Sequencing, Analysis and Organization of the Complete Genome of a Novel Baculovirus Calliteara abietis Nucleopolyhedrovirus (CaabNPV).

Baculoviridae, a virus family characterized by a single large double stranded DNA, encompasses the majority of viral bioinsecticides, representing a highly promising and environmentally friendly pesticide approach to insect control. This study focuses on the characterization of a baculovirus isolated from larvae of Calliteara abietis (Erebidae, Lymantriidae) collected in Mongolian pinaceae forests. This new isolate was called Calliteara abietis nucleopolyhedrovirus (CaabNPV). CaabNPV exhibits an irregular polyhedron shape, and significant variation in the diameter of its occlusion bodies (OBs) was observed. Nucleotide distance calculations confirmed CaabNPV as a novel baculovirus. The CaabNPV genome spans 177,161 bp with a G+C content of 45.12% and harbors 150 potential open reading frames (ORFs), including 38 core genes. A comprehensive genomic analysis categorizes CaabNPV within Group II alphabaculovirus, revealing a close phylogenetic relationship with Alphabaculovirus orleucostigmae (OrleNPV). Additionally, repeat sequence analysis identified three highly repetitive sequences consisting of 112 bp repeat units, known as homologous regions (hrs). This research contributes valuable insights into CaabNPV's phylogenetic placement, genomic structure, and its potential applications in insect biocontrol.

Recent Advances of Carbon Dots with Afterglow Emission.

Carbon dots (CDs) have gradually become a new generation of nano-luminescent materials, which have received extensive attention due to excellent optical properties, wide source of raw materials, low toxicity, and good biocompatibility. In recent years, there are many reports on the luminescent phenomenon of CDs, and great progress has been achieved. However,there are rarely systematic summaries on CDs with persistent luminescence. Here, a summary of the recent progress on persistent luminescent CDs, including luminous mechanism, synthetic strategies, property regulation, and potential applications, is given. First, a brief introduction is given to the development of CDs luminescent materials. Then, the luminous mechanism of afterglow CDs from room temperature phosphorescence (RTP), delayed fluorescence (DF), and long persistent luminescence (LPL) is discussed. Next, the constructed methods of luminescent CDs materials are summarized from two aspects, including matrix-free self-protected and matrix-protected CDs. Moreover, the regulation of afterglow properties from color, lifetime, and efficiency is presented. Afterwards, the potential applications of CDs, such as anti-counterfeiting, information encryption, sensing, bio-imaging, multicolor display, LED devices, etc., are reviewed. Finally, an outlook on the development of CDs materials and applications is proposed.

Ti3 C2 TX MXene Modified with ZnTCPP with Bacteria Capturing Capability and Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Antibacterial Activity.

Light-assisted antibacterial therapy is a promising alternative to antibiotic therapy due to the high antibacterial efficacy without bacterial resistance. Recent research has mainly focused on the use of near-infrared light irradiation to kill bacteria by taking advantage of the synergistic effects rendered by hyperthermia and radical oxygen species. However, photocatalytic antibacterial therapy excited by visible light is more convenient and practical, especially for wounds. Herein, a visible light responsive organic-inorganic hybrid of ZnTCPP/Ti3 C2 TX is designed and fabricated to treat bacterial infection with antibacterial efficiency of 99.86% and 99.92% within 10 min against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, respectively. The porphyrin-metal complex, ZnTCPP, is assembled on the surface of Ti3 C2 TX MXene to capture bacteria electrostatically and the Schottky junction formed between Ti3 C2 TX and ZnTCPP promotes visible light utilization, accelerates charge separation, and enhances the mobility of photogenerated charges, and finally increases the photocatalytic activity. As a result of the excellent bacteria capturing ability and photocatalytic antibacterial effects, ZnTCPP/Ti3 C2 TX exposed to visible light has excellent antibacterial properties in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, organic-inorganic materials that have been demonstrated to possess good biocompatibility and enhance wound healing have large potential in bio-photocatalysis, antibacterial therapy, as well as antibiotics-free treatment of wounds.

Endowing matrix-free carbon dots with color-tunable ultralong phosphorescence by self-doping.

