Research progress of cGAS-STING signaling pathway in intestinal diseases.

The cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS)-stimulator of interferon genes (STING) signal has drawn much consideration due to its sensitivity to DNA in innate immune mechanisms. Activation of the cGAS-STIN signaling pathway induces the production of interferon and inflammatory cytokines, resulting in immune responses, or inflammatory diseases. The intestinal tract is a vital organ for the body's nutrition absorption, recent studies have had various points of view on the job of cGAS-STING pathway in various intestinal sicknesses. Therefore, understanding its role and mechanism in the intestinal environment can help to develop new strategies for the treatment of intestinal diseases. This article examines the mechanism of the cGAS-STING pathway and its function in inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal cancer, and long-injury ischemia-reperfusion, lists the current medications that target it for the treatment of intestinal diseases, and discusses the impact of intestinal flora on this signaling pathway, to offer a theoretical and scientific foundation for upcoming targeted therapies for intestinal disorders via the cGAS-STING pathway.

Thermal imaging study of Sm2+ doped SrB4O7 based on time-resolved technology.

Thermal imaging materials with high sensitivity and the ability to reflect real-time temperature play an important role in research areas such as biotechnology and electronic engineering. However, the temperature sensitivity and temporal resolution of the current materials are not suitable for the complicated detection situation. In this paper, we introduce a thermal imaging material - SrB4O7:5%Sm2+ - with high temperature sensitivity. Furthermore, by applying a time resolving technique based on an intensified charge-coupled device, the sensitivity and temporal resolution are greatly promoted. The good temperature sensitivity (9.67% K-1 at 533 K), the high spatial resolution (2.7 µm) and the fast detection time (<1 s) suggest its considerable potential for real-time thermal imaging applications. The results of temperature distribution on a printed circuit board show that the as-prepared material will be greatly beneficial for thermal imaging applications.

Angelica acutiloba Kitagawa flower induces A549 cell pyroptosis via the NF-κB/NLRP3 pathway for anti-lung cancer effects.

Angelica acutiloba Kitagawa, a traditional medicinal herb of the Umbelliferae family, has been demonstrated to have anticancer activity. In this study, we investigated the anti-lung cancer effects of two compounds extracted from A. acutiloba flowers: kaempferol-3-O-α-L-(4″-E-p-coumaroyl)-rhamnoside (KAE) and platanoside (PLA). MTT, cell colony formation, and cell migration (scratch) assays revealed that both KAE (100 µM) and PLA (50 µM and 100 µM) inhibited the viability, proliferation, and migration of A549 cells. Dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate assays showed that KAE and PLA also induced the generation of reactive oxygen species in A549 cells. Morphologically, A549 cells swelled and grew larger under treatment with KAE and PLA, with the most significant changes at 100 µM PLA. Fluorescence staining and measurement of lactate dehydrogenase release showed that the cells underwent pyroptosis with concomitant upregulation of interleukin (IL)-1ß and IL-18. Furthermore, both KAE and PLA induced upregulation of NF-κB, PARP, NLRP3, ASC, cleaved-caspase-1, and GSDMD expression in A549 cells. Subsequent investigations unveiled that these compounds interact with NLRP3, augment NLRP3's binding affinity with ASC, and stimulate the assembly of the inflammasome, thereby inducing pyroptosis. In conclusion, KAE and PLA, two active components of A. acutiloba flower extract, had significant anti-lung cancer activities exerted through regulation of proteins related to the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway.

Investigation of the luminescence properties and energy transfer mechanisms in Gd3TaO7:Bi3+,Eu3+ phosphors for their potential application in full-spectrum WLEDs.

In recent years, there has been increasing effort devoted to the development of single-phase white phosphors due to drawbacks such as severe reabsorption and color deviation in traditional white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs). A new feasible strategy has emerged for achieving white light emission through the Bi3+-Eu3+ energy transfer in suitable single-phase phosphors. Therefore, a series of Gd3TaO7:xBi3+ and Gd3TaO7:0.01Bi3+,yEu3+ phosphors were synthesized via a high-temperature solid-state method, and their properties were systematically characterized. In Gd3TaO7, Bi3+ occupies two kinds of Gd3+ site, resulting in two broad emission bands peaking at 427 nm and 500 nm respectively under ultraviolet (UV) excitation, which arise from 3P1 → 1S0 transitions. By adjusting the concentration of Eu3+ in Gd3TaO7:0.01Bi3+,yEu3+, effective energy transfer can occur between Bi3+ and Eu3+, thus enabling the regulation of green-white-red luminescence under 332 nm excitation and blue-white-red luminescence under 365 nm UV light irradiation. Upon stimulation with a 365 nm UV chip, Gd3TaO7:0.01Bi3+,0.02Eu3+ emits white light with CIE coordinates of (0.3509, 0.3202), a color temperature of 4629 K, and an impressive color rendering index of 87.96. The above results indicate the potential of Gd3TaO7:0.01Bi3+,yEu3+ phosphor as a viable candidate for WLED applications.

