In addition, MnO2 can effectively alleviate the hypoxic environment of the bacterially infected areas and activate deep bacteria, thus achieving the goal of complete sterilization. The in vitro and in vivo results showed that PtCo@MnO2 displayed excellent antibacterial properties and good biocompatibility.

The Construction of Surface-Frustrated Lewis Pair Sites to Improve the Nitrogen Reduction Catalytic Activity of In2O3.

The construction of a surface-frustrated Lewis pairs (SFLPs) structure is expected to break the single electronic state restriction of catalytic centers of P-region element materials, due to the existence of acid-base and basic active canters without mutual quenching in the SFLPs system. Herein, we have constructed eight possible SFLPS structures on the In2O3 (110) surface by doping non-metallic elements and investigated their performance as electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction catalysts using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results show that P atom doping (P@In2O3) can effectively construct the structure of SFLPs, and the doped P atom and In atom near the vacancy act as Lewis base and acid, respectively. The P@In2O3 catalyst can effectively activate N2 molecules through the enzymatic mechanism with a limiting potential of -0.28 eV and can effectively suppress the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Electronic structure analysis also confirmed that the SFLPs site can efficiently capture N2 molecules and activate N≡N bonds through a unique "donation-acceptance" mechanism.

Synergistic antibacterial effect of multifunctional TiO2-X-based nanoplatform loading arginine and polydopamine for promoting infected wounds healing.

The gas therapy of some endogenous signaling molecules to treat diseases has caused extensive research, among which NO gas has shown great potential in fighting infection with various pathogens, promoting wound healing, etc. Here, we propose a photothermal/photodynamic/NO synergistic antibacterial nanoplatform by loading L-arginine (LA) on mesoporous TiO2 and then encapsulating it with polydopamine. The obtained TiO2-x-LA@PDA nanocomposite possesses both the excellent photothermal effect and ROS generation ability of mesoporous TiO2, and the release of nitric oxide (NO) from L-arginine under near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation, while the sealing layer of PDA could induce NIR-triggered NO controlled release. In vitro antibacterial experiments confirmed that the synergistic effect of TiO2-x-LA@PDA nanocomposites has excellent antibacterial effects against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, while in vivo experiments showed that it has lower toxicity. It is worth noting that compared with the pure photothermal effect and ROS, the generated NO showed a better bactericidal effect, and NO had a better ability to promote wound healing. In conclusion, the developed TiO2-x-LA@PDA nanoplatform can be used as a nanoantibacterial agent, which can be further explored in the related biomedical field of photothermal activation of multimodal combined antibacterial therapy.

α-Fe2O3@Au-PEG-Ce6-Gd Nanoparticles as Acidic H2O2-Driven Oxygenators for Multimodal Imaging and Synergistic Tumor Therapy.

Nanoparticles with visual imaging capabilities and synergistic therapeutics have a bright future in antitumor applications. However, most of the current nanomaterials lack multiple imaging-guided therapeutic capabilities. In this study, a novel enhanced photothermal photodynamic antitumor nanoplatform with photothermal imaging, fluorescence (FL) imaging, and MRI-guided therapeutic capabilities was constructed by grafting gold, dihydroporphyrin Ce6, and Gd onto α-iron trioxide. This antitumor nanoplatform can convert NIR light into local hyperthermia at a temperature of up to 53 °C under NIR light irradiation, while Ce6 can generate singlet oxygen, which further synergizes the tumor-killing effect. At the same time, α-Fe2O3@Au-PEG-Ce6-Gd can also have significant photothermal imaging effect under light irradiation, which can guide to see the temperature change near the tumor tissue. It is worth noting that α-Fe2O3@Au-PEG-Ce6-Gd can have obvious MRI and FL imaging effects after tail vein injection in mice with blood circulation, realizing imaging-guided synergistic antitumor therapy. α-Fe2O3@Au-PEG-Ce6-Gd NPs provide a new solution for tumor imaging and treatment.

Synthesis and Preclinical Evaluation of a Novel Fluorine-18-Labeled Tracer for Positron Emission Tomography Imaging of Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase.

Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) is a target for treating B-cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases. To aid in the discovery and development of BTK inhibitors and improve clinical diagnoses, we have developed a positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracer based on a selective BTK inhibitor, remibrutinib. [18F]PTBTK3 is an aromatic, 18F-labeled tracer that was synthesized in 3 steps with a 14.8 ± 2.4% decay-corrected radiochemical yield and ≥99% radiochemical purity. The cellular uptake of [18F]PTBTK3 was blocked up to 97% in JeKo-1 cells using remibrutinib or non-radioactive PTBTK3. [18F]PTBTK3 exhibited renal and hepatobiliary clearance in NOD SCID (non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency) mice, and the tumor uptake of [18F]PTBTK3 in BTK-positive JeKo-1 xenografts (1.23 ± 0.30% ID/cc) was significantly greater at 60 min post injection compared to the tumor uptake in BTK-negative U87MG xenografts (0.41 ± 0.11% ID/cc). In the JeKo-1 xenografts, tumor uptake was blocked up to 62% by remibrutinib, indicating the BTK-dependent uptake of [18F]PTBTK3 in tumors.

Application of Electromagnetic Braking to Minimize a Surface Wave in a Continuous Caster.

The turbulent flow in the mold region drastically influences the quality of steel produced during continuous casting. The flow itself can lead to surface defects or slag entrainment based on the formation. A high surface wave can lead to fluctuations and the instability compromises the quality of the steel produced, as well as entrain the slag. To regulate the flow, electromagnetic forces can be applied in the mold, dampening the local turbulent flow. As the electrically conductive molten steel interacts with the induced magnetic field, it reduces the velocity of the steel jet released from the ports of the submerged entry nozzle. Utilizing Star-CCM+, a simulation-based study is conducted modeling the impact of Electromagnetic braking (EMBr) on the flow formation and surface standing wave. Specifically, a parametric study is conducted investigating the impact of submergence entry nozzle (SEN) depth and mold width with applied EMBr. Per the simulation-based study conducted increasing the EMBr strength from 2975 G to 4350 G reduced the average surface wave height by 12.5% and volume of flux rate of decrease by 4.25%. Additionally, increasing the SEN depth from 110 mm to 350 mm increased the average wave height by 19% and volume of flux rate of decrease by 2.6%. Lastly, increasing the mold width from 1.067 m to 1.50 m increased average wave height by 8.71% and volume of flux rate of decrease by 0.9%.

Improving Catalytic Activity of "Janus" MoSSe Based on Surface Interface Regulation.

The monolayer Janus MoSSe is considered to be a promising catalytic material due to its unique asymmetric structure. In order to improve its catalytic performance for hydrogen evolution reactions (HERs) and oxygen evolution reactions (OERs), many attempts have been made. In this work, a series of transition metal (TM) atoms were anchored on the Janus MoSSe surface to screen effective TM single-atom catalysts for HERs and OERs through density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Fe@MoSSe presents excellent HERs performance and Ni@MoSSe presents excellent catalytic performance for OERs with extremely low over-potential of 0.32 V. The enhanced activity is attributed to the modest energy level of the d band center of the transition metal atom, and the transition metal atom improves the conductivity of the original MoSSe and offers unoccupied states near the Fermi level. At the same time, the anchoring of transition metal atoms redistributes the charge in the MoSSe system, which effectively regulates the electronic structure of the material itself. The strain calculation shows that the activity of the catalyst can be improved by reasonably adjusting the value of the applied strain.

Application of Improved CycleGAN in Laser-Visible Face Image Translation.

