Orthogonally Sequential Activation of Self-Powered DNAzymes Cascade for Reliable Monitoring of mRNA in Living Cells

Ratiometric imaging of tumor-related mRNA is significant, yet spatiotemporally resolved regulation on the ratiometric signals to avoid non-specific activation in the living cells remains challenging. Herein, orthogonally sequential activation of concatenated DNAzyme circuits is, first, developed for Spatio Temporally regulated Amplified and Ratiometric (STAR) imaging of TK1 mRNA inside living cells with enhanced reliability and accuracy. By virtue of the synthesized CuO/MnO2 nanosheets, orthogonally regulated self-powered DNAzyme circuits are operated precisely in living cells, sequentially activating two-layered DNAzyme cleavage reactions to achieve the two ratiometric signal readouts successively for reliable monitoring of low-abundance mRNA in living cells. It is found that the ratiometric signals can only be derived from mRNA over-expressed tumor cells, also irrespective of probes' delivery concentration. The presented approach could provide new insight into orthogonally regulated ratiometric systems for reliable imaging of specific biomarkers in living cells, benefiting disease precision diagnostics.

Tumor-Targeting Multiple Metabolic Regulations for Bursting Antitumor Efficacy of Chemodynamic Therapy

Interfering with intratumoral metabolic processes is proven to effectively sensitize different antitumor treatments. Here, a tumor-targeting catalytic nanoplatform (CQ@MIL-GOX@PB) loading with autophagy inhibitor (chloroquine, CQ) and glucose oxidase (GOX) is fabricated to interfere with the metabolisms of tumor cells and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), then realizing effective antitumor chemodynamic therapy (CDT). Once accumulating in the tumor site with the navigation of external biotin, CQ@MIL-GOX@PB will release Fe ions and CQ in the acid lysosomes of tumor cells, the latter can sensitize Fe ions-involved antitumor CDT by blocking the autophagy-dependent cell repair. Meanwhile, the GOX component will consume glucose, which not only generates many H2 O2 for CDT but also once again decelerates the tumor repair process by reducing energy metabolism. What is more, the release of CQ can also drive the NO anabolism of TAMs to further sensitize CDT. This strategy of multiple metabolic regulations is evidenced to significantly improve the antitumor effect of traditional CDT nanoagents and might provide a new sight to overcome the bottlenecks of different antitumor treatments.

Interfacial Electron Regulation and Composition Evolution of NiFe/MoC Heteronanowire Arrays for Highly Stable Alkaline Seawater Oxidation

In alkaline seawater electrolysis, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is greatly suppressed by the occurrence of electrode corrosion due to the formation of hypochlorite. Herein, a catalyst consisting of MoC nanowires modified with NiFe alloy nanoparticles (NiFe/MoC) on nickel foam (NF) is prepared. The optimized catalyst can deliver a large current density of 500 mA cm-2 at a very low overpotential of 366 mV in alkaline seawater, respectively, outperforming commercial IrO2 . Remarkably, an electrolyzer assembled with NiFe/MoC/NF as the anode and NiMoN/NF as the cathode only requires 1.77 V to drive a current density of 500 mA cm-2 for alkaline seawater electrolysis, as well as excellent stability. Theory calculation indicates that the initial activity of NiFe/MoC is attributed to increased electrical conductivity and decreased energy barrier for OER due to the introduction of Fe. We find that the change of the catalyst in the composition occurred after the stability test; however, the reconstructed catalyst has an energy barrier close to that of the pristine one, which is responsible for its excellent long-term stability. Our findings provide an efficient way to construct high-performance OER catalysts for alkaline seawater splitting.

Deep Learning Equalizer Connected with Viterbi-Viterbi Algorithm for PAM D-Band Radio over Fiber Link

D-band (110-170 GHz) has been regarded as a potential candidate for the future 6G wireless network because of its large available bandwidth. At present, the lack of electrical amplifiers operating in the high frequency band and the strong nonlinear effect, i.e., the D-band, are still important problems. Therefore, effective methods to mitigate the nonlinear issue resulting from the ROF link are indispensable, among of which machine learning is considered the most effective paradigm to model the nonlinear behavior due to its nonlinear active function and structure. In order to reduce the computation amount and burden, a novel deep learning neural network equalizer connected with typical mathematical frequency offset estimation (FOE) and carrier phase recovery (CPR) algorithms is proposed. We implement D-band 45 Gbaud PAM-4 and 20 Gbaud PAM-8 ROF transmission simulations, and the simulation results show that the real value neural network (RVNN) equalizer connected with the Viterbi-Viterbi algorithm exhibits better compensation ability for nonlinear impairment, especially when dealing with serious inter-symbol interference and nonlinear effects. In our experiment, we employ coherent detection to further improve the receiver sensitivity, so a complex baseband signal after down conversion at the receiver is inherently produced. In this scenario, the complex value neural network (CVNN) and RVNN equalizer connected with the Viterbi-Viterbi algorithm have better BER performance with an error rate lower than the HD-FEC threshold of 3.8 × 10-3.

