Graphene oxide as a nanocarrier for loading and delivery of medicinal drugs and as a biosensor for detection of serum albumin

The interaction of graphene oxide (GO), a medicinal drug (10-hydroxy camptothecin (HCPT)), and bovine serum albumin (BSA) was investigated with the aim of developing a method for the analysis of serum albumin proteins. It was demonstrated that HCPT could be readily loaded onto GO via the π–π stacking interaction, and the delivery of HCPT to BSA was improved in the presence of GO; this, in turn, facilitated the binding interaction of HCPT and BSA. Chemometrics methods, multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC), were applied to resolve spectral data, and this assisted in the elucidation of the above interaction. GO was found to enhance the fluorescence response of HCPT to BSA, and thus, a low cost fluorescence bio-sensing platform was developed for fluorescence-enhanced detection of BSA based on GO. The satisfactory analytical performance of this biosensor for BSA was attributed to the structure and electronic properties of GO.     

Free‐Standing Conducting Polymer Films for High‐Performance Energy Devices

Thick, uniform, easily processed, highly conductive polymer films are desirable as electrodes for solar cells as well as polymer capacitors. Here, a novel scalable strategy is developed to prepare highly conductive thick poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (HCT‐PEDOT:PSS) films with layered structure that display a conductivity of 1400 S cm^?1 and a low sheet resistance of 0.59 ohm sq^?1. Organic solar cells with laminated HCT‐PEDOT:PSS exhibit a performance comparable to the reference devices with vacuum‐deposited Ag top electrodes. More importantly, the HCT‐PEDOT:PSS film delivers a specific capacitance of 120 F g^?1 at a current density of 0.4 A g^?1. All‐solid‐state flexible symmetric supercapacitors with the HCT‐PEDOT:PSS films display a high volumetric energy density of 6.80 mWh cm^?3 at a power density of 100 mW cm^?3 and 3.15 mWh cm^?3 at a very high power density of 16160 mW cm^?3 that outperforms previous reported solid‐state supercapacitors based on PEDOT materials.     

Discovery of a Potent Deubiquitinase (DUB) Small-Molecule Activity-Based Probe Enables Broad Spectrum DUB Activity Profiling in Living Cells**

Deubiquitinases (DUBs) are a family of >100 proteases that hydrolyze isopeptide bonds linking ubiquitin to protein substrates, often leading to reduced substrate degradation through the ubiquitin proteasome system. Deregulation of DUB activity has been implicated in many diseases, including cancer, neurodegeneration and auto-inflammation, and several have been recognized as attractive targets for therapeutic intervention. Ubiquitin-derived covalent activity-based probes (ABPs) provide a powerful tool for DUB activity profiling, but their large recognition element impedes cellular permeability and presents an unmet need for small molecule ABPs which can account for regulation of DUB activity in intact cells or organisms. Here, through comprehensive chemoproteomic warhead profiling, we identify cyanopyrrolidine (CNPy) probe IMP-2373 ( 12 ) as a small molecule pan-DUB ABP to monitor DUB activity in physiologically relevant live cells. Through proteomics and targeted assays, we demonstrate that IMP-2373 quantitatively engages more than 35 DUBs across a range of non-toxic concentrations in diverse cell lines. We further demonstrate its application to quantification of changes in intracellular DUB activity during pharmacological inhibition and during MYC deregulation in a model of B cell lymphoma. IMP-2373 thus offers a complementary tool to ubiquitin ABPs to monitor dynamic DUB activity in the context of disease-relevant phenotypes.     

Variance swaps under the threshold Ornstein–Uhlenbeck model

Variance swap is a typical financial tool for managing volatility risk. In this paper, we evaluate different types of variance swaps under a threshold Ornstein–Uhlenbeck model, which exhibits both mean reversion and regime switching features in the underlying asset price. We derive the analytical solution for the joint moment generating function of log‐asset prices at two distinct time points. This enables us to price various types of variance swaps analytically. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

有机小分子纳米粒子的光学诊疗应用

癌症严重威胁着人类健康, 因此, 急需开发高效的诊断和治疗方法. 基于光敏剂和近红外激光的光学诊疗将诊断和治疗集于一体, 与传统的手术治疗和化学治疗相比, 光学诊疗显示出无创性和高空间选择性的优点. 有机小分子染料具有确定且易于修饰的化学结构、 良好的重现性和优异的生物相容性, 与无机和聚合物材料相比, 它是一类具有前景的可用于光学诊疗的光敏剂. 本文总结了基于传统小分子染料、 给体-受体(D-A)共轭小分子和聚集诱导发光(AIE)分子等有机小分子的纳米粒子在光学诊疗中的应用. 此外, 对于光学诊疗用有机小分子染料纳米粒子未来的挑战和前景也进行了展望.     

