Combining Multiple Photosensitizer Modules into One Supramolecular System for Synergetic Enhanced Photodynamic Therapy.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT), as an emerging cancer treatment, requires the development of highly desirable photosensitizers (PSs) with integrated functional groups to achieve enhanced therapeutic efficacy. Coordination-driven self-assembly (CDSA) would provide an alternative approach for combining multiple PSs synergistically. Here, we demonstrate a simple yet powerful strategy of combining conventional chromophores (tetraphenylethylene, porphyrin, or Zn-porphyrin) with pyridinium salt PSs together through condensation reactions, followed by CDSA to construct a series of novel metallo-supramolecular PSs (S1-S3). The generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is dramatically enhanced by the direct combination of two different PSs, and further reinforced in the subsequent ensembles. Among all the ensembles, S2 with two porphyrin cores shows the highest ROS generation efficiency, specific interactions with lysosome, and strong emission for probing cells. Moreover, the cellular and living experiments confirm that S2 has excellent PDT efficacy, biocompatibility, and biosafety. As such, this study will enable the development of more efficient PSs with potential clinical applications.

To Love and to Kill: Accurate and Selective Colorimetry for Both Chloride and Mercury Ions Regulated by Electro-Synthesized Oxidase-like SnTe Nanobelts.

Herein, SnTe nanobelts (NBs) with efficient oxidase-mimetic activity were synthesized by the simple electrochemical exfoliation method. A specific inhibition effect of Cl- on the enzymatic behavior of the pure SnTe NBs was discovered, which was accordingly used for establishing a highly feasible, sensitive, selective, and stable Cl- colorimetric assay. The detection concentration range was 50 nM to 1 mM, and the lowest detection limit was 20 nM for Cl-. In addition, a signal on-off-on route based on the SnTe NB nanozyme was designed to realize the reliable and specific detection of Hg2+. Therein, the SnTe NBs were grafted with gold nanoparticles to form a hybrid of SnTe/Au, resulting in the depression of the oxidase-like activity, which can then be recovered in the presence of the Hg2+ due to the formation of a gold amalgam. Especially, it was found that the high concentration of Cl- over 3 mM could again exert suppression influence toward the enzymatic activity of the SnTe/Au-Hg system. Based on the to-love-and-to-kill interaction between Cl- and Hg2+, the detection range for Cl- can be extended to 40 to 250 mM. In return, the assays of Cl- could avoid in advance its interference toward the accurate Hg2+ assays. We systematically clarified the oxidase-like catalytic mechanism of the SnTe-derived nanozyme systems. The as-proposed colorimetry can be successfully applied in practical samples including the sweat, human serum, or seawater/tap water, relating to cystic fibrosis, hyper-/hypochloremia, or environmental control, respectively.

Near-Infrared Regulated Nanozymatic/Photothermal/Photodynamic Triple-Therapy for Combating Multidrug-Resistant Bacterial Infections via Oxygen-Vacancy Molybdenum Trioxide Nanodots.

Bacterial infections have become a major danger to public health because of the appearance of the antibiotic resistance. The synergistic combination of multiple therapies should be more effective compared with the respective one alone, but has been rarely demonstrated in combating bacterial infections till now. Herein, oxygen-vacancy molybdenum trioxide nanodots (MoO3-x NDs) are proposed as an efficient and safe bacteriostatic. The MoO3-x NDs alone possess triple-therapy synergistic efficiency based on the single near-infrared irradiation (808 nm) regulated combination of photodynamic, photothermal, and peroxidase-like enzymatic activities. Therein, photodynamic and photothermal therapies can be both achieved under the excitation of a single wavelength light source (808 nm). Both the photodynamic and nanozyme activity can result in the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to reach the broad-spectrum sterilization. Interestingly, the photothermal effect can regulate the MoO3-x NDs to their optimum enzymatic temperature (50 °C) to give sufficient ROS generation in low concentration of H2 O2 (100 µm). The MoO3-x NDs show excellent antibacterial efficiency against drug-resistance extended spectrum ß-lactamases producing Escherichia coli and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Animal experiments further indicate that the MoO3-x NDs can effectively treat wounds infected with MRSA in living systems.

Determination of Mineral Elements in Nanyang Mugwort (Artemisia argyi) Leaves Harvested from Different Crops by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry and Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry.

Due to high need for medical purposes, multiple harvests of mugwort (Artemisia argyi) have been extensively applied in China for the increase of mugwort yield recently. However, the investigation on the mineral elements in different crops, which are significantly related to mugwort growth and the clinical efficacy of this medicinal herb, has not been conducted. This study provided an analytical method and quality evaluation for mineral elements in Nanyang mugwort leaves harvested from three different crops. The contents of 35 mineral elements were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). ANOVA, principal component analysis and factor analysis were applied to evaluate the results. Four principal components were identified and their comprehensive evaluation function was as follows: F = 0.7008Fl + 0.1236F2 + 0.0936F3 + 0.0321F4. The comprehensive scores of the mugwort leaves from different crops were ranked as follows: 3rd crop > 2nd crop ≈ 1st crop. These findings can provide a reference for the quality control and clinical use of mugwort leaves, and a guidance of differential nourishing strategies for different crops.

Event-triggered controller design for LTI systems: A distributed interval observer-based approach.

