How contrasting additives mediate nutrient/carbon (C) fate and hydrochar magnetism in sewage sludge co-hydrothermal carbonization remains unclear. We compared a lignocellulosic biomass (sawdust) with alkaline earth metal oxides (MgO, CaO). MgO/CaO raised hydrochar pH from 5.0 (sludge-alone, SC) to 5.8-7.8 and phosphorus (P) partitioning from 89.5% to 90.3%-96.0%, but lowered C and nitrogen (N) distribution (C: 64.5% to 59.6%-62.1%; N: 47.1% to 41.3%-46.1%) and C content (202.8 to 148.7-178.9 mg/g). Sawdust decreased pH to 4.3-4.7, increased C and N distribution (C: 64.5% to 70.5%-83.1%; N: 47.1% to 57.2%-84.9%) and C content (202.8 to 279.7-444.2 mg/g), but reduced P partitioning (89.5% to 60.1%-72.0%). Both additives (MgO/CaO and sawdust, respectively) decreased N and P content (N: 26.3 to 18.4-22.9 and 17.6-24.7; P: 29.4 to 24.6-27.4 and 7.1-18.1 mg/g), increased C/N ratio (4.5 to 4.9-5.8 and 6.7-16.5), and raised potassium (K) distribution (19.5% to 25.9%-37.5% and 21.5%-47.2%). Both reduced available N (3.6 to 1.1-2.4 and 1.5-2.9 mg/g), but increased available P (193.4 to 326.9-587.4 and 212.6-243.0 mg/kg) and available K (284.7 to 294.3-333.3 and 305.0-357.7 mg/kg). Dissolved organic carbon rose with MgO/CaO (17.2 to 21.3-29.6 mg/g) but fell with sawdust (17.2 to 11.6-14.9 mg/g). MgO/CaO increased pH, converting augelite to brushite to enhance P availability, while forming magnetic MgFe2O4. Despite opposite pH effects and distinct pathways (Mg2+/Ca2+ vs. carbon skeleton supply), both additives enriched heterocyclic-/quaternary-N and carboxyl groups, modulating nutrient/C distribution and availability. Thus, additives enable targeted hydrochar design (fertilizer, soil amendment, magnetic adsorbent), with MgO/CaO offering a novel route to magnetic products.

Disorder hyperuniform (DHU) systems possess a hidden long-range order manifested as the complete suppression of normalized large-scale density fluctuations like crystals, which endows them with many unique properties. Here, we demonstrate a new organization mechanism for achieving stable DHU structures in active-particle systems via investigating the self-assembly of robotic spinners with threefold symmetric magnetic binding sites up to a heretofore experimentally unattained system size, i.e., with ∼1,000 robots. The spinners can self-organize into a wide spectrum of actively rotating three-coordinated network structures, among which a set of stable DHU networks robustly emerge. These DHU networks are topological transformations of a honeycomb network by continuously introducing the Stone-Wales defects, which are resulted from the competition between tunable magnetic binding and local twist due to active rotation of the robots. Our results reveal novel mechanisms for emergent DHU states in active systems and achieving novel DHU materials with desirable properties.

A critical prerequisite for translating circulating tumor cells (CTCs) detection technologies into clinical practice is achieving high-efficiency capture and non-destructive release of low-abundance CTCs in blood. In recent years, innovative designs and surface modification of bioinspired topological micro/nanostructured materials have provided efficient solutions to capture and release CTCs. Motivated by pollen morphology and multimodal regulation, this study designed pollen-inspired spiky topological magnetic nanoparticles (IP-GSMNs) based on dual-recognition interface and intelligent-response modulation for high-efficiency capture and non-destructive release of CTCs from peripheral whole blood. The spiky protrusions on the surface of IP-GSMNs structurally match the extended filopodia of CTCs. Furthermore, IP-GSMNs were functionalized via gradient surface modification with intelligent-response materials, antifouling brush layers, and specific targeting molecules. These components collectively promoted multivalent interactions between IP-GSMNs and CTCs. A maximum CTC capture efficiency of 96.36 % ± 0.36 % was achieved while CTCs were released with an efficiency of 90.23 % ± 4.91 %, and viability of the released CTCs reached 99.77 % ± 0.40 %. Meanwhile, an intelligent-response multimodal regulatory platform integrating structural adaptation, interface regulation, molecular recognition, and dynamic dissociation was constructed. This platform achieved CTC capture counts ranging from 4 to 29 across 14 cancer patient blood samples while maintaining viability and integrity of released CTCs during dissociation. Importantly, this CTC capture-release platform established a non-invasive tumor profiling system for early diagnosis, therapeutic efficacy monitoring and personalized treatment, providing both scientific value and clinical significance for the development of precision oncology.

