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Organic–inorganic hybrid Ge(II)‐based metal halides have garnered significant interest due to their intriguing photophysical properties and environmentally friendly characteristics. However, challenges such as poor stability, low emission intensity, and a complex synthesis process have hindered their widespread application. In addressing these issues, a breakthrough in the large‐scale production of Sb3+‐doped Ge(IV)‐based metal halide (C13H14N3)2GeCl6 phosphors at room temperature through a straightforward solution method is presented. The synthesized compound exhibits a remarkable bright broad yellow emission band at 590 nm, boasting a photoluminescence quantum efficiency of 99.53 ± 0.06% the highest among Ge(IV)‐based metal halides. Notably, the introduction of Sb3+ induces the formation of Jahn–Teller‐like self‐trapped excitons in [SbCl6]3− species, attributable to lattice distortion and strong electron–phonon coupling. Consequently, Sb3+‐doped (C13H14N3)2GeCl6 demonstrates a large Stokes shift (221 nm) and a prolonged decay lifetime (3.06 μs). Furthermore, the Sb3+‐doped compound exhibits commendable chemical‐ and photostability, prompting exploration in applications such as white light‐emitting diodes and latent fingerprint detection. This work not only provides a practical approach for designing economically viable, environmentally friendly, and highly efficient emission phosphors but also paves the way for novel directions in their expanded application.

Abstract Herein, we synthesized Cr3+/Ln3+ (Er3+, Tm3+)‐codoped rare earth‐based Cs2NaScCl6 double perovskite, and the near‐infrared emission of Ln3+ can be excited by visible light through the energy transfer (ET) from Cr3+ to Ln3+. Moreover, there are two independent emission bands, which stems from 4T2 → 4A2 transition of Cr3+ (970 nm) and f‐f transition of Ln3+ (1542 nm for Er3+ and 1220 nm for Tm3+), respectively. Particularly, both compounds have ultra‐high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 60% for 10%Cr3+/6%Er3+‐codoped Cs2NaScCl6 (Er3+ emission: ∼26%) and 68% for 10%Cr3+/4.5%Tm3+‐codoped Cs2NaScCl6 (Tm3+ emission: ∼56%), which can be attributed to the ultra‐high ET efficiency from Cr3+ to Ln3+ and the similar ionic activity of Sc3+ and Ln3+ allowing more dopants enter the host lattice. Considering the excellent stability of the samples, we demonstrated Cr3+/Tm3+‐codoped Cs2NaScCl6 in the applications of near‐infrared imaging and night vision. Finally, we reported 10%Cr3+/4.5%Tm3+/9%Er3+‐tridoped Cs2NaScCl6 and further applied it for optical thermometry.

AIM: To present the clinical manifestations of 5 autosomal dominant cone-rod dystrophy (adCORD) patients from two Chinese families with cone-rod homeobox (CRX) mutation (p.R41W), and to explore the clinical heterogeneity of adCORD with CRX mutation (p.R41W). METHODS: Interrogation and ophthalmological examinations were undertaken in all patients and unaffected members. Analysis of clinical features was performed by visual acuity, slit lamp examination, visual field examination, fundoscopy, autofluorescence and spectral domain optical coherence tomography. Targeted next-generation sequencing was applied as a useful tool to identify the causative mutation of CORD genes. RESULTS: A CRX missense mutation c.121C>T was identified in all patients, resulting in an amino acid change from arginine acid to tryptophan (p.R41W). The patients presented with early onset, progressive and different severities with CORD. CONCLUSION: This is the first report of the clinical phenotype of CRX mutation (p.R41W) in Chinese families, and the mutation can lead to a wide range of various retinal phenotypes.

The systemic toxicity and low efficacy of traditional chemotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) result in poor clinical outcomes. This study was designed to achieve targeted delivery of apoptin plasmid (AP) to liver tumors and killing of cancer cells using multifunctional nanoparticles (MFNPs) having sustained-release properties. The MFNPs featuring a distinct core-shell structure were prepared using poly(lactic-glycolic acid)-ε-polylysine copolymer and loaded with AP by adsorption. Specific targeting of liver tumor cells was achieved by biotinylation of the nanoparticles (NPs), while an improvement in lysosomal escape and nuclear localization enhanced the tumor cell killing capability of AP. Blank MFNPs exhibited good biocompatibility while AP-loaded NPs were found to exert strong inhibitory effects on both tumor cells in vitro and solid tumors in vivo. Taken together, these findings demonstrate a promising route for the development of tumor-targeted NPs which may lead to improved therapeutic strategies for treating HCC.

