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Dental caries, a widespread and significantly detrimental health condition, is characterized by demineralization, pain, compromised tooth functionality, and various other adverse effects. Licoricidin (LC), a natural isoflavonoid, demonstrates potent antimicrobial properties for maintaining oral health. However, its practical application is significantly hindered by its limited water solubility and susceptibility to removal within the oral environment. To tackle this issue, we developed a delivery oral system by an edible thermosensitive chitosan- disodium beta-glycerol phosphate pentahydrate (CS/β-GP) hydrogel to load LC/Hydroxypropyl beta-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) inclusion complexes. These hydrogels (LC/HP-β-CD/CS/β-GP) could solidify rapidly at oral temperature and sustainably release LC, thereby preventing its rapid clearance from the oral cavity. We confirmed the significant antibacterial activity of this hydrogel against Streptococcus mutans and Staphylococcus aureus. Additionally, the HP-β-CD combination enhanced LC to penetrate bacterial biofilms and inhibit biofilm growth, leading to leakage of cellular proteins and DNA. Additionally, we studied the effect of LC/HP-β-CD/CS/β-GP on intracellular ROS levels and MMP, comprehensively exploring its antimicrobial mechanism. Furthermore, LC/HP-β-CD/CS/β-GP exhibited the ability to inhibit demineralization and demonstrated excellent biocompatibility. In summary, this study presented a safer approach to oral delivering bioactive substances, offering a promising strategy for enhanced oral health and safety., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declared that there is no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The cleanup of marine debris is an urgent problem in marine environmental protection. AUVs with visual recognition technology have gradually become a central research issue. However, existing recognition algorithms have slow inference speeds and high computational overhead. They are also affected by blurred images and interference information. To solve these problems, a real-time semantic segmentation network is proposed, called WaterBiSeg-Net. First, we propose the Multi-scale Information Enhancement Module to solve the impact of low-definition and blurred images. Then, to suppress the interference of background information, the Gated Aggregation Layer is proposed. In addition, we propose a method that can extract boundary information directly. Finally, extensive experiments on SUIM and TrashCan datasets show that WaterBiSeg-Net can better complete the task of marine debris segmentation and provide accurate segmentation results for AUVs in real-time. This research offers a low computational cost and real-time solution for AUVs to identify marine debris., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The simultaneous sensing and remediation of multiple heavy metal ions in wastewater or soil with microorganisms is currently a significant challenge. In this study, the microorganism Bacillus subtilis was used as a chassis organism to construct two genetic circuits for sensing and adsorbing heavy-metal ions. The engineered biosensor can sense three heavy metal ions (0.1-75 μM of Pb 2+ and Cu 2+ , 0.01-3.5 μM of Hg 2+ ) in situ real-time with high sensitivity. The engineered B. subtilis TasA-metallothionein (TasA-MT) biofilm can specifically adsorb metal ions from the environment, exhibiting remarkable removal efficiencies of 99.5% for Pb 2+ , 99.9% for Hg 2+ and 99.5% for Cu 2+ in water. Furthermore, this engineered strain (as a biosensor and absorber of Pb 2+ , Cu 2+ , and Hg 2+ ) was incubated with biochar to form a hybrid biofilm@biochar (BBC) material that could be applied in the bioremediation of heavy metal ions. The results showed that BBC material not only significantly reduced exchangeable Pb 2+ in the soil but also reduced Pb 2+ accumulation in maize plants. In addition, it enhanced maize growth and biomass. In conclusion, this study examined the potential applications of biosensors and hybrid living materials constructed using sensing and adsorption circuits in B. subtilis, providing rapid and cost-effective tools for sensing and remediating multiple heavy metal ions (Pb 2+ , Hg 2+ , and Cu 2+ )., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Peptides with highly sequence-dependent recognition, assembly, and encoding abilities can perform functions similar to DNA or even better, such as biosensing, molecular information processing, coding, or storage. However, the combination of versatile peptides and 2D materials are rarely used for multipurpose integrated applications, including biosensing, information processing and security. Herein, peptide-graphene sensing system was comprehensively used for dual-signal sensing of tumor-derived exosomes (TDEs), logic computing, and information protection. The system used fluorescent-labeled CD63-binding peptide CP05 and graphene oxide (GO) to selectively detect CD63 