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Copper-based catalysts have been considered as the most promising candidates in the solar-driven catalytic reduction of CO2to value-added chemicals, but their catalytic performance encounters intrinsic limitations in the precise construction of copper catalytic active sites. This work employed the well-defined Cu2Cl2-bpy (bpy = 4,4′-bipyridine) as the precursor and fabricated a dual atom site Cu photocatalyst on polymeric carbon nitride (DAS-Cu@PCN) with a distance between dual Cu atoms of ∼2.8 Å. The PCN substrate enhances the stability of double Cu catalytic sites, and the appropriate Cu–Cu spacing effectively promotes the C–C coupling, which greatly improves the performance of photocatalytic CO2reduction. Our findings provide valuable guidelines for the atom precise photocatalyst design toward highly efficient photocatalytic CO2conversion to high value-added carbon products.

The abnormal expression of aromatase is associated with the occurrence and development of a variety of neurological diseases and tumors. A series of 18F-labeled and 68Ga-labeled potential aromatase-binding candidate compounds were designed and synthesized based on the structures of aromatase inhibitors. Competitive inhibition experiments in vitro and molecular docking showed that BIBD-069 and BIBD-071 have high affinity for aromatase. The radiolabeling conditions of [18F]BIBD-069 and [18F]BIBD-071 were simple, and the yields were high. Biodistribution and in vivo inhibition experiments confirmed that [18F]BIBD-069 and [18F]BIBD-071 specifically bind to aromatase. [18F]BIBD-069 and [18F]BIBD-071 selectively imaged the amygdala and nucleus of the stria terminalis, which is similar to the imaging result of [11C]vorozole. Radiometabolites of [18F]BIBD-069 and [18F]BIBD-071 did not bind to aromatase and interfered with brain imaging. MicroPET-CT imaging further confirmed that [18F]BIBD-069 and [18F]BIBD-071 can specifically bind to aromatase and were not defluorinated in vivo. Given that [18F]BIBD-069 and [18F]BIBD-071 exhibit excellent aromatase binding affinities, mild radiolabeling conditions, and good pharmacokinetics, they can be important tools for the diagnosis and treatment of aromatase-related diseases.

[11C]ER176 has adequate sensitivity to image the human brain translocator protein (TSPO) in all three genotypes by positron emission tomography (PET). However, its clinical application is limited by the short half-life of 11C (20.38 min). To overcome the deficiency of [11C]ER176 and keep the pharmacophore features of ER176 to the maximum extent, we designed four fluorine-labeled ER176 derivatives using the deuterium method. In vitro competition binding confirmed that the designed compounds had high affinity for TSPO. Biodistribution experiments showed that tissues with high expression of TSPO had high uptake of these compounds, as well as that the compound showed high brain penetration and mild defluorination in vivo. Therefore, [18F]BIBD-239 with simple synthesis conditions was selected for further biological evaluation. Theoretical simulations showed that BIBD-239 and ER176 have similar binding modes and sites to Ala147-TSPO and Thr147-TSPO, which indicated that the tracers may have consistent sensitivity to the three affinity genotypes. In vitro autoradiography and in vivo PET studies of the ischemic rat brain showed dramatically higher uptake of [18F]BIBD-239 on the lesion site compared to the contralateral side with good brain kinetics. Additionally, [18F]BIBD-239 provided clear tumor PET images in a GL261 glioma model. Importantly, PET imaging and liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) results showed that in vivo defluorination and other metabolites of [18F]BIBD-239 did not interfere with brain imaging. Conclusively, [18F]BIBD-239, similar to ER176 with low polymorphism sensitivity, has simple labeling conditions, high labeling yield, high affinity, and high specificity for TSPO, and it is planned for further evaluation in higher species.

Herein, a novel donor–acceptor (D–A) conjugated linear polymeric system, poly[(2,6-(4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)-4-fluorothiophen-2-yl)-benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene))-alt-2,5-(3-carboxyl)-thiophene] (PBDT–F–COOH), with outstanding processing ability and its all-organic PBDT–F–COOH coating featuring chemical bonding for combination with polyurethane were prepared. Wide visible spectrum-driven PBDT–F–COOH and PBDT–F–COOH–PU showed dual efficient photocatalytic activities toward degradation and disinfection, mainly attributing to efficient dissociation of excitons and transfer of charge carriers, resulting from the large dipole moment of D–A PBDT–F–COOH. PBDT–F–COOH demonstrated >99.2% inactivation of Staphylococcus aureus(S. aureus) within 1 h and a 7-log decrease in 4 h under visible light irradiation. Additionally, the coating showed the 7-log inactivation of S. aureusin 7 h. These inactivation efficiency results are among those of the best reported D–A conjugated linear polymers. Importantly, PBDT–F–COOH and the PBDT–F–COOH–PU coating both presented satisfactory stability with high photocatalytic activity after recycling runs. This work provides a feasible approach for fabricating nontoxic and highly active organic photocatalysts with wide visible spectra and a large dipole moment via a D–A linear structure design protocol.

Black phosphorus (BP), an emerging remarkable photocatalytic semiconductor, is arousing strong interests in this field of solar-driven CO2reduction, but its stability and activity are still facing huge challenges. Here, an ambient-stable and effective 2D/2D heterostructure of BP/bismuth tungstate (Bi2WO6) with oxygen vacancy is innovatively designed for syngas production via photocatalytic CO2reduction. This work, not only resolves the stability problem of BP nanosheets by anchoring ultrasmall platinum (Pt) nanoparticles (∼2 nm) but also greatly improves the charge transfer efficiency by constructing S-scheme 2D/2D heterostructure with coupled oxygen defects. As a result, the generation rates of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2) remarkably reach 20.5 and 16.8 μmol g–1h–1, respectively, which are much higher than that of reported BP-based materials, and the accomplished CO/H2ratios (1:1–2:1) are exactly the most desirable syngas for industrial applications. Thus, this work constructs an efficient and ambient-stable BP-based photocatalyst for syngas production by CO2reduction at mild conditions.

Compounds 8a–jwere designed to adjust the mode of interaction and lipophilicity of FTT by scaffold hopping and changing the length of the alkoxy groups. Compounds 8a, 8d, 8g, and BIBD-300 were screened for high-affinity PARP-1 through enzyme inhibition assays and are worthy of further evaluation. PET imaging of MCF-7 subcutaneous tumors with moderate expression of PARP-1 showed that compared to [18F]FTT, [18F]8a, [18F]8d, and [18F]8gexhibited greater nonspecific uptake, a lower target-to-nontarget ratio, and severe defluorination, while [18F]BIBD-300 exhibited lower nonspecific uptake and a greater target-to-nontarget ratio. PET imaging of 22Rv1 subcutaneous tumors, which highly express PARP-1, confirmed that the uptake of [18F]BIBD-300 in normal organs, such as the liver, muscle, and bone, was lower than that of [18F]FTT, and the ratio of tumor-to-muscle and tumor-to-liver [18F]BIBD-300 was greater than that of [18F]FTT. The biodistribution results in mice with MCF-7 and 22Rv1 subcutaneous tumors further validated the results of PET imaging. Unlike [18F]FTT, which mainly relies on hepatobiliary clearance, [18F]BIBD-300, which has lower lipophilicity, undergoes a partial shift from hepatobiliary to renal clearance, providing the possibility for [18F]BIBD-300 to indicate liver cancer. The difference in the PET imaging results for [18F]FTT, [18F]BIBD-300, and [18F]8jin 22Rv1 mice and the corresponding molecular docking results further confirmed that subtle structural modifications in lipophilicity greatly optimize the properties of the tracer. Cell uptake experiments also demonstrated that [18F]BIBD-300 has a high affinity for PARP-1. Metabolized and unmetabolized [18F]FTT and [18F]BIBD-300 were detected in the brain, indicating that they could not accurately quantify the amount of PARP-1 in the brain. However, PET imaging of glioma showed that both [18F]FTT and [18F]BIBD-300 could accurately localize both in situ to C6 and U87MG tumors. Based on its potential advantages in the diagnosis of breast cancer, prostate cancer, and glioma, as well as liver cancer, [18F]BIBD-300 is a new option for an excellent PARP-1 tracer.

