Bacterial infection can cause chronic nonhealing wounds, which may be a great threat to public health. It is highly desirable to develop an injectable wound dressing hydrogel with multifunctions including self‐healing, remodeling, antibacterial, radical scavenging ability, and excellent photothermal properties to promote the regeneration of damaged tissues in clinical practice. In this work, dopamine‐modified gelatin (Gel‐DA) is employed for the first time as a biotemplate for enhancing the biomineralization ability of gelatin to synthesize dopamine‐modified gelatin@Ag nanoparticles (Gel‐DA@Ag NPs). Further, the prepared Gel‐DA@Ag NPs with antioxidant activity and near‐infrared (NIR) laser irradiation synergistic antibacterial behavior are fixed in the guar gum based hydrogels through the formation of borate/didiol bonds to possess remolding, injectable, and self‐healing performance. In addition, the multifunctional hydrogels can completely cover the irregular wound shape to prevent secondary injury. More importantly, these hydrogel platforms under NIR can significantly accelerate wound healing with more skin appendages like hair follicles and blood vessels appearing. Therefore, it is expected that these hydrogels can serve as competitive multifunctional dressings in biomedical field, including bacteria‐derived wound infection and other tissue repair related to reactive oxygen species overexpression.

Synergistic therapeutic strategies for bacterial infection have attracted extensive attentions owing to their enhanced therapeutic effects and less adverse effects compared with monotherapy. Herein, we report a novel synergistic antibacterial platform that integrates the nanocatalytic antibacterial therapy and photothermal therapy (PTT) by hemoglobin-functionalized copper ferrite nanoparticles (Hb-CFNPs). In the presence of a low concentration of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), the excellent Fenton and Fenton-like reaction activity of Hb-CFNPs can effectively catalyze the decomposition of H2O2 to produce hydroxyl radicals (·OH), rendering an increase in the permeability of the bacterial cell membrane and the sensitivity to heat. With the assistance of NIR irradiation, hyperthermia generated by Hb-CFNPs can induce the death of the damaged bacteria. Additionally, owing to the outstanding magnetic property of Hb-CFNPs, it can improve the photothermal efficiency by about 20 times via magnetic enrichment, which facilitates to realize excellent bactericidal efficacy at a very low experimental dose (20 μg/mL). In vitro antibacterial experiment shows that this synergistic antibacterial strategy has a broad-spectrum antibacterial property against Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli, 100%) and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus, 96.4%). More importantly, in vivo S. aureus-infected abscess treatment studies indicate that Hb-CFNPs can serve as an antibacterial candidate with negligible toxicity to realize synergistic treatment of bacterial infections through catalytic and photothermal effects. Accordingly, this study proposes a novel, high-efficiency, and multifunctional therapeutic system for the treatment of bacterial infection, which will open up a new avenue for the design of synergistic antibacterial systems in the future.

BackgroundBlastocystis is one of the most common intestinal parasites in humans and animals worldwide. At least 17 subtypes have been identified in mammals and birds. In China, although some studies have reported the occurrence of Blastocystis in humans and animals, our understanding of the role of animals in the transmission of human blastocystosis is only superficial due to a paucity of available molecular data. The aim of the present study was to understand infection rates of Blastocystis and the distribution and genetic diversity of subtypes in various mammal and bird species in northeastern China, as well as to assess the zoonotic potential of Blastocystis isolates.MethodsA total of 1265 fresh fecal specimens (1080 from ten mammal species and 185 from eight bird species) were collected in Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin provinces of China. Each specimen was examined for the presence of Blastocystis by PCR amplification and sequence analysis of the partial SSU rRNA gene.ResultsFifty-four specimens (4.3%) were positive for Blastocystis. Birds (7.0%) had a higher infection rate of Blastocystis than mammals (3.8%). Blastocystis was found in seven mammal species, reindeer (6.7%), sika deer (14.6%), racoon dogs (7.5%), Arctic foxes (1.9%), dogs (2.9%), rats (3.7%) and rabbits (3.3%), as well as three bird species, pigeons (2.1%), chickens (13.0%) and red crowned cranes (14.0%). Eight subtypes were identified including ST1 (n = 5), ST3 (n = 3), ST4 (n = 13), ST6 (n = 8), ST7 (n = 6), ST10 (n = 13), ST13 (n = 4) and ST14 (n = 2). 64.8% (35/54) of Blastocystis isolates belonged to potentially zoonotic subtypes.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first report of Blastocystis in reindeer (ST10 and ST13), rabbits (ST4), racoon dogs (ST3) and Arctic foxes (ST1, ST4 and ST7). The findings of potentially zoonotic subtypes suggest that the animals infected with Blastocystis might pose a threat to human health. These data will improve our understanding of the host range and genetic diversity of Blastocystis, and also help develop efficient control strategies to intervene with and prevent the occurrence of human blastocystosis in the investigated areas.

