Research on Risk Contagion in ESG Industries: An Information Entropy-Based Network Approach.

Sustainable development is a practical path to optimize industrial structures and enhance investment efficiency. Investigating risk contagion within ESG industries is a crucial step towards reducing systemic risks and fostering the green evolution of the economy. This research constructs ESG industry indices, taking into account the possibility of extreme tail risks, and employs VaR and CoVaR as measures of tail risk. The TENET network approach is integrated to to capture the structural evolution and direction of information flow among ESG industries, employing information entropy to quantify the topological characteristics of the network model, exploring the risk transmission paths and evolution patterns of ESG industries in an extreme tail risk event. Finally, Mantel tests are conducted to examine the existence of significant risk spillover effects between ESG and traditional industries. The research finds strong correlations among ESG industry indices during stock market crash, Sino-US trade frictions, and the COVID-19 pandemic, with industries such as the COAL, CMP, COM, RT, and RE playing key roles in risk transmission within the network, transmitting risks to other industries. Affected by systemic risk, the information entropy of the TENET network significantly decreases, reducing market information uncertainty and leading market participants to adopt more uniform investment strategies, thus diminishing the diversity of market behaviors. ESG industries show resilience in the face of extreme risks, demonstrating a lack of significant risk contagion with traditional industries.

A novel fluorescent probe with a large Stokes shift for colorimetric and selective detection of cysteine in water, milk, cucumber, pear and tomato.

Cysteine is an important amino acid that is related to human health and food safety. How to effectively detect Cys in food has received widespread attention. Compared with other methods, fluorescent probes have the advantages of simple operation, high sensitivity, and good selectivity. Therefore, a selective fluorescence probe 2 for Cys in food was designed and synthesized. Probe 2 employed the acrylate group as a thiol-recognition site for Cys, which endowed probe 2 with better selectivity for Cys over Hcy and GSH. The recognition pathway underwent Michael addition, intramolecular cyclization, and concomitant release of the piperideine-based fluorophore, along with a chromogenic change from yellow to orange. This pathway was supported by 1H NMR analysis and DFT calculations. In addition, probe 2 displays a linear response to Cys concentrations (0-30 µM), low detection limit (0.89 µM), and large Stokes shift (125 nm). Overall, probe 2 showed great application potential for the quantitative determination of Cys in water, milk, cucumber, pear and tomato.

The inhibitory effect of apatinib on different small cell lung cancer cells and in lung cancer-bearing mice and patients.

PURPOSE: To observe the inhibitory effect of the small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor apatinib on small cell lung cancer in vitro and vivo. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Three small lung cancer cells were selected CCK-8 and monoclonal assay was used to determine the effect of apatinib on proliferation. The effects on cell cycle and apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry and TUNEL. We observed the inhibitory effect of different doses of apatinib on xenograft tumor. The efficacy and safety of apatinib in 20 patients with advanced small cell lung cancer were observed. RESULTS: For small cell lung cancer with high expression of VEGFR2, apatinib has a significant inhibitory effect both in vitro and in vivo. It can play an inhibitory role by promoting apoptosis and cell cycle arrest pathways. For small cell lung cancer with low expression of VEGFR, the inhibitory effect on cells in vitro was not significant. It has certain inhibitory effect on nude mouse transplanted tumor and small cell lung cancer patients, but the effect is weaker than that of animal models and patients with small cell lung cancer cells with high expression of VEGFR2. CONCLUSION: Apatinib has a significant inhibitory effect on small cell lung cancer with high expression of VEGFR2 and may be a treatment for small cell lung cancer patients.

Carboxyl-Modified Quantum Dots for NIR-IIb Bone Marrow Imaging.

Real-time, noninvasive, and nonradiative bone imaging can directly visualize bone health but requires bone-targeted probes with high specificity. Herein, we propose that carboxyl-rich fluorescent nanoprobes are easily absorbed by macrophages in bone marrow during circulation, enabling optical bone marrow imaging in vivo. We used PbS/CdS core-shell quantum dots with NIR-IIb (1500-1700 nm) emission as substrates to prepare the carboxyl-rich nanoprobe. In vivo NIR-IIb fluorescence imaging with the nanoprobes showed high resolution and penetration depth in bone tissues and allowed for imaging-guided fracture diagnosis. Bone tissue slices showed substantial accumulation of carboxyl nanoprobes in the bone marrow and strong colocalization with macrophages. Similar results with CdSe quantum dots and an organic nanofluorophore suggest that carboxyl surface modification is effective to achieve bone marrow targeting, providing a novel strategy for developing bone/bone marrow imaging probes.