The experiment aimed to investigate the effects of external spraying process and internal encapsulation process on the survival rate of Bacillus subtilis and palatability in dog food. The experiment used the external spraying process (group OF) and the internal encapsulation process (group IF) to add 1.0×1010 CFU/kg Bacillus subtilis to the dog food. The viable bacterial count, physicochemical indexes, and palatability of the dog food were measured after 90 days of storage under the conditions of closed bag at room temperature, open bag at room temperature, closed bag at high temperature, and open bag at high temperature. The results showed that the survival rate of Bacillus subtilis in the group IF was better than that in the group OF throughout the entire storage period. When stored in open bag at high temperature for 90 days, the survival rate of the group IF was 9.16 times that of the group OF. The two processes did not have a significant effect on the pH value of dog food (P>0.05). After 90 days of open bag storage at high temperature, the peroxide value of the group IF was significantly higher than that of the group OF (P<0.05). When stored at high temperature for 30 days, the vomiting toxin content in the group IF was higher than that in the group OF (P>0.05). There was no significant difference in the nutritional composition of the two groups of dog food (P>0.05). In terms of palatability, the average feeding rate of the group IF (56.93%) was significantly higher than that of the group OF (43.07%). The study shows that the internal encapsulation process can significantly increase the survival rate of Bacillus subtilis in dog food and improve its palatability, while the external spraying process performs better in inhibiting oil oxidation.

Based on first-principles calculations and ab initio molecular-dynamics simulations, the polymerization of the unsaturated cis dinitrogen-difluoride (cis-N2F2) molecular compound is investigated. The thermodynamic, dynamical, and thermal stabilities of the nitrogen fluorine (NF) system are investigated at conditions of 0-3000 K and 0-200 GPa. The cis-N2F2 molecule is a suitable precursor to obtain one-dimensional polymerized nitrogen-fluorine (poly-NF) chains at a pressure above 90 GPa and at a temperature around 1900 K. Importantly, these poly-NF chains can be quenched to ambient conditions, and potentially serve as a high-energy-density material. It has been established that when Al is utilized as a reducing agent, poly-NF chains exhibit a gravimetric energy density of 13.55 kJ/g, which exceeds that of cubic gauche nitrogen (cg-N, 9.70 kJ/g). This is attributable to the presence of both polymerized nitrogen and strong oxidizing F atoms.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are a crucial biomarker for early cancer diagnosis and progress of cancer metastasis. However, the extremely rare CTCs with large amounts of background leukocytes seriously restricte the purity of enriched CTCs. Herein, genetically engineered cell membrane‐coated magnetic nanoparticles with following properties are constructed: I) The leukocyte membrane camouflaged nanoparticles, which could significantly reduce nonspecific binding of homologous leukocytes and achieve high‐purity isolation of CTCs, are prepared by simple one‐step extrusion and II) the cellular membrane stably expressing single‐chain variable fragment (scFv) of anti‐epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibody could ensure the recognition of EGFR‐positive CTCs. The binding affinity of the resulting nanoparticles toward extracellular EGFR protein improved more than 100‐fold compared with natural cell membrane‐coated nanoparticles. Furthermore, compared with commercial immunomagnetic nanoparticles, the functional nanoparticles achieved a greater capture efficiency in artificial blood samples and the cell purity increased from 64.8% to 93.5%. Consequently, the authors successfully isolate high pure CTCs from 6 out of 6 cancer patients using engineered cell membrane‐coated nanoparticles. This platform exhibits a promising potential for CTC detection in clinical samples, offering an innovative method for cancer diagnosis and prognosis evaluation.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), which shed from solid tumor tissue into blood circulatory system, have attracted wide attention as a biomarker in the early diagnosis and prognosis of cancer. Given their potential significance in clinics, many platforms have been developed to separate CTCs. However, the high-performance isolation of CTCs remains significant challenges including achieving the sensitivity and specificity necessary due to their extreme rarity and severe biofouling in blood, such as billions of background cells and various proteins. With the advancement of CTCs detection technologies in recent years, the highly efficient and highly specific detection platforms for CTCs have gradually been developed, resulting in improving CTC capture efficiency, purity and sensitivity. In this review, we systematically describe the current strategies with surface modifications by utilizing the antifouling property of polymer, peptide, protein and cell membrane for high-performance enrichment of CTCs. To wrap up, we discuss the substantial challenges facing by current technologies and the potential directions for future research and development.