and TDEs by fluorescence and resonance light scattering. From three levels such as matter, energy, and information analysis, the matter and energy changes in GO-CP05 peptide sensing system were transformed into valuable information, which achieve the dual-mode quantitative detection of TDEs and its marker CD63, and the actual serum analysis. This matter-energy interaction network was also informationized, and utilized for parallel and batch logic computing, two kinds of molecular crypto-steganography (based on peptide sequence and Boolean logic relationships), which facilitates development of intelligent sensing and advanced information technology. This work not only provides a new method for sensitive detection of important disease markers, but also provides ideas for integrating molecular sensing and informatization to open molecular digitization., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study aimed to explore the efficacy of polysaccharides from bergamot (BP) in alleviating DSS-induced colitis. Results showed that BP was primarily composed of two components, BP-1 and BP-2, with similar monosaccharide compositions to BP (mainly glucose and xylose) and molecular weights (Mw) of 4.50 × 10 5 and 2.35 × 10 5  Da. This study found BP relieved disease symptoms such as weight loss and colon shortening in mice with colitis. Gut microbiota and metabolomics analysis revealed that the BP could also promote the proliferation of beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacteria, Butyrivibrio, and Blautia, resulting in increased levels of SCFAs and L-phenylalanine, which were associated with phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan metabolism pathways. Further analysis validated the inflammatory activity of L-phenylalanine. Hence, BP may relieve colitis symptoms by regulating the gut microbiota and metabolism, which reduced inflammation and enhanced the expression of tight junctional proteins (TJ proteins) and mucin in the intestine., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Hypochlorous acid (HClO) is a condition where there is not enough oxygen in body tissues due to an imbalance between oxygen supply and consumption for cellular functions. In order to comprehend the biological functions of HClO within cells, the development of an effective and selective detection method is of great crucial. In this paper, a near-infrared ratiometric fluorescent probe (YQ-1) for detecting HClO was exploited based on a benzothiazole derivative. YQ-1's fluorescence shifted from red to green with a large blue shift (165 nm) in the presence of HClO, and the solution's color changed from pink to yellow. YQ-1 quickly detected HClO (within 40 s) with a low detection limit (4.47 × 10 -7 mol/L) and was not affected by other interferences. The mechanism of YQ-1's response to HClO was confirmed by HRMS, 1 H NMR and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Moreover, due to its low toxicity, YQ-1 successfully utilized for fluorescence imaging for HClO both endogenous and exogenous in cells., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Exposure to crystalline silica leads to health effects beyond occupational silicosis. Exercise training's potential benefits on pulmonary diseases yield inconsistent outcomes. In this study, we utilized experimental silicotic mice subjected to exercise training and pharmacological interventions, including interleukin-17A (IL-17A) neutralizing antibody or clodronate liposome for macrophage depletion. Findings reveal exercise training's ability to mitigate silicosis progression in mice by suppressing scavenger receptor B (SRB)/NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3) and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) pathways. Macrophage-derived IL-17A emerges as primary source and trigger for silica-induced pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis. Exercise training effectively inhibits IL-17A-CXC motif chemokine ligand 5 (CXCL5)-Chemokine (C-X-C motif) Receptor 2 (CXCR2) axis in silicotic mice. Our study evidences exercise training's potential to reduce collagen deposition, preserve elastic fibers, slow pulmonary fibrosis advancement, and enhance pulmonary function post silica exposure by impeding macrophage-derived IL-17A-CXCL5-CXCR2 axis., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Viscosity and peroxynitrite (ONOO - ) are two significant indicators to affect and evaluate the mitochondrial functional status, which are nearly relational with pathophysiological process in many diseases. Developing suitable analytical methods for monitoring mitochondrial viscosity changes and ONOO - is thus of great importance. In this research, a new mitochondria-targeted sensor DCVP-NO 2 for the dual determination of viscosity and ONOO - was exploited based on the coumarin skeleton. DCVP-NO 2 displayed a red fluorescence "turn-on" response toward viscosity along with about 30-fold intensity increase. Meanwhile, it could be used as ratiometric probe for detection of ONOO - with excellent