Cocrystal Engineering: Toward Solution-Processed Near-Infrared 2D Organic Cocrystals for Broadband Photodetection.

Large-area 2D cocrystals with strong near-infrared (NIR) absorption have been designed and prepared. Driven by the intermolecular charge-transfer (CT) interactions, zinc tetraphenylporphyrin (donor) and C60 (acceptor) self-assemble into a NIR cocrystal with absorption wavelength up to 1080 nm. By tailoring the growth solvents and processes, the cocrystal morphologies can be tuned from 1D nanowires, 2D nanosheets to large-area 2D cocrystal films with length reaching several millimeters. Owing to the highly ordered donor-acceptor arrangement, the CT absorption in the 2D cocrystals is enhanced and is comparable to singlet absorption. The uniform 2D cocrystals, with enhanced CT absorption in the NIR region, displays a high responsivity of 2424 mA W-1 to NIR light and a fast response time of 0.6 s. The excellent device performance is attributed to the generation of long-lived free charge carriers as revealed by transient absorption spectroscopy and optimization of device configuration.

Synthetic Routes for Heteroatom-Containing Alkylated/Arylated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons.

Synthetic routes for heteroatom-containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (H-PAHs) with alkyl and aryl substitution are demonstrated. Three H-PAHs, including heteroatom-containing rubicenes (H-rubicenes), angular-benzothiophenes (ABTs), and indenothiophene (IDTs) were successfully synthesized by two key steps, including polysubstituted olefin formation and cyclization. Specifically, ABT and H-rubicenes were comprehensively investigated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, NMR spectroscopy, UV-vis absorption, cyclic voltammetry, transient absorption, and single-crystal OFET measurements.

Clinical efficacy and safety of vitamin C in the treatment of septic shock patients: systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Vitamin C deficiency is common in sepsis patients and is related to disease severity. At present, sepsis still has a high incidence and fatality rate. In sepsis, the body may develop microcirculation disorders and even develop organ failure. Exogenous vitamin C supplementation may be one of the effective adjuvant treatment measures for sepsis, which can not only improve the microcirculation of the body, but also affect the prognosis of patients by participating in the synthesis of norepinephrine, improving peripheral vascular resistance and increasing perfusion pressure. The efficacy and safety of vitamin C adjuvant therapy for septic shock are inconsistent in many studies, so it is very important to systematically evaluate the adjuvant effect of intravenous vitamin C in the treatment of septic shock. METHODS: Literature search of PubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Wanfang, China Biology Medicine (CBM), and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) electronic databases for vitamin C data since August 2021 for the treatment of patients with sepsis and septic shock. After screening, data extraction and quality evaluation were performed according to inclusion criteria, and meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.3. RESULTS: The final 13 studies comprised 6 cohort studies and 7 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), with a total of 1,423 patients enrolled. Meta-analysis showed no significant effect of intravenous vitamin C on reducing in-hospital mortality rate [odds ratio (OR) =0.91, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.76-1.08, P=0.27], intensive care unit (ICU) mortality rate (OR =0.84, 95% CI: 0.69-1.01, P=0.07), ICU stay (OR =0.88, 95% CI: 0.72-1.08, P=0.23) or total stay (OR =0.91, 95% CI: 0.68-1.21, P=0.51) in sepsis patients, nor did it improve the 72-h sequential organ failure assessment (72-h SOFA) score (OR =0.95, 95% CI: 0.77-1.18, P=0.66). DISCUSSION: Intravenous vitamin C showed no efficacy in the treatment of sepsis.

Risk factors for delirium after surgery for craniocerebral injury in the neurosurgical intensive care unit.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative delirium is common in patients who undergo neurosurgery for craniocerebral injury. However, there is no specific medical test to predict postoperative delirium to date. AIM: To explore risk factors for postoperative delirium in patients with craniocerebral injury in the neurosurgery intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed in 120 patients with craniocerebral injury admitted to Hainan People's Hospital/Hainan Hospital Affiliated to Hainan Medical University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, and The Second Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University between January 2018 and January 2020. The patients were categorized into groups based on whether delirium occurred. Of them, 25 patients with delirium were included in the delirium group, and 95 patients without delirium were included in the observation group. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the association between sex, age, educational level, Glasgow coma scale (GCS), complications (with or without concussion, cerebral contusion, hypoxemia and ventricular compression) and site of injury and delirium. RESULTS: The GCS score above 8 and concomitant disease of cerebral concussion, cerebral contusion, hypoxemia and ventricular compression, and damage to the frontal lobe were associated with delirium in patients admitted to neurosurgical intensive care unit (ICU) (all P < 0.05). However, age, sex, administration more than three medicines, and educational level were not significantly associated with the onset of delirium in patients with craniocerebral injury in the neurosurgical ICU (P < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that GCS score above 8, cerebral concussion, cerebral contusion, hypoxemia, ventricle compression, and frontal lobe disorders were independent risk factors for delirium in patients with craniocerebral injury in the neurosurgical ICU (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: GCS score, concussive concussion, cerebral contusion, hypoxemia, ventricle compression, and damage to frontal lobe are risk factors of postoperative delirium.

