A Processible and Ultrahigh-temperature Organic Photothermal Material through Spontaneous and Quantitative [2+2] Cycloaddition-Cycloreversion.

Energy conversion, particularly light to heat conversion, has garnered significant attention owing to its prospect in renewable energy exploitation and utilization. Most previous efforts have focused on developing organic photothermal materials for low-temperature applications, whereas the importance of simplifying the preparation methods of photothermal materials and enhancing their maximum photothermal temperature have been less taken. Herein, we prepare an organic near-infrared (NIR) photothermal material namely ATT by a spontaneous [2+2] cycloaddition-cycloreversion reaction. In addition to the solution-based method, ATT could also be readily preapred by ball milling in a high yield of 90% in just 15 min. ATT powder exhibits a broad absorption extending beyond 2000 nm, excellent processability, and thermal stability. Remarkably, ATT powder can reach an unprecedently temperature as high as 450 °C while maintaining excellent photostability upon photoirradiation. Leveraging its extraordinary photothermal and processable properties, ATT was used in the high-temperature applications, such as photo-ignition, photo-controlled metal processing and high-temperature shape memory, all of which offer spatiotemporal control capabilities. This work provides a new approach to prepare organic photothermal materials with high temperatures, and pave the way for their applications in extreme environments.

Non-Doped Blue AIEgen-Based OLED with EQE Approaching 10.3 .

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens (AIEgens) are attractive for the construction of non-doped blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) owning to their high emission efficiency in the film state. However, the large internal inversion rate (kIC (Tn) ) between high-lying triplet levels (Tn ) and Tn-1 causes a huge loss of triplet excitons, resulting in dissatisfied device performance of these AIEgens-based non-doped OLEDs. Herein, we designed and synthesized a blue luminogen of DPDPB-AC by fusing an AIEgen of TPB-AC and a DMPPP, which feature hot exciton and triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) up-conversion process, respectively. DPDPB-AC successfully inherits the AIE feature and excellent horizontal dipole orientation of TPB-AC. Furthermore, it owes smaller kIC (Tn) than TPB-AC. When DPDPB-AC was applied in OLED as non-doped emitting layer, an outstanding external quantum efficiency of 10.3 % and an exceptional brightness of 69311 cd m-2 were achieved. The transient electroluminescent measurements and steady-state dynamic analysis confirm that both TTA and hot exciton processes contribute to such excellent device performance. This work provides a new insight into the design of efficient organic fluorophores by managing high-lying triplet excitons.

The role of ADAMTS6 and ADAMTS17 polymorphisms in susceptibility to lumbar disc herniation in Chinese Han population.

PURPOSE: LDH caused by lumbar disc degeneration is associated with genetic factors. However, the role of ADAMTS6 and ADAMTS17 genes in LDH risk is still unknown. METHODS: To investigate the interaction between ADAMTS6 and ADAMTS17 variants in the susceptibility of LDH, five SNPs were genotyped in 509 patients and 510 healthy individuals. The experiment used logistic regression to calculate odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Multi-factor dimensionality reduction (MDR) was chosen to evaluate impact of interaction of SNP-SNP on susceptibility to LDH. RESULTS: ADAMTS17-rs4533267 is significantly associated with reducing risk of LDH (OR = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.57-0.90, p = 0.005). Stratified analysis indicates that ADAMTS17-rs4533267 is significantly associated with the reducing risk of LDH among participants aged ≤ 48 years old. In addition, we observed that ADAMTS6-rs2307121 was associated with increasing risk of LDH in females. MDR analysis shows that single-locus model composed by ADAMTS17-rs4533267 can be chosen as the best model for predicting susceptibility to LDH (CVC = 10/10, test accuracy = 0.543). CONCLUSION: ADAMTS6-rs2307121 and ADAMTS17-rs4533267 are potentially associated with LDH susceptibility. In particular, ADAMTS17-rs4533267 has a strong association with reducing risk of LDH.

NIR luminogen for low-temperature photothermal therapy by triggering HSP90α down-regulation.

