A sound theoretical rationale for the design of a magnetic nanocarrier capable of magnetic capture in vivo after intravenous administration could help elucidate the parameters necessary for in vivo magnetic tumor targeting. In this work, we utilized our long-circulating polymeric magnetic nanocarriers, encapsulating increasing amounts of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) in a biocompatible oil carrier, to study the effects of SPION loading and of applied magnetic field strength on magnetic tumor targeting in CT26 tumor-bearing mice. Under controlled conditions, the in vivo magnetic targeting was quantified and found to be directly proportional to SPION loading and magnetic field strength. Highest SPION loading, however, resulted in a reduced blood circulation time and a plateauing of the magnetic targeting. Mathematical modeling was undertaken to compute the in vivo magnetic, viscoelastic, convective, and diffusive forces acting on the nanocapsules (NCs) in accordance with the Nacev-Shapiro construct, and this was then used to extrapolate to the expected behavior in humans. The model predicted that in the latter case, the NCs and magnetic forces applied here would have been sufficient to achieve successful targeting in humans. Lastly, an in vivo murine tumor growth delay study was performed using docetaxel (DTX)-encapsulated NCs. Magnetic targeting was found to offer enhanced therapeutic efficacy and improve mice survival compared to passive targeting at drug doses of ca. 5-8 mg of DTX/kg. This is, to our knowledge, the first study that truly bridges the gap between preclinical experiments and clinical translation in the field of magnetic drug targeting.

The venom of various Conus species is composed of a rich variety of unique bioactive peptides, commonly referred to as conotoxins (conopeptides). Most conopeptides have specific receptors or ion channels as physiologically relevant targets. In this paper, high-throughput transcriptome sequencing was performed to analyze putative conotoxin transcripts from the venom duct of a vermivorous cone snail species, Conus litteratus native to the South China Sea. A total of 128 putative conotoxins were identified, most of them belonging to 22 known superfamilies, with 43 conotoxins being regarded as belonging to new superfamilies. Notably, the M superfamily was the most abundant in conotoxins among the known superfamilies. A total of 15 known cysteine frameworks were also described. The largest proportion of cysteine frameworks were VI/VII (C-C-CC-C-C), IX (C-C-C-C-C-C) and XIV (C-C-C-C). In addition, five novel cysteine patterns were also discovered. Simple sequence repeat detection results showed that di-nucleotide was the major type of repetition, and the codon usage bias results indicated that the codon usage bias of the conotoxin genes was weak, but the M, O1, O2 superfamilies differed in codon preference. Gene cloning indicated that there was no intron in conotoxins of the B1- or J superfamily, one intron with 1273–1339 bp existed in a mature region of the F superfamily, which is different from the previously reported gene structure of conotoxins from other superfamilies. This study will enhance our understanding of conotoxin diversity, and the new conotoxins discovered in this paper will provide more potential candidates for the development of pharmacological probes and marine peptide drugs.

Abstract— We studied the screening of color phosphor powders on CRT faceplates by photolithography. For photolithography, the phosphor particles should disperse perfectly in the dried PVA‐phosphor screens. The desired pattern sizes and adhesion of the patterned phosphor screens can be calculated with these dried PVA‐phosphor screens. To achieve dry screens with smooth and uniform layers of phosphor particles, phosphor powders should be made with round particles, with the sizes distributed in a narrow range. The phosphor particles perfectly disperse in PVA‐phosphor slurry without the addition of surfactant if an aging process is used. Adding surfactants to the PVA‐phosphor slurry results in the aggregation of phosphor particles in the dried PVA‐phosphor screens, contrary to expectations. Color phosphor screens with a triad pitch of 72 μm have been made with the aged PVA‐phosphor slurry.

We report a facile approach for preparing mesoporous boron-doped TiO 2 materials by combining the sol-gel process with the dehydration of glucose. Specifically a high surface carbon material was formed by dehydration of glucose, then used as template. This material and the TiO 2 dry gel were calcinated to produce porous TiO 2 . The as-synthesized boron-doped TiO 2 was in pure anatase crystallite phase with high surface area. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results showed that boron was incorporated into the anatase TiO 2 lattice to form TiO 2-x B x . The absorption spectra of TiO 2-x B x extended into the visible region to 460 nm. The TiO 2-x B x exhibited much higher photocatalytic activity on phenol degradation than pure TiO 2 . It showed that the phenol degradation byproducts of TiO 2-x B x were different from that of pure TiO 2 . Mechanism of the photocatalytic degradation of phenol at TiO 2-x B x was also proposed.

As the main way of underwater data transmission, acoustic communication is still limited by the low-level signal-to-noise ratio and channel capacity. The orbital angular momentum (OAM) based acoustic communication of acoustic vortex (AV) provides a new dimension to data transmission with an expanded channel capacity. Theoretical analyses and experimental measurements for the OAM communication of AV beams based on single-ring transceiver arrays are studied in air. Coaxial multi-OAM AV beams are generated with multiple topological charges encoded by the binary ASCII codes of various letters. The OAM modes of the AV beams are decoded with limited acoustic pressures detected by the single-ring receiver array around the vortex center based on the orthogonal property. It is proven that the channel capacity of the communication system can be increased effectively by the OAM modes of AVs, which are beneficial to data encryption and transmission without mutual interference of AVs of different orders. The favorable results provide theoretical bases and technical support to data transmission and OAM decoding for the OAM communication of AV beams using simplified single-ring transceiver arrays.