Fluoropolymer Coated DNA Nanoclews for Volumetric Visualization of Oligonucleotides Delivery and Near Infrared Light Activated Anti-Angiogenic Oncotherapy.

The potential of microRNA regulation in oncotherapy is limited by the lack of delivery vehicles. Herein, it is shown that fluoropolymer coated DNA nanoclews (FNCs) provide outstanding ability to deliver oligonucleotide through circulation and realize near infrared (NIR) light activated angiogenesis suppression to abrogate tumors. Oligonucleotides are loaded in DNA nanoclews through sequence specific bindings and then a fluorinated zwitterionic polymer is coated onto the surface of nanoclews. Further incorporating quantum dots in the polymer coating endows the vectors with NIR-IIb (1500-1700 nm) fluorescence and NIR light triggered release ability. The FNC vector can deliver oligonucleotides to cancer cells systemically and realize on-demand cytosolic release of the cargo with high transfection efficiency. Taking advantage of the NIR-IIb emission, the whole delivery process of FNCs is visualized volumetrically in vivo with a NIR light sheet microscope. Loaded by FNCs, an oligonucleotide can effectively silence the target miRNA when activated with NIR light, and inhibit angiogenesis inside tumor, leading to complete ablation of cancer. These findings suggest FNCs can be used as an efficient oligonucleotide delivery platform to modulate the expression of endogenous microRNA in gene therapy of cancer.

NiS Nanosheets Decorated on Hollow Carbon Spheres from Liquefied Wood for Supercapacitors.

Carbon-based supercapacitors with high performance have a wide foreground among various energy storage devices. In this work, wood-based hollow carbon spheres (WHCS) were prepared from liquefied wood through the processes of emulsification, curing, carbonization, and activation. Then, the hydrodeposition method was used to introduce nickel sulfide (NiS) to the surface of the microspheres, obtaining NiS/WHCS as the supercapacitor electrode. The results show that NiS/WHCS microspheres exhibited a core-shell structure and flower-like morphology with a specific surface (307.55 m2 g-1) and a large total pore volume (0.14 cm3 g-1). Also, the capacitance could be up to 1533.6 F g-1 at a current density of 1 A g-1. In addition, after 1000 charge/discharge cycles, the specific capacitance remained at 72.8% at the initial current density of 5 A g-1. Hence, NiS/WHCS with excellent durability and high specific capacitance is a potential candidate for electrode materials.

Ionizable drug delivery systems for efficient and selective gene therapy.

Gene therapy has shown great potential to treat various diseases by repairing the abnormal gene function. However, a great challenge in bringing the nucleic acid formulations to the market is the safe and effective delivery to the specific tissues and cells. To be excited, the development of ionizable drug delivery systems (IDDSs) has promoted a great breakthrough as evidenced by the approval of the BNT162b2 vaccine for prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in 2021. Compared with conventional cationic gene vectors, IDDSs can decrease the toxicity of carriers to cell membranes, and increase cellular uptake and endosomal escape of nucleic acids by their unique pH-responsive structures. Despite the progress, there remain necessary requirements for designing more efficient IDDSs for precise gene therapy. Herein, we systematically classify the IDDSs and summarize the characteristics and advantages of IDDSs in order to explore the underlying design mechanisms. The delivery mechanisms and therapeutic applications of IDDSs are comprehensively reviewed for the delivery of pDNA and four kinds of RNA. In particular, organ selecting considerations and high-throughput screening are highlighted to explore efficiently multifunctional ionizable nanomaterials with superior gene delivery capacity. We anticipate providing references for researchers to rationally design more efficient and accurate targeted gene delivery systems in the future, and indicate ideas for developing next generation gene vectors.

Tumor-specific cyclic amplification of oxidative stress by disulfide-loaded fluoropolymer nanogels.

Amplification of intracellular oxidative stress has been found to be an effective strategy to induce cancer cell death. Herein, the effect of a disulfide, 2,2'-dithiobis(5-aminopyridine) (BAPS), is revealed on depleting glutathione (GSH) circularly and generating superoxide anion (O2•-) spontaneously to manipulate intracellular redox homeostasis. Thus, BAPS is able to work as an oxidative stress amplifier in cancer cells with high GSH concentrations and kill them efficiently. Moreover, leveraging a new class of water-soluble fluoropolymers poly(N-(2-((2,2,2-trifluoroethyl)sulfonyl)ethyl)acrylamide) (PFSNM), BAPS, together with oxygen, can be effectively delivered into hypoxic tumor cells through circulation and significantly inhibit the tumor growth. Therefore, BAPS-loaded PFSNM is an oxidative regulation nanosystem with remarkable therapeutic efficacy for chemodynamic therapy.