Role of mitochondrial stress and the NLRP3 inflammasome in lung diseases.

BACKGROUND: As an organelle essential for intracellular energy supply, mitochondria are involved in intracellular metabolism and inflammation, and cell death. The interaction of mitochondria with the NLRP3 inflammasome in the development of lung diseases has been extensively studied. However, the exact mechanism by which mitochondria mediate the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and trigger lung disease is still unclear. METHODS: The literatures related to mitochondrial stress, NLRP3 inflammasome and lung diseases were searched in PubMed. RESULTS: This review aims to provide new insights into the recently discovered mitochondrial regulation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in lung diseases. It also describes the crucial roles of mitochondrial autophagy, long noncoding RNA, micro RNA, altered mitochondrial membrane potential, cell membrane receptors, and ion channels in mitochondrial stress and regulation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, in addition to the reduction of mitochondrial stress by nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2). The effective components of potential drugs for the treatment of lung diseases under this mechanism are also summarized. CONCLUSION: This review provides a resource for the discovery of new therapeutic mechanisms and suggests ideas for the development of new therapeutic drugs, thus promoting the rapid treatment of lung diseases.

Ionizable drug delivery systems for efficient and selective gene therapy.

Gene therapy has shown great potential to treat various diseases by repairing the abnormal gene function. However, a great challenge in bringing the nucleic acid formulations to the market is the safe and effective delivery to the specific tissues and cells. To be excited, the development of ionizable drug delivery systems (IDDSs) has promoted a great breakthrough as evidenced by the approval of the BNT162b2 vaccine for prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in 2021. Compared with conventional cationic gene vectors, IDDSs can decrease the toxicity of carriers to cell membranes, and increase cellular uptake and endosomal escape of nucleic acids by their unique pH-responsive structures. Despite the progress, there remain necessary requirements for designing more efficient IDDSs for precise gene therapy. Herein, we systematically classify the IDDSs and summarize the characteristics and advantages of IDDSs in order to explore the underlying design mechanisms. The delivery mechanisms and therapeutic applications of IDDSs are comprehensively reviewed for the delivery of pDNA and four kinds of RNA. In particular, organ selecting considerations and high-throughput screening are highlighted to explore efficiently multifunctional ionizable nanomaterials with superior gene delivery capacity. We anticipate providing references for researchers to rationally design more efficient and accurate targeted gene delivery systems in the future, and indicate ideas for developing next generation gene vectors.

Transparent and flexible resins functionalized by lanthanide-based upconversion nanocrystals.

Functional resins with optical adjustment capability own great potential in multiple application scenarios. To this end, we functionalize resins with upconversion nanocrystals (UCNCs), namely an UCNC-Au composite structure, to endow them with the unique ability of converting near-infrared (NIR) radiation into visible-light emission. Such UCNC-functionalized resins with high transparency and flexibility are expected to accelerate the development in the comprehensive utilization of NIR during practical applications.

Enhanced luminescence and tunable color in [Eu2+, Si4+]/Mn2+ doped K2BaCa(PO4)2 based on charge compensation and energy transfer.

