Colorimetric sensing, which transduces environmental changes into visible color changes, provides a simple yet powerful detection mechanism that is well-suited to the development of low-cost and low-power sensors. A new approach in colorimetric sensing exploits the structural color of photonic crystals (PCs) to create environmentally-influenced color-changeable materials. PCs are composed of periodic dielectrics or metallo-dielectric nanostructures that affect the propagation of electromagnetic waves (EM) by defining the allowed and forbidden photonic bands. Simultaneously, an amazing variety of naturally occurring biological systems exhibit iridescent color due to the presence of PC structures throughout multi-dimensional space. In particular, some kinds of the structural colors in living organisms can be reversibly changed in reaction to external stimuli. Based on the lessons learned from natural photonic structures, some specific examples of PCs-based colorimetric sensors are presented in detail to demonstrate their unprecedented potential in practical applications, such as the detections of temperature, pH, ionic species, solvents, vapor, humidity, pressure and biomolecules. The combination of the nanofabrication technique, useful design methodologies inspired by biological systems and colorimetric sensing will lead to substantial developments in low-cost, miniaturized and widely deployable optical sensors.

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BackgroundThe grain aphid (Sitobion avenae F.) is a major agricultural pest which causes significant yield losses of wheat in China, Europe and North America annually. Transcriptome profiling of the grain aphid alimentary canal after feeding on wheat plants could provide comprehensive gene expression information involved in feeding, ingestion and digestion. Furthermore, selection of aphid-specific RNAi target genes would be essential for utilizing a plant-mediated RNAi strategy to control aphids via a non-toxic mode of action. However, due to the tiny size of the alimentary canal and lack of genomic information on grain aphid as a whole, selection of the RNAi targets is a challenging task that as far as we are aware, has never been documented previously.ResultsIn this study, we performed de novo transcriptome assembly and gene expression analyses of the alimentary canals of grain aphids before and after feeding on wheat plants using Illumina RNA sequencing. The transcriptome profiling generated 30,427 unigenes with an average length of 664 bp. Furthermore, comparison of the transcriptomes of alimentary canals of pre- and post feeding grain aphids indicated that 5490 unigenes were differentially expressed, among which, diverse genes and/or pathways were identified and annotated. Based on the RPKM values of these unigenes, 16 of them that were significantly up or down-regulated upon feeding were selected for dsRNA artificial feeding assay. Of these, 5 unigenes led to higher mortality and developmental stunting in an artificial feeding assay due to the down-regulation of the target gene expression. Finally, by adding fluorescently labelled dsRNA into the artificial diet, the spread of fluorescence signal in the whole body tissues of grain aphid was observed.ConclusionsComparison of the transcriptome profiles of the alimentary canals of pre- and post-feeding grain aphids on wheat plants provided comprehensive gene expression information that could facilitate our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying feeding, ingestion and digestion. Furthermore, five novel and effective potential RNAi target genes were identified in grain aphid for the first time. This finding would provide a fundamental basis for aphid control in wheat through plant mediated RNAi strategy.

Infrared nonlinear optical (IR-NLO) materials are the key components in solid-state lasers for military and civilian applications. The development of IR-NLO materials remains urgent because the existing commercial materials AgGaS2 (AGS), AgGaSe2, and ZnGeP2 are limited for their own intrinsic shortcomings, for example, the lower laser damage thresholds (LDTs), the non-phase-matchable feature, and the strong two-photon absorption, respectively, exhibited in AgGaSe2 and ZnGeP2 at a conventional laser of 1 μm. Chalcogenides, halides, and iodates are known to be common sources of potential IR-NLO materials with good properties, of which the most in-depth studied is usually constructed by single anions. Recently, mixed-anion inorganic compounds are thought to be promising IR-NLO materials which can optimize comprehensive performances, especially balance the incompatibility between a large NLO coefficient and a high LDT in one material. This review focuses on the syntheses and crystal structures of mixed-anion inorganic IR-NLO materials, as well as the relationships of structure–property. Examples include four kinds of such compounds, i.e., mixed-anion chalcogenides, mixed-anion halides, mixed-anion chalcohalides, and other miscellaneous mixed-anion compounds including adducts, oxychalcogenides, oxyhalides, iodate fluorides, selenite fluorides, and halide borates. This work gives some exploring directions for novel IR-NLO materials, including how to optimize the NLO performances of the existing materials, from the inferred structure–property relationships of the potential mixed-anion inorganic NLO compounds.

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This study investigated l-leucine-conjugated chitosan as a drug delivery vehicle in terms of dispersibility and controlled release from a nanoparticulate dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulation for pulmonary delivery using diltiazem hydrochloride (DH) as the model drug. DH-loaded nanoparticles of chitosan and conjugate were prepared by water-in-oil emulsification followed by glutaraldehyde cross-linking. Nanoparticles were characterized by dynamic light scattering for particle size, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for surface composition, and twin stage impinger for drug dispersibility. The controlled release of DH was studied in phosphate-buffered saline (pH 7.3 ± 0.2, 37 °C) using UV spectrophotometry. The fine particle fractions of conjugated chitosan with and without drug were higher than those of nonconjugated chitosan nanoparticles. The conjugate nanoparticles were superior to those of unmodified chitosan in drug loading, entrapment efficiency, and controlled release profile. The higher dispersibility was attributed to the amphiphilic environment of the l-leucine conjugate and hydrophobic cross-links, and the release profile reflects the greater swelling. The conjugated chitosan nanoparticles could be useful, after appropriate testing for biodegradability and toxicity, as an alternative carrier for lung drug delivery with enhanced aerosolization and prolonged drug release from nanoparticulate DPI formulations.