The current study examined the effects of honey solution and water access on feeding behavior and survival of starving solenopsis mealybugs, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae). The electrical penetration graph technique and an artificial membrane system were used to check whether P. solenopsis could imbibe free water or other liquid, such as the honey solution used here, in its natural environment. The recorded electrical penetration graph waveforms revealed that P. solenopsis could continuously imbibe water-honey solution for several hours, which indicated that honey solution and water acquisition could possibly occur when P. solenopsis had access to such liquids in its natural environment. Waveforms of water-honey solution feeding alternated between two distinct feeding phases in a regular pattern, which was assumed to reflect inherent habits of feeding attempts. The effects of honey solution and water acquisition on survival of P. solenopsis was also examined. Comparison between P. solenopsis in different treatments (starved, water feeding, honey solution feeding, and cotton plant feeding) suggested that 1) P. solenopsis could accept but did not favor feeding on water or the honey solution, and 2) this feeding could prolong its survival, but had no effect on body size.

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Coating of h-BN onto carbon nanotubes induces polarization at interfaces, and charges become localized at N and C atoms. Field emission of coated tubes is found to be highly stable, and current density fluctuates within 4%. Study further reveals that the electric field established between coatings and tubes facilitates charge transfer across interfaces and electrons are emitted through occupied and unoccupied bands of N and B atoms.

Bamboo cellulose nanocrystals (BCNC) were manufactured via a mechanochemical approach with the dissolving action of phosphoric acid on cellulose. The effects of phosphoric acid concentration, reaction time, reaction temperature, and ultrasonication time on the yield of BCNC were investigated. Micromorphology and microstructure of BCNC were studied using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Results showed that BCNC were short rod-like particles with 100-200 nm in length and 15-30 nm in width, forming an interconnected network structure. X-ray diffraction results indicated that the crystalline structure of BCNC transformed from cellulose I to cellulose II, compared to cellulose pulp, with the crystallinity index declining from 66.44 to 59.62 %. The thermal properties of BCNC were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis and revealed that BCNC exhibited lower thermal stability compared to cellulose pulp. This research work provides a low-cost approach and mild operating conditions to manufacturing BCNC.

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Systemic injection of therapeutic antibodies may cause serious adverse effects due to on-target toxicity to the antigens expressed in normal tissues. To improve the targeting selectivity to the region of disease sites, we developed protease-activated pro-antibodies by masking the binding sites of antibodies with inhibitory domains that can be removed by proteases that are highly expressed at the disease sites. The latency-associated peptide (LAP), C2b or CBa of complement factor 2/B were linked, through a substrate peptide of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), to an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibody and an anti-tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) antibody. Results showed that all the inhibitory domains could be removed by MMP-2 to restore the binding activities of the antibodies. LAP substantially reduced (53.8%) the binding activity of the anti-EGFR antibody on EGFR-expressing cells, whereas C2b and CBa were ineffective (21% and 9.3% reduction, respectively). Similarly, LAP also blocked 53.9% of the binding activity of the anti-TNF-α antibody. Finally, molecular dynamic simulation showed that the masking efficiency of LAP, C2b and CBa was 33.7%, 10.3% and −5.4%, respectively, over the binding sites of the antibodies. This strategy may aid in designing new protease-activated pro-antibodies that attain high therapeutic potency yet reduced systemic on-target toxicity.

Existing three-dimensional (3D) culture techniques are limited by trade-offs between throughput, capacity for high-resolution imaging in living state, and geometric control. Here, we introduce a modular microscale hanging drop culture where simple design elements allow high replicates for drug screening, direct on-chip real-time or high-resolution confocal microscopy, and geometric control in 3D. Thousands of spheroids can be formed on our microchip in a single step and without any selective pressure from specific matrices. Microchip cultures from human LN229 glioblastoma and patient-derived mouse xenograft cells retained genomic alterations of originating tumors based on mate pair sequencing. We measured response to drugs over time with real-time microscopy on-chip. Last, by engineering droplets to form predetermined geometric shapes, we were able to manipulate the geometry of cultured cell masses. These outcomes can enable broad applications in advancing personalized medicine for cancer and drug discovery, tissue engineering, and stem cell research.