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The Chinese government pays close attention to sustainable development and takes an active approach to strengthening and standardizing such development. As the organizational vehicle for China's large population, cooperatives can organize 230 million small farmers to promote sustainable development. However, some scholars have raised concerns about Chinese cooperatives and questioned their role in promoting sustainable development. Based on a review of China's government support policy, this study summarizes the development characteristics of nine cooperatives and summarizes issues from opposite aspects. Furthermore, this study also analyzes the basic situation of the Chinese government's quality improvement pilot county initiative and draws conclusions about the best ways to achieve sustainable development. We also make some policy proposals on achieving the sustainable development of Chinese cooperatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high degree of fragmentation and unsustainable exploitation patterns of forest resources have become prominent obstacles to the realisation of the economic and social value of China's forest resources. China's forest eco-bank (FEB) project was set up to achieve centralised utilisation of diffuse forest resources in an underdeveloped area. Analysing FEB projects is of great significance to countries with abundant forest resources aiming to benefit from the economic and ecological functions of such resources and achieve sustainable economic and social development. This study uses the actor-network theory framework to analyse cooperation among various actors in the implementation process of the FEB project in China. Our results indicate the following. First, the government was the principal actor playing a vital role in motivating the other parties and driving the project forward. Second, the diffuse nature of China's forest resources is a major obstacle to their utilisation. The centralised integration of forest resources is a prerequisite for their effective utilisation. Finally, it is necessary to improve the balance of interests of the various actors to promote a more stable actor network and attract more actors to participate in the FEB project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of new antimicrobial drugs is urgently required to overcome bacterial resistance which is a serious threat to human health. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) which are ideal substitutes for traditional antibiotics have a unique mechanism of action and do not easily cause bacterial resistance. Herein, a series of new AMPs were designed and synthesized based on the biological characteristics of natural AMPs (such as the positive charge, α-helical structure and amphiphilicity). Biological screening of the AMPs provided an antimicrobial lipopeptide LP21 with efficient antimicrobial activity, serum stability, low cytotoxicity and high membrane-disruptive activity. Besides, LP21 could self-assemble into spherical aggregates in aqueous solutions which encapsulated TC to form LP21@TC nanomedicine, and the encapsulation efficiency was about 50.03 ± 3.03%. More impressively, both LP21 and LP21@TC nanomedicine displayed significant therapeutic effects in vivo, and the LP21@TC nanomedicine could exert a synergistic antimicrobial effect. This work is expected to provide a new research vision for the design of AMPs and synergistic antibacterial sensitization treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The volume ratio of toluene to N,N‐dimethylformamide (DMF) was adjusted during the amine functionalization of SBA‐15 to change the amine content of SBA‐15. XPS, FTIR, and TGA analyses indicated that under the experimental synthetic conditions the number of amine groups varies with the ratio of toluene/DMF, and the highest content of amine could be obtained with a volume ratio of toluene/DMF = 3:2. The hydrogen production experiment of formic acid decomposition showed that the hydrogen production efficiency over the Au‐Pd‐SBA‐15‐NH2 catalysts increased with the increase in the surface amine content of the Au‐Pd‐SBA‐15‐NH2. The optimal Au‐Pd‐SBA‐15‐NH2‐TD (toluene/DMF = 3:2) catalyst proved to have the smallest Au‐Pd bimetal nanoparticle size and exhibited a turnover frequency (TOF) = 631 hours−1 and an activation energy (Ea) = 20.8 kJ · mol−1 at 25°C. The catalytic performance of hydrogen generation from the formic acid was improved due to the synergistic effect between the amine‐functionalized SBA‐15 and the Au‐Pd bimetal (metal‐support interactions). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linoleic acid (LA) and β-CD-NH2 molecule are covalently conjugated to form a β-CD-LA molecule. The β-CD-LA molecule can self-assemble into spherical micelles with an average particle size of about 50.75±13.58 nm, which is beneficial for blood circulation. The micelles has a high drug loading rate (84.78%±6.78), and in vitro release experiments show that the Dox release from the β-CD-LA-Dox nanomedicine has the characteristics of pH-responsive and slow-release. Cell experiments show that the cytotoxicity of β-CD-LA micelles is relatively low, and β-CD-LA-Dox nanomedicine can enter the cytoplasm well and eventually enter the nucleus, which induce cancer cells apoptosis. In vivo experiments show that β-CD-LA-Dox nanomedicine had a good inhibitory effect on tumor growth without affecting the body weight of mice, and tumor tissue sections proved that β-CD-LA-Dox nanomedicine could induce effectively cancer cell apoptosis which resulted in tumor tissue necrosis, and it showed has a good therapeutic effect on the tumor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, some novel structures were formed through the interaction of amino acid molecules and metal ions (Ag+, Cu2+ and Co2+) with the aid of anions. The amino acid molecule firstly formed coordination complexes with different metal ions and these coordination complexes became nucleation sites for primary crystals of the metal inorganic salt with the anion added. The complexes of amino acid molecules and metal inorganic salt crystals form elementary units of a multi-dimensional architecture according to a specific geometry, and these elementary units finally assembled into different multi-dimensional architectures through the function of anisotropic growth. The formation mechanism and formation process of the multi-dimensional structures were also studied through observing the morphology with increasing time. Among these multiple architectures, some exhibited high photo-catalytic activity, which might be of great interest for making an attempt at a photo-catalyst from the multiple amino acid architectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The β-CD-LPC molecule was synthesized based on the conjugation of LPC and β-CD molecules and it could self-assemble into liposome which was used to encapsulate the Dox to form nanomedicine for the cancer therapy. Materials & methods: The anticancer and antitumor effect of β-CD-LPC-Dox nanomedicine was studied with the vitro and vivo experimental methods. Results: The result showed that β-CD-LPC liposome had high Dox drug-loading rate and a good sustained-release effect. Cell experiment showed that the β-CD-LPC-Dox nanomedicine could effectively induce cancer cell apoptosis and in vivo experiments showed that β-CD-LPC-Dox liposome could effectively inhibit tumor growth and had an effective anticancer activity with lower biotoxicity. Conclusion: The β-CD-LPC-Dox nanomedicine could be applied as a candidate drug to therapy the cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel drug delivery system was developed through the modification of MSNs (mesoporous silica nanoparticles) with β-CD (β-Cyclodextrin). The experiment results demonstrated that the cytotoxicity of this drug delivery system was very low, and the doxorubicin loading ratio was ~27.36%. The behaviour of drug release was pH dependent and it can be used as the drug controlling releasing in cancer cell. The combination of doxorubicin and this drug delivery system (MSN-NH2-CD-Biotin) could arrest the cancer cell in G2 phase, and it could make the cancer cell apoptosis by doxorubicin more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a drug delivery system based on the covalently reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with p-aminobenzoic acid (rGO-C6H4-COOH) for the loading and targeted delivery of the anticancer drug, doxorubicin (DOX). The colloidal solution of rGO-C6H4-COOH conjugated by polyethyleneimine (PEI) and Biotin was prepared. This endows the colloidal solution of rGO-C6H4-CO-NH-PEI-NH-CO-Biotin, which presents excellent water-solubility and targeting as a drug delivery system. β-Cyclodextrin (β-CD) molecules, which are host molecules for accommodating guest molecules, such as water insoluble anticancer drugs, were introduced to reduce the cytotoxicity of the drug delivery system and to improve the biocompatibility. The drug delivery of rGO-C6H4-CO-NH-PEI-NH-CO-CD-Biotin has a ∼24.64% drug (DOX) loading ratio. The drug release behavior was pH dependent at higher DOX concentrations, but salt dependent at lower DOX concentrations, which could be exploited for controlled drug release in cancer cells. The DOX loaded on rGO-C6H4-CO-NH-PEI-NH-CO-CD-Biotin could effectively induce HepG2 cancer cell apoptosis. This can be explained by the conjugation of DOX and rGO-C6H4-CO-NH-PEI-NH-CO-CD-Biotin being able to arrest the cancer cells in the G2 phase, which is the most sensitive to the anticancer drug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a