Identification and functional analysis of C-type lectin from mosquito Aedes albopictus in response to dengue virus infection.

BACKGROUND: C-type lectins (CTLs) are a large family of proteins with sugar-binding activity. CTLs contain an evolutionarily conserved C-type lectin domain (CTLD) that binds microbial carbohydrates in a calcium-dependent manner, thereby playing a key role in both microbial pathogenesis and innate immune responses. Aedes albopictus is an important vector for transmitting dengue virus (DENV) worldwide. Currently, the molecular characteristics and functions of CTLs in Ae. albopictus are largely unknown. METHODS: Transcripts encoding CTL proteins in the Ae. albopictus genome assembly were analyzed via sequence blast. Phylogenetic analysis and molecular characterization were performed to identify the functional domains of the CTLs. Quantitative analysis was performed to determine the gene expression features of CTLs during mosquito development and in different tissues of female adults after blood feeding. In addition, the functional role of CTLs in response to DENV infection was investigated in Ae. albopictus mosquito cells. RESULTS: We identified 39 transcripts encoding CTL proteins in the Ae. albopictus transcriptome. Aedes albopictus CTLs are classified into three groups based on the number of CTLDs and the domain architecture. These included 29 CTL-Ss (single-CTLDs), 1 immulectins (dual-CTLD) and 9 CTL-Xs (CTLDs with other domains). Phylogenetic analysis and structural modeling indicated that CTLs in Ae. albopictus are highly conserved with the homologous CTLs in Aedes aegypti. The expression profile assay revealed differential expression patterns of CTLs in both developmental stages and in adult female tissues. Knockdown and overexpression of three CTLs (CTL-S12, S17 and S19) confirmed that they can promote dengue virus infection in Ae. albopictus cells. CONCLUSIONS: The CTL genes in Ae. albopictus mosquito and other mosquito species are evolutionarily conserved and exhibit different developmental and tissue expression features. The functional assay indicated that three CTLs in Ae. albopictus mosquitoes are involved in promoting dengue virus infection. Our study revealed that CTLs play important roles in both the physiological processes and viral infection in mosquito vectors.

Single-Pixel Imaging Based on Deep Learning Enhanced Singular Value Decomposition.

We propose and demonstrate a single-pixel imaging method based on deep learning network enhanced singular value decomposition. The theoretical framework and the experimental implementation are elaborated and compared with the conventional methods based on Hadamard patterns or deep convolutional autoencoder network. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed approach is capable of reconstructing images with better quality especially under a low sampling ratio down to 3.12%, or with fewer measurements or shorter acquisition time if the image quality is given. We further demonstrate that it has better anti-noise performance by introducing noises in the SPI systems, and we show that it has better generalizability by applying the systems to targets outside the training dataset. We expect that the developed method will find potential applications based on single-pixel imaging beyond the visible regime.

Third-order exceptional line in a nitrogen-vacancy spin system.

Exceptional points (EPs) are singularities in non-Hermitian systems, where k (k ≥ 2) eigenvalues and eigenstates coalesce. High-order EPs exhibit richer topological characteristics and better sensing performance than second-order EPs. Theory predicts even richer non-Hermitian topological phases for high-order EP geometries, such as lines or rings formed entirely by high-order EPs. However, experimental exploration of high-order EP geometries has hitherto proved difficult due to the demand for more degrees of freedom in the Hamiltonian's parameter space or a higher level of symmetries. Here we observe a third-order exceptional line in an atomic-scale system. To this end, we use a nitrogen-vacancy spin in diamond and introduce multiple symmetries in the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian realized with the system. Furthermore, we show that the symmetries play an essential role in the occurrence of high-order EP geometries. Our approach can in future be further applied to explore high-order EP-related topological physics at the atomic scale and, potentially, for applications of high-order EPs in quantum technologies.

A Portable Integrated Electrochemical Sensing System for On-Site Nitrite Detection in Food.

