The conductivity of Nb2O5 enhanced by the triple effect of fluorine doping, oxygen vacancy, and carbon modification for improving the lithium storage performance.

In view of the inherent pseudocapacitance, rich redox pairs (Nb5+/Nb4+ and Nb4+/Nb3+), and high lithiation potential (1.0-3.0 V vs Li/Li+), Nb2O5 is considered a promising anode material. However, the inherent low electronic conductivity of Nb2O5 limits its lithium storage performance, and the rate performance after carbon modification is still unsatisfactory because the intrinsic conductivity of Nb2O5 has not been substantially improved. In this experiment, taking the improvement of the intrinsic electrical conductivity of Nb2O5 as the guiding ideology, we prepared F-doped Nb2O5@fluorocarbon composites (F-Nb2O5@FC) with a large number of oxygen vacancies by one-step annealing. As the anode electrode of lithium-ion batteries, the reversible specific capacity of F-Nb2O5@FC reaches 150 mA g-1 at 5 A g-1 after 1100 cycles, and the rate performance is particularly outstanding, with a capacity up to 130 mA g-1 at 16 A g-1, which is far superior to other Nb2O5@carbon-based anode electrodes. Compared with other single conductivity sources of Nb2O5@carbon-based composites, the electrical conductivity of F-Nb2O5@FC composites is greatly improved in many aspects, including the introduction of free electrons by F- doping, the generation of oxygen vacancies, and the provision of a three-dimensional conductive network by FC. Through analytical chemistry (work function, UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and EIS) and theoretical calculations, it is proved that F-Nb2O5@FC has high electrical conductivity and realizes rapid electron transfer.

A Near-infrared Persistent Luminescence Imaging Technique for Tracking Nanoparticles in Zebrafish (Danio rerio).

The development of nanotechnology has drawn increased attention to the risks of nanoparticles (NPs). In this work, the near-infrared persistent luminescence imaging technique was used to track the biodistribution of NPs in vivo in zebrafish. Zebrafish were used as a vertebrate animal model to show NPs distribution and the effects of exposure. ZnGa2O4:Cr (ZGOC) was chosen as the probe in this work. In continuous exposure experiments, the results showed more particles accumulated in the intestines than in the gills in both groups. In both the gills and abdomen, the NPs contents were greater in the ZGOC-NH2-treated groups than in the ZGOC groups, and the NPs caused damage to the gills and intestines. Removal exposure experiments indicated that ZGOC and ZGOC-NH2 could be excreted from the body. The metabolism, excretion of NPs, the quantification and monitoring of NPs behavior in biological systems should be examined in further studies.

Adaptation of the FK506 binding protein 1B to hibernation in bats.

Hibernation is an adaptive strategy used by some animals to cope with cold and food shortage. The heart rate, overall energy need, body temperature, and many other physiological functions are greatly reduced during torpor but promptly return to normal levels upon arousal. The heartbeat of torpid bats can be hundreds fold lower than that of active bats, indicating that hibernating bats have a remarkable ability to control excitation-contraction coupling in cardiac muscle. FKBP1B (calstabin 2), a peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase, is critical for the regulation of excitation-contraction coupling. Whether FKBP1B is adapted to hibernation in bats is not known. Evolutionary analyses showed that the ω values of the Fkbp1b genes of 25 mammalian species are all less than 1, and amino acid sequence alignments revealed that FKBP1B proteins are highly conserved in mammals. The expression of the Fkbp1b gene was found to be elevated at both mRNA and protein levels in two distantly related bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum in Yinpterochiroptera and Myotis ricketti in Yangochiroptera) during torpor. Transcription factors such as YY1 and SPs were bioinformatically determined to have a higher binding affinity to the potential regulatory regions of Fkbp1b genes in hibernating than in non-hibernating mammals. This study provides new insights into the molecular evolution of Fkbp1b in adaptation to bat hibernation.

SETDB1 regulates short interspersed nuclear elements and chromatin loop organization in mouse neural precursor cells.