sensitivity and extraordinary selectivity for ONOO - over other chemical and biological species. Moreover, thanks to its good photostability, low cytotoxicity and ideal mitochondrion-targeting capability, DCVP-NO 2 was successfully utilized for fluorescence imaging of viscosity variations and ONOO - in mitochondria of living cells through different channels. In addition, the results of cell imaging revealed that ONOO - would lead to the increase of viscosity. Taken together, this work provides a potential molecular tool for researching biological functions and interactions of viscosity and ONOO - in mitochondria., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The placental tissue stress of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is activated by ERS under hypoxia condition. PERK signaling pathway is the key pathway for UPR regulation, and is first to activated during ERS. WFS1, as an important regulatory gene of UPR pathway, participates in ERS regulation. The purpose of our study is to explore the expression level and mutual regulation mechanisms of WFS1 and PERK-mediated UPR pathway in ICP placental tissue cell under stress., Methods: Blood and placenta samples were obtained from the ICP patients and ethinylestradiol (EE)-induced intrahepatic cholestasis pregnant rats. IHC and WB were used to detect the expression of WFS1, key factors of PERK pathway (GRP78, PERK, eIF2a, P-eIF2α, ATF4) and placental stress peptides (CRH, UCN). Furthermore, qPCR was carried out to detect mRNA expression of above indicators., Results: The expression levels of WFS1 and key factors of PERK pathway were significantly increased in severe ICP placental tissues. Moreover, qPCR and WB showed that relative mRNA and protein expression levels of WFS1 and key factors of PERK pathways in placenta tissues of severe ICP and EE-induced intrahepatic cholestasis pregnant rats were higher than those in control group to varying degrees, while CRH and UCN were descended. Meanwhile, after WFS1-siRNA targeted silencing of the WFS1 gene, the protein expression levels of PERK, P-eIF2α, ATF4 were significantly increased, while CRH and UCN protein were significantly decreased., Discussion: Our study revealed that the activation of WFS1 and PERK-p-eIF2α-ATF4 signaling pathway may contribute to stress regulation in placental tissue cells of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, thereby avoiding adverse pregnancy outcomes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Viscosity changes in mitochondria are closely associated with numerous cellular processes and diseases. Currently available fluorescence probes used in mitochondrial viscosity imaging are not very photostable or sufficiently permeable. Herein, a highly photostable and permeable mitochondria-targeting red fluorescent probe (Mito-DDP) was designed and synthesized for viscosity sensing. Viscosity was imaged in living cells using a confocal laser scanning microscope, and the results suggested that Mito-DDP penetrated the membrane and stained the living cells. Importantly, practical applications of Mito-DDP were demonstrated: viscosity visualization was realized for mitochondrial malfunction, cellular and zebrafish inflammation, and Drosophila Alzheimer's disease models, i.e., for subcellular organelles, cells, and organisms. The excellent analytical and bioimaging performance of Mito-DDP in vivo makes it an effective tool for exploring the physiological and pathological effects of viscosity., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Atmospheric Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), derived from polar-orbiting satellites, has shown potential in PM 2.5 predictions. However, this important source of data suffers from low temporal resolution. Recently, geostationary satellites provide AOD data in high temporal and spatial resolution. However, the feasibility of these data in PM 2.5 prediction needs further study. In this paper, we analyzed the impact of AOD derived from Himawari-8 in PM 2.5 predictions. Moreover, by combining wavelet, machine learning techniques, and minimum redundancy maximum relevance (mRMR), a novel hybrid model was proposed. The results showed that AOD missing rate over Yangtze River Delta region is the highest in Nanjing, Hefei, and Maanshan. In addition, missing rates are the lowest in winter and summer (∼80%). Moreover, we found that considering AOD, as an auxiliary variable in the model, could not improve the accuracy of PM 2.5 predictions, and in some cases decreased it slightly. In comparison with other models, our proposed hybrid model showed higher prediction accuracy, R 2 is improved by 11.64% on average, and root mean square error, mean absolute error, and mean absolute percentage error is reduced by 26.82%, 27.24%, and 29.88% respectively. This research provides a general overview of the availability of Himawari-8 AOD data and its feasibility in PM 2.5 predictions. In addition, it evaluates different machine learning approaches in PM 2.5 predictions. Our proposed framework can