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Animals have evolved distinctive survival strategies in response to constant selective pressure. In this review, we highlight how animals exploit flow phenomena by manipulating their habitat (exogenous) or by secreting (endogenous) complex fluids. Ubiquitous endogenous complex fluids such as mucus demonstrate rheological versatility and are therefore involved in many animal behavioral traits ranging from sexual reproduction to protection against predators. Exogenous complex fluids such as sand can be used either for movement or for predation. In all cases, time-dependent rheological properties of complex fluids are decisive for the fate of the biological behavior and vice versa. To exploit these rheological properties, it is essential that the animal is able to sense the rheology of their surrounding complex fluids in a timely fashion. As timing is key in nature, such rheological materials often have clearly defined action windows matching the time frame of their direct biological behavior. As many rheological properties of these biological materials remain poorly studied, we demonstrate with this review that rheology and material science might provide an interesting quantitative approach to study these biological materials in particular in context towards ethology and bio-mimicking material design.Exosomes are small membrane-bound vesicles secreted by most cell types and play an important role in cell-to-cell communication. Increasing evidence shows that exosomal proteins in urine may be used as novel biomarkers for certain diseases. Purified urinary exosomes are necessary for downstream studies and application development. However, conventional methods for exosome isolation and enrichment are technically challenging and time-consuming. Poor specificity, low recovery and instrumental dependence also limit the use of these methods. It is particularly urgent to develop a rapid and efficient extraction method for basic research and clinical application. Particularly, urine is a dilute solution system with relatively low abundance of exosomes, due to which the isolation of urinary exosome requires more efficient technology. Here, we propose a new strategy for facile exosome isolation from human urine by utilizing the ultrafiltration technique and the specific interaction of TiO2 with the phosphate groups on the lipid bilayer of exosomes. Downstream characterization and proteomic analysis indicate that high-quality exosomes can be obtained from human urine by this ultrafiltration-TiO2 series method in 20 minutes, and 91.5% exosomes with an intact structure are captured from urine by this method. Moreover, 1874 protein groups have been identified through LC-MS. The results show that the protein identification of our method is 23% higher at least than those obtained by conventional strategies. We also identified 30 differential proteins by comparing the urinary exosomes from healthy male and female volunteers. These proteins are related to biological processes, such as lipid metabolism, fatty acid metabolism and nucleotide metabolism. Our analysis reveals that combining conventional ultrafiltration and TiO2-based isolation is ideal to overcome the inherent limitations of identification of exosome proteins derived from urine, and yield highly pure exosome components for downstream proteomic analysis.We report here the synthesis and biological testing of 3'-(phenyl alkynyl) abscisic ABA analogs, a new class of potent ABA antagonists. These ABA analogs incorporate a rigid framework of eight carbon atoms attached at the 3'-carbon atom of ABA that prevents folding of the ABA analog-bound receptor required for ABA signalling. The two-step synthesis is based upon the optimized conversion of natural (S)-ABA to 3'-iodo ABA which can be coupled to phenyl acetylenes using Sonogashira conditions, or to styryl compounds through Suzuki chemistry. The parent 3'-(phenyl alkynyl) ABA analog 7 was obtained in 29% yield, 74% yield based on recovered starting material. In a lentil seed germination assay, compound 7 was found to have more potent activity than other known 3'-substituted ABA antagonists to date. In a structure activity study parasubstituted phenyl alkynyl analogs had comparable activity to the analog 7 while the 3'-styryl ABA 18 was only slightly less active. Analog 7 overcame ABA inhibition of germination and seedling growth in a wide range of mono and dicot plant species, including canola, lentil, soybean, rice, wheat, barley, cannabis and canary seed. 3'-(Phenyl alkynyl) ABA analogs have numerous potential practical agricultural applications including promoting ripening of crops, dormancy breaking of seeds and woody perennials, as well as promoting seed germination, and growth under stress conditions as demonstrated in this report.Seven new bis(μ-oxo)dimanganese complexes with Mn2(iii,iii) or Mn2(iii,iv) oxidation states were prepared using quinoline- and isoquinoline-based tetraamine ligands. The structures of the ligands include ethylenediamine, trans-1,2-cyclohexanediamine and tripodal amine, bearing two or three nitrogen-containing heteroaromatics. Regardless of the skeleton and number of aliphatic nitrogen atoms in the ligands, quinoline complexes stabilize the Mn2(iii,iii) oxidation state, whereas, isoquinoline ligands afford Mn2(iii,iv) complexes. A systematic comparison of the differences in structural parameters and redox potentials of a total of 14 complexes with a (μ-O)2Mn2 diamond core, which includes corresponding pyridine and quinoxaline derivatives as supporting ligands, highlights the distinct deviation of quinoline and tripodal amine motifs in this ligand series.A neutral Eu(iii) complex containing the S,S enantiomer of isoQC3A3- ligand (isoQC3A3- = N-isoquinolyl-N,N',N'-trans-l,2-cyclohexylenediaminetriacetate) was synthesized and characterized. The complex was spectroscopically investigated and the results compared with those obtained for the similar bis-anionic ligand bisoQcd2- (bisoQcd2- = N,N'-bis(2-isoquinolinmethyl)-trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane N,N'-diacetate). selleck inhibitor Both Eu(iii)-complexes show similar binding constants upon titration with the main analytes contained in interstitial extracellular fluid (i.e. hydrogen carbonate, serum albumin and citrate). However, the analyte affinity is accompanied by different enhancements of the Eu(iii) intrinsic quantum yield (QY). Structures and hydration numbers of the complexes are determined by luminescence decay measurements and DFT calculations. The QYs as well as the binding constants of the individual adducts of the complexes with hydrogen carbonate, bovine serum albumin (BSA) and citrate are determined. The study of the Eu(iii) emission upon the systematic variation of one analyte in a complex mixture has been carried out to predict the performance of the luminescent sensor in conditions close to the real extracellular environment.