Effects of Interleukin-19 overexpression in the medial prefrontal cortex on anxiety-related behaviors, BDNF expression and p38/JNK/ERK pathways.

Anxiety is a prevalent mental illness known for its high incidence, comorbidity, and tendency to recur, posing significant societal and individual burdens. Studies have highlighted Interleukin-19 (IL-19) as having potential relevance in neuropsychiatric disorders. Our previous research revealed that IL-19 overexpression in colonies exacerbated anxiety-related behaviors induced by dextran sodium sulfate/stress. However, the precise role and molecular mechanisms of IL-19 in anxiety regulation remain uncertain. In this study, we initiated an acute restraint stress (ARS)-induced anxious mouse model and identified heightened expression of IL-19 and IL-20Rα in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of ARS mice. Notably, IL-19 and IL-20Rα were predominantly present in the excitatory pyramidal neurons of the mPFC under both basal and ARS conditions. Utilizing the adeno-associated virus (AAV) strategy, we demonstrated that IL-19 overexpression in the mPFC induced anxiety-related behaviors and elevated stress susceptibility. Additionally, we observed decreased protein levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD95) in the mPFC of IL-19 overexpression mice, accompanied by reduced phosphorylation of in the p38, JNK, and Erk signaling pathways. These findings emphasize the role of IL-19 in modulating anxiety-related behaviors within the mPFC and suggest its potential as a pathological gene and therapeutic target for anxiety.

Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of a Novel NIK Inhibitor with Anti-Inflammatory and Hepatoprotective Effects for Sepsis Treatment.

NIK plays a crucial role in the noncanonical NF-κB signaling pathway associated with diverse inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Our study presents compound 54, a novel NIK inhibitor, designed through a structure-based scaffold-hopping approach from the previously identified B022. Compound 54 demonstrates remarkable selectivity and potency against NIK both in vitro and in vivo, effectively suppressing pro-inflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide production. In mouse models, compound 54 protected against LPS-induced systemic sepsis, reducing AST, ALT, and AKP liver injury markers. Additionally, it also attenuates sepsis-induced lung and kidney damage. Mechanistically, compound 54 blocks the noncanonical NF-κB signaling pathway by targeting NIK, preventing p100 to p52 processing. This work reveals a novel class of NIK inhibitors with significant potential for sepsis therapy.

Cowberry extract loaded chitosan hydrogel with photothermal and antioxidant properties promotes infected wound healing.

Bacterial infection and oxidative stress impede clinical wound healing. Herein, the plant-derived cowberry extract (CE) was first explored as a natural photothermal agent and antioxidant to deal with bacterial infection and oxidative stress. After loading in the carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCs)/oxidized dextran (Odex) hydrogel, the photothermal effect of CE was highly enhanced by CMCs. The controlled temperature induced by CE-containing hydrogel under NIR laser irradiation could rapidly (10 min) and effectively kill Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus, 99.3 %) and Escherichia coli (E. coli, 94.6 %). Besides, this hydrogel exhibited a fast gelation and hemostasis abilities, high stability, adhesion and ROS scavenging capabilities, as well as good injectability and biocompatibility. Above superior properties make this hydrogel to accelerate the wound healing in S. aureus-infected mice, and it is expected to be a potential clinical wound dressing.

Mild hyperthermia-assisted chitosan hydrogel with photothermal antibacterial property and CAT-like activity for infected wound healing.

Infected wounds pose a serious threat to public health and pose a significant challenge and financial burden worldwide. The treatment of infected wounds is now an urgent problem to be solved. Herein, mild hyperthermia-assisted hydrogels composed of carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCs), oxidized dextran (Odex), epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and PtNPs@PVP (CAT-like nanoenzymes) were proposed for the repair of infected wounds. The incorporation of PtNPs@PVP nanoenzymes give the hydrogels excellent photothermal property and CAT-like activity. When the temperature is maintained at 42-45 °C under 808 nm near infrared (NIR) exposure, the CMCs/Odex/EGCG/Nanoenzymes (COEN2) hydrogel demonstrated highly enhanced antibacterial ability (95.9 % in vivo), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) scavenging ratio (85.1 % in vitro) and oxygen supply (20.7 mg/L in vitro). Furthermore, this mild-heat stimulation also promoted angiogenesis in the damaged skin area. Overall, this multifunctional hydrogel with antibacterial, antioxidant, oxygen supply, hemostasis, and angiogenesis capabilities has shown great promise in the repair of infected wounds. This study establishes the paradigm of enhanced infected wound healing by mild hyperthermia-assisted H2O2 scavenging, oxygen supplemental, and photothermal antibacterial hydrogels.

