A C3-Symmetric Triple Oxa[6]helicene with Circularly Polarized Luminescence Featuring Parallel Transition Dipole Moments

We present the synthesis and characterization of the first triple oxa[6]helicene with C3 symmetry. In contrast to the reported D3-symmetric triple oxa[7]helicene, the C3-symmetric analogue holds parallel electric and magnetic...

Urinary complement proteins and risk of end-stage renal disease: quantitative urinary proteomics in patients with type 2 diabetes and biopsy-proven diabetic nephropathy

PURPOSE

To investigate the association between urinary complement proteins and renal outcome in biopsy-proven diabetic nephropathy (DN).

METHODS

Untargeted proteomic and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) functional analyses and targeted proteomic analysis using parallel reaction-monitoring (PRM)-mass spectrometry was performed to determine the abundance of urinary complement proteins in healthy controls, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients, and patients with T2DM and biopsy-proven DN. The abundance of each urinary complement protein was individually included in Cox proportional hazards models for predicting progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD).

RESULTS

Untargeted proteomic and functional analysis using the KEGG showed that differentially expressed urinary proteins were primarily associated with the complement and coagulation cascades. Subsequent urinary complement proteins quantification using PRM showed that urinary abundances of C3, C9, and complement factor H (CFAH) correlated negatively with annual estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decline, while urinary abundances of C5, decay-accelerating factor (DAF), and CD59 correlated positively with annual rate of eGFR decline. Furthermore, higher urinary abundance of CFAH and lower urinary abundance of DAF were independently associated with greater risk of progression to ESRD. Urinary abundance of CFAH and DAF had a larger area under the curve (AUC) than that of eGFR, proteinuria, or any pathological parameter. Moreover, the model that included CFAH or DAF had a larger AUC than that with only clinical or pathological parameters.

CONCLUSION

Urinary abundance of complement proteins was significantly associated with ESRD in patients with T2DM and biopsy-proven DN, indicating that therapeutically targeting the complement pathway may alleviate progression of DN.

Asymmetric Non-Fullerene Small-Molecule Acceptors toward High-Performance Organic Solar Cells

Applying an asymmetric strategy to construct non-fullerene small-molecule acceptors (NFSMAs) in organic solar cells (OSCs) plays a vital role in the development of organic photovoltaic materials. In the past several years, taking advantage of the larger dipole moment and stronger intermolecular interactions, asymmetric NFSMAs have witnessed tremendous progress in OSCs with a power conversion efficiency of over 18%. From a structural point of view, besides the possible changes in the conformation effect on molecular packing, asymmetric acceptors can also achieve a balance between the solubility and the crystallinity. Herein, we systematically investigate the structure-property-performance relationships of asymmetric NFSMAs that have recently emerged and try to clarify the feasibility and practicality of an asymmetric strategy for the design of higher-performance NFSMAs. Finally, we put forward our views and a concise outlook on the asymmetric strategy.

Binary and Ternary Polymer Solar Cells Based on a Wide Bandgap D-A Copolymer Donor and Two Nonfullerene Acceptors with Complementary Absorption Spectral

A new wide-bandgap conjugated D-A polymer denoted as P106 with a medium acceptor dithieno [2,3-e;3'2'-g]isoindole-7,9 (8H) (DTID) unit and strong 2-dodecylbenzo[1,2-b:3,4-b':6,5-b"]trithiophene (3TB) donor units shows an optical bandgap of 2.04 and highest occupied molecular orbital energy level of -5.56 eV. P106 is used as the donor and two nonfullerene acceptors-medium bandgap DBTBT-IC and narrow band Y18-DMO-are used as acceptors for the construction of binary and ternary bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells. The optimized polymer solar cells based on P106 : DBTBT-IC and P106 : Y18-DMO exhibit power conversion efficiencies of 11.76 % and 14.07 %, respectively. The short-circuit current density (22.78 mA cm^-2 ) for the P106 : Y18-DMO device is higher than that for P106 : DBTBT-IC (18.56 mA cm^-2 ) one, which could be attributed to the more photon harvesting efficiency of the P106 : Y18-DMO active layer. In light of the high short-circuit current densities and fill factors for the Y18-DMO based device and the high value of open circuit voltage of the DBTBT-IC based device, ternary polymer solar cells are fabricated by using ternary active layer (P106 : DBTBT-IC : Y18-DMO) and achieve a power conversion efficiency of 16.49 % with low energy loss of 0.47 eV.