Exosomes-mediated tumor treatment: One body plays multiple roles.

Exosomes are vesicles secreted by a variety of living cells, containing proteins, RNA and other components, which are nanoscale capsules commonly existed in the body. Exosomes play important roles in a variety of physiological and pathological processes by participating in material and information exchange between cells, which can play multiple roles in tumor treatment. On the one hand, exosomes can be used as carriers and biomarkers, participate in the apoptosis signaling pathway and improve chemotherapy resistance, thus playing beneficial roles in tumor treatment. On the other hand, exosomes play unfavorable roles in tumor treatment. Tumor cell exosomes contain PD-L1, which is a nuclear weapon for tumor growth, metastasis, and immunosuppression. In addition, exosomes can not only promote the epithelial-mesenchymal transition process, tumor angiogenesis and chemoresistance, but also participate in the autocrine pathway. In this review, the multiple roles of exosomes and their prospects in the treatment of tumor were reviewed in detail.

Application of Fe3O4@CNFs combined with deep eutectic solvent-based dual microextraction: a novel and green strategy for rapid determination of pesticides in edible oil samples.

A novel, green, and effective strategy employing Fe3O4-modified carbon nanofibers (CNFs) combined with deep eutectic solvent (DES) is proposed as an extraction agent to extract five pesticides in edible oil samples via dual microextraction modes, followed by high-performance liquid chromatography for determination. The Fe3O4@CNFs nanomaterial and a sequence of hydrophilic DES were prepared at first and then characterized by multiple techniques. Subsequently, the extraction performance of DES and Fe3O4@CNFs-DES was compared and Fe3O4@CNFs-DES exhibited better extraction ability. After that, several influencing parameters such as the composition of DES, the amount of Fe3O4@CNFs-DES, the dispersion methods, and the extraction time were investigated and optimized. Eventually, Fe3O4@CNFs as the solid adsorbent combined with tetrabutylammonium chloride-lactic acid-based DES as the extraction solvent were selected to extract target pesticides from oil samples. The established method received good linearity in the range 25-1000 ng·g-1. The limits of detection for all analytes were in the range 2.25-7.50 ng·mL-1. Satisfactory recoveries of target pesticides were obtained (ranging from 82 to 117%) with a relative standard deviation of 0.26-9.46%. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the rapid detection of target pesticides in oil samples, demonstrating its great potential for quick screening and analysis.

NIR Responsive Injectable Nanocomposite Thermogel System Against Osteosarcoma Recurrence.

Compared to traditional postoperative radiation and chemotherapy, immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy demonstrates superiority by provoking own immune system to cure cancer completely even for some terminally ill patients. However, systemic administration of ICB is liable to cause severe immunity inflammation or immune storm. Here, an injectable, near infrared (NIR) responsive, multifunctional nanocomposite thermogel as a local ICB delivery system for cancer postsurgical therapy is proposed. By copolymerization of thermosensitive and zwitterionic monomer, the injectable thermogel with adjustable sol-gel transition temperature is obtained. Afterward, combined with functional mesoporous nanoparticles, the platform can absorb NIR light and transfer it into heat. The generated heat will promote retro Diels-Alder (D-A) reaction to degrade coating layer on nanoparticle, achieving NIR controlled ICB release. Furthermore, the local ICB delivery system is applied on an osteosarcoma postsurgical recurrence model and results indicate the platform with favorable biocompatibility can avoid early leakage of cargos and greatly increase drug content at tumor site. Besides, long-term controlled ICB release of the system effectively improves the amount of active T cells, resulting in excellent antitumor recurrence effect. Overall, this work suggests the local injectable nanocomposite thermogel is expected to be a promising tool for cancer postoperative therapy.

Multifunctional nanomedicines for synergistic photodynamic immunotherapy based on tumor immune microenvironment.