The clearance of urea poses a formidable challenge, and its excessive accumulation can cause various renal diseases. Urease demonstrates remarkable efficacy in eliminating urea, but cannot be reused. This study aimed to develop a composite vector system comprising microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) immobilized with urease and metal-organic framework (MOF) UiO-66-NH2, denoted as MCC@UiO/U, through the dynamic defect generation strategy. By utilizing competitive coordination, effective immobilization of urease into MCC@UiO was achieved for efficient urea removal. Within 2 h, the urea removal efficiency could reach up to 1500 mg/g, surpassing an 80% clearance rate. Furthermore, an 80% clearance rate can also be attained in peritoneal dialyzate from patients. MCC@UiO/U also exhibits an exceptional bioactivity even after undergoing 5 cycles of perfusion, demonstrating remarkable stability and biocompatibility. This innovative approach and methodology provide a novel avenue and a wide range of immobilized enzyme vectors for clinical urea removal and treatment of kidney diseases, presenting immense potential for future clinical applications.

Background Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are considered as a useful biomarker for early cancer diagnosis, which play a crucial role in metastatic process. Unfortunately, the tumor heterogeneity and extremely rare occurrence rate of CTCs among billions of interfering leukocytes seriously hamper the sensitivity and purity of CTCs isolation.Methods To address these, we firstly used microfluidic chips to detect the broad-spectrum of triple target combination biomarkers in CTCs of 10 types of cancer patients, including EpCAM, EGFR and Her2. Then, we constructed hybrid engineered cell membrane-camouflaged magnetic nanoparticles (HE-CM-MNs) for efficient capture of heterogeneous CTCs with high-purity, which was enabled by inheriting the recognition ability of HE-CM for various CTCs and reducing homologous cell interaction with leukocytes. Compared with single E-CM-MNs, HE-CM-MNs showed a significant improvement in the capture efficiency for a cell mixture, with an efficiency of 90%. And the capture efficiency of HE-CM-MNs toward 12 subpopulations of tumor cells was ranged from 70 to 85%. Furthermore, by using HE-CM-MNs, we successfully isolated heterogeneous CTCs with high purity from clinical blood samples. Finally, the captured CTCs by HE-CM-MNs could be used for gene mutation analysis.Conclusions This study demonstrated the promising potential of HE-CM-MNs for heterogeneous CTCs detection and downstream analysis.

The rapid development of the electronics industry has sparked widespread interest in transparent microwave-absorbing materials. Herein, iodide-based transparent conductive glass was used as a candidate material for transparent microwave absorption. AgI-AgPO3-WO3 glasses with varying AgI content were synthesized employing a quench-melting method. Their structures, optical and electrical properties, microwave absorption performance, and radar cross section (RCS) reduction were thoroughly investigated. The 45AgI-45AgPO(3)-10WO(3) sample exhibited satisfactory microwave absorption, achieving a minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of - 47.18 dB, effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 1.97 GHz, and RCS reduction of 31.46 dB m(2) in the X band. This was attributed to the synergistic effects of dielectric and magnetic losses, and impedance matching and electromagnetic attenuation. It also manifested acceptable performance in the Ku band (RLmin = - 14.58 dB, EAB = 1.38 GHz, and RCS reduction = 13.37 dB m(2)), which was primarily attributed to dielectric loss and electromagnetic attenuation. The conductive glass exhibited an optical transmittance of similar to 80 % in the range of 500-2000 nm. In summary, this study highlights the potential use of transparent conductive glasses as transparent microwave-absorbing media for electromagnetic interference shielding applications in optical windows and domes, and stealth applications in high-performance optical cameras and optical detection device systems.

The application of immunomagnetic nanoparticles (IMNs) enables the isolation of rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood. Precise capture of CTCs with specific tumor phenotypes is achieved by attaching specific ligands to the surface of IMNs. The captured CTCs need to exhibit high bioactivity and proliferation ability for subsequent detection after co-culturing. The process of CTC enrichment using magnetic nanoparticles entails several issues, such as nonspecific capture and biological toxicity. Modifying the size of nanoparticles allows for altering the capture efficiency of nanoparticles for CTCs, as well as their biological activity and proliferation ability. In this study, two different sizes of magnetic nanoparticles are utilized to capture CTCs under diverse conditions. The capture efficiency of magnetic nanoparticles is assessed at different incubation times, along with determining the time needed to achieve and sustain the optimal capture efficiency. Fluorescence staining is employed to detect the bioactivity and cellular integrity of the captured CTCs. Subsequent to co-culturing with nanoparticles, the number of CTCs is measured every 24 h, and the survival rate is determined after 96 h.

