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Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS), as a rapid and nondestructive biological detection method, promises greatly for clinical on spot and early diagnosis.In order to address the challenging demands of on spot detection of biomedical samples, a variety of strategy has been developed. These strategies include substrate structural and component engineering, data processing techniques, as well as combination with other analytical methods.This report summarizes the recent SERS developments for biomedical detection, and their promising applications in cancer detection, virus or bacterial infection detection, miscarriage spotting, neurological disease screening et al. The first part discusses the frequently used SERS substrate component and structures, the second part reports on the detection strategies for nucleic acids, proteins, bacteria, and virus, the third part summarizes their promising applications in clinical detection in a variety of illnesses, and the forth part reports on recent development of SERS in combination with other analytical techniques. The special merits, challenges, and perspectives are discussed in both introduction and conclusion sections.

Alginate is a natural polysaccharide that is easily chemically modified or compounded with other components for various types of functionalities. The alginate derivatives are appealing not only because they are biocompatible so that they can be used in biomedicine or tissue engineering but also because of the prospering bioelectronics that require various biomaterials to interface between human tissues and electronics or to serve as electronic components themselves. The study of alginate-based materials, especially hydrogels, have repeatedly found new frontiers over recent years. In this Review, we document the basic properties of alginate, their chemical modification strategies, and the recent development of alginate-based functional composite materials. The newly thrived functions such as ionically conductive hydrogel or 3D or 4D cell culturing matrix are emphasized among other appealing potential applications. We expect that the documentation of relevant information will stimulate scientific efforts to further develop biocompatible electronics or smart materials and to help the research domain better address the medicine, energy, and environmental challenges faced by human societies.

The molecularly selective catalysis in enzyme is central to life. However, their functioning mechanism remains elusive. We propose here that the synergistic effects from (i) effective orbital hybridizing and energy gap decreasing via chelating on single Zr atom as the catalytic center, (ii) selective supramolecular encapsulation in the cage, and (iii) piezoelectrical field motivation are able to achieve the enzyme-mimetic molecular selective high performance catalysis. Metal-organic polyhedra (MOPs) are added into a piezoelectrical polymer matrix to achieve the composite structure where ultrasonic treatment motivates redox reactions in the MOP-guest complex. Encapsulated and chelated guest such as Rhodamine B (RhB) is effectively converted with ratios higher than 90 % after 100 min. In comparison, molecules inefficient in either cage encapsulation or chelating with the Zr center can not be converted. This study first proposes a synergistic plot for enzyme-mimetic catalyst realization and is expected to inspire new mentality in efficient catalyst designing.

High-performance electrochemical or photoelectrochemical catalysts are greatly desired in energy preservation and matter conversion, and so their design and preparation has attracted significant attention. Studies attempting to unveil the general principles for high catalytic performance are especially appealing. Herein, we investigate the mechanism from a componential perspective, with the aim of elucidating the relationship between (photo)electrochemical catalytic performance and elemental diversity. The results indicate that the HER and OER electrochemical and photoelectrochemical catalytic capacities are enhanced with an increase in the diversity of elements. Favorable electronic structures and strengthened internal electric fields are important factors for the observed improvements in performance. This work will provide new insights into the design and synthesis of high-performance electrochemical and photochemical catalysts via reductive deposition, chemical vapor doping, or electrochemical deposition, for the formation of nanostructures possessing multiple elements.

In this study, we prepared polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP) membranes with fluorosilane-modified graphene sheets (rGO-PFOES) as fillers by a solution casting method, and Conducted research on dielectric, piezoelectric, energy conversion, and storage properties. The filler presents denser DOS than neat rGO and is effective in photothermal conversion. Because of such merits, the films not only convert mechanical disturbance into electricity, but also generate electricity under simulated solar irradiation. Furthermore, we prepared porous films and the porosity significantly enhanced the piezoelectricity of the polymer film. The piezoelectric voltage and piezoelectric current of the film can reach 8.8 V and 600nA respectively.