Color-tunable ultralong phosphorescence is urgently desired in optoelectronic applications. Herein, we report a new type of full-color-tunable ultralong phosphorescence carbon dots (CDs) without matrix-assistance by a self-doping method under ambient conditions. The phosphorescence color can be rationally tuned from blue to red by changing the excitation wavelength from 310 to 440 nm. The CDs exhibit an ultralong lifetime of up to 1052.23 ms at 484 nm. From the experimental data, we speculate that the excitation-dependent multi-color phosphorescence is attributed to the presence of multiple emitting centers related to carbonyl units. Given the unique color-tunability of CDs, we demonstrate their potential applications in information encryption, light detection ranging from UV to visible light and LED devices. This finding not only takes a step towards the fundamental design of full-color emissive materials, but also provides a broader scope for the applications of phosphorescent materials.

Fabrication of AgCl/Ag3PO4/graphitic carbon nitride heterojunctions for enhanced visible light photocatalytic decomposition of methylene blue, methylparaben and E. coli.

Herein, a novel ternary nanocomposite AgCl/Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 was successfully synthesized via sedimentation precipitation and ion exchange method. The photocatalytic performance of the as-prepared AgCl/Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 nanocomposite was investigated via photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB), methylparaben (MPB) and inactivation of E. coli under visible light irradiation. The AgCl/Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 composite presented the optimal photocatalytic performance, degrading almost 100% MB and 100% MPB, respectively. The excellent stability of AgCl/Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 was also verified in the cycle operations; the degradation efficiency of MPB could still be maintained at 85.3% after five cycles of experiments. Moreover, the AgCl/Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 composite displayed more superior photocatalytic inactivation efficiency with 100% removal of E. coli (7-log) in 20 min under visible light irradiation. The efficient photo-generated charge separation originated from a strong interaction in the intimate contact interface, which was confirmed by the results of photocurrent and EIS measurements. In addition, radical trapping experiments revealed that hole (h+) was the predominant active species in the photocatalytic system. Based on the experimental results, a photocatalytic mechanism for the degradation of parabens over AgCl/Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 was also proposed. We believe that this work provides new insights into the multifunctional composite materials for the applications in solar photocatalytic degradation of harmful organic compounds and common pathogenic bacteria in wastewater.

One-Step Direct Fixation of Atmospheric CO2 by Si-H Surface in Solution.

The efficient conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into useful chemicals has important practical significance for environmental protection. Until now, direct fixation of atmospheric CO2 needs first extraction from the atmosphere, an energy-intensive process. Silicon (or Si-H surface), Earth-abundant, low-cost and non-toxic, is a promising material for heterogeneous CO2 chemical fixation. Here we report one-step fixing of CO2 directly from the atmosphere to a paraformaldehyde-like polymer by Si-H surface at room temperature. With the assistance of HF, commercial silicon powder was used as a heterogeneous reducing agent, for converting gaseous CO2 to a polymer of fluorine substituted polyoxymethylene and hydroxyl substituted polyoxymethylene alternating copolymer (F-POM). Making use of the Si-H surface toward the fixation of atmospheric gaseous CO2 is a conceptually distinct and commercially interesting strategy for making useful chemicals and environmental protection.

An efficient and robust exfoliated bentonite/Ag3PO4/AgBr plasmonic photocatalyst for degradation of parabens.

Efficient visible-light-driven heterojunction photocatalysts have attracted broad interest owing to their promising adsorption and degradation performances in the removal of organic pollutants. In this study, a mesoporous exfoliated bentonite (EB)/Ag3PO4/AgBr (30%) photocatalyst was obtained by stripping and exfoliating bentonite as the support for loading Ag3PO4 and AgBr. The particle size ranges of Ag3PO4 and AgBr were about 10-30 nm and 5-10 nm, respectively. The exfoliated bentonite could greatly improve the dispersion and adsorption of Ag3PO4 and AgBr, and significantly enhance the stability of the material during paraben photodegradation. 0.2 g L-1 methylparaben (MPB) was completely decomposed over the EB/Ag3PO4/AgBr (30%) in 40 min under visible light irradiation. In addition, the photocatalytic activity of EB/Ag3PO4/AgBr (30%) remained at about 91% after five recycling runs manifesting that EB/Ag3PO4/AgBr (30%) possessed excellent stability. Radical quenching tests revealed that holes (h+) and hydroxyl radicals (·OH) were the major radicals. They attacked the side chain on the benzene ring of parabens, which were gradually oxidized to the intermediates, such as benzoic acid, 3-hydroxybenzoic acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, azelaic acid, and eventually became CO2 and H2O. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity and photo-stability could be ascribed to the stable structural characteristics, enlarged surface area, high absorption ability, and improved light absorption ability from loading Ag3PO4 onto EB. Meanwhile, the matched energy levels of Ag3PO4 and AgBr made the photoelectron-hole pairs separate and transfer effectively at the interfaces. As a result, the photocatalytic properties of EB/Ag3PO4/AgBr (30%) composites were enhanced.

Mesocrystal PtRu supported on reduced graphene oxide as catalysts for methanol oxidation reaction.

Design of catalysts with advanced structures has been extensively studied. Mesocrystal structure with the uniform crystal orientation shows special properties in electrocatalysis. Herein, PtRu mesocrystal was synthesized on F doped graphene by wet chemical method. In this reaction system, silicon nanowires and hydrofluoric acid were used to form Si - H bonds, which served as reducing agents to reduce Pt and Ru ions and grow PtRu particles on reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The electrochemical results showed that the PtRu/rGO catalyst had a favourable electrocatalytic performance on methanol oxidation reaction. The corresponding mass activity reached 739 mA mg-1Pt, which was 2.23 times as large as 20% commercial platinum carbon (Pt/C, 332 mA mg-1Pt). Its stability and toxicity resistance were also much better than those of commercial Pt/C, showing a great prospect in practice applications. Furthermore, the forming mechanism of PtRu mesocrystal is discussed, which has general implications for the design of superstructure catalysts.

Colour-tunable ultralong organic phosphorescence upon temperature stimulus.

A new class of single-component molecular crystal with colour-tunable ultralong organic phosphorescence (UOP) was designed and synthesized through alkyl chain engineering. Forming a more rigid environment at 77 K, the colour-tunable UOP from yellow-white to blue-green is achieved through dual-emission of crystal and amorphous states.

AgCl/Ag3PO4: A stable Ag-Based nanocomposite photocatalyst with enhanced photocatalytic activity for the degradation of parabens.

An AgCl/Ag3PO4 composite has been successfully fabricated by a simple desorption-precipitation method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV/Vis), and photoluminescence (PL) have been used to study the structural and physicochemical characteristics of the AgCl/Ag3PO4 composite. The photocatalytic activity of the AgCl/Ag3PO4 composite has been tested by the degradation of parabens under visible-light irradiation. 100% of MPB was degraded within 40 min in the AgCl/Ag3PO4-visible light system. Moreover, the photocatalytic activity of AgCl/Ag3PO4 remained at 94% of the original level after five runs, which was much higher than that of pure Ag3PO4 (25%). The obtained results confirmed that the AgCl/Ag3PO4 composite exhibited significantly higher photocatalytic performance and improved stability compared with bare Ag3PO4. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of the AgCl/Ag3PO4 composite could be mainly attributed to highly efficient charge separation through a synergistic effect of AgCl, Ag3PO4, and in situ photo-reduced Ag nanoparticles. Trapping experiments confirmed h+ and ·O2- to be the two main active species in the photocatalytic process. Finally, a possible photocatalytic mechanism for the charge-transfer process is proposed to account for the enhanced photocatalytic performance of the AgCl/Ag3PO4 composite.

Twisted Molecular Structure on Tuning Ultralong Organic Phosphorescence.

Compared to planar carbazole, the molecular conjugation of iminodibenzyl (Id) was destroyed by a C-C bond and a twisted structure was formed, which exhibited blue-shifted ultralong phosphorescence with a lifetime of 402 ms in a crystal under ambient conditions. For the presence of an oscillating C-C bond between the two benzene rings in Id, more than one molecular configuration in the crystal was discovered by X-ray single-crystal analysis. Moreover, its ultralong phosphorescence color changed from blue to green by varying the excitation wavelength in solution at 77 K. Theoretical calculations also confirmed that different molecular configurations had certain impact on the phosphorescent photophysical properties. This result will allow a major step forward in expanding the scope of ultralong organic phosphorescent (UOP) materials, building a bridge to realize the relationship between molecular structure and UOP property.

