Detecting Cysteine in Bioimaging with a Near-Infrared Probe Based on a Novel Fluorescence Quenching Mechanism

Near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probes are very significant for detecting cysteine in biological systems. Herein, we report a highly selective and sensitive NIR turn-on fluorescent probe (BDP-NIR) based on BODIPY with large Stokes shift (105 nm) for detecting Cys. We clarified the sensing mechanism based on the different thiol-induced S_NAr substitution/rearrangement reaction of the probe with cysteine and homocysteine/glutathione, which leads to the corresponding amino- and thiol-BODIPY dyes with distinct photophysical properties. Moreover, a novel mechanism of fluorescence quenching was demonstrated by density functional theory calculation. The reason for the fluorescence quenching of the probe might be intersystem crossing (from singlet to triplet excited state). Moreover, BDP-NIR had a high linear dynamic range of 0–500 μM, which was promising for detecting cysteine quantificationally. Significantly, BDP-NIR was capable of sensing endogenous cysteine in living cells and in vivo.     

潮流能水平轴水轮机在剪切来流下的水动力分析

采用基于计算流体力学方法的全尺度数值模拟计算,建立了适用于潮流能水轮机模拟的剪切来流环境,通过数值计算结果,对潮流能水轮机随时间变化的宏观力和流场特征进行了系统分析,探索水轮机在复杂工况下的水动力特性规律。结果表明,水轮机整个叶轮的总体平均受力在剪切流工况中未受到明显影响; 单个叶片的瞬态轴向力系数和瞬态轴向扭矩系数在旋转周期内出现了明显的周期性变化,且周期性变化幅值随转速增大而增大; 非定常的瞬时轴向扭矩和力的周期性振荡容易引起单个叶片的结构性振动,可能对水轮机的机械结构造成影响。     

某含锌锡多金属硫化矿石锌浮选试验研究

某含锌锡多金属硫化矿石Zn、Sn、Fe、S含量分别为6.04%、1.05%、29.33%、19.08%，锌主要以铁闪锌矿、闪锌矿的形式存在，锡主要以锡石的形式存在，铁主要以黄铁矿、磁黄铁矿等形式存在，其中的金属矿物共生关系密切，相互包裹现象普遍。为确保不影响后续选锡，对锌浮选流程进行了试验研究。结果表明：矿石在磨矿细度为-0.074 mm占80%的情况下，采用预先脱硫—锌硫混浮再分离流程处理，在选择硫酸铜为锌矿物活化剂、丁基黄药为捕收剂、松醇油为起泡剂、石灰为黄铁矿抑制剂的情况下，经1段脱硫、2粗1扫锌硫混浮、1粗2精锌硫分离，锌硫分离精选尾矿与锌硫混浮扫选精矿2次精选后锌硫分离，最终获得锌精矿Zn品位47.06%、回收率90.76%，试验指标良好。     

山东栖霞—大柳行地区金矿找矿靶区地质评价及优选

栖霞—大柳行地区位于胶东中部栖霞—蓬莱金矿成矿带内，是胶东重要的金成矿区，成矿条件优越。为了对圈定靶区进行优选分类，通过对该区地质背景、找矿靶区评价、找矿靶区优选方面展开综合研究，并结合勘查工作程度和矿业权设置情况，划分出3类预测区，选定了5个靶区为今后优先部署勘查工作的方向。     

Influence of Si-Doping on the Performance of InGaN/GaN Multiple Quantum Well Solar Cells

Semiconductors - The performance of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) solar cells with five different Si-doping concentrations, namely 0, 4 × 1017 cm–3, 1 × 1018 cm–3, 3...     

Automatic breast tumor detection in ABVS images based on convolutional neural network and superpixel patterns

Breast cancer is one of the most common female malignancies, as well as the second leading cause of mortality for women. Early detection and treatment can dramatically decrease the mortality rate. Recently, automated breast volume scanner (ABVS) has become one of the most frequently used diagnose methods for breast tumor screening because of its operator-independent and reproducible advantages. However, it is a challenging job to obtain the tumors’ accurate locations and shapes by reviewing hundreds of ABVS slices. In this paper, a novel computer-aided detection (CADe) system is developed to reduce clinicians’ reading time and improve the efficiency. The CADe system mainly contains three parts: tumor candidate acquisition, false-positive reduction and tumor segmentation. Firstly, a local phase-based approach is built to obtain breast tumor candidates for further recognition. Subsequently, a convolutional neural network (CNN) is applied to reduce false positives (FPs). The introduction of CNN can help to avoid complicated feature extraction as well as elevate the accuracy and efficiency. Finally, superpixel-based segmentation is used to outline the breast tumor. Here, superpixel-based local binary pattern (SLBP) is proposed to assist the segmentation, which improves the performance. The methods were evaluated on a clinical ABVS dataset whose abnormal cases were manually labeled by an experienced radiologist. The experiment results were mainly composed of two parts. At the FP reduction stage, the proposed CNN achieved 100% and 78.12% sensitivity with FPs/case of 2.16 and 0. At the segmentation stage, our SLBP obtained 82.34% true positive, 15.79% false positive and 83.59% Dice similarity. In summary, the proposed CADe system demonstrated promising potential to detect and outline breast tumors in ABVS images.

     

In-situ crystal growth and photoluminescence properties of YBO3: Tb3+ microstructures

Three-dimensional (3D) YBO₃:Tb³⁺ flower-like and dense flower-like hierarchitecture constituted of nanoflakes are solvothermally synthesized in the presence of polyborate precursors in the mixture of ethanol and water. The growth process of the YBO₃:Tb³⁺ flowers and dense flowers was explored based on the time-dependent experiment and the results showed that the growth mechanism follows an in situ growth rather than self-assembly process as reported previously. YBO₃:Tb³⁺ morphologies composed of nanoflakes are achieved by controlling the concentration of ethanol and dependence of photoluminescence on morphology was studied. Remarkable photoluminescence enhancement was observed for YBO₃:Tb³⁺ with flower-like morphology demonstrating the potential of the microstructure in future applications as a green phosphor. Such a synthetic method and growth mechanism may be applied to fabricate complex 3D architectures of other materials.     

Functionalized graphene oxide nanosheets with unique three-inone properties for efficient and tunable antibacterial applications

Developing antibiotics-independent antibacterial agents is of great importance since antibiotic therapy faces great challenges from drug resistance.Graphene oxide(GO)is a promising agent due to its natural antibacterial mechanisms,such as sharp edgemediated cutting effect.However,the antibacterial activity of GO is limited by its negative charge and low photothermal effect.Herein,the amino-functionalized GO nanosheets(AGO)with unique three-in-one properties were synthesized.Three essential properties(positive charge,strong photothermal effect,and natural cutting effect)were integrated into AGO.The positive charge(30 mV)rendered AGO a strong interaction force with model pathogen Streptococcus mutans(330 nN).The natural cutting effect of 100 ng·mL^-1AGO caused 27%loss of bacterial viability after incubation for 30 min.Most importantly,upon the near-infrared irradiation for just 5 min,the three-in-one properties of AGO caused 98%viability loss.In conclusion,the short irradiation period and the tunable antibacterial activity confer the three-in-one AGO a great potential for clinical use.