MXene-Based Functional Platforms for Tumor Therapy

Recently, 2D transition metal carbide, nitride, and carbonitrides (MXenes) materials stand out in the field of tumor therapy, particularly in the construction of functional platforms for optimal antitumor therapy due to their high specific surface area, tunable performance, strong absorption of near-infrared light as well as preferable surface plasmon resonance effect. In this review, the progress of MXene-mediated antitumor therapy is summarized after appropriate modifications or integration procedures. The enhanced antitumor treatments directly performed by MXenes, the significant improving effect of MXenes on different antitumor therapies, as well as the MXene-mediated imaging-guided antitumor strategies are discussed in detail. Moreover, the existing challenges and future development directions of MXenes in tumor therapy are presented.

Synergistic Modulation of Electronic Interaction to Enhance Intrinsic Activity and Conductivity of Fe-Co-Ni Hydroxide Nanotube for Highly Efficient Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalyst

The large-scale hydrogen production and application through electrocatalytic water splitting depends crucially on the development of highly efficient, cost-effective electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which, however, remains challenging. Here, a new electrocatalyst of trimetallic Fe-Co-Ni hydroxide (denoted as FeCoNiOx Hy ) with a nanotubular structure is developed through an enhanced Kirkendall process under applied potential. The FeCoNiOx Hy features synergistic electronic interaction between Fe, Co, and Ni, which not only notably increases the intrinsic OER activity of FeCoNiOx Hy by facilitating the formation of *OOH intermediate, but also substantially improves the intrinsic conductivity of FeCoNiOx Hy to facilitate charge transfer and activate catalytic sites through electrocatalyst by promoting the formation of abundant Co3+ . Therefore, FeCoNiOx Hy delivers remarkably accelerated OER kinetics and superior apparent activity, indicated by an ultra-low overpotential potential of 257 mV at a high current density of 200 mA cm-2 . This work is of fundamental and practical significance for synergistic catalysis related to advanced energy conversion materials and technologies.

Nanotherapeutics with immunoregulatory functions for the treatment of bacterial infection

The advent of drug-resistant pathogens results in the occurrence of stubborn bacterial infections that cannot be treated with traditional antibiotics. Antibacterial immunotherapy by reviving or activating the body's immune system to eliminate pathogenic bacteria has confirmed promising therapeutic strategies in controlling bacterial infections. Subsequent studies found that antimicrobial immunotherapy has its own benefits and limitations, such as avoiding recurrence of infection and autoimmunity-induced side effects. Current studies indicate that the various antibacterial therapeutic strategies inducing immune regulation can achieve superior therapeutic efficacy compared with monotherapy alone. Therefore, summarizing the recent advances in nanomedicine with immunomodulatory functions for combating bacterial infections is necessary. Herein, we briefly introduce the crisis caused by drug-resistant bacteria and the opportunity for antibacterial immunotherapy. Then, immune-involved multimodal antibacterial therapy for the treatment of infectious diseases was systematically summarized. Finally, the prospects and challenges of immune-involved combinational therapy are discussed.

Atom-Precise Heteroatom Core-Tailoring of Nanoclusters for Enhanced Solar Hydrogen Generation

While core-shell nanomaterials are highly desirable for realizing enhanced optical and catalytic properties, their synthesis with atomic-level control is challenging. Here, the synthesis and crystal structure of [Au₁₂ Ag₃₂ (SePh)₃₀ ]^4- , the first example of selenolated Au-Ag core-shell nanoclusters, comprising a gold icosahedron core trapped in a silver dodecahedron, which is protected by an Ag₁₂ (SePh)₃₀ shell, is presented. The gold core strongly modifies the overall electronic structure and induces synergistic effects, resulting in high enhancements in the stability and near-infrared-II photoluminescence. The Au₁₂ Ag₃₂ and its homometal analog Ag₄₄ , show strong interactions with oxygen vacancies of TiO₂ , facilitating the interfacial charge transfer for photocatalysis. Indeed, the Au₁₂ Ag₃₂ /TiO₂ exhibits remarkable solar H₂ production (6810 µmol g^-1  h^-1 ), which is ≈6.2 and ≈37.8 times higher than that of Ag₄₄ /TiO₂ and TiO₂ , respectively. Good stability and recyclability with minimal catalytic activity loss are additional features of Au₁₂ Ag₃₂ /TiO₂ . The experimental and computational results reveal that the Au₁₂ Ag₃₂ acts as an efficient cocatalyst by possessing a favorable electronic structure that aligns well with the TiO₂ bands for the enhanced separation of photoinduced charge carriers due to the relatively negatively charged Au₁₂ core. These atomistic insights will motivate uncovering of the structure-catalytic activity relationships of other nanoclusters.

Solutions to the nonlinear Schrödinger systems involving the fractional Laplacian

In this paper, we consider the following nonlinear Schrödinger system involving the fractional Laplacian operator: { ( - Δ ) α 2 u + a u = f ( v ) , ( - Δ ) β 2 v + b v = g ( u ) , on  Ω ⫅ R n , where a , b ≥ 0 . When Ω is the unit ball or R n , we prove that the solutions ( u , v ) are radially symmetric and decreasing. When Ω is the parabolic domain on R n , we prove that the solutions ( u , v ) are increasing. Furthermore, if Ω is the R + n , then we also derive the nonexistence of positive solutions to the system on the half-space. We assume that the nonlinear terms f, g and the solutions u, v satisfy some amenable conditions in different cases.