This paper investigates the distributed event-triggered control design problem for networked linear time-invariant (LTI) systems with partially measurable states, in the presence of bounded external disturbances. A distributed interval observer-based event-triggered control scheme has been proposed, the main features of this scheme lie in a) designing a novel distributed interval observer to deal with the unknown states and bound disturbances problem; b) proposing a distributed feedback control method using interval estimation information, the partially measurable limitation has been solved; c) introducing a decreased time-varying function with dead-zone modification to avoid the Zeno behavior. Moreover, sufficient conditions for the stability of closed-loop systems are given in the Lyapunov sense by using matrix inequalities and transmission strategy. Finally, the uniformly ultimately bounded stability and Zeno behavior avoidance of the proposed approach have been numerically demonstrated.

Application of a Cascaded Nanozyme in Infected Wound Recovery of Diabetic Mice.

The emergence of peroxidase (POD)-like nanozyme-derived catalytic therapy has provided a promising choice for reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated broad-spectrum antibacterials to replace antibiotics, but it still suffers from limitations of low therapeutic efficiency and unusual addition of unstable H2O2. Considering that the higher blood glucose in diabetic wounds provides much more numerous nutrients for bacterial growth, a cascade nanoenzymatic active material was developed by coating glucose oxidase (GOx) onto POD-like Fe2(MoO4)3 [Fe2(MoO4)3@GOx]. GOx could consume the nutrient of glucose to produce gluconic acid (weakly acidic) and H2O2, which could be subsequently converted into highly oxidative •OH via the catalysis of POD-like Fe2(MoO4)3. Accordingly, the synergistic effect of starvation and ROS-mediated therapy showed significantly efficient antibacterial effect while avoiding the external addition of H2O2 that affects the stability and efficacy of the therapy system. Compared with the bactericidal rates of 46.2-59.404% of GOx or Fe2(MoO4)3 alone on extended-spectrum ß-lactamases producing Escherichia coli and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, those of the Fe2(MoO4)3@GOx group are 98.396 and 98.776%, respectively. Animal experiments showed that the as-synthesized Fe2(MoO4)3@GOx could much efficiently promote the recovery of infected wounds in type 2 diabetic mice while showing low cytotoxicity in vivo.

IPR-based distributed interval observers design for uncertain LTI systems.

This paper designs a novel distributed interval observer for Linear Time Invariant (LTI) systems with additive disturbances. The technique of observer construction relies on the Internal Positive Representations (IPRs) of systems and synchronizing region approach, which ensures that the error system is stably and positive. Each observer estimates the upper and lower bounds (ULBs) of the system states by only using part of the output information and the information interaction with their neighbors. Numerical examples are simulated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

NIR-II Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogens for Tumor Phototheranostics.

As an emerging and powerful material, aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens), which could simultaneously provide a precise diagnosis and efficient therapeutics, have exhibited significant superiorities in the field of phototheranostics. Of particular interest is phototheranostics based on AIEgens with the emission in the range of second near-infrared (NIR-II) range (1000-1700 nm), which has promoted the feasibility of their clinical applications by virtue of numerous preponderances benefiting from the extremely long wavelength. In this minireview, we summarize the latest advances in the field of phototheranostics based on NIR-II AIEgens during the past 3 years, including the strategies of constructing NIR-II AIEgens and their applications in different theranostic modalities (FLI-guided PTT, PAI-guided PTT, and multimodal imaging-guided PDT-PTT synergistic therapy); in addition, a brief conclusion of perspectives and challenges in the field of phototheranostics is given at the end.

The Antibacterial Potential of Ciprofloxacin Hybrids against Staphylococcus aureus.

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), an important pathogen of both humans and animals, can cause a variety of infections at any site of the body. The evolution of S. aureus resistance is notorious, and the widespread of drug-resistant S. aureus, especially methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), has made the treatment difficult in recent decades. Nowadays, S. aureus is among the leading causes of bacterial infections, creating an urgent need for the development of novel antibacterial agents. Ciprofloxacin, characterized by high clinical efficacy, is a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent with frequency of prescription for various Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens, many of which are resistant to a wide range of antibiotics. However, the long-term and widespread use of this antibiotic has led to the emergence of ciprofloxacin-resistant pathogens, and ciprofloxacin- resistant S. aureus has been noted in clinical practice. Ciprofloxacin hybrids have been recognized as advanced chemical entities to simultaneously modulate multiple drug targets in bacteria, so ciprofloxacin hybrids have the potential to overcome drug resistance. The present review provides an overview of ciprofloxacin hybrids with anti-S. aureus potential that has been reported in the last decade with an emphasis on their structure-activity relationships and mechanisms of action.

Type I Photosensitizers Based on Aggregation-Induced Emission: A Rising Star in Photodynamic Therapy.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT), emerging as a minimally invasive therapeutic modality with precise controllability and high spatiotemporal accuracy, has earned significant advancements in the field of cancer and other non-cancerous diseases treatment. Thereinto, type I PDT represents an irreplaceable and meritorious part in contributing to these delightful achievements since its distinctive hypoxia tolerance can perfectly compensate for the high oxygen-dependent type II PDT, particularly in hypoxic tissues. Regarding the diverse type I photosensitizers (PSs) that light up type I PDT, aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-active type I PSs are currently arousing great research interest owing to their distinguished AIE and aggregation-induced generation of reactive oxygen species (AIE-ROS) features. In this review, we offer a comprehensive overview of the cutting-edge advances of novel AIE-active type I PSs by delineating the photophysical and photochemical mechanisms of the type I pathway, summarizing the current molecular design strategies for promoting the type I process, and showcasing current bioapplications, in succession. Notably, the strategies to construct highly efficient type I AIE PSs were elucidated in detail from the two aspects of introducing high electron affinity groups, and enhancing intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) intensity. Lastly, we present a brief conclusion, and a discussion on the current limitations and proposed opportunities.