Efficient Congo Red Removal Using Porous Cellulose/Gelatin/Sepiolite Gel Beads: Assembly, Characterization, and Adsorption Mechanism.

Porous sustainable cellulose/gelatin/sepiolite gel beads were fabricated via an efficient 'hydrophilic assembly-floating droplet' two-step method to remove Congo red (CR) from wastewater. The beads comprised microcrystalline cellulose and gelatin, forming a dual network framework, and sepiolite, which acted as a functional component to reinforce the network. The as-prepared gel beads were characterized using FTIR, SEM, XRD, and TGA, with the results indicating a highly porous structure that was also thermally stable. A batch adsorption experiment for CR was performed and evaluated as a function of pH, sepiolite addition, contact time, temperature, and initial concentration. The kinetics and isotherm data obtained were in agreement with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm, with a maximum monolayer capacity of 279.3 mg·g-1 for CR at 303 K. Moreover, thermodynamic analysis demonstrated the spontaneous and endothermic nature of the dye uptake. Importantly, even when subjected to five regeneration cycles, the gel beads retained 87% of their original adsorption value, suggesting their suitability as an efficient and reusable material for dye wastewater treatments.

Design approach for photonic quasicrystals to enable multiple nonlinear interactions.

Photonic quasicrystals are poised to transform the field of nonlinear light-matter interactions due to their ability to support an unlimited number of combinations of wavevectors in their reciprocal lattices. Such greatly enhanced flexibility enabled by k-space engineering makes photonic quasicrystals a promising platform for novel approaches to multi-wavelength conversion, supercontinuum generation, and development of classical and quantum optical sources. Here, we develop a new design method for nonlinear photonic quasicrystals, consisting of a combination of one nonlinear material and one linear material that can simultaneously fulfill phase-matching conditions for a desired number of nonlinear optical interactions as long as the frequencies of the interacting waves are outside of the bandgaps of the quasicrystal structure. Our approach provides enhanced design flexibility, enabling new pathways to designing compact, integrated nonlinear photonic devices and systems on a chip.

Near-infrared to ultra-violet frequency conversion in chalcogenide metasurfaces.

Chalcogenide photonics offers unique solutions for a broad range of applications from mid-infrared sensing to integrated, ultrafast, ultrahigh-bandwidth signal processing. However, to date its usage has been limited to the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum, thus avoiding ultraviolet and visible ranges due to absorption of chalcogenide glasses. Here, we experimentally demonstrate and report near-infrared to ultraviolet frequency conversion in an As2S3-based metasurface, enabled by a phase locking mechanism between the pump and the inhomogeneous portion of the third harmonic signal. Due to the phase locking, the inhomogeneous component co-propagates with the pump pulse and encounters the same effective dispersion as the infrared pump, and thus experiences little or no absorption, consequently opening previously unexploited spectral range for chalcogenide glass science and applications, despite the presence of strong material absorption in this range.

PPM1H is an independent prognostic biomarker of non-small cell lung cancer.

Protein phosphatase 1H (PPM1H) is the metal-dependent protein phosphatase, however, its role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression remains controversial. Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common histological type of lung cancer but the expression and clinical significance of PPM1H in NSCLC is unknown. In our study, we detected the mRNA of PPM1H in 25 pairs of NSCLC tissues and their corresponding adjacent tissues with qRT-PCR. Moreover, we investigated PPM1H expression in 474 NSCLC tissues and divided them into subgroups with low and high PPM1H. We further evaluated its correlation with the clinicopathological factors. The correlation between PPM1H and other biomarkers involved in tumor progression including chromosome segregation 1-like protein (CSE1L), p53, and Ki67 was also estimated. In addition, the prognostic significance of PPM1H was investigated by univariate and multivariate analyses. The mRNA levels of PPM1H in NSCLCs were significantly higher than those in tumor-adjacent tissues. Patients with low and high PPM1H expression accounted for 54.64% (259/474) and 45.36% (215/474) respectively in all the NSCLCs. PPM1H expression (p=0.012), patients' sex (p=0.009), tumor size (p<0.001), histological grade (p=0.026), T stage (p=0.002), N stage (p<0.001), M stage (p=0.011), and TNM stage (p<0.001) were all associated with the poor prognosis. With multivariate analysis, PPM1H was determined as an independent prognostic factor of NSCLC (HR=1.42, 95% CI=1.14-1.75, p=0.001). Moreover, high PPM1H was significantly with high Ki67 (p=0.022), indicating the oncogenic role of PPM1H. PPM1H is an independent prognostic factor indicating an unfavorable prognosis of NSCLC. Our results indicated that PPM1H was an important supplement of NSCLC molecular profile and detecting PPM1H may help recognize the high-risk patients for further treatment.

Dual delivery nanoscale device for miR-451 and adriamycin co-delivery to combat multidrug resistant in bladder cancer.