Cancer immunotherapy, which harnesses the host immune system to identify, attack, and remove tumor cells, has emerged as one of the most promising cancer therapies. Nevertheless, the further applications of clinic-approved immunotherapies have been hindered due to their low response rates and adverse reactions. Recently, photodynamic therapy (PDT)-based photonanomedicines (PNMs) have gained much attention as they have been reported to participate in immunotherapy by triggering the death of immunogenic tumor cells. This contributes to the initiation of the immune response and the infiltration of toxic T lymphocytes, thereby eliminating metastatic tumor cells. When combined with conventional immunotherapy, such immunostimulatory properties of PNMs offer opportunities to enhance anti-cancer immunity. This review elaborates on the latest strategies for PNMs to enhance the anti-cancer efficiency of immunotherapy, with emphasis on PNM-synergized immunotherapy, PNM-based nano-drug delivery systems in synergistic immunotherapy and PNM-based improved infiltration of toxic T lymphocytes in synergistic immunotherapy. Moreover, the current challenges and prospective developments for PNM-synergized immunotherapy to realize the transition from bench to bedside are also discussed.

Engineered nanomaterials for synergistic photo-immunotherapy.

Nanomaterial-synergized photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT), as efficient and non-invasive treatment modalities, have shown significant advantages in fighting different types of cancer. However, neither PTT nor PDT can completely eradicate tumors due to distant metastasis and recurrence of tumors. Recently, photo-immunotherapy have attracted great attention as phototherapy has been reported to participate in immunotherapy by triggering immunogenic cell death (ICD), resulting in the secretion of tumor specific antigen (TSAs) and damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). In particular, emerging interests are biased towards manipulating nanomaterials to form unique drug delivery systems, which are necessary for the combination of phototherapy and immunotherapy to eliminate metastatic tumor cells by promoting the maturation of dendritic cells (DCs) and the infiltration of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). This review elaborates on the latest strategies on engineering nanomaterials to enhance the anti-cancer efficiency of synergistic photo-immunotherapy, with emphasis on the activation of anti-tumor immune response, the reversal of tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment (TIME), the regulation of the interaction between immunosuppressive cells and tumor cells, the infiltration of immune cells and improved efficiency of photo-immunotherapy-induced ICD. Current challenges and future opportunities in engineering nanomaterials to modulate synergistic photo-immunotherapy are also discussed.

Design and development of insulin microneedles for diabetes treatment.

As a painless and minimally invasive method of self-administration, microneedle is very promising to replace subcutaneous injection of insulin for type I diabetes treatment. Since the introduction of microneedles, many scholars have paid attention to and studied this technology, which has made it developed rapidly. However, there is no product on the market or in clinical trials at present. The reason is that there are still many technical problems in microneedle drug delivery system, such as the perfect integration of stable, controllable, fast, long-lasting, safe, and other necessary conditions. Here, we review the achievements that researchers have made that contain one or more of the above factors, and put some ideas to solve the limitations of insulin delivery by microneedles for reference.

Application of molecular docking in elaborating molecular mechanisms and interactions of supramolecular cyclodextrin.

The cyclodextrin (CD)-based supramolecular nanomedicines have attracted growing interest because of their superior characteristics, including desirable biocompatibility, low toxicity, unique molecular structure and easy functionalization. The smart structures of CD impart host-guest interaction for meeting the multifunctional needs of disease therapy. However, it faces challenges in formulation design and inclusion mechanism clarification of the functional supramolecular assemblies owing to the complicated structures and mechanisms. Fortunately, molecular docking helps the researchers to comprehend the interaction between the drug and the target molecule for achieving high-through screening from the database. In this review, we summarized the category and characteristics of molecular docking along with the properties and applications of CD. Significantly, we highlighted the application of molecular docking in elaborating molecular mechanisms and simulating complex structures at molecular levels. The issues and development of CD and molecular docking were also presented to provide beneficial reference and new insights for supramolecular nano-systems.

Injectable Nanocomposite Hydrogels for Cancer Therapy.

Hydrogel is a kind of 3D polymer network with strong swelling ability in water and appropriate mechanical and biological properties, which make it feasible to maintain bioactive substances and has promising applications in the fields of biomaterials, soft machines, and artificial tissues. Unfortunately, traditional hydrogels prepared by chemical crosslinking have poor mechanical properties and limited functions, which limit their further application. In recent years, with the continuous development of nanoparticle research, more and more studies have combined nanoparticles with hydrogels to make up for the shortcomings of traditional hydrogels. In this article, the types and functions of hydrogels and nanomaterials are introduced first, as well as the functions and applications of injectable nanocomposite hydrogels (INHs), then the latest progress of INHs for cancer treatment is reviewed, some existing problems are summarized, and the application prospect of NHs is prospected.

Fabrication, evaluation and applications of dissolving microneedles.