ROS/pH dual responsive PRP-loaded multifunctional chitosan hydrogels with controlled release of growth factors for skin wound healing.

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) contains a variety of growth factors (GFs) and has been used in the treatment of a variety of diseases, including skin lesions. In particular, PRP with low immunogenicity will be more widely used. However, the explosive release of GFs limits its further application. In order to achieve controlled release of GFs, a multifunctional and reactive oxygen species (ROS)/pH dual responsive hydrogel was developed to load PRP derived from human cord blood for the treatment of skin wound healing. Based on the hydrogen bond and Schiff base interaction, carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS), oxidized dextran (Odex) and oligomeric procyanidins (OPC) were crosslinked to form CMCS/Odex/OPC/PRP hydrogel with good injectability, self-healing, adhesion, ROS scavenging, antibacterial activity, controlled and sustained release of GFs. In vitro cell experiments suggested that this hydrogel possessed excellent biocompatibility and could promote the proliferation and migration of L929. In vivo healing of full-layer skin wounds further indicated that the prepared hydrogel could regulate inflammation and promote epithelialization, collagen deposition, and angiogenesis. In summary, this present study demonstrates that CMCS/Odex/OPC/PRP hydrogel may serve as a promising multifunctional dressing for skin wound healing.

Association between PM10 pollution and the hospitalization of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with comorbidity: evidence in 17 cities of Henan, Central China.

Particulate matter (PM10) changes have been confirmed as one of the contributory factors affecting human health, the association between PM10 pollution and the hospitalization of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with comorbidity diseases was rarely reported. The same inpatient more than twice times admissions with COPD illness from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2021 were identified from hospitals in the 17 cities of Henan, Central China. City-specific associations were firstly estimated using the case time series (CTS) model and then combined to obtain the regional average association. The multivariate meta-analytic model produces pooled estimates of the set of coefficients representing the PM10-COPD hospitalizations association across the 17 cities. Cause-specific hospitalization analyses were performed by COPD patients with different comorbidity combinations. A total of 34,348 elderly (age ≥ 65) subjects were analyzed and with a total of 35,122.35 person-years. These coefficients can be used to compute the linear exposure-response curve expressed as relative risk (RR) in per 10 µg/m3 increase in PM10 at lag03, which was 1.0091 (95% CI 1.0070-1.0112) for COPD with comorbidity, 1.0089 (95% CI 1.0067-1.0110) for COPD with circulatory system diseases, 1.0079 (95% CI 1.0052-1.0105) for COPD with respiratory system diseases, 1.0076 (95% CI 1.0032-1.0121) for COPD with endocrine system diseases, and 1.0087 (95% CI 1.0013-1.0162) for COPD with genitourinary system diseases, respectively. Some heterogeneity was found across cities, with estimates ranging from 1.0227 in the Puyang and Jiaozuo to 1.0053 in Henan Provance, China. The effect of higher PM10, on average, was higher in studies for northern cities, with a steeper raise in risk: per 10 µg/m3 increase in PM10, the RR from 1.0062 (95% CI 1.0030-1.0093) for the 10th percentile of latitude to 1.0124 (95% CI 1.0089-1.0160) for the 90th percentile. Our findings indicated that PM10 exposure may increase the risk of hospitalizations for COPD with comorbidity. Moreover, there might be a higher morbidity risk associated with PM10 in northern latitudes, indicating that stricter air quality standards could potentially reduce PM10-related morbidity among individuals with COPD. These findings have implications for the implementation of effective clean air interventions aligned with national climate policies.

Construction and bioanalytical applications of poly-adenine-mediated gold nanoparticle-based spherical nucleic acids.