Ensuring an appropriate nitrite level in food is essential to keep the body healthy. However, it still remains a huge challenge to offer a portable and low-cost on-site food nitrite analysis without any expensive equipment. Herein, a portable integrated electrochemical sensing system (IESS) is developed to achieve rapid on-site nitrite detection in food, which is composed of a low-cost disposable microfluidic electrochemical patch for few-shot nitrite detection, and a reusable smartphone-assisted electronic device based on self-designed circuit board for signal processing and wireless transmission. The electrochemical patch based on MXene-Ti3C2Tx/multiwalled carbon nanotubes-cyanocobalamin (MXene/MWCNTs-VB12)-modified working electrode achieves high sensitivity of 10.533 µA mm-1 and low nitrite detection limit of 4.22 µm owing to strong electron transfer ability of hybrid MXene/MWCNTs conductive matrix and high nitrite selectivity of VB12 bionic enzyme-based ion-selective layer. Moreover, the portable IESS can rapidly collect pending testing samples through a microfluidic electrochemical patch within 1.0 s to conduct immediate nitrite analysis, and then wirelessly transmit data from a signal-processing electronic device to a smartphone via Bluetooth module. Consequently, this proposed portable IESS demonstrates rapid on-site nitrite analysis and wireless data transmission within one palm-sized electronic device, which would pave a new avenue in food safety and personal bespoke therapy.

Experimental Test of the Jarzynski Equality in a Single Spin-1 System Using High-Fidelity Single-Shot Readouts.

The Jarzynski equality (JE), which connects the equilibrium free energy with nonequilibrium work statistics, plays a crucial role in quantum thermodynamics. Although practical quantum systems are usually multilevel systems, most tests of the JE were executed in two-level systems. A rigorous test of the JE by directly measuring the work distribution of a physical process in a high-dimensional quantum system remains elusive. Here, we report an experimental test of the JE in a single spin-1 system. We realized nondemolition projective measurement of this three-level system via cascading high-fidelity single-shot readouts and directly measured the work distribution utilizing the two-point measurement protocol. The validity of the JE was verified from the nonadiabatic to adiabatic zone and under different effective temperatures. Our work puts the JE on a solid experimental foundation and makes the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center system a mature toolbox to perform advanced experiments of stochastic quantum thermodynamics.

Relationship between uric acid to albumin ratio and in-stent restenosis in patients with coronary artery disease undergoing drug-eluting stenting.

BACKGROUND: In-stent restenosis (ISR) in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to treat coronary artery disease (CAD) is an urgent issue in clinical practice. Recent studies have highlighted uric acid-albumin ratio (UAR) as a new marker for evaluating inflammation and oxidative stress, capable of predicting cardiovascular ailments. We aimed to examine the correlation between UAR levels and ISR in patients who underwent drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation. METHODS: We included 503 patients with CAD who underwent initial DES implantation and angiography during the follow-up period. Based on coronary angiographic findings, the patients were categorized into ISR (n = 73) and non-ISR groups (n = 430). Before angiography, laboratory parameters were measured for all enrolled patients. To ascertain the influential factors linked to ISR, multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed. The predictive capability of UAR in determining ISR was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Statistical significance was set at P  < 0.05. RESULTS: Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that diabetes mellitus, stent length, UAR, albumin levels, and C-reactive protein levels independently predicted ISR. ROC curve analysis revealed that UAR had an area under the curve of 0.767 (95% CI: 0.709 - 0.826) for predicting ISR and demonstrated that UAR outperformed the individual predictive abilities of uric acid and albumin for ISR. CONCLUSION: UAR was associated with ISR in patients with CAD undergoing PCI with DES implantation. Moreover, ROC curve analysis demonstrated that UAR exhibited superior predictive accuracy for ISR compared with evaluating uric acid and albumin levels separately.

Serum fibrinogen-to-albumin ratio predicts new-onset atrial fibrillation risk during hospitalization in patients with acute myocardial infarction after percutaneous coronary intervention: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: New-onset atrial fibrillation (NOAF) is a common adverse outcome of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and is closely correlated with hospital stay and prognosis. In recent years, serum fibrinogen-to-albumin ratio (FAR), a novel biomarker for inflammation and thrombosis, has been used to predict the severity and prognosis of coronary artery disease. Our study aimed to investigate the relationship between FAR and NOAF during hospitalization after PCI in patients with AMI. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the incidence of NOAF during hospitalization and follow-up in 670 patients with AMI after PCI. Data were collected on patient age, sex, body mass index, medical history, current medication, heart failure, laboratory tests, culprit blood vessels, echocardiographic characteristics, and AMI type. The enrolled patients were divided into NOAF and non-NOAF groups. The baseline characteristics of patients in the two groups were compared, and the predictive correlation between FAR and NOAF was evaluated using logistic regression analysis and the receiver operating characteristic curve. RESULTS: Fifty-three (7.9%) patients developed NOAF during hospitalization. The occurrence of NOAF was found to be independently associated with higher FAR besides older age, higher neutrophil count, greater left atrial size, worse Killip class upon admission, lower body mass index, lower platelet count, lower left ventricle ejection fraction, and target left circumflex artery disease. FAR exhibited a better predictive value for the occurrence of NOAF during hospitalization (area under the curve, 0.732; 95% confidence interval, 0.659-0.808). CONCLUSIONS: FAR is a robust tool for predicting NOAF risk during hospitalization in patients with AMI after PCI and has a better predictive value than serum fibrin and serum albumin levels alone.

