Develop a stepwise integrated method to screen biomarkers of Baihe-Dihuang Tang on the treatment of depression in rats applying with composition screened,untargeted, and targeted metabolomics analysis

Baihe-Dihuang Tang is a commonly prescribed remedy for depression. In this study, component screening with untargeted and targeted metabolomics was used to identify potential biomarkers for depression in chronic unpredictable mildly stressed rats. Using this novel identification method, the screening of organic acids, lily saponins, iridoids, and other ingredients formed the basis for subsequent metabolomics research. Baihe-Dihuang Tang supplementation in chronic unpredictable mild-stress-induced depression models, increased their body weight, sucrose preference, brain-derived neurotrophic factor deposition, and spatial exploring. Untargeted metabolomics revealed that Baihe-Dihuang Tang exerts its antidepressant effects by regulating the levels of lipids, organic acids, and its derivatives, and benzenoids in the brain, plasma, and urine of the depressed rats. Moreover, it also modulates the d -glutamine and d -glutamate metabolism and purine metabolism. Targeted metabolomics demonstrated significant reduction in l -glutamate levels in the brains of depressed rats. This could be a potential biomarker for depression. Baihe-Dihuang Tang alleviated depression by regulating the levels of l -glutamate, xanthine, and adenine in the brains of depressed rats. Together, these findings conclusively established the promising therapeutic effect of Baihe-Dihuang Tang on depression and also unraveled the underlying molecular mechanism of its potential antidepressant function.     

Phenylboronic acid-functionalized cross-linked chitosan magnetic adsorbents for the magnetic solid-phase extraction of benzoylurea pesticides

In this study, a 4-formylphenylboronic acid-modified cross-linked chitosan magnetic nanoparticle (FPBA@CCHS@Fe₃O₄) was fabricated. The synthesized material was utilized as the magnetic solid-phase extraction adsorbent for the enrichment of six benzoylurea pesticides. In addition to B-N coordination, FPBA@CCHS@Fe₃O₄ interacts with benzoylureas through hydrogen bonds and π-π stacking interaction on account of rich active groups (amino and hydroxyl) and aromatic rings in structure. Compared to traditional extraction methods, less adsorbent (20 mg) and reduced extraction time (3 min) were achieved. The adsorbent also exhibited good reusability (no less than 10 times). Coupled with a high-performance liquid chromatography–diode array detector, satisfactory recoveries (89.1–103.9%) and an acceptable limit of detection (0.2–0.7 μg/L) were obtained. Under optimized conditions, the established method was successfully applied to the tea infusion samples from six major tea categories with acceptable recoveries ranging from 76.8 to 110%, indicating its application potential for the quantitative detection of pesticides in complex matrices.     

Fast Fabrication and Judgement of Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy-Active Tips

The quality of the scanning tip is crucial for tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) experiments towards large signal enhancement and high spatial resolution. In this work, we report a controllable fabrication method to prepare TERS-active tips by modifying the tip apex at the atomic scale, and propose two important criteria to in-situ judge the tip's TERS activity for tip-enhanced Raman measurements. One criterion is based on the downshift of the first image potential state to monitor the coupling between the far-field incident laser and near-field plasmon; the other is based on the appearance of the low-wavenumber Raman peaks associated with an atomistic protrusion at the tip apex to judge the coupling efficiency of emissions from the near field to the far field. This work provides an effective method to quickly fabricate and judge TERS-active tips before real TERS experiments on target molecules and other materials, which is believed to be instrumental for the development of TERS and other tip-enhanced spectroscopic techniques.     

Enhanced photoactivity of CdS nanorods by MXene and ZnSnO3: Application in photoelectrochemical biosensor for the effect of environmental pollutants on DNA hydroxymethylation in wheat tissues

The photoactivity of CdS nanorods was greatly improved by amino functionalized accordion-like MXene and spherical ZnSnO₃. MXene possesses good electron transfer capability and ZnSnO₃ presents matched energy band with CdS, which deeply accelerate the electron transfer and prevent the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pair, leading to a strong photoelectrochemical (PEC) response. Taking the merit of the improved photoactivity of CdS nanorods, a novel PEC biosensor was constructed for DNA hydromethylation detection based on immune recognition of target molecule, where 5-hydroxymethyl-2′-deoxycytidine triphosphate (5hmdCTP) was employed as detect target, CdS/MXene was used as photoactive material, and ZnSnO₃ was adopted as signal amplification unit. Under enzymatic covalent reaction of –CH₂OH of 5hmdCTP with –NH₂ of MXene, 5hmdCTP was specifically recognized and captured. Then, taking advantages of the covalent reaction between phosphate group of 5hmdCTP and ZnSnO₃, the signal amplification unit was captured. Under the optimum conditions, this PEC biosensor presents wide linear range of 0.008–100 nM and low detection limit of 4.21 pM (3σ). The applicability of the developed method was evaluated by investigating the effect of Cd²⁺ and perfluorohexane compound pollutant on 5-hydroxymethylcytosine content in the genomic DNA of the roots and leaves of wheat seedlings.     

Ternary zero-dimensional hybrid metal halides with dual emission

Bulk assemblies of zero-dimensional (0D) metal halides with ‘host-guest’ system provide a promising platform for rationally structural tunability and photoluminescence modulation. In this work, we first report a series of ternary 0D metal halides, (bmpy)₉[Pb₃Cl₁₁](MnCl₄)_2-2x(SbCl₅)_2x (bmpy⁺ = 1-buty-1-methylpyrrolidinium⁺, C₉NH₂₀⁺), where the organic cation bmpy⁺ cocrystallizes with [Pb₃Cl₁₁]^5- trimer clusters, [MnCl₄]^2? tetrahedra, and [SbCl₅]^2? pyramids. The emission color of (bmpy)₉[Pb₃Cl₁₁](MnCl₄)_2-2x(SbCl₅)_2x can be easily tuned from green to warm white and finally to orange-red by controlling the excitation wavelength or the [SbCl₅]^2?/[MnCl₄]^2? molar ratio, promising its potential for application in multicolor light-emitting devices or even in encrypting multilevel optical codes. This work presents a novel structural modulation strategy to fabricate superior ordered single-crystalline multicomponent materials with multifunctionalities of 0D luminescent metal halides.     

