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Both silicone gel and quercetin are effective in scar treatment but have different action mechanisms. Quercetin is mainly applied in the gel form and can lead to poor adhesion of silicone gel sheet; therefore, they cannot be combined in clinical use. In this study, a silicone gel sheet that releases quercetin in a sustained manner for 48 hours was successfully developed. Four round scars (Ø: 1 cm) were made in the ears of New Zealand albino rabbits (n = 10). After scar healing, the rabbits were divided into four groups: blank control group with no treatment, silicone gel sheet group with dressing change every 2 days, quercetin group with dressing change three times daily, and combination treatment group with dressing change every 2 days. Scar assessment was performed 3 months later. Transepidermal water loss showed no difference between the combination treatment group and the silicone gel sheet group, but was lower than that in the quercetin group and the blank control group. Immunohistochemistry of CD 31 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen showed the following results: combination treatment group < silicone gel sheet group = quercetin group < blank control group. Polymerase chain reaction results showed that the expression of type-I and type-III collagen in the combination treatment group and the quercetin group was significantly lower than that in the other two groups. Thus, quercetin-modified silicone gel sheet combines the advantages of the two treatments and is more effective at inhibiting cell proliferation in scar tissue than either of the two treatments alone.

Current wound scaffold dressing constructs can facilitate wound healing but do not exhibit antibacterial activity, resulting in high infection rates. We aimed to endow wound scaffold dressing with anti-infective ability by polyhexamethylenebiguanide (PHMB). We prepared PHMB hydrogel at varying concentrations (0.25%, 0.5%, 1%, 2%) and assessed release and cytotoxicity. PHMB hydrogel was added to the wound scaffold dressing to generate a PHMB hydrogel-modified wound scaffold dressing. Wound healing and infection prevention were evaluated using a full-thickness skin defect model in rats. In vitro, the hydrogel PHMB release time positively correlated with PHMB concentration, with 1% allowing sufficiently long release time to encompass the high-incidence period (3-5 days) of infection following wound scaffold dressing implantation. Implantation of 1% PHMB hydrogel into the skin did not cause adverse responses. in vitro cytotoxicity assays showed the PHMB hydrogel-modified wound scaffold dressing did not significantly affect proliferation of fibroblasts or vascular endothelial cells, 99.90% vs 99.84% for fibroblasts and 100.21% vs 99.28% for vascular endothelial cells at 21 days. Transplantation of PHMB hydrogel-modified wound scaffold dressing/unmodified wound scaffold dressing on the non-infected wounds of rats yielded no significant difference in relative vascularization rate, 47.40 vs 50.87 per view at 21 days, whereas bacterial content of the wound tissue in the PHMB hydrogel-modified wound scaffold dressing group was significantly lower than the unmodified wound scaffold dressing group, (1.80 ± 0.35) × 103 vs (9.34 ± 0.45) × 103 at 14 days. Prevalence of persistent wound infection in the rats receiving PHMB hydrogel-modified wound scaffold dressing transplantation onto infected wounds was significantly lower than the unmodified wound scaffold dressing group, 30% vs 100%. PHMB hydrogel-modified wound scaffold dressing exhibited suitable antibacterial ability, and its biological activity did not significantly differ from that of the unmodified wound scaffold dressing, thereby allowing it to effectively prevent infection following wound scaffold dressing implantation.

A ternary complex of Tb(SSA)3Phen was synthesised based on terbium(III) (Tb3+) ion and the ligands including 1,10-phenanthroline (Phen) and 5-sulfosalicylic acid (SSA). Then a series of polylactic acid (PLA)/Tb(SSA)3Phen composites were prepared by the melt-mixing process. The luminescent properties of PLA/Tb(SSA)3Phen composite films were investigated by fluorescence spectrophotometry. The spectra of all composites indicated that PLA/Tb(SSA)3Phen composites shown the characteristic bright green fluorescence which originated from Tb(SSA)3Phen. Moreover, the energy absorption and transfers of Tb(SSA)3Phen were slightly affected by the PLA matrix. The optical transmittance of the composites was measured by the UV–vis spectrometer. The results demonstrated that Tb(SSA)3Phen can ameliorate the PLA film transparence, which well dispersed in the PLA matrix. Moreover, the thermal properties, crystal structure and the mechanical properties of PLA/Tb(SSA)3Phen composite were also investigated to determine the potential usage as a green fluorescent material.

