A novel approach to estimate land surface temperature from landsat top-of-atmosphere reflective and emissive data using transfer-learning neural network.

Land Surface Temperature (LST) is a crucial parameter in studies of urban heat islands, climate change, evapotranspiration, hydrological cycles, and vegetation monitoring. However, conventional satellite-based approaches for LST retrieval often require additional data like land surface emissivity (LSE). Meanwhile, traditional machine learning (ML) techniques face challenges in acquiring representative training data and leveraging data from varied sources effectively. To address these issues, we introduce a novel transfer-learning (TL) neural network approach for LST retrieval using top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflective and emissive data from Landsat. This method not only improves LST retrieval by integrating various data types but also demonstrates the potential of shortwave data in surrogating LSE information, thereby reducing dependence on explicit LSE data. Our TL approach utilized extensive simulations from the radiative transfer model (RTM) and measurements from the real world. The simulations are comprehensive, covering a wide range of atmospheric and surface scenarios, and the inclusion of real-world data mitigates the discrepancy between simulations and actual observations. When applied to a decade of Landsat-8 observations and ground measurements from 241 stations across diverse regions, our TL method significantly outperforms ML, single-channel (SC), and split-window (SW) algorithms in terms of root mean square error (RMSE), with improvements of 0.46 K, 0.84 K, and 0.57 K, respectively. This superiority underscores the advantage of integrating simulated and observed data, as well as the benefit of utilizing both reflective and emissive data without relying on uncertain LSE inputs. Our findings present a promising new TL framework for estimating LST directly from TOA data, offering a robust approach that we have made publicly available through Google Earth Engine (GEE) for broader use. The LST data retrieved by our proposed method can provide valuable insights for environmental research.

Association between base excess and mortality in critically ill patients with ischemic stroke: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Base excess (BE) is associated with mortality from many diseases. However, the relationship between BE and mortality in patients with ischemic stroke remains uncertain. Our aim is to investigate the relationship between BE values upon admission to the ICU and mortality rates in critically ill stroke patients. METHODS: The current study enrolled 1,572 patients with ischemic stroke (863 males and 709 females). The associations of BE with intensive care unit (ICU), hospital, 28-day, and 1-year mortalities were assessed using multivariable logistic regression or Cox proportional hazards model. The potential impact of the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score (< 5 or ≥ 5) on the prognostic value of BE was further evaluated with interaction and subgroup analyses. RESULTS: BE values less than - 3 mmol/L, greater than 3 mmol/L, and within - 3 to 3 mmol/L (normal BE) were observed in 316 (20.1%), 175 (11.1%), and 1,081 (68.8%) patients, respectively. The restricted cubic splines analyses revealed that a U-shaped curve between BE and the mortality risk. Multivariable analysis indicated that patients with low BE (<-3 mmol/L) had higher rates of ICU mortality (odds ratio [OR], 1.829; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.281-2.612; P = 0.001), hospital mortality (OR, 1.484; 95% CI, 1.077-2.045; P = 0.016), 28-day mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.522; 95% CI, 1.200-1.929; P = 0.001), and 1-year mortality (HR, 1.399; 95% CI, 1.148-1.705; P = 0.001) than patients with normal BE. Subgroup analyses showed consistent results pertaining to SOFA scores ≥ 5. CONCLUSIONS: In critically ill patients with ischemic stroke, an initial BE of <-3 mmol/L at ICU admission may indicate an increased risk of ICU, hospital, 28-day, and 1-year mortalities.

A Multicomponent Microneedle Patch for the Delivery of Meloxicam for Veterinary Applications.

