Extracellular deposition of β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide aggregates is a major characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain. Because Aβ peptide aggregates aggravate neuropathy and cognitive impairment for AD patients, numerous efforts have been devoted to suppressing Aβ self-assembly as a prospective AD treatment option. Here, we report Aβ-targeting, red-light-responsive carbon dots (CDs), and their therapeutic functions as a light-powered nanomodulator to spatiotemporally suppress toxic Aβ aggregation both in vitro and in vivo. Our aptamer-functionalized carbon dots (Apta@CDs) showed strong targeting ability toward Aβ42 species. Moreover, red LED irradiation induced Apta@CDs to irreversibly denature Aβ peptides, impeding the formation of β-sheet-rich Aβ aggregates and attenuating Aβ-associated cytotoxicity. Consequently, Apta@CDs-mediated photomodualtion modality achieved effective suppression of Aβ aggregation in vivo, which significantly reduced the Aβ burden at the targeted sites in the brain of 5xFAD mice by ∼40% and ∼25% according to imaging and ELISA analyses, respectively. Our work demonstrates the therapeutic potential of photomodulating CDs for light-driven suppression against Aβ self-assembly and related neurotoxicity.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how linguistic style and message substance influence persuasion in civic crowdfunding marketplaces in which written narrative pitch become a vital communication to attract private contributions to public goods and services. Drawing on the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), the authors operationalize the linguistic style of the narrative pitch as language power and message substance as issue-relevant argument quality. In this paper, the authors examine how characteristics of both style and message are related to the outcome of civic crowdfunded projects. Design/methodology/approach The data on civic crowdfunding projects were retrieved from Spacehive, the platform that dedicated mainly to civic projects ranging from community programs, social-oriented enterprises, to infrastructure or facility development. Each of the narrative samples is analyzed using a computerized text analysis package called the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count to extract the features of the linguistic style and message substance in the narratives. The logistic regression models are estimated to assess the impact of both linguistic style and message substance on crowdfunding decisions. Findings The results show that funding outcomes can be improved with psychological language dimensions (i.e. positive affective and perceptual language). However, extensive use of social language does not help project creators to increase their chance of funding performance; but instead, such language reduces the likelihood of project success. Additionally, message substance or issue-relevant information such as money and risk language influences funding outcome. Originality/value Very few empirical studies investigated the differential effects of language style and message substance on funding performance of crowdfunding campaigns. The authors draw upon the dual process of persuasion as a theoretical base to identify a comprehensive set of linguistic style and message substance and to examine the role of such features in an emerging civic crowdfunding market. This study advances the application of the dual process in ELM by identifying and examining distinct persuasive cues originating from linguistics styles and message contents.

This review provides an overview of recent advances in optical and electrical detection of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers in clinically relevant fluids.

Ion-selective optodes (ISOs), the optical analog of ion-selective electrodes, have played an increasingly important role in chemical and biochemical analysis. Here we extend this technique to ion-selective photoacoustic optodes (ISPAOs) that serve at the same time as fluorescence-based ISOs, and apply it specifically to potassium (K+). Notably, the potassium ion is one of the most abundant cations in biological systems, involved in numerous physiological and pathological processes. Furthermore, it has been recently reported that the presence of abnormal extracellular potassium concentrations in tumors suppresses the immune responses and thus suppresses immunotherapy. However, unfortunately, sensors capable of providing potassium images in vivo are still a future proposition. Here, we prepared an ion-selective potassium nanosensor (NS) aimed at in vivo photoacoustic (PA) chemical imaging of the extracellular environment, while being also capable of fluorescence based intracellular ion-selective imaging. This potassium nanosensor (K+ NS) modulates its optical properties (absorbance and fluorescence) according to the potassium concentration. The K+ NS is capable of measuring potassium, in the range of 1 mM to 100 mM, with high sensitivity and selectivity, by ISPAO based measurements. Also, a near infrared dye surface modified K+ NS allows fluorescence-based potassium sensing in the range of 20 mM to 1 M. The K+ NS serves thus as both PA and fluorescence based nanosensor, with response across the biologically relevant K+ concentrations, from the extracellular 5 mM typical values (through PA imaging) to the intracellular 150 mM typical values (through fluorescence imaging).

Background: Local, state, and federal governments have started exploring the potential of crowdfunding in transforming conventional financing methods used previously to fund public projects and services. While crowdfunding has been applied to improve government financing methods in recent years, little is known about how this new model can be extended and applied in international collaboration among governmentincentivized projects. Methods: In this paper, we explores what roles crowdfunding can play as a financial intermediary to support government-incentivized multinational projects in the context of the One-Belt, One-Road initiative.