Research Note: Effect of dietary cottonseed meal and soybean oil concentration on digesta passage time and amino acids digestibility in roosters

Two experiments were conducted to study the effect of dietary cottonseed meal (CM) and soybean oil (SO) on passage time of digesta and standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids (AA). The experimental design was a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement evaluating the levels of CM (20 or 40 %) and SO (0 or 10 %). Experiment 1 estimated the effect of CM and SO on the passage time of digesta. Twenty-five Chinese yellow-feathered roosters (BW = 2.61 ± 0.08 kg; 26-wk-old) were individually weighed and allocated to 5 diets in 5 randomized complete blocks by initial BW. Experimental diet 1 contained 20% CM and 0 SO, diet 2 contained 20% CM and 10% SO, diet 3 contained 40% CM and 0% SO, diet 4 contained 40% CM and 10% SO, and a nitrogen-free diet was also fed. Passage time through the total digestive tract was determined by time-relative cumulation of dry excreta. Experiment 2 estimated the effect of CM and SO on SID of AA in CM. Thirty Chinese yellow-feathered roosters (BW = 2.91 ± 0.05 kg; 26-wk-old) were allocated to the 5 experimental diets in 6 randomized complete blocks by initial BW to determine the SID of AA. Increasing CM concentration significantly reduced the time for 50% relative cumulation of dry excreta (P < 0.05). Adding 10% SO tended to increase the time for 50% relative cumulation of dry excreta (0.05 < P < 0.10) relative to diets without SO. Dietary CM and SO did not affect the SID of indispensable AA or dispensable AA of CM significantly, but increasing dietary CM tended to reduce the SID of Lys (0.05 < P < 0.10). Increasing SO tended to reduce the SID of Met (0.05 < P < 0.10). There were no significant interactive effects of SO and CM (P > 0.10). These results suggest passage time is increased with dietary SO, and reduced with dietary CM, but digestibility of AA in CM was not significantly affected by dietary CM and SO.

[Analysis of laboratory re-examination results in Sichuan Provincial Malaria Diagnostic Reference Laboratory from 2014 to 2020]

OBJECTIVE

To re-examine the diagnosis results of reported malaria cases in Sichuan Province from 2014 to 2020, so as to assess the malaria diagnostic capability of Sichuan Provincial Malaria Diagnostic Reference Laboratory.

METHODS

The blood and blood smear samples from reported malaria cases were collected by Sichuan Provincial Malaria Diagnostic Reference Laboratory from 2014 to 2020, and subjected to re-examinations using microscopy and nested PCR assay. The re-examination results were compared.

RESULTS

A total of 1 710 samples from reported malaria cases were re-examined by Sichuan Provincial Malaria Diagnostic Reference Laboratory from 2014 to 2020, and 1 634 samples were identified positive, with a positive coincidence rate of 95.56% (1 634/1 710) and a 92.29% (1 508/1 634) total coincidence rate of the Plasmodium species. The coincidence rates with P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae and P. ovale were 99.48% (961/966), 97.07% (430/443), 83.05% (98/118) and 67.86% (19/28), respectively, and the coincidence rate was 91.81% (1 513/1 648) between microscopic and nested-PCR results.

CONCLUSIONS

The capability of microscopists remains weak at grassroot medical institutions in Sichuan Province. Further training is required among microscopists to improve the malaria surveillance capability in Sichuan Province during the post-elimination stage.

Y6 and its derivatives: molecular design and physical mechanism

Y6 and its derivatives have advanced the efficiency of organic solar cells to 15%-18%. This perspective reveals the device and photo physics features of Y-series based devices and proposed some guidelines for future molecular design.

Reduced Intrinsic Non-Radiative Losses Allow Room-Temperature Triplet Emission from Purely Organic Emitters

Persistent luminescence from triplet excitons in organic molecules is rare, as fast non-radiative deactivation typically dominates over radiative transitions. This work demonstrates that the substitution of a hydrogen atom in a derivative of phenanthroimidazole with an N-phenyl ring can substantially stabilize the excited state. This stabilization converts an organic material without phosphorescence emission into a molecular system exhibiting efficient and ultralong afterglow phosphorescence at room temperature. Results from systematic photophysical investigations, kinetic modeling, excited-state dynamic modeling, and single-crystal structure analysis identify that the long-lived triplets originate from a reduction of intrinsic non-radiative molecular relaxations. Further modification of the N-phenyl ring with halogen atoms affects the afterglow lifetime and quantum yield. As a proof-of-concept, an anticounterfeiting device is demonstrated with a time-dependent Morse code feature for data encryption based on these emitters. A fundamental design principle is outlined to achieve long-lived and emissive triplet states by suppressing intrinsic non-radiative relaxations in the form of molecular vibrations or rotations.

