Aptamer modified Zr-based porphyrinic nanoscale metal-organic frameworks for active-targeted chemo-photodynamic therapy of tumors

Active-targeted nanoplatforms could specifically target tumors compared to normal cells, making them a promising therapeutic agent. The aptamer is a kind of short DNA or RNA sequence that can specifically bind to target molecules, and could be widely used as the active targeting agents of nanoplatforms to achieve active-targeted therapy of tumors. Herein, an aptamer modified nanoplatform DOX@PCN@Apt-M was designed for active-targeted chemo-photodynamic therapy of tumors. Zr-based porphyrinic nanoscale metal organic framework PCN-224 was synthesized through a one-pot reaction, which could produce cytotoxic 1O2 for efficient treatment of tumor cells. To improve the therapeutic effect of the tumor, the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) was loaded into PCN-224 to form DOX@PCN-224 for tumor combination therapy. Active-targeted combination therapy achieved by modifying the MUC1 aptamer (Apt-M) onto DOX@PCN-224 surface can not only further reduce the dosage of therapeutic agents, but also reduce their toxic and side effects on normal tissues. In vitro, experimental results indicated that DOX@PCN@Apt-M exhibited enhanced combined therapeutic effect and active targeting efficiency under 808 nm laser irradiation for MCF-7 tumor cells. Based on PCN-224 nanocarriers and aptamer MUC1, this work provides a novel strategy for precisely targeting MCF-7 tumor cells

High-Throughput Computational Screening for Bipolar Magnetic Semiconductors

Searching ferromagnetic semiconductor materials with electrically controllable spin polarization is a long-term challenge for spintronics. Bipolar magnetic semiconductors (BMS), with valence and conduction band edges fully spin polarized in different spin directions, show great promise in this aspect because the carrier spin polarization direction can be easily tuned by voltage gate. Here, we propose a standard high-throughput computational screening scheme for searching BMS materials. The application of this scheme to the Materials Project database gives 11 intrinsic BMS materials (1 experimental and 10 theoretical) from nearly ~40000 structures. Among them, a room-temperature BMS Li2V3TeO8 (mp-771246) is discovered with a Curie temperature of 478 K. Moreover, the BMS feature can be maintained well when cutting the bulk Li2V3TeO8 into (001) nanofilms for realistic applications. This work provides a feasible solution for discovering novel intrinsic BMS materials from various crystal structure databases, paving the way for realizing electric-field controlled spintronics devices

Highly porous fibrous mullite ceramic membrane with interconnected pores for high performance dust removal

Porous fibrous mullite ceramic membranes with different content of fibers were successfully fabricated by molding method for dust removal. The properties of the samples, such as microstructure, porosity, bulk density and mechanical behavior were analyzed. Owing to the highly porous three-dimensional structure of ceramic membranes, all the samples exhibited low density (lower than 0.64 g/cm(3)), high porosity (higher than 73%), low linear shrinkage (lower than 1.0%) and low thermal conductivity (lower than 0.165 W/mK). Significantly, the as-prepared porous ceramic membrane possessed of enhanced dust removal efficiency with almost 100% for 3-10 mu m, 97% for 1.0 mu m, 87% for 0.5 mu m and 82% for 0.3 mu m dust particles in diameter from dust-laden air passed through the test module. Moreover, the pressure drop was lower than 80 Pa when the airflow linear velocity reached 1.25 m min(-1). The results indicated that the ceramic membranes prepared in this work were promising high efficiency dedusting materials for the application in gas filtration field.</p

Effect of Si islands on low-temperature hydrothermal stability of Cu/SAPO-34 catalyst for NH3-SCR

The effect of the Si islands on the stability of Cu/SAPO-34 as a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst during low-temperature hydrothermal treatment (LTH treatment) was experimentally investigated. Cu/TEAOH (high Si islands) and Cu/TEA catalyst (low Si islands) were synthesized and then aged at 70 degrees C with 30 vol.% H2O for 48 h. Importantly, structure defect of SAPO-34 caused by Si islands could reduce the steric hindrance for H2O attacking. The stability of the SAPO-34 framework and isolated Cui-/Cu2+ ions was negatively correlated with high content of Si islands. After LTH treatment, the characterization results showed that an obvious dealumination occurred in Cu/TEAOH-LTH catalyst, with a great loss of relative crystallinity and Bronsted acid sites. Furthermore, the isolate Cu+/Cu2+ aggregated into CuO species in Cu/TEAOH-LTH catalyst, which accounted for the serious decreasing NH3-SCR activities of Cu/TEAOH-LTH catalyst. The results showed that Cu/TEA catalyst with less Si islands showed a better stability of structure and NH3-SCR activity after LTH treatment. (C) 2017 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

