Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of neurodegenerative disorders, yet no major breakthroughs have been made in AD human trials and the disease remains a paramount challenge and a stigma in medicine. Here we eliminate the toxicity of amyloid beta (Aβ) in a facile, high-throughput zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) model using casein coated-gold nanoparticles (βCas AuNPs). βCas AuNPs in systemic circulation translocate across the blood brain barrier of zebrafish larvae and sequester intracerebral Aβ 42 and its elicited toxicity in a nonspecific, chaperone-like manner. This is evidenced by behavioral pathology, reactive oxygen species and neuronal dysfunction biomarkers assays, complemented by brain histology and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy. We further demonstrate the capacity of βCas AuNPs in recovering the mobility and cognitive function of adult zebrafish exposed to Aβ. This potent, safe-to-use, and easy-to-apply nanomedicine may find broad use for eradicating toxic amyloid proteins implicated in a range of human diseases.

As an important member of group VA–VIA semiconductors, 2D Sb2Se3 has drawn widespread attention thanks to its outstanding optoelectronic properties as compared to the bulk material. However, due to the intrinsic chain‐like crystal structure, the controllable synthesis of ultrathin 2D planar Sb2Se3 nanostructures still remains a huge challenge. Herein, for the first time, the crystal structure limitation is overcome and the successful structural evolution of 2D ultrathin Sb2Se3 flakes (as thin as 1.3 nm), by introducing a sodium‐mediated chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth method, is realized. The formation of 2D planar geometry is mainly attributed to the preferential growth of (010) plane with the lowest formation energy. The thickness‐dependent band structure of 2D Sb2Se3 flakes shows a wide absorption band from UV to NIR region (300–1000 nm), suggesting its potential application in broadband photodetection. Strikingly, the Sb2Se3 flakes–based photodetector demonstrates excellent performance such as broadband response varying from UV to NIR region, high responsivity of 4320 mA W−1, fast response time (τrise ≈ 13.16 ms and τdecay ≈ 9.61 ms), and strong anisotropic ratio of 2.5@ 532 nm, implying promising potential application in optoelectronics.

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Amyloid fibrils generally display chirality, a feature which has rarely been exploited in the development of therapeutics against amyloid diseases. Here we report, for the first time, the use of mesoscopic chiral silica nanoribbons against the in vivo amyloidogenesis of human islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP), the peptide whose aggregation is implicated in type 2 diabetes. Our thioflavin T assay and transmission electron microscopy showed accelerated IAPP fibrillization through elimination of the nucleation phase and shortening of the elongation phase by the nanostructures. Coarse-grained simulations offered complementary molecular insights into the acceleration of amyloid aggregation through their nonspecific binding and directional seeding with the nanostructures. This accelerated IAPP fibrillization translated to reduced toxicity, especially for the right-handed silica nanoribbons, as revealed by cell viability, helium ion microscopy, as well as zebrafish embryo survival, developmental and behavioral assays. This study has implicated the potential of employing chiral nanotechnologies against the mesoscopic enantioselectivity of amyloid proteins and their associated diseases.

2D layered phosphorous compounds (2D LPCs) have led to explosion of research interest in recent years. With the diversity of valence states of phosphorus, 2D LPCs exist in various material types and possess many novel physical and chemical properties. These properties, including widely adjustable range of bandgap, diverse electronic properties covering metal, semimetal, semiconductor and insulator, together with inherent magnetism and ferroelectricity at atomic level, render 2D LPCs greatly promising in the applications of electronics, spintronics, broad‐spectrum optoelectronics, high‐performance catalysts, and energy storage, etc. In this review, the recently research progress of 2D LPCs are presented in detail. First, the 2D LPCs are classified according to their elemental composition and the corresponding crystal structures are introduced, followed by their preparation methods. Then, the novel properties are summarized and the potential applications are discussed in detail. Finally, the conclusion and perspective of the promising 2D LPCs are discussed on the foundation of the latest research progress.

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Truss optimization on shape and sizing with frequency constraints are highly nonlinear dynamic optimization problems. Coupling of two different types of design variables, nodal coordinates and cross-sectional areas, often lead to divergence while multiple frequency constraints often cause difficult dynamic sensitivity analysis. So optimal criteria method and mathematical programming, which need complex dynamic sensitivity and are easily trapped into the local optima, are difficult to solve the problems. To solve the truss shape and sizing optimization simply and effectively, a Niche Hybrid Genetic Algorithm (NHGA) is proposed. The objective of NHGA is to enhance the exploitation capacities while preventing the premature convergence simultaneously based on the new hybrid architecture. Niche techniques and adaptive parameter adjustment are used to maintain population diversity for preventing the premature convergence while simplex search is used to enhance the local search capacities of GAs. The proposed algorithm effectively alleviates premature convergence and improves weak exploitation capacities of GAs. Several typical truss optimization examples are employed to demonstrate the validity, availability and reliability of NHGA for solving shape and sizing optimization of trusses with multiple frequency constraints.

Amyloid diseases are global epidemics with no cure available. Herein, we report a first demonstration of in vivo mitigation of amyloidogenesis using biomimetic nanotechnology. Specifically, the amyloid fragments (b) of β-lactoglobulin, a whey protein, were deposited onto the surfaces of carbon nanotubes (bCNT), which subsequently sequestered human islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) through functional-pathogenic double-protein coronae. Conformational changes at the b-IAPP interface were studied by Fourier transform infrared, circular dichroism, and X-ray scattering spectroscopies. bCNT eliminated the toxic IAPP species from zebrafish embryos, as evidenced by the assays of embryonic development, cell morphology, hatching, and survival as well as suppression of oxidative stress. In addition to IAPP, bCNT also displayed high potency against the toxicity of amyloid-β, thereby demonstrating the broad applicability of this biomimetic nanotechnology and the use of an embryonic zebrafish model for the high-throughput screening of a range of amyloidogenesis and their inhibitors in vivo.