The outcome of current cancer therapy is usually impeded by complicated extracellular and intracellular barriers. Most importantly, untargeted distribution and multidrug resistance (MDR) are considered as two important difficulties responsible for the poor performance of many currently available drug delivery systems (DDS). As a result, in our study, we developed a cancer cell membrane (CM) coated calcium carbonate (CC) nanoparticles to co-delivery miR-451 with adriamycin (Adr) to address the dilemma occurred in the therapy of bladder cancer (MCC/R-A). The homologous CCM from MDR bladder cancer cells (BIU-87/Adr) was employed to increase targeted retention of DDS within the tumor tissue and to bypass the extracellular barriers. Moreover, the MDR of cancer cells was conquered through downregulation of P-gp expression using miR-451 since it was confirmed by previous reports that miR-451 could significantly downregulate the level of P-gp in MDR cells, which in turn elevated the cellular drug retention in BIU-87/Adr. Our in vitro and in vivo experiments have revealed that MCC/R-A showed a greatly enhanced therapeutic effect on BIU-87/Adr, which was superior than applying miR-451 or Adr alone. The preferable effect of MCC/R-A on conquering the MDR in bladder cancer provides a novel alternative for effective chemotherapy of MDR cancers.

Flexible and tunable terahertz all-dielectric metasurface composed of ceramic spheres embedded in ferroelectric/elastomer composite: erratum.

We report an error in our paper [Opt. Express 26, 11633 2018]. The SEM picture shown in Fig. 1(e)Fig. 1(a)-(d) The fabrication process of all-dielectric metasurface. (e) The scanning electron microscope (SEM) photograph of fabricated sample. was incorrect. This was due to an error during manuscript preparation: The SEM picture of control group is inadvertently provided in Fig. 1(e), instead of correct SEM picture of sample. Figures 1(a)-1(d) are correct and remain unchanged, and this error does not affect the results or conclusions of the paper. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

Experimental realization of Mie-resonance terahertz absorber by self-assembly method.

Mie-resonance terahertz absorbers by self-assembly method are designed and demonstrated in experiments and simulations. A monolayer of zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) microspheres fixed on a copper film with designed grids that were manufactured by direct writing with a composite ink system composed of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). More importantly, different spacing and array configurations were created economically and efficiently, showing visual performance. Magnetic resonance leads to near-unity absorption at about 0.4 THz in the samples. This work demonstrates efficient terahertz absorbers and highlights a novel direct writing fabrication method that can be extended to produce other optical devices for applications.

Flexible and tunable terahertz all-dielectric metasurface composed of ceramic spheres embedded in ferroelectric/ elastomer composite.

Terahertz (THz) all-dielectric metasurfaces made of high-index and low-loss resonators have attracted more and more attention due to their versatile properties. However, the all-dielectric metasurfaces in THz suffer from limited bandwidth and low tunability. Meanwhile, they are usually fabricated on flat and rigid substrates, and consequently their applications are restricted. Here, a simple approach is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to obtain a flexible and tunable THz all-dielectric metasurface. In this metasurface, micro ceramic spheres (ZrO2) are embedded in a ferroelectric (strontium titanate) / elastomer (polydimethylsiloxane) composite. It is shown that the Mie resonances in micro ceramic spheres can be thermally and reversibly tuned resulting from the temperature dependent permittivity of the ferroelectric / PDMS composite. This metasurface characterized by flexibility and tunability is expected to have a more extensive application in active THz devices.

Electrically controlled Mie-resonance absorber.

An electrically controlled metamaterial perfect absorber (MPA) based on Mie resonance is demonstrated experimentally and modeled numerically. A ceramic dielectric cube is adhered to a specially shaped thin copper film sputtered on a quartz plate. By passing direct current (DC) through the film, the temperature of the cube can be varied, resulting in changing the cube's permittivity and shifting the absorption resonance frequency. The frequency increases on heating and the absorption is over 99% throughout the tuning range. This method for constructing miniaturized tunable MPAs compares favorably to bulky alternative designs. It also provides a versatile route to broaden the absorption bandwidth and potentially expand the range of applications such as metasurfaces and cloaking devices utilizing nonuniform permittivity absorbers produced by temperature gradients.

Silencing B7-H1 enhances the anti-tumor effect of bladder cancer antigen-loaded dendritic cell vaccine in vitro.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine whether short hairpin RNA (shRNA) expressing lentiviral particles targeting B7-H1 infection could result in B7-H1 knockdown on dendritic cells (DCs) and to investigate whether B7-H1 silencing could augment the immune function of DCs and further elicit a more potent anti-tumor immune effect against bladder cancer cells in vitro. METHODS: Monocyte-derived DCs, which were generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells, were infected by a recombinant lentivirus containing shRNA sequence aimed at B7-H1. After that, the infected DCs were pulsed by tumor antigens and used to stimulate cytotoxic T lymphocytes-based anti-tumor effect in vitro. RESULTS: The lentivirus-mediated shRNA delivery method efficiently and effectively silenced B7-H1 in DCs. Furthermore, the B7-H1 silencing enhanced the stimulatory capacity and the secretion of interleukin-12, but down-regulated interleukin-10 secretion. And more importantly, the anti-tumor effect of bladder cancer antigen-loaded DC vaccine in vitro was also potentially augmented. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that a combination of B7-H1 knockdown and target antigen delivery could augment anti-tumor effects in vitro, which potentially provides a novel strategy in the immunotherapy of bladder cancer.