High-efficiency terahertz single-pixel imaging based on a physics-enhanced network.

As an alternative solution to the lack of cost-effective multipixel terahertz cameras, terahertz single-pixel imaging that is free from pixel-by-pixel mechanical scanning has been attracting increasing attention. Such a technique relies on illuminating the object with a series of spatial light patterns and recording with a single-pixel detector for each one of them. This leads to a trade-off between the acquisition time and the image quality, hindering practical applications. Here, we tackle this challenge and demonstrate high-efficiency terahertz single-pixel imaging based on physically enhanced deep learning networks for both pattern generation and image reconstruction. Simulation and experimental results show that this strategy is much more efficient than the classical terahertz single-pixel imaging methods based on Hadamard or Fourier patterns, and can reconstruct high-quality terahertz images with a significantly reduced number of measurements, corresponding to an ultra-low sampling ratio down to 1.56%. The efficiency, robustness and generalization of the developed approach are also experimentally validated using different types of objects and different image resolutions, and clear image reconstruction with a low sampling ratio of 3.12% is demonstrated. The developed method speeds up the terahertz single-pixel imaging while reserving high image quality, and advances its real-time applications in security, industry, and scientific research.

Molecular and expression characterization of insulin-like signaling in development and metabolism of Aedes albopictus.

BACKGROUND: Insulin-like signaling (IS) in insects is a conserved pathway that regulates development, reproduction and longevity. Insulin-like peptides (ILPs) activate the IS pathway by binding to the insulin receptor (InR) and trigger the ERK and AKT cascades. A varying number of ILPs were identified in Aedes aegypti mosquito and other insects. Aedes albopictus is an invasive mosquito which transmits dengue and Zika viruses worldwide. Until now, the molecular and expression characteristics of IS pathway in Ae. albopictus have not been investigated. METHODS: The orthologues of ILP in Ae. albopictus genome assembly was analyzed by using sequence blast. Phylogenetic analysis and molecular characterization were performed to identify the functional domains of ILPs. Quantitative analysis was performed to determine the expression characteristics of ILPs, InR as well as ERK and AKT in mosquito development and different tissues of female adults after blood-feeding. In addition, the knockdown of InR was achieved by feeding larvae with Escherichia coli-producing dsRNA to investigate the impact of IS pathway on mosquito development. RESULTS: We identified seven putative ILP genes in Ae. albopictus genome assembly, based on nucleotide similarity to the ILPs of Ae. aegypti and other insects. Bioinformatics and molecular analyses suggested that the ILPs contain the structural motif which is conserved in the insulin superfamily. Expression levels of ILPs, InR as well as ERK and AKT varied in Ae. albopictus development stages and between male and female adults. Quantitative analyses revealed that expression of ILP6, the putative orthologue of the insulin growth factor peptides, was highest in the midgut of female adults after blood-feeding. Knockdown of Ae. albopictus InR induces a significant decrease in the phosphorylation levels of ERK and AKT proteins and results in developmental delays and smaller body sizes. CONCLUSIONS: The IS pathway of Ae. albopictus mosquito contains ILP1-7, InR and ERK/AKT cascades, which exhibited different developmental and tissue expression characteristics. Feeding Ae. albopictus larvae with E. coli-producing InR dsRNA blocks the ERK and AKT cascades and interferes with the development of mosquito. Our data suggest that IS pathway plays an important role in the metabolism and developmental process and could represent a potential target for controlling mosquito-borne diseases.

