Zhangconnolly0487

We demonstrate that the potential final states of evaporating liquid marbles are characterized by one of the following (I) constant surface area, (II) particle ejection, or (III) multilayering. Based on these insights, we developed an evaporation model for liquid marbles that takes into account their time-dependent shape evolution. The model fits are in excellent agreement with our experimental results. Furthermore, this model and the general framework can provide mechanistic insights into extant literature on the evaporation of liquid marbles. Altogether, these findings advance our fundamental understanding of liquid marbles and should contribute to the rational development of technologies.Platinum nanoparticles (Pt-NPs) have been developed for enhanced toxicity against tumor cells. However, the therapeutic effect of Pt-NPs was severely limited by the lack of cellular uptake of Pt-NPs and an oxidative environment. The combination of starvation therapy with Pt-NP based chemotherapy in a well-designed nano-system is expected to eliminate tumors. Therefore, GOx and Pt-NPs were coated with PLGA to obtain a functional nano-system (GOx-Pt-NS), which increased the cellular uptake of Pt-NPs. The accumulation of GOx-Pt-NS in tumors increased significantly via the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect of nanoparticles. In addition, protection of the GOx-Pt-NS overcame several drawbacks of GOx such as poor stability, short in vivo half-life, immunogenicity, and systemic toxicity. Glucose oxidase (GOx) elevated the gluconic acid ROS levels in tumor cells, resulting in an acidic and oxidative environment. The acidic and oxidative environment enhanced the conversion of Pt2+via Pt NPs as well as DNA-binding ability. Finally, combining GOx based starvation therapy with Pt-NP based chemotherapy was expected to eliminate tumors more efficiently through a synergistic strategy.The combination of peptides and graphene-derived materials provides a new way to prepare graphene-based nanocomposites with unique structures, properties, and functions. The modification of graphene with different polypeptides not only improves the biocompatibility and biological recognition ability of graphene-based materials, but also greatly expands their application fields. In this work, we summarize different interactions between graphene and polypeptides, and the synthesis methods of novel functional graphene-polypeptide nanocomposites based on the interactions in recent years (from 2016 to present). In addition, the potential applications of graphene-peptide hybrid nanocomposites in biomedicine, tissue engineering, biosensors, environmental science engineering, optoelectronic materials, and energy storage are introduced. We hope that this review will help readers to understand the methods and mechanisms of the modification of graphene surfaces with biomolecules, and promote readers to understand the synthesis and applications of graphene-based nanocomposites. This work may provide hints and references for the development of peptide sequence design, and biomedical and functional materials, and will help in designing and synthesizing novel graphene-based nanomaterials with unique properties and suitable for various applications in the future.Correction for 'Phase mechanics of colloidal gels osmotic pressure drives non-equilibrium phase separation' by Lilian C. Johnson et al., Soft Matter, 2021, 17, 3784-3797, DOI 10.1039/D0SM02180F.An efficient method for the synthesis of bicyclic iminosugars has been developed. The strategy is based on the partial reduction of sugar-derived lactams by Schwartz's reagent and tandem stereoselective nucleophile addition dictated by Woerpel's model which affords polyhydroxylated cyclic amines as key intermediates. Introduction of a vinyl or allyl group to the iminosugar produces diene derivatives that can be subjected to the ring-closing metathesis reaction (RCM) to furnish polyhydroxylated pyrrolizidine, indolizidine and quinozilidine derivatives in good to excellent yields. This sequence of reactions has been applied to the formal synthesis of hyacinthacine A2, a polyhydroxylated pyrrolizidine alkaloid.The pancreas is a vital organ with digestive and endocrine roles, and diseases of the pancreas affect millions of people yearly. A better understanding of the pancreas proteome and its dynamic post-translational modifications (PTMs) is necessary to engineer higher fidelity tissue analogues for use in transplantation. The extracellular matrix (ECM) has major roles in binding and signaling essential to the viability of insulin-producing islets of Langerhans. To characterize PTMs in the pancreas, native and decellularized tissues from four donors were analyzed. N-Glycosylated and phosphorylated peptides were simultaneously enriched via electrostatic repulsion-hydrophilic interaction chromatography and analyzed with mass spectrometry, maximizing PTM information from one workflow. A modified surfactant and chaotropic agent assisted sequential extraction/on-pellet digestion was used to maximize solubility of the ECM. The analysis resulted in the confident identification of 3650 proteins, including 517 N-glycoproteins and 148 phosphoproteins. We identified 214 ECM proteins, of which 99 were N-glycosylated, 18 were phosphorylated, and 9 were found to have both modifications. Collagens, a major component of the ECM, were the most highly glycosylated of the ECM proteins and several were also heavily phosphorylated, raising the possibility of structural and thus functional changes resulting from these modifications. To our knowledge, this work represents the first characterization of PTMs in pancreatic ECM proteins. This work provides a basal profile of PTMs in the healthy human pancreatic ECM, laying the foundation for future investigations to determine disease-specific changes such as in diabetes and pancreatic cancer, and potentially helping to guide the development of tissue replacement constructs. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD025048.Electrochemical oxidative 5-exo-dig-oxo-halocyclization of o-alkynylbenzamides was achieved using readily available NaX (X = Cl, Br and I) salts under mild reaction conditions. The use of a cheap and highly stable sodium halide as a halide ion source is impressive for the synthesis of a variety of halogenated isobenzofuran-1-imines. This electrochemical protocol shows regioselectivity and excellent conversion to isobenzofuran-1-imines in good yields without the use of stoichiometric amounts of oxidants and transition metal catalysts.A Pd(ii)/Cu(ii) catalysed domino synthesis of tricyanovinylindoles has been achieved using DMSO as a one-carbon synthon. The reaction proceeds via the construction of 2-aryl-3-formyl indole followed by sequential addition of malononitrile and a CN resulting in two C-C, one C[double bond, length as m-dash]C and one C-N bonds in the final product. Furthermore, post-synthetic modification results in the unprecedented formation of 4-cyano-3-indolylmaleimides. Photophysical studies of selected compounds show emission in the visible range.Adipogenesis and osteoblastogenesis (adipo-osteoblastogenesis) are closely related processes involving with the phosphorylation of numerous cytoplasmic proteins and key transcription factors. Despite the recognition of the importance of protein phosphorylation in adipo-osteoblastocyte biology, relatively little is known about the specific kinases for adipo-osteoblastogenesis. Here, we constructed the comprehensive gene transcriptional landscapes of kinases at 3, 5, and 7 days during adipo-osteoblastogenesis from human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). We identified forty-four and eight significant DEGs (differentially expressed genes) separately for adipo-osteoblastogenesis. Five significant DEGs, namely CAMK2A, NEK10, PAK3, PRKG2, and PTK2B, were simultaneously shared by adipo-osteoblastogenic anecdotes. Using a lentivirus system, we confirmed that PTK2B (non-receptor protein tyrosine kinase 2 beta) simultaneously inhibited adipo-osteoblastogenesis through RNAi assays, and PRKG2 (protein kinase cGMP-dependent 2) facilitated adipogenesis and weakened osteoblastogenesis. The only certainty was that the identified candidate significant DEGs encoding kinases responsible for protein phosphorylation, especially PTK2B and PRKG2, were the potential molecular switches of cell fate determination for hMSCs. This study would provide novel study targets for hMSC differentiation and potential clues for the therapy of the adipo-osteoblastogenic balance-derived disorders.To investigate mass size distributions of water-soluble ions in aerosols in the marine boundary layer (MBL) over the Southern Ocean, size-segregated (0.056-18 μm in aerodynamic diameter) aerosols were collected on the 28th Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition (CHINARE) cruise from November 2011 to March 2012. Major water-soluble inorganic and organic species in aerosols were analyzed by ion chromatography (IC). Results showed that high loadings of aerosol mass were observed over the western sector of the Southern Ocean, attributed to the high mass loadings of Na+ and Cl- in the particles >1.0 μm in diameter and high mass loadings of non-sea-salt (nss) SO42- and methanesulfonate (MSA) in the particles less then 1.0 μm in diameter. Nss-SO42- and MSA accounted for ∼40% of the total mass in aerosols with particle size less then 0.56 μm over the eastern sector of the Southern Ocean, while it was elevated to more than 60% over the western sector of the Southern Ocean that could be linked with high marine productivity reflected by high chlorophyll-a occurrence in surface waters in that region. MSA/nss-SO42- ratios showed an increasing trend as latitude increased in the southern hemisphere with a dramatic increase south of 60 °S and the variation of MSA may shape the spatial distribution of the ratios. High MSA concentration and MSA/nss-SO42- ratios were observed in west Antarctica, especially in the supermicron particles. A bimodal mass size distribution of total Ca2+ with a small peak in the 0.18-0.32 μm size range was observed, suggesting different sea spray aerosol (SSA) production mechanisms. learn more Nss-SO42-, MSA was mainly enriched in the particle size range of 0.18 μm to 0.56 μm. The concentrations of formate and oxalate were low and detected only in certain size particles, mainly in the range less then 0.56-1.8 μm. Further studies should be conducted over the remote Southern Ocean to reveal marine ecosystem-aerosol-climate interactions.Smelting activities at Giant Mine (Yellowknife, NWT, Canada) have resulted in high sulfate and arsenic concentrations in nearby lakes. Here we tested whether historic smelting affects current mercury (Hg) cycling in 35 freshwater lakes over a 2800 km2 area around the former gold mine. We sampled lake water and sediment over three consecutive years (2015-2017) using a factorial sampling design that accounted for different environmental variables known to affect the net methylmercury (MeHg) levels in water. Stable Hg(ii) and MeHg isotope tracers were used to quantify Hg methylation and demethylation rate constants in sediments, and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was used to characterize microbial community structure. This study reveals that the fraction of methylated total Hg (% MeHg) found in surface water is positively correlated to the sulfate gradient, while the rate at which Hg is methylated (Km) in sediments is negatively correlated with total arsenic, and positively correlated with dissolved organic carbon, total phosphorous, and % MeHg in the water.