Tantalum Nitride Nanosheets for Photoacoustic Imaging-Guided Photothermal Cancer Therapy

In this study, the synthesis of TaN nanosheets and their application in theranostic agents is reported. After coating polyethylene glycol (PEG) on the TaN nanosheets, the as-synthesized PEG-modified TaN nanosheets (TaN-PEG) show good stability and biocompatibility. Because of their high absorbance in the near-IR region, TaN-PEG can be utilized as photoacoustic imaging contrast agents for tumor imaging. Moreover, TaN-PEG has significant photothermal conversion performance, exhibiting effective laser-induced tumor ablation capability. The TaN-PEG possessing excellent photoacoustic contrast effect and photothermal properties thus have great promise in theranostic applications, especially imaging-guided cancer treatment.     

Anti-Staphylococcus aureus evaluation of gallic acid by isothermal microcalorimetry and principle component analysis

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The emergence of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus requires new antibacterial drugs. In this study, using a thermal activity monitor air...     

Exponential moment bounds and strong convergence rates for tamed-truncated numerical approximations of stochastic convolutions

Numerical Algorithms - In this article we establish exponential moment bounds, moment bounds in fractional order smoothness spaces, a uniform Hölder continuity in time, and strong convergence...     

A simplified approximate model of compressible hypervelocity penetration

A simplified approximate model considering rod/target material’s compressibility is proposed for hypervelocity penetration. We study the effect of shockwaves on hypervelocity penetration whenever the compressibility of the rod is much larger, analogously, and much less than that of the target, respectively. The results show that the effect of shockwaves is insignificant up to 12 km/s, so the shockwave is neglected in the present approximate model. The Murnaghan equation of state is adopted to simulate the material behaviors in penetration and its validity is proved. The approximate model is finally reduced to an equation depending only on the penetration velocity and a simple approximate solution is achieved. The solution of the approximate model is in agreement with the result of the complete compressible model. In addition, the effect of shockwaves on hypervelocity penetration is shown to weaken material’s compressibility and reduce the interface pressure of the rod/target, and thus the striking/protective performance of the rod/target is weakened, respectively. We also conduct an error analysis of the interface pressure and penetration efficiency. With a velocity change of 1.6 times the initial sound speed for the rod or target, the error of the approximate model is very small. For metallic rod–target combinations, the approximate model is applicable even at an impact velocity of 12 km/s.     

Exceptional Cycles in the Bounded Derived Categories of Quivers

An exceptional n-cycle in a Hom-finite triangulated category with Serre functor has been recently introduced by Broomhead,Pauksztello and Ploog.When n=1,it is a spherical object.We explicitly determine all the exceptional cycles in the bounded derived category D^b(kQ)of a finite quiver Q without oriented cycles.In particular,if Q is an Euclidean quiver,then the length type of exceptional cycles in D^b(kQ)is exactly the tubular type of Q;if Q is a Dynkin quiver of type E_m(m=6,7,8),or Q is a wild quiver,then there are no exceptional cycles in D^b(kQ);and if Q is a Dynkin quiver of type An or D_n,then the length of an exceptional cycle in D^b(kQ)is either h or h/2,where h is the Coxeter number of Q.     

A molecular fluorophore in citric acid/ethylenediamine carbon dots identified and quantified by multinuclear solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance

The composition of fluorescent polymer nanoparticles, commonly referred to as carbon dots, synthesized by microwave-assisted reaction of citric acid and ethylenediamine was investigated by ¹³C, ¹³C{¹H}, ¹H─¹³C, ¹³C{¹⁴N}, and ¹⁵N solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments. ¹³C NMR with spectral editing provided no evidence for significant condensed aromatic or diamondoid carbon phases. ¹⁵N NMR showed that the nanoparticle matrix has been polymerized by amide and some imide formation. Five small, resolved ¹³C NMR peaks, including an unusual ═CH signal at 84 ppm (¹H chemical shift of 5.8 ppm) and ═CN₂ at 155 ppm, and two distinctive ¹⁵N NMR resonances near 80 and 160 ppm proved the presence of 5-oxo-1,2,3,5-tetrahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-7-carboxylic acid (IPCA) or its derivatives. This molecular fluorophore with conjugated double bonds, formed by a double cyclization reaction of citric acid and ethylenediamine as first shown by Y. Song, B. Yang, and coworkers in 2015, accounts for the fluorescence of the carbon dots. Cross-peaks in a ¹H─¹³C HETCOR spectrum with brief ¹H spin diffusion proved that IPCA is finely dispersed in the polyamide matrix. From quantitative ¹³C and ¹⁵N NMR spectra, a high concentration (18 ± 2 wt%) of IPCA in the carbon dots was determined. A pronounced gradient in ¹³C chemical-shift perturbations and peak widths, with the broadest lines near the COO group of IPCA, indicated at least partial transformation of the carboxylic acid of IPCA by amide or ester formation.     

The antidepressant effect of 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol 2-naphthoate through monoaminergic,GABAergic system and BDNF signaling pathway

Abstract

Gastrodigenin, also known as 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol (HBA), is one of the main components of Gastrodia elata, which is a perfect lead compound of natural products. In order to get new active compounds, we modified the structure of HBA through esterification with carboxylic acid, and got a series of derivatives in which 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol 2-naphthoate (NHBA) showed stronger antidepressant activity than HBA. In this paper, we firstly evaluated the antidepressant activity of NHBA by tail suspension test (TST) and forced swimming test (FST). Then, we carried out the biochemical assay and western blot to determine its mechanism. The results displayed that NHBA could increase the content of serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, γ-aminobutyric acid, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB) in mice brain. It suggested that NHBA exhibited an antidepressant-like effect through monoaminergic system, GABAergic system and BDNF/TrkB signaling pathways.     

Naphthalimide‐phthalimide derivative based photoinitiating systems for polymerization reactions under blue lights

Naphthalimide‐phthalimide derivatives (NDPDs) have been synthesized and combined with an iodonium salt, N‐vinylcarbazole, amine or 2,4,6‐tris(trichloromethyl)‐1,3,5‐triazine to produce reactive species (i.e., radicals and cations). These generated reactive species are capable of initiating the cationic polymerization of epoxides and/or the radical polymerization of acrylates upon exposure to very soft polychromatic visible lights or blue lights. Compared with the well‐known camphorquinone based systems used as references, the novel NDPD based combinations employed here demonstrate clearly higher efficiencies for the cationic polymerization of epoxides under air as well as the radical polymerization of acrylates. Remarkably, one of the NDPDs (i.e., NDPD2) based systems is characterized by an outstanding reactivity. The structure/reactivity/efficiency relationships of the investigated NDPDs were studied by fluorescence, cyclic voltammetry, laser flash photolysis, electron spin resonance spin trapping, and steady state photolysis techniques. The key parameters for their reactivity are provided. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015 , 53, 665–674