Hydrochemical characteristics and quality assessment of groundwater in Guangxi coastal areas, China.

Groundwater is a main source of water supply in Guangxi Province, China. The urbanization expansion and ocean dynamic may change the groundwater quality, which is an important issue due to its effects on human health. In this paper, the influence of seawater intrusion and anthropogenic activity on the Guangxi coastal aquatic environment was assessed by geochemical and multivariate statistical methods. The result indicated that the chemical composition of groundwater in the study area is obviously associated with seawater and the main groundwater types were Ca·Na-Cl, Ca·Na-HCO3, and Ca-HCO3·Cl. The groundwater evolution path from land to sea in Guangxi is Ca-HCO3 â†’ Na·Mg-Cl. The origin of salts in the study area is mainly controlled by mineral weathering, the hydrogen and oxygen isotopes contents point to the aqueous source of atmospheric precipitation. According to the results of PCA, seawater intrusion and pollution caused by human activities play an increasingly important role in the evolution of groundwater characteristics. Seawater intrusion is the main factor for the increase of groundwater salinity in Guangxi, while domestic sewage, industrial waste, fertilizers, and pesticides may contribute to the nitrate pollution of groundwater, especially in Beihai. The degree of groundwater nitrate pollution is as follows: Fangchenggang < Qinzhou < Beihai, which is associated with the degree of urbanization in the coastal area. Finally, the results of the water quality index (WQI) assessment show that 82.8 % of the samples were classified as excellent, while there is still a need to be vigilant about groundwater pollution caused by seawater intrusion and groundwater pollution. The results will be valuable for sustainable groundwater resource management in Guangxi coastal zone.

AIEgens/Mitochondria Nanohybrids as Bioactive Microwave Sensitizers for Non-Thermal Microwave Cancer Therapy.

Aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) are widely used as photosensitizers for image-guided photodynamic therapy (PDT). Due to the limited penetration depth of light in biological tissues, the treatments of deep-seated tumors by visible-light-sensitized aggregation-induced emission (AIE) photosensitizers are severely hampered. Microwave dynamic therapy attracts much attention because microwave irradiation can penetrate very deep tissues and sensitize the photosensitizers to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this work, a mitochondrial-targeting AIEgen (DCPy) is integrated with living mitochondria to form a bioactive AIE nanohybrid. This nanohybrid can not only generate ROS under microwave irradiation to induce apoptosis of deep-seated cancer cells but also reprogram the metabolism pathway of cancer cells through retrieving oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) instead of glycolysis to enhance the efficiency of microwave dynamic therapy. This work demonstrates an effective strategy to integrate synthetic AIEgens and natural living organelles, which would inspire more researchers to develop advanced bioactive nanohybrids for cancer synergistic therapy.

Electrothermal sterilization and self-powered real-time respiratory monitoring of reusable mask based on Ag micro-mesh films.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreaks, the utilization of medical masks plays a critical role in reducing the infected risk. However, constructing multifunctional masks to achieve simultaneously self-sterilization, reusability, and respiratory monitoring capability remains still a huge challenge. Herein, a reusable Ag micro-mesh film-based mask is proposed, which enables the capabilities of electrothermal sterilization and self-powered real-time respiratory monitoring. Highly conductive Ag micro-mesh films prepared by continuous draw spinning method demonstrate excellent electrothermal performances for thermal sterilization and serve as working electrode to fabricate triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) for real-time respiratory monitoring, respectively. Under a low driving voltage of 3.0 V, the surface temperature of Ag micro-mesh film enables a quick increase to over 60 °C within 30 s, which endows thermal sterilization against S. aureus with antibacterial efficiency of 95.58 % within 20 min to achieve the self-sterilization of medical masks. Furthermore, a self-powered alarm system based on the fabricated TENG as respiratory monitor is developed for real-time respiratory monitoring to render a timely treatment for patients in danger of tachypnea and apnea. Consequently, this work has paved a new and practical avenue to achieve reusable multifunctional masks with capabilities of electrothermal sterilization and real-time respiratory monitoring in clinical medicine.

Experimental Investigation of Quantum Correlations in a Two-Qutrit Spin System.