Owing to the versatile photophysical and chemical properties, spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) have been widely used in biosensing. However, traditional SNAs are formed by self-assembly of thiolated DNA on the surface of a gold nanoparticle (AuNP), where it is challenging to precisely control the orientation and surface density of DNA. As a new SNA, a polyadenine (polyA)-mediated SNA using the high binding affinity of consecutive adenines to AuNPs shows controllable surface density and configuration of DNA, which can be used to improve the performance of a biosensor. Herein, we first introduce the properties of polyA-mediated SNAs and fundamental principles regarding the polyA-AuNP interaction. Then, we provide an overview of current representative synthesis methods of polyA-mediated SNAs and their advantages and disadvantages. After that, we summarize the application of polyA-mediated SNAs in biosensing based on fluorescence and colorimetric methods, followed by discussion and an outlook of future challenges in this field.

High focusing efficiency metalens with large numerical aperture at terahertz frequency.

Metalenses have been widely investigated for their features of high design freedom. For practical applications, it is necessary to maximize the efficiency of the metalens. However, it is a great challenge to realize both a high numerical aperture (NA) and high-efficiency metalens in the community. Here, we introduce a method to design a hybrid metalens with a large numerical aperture and high focusing efficiency at terahertz frequency. The hybrid metalens consists of gradient metasurfaces in the central area and metagrating in the peripheral area to achieve high-efficiency beam focusing. To verify this concept, a hybrid metalens with a numerical aperture of 0.95 was designed at λ = 118.8 µm. The simulation results demonstrate that the focusing efficiency of the hybrid metalens is 65.8%. The experimental results show that the designed metalens is able to increase the focusing efficiency from 22.8% to 41.7%. The full widths at half maxima (FWHMs) of the focused spots of the hybrid metalens in the x direction and y direction are 0.72λ and 0.45λ, respectively. The proposed high-efficiency hybrid metalens has promising application prospects in various applications of a complex optical system.

Kagome-like BiP3 Monolayer: An Emerging Quasi-Direct Auxetic Semiconductor Coupled with High Anisotropic Mobility toward Visible-Light-Driven Photoelectrocatalytic pH-Robust Overall Water-Splitting.

Two-dimensional (2D) Janus materials exhibit an outstanding potential that can meet the rigorous requirements of photocatalytic water splitting resulting from their unique atomic arrangement. However, these materials are quite scarce. Through ab initio density functional theory calculations, we introduce a kagome topology into the honeycomb lattice of blue phosphorene using phosphorus and bismuth atoms to build a hybrid honeycomb-like kagome lattice, realized by a hitherto unknown kagome-like Janus-like BiP3 monolayer with robust stability. Excitingly, the out-of-plane asymmetry benefiting from kagome and honeycomb topologies gives rise to a significantly negative out-of-plane Poisson's ratio and an obvious built-in electric field pointing from the sublayer of the P atom to the sublayer of the Bi atom. In conjunction with the investigations that encompass semiconducting properties, such as a quasi-direct gap, suitable band-edge positions, effective visible-light absorption, and high carrier mobility, the BiP3 monolayer achieves overall water splitting at pH 0-14 regardless of strain. Moreover, this intrinsic electric field provides a sufficient photogenerated carrier driving force for water splitting. The bare BiP3 comprises P and Bi atoms that function as catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) active sites, respectively. Upon exposure to light, the reaction of water into H2 and O2 can be observed across a pH range of 0-14. Meanwhile, by designing a transition-metal single-atom catalyst (TM@BiP3), our investigations have shown that embedding a single TM on BiP3 is a feasible route to improving the HER/OER activity by reducing the overpotentials to -0.039 and 0.58 eV for Mo and Os atoms, respectively. In this case, the positive value of the external potential acts as a sufficient OER driving force, i.e., in the light environment, the Os@BiP3 system can promote water molecules spontaneously oxidized into O2 at pH 0-14.

A review of recent advances on cyanidin-3-glucoside: the biotransformation, absorption, bioactivity and applications of nano-encapsulation.

Anthocyanins are a class of dietary polyphenols that exhibit technological and bioactive-relevant properties. C3G is absorbed in its unmodified molecular form in the upper digestive tract, goes through the extended first-passage metabolism and its metabolites enter the bloodstream. The C3G metabolites possess health benefits such as antioxidant, cardio-protective, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, and anti-thrombotic activities. However, the efficacy and distribution of C3G in the human body are restricted due to its low stability and bioaccessibility. Inspiringly, the lipid-, polysaccharide-, protein-, and nanocapsule-associated conjugates have achieved targeted delivery with enhanced bioaccessibility and controlled release. In this review, the absorption and transportation modes, decomposition and metabolism processes, functional activity mechanisms, and improved methods for enhancing the bioavailability of C3G are summarized. Moreover, the aspects of the gut microbiota regulation, C3G-mediated cytoprotection and different biocompatible materials applications are briefly discussed.