Alginate lyase is an attractive biocatalyst that can specifically degrade alginate to produce oligosaccharides, showing great potential for industrial and medicinal applications. Herein, an alginate-degrading strain HB236076 was isolated from Sargassum sp. in Qionghai, Hainan, China. The low 16S rRNA gene sequence identity (<98.4%), ANI value (<71.9%), and dDDH value (<23.9%) clearly indicated that the isolate represented a potential novel species of the genus Vibrio. The genome contained two chromosomes with lengths of 3,007,948 bp and 874,895 bp, respectively, totaling 3,882,843 bp with a G+C content of 46.5%. Among 3482 genes, 3332 protein-coding genes, 116 tRNA, and 34 rRNA sequences were predicted. Analysis of the amino acid sequences showed that the strain encoded 73 carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes), predicting seven PL7 (Alg1–7) and two PL17 family (Alg8, 9) alginate lyases. The extracellular alginate lyase from strain HB236076 showed the maximum activity at 50 °C and pH 7.0, with over 90% activity measured in the range of 30–60 °C and pH 6.0–10.0, exhibiting a wide range of temperature and pH activities. The enzyme also remained at more than 90% of the original activity at a wide pH range (3.0–9.0) and temperature below 50 °C for more than 2 h, demonstrating significant thermal and pH stabilities. Fe2+ had a good promoting effect on the alginate lyase activity at 10 mM, increasing by 3.5 times. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analyses suggested that alginate lyase in fermentation broth could catalyze sodium alginate to produce disaccharides and trisaccharides, which showed antimicrobial activity against Shigella dysenteriae, Aeromonas hydrophila, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, and Escherichia coli. This research provided extended insights into the production mechanism of alginate lyase from Vibrio sp. HB236076, which was beneficial for further application in the preparation of pH-stable and thermo-stable alginate lyase and alginate oligosaccharides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the problem of capacity reduction of Schiff base monomer in lithium-ion batteries due to the dissolution of active substances, the Schiff base polymer(PI) with C=N bond was prepared by one-step condensation method using p-benzaldehyde and p-phenylenediamine as raw materials. Poly(Schiff base)/carbon nanotubes(PI/CNTs) composites with high conductivity were prepared by doping carbon nanotubes(CNTs). The composition, structure, micro morphology and electrochemical properties of the prepared materials were analyzed by using FT-IR, SEM, XRD, TG, XPS and electrochemical workstation. The results indicate that the PI/CNT material with 5%CNTs(mass fraction) is a three-dimensional frame structure, and shows excellent electrochemical performance. The first specific capacity of PI/CNT-3 material is 209.9 mAh·g-1. After 200 cycles, the cycle retention rate is 60.5%. When the rate of charge and discharge is 0.1 C, 0.2 C, 0.5 C, 1 C and 0.1 C, the specific capacity of PI/CNT-3 electrode materials is 182.4, 150.8, 129.8, 101.3 mAh·g-1 and 156.4 mAh·g-1 respectively, which has good cycle stability and rate performance.