Convergent architecting of multifunction-in-one hydrogels as wound dressings for surgical anti-infections

Surgical procedures are susceptible to the cause of infections, which could induce delayed wound healing, oxidative stress and tissue ischemia. Multifunctional wound dressings (e.g., hydrogels) without the induction of antibiotics is promising for the elimination of surgical site infections and the associated complications. Herein, we report a reductionism approach for the fabrication of bioactive hydrogels to recapitulate antibacterial functions as well as antioxidant, pro-angiogenic and hemostatic properties in surgical infection treatments. The hydrogels composed of naturally derived Cirsium setosum extracts (CE, a traditional medicinal herb) and carboxymethyl chitosan (CS) show their capacity for surgical anti-infections on three different models (i.e., infectious random skin flap model, infectious skin defect model and infectious femur fracture model). Due to the innate bioactivities of CE and CS, CECS hydrogels can also reduce the bleeding loss (85% reduction) on a hemorrhaging liver model and improve the vascularization for skin flap regeneration. Overall, bioactive CECS hydrogels integrated with the ease and scalability of assembly process and biological activities without the addition of antibiotics is promising to act as multifunctional wound dressings for surgical anti-infections.     

CompassR Yields Highly Organic-Solvent-Tolerant Enzymes through Recombination of Compatible Substitutions

The CompassR (computer-assisted recombination) rule enables, among beneficial substitutions, the identification of those that can be recombined in directed evolution. Herein, a recombination strategy is systematically investigated to minimize experimental efforts and maximize possible improvements. In total, 15 beneficial substitutions from Bacillus subtilis lipase A (BSLA), which improves resistance to the organic cosolvent 1,4-dioxane (DOX), were studied to compare two recombination strategies, the two-gene recombination process (2GenReP) and the in silico guided recombination process (InSiReP), employing CompassR. Remarkably, both strategies yielded a highly DOX-resistant variant, M4 (I12R/Y49R/E65H/N98R/K122E/L124K), with up to 14.6-fold improvement after screening of about 270 clones. M4 has a remarkably enhanced resistance in 60 % (v/v) acetone (6.0-fold), 30 % (v/v) ethanol (2.1-fold), and 60 % (v/v) methanol (2.4-fold) compared with wild-type BSLA. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed that attracting water molecules by charged surface substitutions is the main driver for increasing the DOX resistance of BSLA M4. Both strategies and obtained molecular knowledge can likely be used to improve the properties of other enzymes with a similar α/β-hydrolase fold.     

Sarcaglarols A—D,Lindenane−Monoterpene Heterodimers from Sarcandra glabra Based on Molecular Networks

Sarcaglarols A—D ( 1 — 4 ), two pairs of lindenane?monoterpene heterodimers fused by a 1,2‐dioxane moiety, were discovered and isolated from the leaves of Sarcandra glabra guided by MS/MS molecular networking‐based strategy. Their planar structures, absolute configurations of basic skeleton and flexible polyhydric side chain were established by analysis of HRESIMS, NMR spectroscopic data, ECD spectrum, and the X‐ray diffraction study of isopropylidene derivatives. An intermolecular [2+2+2] cycloaddition may play a key role in the biosynthesis pathway of the 1,2‐dioxane moiety fused lindenane?monoterpene heterodimer skeleton, which can be recognized as the biogenetic precursors of our previous reported lindenane?normonoterpene conjugates. In addition, compounds 1 , 3 and 4 exhibited moderate inhibitory effects of lipid accumulation in free fatty acid‐exposed L02 cells.     

Three-dimensional porous photo-thermal fiber felt with salt-resistant property for high efficient solar distillation

The urgent need for fresh water resource is a public issue facing the world. Solar distillation for seawater desalination is a promising freshwater production method. Interfacial solar evaporation systems based on 2D photo-thermal membranes have been widely studied, but salt pollution is one of the main challenges for solar distillation. In order to solve this problem, a hydrophilic three-dimensional (3D) porous photo-thermal fiber felt (PFF) was obtained by one-step method, through a simple polydopamine (PDA) coating method with hydrophobic graphite felt as a substrate. The PFF had a good evaporation rate of 1.48 kg m^?2 h^-1 and its corresponding light-vapor conversion efficiency reached 87.4%. In addition, the PFF exhibited an excellent salt-resistant ability when applied to photo-thermal evaporation of high-salinity seawater with 10 wt% NaCl, owing to its intrinsic 3D macroporous structure for the migration circulation of salt ions. The development of the PFF offers a new route for the exploration of salt-resistant photo-thermal materials and is promising for the practical application of solar distillation.     

Selective annulation of benzamides with internal alkynes catalyzed by an electron-deficient rhodium catalyst

An electron-deficient [Cp^ERhCl₂]₂ catalyzed annulation of N-pentafluorophenylbenzamides with internal alkynes was successfully established under mild reaction conditions, with the assistance of Lewis acid silver salt. Particularly, electron-deficient benzamide substrates were smoothly transformed into the desired products in this catalytic system. The catalytic system showed a broad tolerance for different substituents on the aromatic rings or aryl, alkyl-substituted alkynes.