CycleGAN is widely used in various image translations, such as thermal-infrared-visible-image translation, near-infrared-visible-image translation, and shortwave-infrared-visible-image translation. However, most image translations are used for infrared-to-visible translation, and the wide application of laser imaging has an increasingly strong demand for laser-visible image translation. In addition, the current image translation is mainly aimed at frontal face images, which cannot be effectively utilized to translate faces at a certain angle. In this paper, we construct a laser-visible face mapping dataset; in case of the gradient dispersion of the objective function of the original adversarial loss, the least squares loss function is used to replace the cross-entropy loss function and an identity loss function is added to strengthen the network constraints on the generator. The experimental results indicate that the SSIM value of the improved model increases by 1.25%, 8%, 0, 8%, the PSNR value is not much different, and the FID value decreases by 11.22, 12.85, 43.37 and 72.19, respectively, compared with the CycleGAN, Pix2pix, U-GAN-IT and StarGAN models. In the profile image translation, in view of the poor extraction effect of CycleGAN's original feature extraction module ResNet, the RRDB module is used to replace it based on the first improvement. The experimental results show that, compared with the CycleGAN, Pix2pix, U-GAN-IT, StarGAN and the first improved model, the SSIM value of the improved model increased by 3.75%, 10.67%, 2.47%, 10.67% and 2.47%, respectively; the PSNR value increased by 1.02, 2.74, 0.32, 0.66 and 0.02, respectively; the FID value reduced by 26.32, 27.95, 58.47, 87.29 and 15.1, respectively. Subjectively, the contour features and facial features were better conserved.

Antibacterial fluorescent nano-sized lanthanum-doped carbon quantum dot embedded polyvinyl alcohol for accelerated wound healing.

Bacteria is one of the main culprits that cause human diseases and pose long-term challenges to people's health. Rare earth elements have unique antibacterial advantages, but little research is available. In this paper, we reported an antibacterial composite film based on lanthanum-doped carbon quantum dot nanoparticles (La@N-P-CQDs) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film for fluorescence of antibiotics and accelerating wound healing. PVA/La@N-P-CQDs composite film presented excellent hydrophilicity, biocompatibility, fluorescence intensity, and antibacterial effects. The antibacterial activity of La@N-P-CQDs was evaluated by employing antibacterial assay using Escherichia coli (E.coli)and Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) in vitro. La@N-P-CQDs showed enhanced antibacterial activity compared with N-P-CQDs. Moreover, the PVA/La@N-P-CQDs composite film with 0.5 mg/mL La@N-P-CQDs showed better antibacterial capability and wound healing performance than PVA and PVA/N-P-CQDs films in bacterial adhesion experiment. PVA/La@N-P-CQDs composite film could be used for wound dressing in vivo experiment and had no side effects on major organs in mice. The antibacterial composite film significantly promoted in vivo wound healing process because of its multifunctional properties. Therefore, it was an excellent candidate for wound dressing.

Genome-Wide Analysis of the R2R3-MYB Gene Family in Fragaria × ananassa and Its Function Identification During Anthocyanins Biosynthesis in Pink-Flowered Strawberry.

The strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) is an economically important fruit throughout the world. The large R2R3-MYB gene family participates in a variety of plant functions, including anthocyanin biosynthesis. The present study is the first genome-wide analysis of the MYB gene family in the octoploid strawberry and describes the identification and characterization of the family members using the recently sequenced F. × ananassa genome. Specifically, we aimed to identify the key MYBs involved in petal coloration in the pink-flowered strawberry, which increases its ornamental value. A comprehensive, genome-wide analysis of F. × ananassa R2R3-FaMYBs was performed, investigating gene structures, phylogenic relationships, promoter regions, chromosomal locations, and collinearity. A total of 393 R2R3-FaMYB genes were identified in the F. × ananassa genome and divided into 36 subgroups based on phylogenetic analysis. Most genes with similar functions in the same subgroup exhibited similar exon-intron structures and motif compositions. These R2R3-FaMYBs were unevenly distributed over 28 chromosomes. The expansion of the R2R3-FaMYB gene family in the F. × ananassa genome was found to be caused mainly by segmental duplication. The Ka/Ks analysis indicated that duplicated R2R3-FaMYBs mostly experienced purifying selection and showed limited functional divergence after the duplication events. To elucidate which R2R3-FaMYB genes were associated with anthocyanin biosynthesis in the petals of the pink-flowered strawberry, we compared transcriptional changes in different flower developmental stages using RNA-seq. There were 131 differentially expressed R2R3-FaMYB genes identified in the petals, of which three genes, FaMYB28, FaMYB54, and FaMYB576, appeared likely, based on the phylogenetic analysis, to regulate anthocyanin biosynthesis. The qRT-PCR showed that these three genes were more highly expressed in petals than in other tissues (fruit, leaf, petiole and stolon) and their expressions were higher in red compared to pink and white petals. These results facilitate the clarification on the roles of the R2R3-FaMYB genes in petal coloration in the pink-flowered strawberry. This work provides useful information for further functional analysis on the R2R3-FaMYB gene family in F. × ananassa.