Association of social isolation and cognitive performance: a longitudinal study using a four-wave nationwide survey.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine the bidirectional relationship between social isolation and cognitive performance among Chinese middle-aged and older adults. METHODS: We used four waves of data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. A latent growth model (LGM) was applied to examine the association between social isolation and cognitive performance across different characteristics. RESULTS: In the analysis, we ultimately included 9,367 participants after excluding respondents with missing key variables. Social isolation and cognitive performance showed significant differences across time. After adjusting for the confounders, there was a significant association between higher social isolation and poor cognitive performance (ß = -1.38, p < 0.001), and higher levels of social isolation resulted in a more pronounced decline in cognition over time (ß = 0.17, p < 0.001). Additionally, the path coefficient between the initial level of cognition at baseline and the slope of social isolation was - 0.07 (p < 0.001) and 0.01 (p = 0.021), respectively. For the correlation between slopes, our study found that females' cognition scores were more susceptible to social isolation (ß = - 2.78, p < 0.001). Similarly, regarding cognition scores, the influence of social isolation was greater among people with education below the primary level (ß = - 2.89, p = 0.002) or a greater number of chronic diseases (ß = - 2.56, p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our findings support the bidirectional association between social isolation and cognition. Specifically, higher baseline social isolation and its rate of increase over time contribute to an intensification of cognitive decline at follow-up. Besides, poorer cognitive performance predicted higher social isolation.

Antibiofilm and mechanical properties of silver nanowire-modified glass ionomer cement.

BACKGROUND: Glass ionomer cement (GIC) is a commonly used restorative material in dentistry, but GIC does not have significant antibiofilm effects and its mechanical strength is limited. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the antibiofilm and mechanical properties of a newly developed silver nanowire (AgNW) modified GIC. METHODS: GICs were modified with different nanosilver formulations including 0.05%wt AgNW, 0.5%wt AgNW, 0.05%wt silver nanoparticle (AgNP) and 0.5%wt AgNP. Biofilms of Streptococcus mutans were cultured for 72 h on GIC specimens. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was conducted to observe the accumulation and morphology of Streptococcus mutans on the material surfaces. Another set of biofilm/specimens was treated with SYTO-9 and the biofilm development was evaluated by quantifying the visible stain with an inverted fluorescence microscope. The compressive strength of the specimens was assessed according to ISO 9917-1:2007. The colour of GICs was compared using the VITA Easyshade system. RESULTS: SEM images showed that fewer biofilms were accumulated on nanosilver-modified GICs. The Streptococcus mutans quantity was significantly lower in all nanosilver-modified groups compared to conventional GIC (p<0.0001). GIC modified with 0.5% AgNP showed slightly lower compressive strength than the negative control (58.3 ± 12.9 MPa vs 78.3 ± 13.8 MPa); but there is no significant difference between all study groups. The colour change between AgNW-modified GIC and conventional GIC was significantly lower than that between AgNP-modified GIC and conventional GIC. CONCLUSION: AgNW-modified GIC showed superior antibiofilm effect and comparable compressive strength to conventional GIC. In addition, the complement of AgNW would not influence the colour stability of GIC as much as AgNP. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This study developed a novel AgNW-modified GIC material. It showed good antibiofilm and mechanical properties and would not influence the colour stability of GIC. The AgNW-modified GIC has a large potential for clinical use and biomedical application.

The function of BoTCP25 in the regulation of leaf development of Chinese kale.