Immobilized visible light-active composite HER photocatalysts are promising high-performance catalysts which take advantage of the synergy between the various building components; and they can be easily recycled and are relatively environmentally benign. However, structural and componential features remarkably regulate the catalytic processes and optimizations based on systematic studies on the mechanism of reactions using such catalysts are still lacking. In this report, we fabricate an interfacially immobilized composite AuNP-TiO2 catalyst using the layer-by-layer technique, which permits delicate tuning of the catalyst components and structural features down to the nanoscopiclevel. The influence of calcination, the diameter of the AuNPs, and the componential ratio between the two components have been studied. The results indicate that calcination is necessary for superior catalytic performance. AuNPs, possessing a 16 nm diameter, functions better than AuNPs with diameters of approximately 30 nm and 50 nm. The optimized componential ratio was identified at a moderate value with few or many AuNPs both hindering the photocatalytic HER performance. We believe that our study provides an effective strategy for the fabrication of superior HER photocatalysts (H2 production rate 5.21 mmol·g-1·h−1), and the mechanistic investigations can be used to optimize other noble metal–semiconductor composite catalysts.

TEF3-1 (transcriptional enhancer factor 3 isoform 1), also known as TEAD4 (TEA domain family member 4), was recently revealed as an oncogenic character in cancer development. However, the underlying molecular pathogenic mechanisms remain undefined. In this paper, we investigated nuclear TEF3-1 could promote G1/S transition in HUVECs, and the expression levels of cyclins and CDKs were upregulated. Additionally, if TEF3-1 was knocked down, the expression of cyclins and CDKs was downregulated while the expression of P21, a negative regulator of the cell cycle, was upregulated. A microarray analysis also confirmed that TEF3-1 overexpression upregulates genes that are related to cell cycle progression and the promotion of angiogenesis. Moreover, we observed that nuclear TEF3-1 was highly expressed during the formation of vascular structures in gastric cancer (GC). Finally, tumor xenograft experiments indicated that, when TEF3-1 was knocked down, tumor growth and angiogenesis were also suppressed. Taken together, these results demonstrate for the first time that TEF3-1 localization to the nucleus stimulates the cell cycle progression in HUVECs and specifically contributes to tumor angiogenesis. Nuclear TEF3-1 in HUVECs may serve as an oncogenic biomarker, and the suppression of TEF3-1 may be a potential target in anti-tumor therapy.

TEF3-1 (transcription enhancer factor 3 isoform 1) is a human transcriptional factor, which has a N-terminal TEA/ATTS domain supposedly for DNA binding and C-terminal PRD and STY domains for transcriptional activation. Taking advantage of the efficient reporter design of yeast two-hybrid system, we characterized the TEF3-1 domains in activating gene expression. Previously study usually mentioned that the C-terminal domain of TEF3-1 has the transcriptional activity, however, our data shows that the peptides TEF3-1 1 – 66 and TEF3-1 197 – 434 functioned as two independent activation domains, suggesting that N-terminal domain of TEF3-1 also has transcriptional activation capacity. Additionally, more deletions of amino acids 197–434 showed that only the peptides TEF3-1 197 – 265 contained the minimum sequences for the C-terminal transcriptional activation domain. The protein structure is predicted to contain a helix-turn-helix structure in TEF3-1 1 – 66 and four β sheets in TEF3-1 197 – 265 . Finally, after the truncated fragments of TEF3-1 were expressed in HUVEC cells, the whole TEF3-1 and the two activation domains could increase F-actin stress fiber, cell proliferation, migration and targeted gene expression. Further analysis and characterization of the activation domains in TEF3-1 may broaden our understanding of the gene involved in angiogenesis and other pathological processes.

The scorpion has been extensively used in various pharmacological profiles or as food supplies. The exploration of scorpion venom has been reported due to the presence of recombinant peptides. rBmαTX14 is an α-neurotoxin extracted from the venom gland of the East Asian scorpion Buthus martensii Karsch and can affect ion channel conductance. Here, we investigated the functions of rBmαTX14 using the Caenorhabditis elegans model. Using western blot analysis, rBmαTX14 was shown to be expressed both in the cytoplasm and inclusion bodies in the E.coli Rosetta (DE3) strain. Circular dichroism spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that purified rBmαTX14 retained its biological structures. Next, feeding nematodes with E.coli Rosetta (DE3) expressing rBmαTX14 caused extension of the life span and promoted the locomotion of the nematodes. In addition, we identified several genes that play various roles in the life span and locomotion of C. elegans through microarray analysis and quantitative real-time PCR. Furthermore, if the amino acid site H15 of rBmαTX14 was mutated, rBmαTX14 no longer promoted the C. elegans life span. In conclusion, the results not only demonstrated the functions and mechanism of rBmαTX14 in C. elegans, but also provided the new sight in the utility of recombinant peptides from scorpion venom.