Progress in DNA Aptamers as Recognition Components for Protein Functional Regulation

Proteins play a central role in all domains of life, and precise regulation of their activity is essential for understanding the related biological processes and therapeutic functions. Nucleic acid aptamers, the molecular recognition components derived from systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment(SELEX), can specifically identify proteins with antibody-like recognition characteristics and help to regulate their activity. This minireview covers the SELEX-based selection of protein-binding aptamers, membrane protein analytical techniques based on aptamer-mediated target recognition, aptamer-mediated functional regulation of proteins, including membrane receptors and non-membrane proteins(thrombin as a model), as well as the potential challenges and prospects regarding aptamer-mediated protein manipulation, aiming to supply some useful information for researchers in this field.     

Practical algorithm substitution attack on extractable signatures

Designs, Codes and Cryptography - An algorithm substitution attack (ASA) can undermine the security of cryptographic primitives by subverting the original implementation. An ASA succeeds when it...     

Hitherto-Unexplored Photodynamic Therapy of Ag2S and Enhanced Regulation Based on Polydopamine In Vitro and Vivo

Given their superior penetration depths, photosensitizers with longer absorption wavelengths present broader application prospects in photodynamic therapy (PDT). Herein, Ag₂S quantum dots were discovered, for the first time, to be capable of killing tumor cells through the photodynamic route by near-infrared light irradiation, which means relatively less excitation of the probe compared with traditional photosensitizers absorbing short wavelengths. On modification with polydopamine (PDA), PDA-Ag₂S was obtained, which showed outstanding capacity for inducing reactive oxygen species (increased by 1.69 times). With the addition of PDA, Ag₂S had more opportunities to react with surrounding O₂, which was demonstrated by typical triplet electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis. Furthermore, the PDT effects of Ag₂S and PDA-Ag₂S achieved at longer wavelengths were almost identical to the effects produced at 660 nm, which was proved by studies in vitro. PDA-Ag₂S showed distinctly better therapeutic effects than Ag₂S in experiments in vivo, which further validated the enhanced regulatory effect of PDA. Altogether, a new photosensitizer with longer absorption wavelength was developed by using the hitherto-unexplored photodynamic function of Ag₂S quantum dots, which extended and enhanced the regulatory effect originating from PDA.     

Qualitative and quantitative determination of Atractylodes rhizome using ultra‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with linear ion trap–Orbitrap mass spectrometry with data‐dependent processing

A quick and effective workflow based on ultra‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with electron spray ionization and LTQ‐Orbitrap mass spectrometry (UPLC‐LTQ‐Orbitrap MS) was established for compositional analysis and screening of the characteristic compounds of three species of Atractylodes rhizome for quality evaluation. This technique was employed to determine the seven main components in Atractylodes rhizome samples. Ultimately, 78 constituents were identified; of these, seven characteristic compounds were selected for species discrimination, comprising atractylodin (63), atractylenolide I (43), atractylenolide II (49), atractylenolide III (53), atractylon (69), methyl‐atractylenolide II (54) and (4E,6E,12E)‐tetradecadecatriene‐8,10‐diyne‐1,3‐diacetate (59). The seven main compounds, including six characteristic compounds, were simultaneously determined in 29 batches of Atractylodes rhizome samples. Thus, the method validation showed acceptable results. Quantitative analysis showed significantly different contents of the seven main components among the three species of Atractylodes rhizome, which indicates possible distinctions in the pharmacological effects. This established method can simultaneously provide qualitative and quantitative results for compositional characterization of Atractylodes rhizomes and for quality control.     

Delay of terminal current in systems with abruptly changed Hamiltonian

The current response for the parameter change of a mesoscopic system is a practical issue for future's circuit design. Nowadays most considered cases are various types of bias modulation, while the effect of change of conductor Hamiltonian is seldom addressed. In this paper, we investigate the response of ballistic transport induced by a sudden change of the conductor Hamiltonian. We formulize the terminal current in language of non-equilibrium Green's function. Our method is applied to one-dimensional tight-binding chains and we find that the terminal current has a delay to the Hamiltonian change. The amount of delay is not determined by the velocity of incident electrons in the bias window, but depends on the tight-binding hopping energy γ. The delay of current response at the detecting point away from where the Hamiltonian changes is $C{\gamma }^{?1}$, where C is a constant independent of the system.     