XG Chinese kale (Brassica oleracea cv. 'XiangGu') is a variety of Chinese kale and has metamorphic leaves attached to the true leaves. Metamorphic leaves are secondary leaves emerging from the veins of true leaves. However, it remains unknown how the formation of metamorphic leaves is regulated and whether it differs from normal leaves. BoTCP25 is differentially expressed in different parts of XG leaves and respond to auxin signals. To clarify the function of BoTCP25 in XG Chinese kale leaves, we overexpressed BoTCP25 in XG and Arabidopsis, and interestingly, its overexpression caused Chinese kale leaves to curl and changed the location of metamorphic leaves, whereas heterologous expression of BoTCP25 in Arabidopsis did not show metamorphic leaves, but only an increase in leaf number and leaf area. Further analysis of the expression of related genes in Chinese kale and Arabidopsis overexpressing BoTCP25 revealed that BoTCP25 could directly bind the promoter of BoNGA3, a transcription factor related to leaf development, and induce a significant expression of BoNGA3 in transgenic Chinese kale plants, whereas this induction of NGA3 did not occur in transgenic Arabidopsis. This suggests that the regulation of Chinese kale metamorphic leaves by BoTCP25 is dependent on a regulatory pathway or elements specific to XG and that this regulatory element may be repressed or absent from Arabidopsis. In addition, the expression of miR319's precursor, a negative regulator of BoTCP25, also differed in transgenic Chinese kale and Arabidopsis. miR319's transcrips were significantly up-regulated in transgenic Chinese kale mature leaves, while in transgenic Arabidopsis, the expression of miR319 in mature leaves was kept low. In conclusion, the differential expression of BoNGA3 and miR319 in the two species may be related to the exertion of BoTCP25 function, thus partially contributing to the differences in leaf phenotypes between overexpressed BoTCP25 in Arabidopsis and Chinese kale.

Bimetallic infinite coordination nanopolymers via phototherapy and STING activation for eliciting robust antitumor immunity.

Phototherapy can trigger immunogenic cell death of tumors in situ, whereas it is virtually impossible to eradicate the tumor due to the intrinsic resistance and inefficient anti-tumor immunity. To overcome these limitations, novel bimetallic infinite coordination nanopolymers (TA-Fe/Mn-OVA@MB NPs) were synthesized using model antigen ovalbumin (OVA) as a template to assemble tannic acid (TA) and bi-metal, supplemented with methylene blue (MB) surface absorption. The formulated TA-Fe/Mn-OVA@MB NPs possess excellent photothermal and photodynamic therapy (PTT/PDT) performance, which is adequate to destroy tumor cells by physical and chemical attack. Especially, these TA-Fe/Mn-OVA@MB NPs are capability of promoting the dendritic cells (DCs) maturation and antigen presentation via manganese-mediated cGAS-STING pathway activation, finally activating cytotoxicity T lymphocyte and promoting memory T lymphocyte differentiation in the peripheral lymphoid organs. In conclusion, this research offers a versatile metal-polyphenol nanoplatform to integrate functional metals and therapeutic molecule for topical phototherapy and robust anti-tumor immune activation.

NIR responsive nanoenzymes via photothermal ablation and hypoxia reversal to potentiate the STING-dependent innate antitumor immunity.

Despite advances in combined photothermal/immunotherapy of tumor, the therapeutic effect has been impaired due to hypoxic microenvironment and inadequate immune activation. Manganese ions directly activated the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway and induced innate antitumor immunity. Herein, a near infrared light (NIR)-responsive nanoenzyme (PB-Mn/OVA NE) was constructed by doping manganese into the ovalbumin (OVA)-templated Prussian blue (PB) nanoparticles. The resultant PB-Mn/OVA NEs exhibited favorable catalase activity to produce oxygen, which was conducive to alleviate the tumor hypoxic microenvironment. Under 808 â€‹nm NIR irradiation, the PB-Mn/OVA NEs with outstanding photothermal conversion efficiency of 30% significantly destroyed tumor cells by inducing immunogenic cell death (ICD). Impressively, the PB-Mn/OVA NEs could activate the cGAS-STING pathway to promote the maturation and the antigen cross-presentation ability of dendritic cells (DCs), which further activated cytotoxic T lymphocytes and memory T lymphocytes. Overall, this work presents a powerful nanoenzyme formula to integrate photothermal ablation and hypoxic reversal for triggering robust innate and adaptive antitumor immune response.

Protective Effect of Anthocyanins against Neurodegenerative Diseases through the Microbial-Intestinal-Brain Axis: A Critical Review.

With the increase in human mean age, the prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) also rises. This negatively affects mental and physiological health. In recent years, evidence has revealed that anthocyanins could regulate the functioning of the central nervous system (CNS) through the microbiome-gut-brain axis, which provides a new perspective for treating NDs. In this review, the protective effects and mechanisms of anthocyanins against NDs are summarized, especially the interaction between anthocyanins and the intestinal microbiota, and the microbial-intestinal-brain axis system is comprehensively discussed. Moreover, anthocyanins achieve the therapeutic purpose of NDs by regulating intestinal microflora and certain metabolites (protocateic acid, vanillic acid, etc.). In particular, the inhibitory effect of tryptophan metabolism on some neurotransmitters and the induction of blood-brain barrier permeability by butyrate production has a preventive effect on NDs. Overall, it is suggested that microbial-intestinal-brain axis may be a novel mechanism for the protective effect of anthocyanins against NDs.

