Analysis of a new multispecies tumor growth model coupling 3D phase-fields with a 1D vascular network

In this work, we present and analyze a mathematical model for tumor growth incorporating ECM erosion, interstitial flow, and the effect of vascular flow and nutrient transport. The model is of phase-field or diffused-interface type in which multiple phases of cell species and other constituents are separated by smooth evolving interfaces. The model involves a mesoscale version of Darcy’s law to capture the flow mechanism in the tissue matrix. Modeling flow and transport processes in the vasculature supplying the healthy and cancerous tissue, one-dimensional (1D) equations are considered. Since the models governing the transport and flow processes are defined together with cell species models on a three-dimensional (3D) domain, we obtain a 3D–1D coupled model.     

基于耦合声场建模的膨胀腔消声器声学性能分析及试验

针对圆柱形膨胀腔消声器三维建模及声学性能分析问题, 提出一种基于切比雪夫变分原理的耦合声场建模方法, 建立三维圆柱形膨胀腔消声器理论模型并搭建试验台架, 传递损失试验结果验证了理论模型的准确性. 将膨胀腔消声器内部声场分解为多个子声场, 基于子声场间压力与质点振速连续性条件, 推导声场耦合变分公式, 构建子声场拉格朗日泛函. 将子声场声压函数展开为切比雪夫-傅里叶级数形式, 通过瑞利-里兹法求解膨胀腔消声器频率、声压响应及传递损失. 计算并对比分析扩张比、扩张腔长度、进出口管偏置对膨胀腔消声器消声性能的影响. 结果表明: 扩张比增大会有效提高消声器在低频段的消声性能, 进出口管的偏置对消声器消声性能影响很小.     

Rational Design of a Near-infrared Fluorescent Material with High Solid-state Efficiency,Aggregation-induced Emission and Live Cell Imaging Property

Near-infrared(NIR) fluorescent materials with high photoluminescent quantum yields(PLQYs) have wide application prospects. Therefore, we design and synthesize a D-A type NIR organic molecule, TPATHCNE, in which triphenylamine and thiophene are utilized as the donors and fumaronitrile is applied as the acceptor. We systematically investigate its molecular structure and photophysical property. TPATHCNE shows high T_gof 110℃ and T_d of 385℃ and displays an aggregation-induced emission(AIE) property. A narrow optical bandgap of 1.65 eV is obtained. The non-doped film of TPATHCNE exhibits a high PLQY of 40.3% with an emission peak at 732 nm, which is among the best values of NIR emitters. When TPATHCNE is applied in organic light-emitting diode(OLED), the electroluminescent peak is located at 716 nm with a maximum external quantum efficiency of 0.83%. With the potential in cell imaging, the polystyrene maleic anhydride(PMSA) modified TPATHCNE nanoparticles(NPs) emit strong fluorescence when labeling HeLa cancer cells, suggesting that TPATHCNE can be used as a fluorescent carrier for specific staining or drug delivery for cellular imaging. TPATHCNE NPs fabricated by bovine serum protein(BSA) are cultivated with mononuclear yeast cells, and the intense intracellular red fluorescence indicates that it can be adopted as a specific stain for imaging.     

The impact of insecticides containing deltamethrin and cyfluthrin on the composition of surface compounds in the larvae,females and males of Tenebrio molitor

This paper presents the effect of insecticides on the composition of the surface compounds of one of the most harmful insects, Tenebrio molitor, by analysis using GC–MS. As a result of the use of insecticides, the composition of the chemical compounds on the surface of insects changes, depending on the insecticides used. The most numerous groups of the marked compounds were fatty acids, alkanes, esters and sterols. The content of the identified compounds in the larvae increased at both 24 and 48 h after the application of insecticides, in comparison with the control samples. The content of identified compounds in the samples taken from the females increased 24, 48 and 72 h after the application of insecticides in comparison with the control samples. By contrast, in samples prepared from males, the content of identified compounds decreased 24 h after the application of insecticides, compared with the control samples. The highest content of chemical compounds was for fatty acids and alkanes after the use of insecticides. The content of fatty acids after the application of the insecticide with deltamethrin was 62.1 ± 3.3–466.9 ± 5.9 μg/g, and after the application of the insecticide with cyfluthrin was 49.9 ± 1.9–458.3 ± 4.2 μg/g. However, the content of alkanes after the use of deltamethrin was 115.6 ± 4.2–4672.0 ± 32.1 μg/g, and after the use of cyfluthrin was 189.4 ± 3.8–3975.0 ± 10.2 μg/g.     

Validation of a robust and rapid liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometric method for the quantitative analysis of navitoclax

The Bcl-2 family small molecule inhibitor navitoclax is being clinically evaluated to treat multiple cancers including lymphoid malignancies and small cell lung cancer. A sensitive and reliable method was developed to quantitate navitoclax in human plasma using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry with which to perform detailed pharmacokinetic studies. Sample preparation involved protein precipitation using acetonitrile. Separation of navitoclax and the internal standard, navitoclax-d8, was achieved with a Waters Acquity UPLC BEH C₁₈ column using isocratic flow over a 3 min total analytical run time. A SCIEX 4500 triple quadrupole mass spectrometer operated in positive electrospray ionization mode was used for the detection of navitoclax. The assay range was 5–5,000 ng/ml and proved to be accurate (89.5–104.9%) and precise (CV ≤ 11%). Long-term frozen plasma stability for navitoclax at −70°C was at least 43 months. The method was applied for the measurement of total plasma concentration of navitoclax in a patient receiving a 250 mg daily oral dose.     

