Nd³⁺/Pr³⁺ co-doped tellurite glasses containing metallic Ag NPs were synthesized by melt-quenching and heat-treating techniques. The amorphous structural nature, fundamental vibrational units and good thermal stability of the prepared tellurite glasses were confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern, Raman spectrum and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) curve, respectively. The precipitated Ag NPs in a glass matrix with an average diameter ∼5 nm were revealed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image, and the radiative property of Nd³⁺ and Pr³⁺ ions was evaluated from the absorption spectrum by Judd-Ofelt theory. Under the excitation of 488 nm Xenon lamp, two broadband near-infrared emissions covering 800-1100 nm and 1250-1650 nm ranges were observed from the fluorescence spectrum. The former originated from the transitions of Pr³⁺:³P_1,0→¹G₄, Pr³⁺:¹D₂→³F_4,3, Nd³⁺:⁴F_3/2→⁴I_11/2 and Nd³⁺:⁴F_3/2→⁴I_9/2, while the latter was contributed by the Pr³⁺:¹G₄→³H₅, Pr³⁺:¹D₂→¹G₄, Pr³⁺:³F₃→³H₄ and Nd³⁺:⁴F_3/2→⁴I_13/2 transitions. With the introduction of Ag NPs, the emission intensity of two broadband near-infrared emissions was further enhanced, in which the peak emission intensity of 1250-1650 nm band was increased by about 56% and the FWHM is up to 250 nm. The obtained results indicate that Nd³⁺/Pr³⁺/Ag NPs co-doped tellurite glass has great potential in realizing ultra-broadband near-infrared emission covering O-, E- and S-bands simultaneously.

Aiming at the complex computation and time-consuming problem during unordered image stitching, we present a method based on the binary tree and the estimated overlapping areas to stitch images without order in this paper. For image registration, the overlapping areas between input images are estimated, so that the extraction and matching of feature points are only performed in these areas. For image stitching, we build a model of the binary tree to stitch each two matched images without sorting. Compared to traditional methods, our method significantly reduces the computational time of matching irrelevant image pairs and improves the efficiency of image registration and stitching. Moreover, the stitching model of the binary tree proposed in this paper further reduces the distortion of the panorama. Experimental results show that the number of extracted feature points in the estimated overlapping area is approximately 0.3∼0.6 times of that in the entire image by using the same method, which greatly reduces the computational time of feature extraction and matching. Compared to the exhaustive image matching method, our approach only takes about 1/3 of the time to find all matching images.

This article advances continuum-type mechanics of porous media having a generally anisotropic, product-like fractal geometry. Relying on a fractal derivative, the approach leads to global balance laws in terms of fractal integrals based on product measures and, then, converting them to integer-order integrals in conventional (Euclidean) space. Proposed is a new line transformation coefficient that is frame invariant, has no bias with respect to the coordinate origin and captures the differences between two fractal media having the same fractal dimension but different density distributions. A continuum localization procedure then allows the development of local balance laws of fractal media: conservation of mass, microinertia, linear momentum, angular momentum and energy, as well as the second law of thermodynamics. The product measure formulation, together with the angular momentum balance, directly leads to a generally asymmetric Cauchy stress and, hence, to a micropolar (rather than classical) mechanics of fractal media. The resulting micropolar model allowing for conservative and/or dissipative effects is applied to diffusion in fractal thermoelastic media. First, a mechanical formulation of Fick's Law in fractal media is given. Then, a complete system of equations governing displacement, microrotation, temperature and concentration fields is developed. As a special case, an isothermal model is worked out. This article is part of the theme issue 'Advanced materials modelling via fractional calculus: challenges and perspectives'.

Steroid estrogens, as typical endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), have raised an increasing concern due to their endocrine disrupting effects on aquatic animals and potential hazards on human health. Batch experiments were conducted to study 17 beta-estradiol (E2) removal and Estradiol Equivalent Quantity (EEQ) elimination by anaerobic granular sludge (AnGS) combined with different valence iron sources. Results showed that E2 was effectively biodegraded and transformed into E1 by AnGS. The addition of different valence iron sources all promoted E2 degradation, reduced E2 Equivalent Quotient (EEQ) concentration, and increased methane production in the batch experiments. The enhancement effect of zero-valent iron (ZVI) on E2 removal and EEQ elimination was stronger than that of Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ in our experiments. The enhancement effect proportion of ZVI corrosion, Fe²⁺, and Fe³⁺ in the process of E2 degradation by AnGS combined with ZVI were 42.26%, 40.21% and 17.53%, respectively.

BACKGROUND Osteoporotic fractures are common in postmenopausal women and associated with complications. Numerous studies have demonstrated that icariin can be used to treat fractures and osteoporosis. Herein, we evaluated the efficacy of gavage-administered icariin to promote fracture healing in postmenopausal osteoporotic fracture (POF) rats. MATERIAL AND METHODS In this study, ovariectomy-induced POF rats were treated with 600 mg/kg icariin. Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) was used to assess fracture healing; besides, serum APK, TRACP-5b, and E₂ expression levels were detected by commercial kits, and the uterine index was calculated. In addition, the expression of osteogenesis-related proteins (Runx 2 and COL1A2) in the callus was measured by western blot, whereas the expression of OPG/RANKL pathway proteins was measured by western blot and immunohistochemical analysis. RESULTS Our data revealed that icariin promoted the expression level of Runx 2 and COL1A2 and suppressed the expression level of serum bone turn over biomarkers via the OPG/RANKL pathway. Besides, a more mature callus was observed in the POF rats receiving icariin than in the untreated POF rats, while serum E₂ and uterine index were unaffected by icariin treatment. CONCLUSIONS These results revealed that icariin could promote fracture healing in ovariectomized rats via OPG/RANKL signaling, and that serum E₂ and uterine index were not affected by icariin treatment.