Iron-based metal organic framework (MIL-100(Fe) (MIL: Materials of the Institut Lavoisier)) is attractive candi-date for adsorption, separation, and catalysis owing to their high surface area and permanent porosity. However, most of MIL-100(Fe)s only possess micropores and small mesopores, which prevent the transportation of large guest molecules and hinder their applications in macromolecules. In addition, corrosive hydrofluoric acid (HF)-free synthesis of MIL-100(Fe) can contribute to large scale production. Thus, constructing hierarchically porous HF-free MIL-100(Fe)s with large mesopores is highly desirable. In this study, six HF-free MIL-100(Fe)s were prepared in pure H2O and DMF using FeCl3, Fe(NO3)3 and Fe2(SO4)3 under hydrothermal/solvothermal condi-tions. The results indicated that applying FeCl3 as iron source and DMF as solvent can form pure MIL-100(Fe) (i.e., Cl-DMF) with abundant (79 vol%) mesopores (22 nm) and some macropores. The obtained samples were employed in removal of methylene blue (MB), rhodamine B (RhB) and methyl orange (MO) as dyes and chro-mium(VI) as metal ion. The Cl-DMF exhibited more excellent adsorption performance toward the macromolecular dye RhB compared to other five products. Adsorption of RhB onto Cl-DMF was obeyed the pseudo-second order and Freundlich isothermal models. Maximum adsorption capacity of RhB was 207 mg/g for Cl-DMF, which is considerably higher than other MIL-100(Fe)s reported. The adsorption mechanism investigation indicated that it can be related to a combination of physical adsorption and electrostatic reaction.

As a biomarker of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) biopsy, circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are often used in the diagnosis of cancer and treatment guidance. For CTCs detection, immuno-magnetic nanoparticles (IMNs) are one of the most commonly used platforms. However, the nonspecific adsorption of proteins and non-tumor cells weakens the performance of IMNs to capture CTCs. In this work, we developed an IMNs platform which was constructed by a biomimetic protein corona precoating and a polyethylene glycol (PEG) spacer to form the PEG and corona-coated IMNs (IP-CMNs). Due to the dual stealth effect of protein corona precoating and PEG spacer, the nonspecific protein adsorption and cell binding of P-CMNs could reduce by ∼5.5- and ∼5.4-fold, respectively, compared with those of unmodified particles. Furthermore, the PEG spacer could not only reduce the interaction between IP-CMNs and leukocytes but also enhance the capture performance toward tumor cells. By using artificial blood samples, the capture efficiency of IP-CMNs toward rare CTCs was found to be 88.3%, while it was 70.5% by using commercial IMNs. Finally, CTCs were successfully isolated in all HCC patient blood samples (7/7) using IP-CMNs. These results provide insight into the use of the multifunctional nanoplatform as a useful tool for CTCs detection.

The orientation of the enzyme molecular on the interface of the carrier affects its activity. Therefore, it is very important to controllably induce the orientation of the enzyme on the surface to improve the performance of the immobilized enzyme. Magnetic nanoparticles were used to construct microenvironments with the different surface hydrophobicity and charge characteristics by controlled modification, and those particles with various microenvironments were further used to study their interaction with the lipase. The amount and activity of immobilized enzyme on different magnetic nanoparticles surfaces were studied by physical adsorption and covalent binding. Through the enzyme surface and particle surface characteristics analysis, the possible preferred orientation of enzyme and enzyme conformation on different surfaces were inferred, which well explained the effect of surface induction on enzyme loading and activity. The methods of surface microenvironment regulation and the strategy of controllable induction of enzyme orientation adopted in this study are enlightening for the rational design of immobilized enzyme methods.

MIL-100(Fe) with microporous structures is often synthesized under conventional hydrothermal conditions using iron ion and trimesic acid. The effect of H2O/dimethylformamide (DMF) mixtures, with variable H2O volume ratios, on the formation of MIL-100(Fe) was investigated under solvothermal conditions. Pure octahedral MIL-100(Fe) could only be formed in neat H2O or DMF. In most cases, the same reaction in mixed H2O/DMF solvents afforded goethite. When a small volume of H2O was used, morphology resembled coexisting octahedra of MIL-100(Fe) and hexagonal platelets of goethite. A subsequent increase in the H2O content yielded pure hexagonal platelets of goethite and then hexagonal bipyramidal structures of hematite. The surface area and pore volume of MIL-100(Fe) were higher than those of goethite. Dye adsorption tests revealed that 80% of methylene blue (MB) was adsorbed on MIL-100(Fe), synthesized in pure DMF, within 5 min, whereas only approximately 26% was adsorbed on MIL-100(Fe) synthesized in pure H2O. This can be attributed to the nanoscale hierarchically porous structures with macroporosity in the DMF-synthesized MIL-100(Fe) and enhanced fast diffusion and mass transfer of dye, which demonstrates its potential as an adsorbent for dye removal. Thus, this study provides a new option of solvent for the formation of nanoscale hierarchically porous MIL-100(Fe) with improved performance in various practical applications.