Facile Synthesis of the Cu, N-CDs@GO-CS Hydrogel with Enhanced Antibacterial Activity for Effective Treatment of Wound Infection.

Drug resistance and increasing dangers during antibiotic treatment have brought a new eternal task for the research of effective antibacterial agents or therapeutics. In this work, we used Cu, N-doped carbon dots (Cu, N-CDs) to modify graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets and then loaded to chitosan (CS) hydrogels via electrostatic interaction to form Cu, N-CDs@GO-CS hydrogel nanoplatforms to treat Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The excellent antibacterial activity is from the combined effects of hyperthermia and reactive oxygen species generated under near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation of the Cu, N-CDs@GO-CS hydrogel, which shows excellent antibacterial activity compared with the CS hydrogel or the Cu, N-CDs@GO-CS hydrogel without NIR laser irradiation. Moreover, the inherent antibacterial nature of the CS hydrogel or the Cu, N-CDs@GO-CS hydrogel was used to treat bacteria-infected wounds in mice, which also protected the wound area from second infection. In vivo experiments demonstrate favorable wound healing results and have no significant harmful side effects to the major organs in mice. Overall, this work demonstrates that the antibacterial Cu, N-CDs@GO-CS hydrogel offers significant prospect as an antibacterial reagent for wound healing.

Two-dimensional two-photon absorptions and third-order nonlinear optical properties of Ih fullerenes and fullerene onions.

The third order static and dynamic nonlinear optical (NLO) responses of Ih symmetry fullerenes (C60, C240, and C540) and fullerene onions (C60@C240 and C60@C240@C540) are predicted using the ZINDO method and the sum-over-states model. The static second hyperpolarizability of Ih symmetry fullerenes increases exponentially with fullerene size [from 10.00 × 10-34 esu in C60 to 3266.74 × 10-34 esu ≈ γ0(C60) × 92.63 in C540]. The external fields of strong third order NLO responses of Ih symmetry fullerenes change from ultra-violet (C60) to the visible region (C540) as the fullerene size increases. The outer layer fullerene in the fullerene onions has dominant contributions to the third order NLO properties of the fullerene onions, and the inter-shell charge-transfer excitations have conspicuous contributions to the third order NLO properties. The two-dimensional two-photon absorption spectra of C60 and C240 show that those fullerenes have strong two-photon absorptions in the visible region with short wavelength and in the ultra-violet region.

Biodegradable Poly(γ-glutamic acid)@glucose oxidase@carbon dot nanoparticles for simultaneous multimodal imaging and synergetic cancer therapy.

It is known that tumor antigens could induce obvious anti-tumor immune responses for efficient cancer immunotherapy when combined with checkpoint blockade. However, the amount of tumor antigens is often limited due to the suppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Here, a new type of nanomaterial was developed to improve tumor treatment by the combined action of starving therapy/photodynamic therapy (PDT)/photothermal therapy (PTT) and checkpoint-blockade immunotherapy. In detail, the immunoadjuvant nanoagents (γ-PGA@GOx@Mn,Cu-CDs) were fabricated by integrating the gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) enzyme-induced cellular uptake polymer-poly (γ-glutamic acid) (γ-PGA), a glucose-metabolic reaction agent - glucose oxidase (GOx), Mn,Cu-doped carbon dots (CDs) as photosensitizer and self-supplied oxygenator nanodots. γ-PGA@GOx@Mn,Cu-CDs nanoparticles (NPs) showed long retention time at the tumor acidic microenvironment and could further target cancer cells. The NPs also displayed both photothermal and photodynamic effects under laser irradiation at 730 nm. Interestingly, the endogenous generation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) caused by the nanoreactors could significantly relieve tumor hypoxia and further enhance in vivo PDT. By synergistically combining the NPs-based starving-like therapy/PDT/PTT and check-point-blockade therapy, the treatment efficiency was significantly improved. More importantly, the systematic antitumor immune response would eliminate non-irradiated tumors as well, which is promising for metastasis inhibition.