Recently, using the Eu2+ → Mn2+ energy transfer strategy to explore new single-phase phosphors suitable for the near-ultraviolet (n-UV) region has become one of the major strategies in solid-state lighting applications. Therefore, a novel color-tunable K2BaCa(PO4)2 (KBCPO):[Eu2+,Si4+],Mn2+ phosphor was developed because of the preeminent thermal stability of luminescence of Eu2+-activated KBCPO. In this study, we first designed a [Eu2+, Si4+] → [K+, P5+] charge compensation strategy to optimize the luminescence properties of Eu2+ in the KBCPO matrix. In terms of the obtained KBCPO:[Eu2+,Si4+] phosphor, this charge compensation method on the one hand strengthens the emission of Eu2+, and on the other hand, it dramatically improves the thermal stability of luminescence. In particular, the emission intensity of the KBCPO:0.03[Eu2+,Si4+] sample at 548 K can reach 103% relative to that at the initial temperature of 298 K. Based on this charge compensation strategy, we finally obtained a new dual emission KBCPO:[Eu2+,Si4+],Mn2+ phosphor. The analysis of the luminescence properties indicates that the emission enhancement of Mn2+ in KBCPO:[Eu2+,Si4+],Mn2+ stems from the energy transfer of Eu2+ → Mn2+ with the mechanism of the electric dipole-dipole interaction when excited at 365 nm. In addition, KBCPO:[Eu2+,Si4+],Mn2+ also has excellent thermal stability and the emission color could be easily tuned from cyan to orange only by adjusting the Eu2+ doping level. These results confirm that the KBCPO:[Eu2+,Si4+],Mn2+ phosphor is a viable candidate for n-UV white light emitting diodes.

A study on temperature sensing performance based on the luminescence of Eu3+ and Er3+ co-doped YNbO4.

Eu3+ and Er3+ co-doped YNbO4 powder phosphors were synthesized by a traditional high-temperature solid-state reaction method. A laser of 487.6 nm wavelength was selected to be the excitation source which can pump Eu3+ ions from its thermally populated low-lying 7F2 ground state to the excited state 5D2 and lift the Er3+ ions from their 4I15/2 to 4F7/2 states. Fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) between the 5D0 → 7FJ emissions of Eu3+ and 4S3/2 → 4I15/2 emissions of Er3+ ions is remarkably dependent on temperature because of the dramatic increase of Eu3+ luminescence against a slight quenching of Er3+ luminescence with the rise of temperature. This temperature sensitive FIR can be favorably employed for temperature sensing, owing to this novel scheme of 5D2 excitation, instead of 5D0, from 7F2 and utilizing Er3+ luminescence as a reference for FIR measurements. This sample is also prominent for its excellent signal-to-noise ratio and is a promising candidate for an optical temperature sensor.

Double perovskite A2LaNbO6:Mn4+,Eu3+ (A = Ba, Ca) phosphors: potential applications in optical temperature sensing.

Recently, much attention has been paid to Mn4+-doped phosphors due to their strong deep-red emissions which are in demand in white light-emitting diodes. However, a key challenge for the commercialization of Mn4+-doped phosphors is their low thermal stability caused by the thermal quenching of Mn4+ luminescence. Herein, a strategy of optical temperature sensing has been developed by specifically utilizing thermal quenching to explore the potential applications of Mn4+-doped phosphors in optical temperature sensing. In this work, we report two kinds of double perovskite type phosphors, Ba2LaNbO6 (BLN) and Ca2LaNbO6 (CLN), co-doped with Mn4+ and Eu3+. Through the study of temperature-dependent spectra in a large temperature range of 298-498 K, Mn4+ and Eu3+ yield different trends where the fluorescence intensity of Mn4+ ions decreases much more rapidly compared to that of Eu3+ ions as the temperature increases. Accordingly, based on the fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) of the luminescence of Mn4+ and Eu3+, the optimal relative sensitivity of temperature sensing in the BLN and CLN matrices could reach 2.08% K-1 and 1.51% K-1, respectively. Finally, the application potential of Mn4+-doped phosphors in temperature sensing is confirmed by analyzing different temperature sensing results in the two matrices.

Temperature-dependent persistent luminescence of SrAl2O4:Eu2+, Dy3+, Tb3+: a strategy of optical thermometry avoiding real-time excitation.

A new strategy of optical thermometry is realized by long persistent luminescence phosphor SrAl2O4:Eu2+, Dy3+, Tb3+ (SAEDT). Under different temperatures, SAEDT shows bright afterglow emissions after cessation of the UV excitation. The afterglow color of the SAEDT sample is blue at 60 K and gradually changed into green at 240 K. The normalized afterglow spectra at different temperatures give a dramatic change of fluorescence intensity ratio between the blue band and the green band. Not only has this material exhibited a high absolute sensitivity and relative sensitivity for temperature sensing, but it also has the great advantage of eliminating the heating effect due to avoidance of real-time direct excitation.

Highly uniform and monodisperse ß-NaYF4 : Sm3+ nanoparticles for a nanoscale optical thermometer.