Effect of traditional Chinese medicine on serum inflammation and efficacy in patients with sepsis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is a systemic infectious inflammatory response syndrome, which can release a large number of inflammatory mediators in serum, resulting in organ dysfunction. This study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the reports of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of sepsis in recent years, providing evidence for clinical diagnosis and treatment. METHODS: The databases of PubMed, Chinese Medical Literature (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Medline, and Web of Science were searched for clinical randomized controlled trials (RCTs) related to "Chinese traditional medicine" and "Sepsis" published from January 2015 to August 2021. After screening qualified articles, RevMan 5.4 software was used to evaluate the bias of included studies and perform meta-analysis. RESULTS: Finally, 8 articles were retrieved and screened, and a total of 862 patients entered the study. The results of meta-analysis showed that serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels were lower in sepsis patients after TCM treatment [mean difference (MD) =-20.70; 95% confidence interval (CI): -33.68 to -7.73; P=0.002]; tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels were lower (MD =-4.17; 95% CI: -5.98 to -2.37; P<0.00001); acute physiological assessment and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II scores were lower (MD =-2.92; 95% CI: -3.50 to -2.35; P<0.00001); mortality was lower [odds ratio (OR) =0.49; 95% CI: 0.33 to 0.74; P=0.0006]; and effective rate was higher (OR =3.43; 95% CI: 1.72 to 6.85; P=0.0005). DISCUSSION: On the basis of traditional western medicine treatment of sepsis, the addition of TCM treatment can effectively reduce the serum inflammatory response, improve the patient's immunity, and improve treatment efficacy.

Breaking Kasha's Rule as a Mechanism for Solution-Phase Room-Temperature Phosphorescence from High-Lying Triplet Excited State.

Organic room-temperature phosphorescence (ORTP) has been demonstrated successfully in solids. In contrast, solution-phase ORTP is rarely achieved, because the T1 → S0 phosphorescence is too slow to compete against nonradiative decay and the oxygen-quenching effect. Here, we reported that suppression of Kasha's rule is a strategy to achieve solution-phase ORTP from the high-lying T2 state by spatially separating T2 and T1 on different parts of the molecule (CzCbDBT) composed of carbonyl (Cb), dibenzothiophene (DBT), and carbazole moiety (Cz). On one hand, intersystem crossing (ISC) is much faster from S1 to T2 than that to T1, owing to the small energy-gap ΔES1-T2 and large spin-orbital coupling ξS1-T2. On the other hand, T2 → T1 internal conversion is inhibited owing to spatial separation, i.e., T2 on CbDBT and T1 on Cz, respectively. Also, combination of very fast radiative decay from T2 to S0 owing to large ξT2-S0, the efficient solution-phase ORTP emission from the T2 state was finally achieved.

Intracellular near-Infrared Microlaser Probes Based on Organic Microsphere-SiO2 Core-Shell Structures for Cell Tagging and Tracking.

Conventional near-infrared (NIR) luminescent probes, such as DsRed and Cy5, utilize spontaneous emission (SE) signals, which are broad (fwhm >50 nm) and often have low quantum yield. Herein, we developed smart NIR intracellular whispering-gallery mode (WGM) microlaser probes made by organic microspheres of (E)-3-(4-(diptolylamino)phenyl)-1-(1-hydroxynaphthalen-2-yl)prop-2-en-1-one (DPHP) coated with a silica shell. The overall small diameter ( D, adjustable between 2 and 10 µm) and the biocompatible silica shell ensure our core-shell microspheres (CSmSPs) to be engulfed in cells as a microlaser operating around 720 nm with a low threshold of 0.78 µJ/cm2. Considering that WGM mode spacing depending strongly on its size, it will be possible to distinguish millions of individual macrophages through well-defined WGM lasing peaks (fwhm ≤2 nm) of CSmSPs of different sizes. Furthermore, we monitored the transformation of normal macrophages to foamy ones by encoding them with our NIR CSmSPs microlaser probes, which deliver constant WGM lasing signals with a spectral fluctuation <0.02 nm and excellent stability.

Organic-Nanowire-SiO2 Core-Shell Microlasers with Highly Polarized and Narrow Emissions for Biological Imaging.

Development of luminescence probes with polarized and narrow emissions simultaneously is helpful for removing multiply scattered light and enables multiplexing detection, but it remains challenging to use conventional organic dyes, fluorescence proteins, and quantum dots. Here, we demonstrated smart one-dimensional microlaser probes (MLPs) by coating a thin layer of silica shell on the surface of organic nanowires (ONWs) of 1,4-dimethoxy-2,5-di[4'-(methylthio)styryl]benzene (TDSB), namely, ONW@SiO2 core-shell structures. Different from the Fabry-Pérot (FP) cavity formed between two end-faces of semiconductor nanowires, whispering gallery mode (WGM) microresonators are built within the rectangular cross section of ONW@SiO2 MLPs. This enables a lasing threshold as low as 1.54 µJ/cm2, above which lasing emissions are obtained with a full width at half-maximum (fwhm) < 5 nm and a degree of polarization (DOP) > 83%. Meanwhile, small dimensions of ONW@SiO2 MLPs with a side-length of ca. 500 nm and a length of 3-8 µm help to reduce their perturbations in living cells. With the help of mesoporous silica shells, which provide both high biocompatibility and good photostability, ONW@SiO2 MLPs can be easily introduced into the cell cytoplasm through natural endocytosis. Using their narrow and highly polarized lasing emissions in vitro, we demonstrate that it is possible to tag individual cells using ONW@SiO2 MLPs with high stability.