This study evaluates the use of poly(vinyl alcohol), collagen, and chitosan blends for developing a microneedle patch for the delivery of meloxicam (MEL). Results confirm successful MEL encapsulation, structural integrity, and chemical stability even after ethylene oxide sterilization. Mechanical testing indicates the patch has the required properties for effective skin penetration and drug delivery, as demonstrated by load-displacement curves showing successful penetration of pig ear surfaces at 3N of normal load. In vitro imaging confirms the microneedle patch penetrates the pig's ear cadaver skin effectively and uniformly, with histological evaluation revealing the sustained presence and gradual degradation of microneedles within the skin. Additionally, in vitro drug diffusion experiments utilizing ballistic gel suggest that microneedles commence dissolution almost immediately upon insertion into the gel, steadily releasing the drug over 24 h. Furthermore, the microneedle patch demonstrates ideal drug release capabilities, achieving nearly 100% release of meloxicam content from a single patch within 18 h. Finally, in vivo studies using pigs demonstrate the successful dissolution and transdermal drug delivery efficacy of biodegradable microneedle patches delivering meloxicam in a porcine model, with over 70% of microneedles undergoing dissolution after 3 days. While low detectable meloxicam concentrations were observed in the bloodstream, high levels were detected in the ear tissue, confirming the release and diffusion of the drug from microneedles. This work highlights the potential of microneedle patches for controlled drug release in veterinary applications.

An Integrated Micro-Heating System for On-Chip Isothermal Amplification of African Swine Fever Virus Genes.

The loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is widely used in the laboratory to facilitate rapid DNA or RNA detection with a streamlined operational process, whose properties are greatly dependent on the uniformity and rise rate of temperature in the reaction chambers and the design of the primers. This paper introduces a planar micro-heater equipped with an embedded micro-temperature sensor to realize temperature tunability at a low energy cost. Moreover, a control system, based on the Wheatstone bridge and proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) control, is designed to measure and adjust the temperature of the micro-heater. The maximum temperature rise rate of the designed micro-heater is ≈8 °C s-1, and it only takes ≈60 s to reach the target temperature. Furthermore, a designed plasmid, containing the B646L gene of African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV), and a set of specific primers, are used to combine with the designed micro-heating system to implement the LAMP reaction. Finally, the lateral flow assay is used to interpret the amplification results visually. This method can achieve highly sensitive and efficient detection of ASFV within 40 min. The sensitivity of this on-chip gene detection method is 8.4 copies per reaction, holding great potential for applications in DNA and RNA amplification.

Photoexcitation-induced efficient detoxification and removal of arsenite in contaminated water by a layered double hydroxide-supported polyacrylate stabilized ferrous sulfide composite.

The effective detoxification and removal of arsenite (As(III)) has been widely concerned because of its strong toxicity and migration ability. In this study, we designed a layered double hydroxide-supported polyacrylate stabilized ferrous sulfide composite (PAA/FeS@LDH) and coupled it with UV excitation to purify As(III)-polluted water. The removal efficiency of As(III) under UV irradiation reached almost 100% in 120 min, and the first-order kinetic constant was 3.12 orders of magnitude higher than under dark. UV irradiation significantly accelerated the oxidation and detoxification of As(III) at the interface of PAA/FeS@LDH and treatment solution. It is attributable to the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) intermediates, including .O2-, .OH, and SO4.- under UV irradiation, because of the presence of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs and iron valence states cycles. Importantly, .O2- may be rapidly captured and oxidized to 1O2 on the surface of PAA/FeS@LDH that is also an important contributor to the oxidation removal of As(III). Noticeably, As(III) concentrations in the real water were rapidly reduced to below the guideline limitation of drinking water (10 µg/L) within 20 min under UV irradiation. Our outcomes provide a novel photoexcitation treatment system for the efficient detoxification and removal of As from actual wastewater.

DMA-HPCNet: Dual Multi-Level Attention Hybrid Pyramid Convolution Neural Network for Alzheimer's Disease Classification.

Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) plays a crucial role in the clinical application of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In particular, convolutional neural network (CNN)-based methods are highly sensitive to subtle changes caused by brain atrophy in medical images (e.g., magnetic resonance imaging, MRI). Due to computational resource constraints, most CAD methods focus on quantitative features in specific regions, neglecting the holistic nature of the images, which poses a challenge for a comprehensive understanding of pathological changes in AD. To address this issue, we propose a lightweight dual multi-level hybrid pyramid convolutional neural network (DMA-HPCNet) to aid clinical diagnosis of AD. Specifically, we introduced ResNet as the backbone network and modularly extended the hybrid pyramid convolution (HPC) block and the dual multi-level attention (DMA) module. Among them, the HPC block is designed to enhance the acquisition of information at different scales, and the DMA module is proposed to sequentially extract different local and global representations from the channel and spatial domains. Our proposed DMA-HPCNet method was evaluated on baseline MRI slices of 443 subjects from the ADNI dataset. Experimental results show that our proposed DMA-HPCNet model performs efficiently in AD-related classification tasks with low computational cost.

Withaferin A Inhibits Liver Cancer Tumorigenesis by Suppressing Aerobic Glycolysis through the p53/IDH1/HIF-1α Signaling Axis.

BACKGROUND: The energy supply of certain cancer cells depends on aerobic glycolysis rather than oxidative phosphorylation. Our previous studies have shown that withaferin A (WA), a lactone compound derived from Withania somnifera, suppresses skin carcinogenesis at least partially by stabilizing IDH1 and promoting oxidative phosphorylation. Here, we have extended our studies to evaluate the anti-tumor effect of WA in liver cancer. METHODS: Differential expression of glycolysis-related genes between liver cancer tissues and normal tissues and prognosis were verified using an online database. Glycolysis-related protein expression was detected using western blot after overexpression and knockdown of IDH1 and mitochondrial membrane potential assay based on JC-1, and mitochondrial complex I activity was also detected. The inhibitory effect of WA on the biological functions of HepG2 cells was detected along with cell viability using MTT assay, scratch assay, clone formation assay, glucose consumption and lactate production assay. Western blot and qRT-PCR were used to detect the expression of proteins and genes related to IDH1, p53 and HIF1α signaling pathways. RESULTS: We first identified that IDH1 expression was downregulated in human liver cancer cells compared to normal liver cells. Next, we found that treatment of HepG2 cells with WA resulted in significantly increased protein levels of IDH1, accompanied by decreased levels of several glycolytic enzymes. Furthermore, we found that WA stabilized IDH1 proteins by inhibiting the degradation by the proteasome. The tumor suppressor p53 was also upregulated by WA treatment, which played a critical role in the upregulation of IDH1 and downregulation of the glycolysis-related genes. Under hypoxic conditions, glycolysis-related genes were induced, which was suppressed by WA treatment, and IDH1 expression was still maintained at higher levels under hypoxia. CONCLUSION: Taken together, our results indicated that WA suppresses liver cancer tumorigenesis by p53-mediated IDH1 upregulation, which promotes mitochondrial respiration, thereby inhibiting the HIF-1α pathway and blocking aerobic glycolysis.

A causal relationship between educational attainment and risk of infectious diseases: A Mendelian randomisation study.

Background: Previous observational studies have investigated the association between educational attainment and sepsis, pneumonia, and urinary tract infections (UTIs). However, their findings have been susceptible to reverse causality and confounding factors. Furthermore, no study has examined the effect of educational level on the risk of infections of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (SSTIs). Thus, we aimed to evaluate the causal relationships between educational level and the risk of four infectious diseases using Mendelian randomisation (MR) techniques. Methods: We used univariable MR analysis to investigate the causal associations between educational attainment (years of schooling (n = 766 345) and holding college or university degree (n = 334 070)) and four infectious diseases (sepsis (n = 486 484), pneumonia (n = 486 484), UTIs (n = 463 010), and SSTIs (n = 218 792)). We included genetic instrumental variables with a genome-wide significance (P < 5 × 10-8) in the study. We used inverse variance-weighted estimation in the primary analysis and explored the stability of the results using multivariable MR analysis after adjusting for smoking, alcohol consumption, and body mass index. Results: Genetically predicted years of schooling were associated with a reduced risk of sepsis (odds ratio (OR) = 0.763; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.668-0.870, P = 5.525 × 10-5), pneumonia (OR = 0.637; 95% CI = 0.577-0.702, P = 1.875 × 10-19), UTIs (OR = 0.995; 95% CI = 0.993-0.997, P = 1.229 × 10-5), and SSTIs (OR = 0.696; 95% CI = 0.605-0.801, P = 4.034 × 10-7). We observed consistent results for the correlation between qualifications and infectious diseases. These findings remained stable in the multivariable MR analyses. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that increased educational attainment may be causally associated with a decreased risk of sepsis, pneumonia, UTIs, and SSTIs.