be used in other regions to predict different air pollutants concentrations and can be used as an aid for air pollution controlling programs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Calmodulin (CaM) and calmodulin-like (CML) proteins are the most prominent calcium (Ca 2+ ) sensing proteins involved in Ca 2+ -signaling processes. However, the function of these calcium sensors in wheat remains unclear. In this study, 15 TaCAMs and 113 TaCMLs were identified from the wheat reference genome. The analysis of cis-acting elements and expression patterns showed that TaCAMs might play an important role in response to abiotic and biotic stresses. TaCAM2-D gene was found to be significantly upregulated under drought and salt stresses, and thus, it was selected to further explore the biological function. Moreover, TaCAM2-D was observed to be localized in the nucleus, membrane and cytoplasm. Overexpression of TaCAM2-D in Arabidopsis conferred greater tolerance to drought and salt. The prediction analysis, the yeast two-hybrid analysis, and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay indicated that TaCAM2-D interacted with TaMPK8, which is one of the wheat mitogen-activated protein kinases. Thus, the current study provides insights into the understanding of the TaCAM and TaCML genes in wheat., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Yike Liu reports financial support was provided by Department of science and technology of Hubei Province., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Application of activating agents can significantly improve efficiency of plants for remediation of soils contaminated by heavy metals, however, damage to soil and plants limits application of traditional activating agents. The aim of our experiments is to select an efficient,green and low-cost activating agent to improve efficiency of plant extraction technology. In this study, contaminated soil was remediated by Sedum alfredii. The effects of two plant extracts (i.e., Oxalis corniculata,OX and Medicago sativaextract, ME) in addition to citric acid (CA) were studied in oscillatory activation experiment and pot experiment. The oscillation activation experiment revealed that extraction quantity of heavy metals in the soil was enhanced significantly with concentration of plant extract. The extraction quantity of Zn from 100% OX extract and ME extract were significantly higher than 10 mmol/L CA (54.04% and 33.09%, respectively). The 10 mmol/L CA has best extraction efficiency for Cd, up to 41.36 µg/kg, which is significantly higher than CK (control) (p < 0.05). The pot experiment exhibited that application of CA has significantly reduced soil pH and organic matter content by 8.63% and 28.21%, respectively, however the two extracts have no significant effect on soil properties. The study indicated that application of CA has negative effects on root morphological parameters and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of Sedum alfredii.The addition of extracts of two plants have not caused any harm to Sedum alfredii. The application of three activating agents was beneficial for purification of Cd and Zn in soils, and its repairing efficiency was improved by 3.92, 3.37, 3.33 times and 0.44, 0.20, 0.86 times, respectively. The combination of plant extracts and hyperaccumulators can effectively remove heavy metals from contaminated soils, which provided a theoretical basis for mitigation of pollution in soils., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Hydrazine (N 2 H 4 ) is extensively used in industry but highly toxic; hence, highly sensitive detection of N 2 H 4 is extremely meaningful. Herein, a colorimetric and near-infrared (NIR) ratiometric fluorescent probe named DXM-OH was rationally designed and synthesized based on oxanthrene malononitrile derivative for the specific detection of N 2 H 4 . The dicyanovinyl group in DXM-OH was served as the recognition unit for N 2 H 4 . DXM-OH showed high sensitivity to N 2 H 4 in the range of 1-900 μM, with the limit of detection (LOD) of 0.09 μM (2.87 ppb), which is much lower than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standard (10 ppb). Furthermore, the practical applications of DXM-OH in detecting N 2 H 4 in real water samples and imaging of N 2 H 4 in living cells were demonstrated, indicating its potential utility for N 2 H 4 sensing in environmental and biological samples., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