Sunlight-induced photocatalytic carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction to energy-rich chemicals by metal-free polymeric carbon nitride (CN) semiconductor is a promising tactic for sustained solar fuel production. However, the reaction efficiency of CO2photoreduction is restrained seriously by the rapid recombination of photogenerated carriers on CN polymer. Herein, we incorporate the 2-aminopyridine molecule with strong electron-withdrawing group into the skeleton edge of CN layers through a facile one-pot thermal polymerization strategy using urea as the precursor, which renders the modified carbon nitride (ACN) with extended optical harvesting, abundant nitrogen defects and ultrathin nanosheet structure. Consequently, the ACN photocatalyst with desirable structural features attains enhanced separation and migration of photoexcited charge carriers. Under visible light irradiation with Co(bpy)32+as a cocatalyst, the optimized ACN sample manifests a high CO2deoxygnative reduction activity and high stability, providing a CO yielding rate of 17 μmol·h-1, which is significantly higher than that of pristine CN. The key intermediates engaged in CO2photoreduction reaction are determined by the in situdiffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy, which sponsors the construction of the possible photocatalytic CO2reduction mechanism on the ACN nanosheets.

ABSTRACTBackgroundEpigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the most biologically active catechin of green tea. Tacrolimus (TAC) and cyclosporine A (CsA) are immunosuppressive agents commonly used in clinical organ transplantation. The present study investigated the effect of EGCG on the pharmacokinetics of TAC and CsA in rats and its underlying mechanisms.Research design and methodsEither TAC or CsA was administered to rats intravenously or orally with or without concomitant EGCG. Polymerase Chain Reaction and Western Blot were used to determine the effect of EGCG on drug-metabolizing enzymes (DMEs), drug transporters (DTs) and nuclear receptors (NRs).ResultsThe Cmaxand AUC of TAC were reduced, and V/F and CL/F of TAC were enhanced after co-administration of EGCG. EGCG increased the Cmax, AUC of CsA at 3 ~ 30 mg∙kg-1 dosages, while decreased those parameters at the dosage of 100 mg∙kg-1. EGCG inhibited the mRNA and protein expressions of DMEs and DTs, such as CYP3A1, A2, UGT1A1, Mdr1 and Mrp2, but upregulated the expressions of Car, Pxr and Fxr.ConclusionsThese results revealed consumption of high dose EGCG may cause a significant alteration in pharmacokinetics of TAC and distribution/elimination profiles of CsA through the regulation of DMEs, DTs and NRs.

The synthesis of antibacterial biomaterial with specific functions responsive to specific bacterial growth environments is of significant importance to achieve effective sterilization and reduce the resistant bacteria. Herein, inspired by biomineralization, we develop a one-pot, threonine (Thr)-mediated biomineralization method using a CO2bubbling procedure to green, simply and quickly prepare vaterite CaCO3microspheres as a platform for antibacterial Sanguinarine (SAN) delivery. The loading capacity of vaterite CaCO3microspheres for SAN drugs reached 159.8 mg/g, corresponding to the loading efficiency of 83.7%. And for the first time, a novel Sanguinarine@calcium carbonate (SAN@CaCO3) organic–inorganic hybrid antibacterial biofilm was constructed by using vaterite CaCO3microspheres with pH-responsive and high SAN drug-loading. Importantly, the film showed bacteria-triggered, pH-responsive SAN release properties and strong bactericidal ability (96.19%) for Staphylococcus aureus(S. aureus). Meanwhile, it also had antibacterial capabilities in real environments. In 7 days, it can significantly inhibit the adhesion and growth of bacteria in the air. The biomineralized synthetic vaterite CaCO3microspheres and the application in the construction of pH-responsive antibacterial biofilm have bright future in resisting bacterial infections and reducing the production of resistant bacteria.

Air pollution has been associated with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We aim to investigate susceptible windows of air pollution exposure and factors determining population vulnerability.

•CO2SMs promising as indirect CO2sources to promote growth of plants.•Shorter florescence and higher plant yield elicited by CO2SMs.•Strong stability of CO2SMs at room temperature for transportation and storage.•Strongest effect of CO2SMs fertilizer observed the growth of cucumber.