A Novel Porous Ceramic Membrane Supported Monolithic Cu-Doped Mn-Ce Catalysts for Benzene Combustion

Porous ceramic membranes (PCMs) are considered as an efficient hot gas filtration material in industrial systems. Functionalization of the PCMs with high-efficiency catalysts for the abatement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during dust elimination is a promising way to purify the industrial exhaust gases. In this work, we prepared PCMs (porosity: 70%) in a facile sintering process and integrated Cu-doped Mn-Ce oxides into the PCMs as monolithic catalysts by the sol-gel method for benzene oxidation. Through this method, the catalysts are dispersed evenly throughout the PCMs with excellent adhesion, and the catalytic PCMs provided more active sites for the reactant gases during the catalytic reaction process compared to the powder catalysts. The physicochemical properties of PCMs and catalytic PCMs were characterized systematically, and the catalytic activities were measured in total oxidation of benzene. As a result, all the prepared catalytic PCMs exhibited high catalytic activity for benzene oxidation. Significantly, the monolithic catalyst of Cu0.2Mn0.6Ce0.2/PCMs obtained the lowest temperature for benzene conversion efficiency of 90% (T-90) at 212 degrees C with a high gaseous hourly space velocity of 5000 h(-1) and showed strong resistance to high humidity (90 vol.%, 20 degrees C) with long-term stability in continuous benzene stream, which is caused by abundant active adsorbed oxygen, more surficial oxygen vacancy, and lower-temperature reducibility

Aptamer modified Ti₃C₂ nanosheets application in smart targeted photothermal therapy for cancer

Abstract Background Ti3C2 is a type of transition metal carbides and nitrides (MXenes) with high light-to-heat conversion efficiency property, which has been widely used in cancer treatment recently. In fact, active targeting delivery of MXenes nanomaterials with targeting molecule could enhance the therapeutic efficacy. However, targeted therapy of MXenes has not been further studied in the past. Aptamers (Apt) with excellent affinity and high specificity properties have been widely used as targeting tools. Predictably, the incorporation of Apt into Ti3C2 nanomaterials will offer an unprecedented opportunity in the research fields of cancer targeted therapy. Results Transmembrane glycoprotein mucin 1 (MUC1) is overexpressed on the surface of MCF-7 cells, and MUC1 Apt (Apt-M) could target MCF-7 cells with high affinity and specificity. Here, a smart targeting nanotherapeutic system Ti3C2/Apt-M was fabricated, which could specifically recognize and enter in MCF-7 cells. Benefitting from the desirable targeted performance of Apt-M, MCF-7 cells completed the ingestion process of Ti3C2/Apt-Mf nanosheets within 4 h, and Apt-M facilitated the entry of the Ti3C2/Apt-Mf nanosheets into MCF-7 cells. Besides, Ti3C2/Apt-M nanosheets exhibited the potential as an outstanding photothermal agent (PTA) because of the photothermal performance inherited from wrapped Ti3C2 nanosheets. As demonstrated, upon 808 nm laser irradiation, the Ti3C2/Apt-M nanotherapeutic system displayed a satisfactory antitumor effect by targeted photothermal therapy both in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion This study provides a new idea for the development of MXenes nanotherapeutic system with high active targeting performance. Graphical Abstract </jats:sec

Aptamer modified Ti3C2 nanosheets application in smart targeted photothermal therapy for cancer