Monodisperse ß-NaYF4:1%Sm3+ nanoparticles were fabricated successfully via the thermal decomposition technique. Strong temperature dependence of the Sm3+ emission was observed when its thermally populated state H7/26 was directly excited to the G5/24 level. This strategy not only can eliminate laser heating and background Stokes-type scattering noise but also has a high quantum yield as a result of one-photon excitation process. Under 594.0 nm laser excitation, the emission intensity of G5/24-H5/26 enhances monotonously with rising temperature from 300 K to 430 K, including a physiological temperature range (27°C-60°C). The relative temperature sensitivity can reach 1.1% K-1 and 0.91% K-1 at 300 K and 330 K, respectively. In addition, the repeatability of temperature sensing was evaluated under several heating-cooling cycles, and the decay curves of the emission at 560.0 nm (G5/24-H5/26) at different temperatures were also investigated. These results raise the prospects of monodisperse ß-NaYF4:1%Sm3+ nanoparticles for optical temperature sensing in biomedicine fields.

Luminescence properties and the thermal quenching mechanism of Mn2+ doped Zn2GeO4 long persistent phosphors.

Cation doped Zn2GeO4 materials have been intensively explored owing to their excellent performance in photocatalysts, optoelectronic devices and white light-emitting diodes. However, the luminescence process and thermal quenching arising during the optical excitation of these materials are yet to be clarified. The pure and 2% Mn2+ doped Zn2GeO4 phosphors were prepared via the high temperature solid state reaction. The phosphors were characterized by X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and afterglow decay curves. The thermal stability and quenching of Mn2+ luminescence were explained by the temperature dependence of photoluminescence spectroscopy and the configuration coordinate diagram. The thermal quenching of Mn2+ luminescence is mainly due to the delocalization of excited electrons from the excited state to the ionized state. Two kinds of origination of the O 1s peak were revealed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. A model is constructed to interpret all the photoluminescence and long persistent luminescence of the Mn2+ doped Zn2GeO4. This may contribute to the understanding and optimization of luminescence properties for other Mn2+ doped inorganic phosphors.

Investigation on the site occupation of rare-earth ions in CaIn2O4 with the fluorescence probe of Eu3.

Rare-earth doped CaIn2O4 phosphors have been widely investigated due to their excellent luminescent property, but the site occupation of rare-earth ions in CaIn2O4 is not very clear and needs to be clarified. Using Eu3+ as a fluorescence probe, such a clarification has been made in this work. 1% and 2% Eu3+ doped CaIn2O4 powder samples have been prepared by the sol-gel method. The X-ray diffraction results indicate that the lanthanide doping does not influence the structure of CaIn2O4. Site selective excitation at low temperature disclosed five different luminescent centers marked as A, B, C1, C2 and C3. The spectral analysis revealed that the A and B sites belong to Eu3+ embedded in In3+ sites; the other three are attributed to Eu3+ substitution on Ca2+ sites, which show slight distortion. Energy transfers from the B site to the A and C1 sites were observed in the 2% Eu3+ doped CaIn2O4 sample. The transitions of Eu3+ ions in the Ca2+ sites make the main contribution to the emission spectra excited at room temperature. These results may provide a guide for optimizing rare-earth doped CaIn2O4 phosphors for their application in the solid state lighting field.

Temperature Sensing Using Thermal Population of Low-Lying Energy Levels with (Sm0.01Gd0.99)VO4.

A temperature sensing scheme is proposed that is based on the dramatic temperature dependence of the photoluminescence when Sm3+ dopants are excited from thermally populated 6H7/2,9/2 levels, rather than the ground level 6H5/2, to the 4G5/2 luminescent level. The scheme has the advantage of eliminating laser heating and background Stokes-type scattering noise. Experimental realization was carried out on a (Sm0.01Gd0.99)VO4 sample by detecting the intensities at 550-580 nm using excitation wavelengths of 601.6 nm (process A) and 644.0 nm (process B) to excite Sm3+ to the 4G5/2 level from the 6H7/2 and 6H9/2 levels, which are ca. 1160 and ca. 2270 cm-1 above the ground 6H5/2 level, respectively. The sensitivities achieved are 1267 K/T2 in the temperature range of 183-413 K for process A and 2600 K/T2 in 393-603 K for process B. At even higher temperatures (600-800 K), a complementary process C based on the temperature-dependent luminescence decay lifetime resulted in a relative temperature sensitivity increase from 0.52% K-1 at 640 K to a top value of 3.23% K-1 at around 750 K. Furthermore, factors affecting the temperature dependence of the luminescence intensities have been successfully explored by taking into account the broadening of the thermally activated energy levels and the quantum efficiency of the luminescent level.