new, simple strategy to apply honeycomb films for the patterning of colloidal particles. By combination of a 'bottom-up' breath figure method and the electrochemical properties of the honeycomb films of ferrocenyl-based oligomers, highly ordered hybrid membranes coated with ring-like patterning of 0D- and 1D-Ag nanoparticles (NPs) have been fabricated. One interesting phenomenon is that the nucleation and adsorption of Ag dots occurred preferentially at the edges of the micropores. The hybrid membranes exhibited richly electrochemical activities towards reduction of iodate and enhanced effectively catalytic reduction of organic dyes. We believe that this method can be used to decorate and/or assemble functional metal NPs such as Au, Pd, and Cu on honeycomb-patterned materials for the further applications of photonics, sensors, and catalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viscoelastic vesicle gels were prepared by mixing a nonionic surfactant, tetraethylene glycol monododecyl ether (C12EO4), and an anionic dye, sodium 4-phenylazobenzoic acid (AzoNa). The gels, which were composed of multilamellar vesicles, were analyzed by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), freeze-fracture transmission electron microscopy (FF-TEM), 2H NMR spectroscopy, and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The mechanism of vesicle-gel formation is explained by the influence of anionic molecules on the bilayer bending modulus. Interestingly, the vesicle gels were observed to be sensitive to temperature, pH, and light. The viscoelastic vesicle gels respond to heat; they thin at lower temperatures and become thicker at higher temperatures. The vesicle gels are only stable from pH 7 to 11, and the gels become thinner outside of this range. UV light can also trigger a structural phase transition from micelles to multilamellar vesicle gels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under acidic conditions, reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was functionalized with p-aminobenzoic acid, which formed the diazonium ions through the diazotization with a wet-chemical method. Surfactants or stabilizers were not applied during the diazotization. After the functionalized rGO was treated through mild sonication in aqueous solution, these functionalized rGO sheets were less than two layers, which was determined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging. The water solubility of functionalized rGO after the introduction of polyethyleneimine (PEI) was improved significantly; it was followed by covalent binding of folic acid (FA) molecules to the functionalized rGO to allow us to specifically target CBRH7919 cancer cells by using FA as a receptor. The loading and release behaviors of elsinochrome A (EA) and doxorubicin (DOX) on the functionalized rGO sheets were investigated. The EA loading ratio onto rGO-C6H4-CO-NH-PEI-NH-CO-FA (abbreviated rGO-PEI-FA, the weight ratio of drug loaded onto rGO-PEI-FA) was approximately 45.56 %, and that of DOX was approximately 28.62 %. It was interesting that the drug release from rGO-PEI-FA was pH- and salt-dependent. The results of cytotoxicity (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and flow cytometry (FCM) assays, as well as cell morphology observations) clearly showed that the concentration of rGO-PEI-FA as the drug-delivery composite should be less than 12.5 mg L−1. The conjugation of DOX and rGO-PEI-FA can enhance the cancer-cell apoptosis effectively and can also push the cancer cells to the vulnerable G2 phase of the cell cycle, which is most sensitive and susceptible to damage by drugs or radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, the glycolipopeptide GLIP was obtained by coupling IL-C8 and the monosaccharide molecule D-(+)-glucosamine to the N-terminal and C-terminal of the peptide P, which was designed on the basis of the biological characteristics of the antimicrobial peptides. In vitro bioactivity and physicochemical properties assays confirmed that GLIP had excellent antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative E. coli ATCC 25922 and Gram-positive S. aureus ATCC 29213, as well as good stability in serum and trypsin, low hemolysis, and good bacterial membrane-disrupting ability. In addition, the glycolipopeptide GLIP could self-assembly in aqueous solution to form spherical nano-aggregates, which could encapsulate the small molecule antibiotic TC to form the nanomedicine GLIP@TC and release the TC continuously and slowly in a sustained-release manner, exerting the combined antimicrobial effect of both. The results of animal experiments demonstrated the excellent in vivo antimicrobial activities of GLIP and nanomedicine GLIP@TC. Finally, molecular docking experiment showed that the GLIP could effectively bind to penicillin-binding protein 5 (PBP5) of E. coli and possibly inhibit its D-Ala carboxypeptidase (CPase) activity. All these results may imply the great potential of GLIP for clinical application against bacterial drug resistance., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest There are no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The evidence supporting a connection between elevated serum uric acid (SUA) levels and diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is controversial. The present study performed a comprehensive evaluation of this correlation by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of relevant research., Method: PubMed, Web of Science (WOS), Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched for published literature from the establishment of each database to January 8, 2024. In total, 5 cohort studies and 15 cross-sectional studies were included, and 2 researchers independently screened and extracted relevant data. R 4.3.0 was used to evaluate the included literature. The present meta-analysis evaluated the relationship between SUA levels and the risk of DPN in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) by calculating the ratio of means (RoM) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using the method reported by JO Friedrich, and it also analyzed continuous outcome measures using standardized mean differences (SMDs) and 95% CIs to compare SUA levels between DPN and non-DPN groups. Funnel plot and Egger's test were used to assess publication bias. Sensitivity analysis was conducted by sequentially removing each study one-by-one., Results: The meta-analysis included 20 studies, with 12,952 T2DM patients with DPN and 16,246 T2DM patients without DPN. There was a significant correlation between SUA levels and the risk of developing DPN [odds ratio (OR) = 1.23; 95% CI: 1.07-1.41; p = 0.001]. Additionally, individuals with DPN had higher levels of SUA compared to those without DPN (SMD = 0.4; 95% CI: -0.11-0.91; p < 0.01)., Conclusion: T2DM patients with DPN have significantly elevated SUA levels, which correlate with a heightened risk of peripheral neuropathy. Hyperuricemia (HUA) may be a risk indicator for assessing the risk of developing DPN in T2DM patients., Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO, identifier CRD42024500373., Competing Interests: Author JG was employed by the company Amazon. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zhang, Zhang, Li, Zhao, Wei, Shi, Yang, Fan, Zhao, Zhu, Du, Guo and Cao.)

A biotin-HSA-DDA-TCPP molecule, which can be used as a photodynamic therapeutic agent and drug carrier, was synthesized. The molecule can self-assemble into spherical aggregates, which can be loaded with Dox to form biotin-HSA-DDA-TCPP-Dox nanoparticles in aqueous solution, and the Dox loading efficiency was 86.6 ± 1.76%. The Dox's release behavior was pH responsive and has a sustained release. Cell experiments showed that biotin-HSA-DDA-TCPP-Dox nanoparticles could effectively induce cancer cell apoptosis to exert anticancer and photodynamic therapy effects. The results of animal experiments, tissue sections, and blood biochemistry tests showed that the biotin-HSA-DDA-TCPP-Dox nanoparticles could exert the effect of photodynamic therapy and antitumor, which is similar to Dox after laser irradiation, and achieve a synergistic antitumor effect. The nanoparticles can significantly reduce the Dox toxicity and increase the circulation time of the drug in the body. In summary, the biotin-HSA-DDA-TCPP molecule, which combines the advantages of photodynamic therapy and drug carrier, has great potential in clinical application.

Here we construct for the first time ordered surfactant-DNA hybrid nanospheres of double-strand (ds) DNA and cationic surfactants with magnetic counterion, [FeCl3Br](-). The specificity of the magnetic cationic surfactants that can compact DNA at high concentrations makes it possible for building ordered nanospheres through aggregation, fusion, and coagulation. Cationic surfactants with conventional Br(-) cannot produce spheres under the same condition because they lose the DNA compaction ability. When a light-responsive magnetic cationic surfactant is used to produce nanospheres, a dual-controllable drug-delivery platform can be built simply by the applications of external magnetic force and alternative UV and visible light. These nanospheres obtain high drug absorption efficiency, slow release property, and good biocompatibility. There is potential for effective magnetic-field-based targeted drug delivery, followed by photocontrollable drug release. We deduce that our results might be of great interest for making new functional nucleic-acid-based nanomachines and be envisioned to find applications in nanotechnology and biochemistry.

