One-Pot Synthesis of Biocompatible CdSe/CdS Quantum Dots and Their Applications as Fluorescent Biological Labels

We developed a novel one-pot polyol approach for the synthesis of biocompatible CdSe quantum dots (QDs) using poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) as a capping ligand at 240°C. The morphological and structural characterization confirmed the formation of biocompatible and monodisperse CdSe QDs with several nanometers in size. The encapsulation of CdS thin layers on the surface of CdSe QDs (CdSe/CdS core–shell QDs) was used for passivating the defect emission (650 nm) and enhancing the fluorescent quantum yields up to 30% of band-to-band emission (530–600 nm). Moreover, the PL emission peak of CdSe/CdS core–shell QDs could be tuned from 530 to 600 nm by the size of CdSe core. The as-prepared CdSe/CdS core–shell QDs with small size, well water solubility, good monodispersity, and bright PL emission showed high performance as fluorescent cell labels in vitro. The viability of QDs-labeled 293T cells was evaluated using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol)-2-diphenyltertrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The results showed the satisfactory (>80%) biocompatibility of as-synthesized PAA-capped QDs at the Cd concentration of 15 μg/ml

Selective Synthesis of Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 Nanowires Via a Single Precursor: A General Method for Metal Oxide Nanowires

Hematite (α-Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4) nanowires with the diameter of about 100 nm and the length of tens of micrometers have been selectively synthesized by a microemulsion-based method in combination of the calcinations under different atmosphere. The effects of the precursors, annealing temperature, and atmosphere on the morphology and the structure of the products have been investigated. Moreover, Co3O4 nanowires have been fabricated to confirm the versatility of the method for metal oxide nanowires

Oxygen vacancies promoting the electrocatalytic performance of CeO 2 nanorods as cathode materials for Li-O 2 batteries

Li-O 2 batteries have become very promising power sources for electronic vehicles as a result of their extraordinary energy density. Nevertheless, the unfavourable electrocatalytic activity of cathode materials in Li-O 2 batteries is still a limiting factor for the practical application of Li-O 2 batteries. This study proposes a surface engineering strategy which can enhance the electrocatalytic activity of CeO 2 nanorods by tuning the oxygen vacancies on their surface, and found that the highest concentration of oxygen vacancies induces the best electrochemical performance, including an extended electrochemical stability of 200 cycles, and reduces the overpotential of the ORR from the reported 0.26 V to 0.11 V. Ex situ XPS photoelectron spectroscopy was carried out to further explain the role of oxygen vacancies in improving the electrochemical performance of LOBs, indicating that the oxygen vacancies of CeO 2 nanorods have more obvious positive effects on the ORR than on the OER. It is believed that they can serve as the active sites for the deposition of Li 2 O 2 films by being involved in the reaction between Li + and O 2 during the ORR, and also boost the electron transport through the insoluble Li 2 O 2 films to further catalyse the Li + and O 2 reaction during the discharge and charge process. This work provides new proof for the association between the discharge/charge behaviour of LOBs and the content of oxygen vacancies

High performance MnO@C microcages with a hierarchical structure and tunable carbon shell for efficient and durable lithium storage

A MnO@C microcage with a multi-structure and tunable carbon shell was fabricated through a facile bio-inspired synthesis strategy for highly reversible Li storage. Micrometer-sized MnO unit aggregates were covered with a porous carbon shell outside with a thickness of about 0.2 μm, and a graphene-analogous carbon network inside the MnO@C microcages. The carbon shell could be tunable by a graphene-base shell. The unique double-carbon-coating structure of the MnO@C microcages enabled realizing the high Li-storage performance of the MnO particles with a micrometer size. The electrode containing the MnO@C microcages delivered a high reversible capacity of 1450.5 mA h g -1 after 270 cycles at a current density of 0.1 A g -1 , good rate capability, and outstanding cycling stability with a retention capacity of 805 mA h g -1 after 2000 cycles at a high current density of 1 A g -1 . Quantitative kinetic analysis indicated that around 40% of the charge storage came from the capacitive contribution of the microcage structure. It was found that the tunable graphene-base shell could enhance the Li-ion diffusion rate significantly, and enable a stable ultralong long life cycle performance and enhanced rate performance of the microcages

Risk variants in the S100B gene, associated with elevated S100B levels, are also associated with visuospatial disability of schizophrenia.

Rs9722 and rs1051169 have been reported as affecting the levels of S100B in the serum or the brain, and haplotypes containing these two SNPs have been associated with schizophrenia. The current study investigated the role of the S100B gene in an endophenotype of schizophrenia-spatial disability. 304 schizophrenia patients and 196 healthy controls were given a block design task and a mental rotation task. Results showed that the two aforementioned SNPs and related haplotypes were associated with the spatial disability of schizophrenia patients. Specifically, risk factors for the elevated S100B levels, including the A allele of rs9722, the G allele of rs1051169, and the AG haplotype, were associated with a poorer performance on both tests of spatial ability, especially the mental rotation task. These results implicate a role for S100B gene polymorphisms in the cognitive functions of schizophrenia patients and encourage further investigation into spatial disability as an endophenotype of schizophrenia

Risk variants in the S100B gene, associated with elevated S100B levels, are also associated with visuospatial disability of schizophrenia.

Rs9722 and rs1051169 have been reported as affecting the levels of S100B in the serum or the brain, and haplotypes containing these two SNPs have been associated with schizophrenia. The current study investigated the role of the S100B gene in an endophenotype of schizophrenia-spatial disability. 304 schizophrenia patients and 196 healthy controls were given a block design task and a mental rotation task. Results showed that the two aforementioned SNPs and related haplotypes were associated with the spatial disability of schizophrenia patients. Specifically, risk factors for the elevated S100B levels, including the A allele of rs9722, the G allele of rs1051169, and the AG haplotype, were associated with a poorer performance on both tests of spatial ability, especially the mental rotation task. These results implicate a role for S100B gene polymorphisms in the cognitive functions of schizophrenia patients and encourage further investigation into spatial disability as an endophenotype of schizophrenia

Evidence of IQ-modulated association between ZNF804A gene polymorphism and cognitive function in schizophrenia patients.

ZNF804A gene polymorphism rs1344706 has been suggested as the most compelling case of a candidate gene for schizophrenia by a genome-wide association study and several replication studies. The current study of 570 schizophrenia patients and 448 controls again found significantly different genotype frequencies of rs1344706 between patients and controls. More important, we found that this association was modulated by IQ, with a stronger association among individuals with relatively high IQ, which replicated results of Walters et al, 2010. We further examined whether this IQ-modulated association also existed between the SNP and the intermediate phenotypes (working memory and executive functions) of schizophrenia. Data were available from an N-back task (366 patients and 414 controls) and the attention network task (361 patients and 416 controls). We found that the SNP and IQ had significant interaction effects on the intermediate phenotypes for patients, but not for controls. The disease risk allele was associated with poorer cognitive function in patients with high IQ, but better cognitive function in patients with low IQ. Together, these results indicated that IQ may modulate the role of rs1344706 in the etiology of both schizophrenia and its cognitive impairments, and pointed to the necessity of considering general cognitive function as indexed by IQ in the future studies of genetic bases of schizophrenia