To develop a drug carrier sensitive to reactive oxygen species (ROS), a nanocomplex (NCs) based on sulfuric hyaluronic acid (sHA)-anthocyanin (ATC) was developed. Doxorubicin (DOX) is loaded into the sHA-ATC NCs (AD@sHA) through intermolecular π-π stacking and hydrophobic interactions. AD@sHA can be prepared in aqueous phase by simple mixing method. In AD@sHA, DOX content and load efficiency are high. Compared with D@sHA (without ATC), the ROS-ATC co-mediated responsive degradation and drug release of AD@sHA was confirmed. In addition, AD@sHA also improved apoptosis of CD44+ colon cancer HT29 cells. HT29 tumor-bearing mice model was used to confirm the role of AD@SHA in targeted tumor therapy. The results showed that AD@SHA could optimize the biodistribution of DOX. These data, from tumor volume and TUNEL analysis, observed the delay of tumor growth and apoptosis of cancer cells. Even more exciting is that AD@sHA significantly reduces the myelosuppression of DOX. This study means that AD@sHA has a better effect on chemotherapy for CD44-positive tumors.

Co-culture of microalgae and bacteria is a promising method for wastewater treatment. The suitable selection of the bacteria in co-cultures with microalgae is critical for wastewater treatment. Three bacteria, Exiguobacterium aurantiacum, Stenotrophomonas acidaminiphila, and Chryseobacterium scophthalmus, were the dominant bacterial species in fermentation wastewater treated by microalgae and activated sludge. Pure cultures and co-cultures of microalgae (Chlorella sorokiniana L3) and these bacteria were evaluated for the treatment of fermentation wastewater, which contains high concentrations of acetate acid, butyric acid, ethanol and butanol. The performance of the co-cultures was better than that of pure cultures of microalgae or bacteria for the removal of four organic compounds, and the removal efficiency of volatile fatty acids and alcohols in the best co-culture case was increased by 22.70% compared to that of pure cultures. Butanol and butyric acid were much more difficult for microalgae and bacteria to remove than were acetic acid and ethanol. The co-cultures of Chlorella sorokiniana L3 with Stenotrophomonas acidaminiphila or Chryseobacterium scophthalmus had the highest removal efficiencies for the four organic compounds in all treatments. The co-cultures of Chlorella sorokiniana L3 with Exiguobacterium aurantiacum, Stenotrophomonas acidaminiphila or Chryseobacterium scophthalmus promoted not only chlorophyll a + b production but also biomass accumulation of Chlorella sorokiniana L3 during the 3 days of cultivation compared with those in pure cultures. More than 77.8% of NH4+-N, 45.6% of total PO43−-P and 63.7% of COD (chemical oxygen demand) were removed in all co-cultures. These three bacteria are potential candidates for wastewater treatment through co-culture with microalgae.

Accidents at TMI, USA and Fukushima, Japan have emphasized the need for hydrogen mitigation during nuclear plant accidental conditions, especially during severe accidents which will be no power, massive hydrogen, high temperature, long-term operation, and poisoning environment. Passive autocatalytic recombiners with catalyst sheets are the promising way to deal with the situation in severe accidents. Here we report a new kind of catalyst sheets based on stainless steel supported Pd nanoclusters prepared by electroless deposition route. The catalyst sheets were characterised for morphology and composition of surface by SEM and EDS. The catalytic activity of the catalyst sheets has been evaluated under the conditions of higher temperature, long-term operation and poisoning environments. The catalyst sheets showed high activity and good stability either operating above 500 °C for 24 h or continuous operating for 25 days. For the obtained catalyst sheets after exposed to methanal, iodine vapor and BaSO 4 aerosol respectively with corresponding concentrations higher than SA conditions, the start-up time for H 2 -O 2 recombination reaction was less than 1 min and the catalytic efficiency was more than 90%. These results indicate the potential application of this type of catalyst sheets for hydrogen mitigation in severe accidents.

Tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum(III) (Alq3) is characterized by crystallization in polymorphism both under vapor deposition and solvent evaporation. In this article, crystal growth of Alq3 in several organic solvents is studied. High quality bulk single crystals or crystalline microstructures are obtained, which depends on the varied conditions of crystallization. Two new crystalline solvates of Alq3(HCON(CH3)2) and Alq3((CH2OH)2) growing in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and ethylene glycol (EG) have been obtained. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that their structures belong to new polymorphism bearing identical crystal symmetry, which is different to any solvated crystal phases reported before. The photoluminescent (PL) properties of the crystalline Alq3(HCON(CH3)2) and Alq3((CH2OH)2) are measured. Both crystals exhibit high quantum yield and long PL lifetime. In addition, the optical waveguide properties of Alq3(HCON(CH3)2) microstructures are investigated. It shows that solvated single-crystals or microstructures can be used as excellent light-emitting and propagation materials in miniaturized optoelectronic devices.

Osteomyelitis is a well-known bone infection in humans. The primary symptoms are fever, pain, weakness, and redness of the bone. l -Homocarnosine is a bioactive peptide abundant in brain and skeletal muscles. The present study evaluated the synergistic effect of vancomycin and l -homocarnosine against osteomyelitis in the Staphylococcus aureus-induced rat model of osteomyelitis. Animals were classified into the following groups: sham (group I), osteomyelitis (group II, control), vancomycin (25 mg/kg body weight, group III), l -homobrassinolide (25 mg/kg body weight, group IV), and vancomycin (25 mg/kg body weight) + l -homobrassinolide (25 mg/kg body weight) (group V). Lipid peroxidation, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (Gpx), catalase, reduced glutathione (GSH), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were determined. Assessments of bacterial growth and histopathological analyses were carried out. Lipid peroxidation, GSH, SOD, catalase, and Gpx levels recovered to near normal levels with the combined treatment of vancomycin and l -homocarnosine. TNF-α and IL-6 levels were reduced to near normal levels. Combined supplementation of vancomycin and l -homocarnosine reduced bacterial growth in bone and wire. Furthermore, bone infections and histopathological scores were also reduced. In summary, we showed that combined treatment of vancomycin and l -homocarnosine was more effective against bacterial growth and bone infection compared to monotherapy with vancomycin or l -homocarnosine.

The double qualitative principle is a new composite qualitative method based on retention time and the characteristic peaks of the absorption spectra. Using a self-designed and assembled diode array detector (DAD), a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system was constructed. The illegal additive auramine O in six kinds of herbal slices and the active ingredient schisandrin in Jujube kernel Tianma capsules were separated and qualitative analyzed using the HPLC-DAD system. The results showed that there were similar peaks in the chromatograms of pollen typhae and Jujube kernel Tianma capsules when comparing the target analytes. However, the probabilities of the targets were excluded by comparing the absorption spectra. The application results indicated that, based on the double qualitative principle of retention time/absorption spectrum, the interference of impurities in the samples could be well eliminated and the false positives could be avoided. This provides a reference method for the study of traditional Chinese medicine components.

Zr-based bulk metallic glasses (BMG) Zr65+xCu17.5Fe10-xAl7.5 (x = 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5) with high zirconium content were prepared by an injection copper-mold casting method. The influence of Zr partially substituted Fe and isothermal annealing on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the Zr65+xCu17.5Fe10-xAl7.5 BMGs has been systematically studied. The as-prepared BMG with a Zr content of 70 at.% achieves superior glass forming ability with a large supercooled liquid region width of 82 K and compressive performance. An optimized isothermal annealing (0.5 h) below the glass transition temperature of the as-cast Zr70Cu17.5Fe5Al7.5 BMG contributes significant enhancement in compressive fracture strength and plasticity, from 1845 MPa and 7.4% (as-cast) to 2096 MPa and 12.7% (annealed), respectively. The result of the present study provides a new strategy for designing high-performance BMG-based alloys.