A near-infrared (NIR) luminogen TST was designed and used to efficiently trigger HSP90α protein knockdown through photo-thermal conversion based on a gene interference strategy, by which in vitro and in vivo tumor ablation were significantly acquired at low-temperature.

Neural stem cell-derived exosomes suppress neuronal cell apoptosis by activating autophagy via miR-374-5p/STK-4 axis in spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the roles of MicroRNAs (miRNAs) enclosed in the neuron-derived exosomes in the recovery of the spinal cord injury (SCI) and the mechanism. METHODS: The exosomes were isolated from neural stem cells (NSCs) and characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and NanoSight system (NTA). For in vivo experiments, Basso Mouse Scale, beam walking, and inclined plane tests were used to determine the behavioral symptoms of the SCI mice. For in vitro experiments, H2O2 treated HT22 cells were used to simulate SCI cells and cocultured with exosomes to analyze the cell apoptosis using TUNEL assays and flow cytometry. Apoptosis- and autophagy-related protein expression was detected by western blot and the green fluorescent protein (GFP)-LC3 assay was used to detect the level of autophagy. In addition, luciferase assay was performed to assess the relationship between miR-374-5p and SKT-4. RESULTS: Exosomes from NSCs alleviated spinal cord injury by triggering autophagy flux and suppressing apoptosis. Besides, miR-374-5p was highly expressed in these exosomes and was responsible for the decent in injured neural cell apoptosis by activating autophagy flux. The SKT-4 was the target gene regulated by miR-374-5p in this exosomal protective function to SCI cells. CONCLUSION: The elevated level of miR-374-5p in neuronal exosomes could enhance spinal cord injury recovery by activating autophagy.

Suppressing singlet-triplet annihilation processes to achieve highly efficient deep-blue AIE-based OLEDs.

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) materials are attractive for the fabrication of high efficiency organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) by harnessing "hot excitons" from the high-lying triplet exciton states (Tn, n ≥ 2) and high photoluminescence (PL) quantum efficiency in solid films. However, the electroluminescence (EL) efficiency of most AIE-based OLEDs does not meet our expectation due to some unrevealed exciton loss processes. Herein, we further enhance the efficiency of blue AIE-based OLEDs, and find experimentally and theoretically that the serious exciton loss is caused by the quenching of radiative singlet excitons and long-lived triplet excitons [singlet-triplet annihilation (STA)]. In order to suppress the STA process, 1-(2,5-dimethyl-4-(1-pyrenyl)phenyl)pyrene (DMPPP) with triplet-triplet annihilation up-conversion was doped in two AIE emitters to reduce the triplet excitons on the lowest triplet excited state (T1) of AIE molecules. It can be seen that the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the resulting blue OLEDs was enhanced to 11.8% with CIE coordinates of (0.15, 0.07) and a negligible efficiency roll-off, realizing the efficiency breakthrough of deep-blue AIE-based OLEDs. This work establishes a physical insight in revealing the exciton loss processes and the fabrication of high-performance AIE-based OLEDs.

Aggregation-induced emission luminogen with excellent triplet-triplet upconversion efficiency for highly efficient non-doped blue organic light-emitting diodes.

By combining aggregation-induced emission (AIE) effect and a triplet-triplet upconversion (TTU) process, a blue emitter with excellent photoluminescence quantum efficiency and high upconversion efficiency in the film state is developed, from which a highly efficient non-doped blue TTU organic light-emitting diode (TTU-OLED) was realized.