Following a major disaster, most of the biological characteristics of the victims are typically destroyed, which increases the difficulty of forensic identification. However, palatal rugae cannot be easily destroyed owing to its unique location characteristics, owing to which it has become a new type of biological feature used in forensic identification under special environments. This study proposes a new method of 3D palatal rugae recognition which uses fractional Fourier transform (FRFT). The isometric slicing operation is first used to simplify the complexity of the algorithm and improve the efficiency of the 3D data storage and expression. FRFT is the used to extract the fractional domain features of the profile images obtained by slicing the 3D palatal rugae, and the support vector machine recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE) method is used for feature selection in the fractional domain. The use of FRFT increases the number of the palatal rugae features extracted from the time-frequency domain, and can improve the effectiveness of feature extraction. The recognition accuracy rate of the proposed 3D palatal rugae recognition system can reach up to 97.8%. The proposed method meets the requirements of 3D palatal rugae recognition, and can help in performing rapid forensic identification. The method proposed in this study is useful in reducing the dependence on human experts and promoting the digitization of a forensic identification system based on palatal rugae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:Blood pressure (BP) typically drops to a nadir around 20 to 24 gestation weeks in a normal pregnancy. Distinct BP trajectories over pregnancy could reveal underlying cardiovascular function and predict future cardiovascular risk, but little is known about BP trajectories in Hispanic women. We aim to identify BP trajectories during pregnancy among low-income, Hispanic women.Methods:In the prospective Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) pregnancy cohort, we abstracted clinic BP measures of 732 participants who had an average of 12 BP measures over pregnancy, ranging from 4 to 41 weeks. We used latent class mixture modeling to identify BP trajectories. We examined associations of population characteristics, pregnancy and birth outcomes, and 1-year postpartum BP with the identified trajectories.Results:We identified three distinct BP trajectories (Figure). Compared to the majority (class 1, n=569), the consistently high class 2 (14.8%, 108) was characterized by a higher pre-pregnancy BMI (ppBMI, 32.3±7.6 vs. 27.6 ±6.1 Kg/m2) and a higher proportion of having college or above education (21.3% vs. 14.9%), while the high-low-high U-shape class 3 (7.5%, 55) had a higher ppBMI (32.0±7.9 Kg/m2) but lower proportion of having college or above education (9.1%). Risk of preeclampsia was the highest in class 3 (43.6%), followed by class 2 (10.2%) and class 1 (6.0%), while the risk of gestational diabetes was the highest in class 2 (14.8%), followed by class 1 (7.9%) and class 3 (7.3%). Birthweight and gestational duration were both significantly lower in class 3 than classes 1 and 2. One-year postpartum systolic BP was significantly higher in class 2 (120.2±16.0 mmHg) and class 3 (122.4±16.0 mmHg) than class 1 (111.7±26.2 mmHg) after adjusting for maternal age, pre-pregnancy BMI, parity, and education.Conclusion:Elevated blood pressure may develop into district trajectories in pregnancy that further predict pregnancy and birth outcomes, as well as postpartum blood pressure.

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) has been widely studied as a drug delivery system (DDS), but it still has some limitations in its clinical application in tumor chemotherapy, such as difficult industrialization, complex synthesis methods, time-consuming and labor-intensive, and low drug loading. Here, we developed an industrialized method for the simple, rapid and controllable synthesis of high drug-loaded vaterite hollow CaCO3(VHC). The VHC was successfully prepared by adding L-Leucine (Leu) in the process of preparing CaCO3in an industrial method. The effects of different reaction conditions on VHC were studied in detail, and a possible formation mechanism of VHC was proposed. As an industrially synthesized DDS, the VHC had low cytotoxicity and good biocompatibility, and had higher loading capacity (39.68%) and encapsulation efficiency (90.17%) for doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) due to the existence of hollow nano-cavity. Meanwhile, DOX@VHC showed good pH responsiveness, which can achieve sustained release of DOX. And, DOX@VHC could significantly inhibit tumor cells (cell inhibitory rate: 91.73%) and reduce the toxicity to normal cells. The high drug-loaded VHC synthesized rapidly by industrial methods can achieve controllable drug delivery and high-efficiency inhibition of tumor cells, and has a good application prospect in tumor therapy.

Effectively utilize photogenerated holes (h+) of catalysts while blocking rapid recombination of photoinduced carriers are the two critical challenges for solar-to-hydrogen (STH) conversion. Here, an exquisite 2D/2D LaVO4/g-C3N4(LaVO4/CN) heterostructure is delicately designed and fabricated for efficient photocatalytic H2-evolution while producing high value-added furfural simultaneously. The abundant biomass furfuryl alcohol (FFA) is employed to substitute the traditional h+sacrificial agents such as triethanolamine (TEOA) for the oxidation half reaction, which is very meaningful to balance the H2-evolution half reaction. The LaVO4/CN heterojunction enables 3-time increased H2-evolution and a high furfural-production rate (0.95mmolg-1h-1) than that of pristine graphite carbon nitride (g-C3N4, labeled as CN), and with a 22.16% H2-evolution apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) irradiated at 400nm. This work provides an exquisite catalyst and a new strategy for efficient photocatalytic H2-evolution coupled with production of high valuable chemicals.