Self-Healable Polyelectrolytes with Mechanical Enhancement for Flexible and Durable Supercapacitors

The practical application of advanced personalized electronics is inseparable from flexible, durable, and even self-healable energy storage devices. However, the mechanical and self-healing performance of supercapacitors is still limited at present. Herein, highly transparent, stretchable, and self-healable poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) (PAMPSA)/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/LiCl polyelectrolytes were facilely prepared by one-step radical polymerization. The cooperation of PAMPSA and PVA significantly increased the mechanical and self-healing capacity of the polyelectrolyte, which exhibited superior stretchability of 938 %, stress of 112.68 kPa, good electrical performance (ionic conductivity up to 20.6 mS cm⁻¹), and high healing efficiency of 92.68 % after 24 h. After assembly with polypyrrole-coated single-walled carbon nanotubes, the resulting as-prepared supercapacitor had excellent electrochemical properties with high areal capacitance of 297 mF cm⁻² at 0.5 mA cm⁻² and good rate capability (218 mF cm⁻² at 5 mA cm⁻²). Besides, after cutting in two the supercapacitor recovered 99.2 % of its original specific capacitance after healing for 24 h at room temperature. The results also showed negligible change in the interior contact resistance of the supercapacitor after ten cutting/healing cycles. The present work provides a possible solution for the development of smart and durable energy storage devices with low cost for next-generation intelligent electronics.     

An infinite family of subcubic graphs with unbounded packing chromatic number

Recently, Balogh et al. (2018) answered in negative the question that was posed in several earlier papers whether the packing chromatic number is bounded in the class of graphs with maximum degree 3. In this note, we present an explicit infinite family of subcubic graphs with unbounded packing chromatic number.     

基于混合空穴注入层的湿法制备高效蓝光热激活延迟有机发光二极管

在溶液法制备有机电致发光器件(OLEDs)的研究中, PEDOT∶PSS由于具有较好的成膜性与高透光性而常被用作器件的空穴注入层。但相关研究表明, PEDOT∶PSS本身稳定性较差以及功函数较低,这使得溶液法制备OLEDs的性能差且不稳定。蓝色作为全彩色的三基色之一,制备高效的蓝光器件对于实现高质量显示器件和固态照明装置必不可少。而目前溶液法制备蓝光OLEDs的器件效率普遍较差,针对此问题,本文利用传统的蓝光热激活延迟荧光发光(TADF)材料DMAC-DPS作为发光层,用溶液法制备了蓝光TADF OLEDs,通过在PEDOT∶PSS中掺杂PSS-Na制备混合空穴注入层(mix-HIL)来提高空穴注入层的功函数,研究其对于蓝光TADF OLEDs器件性能的影响。首先在PEDOT∶PSS水溶液中掺入不同体积的PSS-Na溶液,在相同条件下旋涂制膜,进行器件制备。通过观测各个实验组器件的电致发光(EL)光谱,发现掺入PSS-Na后器件EL谱存在光谱蓝移的现象,这是由于掺入PSS-Na水溶液后, mix-HIL层的厚度有所降低,使得在微腔效应作用下, EL光谱发生蓝移。通过对比各组器件的电流密度-电压-亮度(J-V-L)曲线及其计算所得器件的电流效率,结果显示随着PSS-Na的掺入,器件的亮度和电流都有所增大,器件的电流效率也得到了提升,当掺杂比例为0.5∶0.5(PEDOT∶PSS/PSS-Na)时提升幅度最大(亮度提升86.7%,电流效率提升34.3%)。通过在瞬态电致发光测试过程中施加或撤去驱动电压观测了器件EL强度的变化,分析了在混合空穴注入层/发光层(mix-HIL/EML)界面处的电荷积累情况。实验证明,通过在PEDOT∶PSS中掺杂PSS-Na制备mix-HIL获得了蓝光TADF OLEDs器件性能的提升,这是一个获得高效率溶液法制备OLEDs的可行方法。     

玻色化方法在超对称可积系统的应用

利用玻色化方法可以避免超对称可积系统中反对易费米场带来的计算困难. 本文以N=1超对称mKdVB系统为例, 利用玻色化方法, 将其转化为只有玻色场的耦合系统. 应用标准的WTC方法, 证明了该耦合系统具有Painlevé性质. 运用Painlevé截断方法, 可以得到玻色化后超对称mKdVB系统的非局域对称. 为了求解与非局域对称相关的Lie第一性原理, 引入新的场将玻色化后系统拓展为更大的系统. 通过引入新的场, 该非局域对称局域化为Lie点对称. 因此, 可以利用Lie点对称约化方法研究拓展后的系统, 得到超对称mKdVB系统的孤子与其他孤波相互作用解.