The Causal Relationship between Plasma Myeloperoxidase Levels and Respiratory Tract Infections: A Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Study.

Background: Observational researches reported the underlying correlation of plasma myeloperoxidase (MPO) concentration with respiratory tract infections (RTIs), but their causality remained unclear. Here, we examined the cause-effect relation between plasma MPO levels and RTIs. Materials and Methods: Datasets of plasma MPO levels were from the Folkersen et al. study (n = 21,758) and INTERVAL study (n = 3,301). Summarized data for upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) (2,795 cases and 483,689 controls) and lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in the intensive care unit (ICU) (585 cases and 430,780 controls) were from the UK Biobank database. The primary method for Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was the inverse variance weighted approach, with MR-Egger and weighted median methods as supplements. Cochrane's Q test, MR-Egger intercept test, MR pleiotropy residual sum and outliers global test, funnel plots, and leave-one-out analysis were used for sensitivity analysis. Results: We found that plasma MPO levels were positively associated with URTI (odds ratio (OR) = 1.135; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.011-1.274; P=0.032) and LRTI (ICU) (OR = 1.323; 95% CI = 1.006-1.739; P=0.045). The consistent impact direction is shown when additional plasma MPO level genome-wide association study datasets are used (URTI: OR = 1.158; 95% CI = 1.072-1.251; P < 0.001; LRTI (ICU): OR = 1.216; 95% CI = 1.020-1.450; P=0.030). There was no evidence of a causal effect of URTI and LRTI (ICU) on plasma MPO concentration in the reverse analysis (P > 0.050). The sensitivity analysis revealed no violations of MR presumptions. Conclusions: Plasma MPO levels may causally affect the risks of URTI and LRTI (ICU). In contrast, the causal role of URTI and LRTI (ICU) on plasma MPO concentration was not supported in our MR analysis. Further studies are needed to identify the relationship between RTIs and plasma MPO levels.

Advancing High-Throughput MS-Based Protein Quantification: A Case Study on Quantifying 10 Major Food Allergens by LC-MS/MS Using a One-Sample Multipoint External Calibration Curve.

The LC-MS-based method has emerged as the preferred approach for quantifying food allergens. However, the preparation of a traditional calibration curve (MSCC) is labor-intensive and error-prone. Here, a sensitive and robust LC-MS/MS method for quantifying 10 major food allergens was developed and validated, where the one-sample multipoint external calibration curve (OSCC) was employed instead of MSCC. By employing the multiple isotopologue reaction monitoring (MIRM) technique with only one spiked level in the blank, OSCC can be effectively established. Results demonstrate that the proposed method exhibits excellent performance in selectivity, sensitivity, accuracy, and precision, comparable to that of the traditional MSCC. Additionally, this strategy allows for isotope sample dilution by monitoring the less abundant MIRM channel. Moreover, the developed method was successfully applied to investigate the contamination of 10 food allergens in commercial food products. With its high throughput and robustness, the MIRM-OSCC-LC-MS/MS methodology has many potential applications, especially in the MS-based protein quantification analysis.

Icaritin activates p53 and inhibits aerobic glycolysis in liver cancer cells.