Designing low-cost, high-efficiency, platinum-free electrocatalysts for hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) in an alkaline electrolyte is of great importance for the development of anion exchange membrane fuel cells. Herein, we report a novel HOR catalyst, RuNi1, in which Ni is atomically dispersed on the Ru nanocrystals. To note, the as-prepared RuNi1 catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic activity and stability for HOR in alkaline media, which is superior to those of Ru-Ni bimetallic nanocrystals, pristine Ru and commercial Pt/C catalysts. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that isolation of Ni atoms on Ru nanocrystals not only optimizes the hydrogen-binding energy but also decreases the free energy of water formation, thus leading to excellent electrocatalytic activity of RuNi1 catalyst. The results show that engineering a catalyst at atomic level is highly effective for rational design of electrocatalysts with high performance.

The barred knifejaw, Oplegnathus fasciatus, is characterized by an X₁X₂Y system with a neo-Y chromosome for males. Here, a chromosome-level genome was assembled to investigate the origin of neo-Y chromosome to the male O. fasciatus. Twenty-three chromosomes corresponding to the male karyotypes were scaffolded to 762-Mb genome with a contig N50 length of 2.18 Mb. A large neo-Y chromosome (Ch9) in the male O. fasciatus genome was also assembled and exhibited high identity to those of the female chromosomes Ch8 and Ch10. Chromosome rearrangements events were detected in the neo-chromosome Ch9. Our results suggested that a centric fusion of acrocentric chromosomes Ch8 and Ch10 should be responsible for the formation of the X₁X₂Y system. The high-quality genome will not only provide a solid foundation for further sex-determining mechanism research in the X₁X₂Y system but also facilitate the artificial breeding aiming to improve the yield and disease resistance for Oplegnathus.

Liver cancer stem cells (CSCs) are involved in tumorigenesis, progression, drug resistance and recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the underlying mechanism for the propagation of liver cancer stem cells was unclear. Herein, we observed miR-206 expression was reduced in both chemoresistant HCCs and recurrent HCCs from patients. A dramatically decrease of miR-206 was detected in cluster of differentiation 133 (CD133) or epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM)-positive liver CSCs and in CSC-enriched hepatoma spheres. Functional studies revealed that a forced expression of miR-206 inhibited liver CSCs expansion by suppressing the dedifferentiation of hepatoma cells and attenuating the self-renewal of liver CSCs. Mechanistically, bioinformatic and luciferase reporter analysis identified epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) as a direct target of miR-206. Moreover, miR-206 downregulated the expression of EGFR in liver CSCs. There was a significant inverse correlation between miR-206 and EGFR mRNA expression in HCC samples. Special EGFR inhibitor Gefitinib abolished the discrepancy in liver CSC proportion and the self-renewal capacity between miR-206 overexpression hepatoma cells and control cells, which further confirmed that EGFR was required in miR-206-inhibited liver CSCs expansion. Conclusion: miR-206 could suppress HCC cell dedifferentiation and liver CSCs expansion by targeting EGFR signaling.

Accumulating evidence demonstrated that alteronol, a novel compound that has a similar structure with paclitaxel, exerts anticancer effects against diversified tumors. However, whether alteronol induces autophagy and the relationship between its anticancer effects and autophagy in melanoma remains elusive. In this study, we show that alteronol induces not only anti-proliferation activity and apoptosis but also autophagy in A375 and UACC62 cells. In addition, alteronol inhibits A375 and UACC62 cells invasion and migration by preventing the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Blocking autophagy enhances alteronol-induced apoptosis and anti-EMT effects in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, we find that alteronol significantly inhibits Akt/mTOR and TGFβ/Smad3 pathways, and co-treatment with autophagy inhibitor 3-MA further potentiate these effects. Our results suggest that alteronol induces cyto-protective autophagy in melanoma cells through inhibition of Akt/mTOR pathway, thus attenuates apoptosis and promotes melanoma cell EMT through TGF-β/Smad3 pathway. Combination with alteronol and autophagy inhibitor 3-MA may be a potential treatment for melanoma as it not only significantly inhibited tumor growth but also suppressed tumor invasion and migration as anti-metastasis agent.

A series of amphiphilic graft copolymers, poly(N-propargyldiethanolamine 4,4'-dithiodibutyionate)-graft-monomethoxy poly(ethylene glycol) (PPD-g-mPEG), were designed via a chemoenzymatic method for pH and reduced glutathione (GSH) dual-responsive drug delivery. The effects of percent grafting and molecular weights of mPEG on critical micelle concentration (CMC) values, size of micelles, drug loading and dual-response were tested. The graft copolymers could easily form homogeneous spherical micelles with appropriate sizes and zeta-potentials. The micelles of PPD-g-mPEG copolymers loaded doxorubicin (DOX) in high efficiency, and showed excellent stability under physiological conditions and synergetic dual-response to weakly acidic pH and GSH. In vitro experiments confirmed that the DOX-loaded micelles could be internalized into cancer cells efficiently and release DOX over time. Furthermore, cell cytotoxicity assays indicated that the graft copolymers were non-cytotoxic to both cancerous and normal cells while the DOX-loaded micelles greatly improved the selectivity ratios between HeLa cells and HL-7702 cells. DOX-loaded micelles also avoided hemolysis of red blood cells (RBCs) effectively compared with commercialized doxorubicin hydrochloride. All these demonstrated the potential of PPD-g-mPEG as a model to create more functional dual-responsive nanocarriers for controlled drug delivery.