Tumor-targeting multi-shelled hollow nanospheres as drug loading platforms for imaging-guided combinational cancer therapy.

In this work, we developed multi-shelled hollow nanospheres [RGD@am-ZnO@CuO@Au@DOX HNSs] as multifunctional therapeutic agents to achieve effective and targeted Zn2+/Cu2+ therapy, induced drug delivery under low pH/red-light conditions, and enhanced phototherapy under single red-light. The photothermal and photodynamic performance of am-ZnO@CuO@Au HNSs was enhanced relative to that of am-ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) or am-ZnO@CuO HNSs by utilizing the resonance energy transfer process and broad red-light absorption. The pH-sensitive am-ZnO@CuO@Au HNSs were dissolved to Zn2+/Cu2+ in the acidic endosomes/lysosomes of cancer cells, resulting in a cancer cell killing effect. The release performance of doxorubicin (DOX) from RGD@am-ZnO@CuO@Au@DOX HNSs was evaluated under low pH and red-light-irradiated conditions, and targeting of HNSs was confirmed by dual-modal imaging (magnetic resonance/fluorescence) of the tumor area. Moreover, in vivo synergistic therapy using RGD@am-ZnO@CuO@Au@DOX HNSs was further evaluated in mice bearing human pulmonary adenocarcinoma (A549) cells, achieving a remarkable synergistic antitumor effect superior to that obtained by monotherapy. This study validated that RGD@am-ZnO@CuO@Au@DOX HNSs can be a promising candidate for efficient postoperative cancer therapy.

Facile Synthesis of PdCu Echinus-Like Nanocrystals as Robust Electrocatalysts for Methanol Oxidation Reaction.

Exploiting high-performance and inexpensive electrocatalysts for methanol electro-oxidation is conductive to promoting the commercial application of direct methanol fuel cells. Here, we present a facile synthesis of echinus-like PdCu nanocrystals (NCs) via a one-step and template-free method. The echinus-like PdCu NCs possess numerous straight and long branches which can provide abundant catalytic active sites. Owing to the novel nanoarchitecture and electronic effect of the PdCu alloy, the echinus-like PdCu NCs display high electrocatalytic performance toward methanol oxidation reaction in an alkaline medium. The mass activity of echinus-like PdCu NCs is 1202.1 mA mgPd -1 , which is 3.7 times that of Pd/C catalysts. In addition, the echinus-like structure, as a kind of three-dimensional self-supported nanoarchitecture, endows PdCu NCs with significantly enhanced stability and durability. Hence, the echinus-like PdCu NCs hold prospect of being employed as electrocatalysts for direct alcohol fuel cells.

Ag@Fe3O4@C nanoparticles for multi-modal imaging-guided chemo-photothermal synergistic targeting for cancer therapy.

Novel multifunctional core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted widespread attention due to their easy-to-modify surface properties and abundant functional groups. This study introduces a facile approach to synthesize Ag@ iron oxide (Fe3O4) @C NPs, and modify with amino-poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG)-carboxyl and folate (FA) on the exposed carbon surface to produce high contrast for excellent stability, good biocompatibility, cancer cell targeting, and synergistic treatment. The multi-armed PEG at the edge of Ag@Fe3O4@C NPs provides the materials an excellent capacity for doxorubicin (DOX) loading. The carbon layer could be used as a photothermal reagent due to its excellent near-infrared (NIR) absorbance capacity, and Fe3O4 was used as a reagent for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. In vivo combination therapy with this agent was administered in a mouse tumor model, and a remarkable synergistic antitumor effect that is superior to that obtained by monotherapy was achieved. Concerning these features together, these unique multifunctional Ag@Fe3O4@C-PEG-FA/DOX NPs could be regarded as an attractive nanoplatforms for chemo-photothermal synergistic tumor therapy with dual-modal fluorescence and MR imaging-guided targeting.

Ultrasmall black phosphorus quantum dots: synthesis, characterization, and application in cancer treatment.