Hydrogen isotope catalytic exchange between hydrogen and liquid water is a very effective process for deuterium-depleted potable water production and heavy water detritiation. To improve the characteristics of hydrophobic catalysts for this type of reaction, foamed and cellular structures of hydrophobic carbon-supported platinum catalysts were successfully prepared. Separation of deuterium or tritium from liquid water was carried out by liquid-phase catalytic exchange. At a gas–liquid ratio of 1.53 and exchange temperature of 70 °C, the theoretical plate height of the hydrophobic catalyst (HETP = 34.2 cm) was slightly lower than previously reported values. Changing the concentration of the exchange column outlet water yielded nonlinear changes in the height of the packing layer. Configurations of deuterium-depleted potable water and detritiation of heavy water provide references for practical applications.

Tao Tang,1,* Hao Jiang,1,* Yuan Yu,2,* Fang He,1 Shi-zhao Ji,1 Ying-ying Liu,1 Zhong-shan Wang,1 Shi-chu Xiao,1 Cui Tang,3 Guang-Yi Wang,1 Zhao-Fan Xia1 1Department of Burn Surgery, The Second Military Medical University Affiliated Changhai Hospital, 2Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, The Second Military Medical University, 3State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’sRepublic of China *These authors contributed equally tothis work Objective: To accelerate wound healing through promoting vascularization by using reactive oxygen species (ROS)-responsive nanoparticles loaded with stromal cell-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α).Methods: The ROS-reactive nanomaterial poly-(1,4-phenyleneacetone dimethylene thioketal) was synthesized, and its physical and chemical properties were characterized. ROS-responsive nanoparticles containing SDF-1α were prepared through a multiple emulsion solvent evaporation method. The loading capacity, stability, activity of the encapsulated protein, toxicity, and in vivo distribution of these nanoparticles were determined. These nanoparticles were administered by intravenous infusion to mice with full-thickness skin defects to study their effects on the directed chemotaxis of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, wound vascularization, and wound healing.Results: The synthesized ROS-reactive organic polymer poly-(1,4-phenyleneacetone dimethylene thioketal) possessed a molecular weight of approximately 11.5kDa with a dispersity of 1.97. ROS-responsive nanoparticles containing SDF-1α were prepared with an average diameter of 110nm and a drug loading capacity of 1.8%. The encapsulation process showed minimal effects on the activity of SDF-1α, and it could be effectively released from the nanoparticles in the presence of ROS. Encapsulated SDF-1α could exist for a long time in blood. In mice with full-thickness skin defects, SDF-1α was effectively released and targeted to the wounds, thus promoting the chemotaxis of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells toward the wound and its periphery, inducing wound vascularization, and accelerating wound healing. Keywords: reactive oxygen species, stromal cell-derived factor-1α, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, wound healing

Accumulated carbohydrate in microalgae is promising feedstock for bioethanol fermentation. Selection of suitable cultivation conditions in semi-continuous cultivation is critical to achieve a high carbohydrate productivity. In the current study, the effects of macro-nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur) limitations and light intensity were evaluated for the carbohydrate accumulations of Chlorella sp. AE10 under 10% CO2 conditions. It was shown that nitrogen limitation and high light intensity were effective for improving carbohydrate productivity. The average carbohydrate and biomass productivity in semi-continuous cultivation with 1/4 N medium and 1000 μmol photons m-2 s-1 was 0.673 and 0.93 g L-1 day-1, respectively. Sulfur and phosphorus limitations could improve the carbohydrate content but they could not enhance the carbohydrate productivity. The cell cycle progression and chlorophyll a were investigated using flow cytometry (FCM). The results showed that macro-nutrient limitation and high light intensity indeed influenced cell cycle progression and led to the formation of polyploid cells along with the carbohydrate accumulation in a certain range. FCM was rapid and accurate method to investigate the operation conditions why 1/4 N, 2 days as a cycle, and high light intensity were optimal ones. In addition, the remaining high level of photosynthesis activity was also important for achieving a high carbohydrate productivity. Dynamic tracking of carbohydrate accumulation is helpful for establishment of a semi-continuous cultivation for enhancing carbohydrate productivity in microalgae.