β-Galactosidase (β-gal) which is overexpressed in primary ovarian cancer can be employed as a valuable biomarker for ovarian cancer. Thus, monitoring and imaging endogenous β-gal in living cells is of great importance. Herein, a dicyanoisophorone-based near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe 2-(5,5-dimethyl-3-((E)-4-(((2R,3S,4R,5S,6S)-3,4,5-trihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)tetrahydro-2H-pyran-2-yl)oxy)styryl)cyclohex-2-en-1-ylidene)malononitrile named DP-βgal, was rationally designed and synthesized for the monitoring of β-gal activity in living cells. In the presence of β-gal, with the breaking of the glycosidic bond, the NIR fluorescence of the dicyanoisophorone derivative gradually recovered, enabling the fluorescence "off-on" quantitative determination of β-gal activity. DP-βgal has the advantages of good selectivity and high sensitivity for the detection of β-gal, with the limit of detection (LOD) of 3.2 × 10 -3 U. Furthermore, based on its advantages of long-wavelength emission and excellent biocompatibility, the practical applications of DP-βgal in NIR imaging of β-gal in living ovarian cancer cells (SKOV-3) were demonstrated., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

β-Galactosidase (β-gal) is an important biomarker for primary ovarian cancers. Developing noninvasive bioimaging probes for studying the activity of β-gal is highly desirable for cancer diagnosis. Herein, a turn-on near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe， 2-((6-(((2S, 3R, 4S, 5R, 6R)-3,4,5-trihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)tetrahydro-2H-pyran -2-yl)oxy)-2,3-dihydro-1H-xanthen-4-yl)methylene)malononitrile named DXM-βgal, was rationally designed based on enzymatic reaction for the detection of β-gal activity both in vitro and in vivo. Upon incubating with β-gal, DXM-βgal displayed a significant fluorescence enhancement at 640 nm, accompanying by a color change of solution color from red to purple. DXM-βgal exhibited high selectivity and sensitively to β-gal with low limit of detection (2.92 × 10 -4 U mL -1 ). Besides, based on its advantages of long-wavelength emission and excellent biocompatibility, DXM-βgal was successfully applied to imaging β-gal in living cells and zebrafish. Given these prominent properties, we believe that DXM-βgal will be a potential tool for investigating β-gal activity in biomedical research., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) is a non-specific phosphate monoesterase and often regarded as an important biomarker of hypothyroidism and hepatobiliary diseases in medical diagnosis. In-situ detection of endogenous ALP and exploration of the distribution of ALP in cells are of great importance for the diagnosis of diseases associated with ALP. In this work, we designed and synthesized an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) fluorescent probe, (E)-2-(((9H-fluoren-9-ylidene) hydrazono)methyl)phenyl dihydrogen phosphate (FAS-P), that can respond to ALP with a remarkable large Stokes shift (>200 nm) based on excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) mechanism. The probe FAS-P has high selectivity and sensitivity to the detection of ALP. And there is a linear relationship between the fluorescence intensity of FAS-P and ALP activity in the range of 1-100 U L -1 , the limit of detection (LOD) is as low as 0.6 U L -1 . More importantly, we successfully applied FAS-P to detect ALP in living cells and the monitoring of ALP in real time., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The conditions of the sources of heavy metals are essential to assess its potential threats to human health. The identification of the origin of heavy metals is essential for planning effective measures to control long-term accumulation of heavy metals. In this study, analysis of pollution sources was performed on 100 soil samples with geostatistics and absolute principal component score-multiple linear regression (APCS-MLR) receptor model. The descriptive statistics revealed that concentrations of heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni) have exceeded the background value of Zhejiang Province. The coefficient of variation is Pb > Cd > Cu > Zn > Ni > Cr. The APCS-MLR and geo statistical analysis showed that sources of pollution: PC1 was Ni, Cr, Cu, Zn because of soil parent material. The contribution rates were 89.42%, 87.19%, 29.64%, and 33.58%, respectively. The PC2 was Pb, Zn and Cu which were mainly caused by anthropogenic mining activities. The contribution rates were 95.92%, 24.81%, and 40.62%, respectively. The PC3 was Cd、Zn and Cu which was mainly caused by agricultural inputs, and their contribution rates were 91.96%, 41.61%, and 30.14% respectively. According to Nemero Synthesis Index evaluation method, the Shaoxing City Zhejiang, China is heavily polluted with heavy metals., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Phosgene is a highly toxic gas that poses a serious threat to public health and safety. Herein, we describe the preparation of a ratiometric fluorescence probe (Pi) bearing hydroxyl and imidazole moieties as recognition sites, and employ it for the excited-state intramolecular proton transfer-based (ESIPT-based) detection of phosgene. It is the first time that hydroxyl and imidazole have been exploited as recognition sites for phosgene. In the presence of phosgene, Pi undergoes sequential nucleophilic substitution and cyclization reactions that facilitate a rapid response, high selectivity, and excellent sensitivity (detection limit = 0.14 μM). The sensing mechanism was verified by 1 H NMR spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Furthermore, we fabricated a fluorescent test strip (FTS-Pi) for the detection of phosgene in the gas phase that undergoes a fluorescence color change, from green to blue, under 365 nm UV light in the presence of phosgene, which is easily observed with the naked eye., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Thiophenol is widely known as a highly toxic substance that can cause serious harm to the environment and health. Rapid and non-destructive detection of thiophenol is of great significance for environmental management. In this work, we designed and synthesized a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe, (E)-4-(2-(4-(dicyanomethylene)-4H-chromen-2-yl)vinyl)-2-formylphenyl-2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonate (DCM-CHO-D), that can respond to thiophenol rapidly (less than 3 min) based on intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) mechanism. DCM-CHO-D has high selectivity and sensitivity to the detection of thiophenol. And there is a linear relationship between the fluorescence intensity of DCM-CHO-D and thiophenol concentration in the range of 0-10 μM, the limit of detection (LOD) is as low as 0.22 μM. What's more, DCM-CHO-D can not only be used as an ideal colorimetric tool for detecting thiophenol in water samples, but also image thiophenol in living cells, indicating its potential utility for thiophenol sensing in environmental and biological samples., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this work, we report a novel approach which employed substrate-triggered intramolecular addition-cyclization cascade to develop a highly selective fluorescent probe E)-3-(4-(1H-phenanthro[9,10-d]imidazol-2-yl)phenyl)-1-(2-hydroxylphenyl) prop-2-en-1-one (P-OH) for NH 2 NH 2 . The new sensing mechanism of P-OH for NH 2 NH 2 was investigated in detail by fluorescence spectroscopy, 1 H NMR titration, mass spectrometry and control experiments. The synthesized probe showed ratiometric fluorescent response to NH 2 NH 2 with naked-eye color changes from yellow to colorless. It's noteworthy that this probe displayed high sensitivity and selectivity to NH 2 NH 2 over other species, including primary amines, Cys, Hcy, GSH, HS - and HSO 3 - . Furthermore, the probe can not only detect NH 2 NH 2 in real water samples but also image NH 2 NH 2 in living cells, indicating its potential utility for NH 2 NH 2 sensing in environmental and biological samples., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Wound dressings of cell-laden bulk hydrogel or scaffold were mainly applied for enhanced cell engraftment in contrast to free cell injection. However, dressing of cells laden in biomaterials on wound surface might not effectively and timely exert functions on deep or chronic wounds where insufficient blood supply exists. Previously, we developed injectable gelatin microcryogels (GMs) which could load cells for enhanced cell delivery and cell therapy. In this study, biological changes of human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) laden in GMs were compared in varied aspects with traditional two dimensional (2D) cell culture, such as cell phenotype markers, stemness genes, differentiation, secretion of growth factors, cell apoptosis and cell memory by FACS, QRT-PCR and ELISA, that demonstrated the priming effects of GMs on upregulation of stemness genes and improved secretion of growth factors of hASCs for potential augmented wound healing. In a full-thickness skin wound model in nude mice, multisite injection and dressing of hASCs-laden GMs could significantly accelerate the healing compared to free cell injection. Bioluminescence imaging and protein analysis indicated improved cell retention and secretion of multiple growth factors. Our study suggests that GMs as primed injectable 3D micro-niches represent a new cell delivery methodology for skin wound healing which could not only benefit on the recovery of wound bed but also play direct effects on wound basal layer for healing enhancement. Injectable GMs as facile multisite cell delivery approach potentially provide new minimally-invasive therapeutic strategy for refractory wounds such as diabetic ulcer or radiative skin wound., Statement of Significance: This work applied a type of elastic micro-scaffold (GMs) to load and prime hMSCs for skin wound healing. Due to the injectability of GMs, the 3D cellular micro-niches could simply realize minimally-invasive and multisite cell delivery approach for accelerating the wound healing process superior to free cell injection. The biological features of MSCs has been thoroughly characterized during 3D culture in GMs (i.e. cell proliferation, characterization of cell surface markers, stemness of MSCs in GMs, differentiation of MSCs in GMs, secretion of MSCs in GMs, induced apoptosis of MSCs in GMs). Multiple methods such as bioluminescent imaging, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, qRT-PCR, ELSA and western blot were used to assess the in vivo results