Black phosphorus quantum dots (BPQDs) are gaining popularity for applications in various fields because of their unique advantages. For biomedical applications, good biosafety is a prerequisite for the use of BPQDs in vivo. However, currently, little information is available about their basic properties and biocompatibility, which are of great importance for potential biomedical applications. In this work, we prepared BPQDs by an improved solvothermal method and evaluated their fluorescence, biocompatibility, and photothermal therapy (PTT) effectiveness. First, the structures and functions of the BPQDs were investigated at the cellular and molecular levels. It was found that the fluorescence of the BPQDs is wavelength-dependent and that they absorb in the UV-vis range; also, their quantum yield reached 10.2%. In particular, we considered the morphology and lysis of human red blood cells, in vivo blood coagulation, and plasma recalcification profiles. We found that the BPQDs have excellent biocompatibility and hemocompatibility with blood components. Overall, concentrations of the BPQDs ≤0.5 mg mL-1 had few adverse effects on blood components. The resulting BPQDs can efficiently convert near-infrared (NIR) light into heat; thus, they are suitable as a novel nanotheranostic agent for PTT of cancer. Meanwhile, the results of serum biochemistry tests revealed that the indicators were at similar levels for mice exposed to BPQDs and for control mice. Furthermore, from biodistribution analysis of the BPQDs, no apparent pathological damage was observed in any organs, especially in the spleen and kidneys, during the 30 day period. Our research indicates that the BPQDs have bio-imaging capability and biocompatibility and highlights their great potential in the therapy of cancer.

Bioinspired carbon quantum dots for sensitive fluorescent detection of vitamin B12 in cell system.

Zwitterion-modification, as a bioinspired strategy, provides greatly promising platforms for biological detection and sensor applications. A green, low-cost and straight-forward method for synthesis of highly fluorescent biomimetic carbon quantum dots (BCQDs) has been developed via pyrolysis of cytidine diphosphate choline (CDPC) and ethylenediamine. The BCQDs with a strong emission at wavelength of 450 nm shows ultrasensitive sensing capability for vitamin B12 with high selectivity. Using the fluorometric assay, the detection limit (DL) for vitamin B12 was found to be as low as 81 nM. Meanwhile, the results of 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo(-z-y1)-3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT), hemolysis measuring and morphological characterization of Red blood cells (RBCs) confirms the excellent biocompatibility of BCQDs. The imaging experiments of human cervical cancer cells (HeLa) certify that BCQDs could be served as an effective fluorescent sensing probe for label-free sensitive and selective detection of vitamin B12 in biological samples on account of their low toxicity and good biocompatibility. The BCQDs, further, were successfully applied to probe vitamin B12 in living cells, which broaden its potential application in vivo system.

Vaginal reconstruction with sigmoid colon in patients with congenital absence of vagina and menses retention: a report of treatment experience in 22 young women.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: We evaluated the surgical feasibility, sexual satisfaction and complications of vaginal reconstruction with sigmoid colon in patients with congenital absence of vagina and menses retention. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of surgical techniques and long-term postoperative follow-up was performed for 22 patients who underwent vaginal reconstruction with sigmoid colon at a single hospital between 1977 and 2011 to treat congenital absence of vagina with menses retention. RESULTS: All patients achieved satisfactory sexual function after marriage. No patients experienced enterospastic abdominal pain during sexual intercourse. The neovaginas accommodated two or more fingers and had depths >10 cm. The mucous membranes were soft and flexible, and secretions of the sigmoid mucosa provided adequate and acceptable lubrication. No patient required vaginal stents, and none developed vaginal stenosis or reported pain with vaginal expansion. Fifteen of the 22 patients underwent hysterectomies due to cervical agenesis; seven retained their uterus and had onset of normal menses postoperatively. Two patients became pregnant 1 year after marriage; one achieved 38-week gestation, underwent cesarean section due to premature rupture of membranes, and delivered a healthy boy. The other experienced natural incomplete abortion and underwent curettage at her local hospital. CONCLUSION: This study confirms that sigmoid colon vaginal reconstruction is a good choice for treating congenital absence of vagina and menses retention and results in the closest approximation to the physical function of a normal female vagina. Reproductive ability can be retained in many cases for patients with a well-developed uterus and cervix.