Construction of multifunctional porcine acellular dermal matrix hydrogel blended with vancomycin for hemorrhage control, antibacterial action, and tissue repair in infected trauma wounds

Prevention of bacterial infection and reduction of hemorrhage, the primary challenges posed by trauma before hospitalization, are essential steps in prolonging the patient's life until they have been transported to a trauma center. Extracellular matrix (ECM) hydrogel is a promising biocompatible material for accelerating wound closure. However, due to the lack of antibacterial properties, this hydrogel is difficult to be applied to acute contaminated wounds. This study formulates an injectable dermal extracellular matrix hydrogel (porcine acellular dermal matrix (ADM)) as a scaffold for skin defect repair. The hydrogel combines vancomycin, an antimicrobial agent for inducing hemostasis, expediting antimicrobial activity, and promoting tissue repair. The hydrogel possesses a porous structure beneficial for the adsorption of vancomycin. The antimicrobial agent can be timely released from the hydrogel within an hour, which is less than the time taken by bacteria to infest an injury, with a cumulative release rate of approximately 80%, and thus enables a relatively fast bactericidal effect. The cytotoxicity investigation demonstrates the biocompatibility of the ADM hydrogel. Dynamic coagulation experiments reveal accelerated blood coagulation by the hydrogel. In vivo antibacterial and hemostatic experiments on a rat model indicate the healing of infected tissue and effective control of hemorrhaging by the hydrogel. Therefore, the vancomycin-loaded ADM hydrogel will be a viable biomaterial for controlling hemorrhage and preventing bacterial infections in trauma patients.

Tunable valley polarization in Janus WSSe by magnetic proximity coupling to a CrI3 layer

We investigate the electronic properties and valley physics of Janus monolayer WSSe on a CrI₃ substrate layer based on first-principles calculations. It is shown that the K and K' valley degeneracy can be lifted which leads to valley polarization (VP) in the WSSe due to the magnetic proximity coupling to a magnetic substrate. The magnitude of VP is highly sensitive to the interfacial electronic properties and can be tuned by varying the stacking configurations of the heterostructure. Interestingly, the direction of VP can be altered by manipulating the layer alignment without reversing the magnetism orientation of the magnetic substrate CrI₃. We suggest that the hybridization between the bands of WSSe and the substrate plays an important role. Meanwhile, the charge distributions have been mapped out to uncover the microscopic origin of the direction variable VP. In addition, large VP can be achieved by adjusting the interlayer spacing. Our investigations may have potential applications in the design of valleytronic devices.

An Overview of High-Performance Indoor Organic Photovoltaics

In recent years, indoor organic photovoltaics (IOPVs) have attracted increasing attention because of their ability to power microelectronic devices and sensors, especially for the internet of things (IoT). In contrast with silicon-based indoor PV, the IOPVs exhibit better performance due to their tunable bandgap via molecular design, which could achieve a better spectrum matched with the lighting sources. Based on the simulated power conversion efficiency (PCE) in theory, the maximum value can achieve over 50 % under the white LED illumination, which is much higher than the practical top PCE of 31 %, indicating there is room further to improve the performance of IOPVs by various optimization methods. Based on these benefits, the recent progress in IOPVs with different methods was summarizes, and light was shed on the remaining challenges for achieving practical applications in the future. In the end, some guidelines for the development of IOPVs were proposed.

S-Shaped Double Helicene Diimides: Synthesis, Self-Assembly, and Mechanofluorochromism

Herein we present a synthesis of an S-shaped double helicene with fused imide moieties, achieving a contorted aromatic diimide (DHDI) with good fluorescence properties in both solution and the solid state. DHDI demonstrates distinct mechanofluorochromism from yellow to green emission under grinding of its crystalline powder.

