Recent advances and challenges in the recovery and purification of cellular exosomes

Exosomes are nanovesicles secreted by most cellular types that carry important biochemical compounds throughout the body with different purposes, playing a preponderant role in cellular communication. Because of their structure, physicochemical properties and stability, recent studies are focusing in their use as nanocarriers for different therapeutic compounds for the treatment of different diseases ranging from cancer to Parkinson's disease. However, current bioseparation protocols and methodologies are selected based on the final exosome application or intended use and present both advantages and disadvantages when compared among them. In this context, this review aims to present the most important technologies available for exosome isolation while discussing their advantages and disadvantages and the possibilities of being combined with other strategies. This is critical since the development of novel exosome‐based therapeutic strategies will be constrained to the effectiveness and yield of the selected downstream purification methodologies for which a thorough understanding of the available technological resources is needed.     

Sentinel-2卫星的多光谱轻量级船舶目标检测算法

近年来深度卷积神经网络在可见光船舶检测方面取得了显著的进展，然而，大多数相关研究是通过改进大型的网络结构来提高检测性能，因此加大了对更高计算机性能的需求。此外，可见光图像难以在云、雾、海杂波、黑夜等复杂场景检测到船舶。针对以上问题，提出了一种融合红（red, R）、绿（green, G）、蓝（blue, B）和近红外（NIR）4个波段光谱信息的由粗到精细的轻量型船舶检测算法。与现有的方法中根据光谱特性利用水体检测算法提取水体区域不同之处是该算法是利用改进的水体检测算法来提取船舶候选区域。为获取更准确的候选区域，对船舶、厚云、薄云、平静海面、杂波海面5种场景中4个波段的像素值进行了统计分析，选取近红外大于阈值作为辅助判断，并以其中心点获取候选区域32×32大小的切片，并对切片进行非极大值抑制，由此获得了船舶粗检测结果。随后构建了轻量级LSGFNet网络对船舶候选区域切片进行精细识别。构建的网络融合了1×1卷积提取的波谱特征与3×3的提取几何特征，为防止光谱特征与几何特征的信息在融合时“信息不流通”，在LSGFNet网络中引入了ShuffleNet中的通道打乱机制，并减小了模型结构，与典型的轻量级网络相比具有更好的效果且模型较小。最后，利用Sentinel-2卫星多光谱10 m分辨率数据构建了512×512大小的1 120组数据进行粗检测，以及32×32大小的6 014组数据进行精细网络训练，其中候选区域粗提取的查全率为98.99%，精细识别网络精确度为96.04%，不同场景下的平均精确度为92.98%。实验表明该算法在抑制云层、海浪杂波等干扰的复杂背景下具有较高的检测效率，且训练时间短、计算机性能需求低。     

Separation and analysis of triazine herbcide residues by capillary electrophoresis

Triazines are widely used in agriculture around the world as selective pre‐ and post‐emergence herbicides for the control of broad leaf and grassy weeds. With high toxicity and persistence, triazines can contaminate the environment and crops, so the development of rapid and sensitive methods for the determination of different triazines is necessary. Capillary electrophoresis comprises a group of techniques used to separate chemical mixtures. Analytical separation is based on different electrophoretic mobilities. This review focuses on the analysis of triazine herbicides with different modes of capillary electrophoresis, including capillary zone electrophoresis, micellar electrokinetic capillary electrophoresis, capillary electrochromatography and nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis. Determinations of triazines in various matrices such as surface water, groundwater, vegetables, soil and grains are emphasized. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lipase‐Supported Metal–Organic Framework Bioreactor Catalyzes Warfarin Synthesis

A green and sustainable strategy synthesizes clinical medicine warfarin anticoagulant by using lipase‐supported metal–organic framework (MOF) bioreactors (see scheme). These findings may be beneficial for future studies in the industrial production of chemical, pharmaceutical, and agrochemical precursors.     