Role of in situ resultant H2O2 in the visible-light-driven photocatalytic inactivation of E. coli using natural sphalerite: a genetic study.

This study investigated how a natural sphalerite (NS) photocatalyst, under visible light irradiation, supports photocatalytic bacterial inactivation. This was done by comparing parent E. coli BW25113, and its two isogenic single-gene knock-out mutants, E. coli JW0797-1 (dps(-) mutant) and JW1721-1 (katE(-) mutant), where both dps and KatE genes are likely related to H2O2 production. NS could inactivate approximately 5-, 7- and 7-log of E. coli BW25113, JW0797-1, and JW1721-1 within 6 h irradiation, respectively. The two isogenic mutants were more susceptible to photocatalysis than the parental strain because of their lack of a defense system against H2O2 oxidative stress. The ability of in situ resultant H2O2 to serve as a defense against photocatalytic inactivation was also confirmed using scavenging experiments and partition system experiments. Studying catalase activity further revealed that in situ H2O2 played an important role in these inactivation processes. The destruction of bacterial cells from the cell envelope to the intracellular components was also observed using field emission-scanning electron microscopy. Moreover, FT-IR was used to monitor bacterial cell decomposition, key functional group evolution, and bacterial cell structures. This is the first study to investigate the photocatalytic inactivation mechanism of E. coli using single-gene deletion mutants under visible light irradiation.

Systematic approach to in-depth understanding of photoelectrocatalytic bacterial inactivation mechanisms by tracking the decomposed building blocks.

A systematic approach was developed to understand, in-depth, the mechanisms involved during the inactivation of bacterial cells using photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) processes with Escherichia coli K-12 as the model microorganism. The bacterial cells were found to be inactivated and decomposed primarily due to attack from photogenerated H2O2. Extracellular reactive oxygen species (ROSs), such as H2O2, may penetrate into the bacterial cell and cause dramatically elevated intracellular ROSs levels, which would overwhelm the antioxidative capacity of bacterial protective enzymes such as superoxide dismutase and catalase. The activities of these two enzymes were found to decrease due to the ROSs attacks during PEC inactivation. Bacterial cell wall damage was then observed, including loss of cell membrane integrity and increased permeability, followed by the decomposition of cell envelope (demonstrated by scanning electronic microscope images). One of the bacterial building blocks, protein, was found to be oxidatively damaged due to the ROSs attacks, as well. Leakage of cytoplasm and biomolecules (bacterial building blocks such as proteins and nucleic acids) were evident during prolonged PEC inactivation process. The leaked cytoplasmic substances and cell debris could be further degraded and, ultimately, mineralized with prolonged PEC treatment.

An efficient and provably-secure certificateless public key encryption scheme for telecare medicine information systems.

Telecare Medicine Information Systems (TMIS) promote the traditional medical and healthcare services by information and communication technology. Since the physician and caregiver can monitor the patient's physiological condition remotely in TMIS, the confidentiality of this sensitive data should be protected, which is the key issue in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. In this paper, we propose an efficient certificateless public key encryption scheme without bilinear pairing for TMIS. Our proposal is proved to be secure in the random oracle model under the hardness assumption of computational Diffie-Hellman problem. Moreover, after modifying the original model of the certificateless encryption, this scheme achieves Girault's trust level 3. Compared with the related protocols, the perform evaluations show that our scheme is more efficient and appropriate to collocate with low power mobile devices for TMIS.

Synthesis and characterization of novel plasmonic Ag/AgX-CNTs (X = Cl, Br, I) nanocomposite photocatalysts and synergetic degradation of organic pollutant under visible light.