Compatibility between Solubility and Enhanced Crystallinity of Benzotriazole-Based Small Molecular Acceptors with Less Bulky Alkyl Chains for Organic Solar Cells

Optimizing the molecular structures of organic solar cell (OSC) materials and boosting the power conversion efficiencies are the eternal theme in the solar energy region. A series of fused benzotriazole (BTA)-based A-DA'D-A structures of nonfullerene acceptors (such as Y18) were developed for application in efficient OSCs, in which high quantum efficiencies and low voltage losses could be achieved because of the optimized electron-deficient core and specific molecular geometry. Here, based on the BTA core, the bulky alkyl chain on the BTA unit was further tailored to minimize the lateral alkyl chains and enhance the crystallinity while maintaining an adequate solubility. The resulting NFAs of BTA-C1, BTA-C5, and BTA-C6 are synthesized. Compared with the well-designed molecular Y18 (BTA-C8), we found that simply replacing the 2-ethylhexyl chain with a single methyl (BTA-C1) can easily improve the fill factor up to 77%, but its poor light absorption capacity and large domain size impeded further efficiency improvement. In particular, the BTA-C5, with a shortened branch alkyl chain of 2-methylbutyl, achieves suitable solubility and enhanced crystallinity. Significantly, owing to the balanced charge carrier mobility and suitable phase separation, the BTA-C5-based binary single-junction OSCs achieve a high efficiency of 17.11%, which is one of the top values in BTA-based OSCs.

Interplay between Intrachain and Interchain Excited States in Donor-Acceptor Copolymers

Recently, rapid progress in the power conversion efficiency for organic solar cells (OSCs) is achieved due to the phenomenal development of the nonfullerene electron acceptors. In addition to the pairing electron donors, conjugated donor-acceptor copolymers are another key player in the high-efficiency OSCs. Here, the temporal evolution of excited states in a typical copolymer, PM6, was traced by transient absorption spectroscopy. The spectroscopic result implies the formation of two kinetically correlated intrachain species, polaron excitons and intrachain polaron pairs. In the presence of the interchain interaction, these intrachain species quickly convert into interchain polaron pairs on a time scale of few picoseconds. Our findings reveal that the electron transfer mechanisms in PM6-based OSCs substantially depend on the PM6 environment in the bulk heterojunction blends.

Differently PEGylated Polymer Nanoparticles for Pancreatic Cancer Delivery: Using a Novel Near-Infrared Emissive and Biodegradable Polymer as the Fluorescence Tracer

In this study, a chemically synthetic polymer, benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']difuran(BDF)-based donor-acceptor copolymer PBDFDTBO, was individually coated by amphiphilic poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(ε-caprolactone) (PEO-PCL) and 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-methoxy(polyethylene glycol) (DSPE-PEG or PEG-DSPE), to form stably fluorescent nanoparticles in the near-infrared (NIR) window. The physicochemical properties of the synthesized nanoparticles were characterized and compared, including their size, surface charge, and morphology. In addition, in vitro studies were also performed using two pancreatic cancer cell lines, assessing the cell viability of the PBDFDTBO-included PEGylated nanoparticles formulations. Moreover, in vivo studies were also conducted, using subcutaneous murine cancer models to investigate the polymeric nanoparticles' circulation time, tumor accumulation, and preferred organ biodistribution. The overall results demonstrated that even with the same PEGylated surface, the hydrophobic composition anchored on the encapsulated PBDFDTBO core strongly affected the biodistribution and tumor accumulation of the nanoparticles, to a degree possibly determined by the hydrophobic interactions between the hydrophobic segment of amphiphilic polymers (DSPE or PCL moiety) and the enwrapped PBDFDTBO. Both PEGylated nanoparticles were compared to obtain an optimized coating strategy for a desired biological feature in pancreatic cancer delivery.

Intrachain and Interchain Exciton-Exciton Annihilation in Donor-Acceptor Copolymers

PM6 is a donor-acceptor copolymer widely used in high-efficiency organic solar cells (OSC). Here, we report the observation of exciton-exciton annihilation (EEA) in both PM6 copolymer solution and film. We find that the EEA mechanisms are distinct in these two systems. In the PM6 solution, EEA occurs via the long-range dipole-dipole interaction between intrachain excitons, while in the PM6 film it takes place between the interchain polaron pairs (spatially indirect excitons) via the short-range Coulomb interaction. The quantum yield of free polaron formation in the film is also quantified, which indicates that EEA leads to extra interchain polaron-pair dissociation, accounting for the enhanced free polaron formation.