Different Concentrations of Ropivacaine under Ultrasound Guidance on Quadratus Lumbar Muscle Nerve Block in Elderly Patients with Hip Replacement.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effect of ropivacaine in different concentrations under ultrasound guidance on lumbar muscle nerve blocking in elderly patients undergoing hip replacement surgery. METHODS: 60 elderly patients underwent hip replacement in our hospital over a period of April to December of 2019 were equally randomized into control and observation groups, with 30 each. Patients in the control group and observation group received 0.5% and 0.25% ropivacaine to block psoas muscle nerve, respectively. The anesthetic effect of ropivacaine at different concentrations was evaluated by time of sensory block onset and recovery and time of motor block onset and regression, blood pressure, heart rate, visual analogy scale, and postoperative nerve blocking degree. RESULTS: The onset time of sensory and motor block in the observation group was dramatically higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05), while the recovery time of sensory and motor was significantly shorter than that of the control group (P < 0.05). The heart rate in the observation group was notably lower than that in the control group, while the average blood pressure was remarkably higher (P < 0.05). After surgery, the degree of nerve block in the observation group was much lower compared with the control group (P < 0.05), while no marked difference in the visual analogue scale in the control group before and after surgical intervention was observed (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The 0.25% ropivacaine method has distinctive advantages over 0.50% ropivacaine psoas nerve anesthesia in hip replacement surgery in elderly patients.

Violet-Blue Emitters Featuring Aggregation-Enhanced Emission Characteristics for Nondoped OLEDs with CIEy Smaller than 0.046.

High emission efficiency and finite molecular conjugation in the aggregate state are two desirable features in violet-blue emitters. Aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) have emerged as promising luminescent materials that offer these features. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of a group of violet-blue tetraphenylbenzene-based AIEgens with photoluminescence quantum yields over 98% in their film states. When utilizing these AIEgens as nondoped emitting layers, the fabricated organic light-emitting diode exhibits a maximum external quantum efficiency of 4.34% with Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.159, 0.035), which is amenable to the next-generation ultrahigh-definition television (UHDTV) display standard.

Suzuki-Miyaura Coupling Enabled by Aryl to Vinyl 1,4-Palladium Migration.

The Suzuki-Miyaura coupling is a fundamentally important transformation in modern organic synthesis. The development of new reaction modes for new chemical accessibility and higher synthetic efficiency is still the consistent pursuance in this field. An efficient Suzuki-Miyaura coupling enabled by a controllable 1,4-palladium migration was realized to afford stereodefined multisubstituted olefins and 1,3-dienes. The reaction exhibits remarkable broad substrate scope, excellent functional-group tolerance, versatile conversion with obtained products, and easy scalability. The practicality of this method is highlighted by the aggregation-induced emission feature of the produced olefins and 1,3-dienes, as well as the capability of affording geometric isomer pairs with a marked difference on photoluminescent quantum yield values.

Serum and cerebrospinal fluid tau protein level as biomarkers for evaluating acute spinal cord injury severity and motor function outcome.

Tau protein, a microtubule-associated protein, has a high specific expression in neurons and axons. Because traumatic spinal cord injury mainly affects neurons and axons, we speculated that tau protein may be a promising biomarker to reflect the degree of spinal cord injury and prognosis of motor function. In this study, 160 female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into a sham group, and mild, moderate, and severe spinal cord injury groups. A laminectomy was performed at the T8 level to expose the spinal cord in all groups. A contusion lesion was made with the NYU-MASCIS impactor by dropping a 10 g rod from heights of 12.5 mm (mild), 25 mm (moderate) and 50 mm (severe) upon the exposed dorsal surface of the spinal cord. Tau protein levels were measured in serum and cerebrospinal fluid samples at 1, 6, 12, 24 hours, 3, 7, 14 and 28 days after operation. Locomotor function of all rats was assessed using the Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan locomotor rating scale. Tau protein concentration in the three spinal cord injury groups (both in serum and cerebrospinal fluid) rapidly increased and peaked at 12 hours after spinal cord injury. Statistically significant positive linear correlations were found between tau protein level and spinal cord injury severity in the three spinal cord injury groups, and between the tau protein level and Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan locomotor rating scale scores. The tau protein level at 12 hours in the three spinal cord injury groups was negatively correlated with Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan locomotor rating scale scores at 28 days (serum: r = -0.94; cerebrospinal fluid: r = -0.95). Our data suggest that tau protein levels in serum and cerebrospinal fluid might be a promising biomarker for predicting the severity and functional outcome of traumatic spinal cord injury.