Metabolic reprogramming enables cancer cells to generate energy mainly through aerobic glycolysis, which is achieved by increasing the expression levels of glycolysis-related enzymes. Therefore, the development of drugs targeting aerobic glycolysis could be an effective strategy for cancer treatment. Icaritin (ICT) is an active ingredient from the Chinese herbal plant Epimedium with several biological activities, but its anti-cancer mechanism remains inconclusive. Using normal hepatocytes and hepatoma cells, our results showed that ICT suppressed cell proliferation and clonal formation and decreased glucose consumption and lactate production in liver cancer cells. In consistent, the mRNA and protein levels of several aerobic glycolysis-related genes were decreased upon ICT treatment. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that the expression levels of the aerobic glycolysis-related proteins were correlated with the p53 status in hepatoma cells. Using PFT-α or siRNA-p53, our results confirmed that ICT regulated aerobic glycolysis in a p53-dependent manner. In addition, ICT was found to stabilize p53 at the post-translational level which might be mediated by inhibiting MDM2 expression and affecting its interaction with p53. Finally, our results demonstrated that ICT increased the levels of ROS that activated p53 via the p38 MAPK pathway. In conclusion, ICT increased intracellular ROS levels in liver cancer cells, which promoted the stabilization and activation of p53, inhibiting the expression of aerobic glycolysis-related genes and glycolysis, and ultimately leading to the suppression of liver cancer development.

Possible pharmacological targets and mechanisms of sivelestat in protecting acute lung injury.

Acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS) is a life-threatening syndrome induced by various diseases, including COVID-19. In the progression of ALI/ARDS, activated neutrophils play a central role by releasing various inflammatory mediators, including elastase. Sivelestat is a selective and competitive inhibitor of neutrophil elastase. Although its protective effects on attenuating ALI/ARDS have been confirmed in several models of lung injury, clinical trials have presented inconsistent results on its therapeutic efficacy. Therefore, in this report, we used a network pharmacology approach coupled with animal experimental validation to unravel the concrete therapeutic targets and biological mechanisms of sivelestat in treating ALI/ARDS. In bioinformatic analyses, we found 118 targets of sivelestat against ALI/ARDS, and identified six hub genes essential for sivelestat treatment of ALI/ARDS, namely ERBB2, GRB2, PTK2, PTPN11, ESR1, and CCND1. We also found that sivelestat targeted several genes expressed in human lung microvascular endothelial cells after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment at 4 h (ICAM-1, PTGS2, RND1, BCL2A1, TNF, CA2, and ADORA2A), 8 h (ICAM-1, PTGS2, RND1, BCL2A1, MMP1, BDKRB1 and SLC40A1), and 24 h (ICAM-1). Further animal experiments showed that sivelestat was able to attenuate LPS-induced ALI by inhibiting the overexpression of ICAM-1, VCAM-1, and PTGS2 and increasing the phosphorylation of PTK2. Taken together, the bioinformatic findings and experimentative data indicate that the therapeutic effects of sivelestat against ALI/ARDS mainly focus on the early stage of ALI/ARDS by pharmacological modulation of inflammatory reaction, vascular endothelial injury, and cell apoptosis-related molecules.

The oral-brain axis: can periodontal pathogens trigger the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease?

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia, characterized by a progressive cognitive decline. Sporadic AD, accounting for more than 95% of cases, may arise due to the influence of environmental factors. It was reported that periodontitis, a common oral ailment, shares several risk factors with AD, including advanced age, smoking, diabetes, and hypertension, among others. Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease triggered by dysbiosis of oral microorganisms, whereas Alzheimer's disease is characterized by neuroinflammation. Many studies have indicated that chronic inflammation can instigate brain AD-related pathologies, including amyloid-ß plaques, Tau protein hyperphosphorylation, neuroinflammation, and neurodegeneration. The potential involvement of periodontal pathogens and/or their virulence factors in the onset and progression of AD by the oral-brain axis has garnered significant attention among researchers with ongoing investigations. This review has updated the periodontal pathogens potentially associated with AD, elucidating their impact on the central nervous system, immune response, and related pathological processes in the brain to provide valuable insights for future research on the oral-brain axis.

