Camu-Camu Fruit Extract Inhibits Oxidative Stress and Inflammatory Responses by Regulating NFAT and Nrf2 Signaling Pathways in High Glucose-Induced Human Keratinocytes

Myrciaria dubia (HBK) McVaugh (camu-camu) belongs to the family Myrtaceae. Although camu-camu has received a great deal of attention for its potential pharmacological activities, there is little information on the anti-oxidative stress and anti-inflammatory effects of camu-camu fruit in skin diseases. In the present study, we investigated the preventative effect of 70% ethanol camu-camu fruit extract against high glucose-induced human keratinocytes. High glucose-induced overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was inhibited by camu-camu fruit treatment. In response to ROS reduction, camu-camu fruit modulated the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK)/activator protein-1 (AP-1), nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB), and nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) signaling pathways related to inflammation by downregulating the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Furthermore, camu-camu fruit treatment activated the expression of nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and subsequently increased the NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase1 (NQO1) expression to protect keratinocytes against high-glucose-induced oxidative stress. These results indicate that camu-camu fruit is a promising material for preventing oxidative stress and skin inflammation induced by high glucose level.     

Synergistic Catalytic Acceleration of MXene/MWCNTs as Decorating Materials for Ultrasensitive Detection of Morphine

Ti₃C₂T_X MXene was synthesized by exfoliating pristine Ti₃AlC₂ phase with hydrofluoric acid. The simple methods of mechanical mixing and drop-casting of Ti₃C₂T_X and MWCNTs were carried out to prepare sensing electrode of Ti₃C₂T_X/MWCNTs/GCE. The composite and topography, especially the surface functional groups of Ti₃C₂T_X/MWCNTs were analyzed by XRD, SEM, FTIR, XPS, and Raman spectrum. The results turned out that Ti₃C₂T_X was characteristic by accordion-like 2D nanostructure with the surfaces terminated with −OH, −F, and =O. When combining with acid pretreated, the interaction between the functional groups of Ti₃C₂T_X and MWCNTs facilitated the convenience and reproducibility of the robust modified electrodes and could make Ti₃C₂T_X/MWCNTs/GCE possess good synergistic catalytic acceleration by increasing the electron transfer efficiency as well as adsorption and aggregation of MOP analyte onto the electrode surface. Versatile electrochemical measurements of CV, DPV and EIS were used to investigate the electrochemical performance of Ti₃C₂T_X/MWCNTs/GCE sensing platform. The linear detection range is 0.01–100 μM with the limit of detection of 0.0092 μM (S/N=3). The sensor has good stability, repeatability, reproducibility and anti-interference. In the detection of serum and urine samples, it has a good recovery rate.     

Sustainable Route for Synthesizing Aluminosilicate EU-1 Zeolite

Developing sustainable routes for the synthesis of zeolites is still a vital and challenging task in zeolite scientific community. One of the typical examples is sustainable synthesis of aluminosilicate EU-1 zeolite, which is not very efficient and environmental-unfriendly under hydrothermal condition due to the use of a large amount of water as solvent. Herein, we report a sustainable synthesis route for aluminosilicate EU-1 zeolite without the use of solvent for the first time. The physicochemical properties of the obtained EU-1 zeolite are characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), N₂ sorption, inductively coupled plasma (ICP) analysis, and solid nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), which show the product has high crystallinity, uniform morphology, large BET surface area, and four-coordinated aluminum species. Moreover, the impact of synthesis conditions is investigated in detail. The sustainable synthesis of aluminosilicate EU-1 zeolite under solvent-free     

Cationic Nonporous Macrocyclic Organic Compounds for Multimedia Iodine Capture

Over the past two decades, progress in chemistry has generated various types of porous materials for removing iodine (¹²⁹I or ¹³¹I) that can be formed during nuclear energy generation or nuclear waste storage. However, most studies for iodine capture are based on the weak host-guest interactions of the porous materials. Here, we present two cationic nonporous macrocyclic organic compounds, namely, MOC-1 and MOC-2 , in which 6I^- and 8I⁻ were as counter anions, for highly efficient iodine capture. MOC-1 and MOC-2 were formed by reacting 1,1′-diamino-4,4′-bipyridylium di-iodide with 1,2-diformylbenzene or 1,3-diformylbenzene, respectively. The presence of a large number of I⁻ anions results in high I₂ affinity with uptake capacities up to 2.15 g ⋅ g⁻¹ for MOC-1 and 2.25 g ⋅ g⁻¹ for MOC-2 .     

Analysis of Asymmetric Long-Range Surface-Plasmon Waveguide with High-Confinement Mode

We model and study the asymmetric long-range surface-plasmon waveguides using the finite-element method. We introduce two types of asymmetric structures and discuss their modal properties compared to traditional long-range surface-plasmon waveguides. Although the propagation distance is decreased, the energy-confinement capability is improved for asymmetric long-range waveguiding structures when the geometrical parameters are properly selected. Our simulation result offers guidance for tuning properties of plasmonic waveguides and providing ways for enhancing electromagnetic energy confinement in long-range surface-plasmon waveguides.     

V掺杂ZnO透明导电薄膜研究

本文分别采用磁控溅射技术与基于密度泛函理论的平面波赝势方法两种方式, 对高价态差元素V掺杂ZnO薄膜进行研究. 实验研究结果表明: V的掺入并未改变ZnO的生长方式, 所制备的薄膜都呈(002)择优生长; 随着衬底温度增加, VZO薄膜的结晶质量逐步改善, 当衬底温度超过280 ℃时薄膜的结晶质量恶化; 在280 ℃时获得的VZO薄膜电阻率最低3.8×10^-3 Ω·m, 500-2000 nm平均透过率高于85%. 理论模拟结果表明: V以替位形式掺入ZnO六角纤锌矿晶格结构中, 费米能级进入导带, 材料表现出n 型半导体的特性, 导电电子主要由V 3d及O 2p电子轨道提供. 理论计算结果与实验结果的一致性, 表明VZO薄膜具有作为高效Si基薄膜太阳电池透明导电薄膜的应用潜力.     

Quantum state and process tomography via adaptive measurements

We investigate quantum state tomography(QST) for pure states and quantum process tomography(QPT) for unitary channels via adaptive measurements. For a quantum system with a d-dimensional Hilbert space, we first propose an adaptive protocol where only 2d. 1 measurement outcomes are used to accomplish the QST for all pure states. This idea is then extended to study QPT for unitary channels, where an adaptive unitary process tomography(AUPT) protocol of d2+d.1measurement outcomes is constructed for any unitary channel. We experimentally implement the AUPT protocol in a 2-qubit nuclear magnetic resonance system. We examine the performance of the AUPT protocol when applied to Hadamard gate, T gate(/8 phase gate), and controlled-NOT gate,respectively, as these gates form the universal gate set for quantum information processing purpose. As a comparison, standard QPT is also implemented for each gate. Our experimental results show that the AUPT protocol that reconstructing unitary channels via adaptive measurements significantly reduce the number of experiments required by standard QPT without considerable loss of fidelity.     

Observation of large low‐field magnetoresistance in spinel cobaltite: A new half‐metal

Low‐field magnetoresistance is an effective and energy‐saving way to use half‐metallic materials in magnetic reading heads and magnetic random access memory. Common spin‐polarized materials with low field magnetoresistance effect are perovskite‐type manganese, cobalt, and molybdenum oxides. In this study, we report a new type of spinel cobaltite materials, self‐assembled nanocrystalline NiCo₂O₄, which shows large low field magnetoresistance as large as –19.1% at 0.5 T and –50% at 9 T (2 K). The large low field magnetoresistance is attributed to the fast magnetization rotation of the core nanocrystals. The surface spin‐glass is responsible for the observed weak saturation of magnetoresistance under high fields. Our calculation demonstrates that the half‐metallicity of NiCo₂O₄ comes from the hopping e_g electrons within the tetrahedral Co‐atoms and the octahedral Ni‐atoms. The discovery of large low‐field magnetoresistance in simple spinel oxide NiCo₂O₄, a non‐perovskite oxide, leads to an extended family of low‐field magnetoresistance materials. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Hybrid process for texturization of diamond wire sawn multicrystalline silicon solar cell

Acid texture is difficult for diamond wire sawn (DWS) multicrystalline silicon (mc‐Si) wafer owing to the inhomogeneous distribution of damage layer on the surface. In this article, metal‐assisted chemical etching (MACE) has been selected for introducing a porous seeding layer to induce acid texturing etching. SEM results show that the oval pit structures coverage get obvious improvement even on the smooth areas. Owing to the further improved light absorption ability by second MACE and nanostructure rebuilding (NSR) process, nanostructured DWS mc‐Si solar cell has exhibited a conversion efficiency of 17.96%, which is 0.45% higher than that of DWS wafer with simple acid texture process. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

P‐type tin‐oxide thin film transistors for blue‐light detection application

We reported the characteristics of p‐type tin‐oxide (SnO) thin film transistors (TFTs) upon illumination with visible light. Our p‐type TFT device using the SnO film as the active channel layer exhibits high sensitivity toward the blue‐light with a high light/dark read current ratio (I_light/I_dark) of 8.2 × 10³ at a very low driven voltage of <3 V. Since sensing of blue‐light radiation is very critical to our eyes, the proposed p‐type SnO TFTs with high sensitivity toward the blue‐light show great potential for future blue‐light detection applications.