Cyanobacteria as biofertilizers are benefit to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and reestablish the ecological system in soil. In general, several strains of cyanobacteria were involved in the biofertilizers. The co-cultivation of cyanobacteria were characterized on growth profile, production of polysaccharides and extracellular proteins, nitrogenase activity, and photosynthetic activity for three selected N2-fixing cyanobacteria, Anabaena cylindrica (B1611 and F243) and Nostoc sp. (F280). After eight-day culture, the highest dry weights were obtained in F280 pure culture and co-cultivation of B1611 and F280. Higher production of extracellular proteins and cell-bonding polysaccharides (CPS) were observed in co-cultivations compared with pure culture. The highest released polysaccharides (RPS) contents were obtained in pure culture of F280 and co-cultivation of F280 and F243. Galactose and glucose were major components of CPS and RPS in all samples. Trehalose was a specific component of RPS in F280 pure culture. Based on the monosaccharide contents of CPS and RPS, F280 was the dominant species in the related treatments of co-cultivation. The nitrogenase activities in all treatments exhibited a sharp rise at the late stage while a significant decrease existed when three cyanobacteria strains were mixed. Photosynthetic activities for all treatments were determined with rapid light curve, and the related parameters were estimated.

Rapid repair of vascular injury is an important prognostic factor for electrical burns. This repair is achieved mainly via stromal cell-derived factor (SDF)-1α promoting the mobilization, chemotaxis, homing, and targeted differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) into endothelial cells. Forming a concentration gradient from the site of local damage in the circulation is essential to the role of SDF-1α. In a previous study, we developed reactive oxygen species (ROS)-sensitive PPADT nanoparticles containing SDF-1α that could degrade in response to high concentration of ROS in tissue lesions, achieving the goal of targeted SDF-1α release. In the current study, a rat vascular injury model of electrical burns was used to evaluate the effects of targeted release of SDF-1α using PPADT nanoparticles on the chemotaxis of BMSCs and the repair of vascular injury. Continuous exposure to 220 V for 6 s could damage rat vascular endothelial cells, strip off the inner layer, significantly elevate the local level of ROS, and decrease the level of SDF-1α. After injection of Cy5-labeled SDF-1α-PPADT nanoparticles, the distribution of Cy5 fluorescence suggested that SDF-1α was distributed primarily at the injury site, and the local SDF-1α levels increased significantly. Seven days after injury with nanoparticles injection, aggregation of exogenous green fluorescent protein-labeled BMSCs at the injury site was observed. Ten days after injury, the endothelial cell arrangement was better organized and continuous, with relatively intact vascular morphology and more blood vessels. These results showed that SDF-1α-PPADT nanoparticles targeted the SDF-1α release at the site of injury, directing BMSC chemotaxis and homing, thereby promoting vascular repair in response to electrical burns.

A new prenylated indole diketopiperazine alkaloid, cristatumin F (1), and four known metabolites, echinulin (2), dehydroechinulin (3), neoechinulin A (4) and variecolorin O (5), were isolated from the crude extract of the fungus Eurotium cristatum. The structure of 1 was elucidated primarily by NMR and MS methods. The absolute configuration of 1 was assigned using Marfey’s method applied to its acid hydrolyzate. Cristatumin F (1) showed modest radical scavenging activity against DPPH radicals, and exhibited marginal attenuation of 3T3L1 pre-adipocytes.