Inhibitory effects of the nanoscale lysate derived from xenogenic dental pulp stem cells in lung cancer models.

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is a highly prevalent malignancy and has the highest mortality rate among all tumors due to lymph node metastasis. Bone marrow and umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have demonstrated tumor-suppressive effects on lung cancer. This study investigated the effects of DPSC lysate on proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion of cancer cells were studied in vivo and in vitro. METHODS: The proliferation, apoptosis, and migration/metastasis were evaluated by cell counting kit-8 assay, Annexin-V and propidium iodide staining, and the transwell assay, respectively. The expression levels of apoptosis-, cell cycle-, migration-, and adhesion-related mRNA and proteins were measured by qRT-PCR and western blot. The level and mRNA expression of tumor markers carcino embryonic antigen (CEA), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) were measured by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and qRT-PCR. Finally, a tumor-bearing mouse model was constructed to observe the tumor-suppressive effect of DPSC lysate after intraperitoneal injection. RESULTS: DPSC lysate decreased the viability of A549 cells and induced apoptosis in lung cancer cells. Western blot confirmed that levels of Caspase-3, Bax, and Bad were increased, and Bcl-2 protein levels were decreased in A549 cells treated with DPSC lysate. In addition, DPSC lysate inhibited the migration and invasion of A549 cells; downregulated key genes of the cell cycle, migration, and adhesion; and significantly suppressed tumor markers. Xenograft results showed that DPSC lysate inhibited tumor growth and reduced tumor weight. CONCLUSIONS: DPSC lysate inhibited proliferation, invasion, and metastasis; promoted apoptosis in lung cancer cells; and suppressed tumor growth- potentially providing a cell-based alternative therapy for lung cancer treatment.

Theoretical Investigation on the Metamaterials Based on the Magnetic Template-Assisted Self-Assembly of Magnetic-Plasmonic Nanoparticles for Adjustable Photonic Responses.

The assembly of artificial nano- or microstructured materials with tunable functionalities and structures, mimicking nature's complexity, holds great potential for numerous novel applications. Despite remarkable progress in synthesizing colloidal molecules with diverse functionalities, most current methods, such as the capillarity-assisted particle assembly method, the ionic assembly method based on ionic interactions, or the field-directed assembly strategy based on dipole-dipole interactions, are confined to focusing on achieving symmetrical molecules. But there have been few examples of fabricating asymmetrical colloidal molecules that could exhibit unprecedented optical properties. Here, we introduce a microfluidic and magnetic template-assisted self-assembly protocol that relies mainly on the magnetic dipole-dipole interactions between magnetized magnetic-plasmonic nanoparticles and the mechanical constraints resulting from the specially designed traps. This novel strategy not only requires no specific chemistry but also enables magnetophoretic control of magnetic-plasmonic nanoparticles during the assembly process. Moreover, the assembled asymmetrical colloidal molecules also exhibit interesting hybridized plasmon modes and produce exotic optical properties due to the strong coupling of the individual nanoparticle. The ability to fabricate asymmetrical colloidal molecules based on the bottom-up method opens up a new direction for the fabrication of novel microscale structures for biosensing, patterning, and delivery applications.

Metal-organic framework materials promote neural differentiation of dental pulp stem cells in spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is accompanied by loss of Zn2+, which is an important cause of glutamate excitotoxicity and death of local neurons as well as transplanted stem cells. Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) have the potential for neural differentiation and play an immunomodulatory role in the microenvironment, making them an ideal cell source for the repair of central nerve injury, including SCI. The zeolitic imidazolate framework 8 (ZIF-8) is usually used as a drug and gene delivery carrier, which can release Zn2+ sustainedly in acidic environment. However, the roles of ZIF-8 on neural differentiation of DPSCs and the effect of combined treatment on SCI have not been explored. ZIF-8-introduced DPSCs were loaded into gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogel and in situ injected into the injured site of SCI rats. Under the effect of ZIF-8, axon number and axon length of DPSCs-differentiated neuro-like cells were significantly increased. In addition, ZIF-8 protected transplanted DPSCs from apoptosis in the damaged microenvironment. ZIF-8 promotes neural differentiation and angiogenesis of DPSCs by activating the Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, which is a promising transport nanomaterial for nerve repair.