Benchmarking of Density Functionals for the Description of Optical Properties of Newly Synthesized π-Conjugated TADF Blue Emitters

Computational modeling of the optical characteristics of organic molecules with potential for thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) may assist markedly the development of more efficient emitting materials for organic light-emitting diodes. Recent theoretical studies in this area employ mostly methods from density functional theory (DFT). In order to obtain accurate predictions within this approach, the choice of a proper functional is crucial. In the current study, we focus on testing the performance of a set of DFT functionals for estimation of the excitation and emission energy and the excited singlet-triplet energy gap of three newly synthesized compounds with capacity for TADF. The emitters are designed specifically to enable charge transfer by π-electron conjugation, at the same time possessing high-energy excited triplet states. The functionals chosen for testing are from various groups ranging from gradient-corrected through global hybrids to range-separated ones. The results show that the monitored optical properties are especially sensitive to how the long-range part of the exchange energy is treated within the functional. The accurate functional should also be able to provide well balanced distribution of the π-electrons among the molecular fragments. Global hybrids with moderate (less than 0.4) share of exact exchange (B3LYP, PBE0) and the meta-GGA HSE06 are outlined as the best performing methods for the systems under study. They can predict all important optical parameters correctly, both qualitatively and quantitatively.     

Sample preparation,instrumental analysis,and natural distribution of complex organic pollutants in the wastewater from unconventional gas production

Large amounts of flowback and produced water (FPW) have been generated from hydraulic fracturing process for the production of unconventional gas such as shale gas. Complex organic pollutants are abundantly present in FPW with revealed toxicity to aquatic organisms and these contaminants may transfer into surrounding aquatic environment. Characterization and determination of complicated organic pollutants in FPW remains a challenge due to its complex composition and high salinity matrix. This review article covers the progress of recent 5 years regarding the sample preparation and instrumental analysis methods and thus summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of these methods for critical analysis of organic contaminants in FPW samples. Furthermore, the natural distribution of detected organic compounds and their transformation were reviewed and discussed to enhance the understanding of spatial and temporal behaviors of these organic pollutants in natural environment, paving the way for future development of pollution control policies and strategies. Enlightened by the studies of FPW contamination in the US, the investigations of FPW contamination in China continued to grow due to rapidly growing production of shale gas in China and resulted pollution.     

Developing the Low-Temperature Oxidation Mechanism of Cyclopentane: An Experimental and Theoretical Study

At present, the reactivity of cyclic alkanes is estimated by comparison with acyclic hydrocarbons. Due to the difference in the structure of cycloalkanes and acycloalkanes, the thermodynamic data obtained by analogy are not applicable. In this study, a molecular beam sampling vacuum ultraviolet photoionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MB-VUV-PI-TOFMS) was applied to study the low-temperature oxidation of cyclopentane (CPT) at a total pressure range from 1–3 atm and low-temperature range between 500 and 800 K. Low-temperature reaction products including cyclic olefins, cyclic ethers, and highly oxygenated intermediates (e. g., ketohydroperoxide KHP, keto-dihydroperoxide KDHP, olefinic hydroperoxides OHP and ketone structure products) were observed. Further investigation of the oxidation of CPT – electronic structure calculations – were carried out at the UCCSD(T)-F12a/aug-cc-pVDZ//B3LYP/6-31+ G(d,p) level to explore the reactivity of O₂ molecules adding sequentially to cyclopentyl radicals. Experimental and theoretical observations showed that the dominant product channel in the reaction of CPT radicals with O₂ is HO₂ elimination yielding cyclopentene. The pathways of second and third O₂ addition – the dissociation of hydroperoxide – were further confirmed. The results of this study will develop the low-temperature oxidation mechanism of CPT, which can be used for future research on accurately simulating the combustion process of CPT.     

热解吸反压低温等离子体电离源质谱检测食品中的邻苯二甲酸酯EI北大核心CSCD

基于低温等离子体设计并实现了一套热解吸反压低温等离子体电离(TD-iLTPI)装置。TD-iLTPI装置由热解吸模块和电离源模块集成在一个π型四通管上组成,进样探针取得样品后插入热解吸模块使其气化,之后随载气进入电离区域被电离。iLTPI内部的针电极接交流电,外部的环形电极接地,电极连接方式与LTP相反。该文对热解吸反压低温等离子体电离源进行了参数的优化,并与三重四极杆质谱联用检测了12种代表性的邻苯二甲酸酯,同时考察了TD-iLTPI-MS的分析性能,并对含有邻苯二甲酸酯的实际样品进行了检测。结果表明,邻苯二甲酸丁苄酯(BBP)的标准曲线具有良好的线性相关系数(R;=0.9958),加标回收率为89.7%~116.8%,相对标准偏差为4.5%~8.2%,对邻苯二甲酸酯的检出限也远低于其他敞开式离子源。对白酒、果汁、面包、奶酪和黄油中的邻苯二甲酸酯进行了快速筛查,并定量检测了果汁中的邻苯二甲酸丁苄酯。     

Versatile Near-Infrared Super-Resolution Imaging of Amyloid Fibrils with the Fluorogenic Probe CRANAD-2

CRANAD-2 is a fluorogenic curcumin derivative used for near-infrared detection and imaging in vivo of amyloid aggregates, which are involved in neurodegenerative diseases. We explore the performance of CRANAD-2 in two super-resolution imaging techniques, namely stimulated emission depletion (STED) and single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM), with markedly different fluorophore requirements. By conveniently adapting the concentration of CRANAD-2, which transiently binds to amyloid fibrils, we show that it performs well in both techniques, achieving a resolution in the range of 45–55 nm. Correlation of SMLM with atomic force microscopy (AFM) validates the resolution of fine features in the reconstructed super-resolved image. The good performance and versatility of CRANAD-2 provides a powerful tool for near-infrared nanoscopic imaging of amyloids in vitro and in vivo.