Disabling partners in crime: Gold nanoparticles disrupt multicellular communications within the tumor microenvironment to inhibit ovarian tumor aggressiveness

The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a key role in the poor prognosis of many cancers. However, there is a knowledge gap concerning how multicellular communication among the critical players within the TME contributes to such poor outcomes. Using epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) as a model, we show how crosstalk among cancer cells (CC), cancer associated fibroblasts (CAF), and endothelial cells (EC) promotes EOC growth. We demonstrate here that co-culturing CC with CAF and EC promotes CC proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro and that co-implantation of the three cell types facilitates tumor growth in vivo. We further demonstrate that disruption of this multicellular crosstalk using gold nanoparticles (GNP) inhibits these pro-tumorigenic phenotypes in vitro as well as tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistically, GNP treatment reduces expression of several tumor-promoting cytokines and growth factors, resulting in inhibition of MAPK and PI3K-AKT activation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition - three key oncogenic signaling pathways responsible for the aggressiveness of EOC. The current work highlights the importance of multicellular crosstalk within the TME and its role for the aggressive nature of EOC, and demonstrates the disruption of these multicellular communications by self-therapeutic GNP, thus providing new avenues to interrogate the crosstalk and identify key perpetrators responsible for poor prognosis of this intractable malignancy.     

Accelerating the decarbonization of carbonaceous gold ore by suspension oxidation roasting towards the improvement of gold leaching efficiency

Eliminating the gold preg-robbing effect of carbonaceous matter in carbonaceous gold ores is crucial for gold leaching. In this study, suspension oxidation roasting was proposed to accelerate the decarbonization of carbonaceous gold ore. The characteristics of oxidation reaction process and gas release were analyzed by TG-DTA-FTIR. The phase transformation and microstructure evolution of samples during roasting were analyzed by XRD, SEM and BET. The results show that the gold preg-robbing effect was eliminated after the gasification of carbonaceous matter, and the CaO generated by decomposition of carbonates can effectively capture the SO₂. After roasting for 75 min at 650 °C in a 20% O₂ atmosphere, the total carbon removal rate reached 99.42%, the distribution of exposed gold increased from 28.85% to 77.10% and the gold leaching efficiency increased from 4.55% to 84.83%. In addition, about 70% sulfur was mainly fixed in the roasted products in the form of sulfate. Therefore, the suspension oxidation roasting process is an efficient and clean pretreatment method for carbonaceous gold ores.     

Electron injection barrier and energy-level alignment at the Au/PDI8-CN2 interface via current–voltage measurements and ballistic emission microscopy

We probe electron transport across the Au/organic interface based on oriented thin films of the high-performance n-type perylene diimide semiconductor PDI8-CN₂. To this purpose, we prepared organic-on-inorganic Schottky diodes, with Au directly evaporated onto PDI8-CN₂ grown on n-Si. Temperature-dependent current–voltage characteristics and complementary ballistic electron emission microscopy studies reveal that rectification at the Au/PDI8-CN₂ interface is controlled by a spatially inhomogeneous injection barrier, that varies on a length scale of tens of nanometers according to a Gaussian distribution with mean value ∼0.94 eV and standard deviation ∼100 meV. The former gradually shifts to ∼1.04 eV on increasing PDI8-CN₂ thickness from 5 nm to 50 nm. Experimental evidences and general arguments further allow to establish the energetics at the Au/PDI8-CN₂ interface. Our work indicates injection-limited current flow in PDI8-CN₂-based devices with evaporated Au electrodes. Furthermore, it suggests chemical reactivity of PDI8-CN₂ with both Au and Si, driven by the lateral isocyano groups.     

地质痕量金石墨炉原子吸收法检测研究

着重研究了地质痕量金石墨炉检测痕量金的实验过程中吸液量的确定。文中以部分数据的对比分析了吸样量对其灵敏度的影响。对比结果表明:使用适量的吸样量进行实验,可在一定程度上提高样品检验的精确度,灵敏度。     

How Different Characterization Techniques Elucidate the Nature of the Gold Species in a Polycrystalline Au/TiO2 Catalyst

TiO₂‐supported gold species were prepared via the deposition‐precipitation route, with conservation of the initial speciation by freeze‐drying. The structural and electronic properties of the Au species were investigated by X‐ray absorption spectroscopy, electron microscopy, and IR spectroscopy of adsorbed CO in four states. Exclusively Au^III was deposited on the TiO₂ surface in patches ranging from isolated Au ions to three‐dimensional clusters. This paper illustrates in detail the unique contributions of all characterization techniques to this structural model.     