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On account of the excessive residues and serious detriments, it is imminent to develop an efficient method to determine tetracyclines (TCs) for protecting human health. In this work, a novel ratiometric fluorescence sensor was constructed for TCs based on a powerful boron nitride quantum dot and europium ion (BNQD-Eu 3+ ) system. The blue-emitting BNQDs were synthesized via a facile hydrothermal route using boric acid and urea as precursors. When TCs were presented in the hybrid probe of BNQDs and Eu 3+ , blue fluorescence of BNQDs was quenched and red fluorescence of Eu 3+ was enhanced, which can be attributed to the inner filter effect, photo-induced electron transfer, as well as the antenna effect. Besides, it was confirmed that the proposed sensor possessed good detection limits of 0.019, 0.104, and 0.028 μM for tetracycline (TET), oxytetracycline, and doxycycline, respectively. Additionally, the results of BNQD-Eu 3+ -based sensing of TET in milk and beef samples showed an insignificant difference from those of liquid chromatography−mass spectrometry. Moreover, the BNQD-Eu 3+ -based test paper was successfully used in the easy and visual detection of TCs by the naked eyes, indicating the practical applicability of the sensor.

As a special heavy metal ion, copper ions (Cu2+) play an indispensable role in the fields of environmental protection and safety. Their excessive intake not only easily leads to diseases but also affects human health. Therefore, it is particularly important to construct a facile, effective, and highly selective Cu2+ probe. Herein, a novel Zr–tetraphenylporphyrin tetrasulfonic acid hydrate (TPPS) metal–organic framework (ZTM) was fabricated using TPPS as the ligand and exhibited strong red fluorescence with a high quantum yield of 12.22%. In addition, we designed a ratiometric fluorescent probe by introducing green fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC), which was not subject to environmental interference and had high accuracy. When exposed to different amounts of Cu2+, the fluorescence emission at 667 nm from ZTMs is remarkably quenched, while that at 515 nm from FITC is enhanced, accompanied by a change in the solutions’ fluorescence color from red to green under a UV lamp. Besides, the ZTMs solutions display an excellent ratiometric colorimetric response for Cu2+ and produce an obvious color change (from green to colorless) that is visible to the naked eye. The fabricated ZTMs@FITC fluorescent probe exhibits distinguished performance for Cu2+ detection with linear ranges of 0.1 to 5 μM and 5 to 50 μM, as well as a low detection limit of 5.61 nM. Moreover, a colorimetric sensor based on ZTMs exhibits a good linear range from 0.1 to 20 μM for Cu2+ with the detection limit of 4.96 nM. Furthermore, the dual-signal ratiometric sensor has significant specificity for Cu2+ and is successfully applied for monitoring Cu2+ in water samples, which proves its practical application value in the environment and biological systems.

In this work, a novel zirconium-based metal–organic framework (MOF) composite material, UiO-(OH)2@RhB, has been solvothermally prepared with zirconyl chloride octahydrate, 2,5-dihydroxyterephthalic acid, and rhodamine B (RhB) for ratiometric fluorescence sensing of Al3+ ions in an aqueous medium. The luminescence measurement results showed that, at the single excitation wavelength of 420 nm, the fluorescence intensity of the ligand at 500 nm increased significantly in the case of Al3+, while that of RhB at 583 nm changed slightly, together with an apparent color change. Under optimal conditions, UiO-(OH)2@RhB exhibited an extraordinary sensitivity (10 nM), good selectivity, and a fast response (2 min) for Al3+. As far as we know, the limit of detection is superior to that of the current reported MOF-based Al3+ fluorescence sensors. The response mechanism suggested that −OH could capture Al3+ in water through coordination and high electrostatic affinity and achieved turn-on ratiometric fluorescence through the excited-state intramolecular proton transfer process and stable fluorescence of RhB. In addition, this sensor was also applied to actual food samples (grain beans), with the recoveries ranging from 89.08% to 113.61%. Such a turn-on ratiometric fluorescence sensor will provide a constructive strategy for the ultrasensitive detection of Al3+ in practical applications.