The benzofuran core inhibitors HCV-796, BMS-929075, MK-8876, compound 2, and compound 9B exhibit good pan-genotypic activity against various genotypes of NS5B polymerase. To elucidate their mechanism of action, multiple molecular simulation methods were used to investigate the complex systems of these inhibitors binding to GT1a, 1b, 2a, and 2b NS5B polymerases. The calculation results indicated that these five inhibitors can not only interact with the residues in the palm II subdomain of NS5B polymerase, but also with the residues in the palm I subdomain or the palm I/III overlap region. Interestingly, the binding of inhibitors with longer substituents at the C5 position (BMS-929075, MK-8876, compound 2, and compound 9B) to the GT1a and 2b NS5B polymerases exhibits different binding patterns compared to the binding to the GT1b and 2a NS5B polymerases. The interactions between the para-fluorophenyl groups at the C2 positions of the inhibitors and the residues at the binding pockets, together with the interactions between the substituents at the C5 positions and the residues at the reverse β-fold (residues 441–456), play a key role in recognition and the induction of the binding. The relevant studies could provide valuable information for further research and development of novel anti-HCV benzofuran core pan-genotypic inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In recent years, the application of hollow mesoporous silicon nanoparticles in the biomedical field has attracted much attention because of their excellent features. In this study, the sonosensitizer curcumin (Cur), the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin (Dox), and the perfluoropropane (C3F8) gas were loaded into a multifunctional hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MHMSN). The surface of MHMSN was modified with a biotin molecule and acid-sensitive groups (cis-aconitic anhydride-polyethylene glycol, CDM-PEG). The as-prepared multifunctional nanoparticle (CDF-MHMSN) demonstrates improved therapeutic efficacy and enhanced tumor contrast ultrasound performance. Surface-modified CDM-PEG can improve the blood circulation ability of nanoparticles and peel off in the acidic tumor microenvironment, which can enhance the endocytosis of cancer cells. As a sonosensitizer, Cur could generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) under ultrasound stimulation to kill tumor cells and reduce the multidrug resistance of tumor cells to the Dox by inhibiting the expression of P-glycoprotein. Overall, CDF-MHMSN exhibits good biocompatibility, excellent ultrasound imaging capability, and effective antitumor ability, which may contribute to improving the treatment strategy for hepatocellular carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blue-luminescence materials are needed in urgency. Recently, zero-dimensional (0D) organic metal halides have attractive much attention due to unique structure and excellent optical properties. However, realizing blue emission with near-UV-visible light excitation in 0D organic metal halides is still a great challenge due to their generally large Stokes shifts. Here, we reported a new (0D) organic metal halides (TPA)2PbBr4 single crystal (TPA+ = tetrapropylammonium cation), in which the isolated [PbBr4]2− tetrahedral clusters are surrounded by organic ligand of TPA+, forming a 0D framework. Upon photoexcitation, (TPA)2PbBr4 exhibits a blue emission peaking at 437 nm with a full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 50 nm and a relatively small Stokes shift of 53 nm. Combined with density functional theory (DFT) calculations and spectral analysis, it is found that the observed blue emission in (TPA)2PbBr4 comes from the combination of free excitons (FEs) and self-trapped exciton (STE), and a small Stokes shift of this compound are caused by the small structure distortion of [PbBr4]2− cluster in the excited state confined by TPA molecules, in which the multi-phonon effect take action. Our results not only clarify the important role of excited state structure distortion in regulating the STEs formation and emission, but also focus on 0D metal halides with bright blue emission under the near-UV-visible light excitation.

Abstract Background Diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) has increasingly contributed to the management of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients. The objective of this paper was to explore the prognostic significance of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values in 93 NPC patients. Methods This retrospective study included 93 newly diagnosed NPC patients. Pretreatment ADC values were determined and compared with patients’ age, gender, alcohol intake, smoking, tumor volume, pathological type, tumor stage, and nodal stage. Using the Kaplan-Meier method, overall survival (OS), local relapse-free survival (LRFS), and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) were calculated and the values compared between the low and high ADC groups. Multivariate analysis of ADC values and other 9 clinical parameters was performed using a Cox proportional hazards model to test the independent significance for OS, LRFS and DMFS. Results The mean ADC value for the initial nasopharyngeal tumors was 0.72 × 10−3 mm2/s (range: 0.48–0.97 × 10−3 mm2/s). There was no significant difference between pretreatment ADCs and patient’ gender, age, smoking, alcohol intake, or tumor stage. A significant difference in the ADCs for different N stages (P = 0.022) and correlation with initial tumor volume (r = −0.26, P = 0.012) were observed. In comparison, the ADC value for undifferentiated carcinoma was lower than that for other 3 pathological types. With a median follow-up period of 50 months, the 3-year and 5-year OS rates were 88.2% and 83.3%, respectively, 3-year and 5-year LRFS rates were 93.5% and 93.3%, respectively, and 3-year and 5-year DMFS rates were 83.9% and 83.3%, respectively. Patients with tumor ADC values ≥0.72 × 10−3 mm2/s exhibited longer OS and LRFS periods compared with tumor ADC values