氢化物原子荧光光谱法测定海洋沉积物中砷和汞

本文研究了海洋沉积物样品前处理方法同时具有提取砷、汞以及仪器操作条件,载流酸度,还原剂对原子荧光强度的影响。本方法具有操作简单、快速、灵敏度高等优点,检出限砷为0.30μg/L,汞为0.05μg/L,相对标准偏差分别为1.5%~9.7%,1.2%~9.6%,回收率为92%~109%。     

历史时期泥炭吸附重金属铅的国外研究进展

重金属铅(Pb)的污染在现今工业时代日益严重。研究历史时期的Pb污染,对于了解Pb的现代过程具有重要意义。泥炭沼泽是记录地质历史时期Pb沉降的良好载体,尤其是贫营养泥炭沼泽,其中Pb的移动很弱,它记录的大气Pb沉降的指示作用更为准确。富营养泥炭在水-沉积物相互作用对Pb的影响较小的情况下,也可以有效地指示Pb的含量变化。通过贫营养泥炭记录的大气Pb沉降揭示欧洲Pb污染,已经有5000余年的历史。罗马时代、近代出现的Pb污染峰值,分别与罗马时期大规模采矿、近代燃烧含Pb汽油密切相关。未来有关Pb污染史的研究趋势将向定量化的方向发展,并采用实验模拟、数理统计分析等方法,从宏观和微观等多角度进行历史时期Pb污染的研究。     

Quantifying spectral changes experienced by plasmonic nanoparticles in a cellular environment to inform biomedical nanoparticle design

Metal nanoparticles (NPs) scatter and absorb light in precise, designable ways, making them agile candidates for a variety of biomedical applications. When NPs are introduced to a physiological environment and interact with cells, their physicochemical properties can change as proteins adsorb on their surface and they agglomerate within intracellular endosomal vesicles. Since the plasmonic properties of metal NPs are dependent on their geometry and local environment, these physicochemical changes may alter the NPs'' plasmonic properties, on which applications such as plasmonic photothermal therapy and photonic gene circuits are based. Here we systematically study and quantify how metal NPs'' optical spectra change upon introduction to a cellular environment in which NPs agglomerate within endosomal vesicles. Using darkfield hyperspectral imaging, we measure changes in the peak wavelength, broadening, and distribution of 100-nm spherical gold NPs'' optical spectra following introduction to human breast adenocarcinoma Sk-Br-3 cells as a function of NP exposure dose and time. On a cellular level, spectra shift up to 78.6 ± 23.5 nm after 24 h of NP exposure. Importantly, spectra broaden with time, achieving a spectral width of 105.9 ± 11.7 nm at 95% of the spectrum''s maximum intensity after 24 h. On an individual intracellular NP cluster (NPC) level, spectra also show significant shifting, broadening, and heterogeneity after 24 h. Cellular transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electromagnetic simulations of NPCs support the trends in spectral changes we measured. These quantitative data can help guide the design of metal NPs introduced to cellular environments in plasmonic NP-mediated biomedical technologies.     

倾斜可液化场地中矩形闭合型地下连续墙桥梁基础动力特性研究

矩形闭合型地下连续墙作为一种新型桥梁基础,在倾斜可液化场地中的动力响应特性还不清楚。基于离心机振动台试验结果,研究在倾斜可液化场地中的不同地震动工况下,矩形闭合型地下连续墙桥梁基础抵抗土体液化的性能及其位移(沉降、转角和水平位移)特征。通过对比在三种地震动(小震峰值为0.05g、中震峰值为0.13g、大震峰值为0.50g)作用下,远场土体与墙内土芯的动力响应特征,证实了矩形闭合型地下连续墙基础的抗液化性能。综合分析在3种地震动工况下,矩形闭合型地下连续墙基础的位移特征,讨论了其在倾斜可液化场地中作为桥梁基础的优劣性;分析发现在中震工况下,在可液化场地中矩形闭合型地下连续墙基础作为桥梁基础的性能最为显著。此外,通过对比有、无承台的两组矩形闭合型地下连续墙基础的位移特征,分析了矩形闭合型地下连续墙基础顶部承台的作用。     

内蒙古官地冰长石—绢云母型银金矿床地质特征及找矿标志

官地银金矿床位于华北地台北缘早古生代造山带内,为一冰长石—绢云母型(低硫型)浅成低温热液矿床。矿床的形成和分布严格受火山机构及与其有关的北西向断裂构造控制,矿体赋存于闪长岩、闪长玢岩、流纹斑岩和隐爆角砾岩内,多呈脉状产出。典型蚀变有硅化、绢云母化、黄铁矿化、冰长石化、碳酸盐化、高岭土化、绿泥石化等,并围绕矿体具有一定的蚀变分带。硅化、冰长石化、隐爆角砾岩以及铁锰帽是其重要的找矿标志,为矿区及其外围找矿指明了方向。