Real-time micro-scale temperature imaging at low cost based on fluorescent intensity ratio.

Real-time temperature imaging with high spatial resolution has been a challenging task but also one with wide potential applications. To achieve this task, temperature sensor is critical. Fluorescent materials stand out to be promising candidates due to their quick response and strong temperature dependence. However, former reported temperature imaging techniques with fluorescent materials are mainly based on point by point scanning, which cannot fulfill the requirement of real-time monitoring. Based on fluorescent intensity ratio (FIR) of two emission bands of SrB4O7:Sm2+, whose spatial distributions were simultaneously recorded by two cameras with special filters separately, real-time temperature imaging with high spatial resolution has been realized with low cost. The temperature resolution can reach about 2 °C in the temperature range from 120 to 280 °C; the spatial resolution is about 2.4 µm and the imaging time is as fast as one second. Adopting this system, we observed the dynamic change of a micro-scale thermal distribution on a printed circuit board (PCB). Different applications and better performance could also be achieved on this system with appropriate fluorescent materials and high sensitive CCD detectors according to the experimental environment.

Investigation of SrB4O7:Sm2+ as a Multimode Temperature Sensor with High Sensitivity.

Sm2+-doped SrB4O7 was synthesized for high-sensitivity thermometry. A high thermal-sensitive fluorescence intensity ratio and fluorescence lifetime were achieved in a wide temperature range. At 500 K, the relative sensitivity of the temperature sensing was 2.16% K-1 for the fluorescence intensity ratio and 3.36% K-1 for the fluorescence lifetime. Furthermore, the fluorescence color-shifted dramatically from deep red at room temperature to green at 700 K. On the basis of this color change, a visible temperature field was obtained on quartz glass covered with our sample, which made the thermal conduction and distribution visible to the human eye. The temperature of the temperature field was determined using two methods. These outstanding properties, combined with the high sensitivity, multimode for temperature sensing and thermal stability of the sample, make SrB4O7:Sm2+ a promising material for highly sensitive thermometry applications.

Nonlinear Composition-Dependent Optical Spectroscopy of Ba2xSr2-2xV2O7.

In general, adjusting the composition of a fluorescent material is an effective way to tune its luminescent properties such as peak energy and bandwidth. In most solid-solutions, the emission peak shifts linearly with the materials' composition, which is referred to as Vegard's Law. However, we found extraordinary variations in our samples Ba2xSr2-2xV2O7, that is, both the excitation and emission peaks show nonlinear dependence on the composition x, and the same is true for the spectral bandwidths. The nonlinearities are not due to structural anomaly, as all the samples are confirmed to be solid-solutions by X-ray diffraction measurements. To explain these phenomena, we proposed a model by considering the disorder of Ba(2+) and Sr(2+) distributions in solid-solutions and the changes of configurations between the ground and excited electronic states. This novel phenomenon could be applied to further exploit new fluorescent materials.

Local Environment Study of Eu3+ Doped KGd2F7 by Site-Selective Spectroscopy.

The site-selective spectra and decay curves at 20 K of Eu3+ ions doped KGd2F7 were measured to study the local environment of the Eu3+ sites. The experimental results show that Eu3+ ions occupy three types of sites in the KGd2F7 host. And Eu3+ ions in different types of sites exhibit quite distinct emission spectra and have remarkably different 5D0 level decay lifetimes. Based on the intensity ratio of 5D0--> 7F2,1 transitions of Eu3+ and the 5D0 decay lifetimes in different types of sites, the correlation between the luminescent properties and the site symmetry is discussed.

Strategy for thermometry via Tm³âº-doped NaYF4 core-shell nanoparticles.

Optical thermometers usually make use of the fluorescence intensity ratio of two thermally coupled energy levels, with the relative sensitivity constrained by the limited energy gap. Here we develop a strategy by using the upconversion (UC) emissions originating from two multiplets with opposite temperature dependences to achieve higher relative temperature sensitivity. We show that the intensity ratio of the two UC emissions, ³F(2,3) and ¹G4, of Tm³âº in ß-NaYF4:20%Yb³âº, 0.5%Tm³âº/NaYF4:1%Pr³âº core-shell nanoparticles under 980 nm laser excitation exhibits high relative temperature sensitivity between 350 and 510 K, with a maximum of 1.53% K⁻¹ at 417 K. This demonstrates the validity of the strategy, and that the studied material has the potential for high-performance optical thermometry.