embryo-microinjection-for-transgenesis-in-drosophila

Embryo Microinjection for Transgenesis in <em>Drosophila</em>

Transgenesis in Drosophila is an essential approach to studying gene function at the organism level. Embryo microinjection is a crucial step for the ...

measuring-carbon-content-airway-macrophages-exposed-to-carbon

Measuring Carbon Content in Airway Macrophages Exposed to Carbon-Containing Particulate Matters

Pulmonary macrophages exhibit a dose-dependent pattern in phagocytizing particles. Following engulfment, these macrophages are subsequently excreted with ...

University of South China

Qingdao University

Radon-222 (Rn-222) exhalation rate is vital for estimating radiation risk from many kinds of materials. AlphaGUARD measures the radon concentration based on the ionization chamber principle, which is currently recognized as a reference instrument to measure radon. In China, measurements of radon exhalation rate are performed by AlphaGUARD operated in flow-through mode on a reference device to verify measurement accuracy. These measurements are performed in both open and closed loop. AlphaGUARD can fast rapidly the variation of the radon concentration in the chamber, which is tightly pressed against the surface of the medium to accumulate the exhaled radon. When the model is used to obtain the radon exhalation rate, the radon exhalation rates obtained by nonlinear data fitting on the measured radon concentrations are similar to the reference value of the device. The difference of radon exhalation rate values of six measurements is small.

COMPARISON OF RADON EXHALATION RATE MEASUREMENTS ON REFERENCE DEVICE IN OPEN AND CLOSED LOOP BY ALPHAGUARD IN FLOW-THROUGH MODE.

Radon exhalation rate from soil is a critical factor in evaluating environmental radon levels. However, AlphaGUARD PQ2000PRO may have some sensitivity towards thoron, which can have a significant impact on radon measurement. The traditional radon exhalation models generally ignore the presence of thoron, leading to an overestimation of the radon exhalation rate from soil. To handle this issue, a new model was proposed based on an analysis of several previous studies on radon exhalation theories. To prove the feasibility of the model, the radon exhalation rate measurements were performed by two different types of detectors-AlphaGUARD PQ2000PRO and RAD7. The radon exhalation rate obtained by using the new model is in good agreement with that obtained by using the theoretical model of radon exhalation of RAD7 within one standard error. This new model can be applied to accurately measure radon exhalation rate from soil by the PIC detector (PQ2000PRO).

A new model to accurately measure the radon exhalation rate from soil using AlphaGUARD.

A general method for controlling the synthesis of a class of ultrathin PtRuM-O (M = Ni, Fe, Co) NSs is reported for the first time. By optimizing the metal ratio, the PtRuNi-O NS catalyst is found to have the highest electrocatalytic activity (mass activity, 3.57 A mg) for the MOR among PtRuM-O NSs and PtRu-O NSs, which is 10.5 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C (0.34 A mg). And the PtRuNi-O NSs also have better stability and CO anti-poisoning properties in the prepared materials. In addition, the ultrathin PtRuNi-O NS catalyst also shows the highest performance among reported Pt-based catalysts for the MOR in acidic medium.

High-efficiency methanol oxidation electrocatalysts realized by ultrathin PtRuM-O (M = Ni, Fe, Co) nanosheets.

Nano-drug delivery systems (NDDS) are functional drug-loaded nanocarriers widely applied in cancer therapy. Recently, layer-by-layer (LbL) assembled NDDS have been demonstrated as one of the most promising platforms in delivery of anticancer therapeutics. Here, a brief review of the LbL assembled NDDS for cancer treatment is presented. The fundamentals of the LbL assembled NDDS are first interpreted with an emphasis on the formation mechanisms. Afterwards, the tailored encapsulation of anticancer therapeutics in LbL assembled NDDS are summarized. The state-of-art targeted delivery of LbL assembled NDDS, with special attention to the elaborately control over the passive and active targeting delivery, are represented. Then the controlled release of LbL assembled NDDS with various stimulus responsiveness are systematically reviewed. Finally, conclusions and perspectives on further advancing the LbL assembled NDDS toward more powerful and versatile platforms for cancer therapy are discussed.

Layer-by-Layer assembled nano-drug delivery systems for cancer treatment.

