Latest ArticlesThe appearance and spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens known as antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the major worldwide health crises that humanity have to deal with over the next decades. One of the main methods for addressing AMR is the effective screening for antimicrobial insensitivity in clinical and environmental monitoring. Current clinical laboratory procedures use traditional culture-based antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) methods, which can take up to 24h to identify which drug is suitable for the infection inhibition. Therefore, it is vital to develop novel strategies that offer quick, simple, affordable, reliable, sensitive and accurate AMR monitoring. Sensors for AMR markers detection could possess the essential qualities for quickly identifying resistant microorganisms and could give vital data for the selection of antibacterial drugs administration. This review offers a summary of the innovative application of these AMR markers detection strategies focusing on healthcare and environmental surveillance for the AMR genotypic or phenotypic assessment.
Inosine is a vital RNA modification across three kingdoms of life. It has been demonstrated that inosine plays important roles in modulation of the fate of RNAs. In the current study, we developed a highly sensitive method to determine inosine in a single cell by N-cyclohexyl-N'-β-(4-methylmorpholinium)ethylcarbodiimide p-toluenesulfonate (CMCT) derivatization in combination with mass spectrometry analysis. The results showed that the detection sensitivity of inosine was increased by 556-fold after CMCT derivatization, with the limit of detection (LOD) being 4.5 amol. With the established method, we could detect inosine from 13.0 pg of total RNA of HEK293T cells. Meanwhile, inosine in RNA from a single cell could also be clearly detected due to the improved detection sensitivity. Moreover, we found the level of inosine in RNA of sleep-deprived mice was significantly increased compared to the control mice, indicating that inosine is associated with sleep behavior and might be a potential indicator of sleep disorder. Taken together, the chemical derivatization coupled with mass spectrometry analysis offers a valuable tool in determination of endogenous RNA modifications in a single cell, which should benefit the functional study of RNA modification in rare clinical samples.
The construction of an integrated nanoplatform with controlled fungicide delivery features in the specific microenvironment produced by fungal pathogens is a highly desirable strategy to improve the utilization of fungicides. Herein, we report a supramolecular fungicide delivery system based on benzimidazole-modified NH2-MIL-101(Fe) metal–organic frameworks (B-MIL-101(Fe) MOFs) as carriers loaded with osthole (OS), and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) as nanovalves to form β-CD@B-MIL-101(Fe)-OS. The nanoplatform can release the loaded OS for fungus control through self-degradation of the MOFs skeleton in an oxalic acid microenvironment produced by Botrytis cinerea. The experimental results exhibit that the constructed supramolecular fungicide delivery system could effectively inhibit mycelial growth and protect the tomatoes from infection by B. cinerea during the ripening stage. This strategy constructs a facile and integrated supramolecular drug delivery system for B. cinerea control and opens up a new avenue for the sustainable development of modern agriculture.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has shown great application potential in cancer treatment and the important manifestation of PDT in the inhibition of tumors is the activation of immunogenic cell death (ICD) effects. However, the strategy is limited in the innate hypoxic tumor microenvironment. There are two key elements for the realization of enhanced PDT: specific cellular uptake and release of the photosensitizer in the tumor, and a sufficient amount of oxygen to ensure photodynamic efficiency. Herein, self-oxygenated biomimetic nanoparticles (CS@M NPs) co-assembled by photosensitizer prodrug (Ce6-S-S-LA) and squalene (SQ) were engineered. In the treatment of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), the oxygen carried by SQ can be converted to reactive oxygen species (ROS). Meanwhile, glutathione (GSH) consumption during transformation from Ce6-S-S-LA to chlorin e6 (Ce6) avoided the depletion of ROS. The co-assembled (CS NPs) were encapsulated by homologous tumor cell membrane to improve the tumor targeting. The results showed that the ICD effect of CS@M NPs was confirmed by the significant release of calreticulin (CRT) and high mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1), and it significantly activated the immune system by inhibiting the hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1α)-CD39-CD73-adenosine a2a receptor (A2AR) pathway, which not only promoted the maturation of dendritic cells (DC) and the presentation of tumor specific antigens, but also induced effective immune infiltration of tumors. Overall, the integrated nanoplatform implements the concept of multiple advantages of tumor targeting, reactive drug release, and synergistic photodynamic therapy-immunotherapy, which can achieve nearly 90% tumor suppression rate in orthotopic TNBC models.