between groups., (Copyright © 2015 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that have major impacts on humans as agriculture pests. The midgut is considered an important target for insect control. In the present study, 10 up-regulated, 18 down-regulated, and one newly emerged protein were identified in the transgenic Trichoderma-treated midgut proteome. Proteins related to stress response, biosynthetic process, and metabolism process were further characterized through quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). Of all the identified proteins, the glutathione S-transferase sigma 2 (GSTs2) gene displayed enhanced expression when larvae were fed with Trichoderma wild-type or transgenic strains. Down regulation of GSTs2 expression by RNA interference (RNAi) resulted in inhibition of silkworm growth when larvae were fed with mulberry leaves treated with the transgenic Trichoderma strain. Weight per larva decreased by 18.2%, 11.9%, and 10.7% in the untreated control, ddH2O, and GFP dsRNA groups, respectively, at 24h, while the weight decrease was higher at 42.4%, 28.8% and 32.4% at 72 h after treatment. Expression of glutathione S-transferase omega 2 (GSTo2) was also enhanced when larvae were fed with mulberry leaves treated with the transgenic Trichoderma strain. These results indicated that there was indeed correlation between enhanced expression of GSTs2 and the anti-stress response of silkworm larvae against Trichoderma. This study represents the first attempt at understanding the effects of transgenic organisms on the midgut proteomic changes in silkworm larvae. Our findings could not only broaden the biological control targets of insect at the molecular level, but also provide a theoretical foundation for biological safety evaluation of the transgenic Trichoderma strain., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The success of cell therapy for tissue repair and regeneration demands efficient and reliable cell delivery methods. Here we established a novel microengineered cryogel (microcryogel) array chip containing microcryogels with predefined size and shape as injectable cell delivery vehicles. The microscale macroporous cryogels enabled automatic and homogeneous loading of tailored cellular niches (e.g. cells, matrices, bioactive factors) and could be easily harvested from the ready-to-use array chip. In contrast to microscale hydrogels, microcryogels exhibited excellent elasticity and could retain their shape and integrity after injection through the microsyringe routinely used for cell therapy. Human mesenchymal stromal cells loaded within microcryogels could be shielded from the mechanical insult and necrosis caused by during direct cell injection. After subcutaneous injection to the mice, cell-loaded microcryogels exhibited concentrated localization and enhanced retention at the injection site compared to dissociated cells. To demonstrate the potential therapeutic application for ischemic diseases, site-directed induction of angiogenesis was achieved subcutaneously in mice 2weeks after injection of NIH/3T3 fibroblast-loaded microcryogels, indicating long-term engraftment, accumulative paracrine stimulation and augmented host tissue integration. Our results convincingly showed the great promise of microcryogels as 3-D cellular microniches and injectable cell delivery vehicles to tackle major challenges faced by cell therapy-based regenerative medicine including shear-induced damages, uncontrolled localization, poor retention, limited cellular survival and functionalities in vivo., (Copyright © 2013 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aims: 15-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (15-HETE), generated by hypoxia, is a product of arachidonic acid and mainly catalyzed by 15-lipoxygenase (15-LO) in pulmonary artery. As HSP90 is known to be involved in apoptosis in other tissues and cells, we aim to test whether anti-apoptotic effect of 15-HETE is regulated by the molecular chaperone in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells., Main Methods: To test this hypothesis, we performed cell viability analysis, mitochondrial potential assay, caspase-3 activity measurement, Western blot, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling with and without HSP90 inhibitor., Key Findings: Our results showed that both exogenous and endogenous 15-HETE up-regulated HSP90 expression and prevented PASMC from serum deprivation-induced apoptosis. Serum deprivation lead to mitochondrial membrane depolarization, decreased expression of Bcl-2 and enhanced expression of Bax, and activation of caspase-3 and caspase-9 in PASMCs. 15-HETE reversed all these effects in a HSP90-dependent manner., Significance: This study establishes the factor involved in 15-HETE-protecting PASMC from apoptosis and the regulation of HSP90 by 15-HETE may be an important mechanism underlying the treatment of pulmonary artery hypertension and provide a novel therapeutic target in future., (Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)