Theoretical and experimental investigations on migration behavior of weak monoprotic acids in continuous two‐dimensional ion exchange/reversed phase CEC

A continuous 2D ion exchange/RP CEC system was constructed in this report and retention characteristics of weak monoprotic acids in the column were investigated theoretically. The transport equations were deduced for predicting migration behavior of weak monoportic acids based on mixing model combining ion exchange, RP, and electrophoretic separation mechanism. The influences of separation voltage, length of capillary, pH value, and ionic strength of buffer and concentration of organic modifier in mobile phase on the separation were well described by the equations. It was verified that the migration rate of solute was linearly related to voltage in the case of lower voltage, decreased with the increase of the first‐dimensional length, and . The retention time of solute increased with enhancing ionic strength and concentration of organic modifier. These theoretical results were all demonstrated by the relevant experiments. The relevant application was performed for the aqueous extract of Rhizoma gastrodiae, showing the obvious potential in method development for the analysis of complex samples.     

液相色谱-串联质谱法检测人血浆及脂蛋白唾液酸的含量

建立了液相色谱-串联质谱(LC-MS/MS)检测人血浆脂蛋白唾液酸的方法,并比较了糖尿病患者与健康人血浆脂蛋白唾液酸的差异。采用pH=2的醋酸水解唾液酸,高速离心后采用优化的条件进行LC-MS/MS分析。结果表明:在负离子模式下,唾液酸的检出限和定量限分别为7.4和24.5 pg。唾液酸在2.5~80 ng/mL范围内呈良好的线性关系,相关系数R²大于0.998。糖尿病患者(平均年龄51.6岁)和健康人(平均年龄50.7岁)血浆中唾液酸的含量分别为(548.3±88.9)和(415.3±55.5)mg/L;两组实验人群中极低密度脂蛋白、低密度脂蛋白和高密度脂蛋白唾液酸的含量分别为(4.91±0.19)、(6.95±0.28)、(3.61±0.22)μg/mg和(2.90±0.27)、(7.03±0.04)、(2.40±0.09)μg/mg。糖尿病患者极低密度脂蛋白和高密度脂蛋白唾液酸含量显著高于同龄健康人水平(P<0.01)。该法可快速检测血浆中脂蛋白唾液酸含量,省时省力。     

Study on the recognition of G-quadruplexes by two stereoisomers of alkaloids

G-quadruplexes have been widely researched as new targets for cancer treatment owing to their non-canonical structure and crucial role in biological processes. Although attention has been paid to the development of selective G-quadruplex ligands, few studies have focused on the binding affinity of stereoisomers towards G-quadruplex, which will be conducive to support the optimal design of G-quadruplex ligands in future studies. Here, tetrandrine and isotetrandrine were used to study the binding affinity and difference of stereoisomers towards G-quadruplex structures. The results showed that tetrandrine had a high possibility of binding to the N-myc and Bcl-2 G-quadruplexes through hydrogen bonding, whereas the possibility of binding of isotetrandrine was low and it seemed to have no possibility of forming hydrogen bonds. Our study shows that optical isomerism of ligand molecules has an important effect on G-quadruplex recognition, which is helpful for the design of G-quadruplex ligands in future studies.

Graphical abstract

     

A mini-review and perspective on ferroptosis-inducing strategies in cancer therapy

This review summarized recent advances and challenges in ferroptosis-based anticancer strategies through Fenton reaction or GPX4 inactivation, with highlights on nanomaterials and perspectives on future development of next-generation ferroptosis-inducing agents based on diverse polyvalent metals.     

Improvement of electrochemical performance for AlF<Subscript>3</Subscript>-coated Li<Subscript>1.3</Subscript>Mn<Subscript>4/6</Subscript>Ni<Subscript>1/6</Subscript>Co<Subscript>1/6</Subscript>O<Subscript>2.40</Subscript> cathode materials for Li-ion batteries

Li-rich layered-layered-Spinel structure spherical Li_1.3Mn_4/6Ni_1/6Co_1/6O_2.40 particles was successfully prepared and coated with a uniform layer by a two-step co-precipitation method and evaluated in lithium cells. The structures and electrochemical properties of pristine Li_1.3Mn_4/6Ni_1/6Co_1/6O_2.40 and AlF₃-coated Li_1.3Mn_4/6Ni_1/6Co_1/6O_2.40 were characterized. When the coating amount was 2 wt%, the cathode showed the best cycling performance and rate capability compared to others. The AlF₃-coated Li_1.3Mn_4/6Ni_1/6Co_1/6O_2.40 Li-ion cell cathode had a capacity retention of 90.07 % after 50 cycles at 0.5 C over 2.0–4.8 V, while the pristine Li_1.3Mn_4/6Ni_1/6Co_1/6O_2.40 exhibited capacity retention of only 80.73 %. Moreover, the rate capability and cyclic performance also improved. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy testing revealed that the improved electrochemical performance might attribute to the AlF₃ coating layer which can suppress the increase of impedance during the charging and discharging process by preventing direct contact between the highly delithiated active material and electrolyte.