Polymer nanoparticles with a sensitive CO2‐responsive hydrophilic/hydrophobic surface

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanoparticles with a sensitive CO₂‐responsive hydrophilic/hydrophobic surface that confers controlled dispersion and aggregation in water were prepared by emulsion polymerization at 50 °C under CO₂ bubbling using amphiphilic diblock copolymers of 2‐dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) and N‐isopropyl acrylamide (NIPAAm) as an emulsifier. The amphiphilicity of the hydrophobic–hydrophilic diblock copolymer at 50 °C was triggered by CO₂ bubbling in water and enabled the copolymer to serve as an emulsifier. The resulting PMMA nanoparticles were spherical, approximately 100 nm in diameter and exhibited sensitive CO₂/N₂‐responsive dispersion/aggregation in water. Using copolymers with a longer PNIPAAm block length as an emulsifier resulted in smaller particles. A higher concentration of copolymer emulsifier led to particles with a stickier surface. Given its simple preparation and reversible CO₂‐triggered amphiphilic behavior, this newly developed block copolymer emulsifier offers a highly efficient route toward the fabrication of sensitive CO₂‐stimuli responsive polymeric nanoparticle dispersions. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019, 57, 2149–2156     

Metabolic profiles of dioscin in rats revealed by ultra‐performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Dioscin (DIS), one of the most abundant bioactive steroidal saponins in Dioscorea sp., is used as a complementary medicine to treat coronary disease and angina pectoris in China. Although the pharmacological activities and pharmacokinetics of DIS have been well demonstrated, information regarding the final metabolic fates is very limited. This study investigated the in vivo metabolic profiles of DIS after oral administration by ultra‐performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry method. The structures of the metabolites were identified and tentatively characterized by means of comparing the molecular mass, retention time and fragmentation pattern of the analytes with those of the parent compound. A total of eight metabolites, including seven phase I and one phase II metabolites, were detected and tentatively identified for the first time. Oxidation, deglycosylation and glucuronidation were found to be the major metabolic processes of the compound in rats. In addition, a possible metabolic pathway on the biotransformation of DIS in vivo was proposed. This study provides valuable and new information on the metabolism of DIS, which will be helpful for further understanding its mechanism of action. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Photoisomerisation in Aminoazobenzene‐Substituted Ruthenium(II) Tris(bipyridine) Complexes: Influence of the Conjugation Pathway

Transition‐metal complexes containing stimuli‐responsive systems are attractive for applications in optical devices, photonic memory, photosensing, as well as luminescence imaging. Amongst them, photochromic metal complexes offer the possibility of combining the specific properties of the metal centre and the optical response of the photochromic group. The synthesis, the electrochemical properties and the photophysical characterisation of a series of donor–acceptor azobenzene derivatives that possess bipyridine groups connected to a 4‐dialkylaminoazobenzene moiety through various linkers are presented. DFT and TD‐DFT calculations were performed to complement the experimental findings and contribute to their interpretation. The position and nature of the linker (ethynyl, triazolyl, none) were engineered and shown to induce different electronic coupling between donor and acceptor in ligands and complexes. This in turn led to strong modulations in terms of photoisomerisation of the ligands and complexes.     

Design and development of a two‐dimensional system based on hydrophilic and reversed‐phase liquid chromatography with on‐line sample treatment for the simultaneous separation of excreted xenobiotics and endogenous metabolites in urine

In the present work we describe a two‐dimensional liquid chromatographic system (2D‐LC) with detection by mass spectrometry (MS) for the simultaneous separation of endogenous metabolites of clinical interest and excreted xenobiotics deriving from exposure to toxic compounds. The 2D‐LC system involves two orthogonal chromatographic modes, hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) to separate polar endogenous metabolites and reversed‐phase (RP) chromatography to separate excreted xenobiotics of low and intermediate polarity. Additionally, the present proposal has the novelty of incorporating an on‐line sample treatment based on the use of restricted access materials (RAMs), which permits the direct injection of urine samples into the system. The work is focused on the instrumental coupling, studying all possible options and attempting to circumvent the problems of solvent incompatibility between the RAM device and the two chromatographic columns, HILIC and RP. The instrumental configuration developed, RAM‐HILIC‐RPLC‐MS/MS, allows the simultaneous assessment of urinary metabolites of clinical interest and excreted compounds derived from exposure to toxic agents with minimal sample manipulation. Thus, it may be of interest in areas such as occupational and environmental toxicology in order to explore the possible relationship between the two types of compounds. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.