Bromination and increasing the molecular conjugation length of the non-fullerene small-molecule acceptor based on benzotriazole for efficient organic photovoltaics

Two novel non-fullerene acceptors, namely BZIC-2Br and Y9-2Br, were synthesized by employing a ladder-type electron-deficient-based fused ring central with a benzotriazole core. Y9-2Br is obtained by extending the conjugate length of BZIC-2Br. Compared with BZIC-2Br, Y9-2Br possesses a lower optical bandgap of 1.32 eV with an absorption edge of 937 nm, exhibiting broader and stronger absorption band from 600 to 900 nm. Moreover, Y9-2Br exhibits excellent photovoltaic properties with V oc of 0.84 V, J sc of 21.38 mA cm-2 and FF of 67.11%, which achieves an impressive PCE of 12.05%. Our study demonstrates that bromination and effective extension of the conjugate length can modulate performance from different aspects to optimize photovoltaic characteristics.

[Epithelioid glioblastoma with BRAF V600E mutation: a clinicopathological and molecular study]

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological and molecular characteristics of the epithelioid glioblastoma (eGBM) with BRAF V600E mutation. Methods: Sixteen cases of eGBM with BRAF V600E mutation diagnosed at the West China Hospital of Sichuan University, China from 2012 to 2019 were collected. Their clinicopathological and molecular characteristics were analyzed. Results: The range of patients' age was from 7 to 61 years (median 31.5 years). There were 4 males and 12 females, with a male to female ratio of 1∶3. Eleven cases were newly diagnosed eGBM and five cases had a previous history of astrocytomas. Most of the tumors were located in the cerebral hemisphere, often in the frontal lobe, with an average diameter of 4.6 cm (2.0-8.0 cm). The tumors were composed of relatively uniform, closely packed epithelioid cells, some showing discohesion, with distinct cell membrane, eosinophilic cytoplasm, eccentric nuclei, distinct nucleoli and mitotic activity. Palisaded/coagulative necrosis was seen in all cases. Glomerular microvascular proliferation was seen in most of the cases, while mono-or multi-nucleated tumor giant cells were seen in some cases. Focal sarcomatoid area was seen in 2 cases, and focal pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma (PXA)-like area was seen in 3 cases. Immunohistochemistry showed variable positivity for GFAP, Olig2 and p53. The median Ki-67 index was 30% (10%-50%). Only one case lost ATRX protein expression. Sanger sequencing identified the BRAF V600E mutation in all sixteen patients. Five cases also had mutations in the TERT gene promoter. No IDH1 (R132) or IDH2 (R172) mutation was detected. Surgical resection of the tumors was performed for all patients, and 3 patients also received adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Follow-up data were available for 15 patients, with a follow-up time of 1-89 months (median 10 months). Among the 15 patients, 7 patients died of disease and another 5 patients had recurrences. The overall survival time of the patients under 35 years of age was significantly longer than that of the patients aged 35 years or older (P=0.014), but their progression-free survival was not statistically different (P=0.232). Conclusions: eGBM with BRAF V600E mutation is more commonly detected in young women than other the populations (i.e. elderly or male). The epithelioid morphology should include rhabdoid meningioma, anaplastic PXA, atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor, metastatic tumors, and melanoma in its differential diagnosis. PXA-like area is observed in some eGBM cases, suggesting a relationship of these two types of tumor. eGBM is a high-grade malignant tumor and most of the cases show recurrences or deaths in a short-period time. The younger patients have a relatively better prognosis than the older ones.

Integrated package of electron cyclotron emission imaging data processing and forward modeling in OMFIT

An Electron Cyclotron Emission Imaging (ECEI) data analysis module has been developed for the OMFIT platform to accommodate the needs of users at the DIII-D tokamak for physics applications. The user can easily access the ECEI spatial observation windows in the plasma that are calculated based on the automatically retrieved hardware setup and available DIII-D equilibria, perform spectral analysis, and obtain 2D electron temperature fluctuation images. The module provides a powerful data post-processing package for extracting important physics parameters from the 2D measurements, including the radial structure and poloidal mode number of Alfven eigenmodes, as well as the frequency-vs-wavenumber dispersion relationship of broadband MHD. The module propagates characterized synthetic fluctuations for the user, so one can perform forward modeling tasks with simple analytical fluctuations.