Preparation of Gd-doped AuNBP@mSiO2 nanocomposites for the MR imaging, drug delivery and chemo-photothermal synergistic killing of breast cancer cells.

Under near-infrared (NIR) light, gold nanobipyramids (AuNBPs) exhibit a high photothermal conversion rate and photothermal stability, making them ideal mediators for photothermal therapy (PTT). In this study, highly purified AuNBPs are prepared, followed by coating their surfaces with mesoporous silica (mSiO2). The obtained AuNBP@mSiO2 nanocomplex exhibits an ellipsoidal shape with a relatively large specific surface, pore diameter and pore volume. To achieve MRI guided chemo-photothermal therapy of breast cancer cells, the nanocomplex is further coupled with the MRI contrast agent Gd-DTTA and the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin (DOX). The results indicated that under NIR light irradiation, AuNBPs exhibited promising PTT effects, while the cumulative release rate of DOX was significantly enhanced to 81.40%. Moreover, the chemo-photothermal therapy approach effectively eradicated 4T1 breast cancer cells. This work successfully confirms that chemo-photothermal synergistic therapy is an effective tumor treatment strategy and demonstrates the potential application of AuNBP@mSiO2 as a nano-drug delivery platform. Additionally, it introduces new ideas for the integrated study of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Activation persulfate for efficient tetrabromobisphenol A degradation via carbon-based materials: Synergistic mechanism of doped N and Fe.

In this study, a novel carbon-based material (Fe-N-PGWBC) utilizing the garden waste, melamine and FeSO4 as the precursor was successfully synthesized, efficiently activating peroxydisulfate (PDS) to degrade tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA). Under typical conditions (Fe-N-PGWBC dose of 100 mg·L-1, PDS of 0.2 mM and TBBPA of 10 mg·L-1), Fe-N-PGWBC/PDS system could achieve over 99% TBBPA removal (including adsorption and degradation) within 60 min, and the corresponding rate constant ks was 0.0724 min-1, which was almost 40.2 times higher than that of the pristine biochar. The extraction experiments implied that the excellent adsorption performance of Fe-N-PGWBC did not hinder the degradation of TBBPA. Abundant active sites (rich oxygen-containing functional groups, Fe-O and Fe3C) of Fe-N-PGWBC could effectively promote PDS decomposition to produce reactive oxygen species. The probe-based kinetic modelling methods verified that approximately 87.6% TBBPA was degraded by SO4·-, 12.2% TBBPA was degraded by 1O2, and 0.2% TBBPA was degraded by ·OH. Furthermore, based on the calculation of density functional theory and identification of products, TBBPA was mainly involved in three transformation pathways including hydroxylation, debromination and ß-scission process. The study proposed a facile resource approach of garden waste and provided deeper understanding for the TBBPA degradation mechanisms in heterogeneous system.

Room-Temperature Magnetism in 2D MnGa4 -H Induced by Hydrogen Insertion.

2D room-temperature magnetic materials are of great importance in future spintronic devices while only very few are reported. Herein, a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition approach is exploited to construct the 2D room-temperature magnetic MnGa4 -H single crystal with a thickness down to 2.2 nm. The employment of H2 plasma makes hydrogen atoms can be easily inserted into the MnGa4 lattice to modulate the atomic distance and charge state, thereby ferrimagnetism can be achieved without destroying the structural configuration. The as-obtained 2D MnGa4 -H crystal is high-quality, air-stable, and thermo-stable, demonstrating robust and stable room-temperature magnetism with a high Curie temperature above 620 K. This work enriches the 2D room-temperature magnetic family and opens up the possibility for the development of spintronic devices based on 2D magnetic alloys.