We report an experimental investigation of quantum correlations in a two-qutrit spin system in a single nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond at room temperatures. Quantum entanglement between two qutrits was observed at room temperature, and the existence of nonclassical correlations beyond entanglement in the qutrit case has been revealed. Our work demonstrates the potential of the NV centers as the multiqutrit system to execute quantum information tasks and provides a powerful experimental platform for studying the fundamental physics of high-dimensional quantum systems in the future.

Identifying the characteristics and potential risk of seawater intrusion for southern China by the SBM-DEA model.

Seawater intrusion (SWI) seriously affects the economic development of coastal areas in southern China, and understanding its mechanisms is the basis for effective control of SWI. Hydrogeochemical methods and slack-based measurement data envelopment analysis (SBM-DEA) are used to study the characteristics and potential risk of SWI in coastal cities of southern China. Types and distribution of SWI, coastal groundwater evolution, geological-geographic and economic threatens of SWI, potential SWI risk, and environmental management recommendations are explored. The results show that the intrusion areas of Zhejiang and Guangdong account for 94.1 % of the total intrusion area of southern China, and the intrusion degree in Zhejiang is the highest, followed by Guangdong and Fujian. SWI is prone to occur on the sandy and silty coasts of the plain area of southern China; it accelerates the groundwater evolution speed and shortens the evolution path. SBM-DEA can be well applied to evaluate the potential risk of SWI events, and the results indicate a noticeable difference in the environmental performance level of coastal cities in southern China. The low environmental performance level (<0.3) and severe SWI of Taizhou and Zhanjiang indicate that SWI gradually worsens with economic development. In contrast, the high environmental performance level (>0.7) and low SWI of Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Shantou, and Beihai indicate that the potential risk of SWI is gradually decreasing. Moreover, this study confirms that the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) phenomenon exists in SWI events for southern China, and SWI-EKC indicates that the urban development of south China is approaching maturity. The specific case of SWI and EPL in coastal cities of south China jointly indicates that optimizing industrial structure, implementing a resources management policy, and improving citizens' environmental awareness are fundamental measures to resolve the contradiction between economic development and environmental problems.

Biocompatible BSA-Ag2S nanoparticles for photothermal therapy of cancer.

Photothermal therapy (PTT) induced by near-infrared (NIR) laser has attracted much attention for the innovation of tumor therapy, in which the photothermal agent with good biocompatibility and high efficiency is the prerequisite. Herein, the biocompatible bovine serum albumin (BSA) coated Ag2S nanoparticles (NPs) as photothermal agent were synthesized directly at mild temperature for PTT of cancer. The high photothermal conversion efficiency of the obtained Ag2S NPs with strong NIR absorption is about 18.89%, which make them ideal materials for photothermal agents. Furthermore, the Ag2S NPs can induce effective apoptosis of tumor cells exposed to an NIR laser (808 nm), realizing an effective PTT with excellent killing effect of tumor cells. This work provides a simple reproducible method to fabricate the water-soluble and biocompatible Ag2S NPs, which would provide new insights of designing new functional NPs for the PTT therapy of tumor.

Photothermal-enhanced peroxidase-like activity of CDs/PBNPs for the detection of Fe3+ and cholesterol in serum samples.

Carbon dots/Prussian blue nanoparticles (CDs/PBNPs) with fluorescence (FL) performance and peroxidase-like activity are synthesized by a simple two-step method. The FL of CDs/PBNPs can be effectively quenched by Fe3+. Fe3+ can accelerate the peroxidase-like activity of CDs/PBNPs. More excitingly, the peroxidase-like activity of CDs/PBNPs could be further enhanced due to the influence of the photothermal effect. Based on the FL property and enhanced peroxidase-like activity, a cascade strategy is proposed for detection of Fe3+ and free cholesterol. CD/PBNPs act as FL probe for detection of Fe3+. The enhanced peroxidase-like activity of CDs/PBNPs can also be used as colorimetric probe for the detection of free cholesterol. The detection ranges of Fe3+ and free cholesterol are 4-128 µM and 2-39 µM, and the corresponding limit of detections are 2.0 µM and 1.63 µM, respectively. The proposed strategy has been verified by the feasibility determination of Fe3+ and free cholesterol, suggesting its potential in the prediction of disease.

Ultrathin and Ultrasensitive Direct X-ray Detector Based on Heterojunction Phototransistors.