Immunomagnetic nanoparticles (IMNs) have been widely developed as a detection tool to isolate rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from whole blood as a potential method for early cancer diagnosis, metastasis examination, and treatment guidance. However, a spontaneous interaction between nanoparticles and proteins results in the formation of a protein corona that reduces the performance of IMNs when they enter body fluids. To address this issue, the protein corona was precoated onto magnetic nanoparticles (C-MNs), and then their surfaces were conjugated with an immuno-antibody. The adsorption of proteins on C-MNs was decreased 6-fold and non-specific cell binding was reduced 5-fold, compared with magnetic nanoparticles (MNs). Furthermore, the immuno-antibody functionalized C-MNs (IC-MNs) maintained highly specific CTC capture performance when exposed to blood plasma. By using artificial spiked blood samples, IC-MNs exhibited 90.2% CTC isolation efficiency, compared with 60.3% by using IMNs. IC-MNs also successfully captured CTCs with high purity in 24 out of 26 female breast cancer patient blood samples. This work demonstrated that a novel preformed protein corona strategy can provide a useful clinically applicable diagnostic tool.

To correct the errors introduced by the approximation in the Min Sum (MS) algorithm with low complexity, we proposed Low-Complexity Corrected Min Sum (LCC-MS) algorithm. Aiming at the implementation bottleneck of the algorithm on the self-developed DSP (Universal Communication Processor, UCP), we optimized the algorithm process and expanded the instruction set of UCP. Therefore, the LDPC decoder based on LCC-MS algorithm is implemented on UCP, and verified on the chip that has been taped out. The verification results of the longest code length and the highest code rate show that the LCC-MS algorithm has a gain of 0.16dB when the bit error rate is 10 -5 compared with the MS algorithm, and the decoder based on LCC-MS algorithm can process up to 149 code blocks in one time slot.

It is a challenging problem that develops a low-cost, efficient and sustainable technology in order to remove heavy metals and organic contaminants in the practical wastewater. Herein, a novel recyclable Fe3O4/BiVO4/CuS (FBCu) heterojunction photocatalyst was facilely fabricated by a method, coating CuS nanoparticles on the surface of Fe3O4 and BiVO4 simultaneously. FBCu composite not only has the ability to degrade Cr(VI) or methylene blue (MB) alone under visible light irradiation, but also exhibits higher photocatalytic ability in simultaneously removing Cr(VI) and MB mixed pollutants. The superior photocatalytic performance of FBCu is related to the formation of p-n heterojunction, which extends the spectral response and facilitates the efficiency of charge carriers separation and utilization. Moreover, FBCu exhibits satisfactory properties of reusability and stability after five cycling experiments in the Cr(VI)-MB coexistence system. Furthermore, the detailed mechanism for simultaneous removal of mixed pollutants was proposed and verified by DRS results, photoelectrochemical analysis, scavenger experiments and electron spin resonance determination. This work provides a recyclable photocatalyst with eco-friendliness and multifunctional applications in water pollution. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The changes in the transport behavior of a microswimmer before and after cargo loading are crucial to understanding and control of the motion of a biohybrid microbot. In this work, we show the change in swimming behavior of biflagellated microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii picking up a 4.5 μm polystyrene microbead upon collision. The microswimmer changed from linear forward motion into helical motion upon the attachment of the cargo and swam with a decreased swimming velocity. We revealed the helical motion of the microswimmer upon cargo loading due to suppression of flagella by image analysis of magnified time-lapse images of C. reinhardtii with one microbead attached at the anterior end (between the flagella). Furthered suppression on the flagellum imposed by the loading of the second cargo has led to increased oscillation per displacement traveled and decreased swimming velocity. Moreover, the microswimmer with a microbead attached at the posterior end swam with swimming velocity close to free swimming microalgae and did not exhibit helical swimming behavior. The experimental results and analysis showed that the loading location of the cargo has a great influence over the swimming behavior of the microswimmer. Furthermore, the work balance calculation and mathematical analysis based on Lighthill's model are well consistent with our experimental findings.