Effects of the Novel LaPLa-Enriched Medium- and Long-Chain Triacylglycerols on Body Weight, Glycolipid Metabolism, and Gut Microbiota Composition in High Fat Diet-Fed C57BL/6J Mice.

The roles of medium- and long-chain triacylglycerols (MLCT) on health benefits under high fat diet (HFD) conditions remain in dispute. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of novel LaPLa-rich MLCT on the glycolipid metabolism and gut microbiota in HFD-fed mice when pork fat is half replaced with MLCT and palm stearin (PS). The results showed that although MLCT could increase the body weight in the mouse model, it can improve the energy utilization, regulate the glucose and lipid metabolism, and inhibit the occurrence of inflammation. Furthermore, 16S rRNA gene sequencing of gut microbiota indicated that PS and MLCT affected the overall structure of the gut microbiota to a varying extent and specifically changed the abundance of some operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Moreover, several OTUs belonging to the genera Dorea, Streptococcus, and g_Eryipelotrichaceae had a high correlation with obesity and obesity-related metabolic disorders of the host. Therefore, it can be seen that this new MLCT has different properties and functions from the previous traditional MLCT, and it can better combine the advantages of MLCT, lauric acid, and sn-2 palmitate, as well as the advantages of health function and metabolism. In summary, this study explored the effects of LaPLa-enriched lipids on glycolipid metabolism in mice, providing theoretical support for future studies on the efficacy of different types of conjugated lipids, intending to apply them to industrial production and subsequent development of related products.

Immunoinducible Carbon Dot-Incorporated Hydrogels as a Photothermal-Derived Antigen Depot to Trigger a Robust Antitumor Immune Response.

Immunogenic tumor cell death (ICD) induced by photothermal therapy (PTT) fails to elicit a robust antitumor immune response partially due to its inherent immunosuppressive microenvironment and poor antigen presentation. To address these issues, we developed an immunoinducible carbon dot-incorporated hydrogel (iCD@Gel) through a dynamic covalent Schiff base reaction using mannose-modified aluminum-doped carbon dots (M/A-CDs) as a cross-linking agent. The M/A-CDs possessed superior photothermal conversion efficiency and served as nanocarriers to load cytosine-phosphate-guanine oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG ODNs) for inducing the maturation of dendritic cells (DCs) via mannose receptor-mediated targeting delivery. Upon intratumoral injection, the as-prepared iCD@Gel induced ICD, and damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) were released via photothermal ablation under 808 nm NIR irradiation. Subsequently, the iCD@Gel synergized with the DAMPs to significantly promote the maturation and antigen cross-presentation ability of DCs. This work provides a promising strategy to develop carbon dot-based therapeutic hydrogels for photothermal therapy and immune activation.

Automatic identification of harmful algae based on multiple convolutional neural networks and transfer learning.

The monitoring of harmful phytoplankton is very important for the maintenance of the aquatic ecological environment. Traditional algae monitoring methods require professionals with substantial experience in algae species, which are time-consuming, expensive, and limited in practice. The automatic classification of algae cell images and the identification of harmful phytoplankton images were realized by the combination of multiple convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and deep learning techniques based on transfer learning in this work. Eleven common harmful and 31 harmless phytoplankton genera were collected as input samples; the five CNNs classification models of AlexNet, VGG16, GoogLeNet, ResNet50, and MobileNetV2 were fine-tuned to automatically classify phytoplankton images; and the average accuracy was improved 11.9% when compared to models without fine-tuning. In order to monitor harmful phytoplankton which can cause red tides or produce toxins severely polluting drinking water, a new identification method of harmful phytoplankton which combines the recognition results of five CNN models was proposed, and the recall rate reached 98.0%. The experimental results validate that the recognition performance of harmful phytoplankton could be significantly improved by transfer learning, and the proposed identification method is effective in the preliminary screening of harmful phytoplankton and greatly reduces the workload of professional personnel.