Background field removal for susceptibility mapping of human brain with large susceptibility variations

PURPOSE

In quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) of human brain, the background field induced by air-tissue interface varies significantly with respect to the rotation angle between the head and the static field, which may result in substantial error in the estimated magnetic susceptibility values. The goal of this study was to develop a strategy to better remove such orientation dependent background field.

METHODS

An improved background field removal method is proposed based on the sophisticated harmonic artifact reduction for phase data using a region adaptive kernel (R-SHARP), named iRSHARP. It uses a spatially weighted spherical Gaussian kernel exploiting the amplitude, gradient, and wrap count of the phase map. The method was validated using both numerical simulations and in vivo human brain data at multiple head orientations. Performance was compared with the variable kernel (V-SHARP) and R-SHARP methods.

RESULTS

The proposed iRSHARP method showed improved background removal over R-SHARP while cutting the computational time in half. As compared to V-SHARP and R-SHARP, the iRSHARP generated local field and susceptibility maps showed fewer artifacts in regions of large susceptibility variations, and for the in vivo human brain, the susceptibilities of the deep gray matter nuclei were consistent with the in vivo gold-standard "Calculation of Susceptibility through Multiple Orientation Sampling" (COSMOS) values.

CONCLUSION

iRSHARP can remove the orientation dependent background field effectively. Using iRSHARP, the paranasal sinus regions can be preserved in the brain mask and the brain integrity was conserved, which may facilitate further data analysis and clinical application.

A note on Marcinkiewicz integrals supported by submanifolds

In the present paper, we establish the boundedness and continuity of the parametric Marcinkiewicz integrals with rough kernels associated to polynomial mapping P as well as the corresponding compound submanifolds, which is defined by M h , Ω , P ρ f ( x ) = ( ∫ 0 ∞ | 1 t ρ ∫ | y | ≤ t Ω ( y ) h ( | y | ) | y | n - ρ f ( x - P ( y ) ) d y | 2 d t t ) 1 / 2 , on the Triebel-Lizorkin spaces and Besov spaces when Ω ∈ H 1 ( S n - 1 ) and h ∈ Δ γ ( R + ) for some γ > 1 . Our main results represent significant improvements and natural extensions of what was known previously.

Uniformly asymptotic normality of sample quantiles estimator for linearly negative quadrant dependent samples

In the present article, by utilizing some inequalities for linearly negative quadrant dependent random variables, we discuss the uniformly asymptotic normality of sample quantiles for linearly negative quadrant dependent samples under mild conditions. The rate of uniform asymptotic normality is presented and the rate of convergence is near O ( n - 1 / 4 log n ) when the third moment is finite, which extends and improves the corresponding results of Yang et al. (J. Inequal. Appl. 2011:83, 2011) and Liu et al. (J. Inequal. Appl. 2014:79, 2014) under negatively associated random samples in some sense.

Nonlinear impulsive differential and integral inequalities with nonlocal jump conditions

Some new nonlinear impulsive differential and integral inequalities with nonlocal integral jump conditions are presented in this paper. Using the method of mathematical induction, we obtain a new upper bound estimation of certain differential and integral inequalities; these inequalities have both nonlocal integral jump and weakly singular kernels. Finally, we give two examples of these inequalities in estimating solutions of certain equations with Riemann-Liouville fractional integral conditions.

Entire functions sharing a small function with their two difference operators

In this article, we deduce a uniqueness result of entire functions that share a small entire function with their two difference operators, generalizing some previous theorems of (Farissi et al. in Complex Anal. Oper. Theory 10:1317-1327, 2015, Theorem 1.1) and (Chen and Li in Adv. Differ. Equ. 2014:311, 2014, Theorem 1.1) by omitting the assumption that the shared small entire function is periodic.

A Sr2+-metal-organic framework with high chemical stability: synthesis, crystal structure and photoluminescence property

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are typically built by assembly of metal centres and organic linkers, and have emerged as promising crystalline materials in a variety of fields. However, the stability of MOFs is a key limitation for their practical applications. Herein, we report a novel Sr 2+: -MOF [Sr₄(Tdada)₂(H₂O)₃(DMF)₂] (denoted as NKU- 105: , NKU = Nankai University; H₄Tdada = 5,5'-((thiophene-2,5-dicar bonyl)bis(azanediyl))diisophthalic acid; DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide) featuring an open square channel of about 6 Å along the c-axis. Notably, NKU- 105: exhibits much outstanding chemical stability against common organic solvents, boiling water, acids and bases, relative to most MOF materials. Furthermore, NKU- 105: is an environment-friendly luminescent material with a bright cyan emission.This article is part of the themed issue 'Coordination polymers and metal-organic frameworks: materials by design'.