Electrochemical nitrate reduction reaction (NORR) is considered an appealing way for producing ammonia (NH) under ambient conditions and solving environmental problems caused by nitrate, whereas the lack of adequate catalysts hampers the development of NORR. Here, we firstly demonstrate that the Pd nanocrystalline with a well-desired facet can act as a highly efficient NORR electrocatalyst for ambient ammonia synthesis. Pd (1 1 1) exhibits excellent activity and selectivity in reducing NO to NH with a Faradaic efficiency of 79.91% and an NH production of 0.5485 mmol h cm (2.74 mmol h mg) in 0.1 M NaSO (containing 0.1 M NO), which is 1.4 times higher than Pd (1 0 0) and 1.9 times higher than Pd (1 1 0), respectively. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation reveals that the superior NORR activity of Pd (1 1 1) originates from its optimized activity of NO adsorption, smaller free energy change of the rate-limiting step (*NH to NH), and poorer hydrogen evolution reaction activity (HER, competitive reaction). This work not only highlights the potentials of Pd-based nanocatalysts for NORR but also provides new insight for the applications in NORR of other facet-orientation nanomaterials.

Facet-controlled palladium nanocrystalline for enhanced nitrate reduction towards ammonia.

Correction for 'High-efficiency methanol oxidation electrocatalysts realized by ultrathin PtRuM-O (M = Ni, Fe, Co) nanosheets' by Yue Pan et al., Chem. Commun., 2020, 56, 9028-9031, DOI: .

Correction: High-efficiency methanol oxidation electrocatalysts realized by ultrathin PtRuM-O (M = Ni, Fe, Co) nanosheets.

Defect engineering has become one of the important considerations in today's electrocatalyst design. However, the vacancies in the ordered crystal structure (especially body-centered cubic (bcc) and the effect of ordered vacancies (OVs) on the electronic fabric have not been researched yet. In this work, we report the inaugural time of the generation of OVs in the bcc architecture and discuss the insight of the modulation system of the material and its part in the electrochemical N reduction reaction (NRR). OV-PdCu-2 achieves the highest Faradaic efficiency value of 21.5% at 0.05 V versus RHE. When the potential increases to 0 V versus RHE, the highest ammonia yield is 55.54 μg h mg, which is significantly better than the unetched PdCu nanoparticles (12.83 μg h mg). It is the latest reported catalyst to date in the NRR process at 0 V versus RHE (see Supporting Information).

Ordered Vacancies on the Body-Centered Cubic PdCu Nanocatalysts.

All-weather operation is considered an ultimate pursuit of the practical development of sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), however, blocked by a lack of suitable electrolytes at present. Herein, by introducing synergistic manipulation mechanisms driven by phosphorus/silicon involvement, the compact electrode/electrolyte interphases are endowed with improved interfacial Na-ion transport kinetics and desirable structural/thermal stability. Therefore, the modified carbonate-based electrolyte successfully enables all-weather adaptability for long-term operation over a wide temperature range. As a verification, the half-cells using the designed electrolyte operate stably over a temperature range of -25 to 75 °C, accompanied by a capacity retention rate exceeding 70% even after 1700 cycles at 60 °C. More importantly, the full cells assembled with NaV(PO)OF cathode and hard carbon anode also have excellent cycling stability, exceeding 500 and 1000 cycles at -25 to 50 °C and superb temperature adaptability during all-weather dynamic testing with continuous temperature change. In short, this work proposes an advanced interfacial regulation strategy targeted at the all-climate SIB operation, which is of good practicability and reference significance.

Electrolyte Chemistry toward Ultrawide-Temperature (-25 to 75 °C) Sodium-Ion Batteries Achieved by Phosphorus/Silicon-Synergistic Interphase Manipulation.

Air filtration has become a desirable route for collecting airborne microbes. However, the potential biotoxicity and sterilization of current air filtration membranes often lead to undesired inactivation of captured microbes, which greatly limits microbial non-traumatic transfer and recovery. Herein, we report a gel-confined phase separation strategy to rationally fabricate a fully bio-based filtration membrane (SGFM) using soluble soybean polysaccharide and gelatin. The versatile SGFM features fascinating honeycomb micro-nano architecture and hierarchical interconnected porous structures for microbial capture, and achieves a lower pressure drop, higher interception efficiency (99.3%), and superior microbial survivability than commercial gelatin filtration membranes. Particularly, the water-dissolvable SGFM can greatly simplify the elution and extraction process after bioaerosol sampling, thereby bringing about maximum sample transfer and vigorous recovery of collected microbes. Meanwhile, green capture coupled with ATP bioluminescence endows the SGFM with rapid and quantitative detection capability for airborne microbes. This work may pave the way for designing green protocols for the detection of bioaerosols.

Xinyi Zhang

Clinical Research Institute,
The Affiliated Nanhua Hospital,
Hengyang Medical School,
Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
Clinical Research Institute, The Affiliated Nanhua Hospital, Hengyang Medical School,
Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Hengyang Medical School

University of South China

Embryo Microinjection for Transgenesis in Drosophila

Measuring Carbon Content in Airway Macrophages Exposed to Carbon-Containing Particulate Matters