Lipid Reassembly in Asymmetric Langmuir–Blodgett/Langmuir–Schaeffer Bilayers

Molecular-reorganization-induced morphology alteration in asymmetric substrate-supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) was directly visualized by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy. SLB samples were fabricated on mica-on-glass and glass substrates by Langmuir–Blodgett (LB)/Langmuir–Schaeffer (LS) using binary lipid mixtures, namely, 1,2-dioleoyl-<i>sn</i>-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC)/1,2-dipalmitoyl-<i>sn</i>-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) and ternary mixtures DOPC/DPPC/1,2-dioleoyl-<i>sn</i>-glycero-3-phospho-l-serine (DOPS), labeled with 0.2 mol % Texas Red 1,2-dihexadecanoyl-<i>sn</i>-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine triethylammonium salt (TR-DHPE) dye. Phase segregations were characterized by TIRF imaging, and DPPC-enriched domain structures were also observed. Interestingly for ∼40% (<i>n</i> = 6) of the samples with binary mixtures in the LB leaflet and a single component in the LS leaflet, that is, (DOPC/DPPC)_LB+DOPC_LS, the contrast of the DPPC domains changed from the original dark (without dye) to bright (more TR dye partitioning) on TIRF images, returning to dark again. This contrast reverse was also correlated to AFM height images, where a DPPC–DPPC gel phase was spotted after the TIRF image contrast returned to dark. The rupture force mapping results measured on these binary mixture samples also confirmed unambiguously the formation of DPPC–DPPC gel domain components during the contrast change. The samples were tracked over 48 h to investigate the lipid molecule movements in both the DPPC domains and the DOPC fluid phase. The fluorescence contrast changes from bright to dark in SLBs indicate that the movement of dye molecules was independent of the movement of lipid molecules. In addition, correlated multimodal imaging using AFM, force mapping, and fluorescence provides a novel route to uncover the reorganization of lipid molecules at the solid–liquid interface, suggesting that the dynamics of dye molecules is highly structure dependent

Decay and nutrient dynamics of coarse woody debris in the Qinling Mountains, China

<div><p>As an ecological unit, coarse woody debris (CWD) plays an essential role in productivity, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, community regeneration and biodiversity. However, thus far, the information on quantification the decomposition and nutrient content of CWD in forest ecosystems remains considerably limited. In this study, we conducted a long-term (1996–2013) study on decay and nutrient dynamics of CWD for evaluating accurately the ecological value of CWD on the Huoditang Experimental Forest Farm in the Qinling Mountains, China. The results demonstrated that there was a strong correlation between forest biomass and CWD mass. The single exponential decay model well fit the CWD density loss at this site, and as the CWD decomposed, the CWD density decreased significantly. Annual temperature and precipitation were all significantly correlated with the annual mass decay rate. The K contents and the C/N ratio of the CWD decreased as the CWD decayed, but the C, N, P, Ca and Mg contents increased. We observed a significant CWD decay effect on the soil C, N and Mg contents, especially the soil C content. The soil N, P, K, Ca and Mg contents exhibited large fluctuations, but the variation had no obvious regularity and changed with different decay times. The results showed that CWD was a critical component of nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems. Further research is needed to determine the effect of diameter, plant tissue components, secondary wood compounds, and decomposer organisms on the CWD decay rates in the Qinling Mountains, which will be beneficial to clarifying the role of CWD in carbon cycles of forest ecosystems.</p></div

MOESM1 of Recombinant mouse periostin ameliorates coronal sutures fusion in Twist1+/− mice

Additional file 1: Figure S1. The coronal suture of Twist1+/− mice shows fusing at P1, but with fusion occurring 10 days after birth. The wild-type mouse remains patent during this period

Alizarin Red S staining was positive for myofibroblasts.

<p>Fibroblasts were incubated with control media for 4 days. Alizarin Red S staining of these cells was negative(<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0132506#pone.0132506.g005" target="_blank">Fig 5A</a>). Calcification was not induced in the necrotic fibroblasts of mineralization group after incubation with mineralization media (DMEM containing 1% FBS, 50 ug/ml ascorbic acid, 5 mmol/L β-glycerophosphate) for 4 days. False positive was detected in fibroblasts by Alizarin Red S staining (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0132506#pone.0132506.g005" target="_blank">Fig 5B</a>).Calcification was detected in myofibroblasts of TGF-β1 (20 ng/ml) + mineralization group by Alizarin Red S staining (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0132506#pone.0132506.g005" target="_blank">Fig 5C</a>). Expression of α-actin in the myofibroblasts. Control group (Fig 6A), mineralization group (Fig 6B), TGF-β1 (20 ng/ml) + mineralization group (Fig 6C). Magnification *200</p

High-Performance Exciplex-Type Host for Multicolor Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes with Low Turn-On Voltages

Rational design and selection of suitable donor and acceptor components for optimal thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) exciplex-type emitters or hosts is presently challenging. Here, we constructed successfully a blue-emitting bulk exciplex system with efficient TADF emission and high triplet energy (<i>E</i>_T) based on a donor of 4,4′,4′′-tris [3-methylphenyl­(phenyl)­amino]­triphenylamine and an acceptor of 1,3,5-tri (m-pyrid-3-yl-phenyl)­benzene. Systematic experimental and theoretical studies show that the matched frontier orbital energy levels, high <i>E</i>_T, facile intersystem crossing, high oscillator strength of the exciplex, and efficient energy transfer channels should be the main considerations during the design of high-performance exciplex-type TADF emitters and bipolar host materials. Therefore, this bulk exciplex system can behave not only as blue emitters for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) but also as universal hosts for the green, yellow, and red phosphorescent OLEDs (PhOLEDs). Impressively, even under a very low guest doping level of 2 wt %, the PhOLEDs exhibit very low turn-on voltages (∼2.2 V) and high maximum external quantum efficiencies up to 18.5%. These promising device results, along with the theoretical understandings, could shed important light on the rational design of exciplex systems and their applications as either TADF emitters or bipolar host materials for high-performance and low-cost OLEDs