Most contemporary X-ray detectors adopt device structures with non/low-gain energy conversion, such that a fairly thick X-ray photoconductor or scintillator is required to generate sufficient X-ray-induced charges, and thus numerous merits for thin devices, such as mechanical flexibility and high spatial resolution, have to be compromised. This dilemma is overcome by adopting a new high-gain device concept of a heterojunction X-ray phototransistor. In contrast to conventional detectors, X-ray phototransistors allow both electrical gating and photodoping for effective carrier-density modulation, leading to high photoconductive gain and low noise. As a result, ultrahigh sensitivities of over 105  µC Gyair -1  cm-2 with low detection limit are achieved by just using an ≈50 nm thin photoconductor. The employment of ultrathin photoconductors also endows the detectors with superior flexibility and high imaging resolution. This concept offers great promise in realizing well-balanced detection performance, mechanical flexibility, integration, and cost for next-generation X-ray detectors.

Dynamically Encircling an Exceptional Point in a Real Quantum System.

The exceptional point, known as the non-Hermitian degeneracy, has special topological structure, leading to various counterintuitive phenomena and novel applications, which are refreshing our cognition of quantum physics. One particularly intriguing behavior is the mode switch phenomenon induced by dynamically encircling an exceptional point in the parameter space. While these mode switches have been explored in classical systems, the experimental investigation in the quantum regime remains elusive due to the difficulty of constructing time-dependent non-Hermitian Hamiltonians in a real quantum system. Here we experimentally demonstrate dynamically encircling the exceptional point with a single nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond. The time-dependent non-Hermitian Hamiltonians are realized utilizing a dilation method. Both the asymmetric and symmetric mode switches have been observed. Our Letter reveals the topological structure of the exceptional point and paves the way to comprehensively explore the exotic properties of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians in the quantum regime.

Photo-driven self-powered biosensors for ultrasensitive microRNA detection based on metal-organic framework-controlled release behavior.

We developed a "signal-on" self-powered biosensing strategy by taking full advantage of both photoelectrochemical biofuel cells (PBFCs) and metal-organic framework (MOF)-controlled release behavior for ultrasensitive microRNA assay. PBFC-based self-powered sensors have the unique characteristics of non-requirement of external power sources, simple fabrication process, miniature size, good anti-interference ability and low cost. Furthermore, based on the target microRNA-induced release of the electron donor ascorbic acid and the high catalytic ability of the biocathode to catalyse the oxygen reduction reaction, photo-driven self-powered biosensors for ultrasensitive microRNA detection were successfully realized. The as-proposed signal-on biosensor not only provides a simple and effective strategy, but also possesses the merits of a wide dynamic concentration response range and high sensitivity for microRNA detection, with a limit of detection down to 0.16 fM.

Multifunctional NaYF4:Nd/NaDyF4 nanocrystals as a multimodal platform for NIR-II fluorescence and magnetic resonance imaging.

Recently, multimodal imaging nanoprobes based on the complementary advantages of various imaging methods have attracted considerable attention due to their potential application in the biomedical field. As important bioimaging nanoprobes, lanthanide-doped nanocrystals (NCs) would be expected to improve the related biophotonic technology through integrated multimodal bioimaging. Herein, water-soluble and biocompatible NaYF4:Nd/NaDyF4 NCs were prepared by a solvothermal method combined with hydrophobic interaction with phospholipids as a capping agent. The NaYF4:Nd/NaDyF4 NCs exhibit excellent colloidal stability under physiological conditions. Compared with the bare NaYF4:Nd3+ NCs, the second near-infrared (NIR-II, 1000-1700 nm) fluorescence intensities of Nd3+ ions in the NaYF4:Nd/NaDyF4 core-shell NCs at the emissions of 1058 nm and 1332 nm are enhanced by 3.46- and 1.75-fold, respectively. Moreover, the r 2 value of NaYF4:Nd/NaDyF4 NCs as T 2-weighted contrast agents is calculated to be 44.0 mM-1 s-1. As a novel multimodal imaging nanoprobe, the NaYF4:Nd/NaDyF4 NCs can be employed for both NIR-II fluorescence and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The phospholipid-modified NaYF4:Nd/NaDyF4 NCs demonstrate in vitro and in vivo multimodal NIR-II fluorescence imaging and MRI of HeLa cells and tumors, respectively. This study provides an effective strategy for the development of novel multimodal probes for the medical application of nanomaterials.