Hydrogels with ultrahigh water content, ∼99 wt %, and highly excellent mechanical strength were prepared by 4'-para-phenylcarboxyl-2,2':6',2″-terpyridine (PPCT) in KOH aqueous solution. The self-assembled structure, rheological properties, and the gel-sol transformation temperature (Tgel-sol) of PPCT/KOH hydrogels that depend on PPCT and KOH concentrations were studied, indicating easily controllable conditions for producing hydrogels in PPCT and KOH mixtures. An important finding was that the hydration radius (Rh) of cations (M(+) = Li(+), Na(+), K(+), Cs(+), NH4(+), (CH3)4N(+), (CH3CH2)4N(+), (CH3CH2CH2)4N(+), (CH3CH2CH2CH2)4N(+)) plays a vital role in gelation of PPCT/MOH systems. To produce hydrogels in PPCT/MOH systems, the Rh of M(+) must be in a suitable region of 3.29 to 3.58 Å, e.g., K(+), Na(+), Cs(+), and the capability of M(+) for inducing PPCT to form hydrogels is K(+) > Na(+) > Li(+), which is followed by the Hofmeister series. The hydrogels of PPCT and KOH mixtures are responsive to external stimuli including temperature and shearing force, and present gelation-induced enhanced fluorescence emission property. The states of being sensitive to the stimuli can readily recover to the original hydrogels, which are envisaged to be an attracting candidate to produce self-healing materials. A typical function of the hydrogels of PPCT and KOH mixtures is that formaldehyde (HCHO) can speedily be adsorbed via electrostatic interaction and converted into nontoxic salts (HCOOK and CH3OK), making it a promising candidate material for HCHO removal in home furnishings to reduce indoor environmental pollutants.

Here we develop a synthetic protocol for assembling DNA with participating metal ions into multiple shapes. DNA molecules first form coordination complexes with metal ions and these coordination complexes become nucleation sites for primary crystals of metal inorganic salt, and then elementary units of space-filling architectures based on specific geometry form, and finally elementary units assemble into variously larger multiple architectures according to different spatial configurations. We anticipate that our strategy for self-assembling various custom architectures is applicable to most biomolecules possessing donor atoms that can form coordination complexes with metal ions. These multiple architectures provide a general platform for the engineering and assembly of advanced materials possessing features on the micrometer scale and having novel activity.

We report a new, simple strategy to apply honeycomb films for the patterning of colloidal particles. By combination of a "bottom-up" breath figure method and the electrochemical properties of the honeycomb films of ferrocenyl-based oligomers, highly ordered hybrid membranes coated with ring-like patterning of 0D- and 1D-Ag nanoparticles (NPs) have been fabricated. One interesting phenomenon is that the nucleation and adsorption of Ag dots occurred preferentially at the edges of the micropores. The hybrid membranes exhibited richly electrochemical activities towards reduction of iodate and enhanced effectively catalytic reduction of organic dyes. We believe that this method can be used to decorate and/or assemble functional metal NPs such as Au, Pd, and Cu on honeycomb-patterned materials for the further applications of photonics, sensors, and catalysis., (Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Viscoelastic vesicle gels were prepared by mixing a nonionic surfactant, tetraethylene glycol monododecyl ether (C₁₂EO₄), and an anionic dye, sodium 4-phenylazobenzoic acid (AzoNa). The gels, which were composed of multilamellar vesicles, were analyzed by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), freeze-fracture transmission electron microscopy (FF-TEM), ²H NMR spectroscopy, and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The mechanism of vesicle-gel formation is explained by the influence of anionic molecules on the bilayer bending modulus. Interestingly, the vesicle gels were observed to be sensitive to temperature, pH, and light. The viscoelastic vesicle gels respond to heat; they thin at lower temperatures and become thicker at higher temperatures. The vesicle gels are only stable from pH 7 to 11, and the gels become thinner outside of this range. UV light can also trigger a structural phase transition from micelles to multilamellar vesicle gels., (Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)