Abstract Background Ti3C2 is a type of transition metal carbides and nitrides (MXenes) with high light-to-heat conversion efficiency property, which has been widely used in cancer treatment recently. In fact, active targeting delivery of MXenes nanomaterials with targeting molecule could enhance the therapeutic efficacy. However, targeted therapy of MXenes has not been further studied in the past. Aptamers (Apt) with excellent affinity and high specificity properties have been widely used as targeting tools. Predictably, the incorporation of Apt into Ti3C2 nanomaterials will offer an unprecedented opportunity in the research fields of cancer targeted therapy. Results Transmembrane glycoprotein mucin 1 (MUC1) is overexpressed on the surface of MCF-7 cells, and MUC1 Apt (Apt-M) could target MCF-7 cells with high affinity and specificity. Here, a smart targeting nanotherapeutic system Ti3C2/Apt-M was fabricated, which could specifically recognize and enter in MCF-7 cells. Benefitting from the desirable targeted performance of Apt-M, MCF-7 cells completed the ingestion process of Ti3C2/Apt-Mf nanosheets within 4 h, and Apt-M facilitated the entry of the Ti3C2/Apt-Mf nanosheets into MCF-7 cells. Besides, Ti3C2/Apt-M nanosheets exhibited the potential as an outstanding photothermal agent (PTA) because of the photothermal performance inherited from wrapped Ti3C2 nanosheets. As demonstrated, upon 808 nm laser irradiation, the Ti3C2/Apt-M nanotherapeutic system displayed a satisfactory antitumor effect by targeted photothermal therapy both in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion This study provides a new idea for the development of MXenes nanotherapeutic system with high active targeting performance. Graphical Abstrac

Monolithic Mn/Ce-based catalyst of fibrous ceramic membrane for complete oxidation of benzene

Herein, a series of monolithic Mn/Ce-based catalyst of ceramic membranes (CMs) were prepared through impregnation method for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) removal. The porous fibrous CMs with a sinter-locked network structure were fabricated by molding method in a feasible sintering process. Then, the catalytic CMs were systematically analyzed by using specific analytical techniques. The results showed that the fibrous CMs possessed a unique interconnected and uniform pore structure, and MnOx-CeO2 active phases were homogenously dispersed into the porous CMs support. The catalytic activity of samples was measured by using benzene as target VOCs. The results revealed that all catalytic CMs were active for oxidation of benzene. Significantly, the catalytic performance was promoted by introducing Ce species into MnOx. Among all, MnOx-CeO2-3:1 catalyst exhibited the lowest 90% benzene conversion temperature (T-90) at 244 degrees C and high stability with continuous benzene stream in the presence of 90 vol.% (20 degrees C) water vapor under a gaseous hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 5000h(-1), owing to the lower-temperature reducibility and the abundant active oxygen (O-Ads.) with synergetic effect of MnOx and CeO2. The results indicated a promising way to design a high efficiency dual functional CMs for the industrial application of removal VOCs while controlling particulate matters (PMs) from hot gases.</p

Application of intraoperative ABR during middle ear surgery to predict improvement in hearing

Objective: The present study was aimed to develop an intraoperative hearing monitoring method for surgeons to evaluate hearing improvement in the operating room under general anesthesia. Method: Pure tone audiometry (PTA) and chirp auditory brainstem response (ABR) were evaluated for ears with normal hearing and conductive hearing loss before, immediately after, and 4 weeks after surgery. Result: Our result showed that for ears with normal hearing or conductive hearing loss, preoperative chirp ABR threshold measured in the operating room under general anesthesia was highly linear correlated to 1000 Hz pure tone threshold and PTA threshold measured in the sound-proof chamber. Most interestingly, postoperative chirp ABR measured in the operating room under general anesthesia was also highly correlated with PTA threshold 1 month after surgery, which indicated that intraoperative chirp ABR can predict hearing improvement immediately after surgery. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate an effective intraoperative intervention to assess hearing improvement under general anesthesia in real time which might help avoid revision surgery. Keywords: Intraoperative auditory brainstem response, Middle ear surgery, Hearin

Neodymium promotion on the low-temperature hydrothermal stability of a Cu/SAPO-34 NH3-SCR monolith catalyst

Nd modified Cu/SAP0-34 catalyst for selective catalytic reduction of NOx, by NH3 (NH3-SCR) is prepared by wet-impregnation method and the catalytic performance and low-temperature hydrothermal (LTH) stability are evaluated. The catalyst shows little effect on the fresh activity but presents excellent LTH resistance by the incorporation of Nd. After LTH treatment, the catalytic performance barely changed for CuNd/SAPO-34, while significantly de'graded for Cu/SAPO-34 below 400 degrees C. Meanwhile, the NOx conversion at 200 degrees C for the aged catalyst is enhanced from 64% to 86% by adding Nd. In addition, the catalysts are characterized using N-2 sorption, XRD, SEM, DRIFTS, H-2-TPR and XPS. The results reveal that the destruction of zeolite framework by the attack of vapor is evidently inhibited and the stability of copper species is also improved during LTH treatment by the introduction of Nd. Consequently, the LTH stability of CuNd/SAPO-34 is much better than that of Cu/SAPO-34. (C) 2017 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved