Dual-imaging-mode smart hydrogel information platform for illumination-independent covert decryption and read

Smart hydrogel with color responsiveness is envisioned as one of the most promising materials for advanced information encryption and decryption platform, but the illumination-dependent way of decrypting and reading information leads to the worrying of concealment in some particular scenarios. Herein, we proposed a smart hydrogel information platform with dual imaging modes by utilizing the accompanying behaviors in transparency change and heat releasing after crystallization of supercooled solution. For this smart hydrogel information platform, the hidden information could be written and decrypted by ink of ethylene glycol and decryption tool of seed crystal, respectively. Furthermore, in addition to the traditional optical imaging mode with the assistance of light illumination, the decrypted information on dual-imaging-mode hydrogel platform also could be read by thermal imaging mode in dark environment owing to the exothermic crystallization. The illumination-independent read mode based on heat radiation helps to improve the secrecy and safety of the decryption and read process. This investigation provides a facile and feasible strategy to design illumination-independent information platform that enables reading the encrypted information in secret.</p

Effect of the Ionic Liquid 1-Butyl-3-Methylimidazolium Tetrafluoroborate on the Properties of Water + Triton X-100 + Hexanol + Cyclohexane Microemulsions

A study was carried out concerning the effects of an ionic liquid (IL) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (bmimBF₄) on the properties of nonionic surfactant-based H₂O + Triton X-100 (TX-100) + hexanol + cyclohexane microemulsions. Several properties of microemulsions, such as polarity, conductivity, viscosity, and droplet size, were investigated with the mass ratio of TX-100/hexanol/cyclohexane = 3:2:7. With the addition of IL, the polarity of the microemulsions increases. Conductivity results reveal that the onset water content of electrical percolation decreases with the presence of IL and continues to decrease as the amount of IL increases. The viscosity of microemulsions increases with the increasing amount of IL. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements indicate that the droplet sizes of microemulsions increase with the addition of IL. All results presented in this study suggest that the IL is solubilized into the polar core of microemulsions

Table_1_Associations between genetic variants in sphingolipid metabolism pathway genes and hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma survival.docx

BackgroundAlthough the sphingolipid metabolism pathway is known to play a significant role in tumor progression, there have been few studies on how genetic variants in the sphingolipid metabolism pathway genes affect the survival of patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).MethodsWe utilized available genotyping data to conduct multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model analysis, examining the associations of 12,188 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 86 sphingolipid metabolism pathway genes on the survival of 866 HBV-HCC patients, and the model was also used in additive interaction analysis. We used bioinformatics functional prediction and expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis to explore the potential functions of SNPs and to evaluate the association of SNPs with the corresponding mRNA expression, respectively. We also used the online database TIMER2.0 (http://timer.comp-genomics.org/) to analyze the relationship between the corresponding mRNA expression levels and immune cell infiltration.ResultsOur study found that GBA2 rs1570247 G>A was significantly associated with elevated survival of HBV-HCC patients [(hazards ratio (HR)=0.74, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.64-0.86, PConclusionOur findings suggest that GBA2 rs1570247 G>A in sphingolipid metabolism pathway may be a key factor for survival of HBV-HCC patients by regulating the expression of corresponding genes and affecting the infiltration level of immune cells.</p