BACKGROUND: Transposable elements play a critical role in maintaining genome architecture during neurodevelopment. Short Interspersed Nuclear Elements (SINEs), a major subtype of transposable elements, are known to harbor binding sites for the CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) and pivotal in orchestrating chromatin organization. However, the regulatory mechanisms controlling the activity of SINEs in the developing brain remains elusive. RESULTS: In our study, we conduct a comprehensive genome-wide epigenetic analysis in mouse neural precursor cells using ATAC-seq, ChIP-seq, whole genome bisulfite sequencing, in situ Hi-C, and RNA-seq. Our findings reveal that the SET domain bifurcated histone lysine methyltransferase 1 (SETDB1)-mediated H3K9me3, in conjunction with DNA methylation, restricts chromatin accessibility on a selective subset of SINEs in neural precursor cells. Mechanistically, loss of Setdb1 increases CTCF access to these SINE elements and contributes to chromatin loop reorganization. Moreover, de novo loop formation contributes to differential gene expression, including the dysregulation of genes enriched in mitotic pathways. This leads to the disruptions of cell proliferation in the embryonic brain after genetic ablation of Setdb1 both in vitro and in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, our study sheds light on the epigenetic regulation of SINEs in mouse neural precursor cells, suggesting their role in maintaining chromatin organization and cell proliferation during neurodevelopment.

Histone Methyltransferase SETDB1 Regulates the Development of Cortical Htr3a-Positive Interneurons and Mood Behaviors.

BACKGROUND: GABAergic (gamma-aminobutyric acidergic) interneurons (INs) are highly heterogeneous, and Htr3a labels a subpopulation of cortical INs originating from the embryonic caudal ganglionic eminence. SETDB1 is one of the histone H3K9 methyltransferases and plays an essential role in the excitatory neurons, but its role in regulating cortical inhibitory INs remains largely unknown. METHODS: In this study, we generated transgenic mice with conditional knockout of Setdb1 in neural progenitor cells (Setdb1-NS-cKO) and GABAergic neurons (Setdb1-Gad2-cKO). In addition, we performed RNA sequencing, ATAC-seq (assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with sequencing), chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing, luciferase assay, chromatin conformation capture, and CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)/dCas9 to study the epigenetic mechanism underlying SETDB1-mediated transcriptional regulation of Htr3a. We also performed in situ hybridization and whole-cell recording to evaluate the functional properties of cortical Htr3a+ INs and behavioral tests for mood. RESULTS: We detected significant upregulation of Htr3a expression in the embryonic ganglionic eminence of Setdb1-NS-cKO and identified the endogenous retroviral sequence RMER21B as a new target of SETDB1. RMER21B showed enhancer activity and formed distal chromatin interaction with the promoter of Htr3a. In addition, we observed an increased number and enhanced excitability of Htr3a+ INs in the knockout cortex. Moreover, Setdb1-Gad2-cKO mice exhibited anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors, which were partially reversed by a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that SETDB1 represses Htr3a transcription via RMER21B-mediated distal chromatin interaction in the embryonic ganglionic eminence and regulates the development of cortical Htr3a+ INs and mood behaviors.

Silver nanoparticle and Ag+-induced shifts of microbial communities in natural brackish waters: Are they more pronounced under oxic conditions than anoxic conditions?

With the burst of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) applications, their potential entry into the environment has attracted increasing concern. To date, researches about the impacts of AgNPs on microbial communities have been scarcely conducted in the brackish waters. Here, the effects of interactions of AgNPs and Ag+ (as a positive control) with dissolved oxygen on natural brackish water microbial communities were investigated for 30 d. The introduction of AgNPs and Ag+ in natural brackish waters resulted in distinct bacterial community composition and structure as well as reduction of the richness and diversity, effects that were not eliminated completely during the tested periods. Anoxic conditions could attenuate the effects of AgNPs and Ag+ on the community, and dissolved oxygen made more contributions to community compositions for short-term exposure. High doses of AgNPs had more pronounced long-term impacts than Ag+ amendment. Compared with the controls, two general AgNP and Ag+ responses, namely, sensitivity and resistance, were observed. Sensitive species mainly included those of the genera Synechococcus and unclassified_f_Rhodobacteraceae, while resistant species mostly belonged to the phylum Bacteroidetes and participated in carbon metabolic processes. Our results indicated that the microbial communities that were involved in nutrient cycles (such as carbon, nitrogen, and sulfide) and photoautotrophic bacteria that contained bacteriochlorophyll were adversely affected by AgNPs and Ag+. In addition, dissolved oxygen could further change the microbial communities. These results implied that under different oxygen conditions AgNPs possibly resulted in varying microbial survival strategies and affected the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients in natural brackish waters.

Tin-Doped Near-Infrared Persistent Luminescence Nanoparticles with Considerable Improvement of Biological Window Activation for Deep Tumor Photodynamic Therapy.

The photodynamic therapy (PDT) as a promising antitumor therapy technique is greatly hampered by the low tissue penetration of light and the photothermal effect of prolonged irradiation. Near-infrared (NIR) persistent luminescence nanoparticles (NPLNPs) possess the potential for application in next-generation PDT. However, owing to the low re-excitation efficiency of NPLNPs in deep tissue, the current PDT nanoplatform based on NPLNPs is faced with the disadvantage of decreased PDT efficiency induced by persistent luminescence (PersL) decay at the lesion site. Herein, NPLNPs, Zn1.3Ga1.4Sn0.3O4:Cr3+ (ZGS), with small particle sizes and excellent optical properties are synthesized via a simple acetylacetonate combustion method. The ZGS can be repeatedly excited by the biological window (659 nm) light to produce a strong NIR (700 nm) PersL. The response efficiency of ZGS to the wavelength in the biological window has been greatly improved by doping Sn4+ into the ZnGa2O4 matrix, which is 55 times higher than that of traditional ZnGa2O4:Cr3+. We further develop a PDT nanoplatform by modifying a photosensitizer on its surface. The PDT experiments show that the developed nanoplatform can achieve continuous and efficient tumor PDT with a depth of up to 3 cm by repeated excitation using a 659 nm LED. The NPLNPs largely solve the problem of the low re-excitation efficiency after NIR PersL decay of traditional NPLNPs in deep tissue applications and will further promote the application of NIR PLNPs in the biomedical field.

X-ray recharged long afterglow luminescent nanoparticles MgGeO3:Mn2+,Yb3+,Li+ in the first and second biological windows for long-term bioimaging.

In this paper, we have designed long afterglow luminescent MgGeO3:Mn2+,Yb3+,Li+ (MGO) nanoparticles in the first (NIR-I) and second (NIR-II) biological windows. Yb3+ ions served not only as the trap center to enhance the NIR-I long afterglow emission of Mn2+ at 680 nm, but also as an emitting center to produce a NIR-II long afterglow emission at ∼1000 nm. Furthermore, we have found the addition of Li+ can greatly increase the NIR-II afterglow emission of Yb3+ and the optimal amount of Mn2+, Yb3+ and Li+ was found to be 0.1, 0.5 and 0.5 mol%, respectively. The MGO nanoparticles synthesized using sol-gel methods showed a uniform morphology with a diameter of 50-100 nm, which were suitable for applications in bioimaging. More importantly, we have found MGO nanoparticles can be effectively excited to produce long persistent NIR-I and II luminescence using soft X-rays, suggesting that low dosage soft X-rays can also serve as a more powerful and deep tissue excitation source to recharge MGO nanoparticles. Furthermore, the MGO nanoparticles can also be re-excited to produce photo-stimulated emission under the irradiation of 650 and 808 nm NIR lasers. The in vivo imaging results have shown that MGO nanoparticles modified with folic acid (FA) can effectively realize super long-term targeted in vivo imaging of inflammation with a high sensitivity via recharging using soft X-rays and NIR lasers, which can provide not only an accurate diagnosis of inflammation, but also long-term monitoring of possible changes in the focus of inflammation in real time.

A new near-infrared persistent luminescence nanoparticle as a multifunctional nanoplatform for multimodal imaging and cancer therapy.

Multifunctional nanoplatforms with multimodal imaging and cancer therapy capabilities have attracted attention in biomedical applications. Near-infrared persistent luminescence nanoparticles (NPLNPs) were considered one of the most promising candidates for constructing multifunctional nanoplatforms due to the absence of in situ excitation and high signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Here, we report a novel NPLNP mSiO2@Gd3Ga5O12:Cr3+, Nd3+ (mSiO2@GGO) as multifunctional nanoplatforms for multimodal imaging and cancer therapy. These NPs exhibited a persistent luminescence (745 nm) of more than 3 h in the first near-infrared window (NIR-I) after UV excitation, which can realize high SNRs and long-term in vivo imaging. Moreover, these NPs showed excellent NIR luminescence (1067 nm) in the second near-infrared window (NIR-II) under 808 nm excitation, which is more suitable for deep tissue imaging due to the lower photon scattering and deeper tissue penetration of NIR-II luminescence. Furthermore, the host Gd3Ga5O12 with high Gd3+ concentration showed a high r1 value (10.70 mM-1 s-1) and was suitable for T1 MR imaging. The mesoporous silica nanoparticles (mSiO2) served as a framework to control the mSiO2@GGO particle morphology and provide low toxicity and drug loading capacity for cancer therapy.

[Comparison study of infantile tuina between LI Dexiu and LIU Kaiyun].

With esoterica of Infantile Tuina by LI Dexiu and Infantile Tuina Therapy of LIU Kaiyun, the differences and similarities of manipulations, acupoints and the principles of treatment were studied so as to provide theoretical evidence to popularize tuina of LI Dexiu and LIU Kaiyun.