In recent years, transdermal preparations have emerged as one of the most promising modes of administration. In particular, dissolving microneedles have attracted extensive attention because of their painlessness, safety, high delivery efficiency and easily operation for patients. This article mainly reviews the preparation methods, the types of matrix polymer materials, the content of dissolving microneedles performance testing, and the applications of dissolving microneedles. It is expected to lay a solid knowledge foundation for the in-depth study of the dissolving microneedles.

Functional ultrasound-triggered phase-shift perfluorocarbon nanodroplets for cancer therapy.

In recent years, because of their unique properties, the use of perfluorocarbon nanodroplets (PFC NDs) in ultrasound-mediated tumor theranostics has attracted increasing interest. PFC is one of the most stable organic compounds with high hydrophobicity. Phase-shift PFC NDs can be transformed into highly echogenic microbubbles for ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging by ultrasound and laser light. In addition, in the process of acoustic droplet vaporization, PFC NDs with cavitation nuclei can be combined with a variety of ultrasound technologies to produce cavitation effects for tumor ablation, antivascular therapy and release of therapeutic agents loaded in nanodroplets. Moreover, they can also be used to overcome tumor hypoxia by virtue of high oxygen solubility. In this review, first the preparation and stabilization of PFC NDs are summarized and then the issues and outlook are discussed. More importantly, multifunctional platforms based on PFC NDs for cancer diagnostics, therapy and theranostics are reviewed in detail.

Multifunctional Mesoporous Polydopamine With Hydrophobic Paclitaxel For Photoacoustic Imaging-Guided Chemo-Photothermal Synergistic Therapy.

BACKGROUND: Chemo-photothermal therapy has attracted intensive attention because of its low side effects and better therapeutic efficiency. Although many photothermal agents have been loaded with chemotherapeutic drugs for chemo-photothermal therapy, their applications are limited by complex synthetic protocols and long-term safety. Therefore, there is significant clinical value in the development of a simple system of biocompatible and biodegradable photothermal nanomaterials with high payloads of chemotherapeutic drugs for chemo-photothermal synergistic therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, PEG-modified polydopamine nanoparticles with mesoporous structure (MPDA-PEG) were successfully obtained by an emulsion-induced interface assembly strategy. Subsequently, paclitaxel (PTX) dissolved in acetone was loaded into the mesoporous channels of MPDA-PEG nanoparticles by solution absorption method. A PTX-loaded MPDA-PEG (MPDA-PEG-PTX) nanoplatform for combination of photothermal therapy (PTT) and chemotherapy was developed. RESULTS: The synthesized MPDA-PEG nanoparticles had a great photothermal effect under near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation and exhibited an enhanced photothermal effect with the increase of particle size. Meanwhile, MPDA-PEG nanoparticles also had a high payload of PTX, and the PTX release could be greatly accelerated by elevated temperature from photothermal effect. In MTT cytotoxicity assay, A549 cells incubated with MPDA-PEG-PTX under NIR laser irradiation (PTT + chemotherapy group) exhibited better therapeutic effect than single chemotherapy (MPDA-PEG-PTX group) and PTT (MPDA-PEG + Laser group). The synergistic therapeutic effect of MPDA-PEG-PTX with NIR laser irradiation in vivo was further investigated under the guidance of photoacoustic imaging (PAI), tumors of nude mice treated with MPDA-PEG-PTX with NIR laser irradiation were completely eliminated with minimal side effect. CONCLUSION: The MPDA-PEG-PTX nanoplatform is a simple and effective platform which can completely inhibit tumor growth with minimal side effects under NIR irradiation, and it exhibits better therapeutic effect than single chemotherapy and PTT.

Multifunctional nanoplatform for photoacoustic imaging-guided combined therapy enhanced by CO induced ferroptosis.

A multifunctional CO/thermo/chemotherapy nanoplatform is here reported, which is composed of mesoporous carbon nanoparticles (MCN) as near infrared (NIR)-responsive drug carrier, doxorubicin (DOX) as chemotherapeutic drug and triiron dodecacarbonyl (FeCO) as thermosensitive CO prodrug. The nanoplatform could absorb near-infrared (NIR) light and convert it into ample heat to trigger CO release and could also release DOX in the acidic tumor microenvironment. More importantly, the generated CO molecules successfully increase cancer cell sensitivity to chemotherapeutics by the ferroptosis pathway. Subsequently, under the guidance of photoacoustic imaging, the FeCO-DOX@MCN nanoplatform demonstrates high treatment efficacies in vitro and in vivo by combination of chemotherapy, photothermal therapy and gas therapy. This multifunctional platform with excellent antitumor efficacy has great potential in precision cancer therapy.