A Freezing‐Induced Turn‐On Imaging Modality for Real‐Time Monitoring of Cancer Cells in Cryosurgery

Cryosurgery has attracted much attention for the treatment of tumors owing to its clear advantages. However, determining the volume of frozen tissues in real‐time remains a challenge, which greatly lowers the therapeutic efficacy of cryosurgery and hinders its broad application for the treatment of cancers. Herein, we report a freezing‐induced turn‐on strategy for the selective real‐time imaging of frozen cancer cells. As a type of aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) fluorogen, TABD‐Py molecules interact specifically with ice crystals and form aggregates at the ice/water interface. Consequently, bright fluorescent emission appears upon freezing. TABD‐Py molecules are enriched mostly in the cancer cells and exhibit high biocompatibility as well as low cytotoxicity; therefore, a freezing‐induced turn‐on imaging modality for cryosurgery is developed, which will certainly maximize the therapeutic efficacy of cryosurgery in treating tumors.     

Hybrid Organic–Inorganic Thermoelectric Materials and Devices

Hybrid organic–inorganic materials have been considered as a new candidate in the field of thermoelectric materials since the last decade owing to their great potential to enhance the thermoelectric performance by utilizing the low thermal conductivity of organic materials and the high Seebeck coefficient, and high electrical conductivity of inorganic materials. Herein, we provide an overview of interfacial engineering in the synthesis of various organic–inorganic thermoelectric hybrid materials, along with the dimensional design for tuning their thermoelectric properties. Interfacial effects are examined in terms of nanostructures, physical properties, and chemical doping between the inorganic and organic components. Several key factors which dictate the thermoelectric efficiency and performance of various electronic devices are also discussed, such as the thermal conductivity, electric transportation, electronic band structures, and band convergence of the hybrid materials.     

Sodium trimer ordering on a NaxCoO2 surface

Sodium ion ordering on an in situ cleaved NaxCoO2 (x=0.84) surface has been studied by ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy at room temperature. Three main phases, with p(3 x 3), ( radical7 x radical7), and (2 radical3 x 2 radical3) hexagonal unit cells and a surface Na concentration of 1/3, 3/7, 1/2, respectively, were identified. One surprising finding is that Na trimers act as the basic building blocks that order in long range. The stability of Na trimers is attributed to the increased Na coordination with oxygen as indicated by ab initio calculations, and possibly at finite temperature by configuration entropy.     

Stimuli-Triggered Strand Displacement-Based Multifunctional Gene Detection Platform Controlled By A Multi-Input DNA Logic Gate

Highly sensitive detection of various cancer related genes is of great significance in a number of biomedical applications. Here we describe a logic-controlled multifunctional platform that is capable of detecting two kinds of gene sequences with a 2-aminopurine (2-AP) as a quencher-free fluorescent probe, the fluorescence of which dramatically increases when it loops out the DNA helices. This detection platform is assembled from the split ATP aptamer, G-quadruplex, and the antisense strands of the P53 and K-ras genes, together with their complementary components. It is selectively activated by ATP and K⁺ via the target-induced DNA strand displacement, enabling the exposure of two long toehold regions that allow the P53 and K-ras genes to trigger the next DNA strand displacements. A hairpin DNA containing a looped-out 2-AP in the stem is finally released, accompanying with a significant increase of fluorescence intensity. The whole process behaves as a four-input AND logic gate. Such a logic-controlled gene detection platform is able to convert the external stimulation of ions and biomolecules into a detectable fluorescence output and functions well in gene detection.     

Preparation,Characterization,and in vitro Release of Biodegradable Erythromycin-gelatin Microspheres

Blank and erythromycin-loaded gelatin microspheres were successfully fabricated via emulsion chemical- crosslinking technique. The surface morphology of the microspheres was characterized by scanning electron microscope（SEM） and optical microscope. The results show that the microspheres were spherical and smooth. The particle average size of erythromycin-loaded microspheres was found to be 20.6 μm, with a high purity of more than 90% and with a good dispersibility. The microspheres could be obtained in a high yield. Erythromycin released from the microspheres was monitored in buffer and artificial body fluid at 37 ℃. Average drug content was 27.2%, and erythromycin-loaded gelatin microspheres showed good release profiles with a nearly constant release during 4-8 h in artificial body fluid in vitro degradation studies. These gelatin microspheres are useful for studying and developing various drug-delivery systems.     

Divalent cation-induced variations in polyelectrolyte conformation and controlling calcite morphologies: direct observation of the phase transition by atomic force microscopy

In the biomineralization process, the changes in conformation of organic matrix may be a widespread phenomenon. Investigation of the structural relationship between organic and inorganic materials is the main subject. The approach taken was to extract quantitative information of the variations in polyelectrolyte conformation during the mineralization process using atomic force microscopy. The results infer the evidence of the role of polyelectrolyte conformation in mineralization of calcium carbonate and the methods for understanding the principle that govern biomineralization.     

RBF‐based discrete sliding mode control for robust tracking of uncertain time‐delay systems with input nonlinearity

In this article, a control scheme combining radial basis function neural network and discrete sliding mode control method is proposed for robust tracking and model following of uncertain time‐delay systems with input nonlinearity. The proposed robust tracking controller guarantees the stability of overall closed‐loop system and achieves zero‐tracking error in the presence of input nonlinearity, time‐delays, time‐varying parameter uncertainties, and external disturbances. The salient features of the proposed controller include no requirement of a priori knowledge of the upper bound of uncertainties and the elimination of chattering phenomenon and reaching phase. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 21: 194–201, 2016     

Quantifying the intrinsic effects of two point mutation models of proline-proline diamino acid diamide: a first-principle computational study

Two sites of a Pro-Pro diamide were subjected to individual Pro --> Thr point mutations. The parent diamide Pro-Pro as well as selected conformers of the Pro-Thr and Thr-Pro mutant models were subjected to molecular computations at the B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory. At the optimized geometries, thermodynamic functions (S, H, and G) were computed. In order to assess relative stabilities of the mutant models, isodesmic reactions were constructed to calculate DeltaS, DeltaH, and DeltaG, relative to the initial Pro-Pro state. The importance of intramolecular hydrogen bonds, involving the -OH group of the Thr side chain, which emerged after the point mutations were also examined. Our findings suggest a novel approach to analyzing the stability of point mutants in peptide models through the analysis of thermodynamic functions.