A simple, practical and eco-friendly visible light-induced alkylation of N-sulfonyl ketamine under metal-, additive-, external photocatalyst-free conditions was developed. This photocatalytic method utilized low cost and abundant alkanes as the atom economy alkyl sources with H2O2 as the environmentally beneficial oxidant, allowing for the efficient construction of diverse valuable 4-alkylated sulfonyl ketamines. The N-sulfonyl ketamine played a dual role of reactant and photocatalyst, thus simplifying the reaction system.
Furocoumarins are an important class of heterocyclic compounds with a fused tricyclic structure of coumarin and furan rings. They are commonly found in bioactive natural products and have a diverse range of biological and pharmaceutical properties, including cytotoxicity, photosensitivity, insecticidal, antibacterial, and antifungal activity, among others. The elegant linear/angular tricyclic skeleton and superior pharmacological properties, make them ideal for building and developing advanced biological scaffolds for biomedical applications. As a result, the family of furocoumarins has been the focus of intensive research, and lots of encouraging progress have been achieved in recent years. This review summarizes the most recent methods reported for the synthesis of the furocoumarin derivative family, along with their applications in medicinal chemistry covering from 2018 to 2022.
Most porous conductive frameworks are highly anisotropic in their structures thus leading to anisotropic charge transport. Here we report a supramolecular self-assembly which is constructed by intermolecular hydrogen bonding and π···π interactions. This material features a chiral, porous, cubic framework structure with π-stacked helical columns along all of the three Cartesian coordinates. As a result, isotropic charge transport with an electrical conductivity (σ) of 2.1 × 10–7 S/cm is achieved. By achieving isotropic charge transport in a π-stacked supramolecular assembly, these results provide a new type of isotropic conductive framework materials alternative to conductive metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).
Selenium, an element belonging to the same group in the periodic table as sulfur, has a high electronic conductivity (1 × 10−5 S/cm) and a high volumetric energy density (3253 mAh/cm3), which is a prospective cathode material for high-energy all-solid-state rechargeable batteries. However, its wide use is hindered by large volume expansion and low utilization rate. In this work, Se-infused nitrogen-doped hierarchical meso-microporous carbon composites (Se/NHPC) are prepared by a melt-diffusion process. Amorphous Se is uniformly dispersed in meso-micropores of NHPC with a high mass loading of 81%. All-solid-state Li-Se batteries fabricated by using Se/NHPC as the cathode, a Li-In alloy as the anode, and Li6PS5Cl as the solid-state electrolyte, deliver a highly reversible capacity of 621 mAh/g (92% of theoretical capacity), a good rate capability and a high capacity retention value of 80.9% after 100 cycles. It is found that the capacity decay of Se cathode is mainly related to the interfacial degradation and the separation of Se from the carbon substrate, as suggested by the continuous increase of interfacial resistance and the structural transformation from amorphous Sen chains to Se8 rings initial discharge/charge cycle and then to the trigonally crystalline Se chains structure after the long-term cycles.
Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) refer to field-effect transistors that use organic semiconductors as channel materials. Owing to the advantages of organic materials such as solution processability and intrinsic flexibility, OFETs are expected to be applicable in emergent technologies including wearable electronics and sensors, flexible displays, internet-of-things, neuromorphic computing, etc. Improving the electrical performance and developing multifunctionalities of OFETs are two major and closely relevant aspects for OFETs-related research. The former one aims for investigating the device physics and expanding the horizons of OFETs, while the later one is critical for leading OFETs into practical and emergent applications. The development in each of the two aspects would undoubtfully promote the other and bring more confidence for future development of OFETs. Hence, this review is divided into two parts that respectively summarize the recent progress in high-performance OFETs and multifunctional OFETs.
Photocatalytic dual-functional reaction under visible light irradiation represents a sustainable development strategy. In detail, H2 production coupled with benzylamine oxidation can remarkably lower the cost by replacing sacrificial agents. In this work, CdS quantum dots (CdS QDs) were successfully loaded onto the surface of a porphyrinic metal-organic framework (Pd-PCN-222) by the electrostatic self-assembly at room temperature. The consequent Pd-PCN-222/CdS heterojunction composites displayed superb photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation, achieving a H2 production and benzylamine oxidation rate of 5069 and 3717 µmol g−1 h−1 with > 99% selectivity in 3 h. There is no noticeable loss of catalytic capability during three successive runs. Mechanistic studies by in situ electron spin resonance and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy disclosed that CdS QDs injected photoexcited electrons to Pd-PCN-222 and then Zr6 clusters under visible-light irradiation, and thus CdS QDs and Zr6 clusters behave as the photocatalytic oxidation and reduction centers, respectively.
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