A series of novel well-defined Ag/AgX (X = Cl, Br, I) loaded carbon nanotubes (CNTs) composite photocatalysts (Ag/AgX-CNTs) were fabricated for the first time via a facile ultrasonic assistant deposition-precipitation method at the room temperature (25 ± 1 °C). X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and ultraviolet-visible light absorption spectra analysis were used to characterize the structure, morphology, and optical properties of the as-prepared photocatalysts. Results confirmed the existence of the direct interfacial contact between Ag/AgX nanoparticles and CNTs, and Ag/AgX-CNTs nanocomposites exhibit superior absorbance in the visible light (VL) region owing to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of Ag nanoparticles. The fabricated composite photocatalysts were employed to remove 2,4,6-tribromophenol (TBP) in aqueous phase. A remarkably enhanced VL photocatalytic degradation efficiency of Ag/AgX-CNTs nanocomposites was observed when compared to that of pure AgX or CNTs. The photocatalytic activity enhancement of Ag/AgX-CNTs was due to the effective electron transfer from photoexcited AgX and plasmon-excited Ag(0) nanoparticles to CNTs. This can effectively decrease the recombination of electron-hole pairs, lead to a prolonged lifetime of the photoholes that promotes the degradation efficiency.

Enhancement of photocatalytic activity of nano-scale TiO2 particles co-doped by rare earth elements and heteropolyacids.

Nano-scale TiO(2) photocatalysts co-doped by rare earth ions (La(3+), Ce(3+)) and heteropolyacids were designed and prepared by sol-gel method to probe synergistic effect on photocatalytic elimination of organic compounds, and their physicochemical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), specific surface area and porosity (BET and BJH), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) as well as Raman spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of prepared catalysts was evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) in water under UV-light irradiation. The results showed that the co-doping of the rare earth ions and heteropolyacids can significantly improve the photocatalytic activity of prepared composite photocatalysts due to the efficient inhibition of the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The enhancement mechanism of co-doping of the rare earth ions and heteropolyacids on TiO(2) is also discussed.

Facile and rapid one-step radiosynthesis of [(18)F]BAY94-9172 with a new precursor.

INTRODUCTION: [(18)F]BAY94-9172 (Florbetaben) (Compound 8) is a positron emission tomography (PET) tracer that is currently in Phase III study for in vivo mapping of fibrillar amyloid ß as a pathological hallmark for Alzheimer's disease. This work reports new methods for the synthesis of [(19)F]BAY94-9172 and its two different precursors and radiosynthesis of [(18)F]BAY94-9172 with the two precursors by purification using Sep-Pak cartridge. METHODS: The reference standard [(19)F]BAY94-9172 and the new precursor (Compound 9) were obtained from the reactions of (E)-4-methylamino-4'-hydroxystilbene (Compound 1) with methanesulfonic acid 2-[2-(2-fluoro-ethoxy)-ethoxy]-ethyl ester (Compound 11) and methanesulfonic acid 2-[2-(2-methanesulfonyloxy-ethoxy)-ethoxy]-ethyl ester (Compound 13), respectively. The reported precursor (Compound 6) is an N-BOC-protected mesylate compound, which was obtained from Compound 9. The one-step radiosynthesis of [(18)F]BAY94-9172 was carried out in the modified PET-MF-2V-IT-1 synthesizer by [(18)F]fluorination of the new precursor (Compound 9) and purification with plus C18 Sep-Pak cartridges and was compared with two-step one-pot radiosynthesis using the reported precursor (Compound 6) and Sep-Pak cartridge purification. RESULTS: For one-step radiosynthesis, the uncorrected radiochemical yield of [(18)F]BAY94-9172 was 23 ± 3% (n = 5, based on [(18)F]fluoride) within 30 min and the radiochemical purity was greater than 95%. For two-step one-pot radiosynthesis, the uncorrected radiochemical yield of [(18)F]BAY94-9172 was 17 ± 2% in 45 min (n = 4, based on [(18)F]fluoride) with the radiochemical purity being above 95% after the Sep-Pak cartridge purification. CONCLUSION: [(19)F]BAY94-9172 and the two precursors were synthesized by a short synthetic route. Compared with HPLC purification, the use of Sep-Pak purification of [(18)F]BAY94-9172 reduced the total radiosynthesis time. The one-step radiosynthesis of [(18)F]BAY94-9172 is convenient and can easily be applied to the commercial PET tracer synthesizer for automated synthesis.