A fully implantable, axial flow blood pump has been developed in our hospital. Both in vitro and in vivo tests showed that the hemolysis and thrombus characteristics of the pump were in an acceptable but not in an ideal range. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and in vitro test results showed that the pump worked at off-design point with a low hydraulic efficiency; CFD analysis also showed regions of reverse flow in the diffuser, which not only decreases the pump's hydrodynamic efficiency, but also increases its overall potential for blood trauma and thrombosis. To make a blood pump atraumatic and nonthrombogenic, several methods were taken to reach a final model of the optimized blood pump using CFD, which decreased the rotational speed from 9,000 to 8,000 rpm, and the design flow rate from 11 to 6 L/min. More significantly, the flow separation and recirculation in the diffuser region were eliminated, which mitigated the traumatic and thrombus effect on blood. The acceptable results of the numerical simulations encourage additional in vitro and in vivo studies.

A new colorimetric and fluorescent turn-on probe named 2,4-bis(camphor-3-methylene)phenylacrylate (BCP−Cys) was designed for highly sensitive and specific monitoring of cysteine (Cys). The probe BCP−Cys was strategically constructed by employing a new bis-camphor-derived scaffold (BCP-OH) as the fluorophore and an acrylate group as the recognition site and fluorescence quencher. The acrylate group of BCP−Cys could be exclusively cleaved by Cys and release the fluorophore BCP-OH, thereby causing a significantly enhanced red fluorescence and a naked-eye colorimetric change from colorless to yellow. The probe BCP−Cys exhibited promising sensing performances for Cys including large Stokes shift (184 nm), fast response time (<1 min), wide linear range (0−100 nM), and low detection limit (0.0728 μM). Moreover, the probe BCP−Cys could be utilized as a powerful tool for real-time determination of Cys levels within different food samples, such as onion, cabbage, broccoli, garlic, cauliflower, and bamboo sprout. In addition, this probe was also capable of imaging endogenous and exogenous Cys in living cells.

Precise detection of Hg2+ in an ecological environment and biological system is of great importance. Hence, in this paper, we have constructed a simple fluorescent turn-on probe CP-Hg toward Hg2+ based on natural and renewable camphor. A significantly enhanced green fluorescence was clearly observed only with the participation of Hg2+ due to the Hg2+-mediated deprotection reaction of thioacetal. The probe CP-Hg could also sensitively detect Hg2+ with a detection limit of 19.3 nM and a large Stokes shift of 153 nm in a near-perfect aqueous solution. The reaction mechanism was fully analyzed through 1H NMR (proton nuclear magnetic resonance), ESI-MS (electrospray ionization mass spectrometry), and DFT (density functional theory) calculations. Moreover, the CP-Hg-coated test strips were successfully fabricated for naked-eye detection of Hg2+. Furthermore, the cell imaging experiment manifested that the probe CP-Hg is suitable for labeling intracellular Hg2+.

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The continuous upsurge in soil nitrogen (N) enrichment has had strong impacts on the structure and function of ecosystems. Elucidating how plant ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) mutualists respond to this additional N will facilitate the rapid development and implementation of more broadly applicable management and remediation strategies. For this study, we investigated the responses of EMF communities to increased N, and how other abiotic environmental factors impacted them. Consequently, we conducted an eight-year N addition experiment in a poplar plantation in coastal eastern China that included five N addition levels: 0 (N0), 50 (N1), 100 (N2), 150 (N3), and 300 (N4) kg N ha−1 yr−1. We observed that excessive N inputs reduced the colonization rate and species richness of EMF, and altered its community structure and functional traits. The total carbon content of the humus layer and available phosphorus in the mineral soil were important drivers of EMF abundance, while the content of ammonium in the humus layer and mineral soil determined the variations in the EMF community structure and mycelium foraging type. Our findings indicated that long-term N addition induced soil nutrient imbalances that resulted in a severe decline in EMF abundance and loss of functional diversity in poplar plantations.

A series of novel 2‐isocamphanyl thiosemicarbazone derivatives were synthesized and characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and HRMS. In in vitro anticancer activity, most derivatives showed considerable cytotoxic activity against four cancer cell lines (RPMI‐8226, A549, MDA‐MB‐231, and HepG2 cancer cells) and showed low toxicity against human gastric mucosal cells (GES‐1). Among them, compound 4h exhibited excellent antitumor activity against the tested cancer cells with IC50 values of 0.4, 1.1, 1.6, and 1.7 μM for MDA‐MB‐231, RPMI‐8226, A549, and HepG2, respectively. Further, mechanism studies indicated that compound 4h induced apoptosis in MDA‐MB‐231 cells through enhancing reactive oxygen species levels, inducing mitochondrial membrane potential decrease, and influencing the expression of Bax, Bcl‐2, caspase‐3, and caspase‐9.

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