In this article, we presented a general protocol to prepare biomolecule-immobilized mussel-inspired polydopamine (PDA) coatings to improve the blood compatibility of broad ranges of material surfaces. It needs only a simple immersion of substrates in dopamine solution at alkaline pH to form mussel-inspired PDA coating, and then immersing the PDA coated substrates into biomolecule solution to conjugate biomolecules. XPS, water contact angle analysis, and protein assay confirmed that biomolecules could be successfully coated on several material surfaces, including nylon, cellulose, and polyethersulfone membrane surfaces. For the protein fouling resistance, the bovine serum albumin (BSA) modified surfaces were more effective than the amino acid modified surfaces. And the platelet adhesion on the BSA-modified material surfaces was obviously depressed. These results indicated that the blood compatibility of the surfaces was improved by the biomacromolecule-immobilized mussel-inspired coating which might be considered as a universal coating to modify a wide variety of materials.

Blending multidonor or multiacceptor organic materials as ternary devices has been recognized as an efficient and potential method to improve the power conversion efficiency of bulk heterojunction devices or single‐junction components in tandem design. In this work, a highly crystalline molecule, DRCN5T, is involved into a PTB7‐Th:PC 70 BM system to fabricate large‐area organic solar cells (OSCs) whose blend film thickness is up to 270 nm, achieving an impressive performance of 11.1%. The significant improvement of OSCs after adding DRCN5T is due to the formation of an interconnected fibrous network with decreased π–π stacking and enhanced domain purity, in addition to the optimized vertical distribution of PTB7‐Th and PC 70 BM, producing more effective charge separation, transport, and collection. The optimized morphology and performance are actually determined by the miscibility in different components, which can be quantitatively described by the Flory–Huggins interaction parameter of −0.80 and 2.94 in DRCN5T:PTB7‐Th and DRCN5T:PC 70 BM blends, respectively. The findings in this work can potentially guide the selection of an appropriate third additive for high‐performance OSCs for the sake of large‐area printing and roll‐to‐roll fabrication from the view of miscibility.

The present paper describes protective effects of supplemental selenium in mice infected with influenza virus. The effects of supplemental selenium on serum selenium levels, mortality, lung virus titers, and cytokine titers were investigated in mice inoculated intranasally with suspensions of influenza virus. Whereas the mortality of the virus-infected Se-deficient mice was 75%, along with a marked reduction in body weight, lower levels of TNF-α and IFN-γ and lower serum selenium concentrations, the mortality of mice maintained on feed containing 0.5 mg Se/kg in the form of sodium selenite was 25%.There were no significantly differences, however, in viral titer between the Se-adequate and the selenium-supplemented groups. The data indicate that selenium supplementation may provide a feasible approach to improving the immune response to viral infections, such as lethal influenza infection.

No abstract

How the interaction between a third component and a donor/acceptor affects the crystallization and phase separation of the active layer remains to be explored from the perspective of miscibility. To demonstrate the miscibility matching in nonfullerene-based ternary organic solar cells, the poly­[(4,4′-bis­(2-butyloctoxycarbonyl-[2,2′-bithiophene]-5,5-diyl)-alt-(2,2′-bithiophene-5,5′-diyl)] (PDCBT) and poly­(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), showing similar chemical structures despite their dissimilar side chains, were selected as third components to incorporate into the poly­[(2,6-(4,8-bis­(5-(2-ethylhexyl)­thiophen-2-yl)-benzo­[1,2-b:4,5-b′]­dithiophene))-alt-(5,5-(1′,3′-di-2-thienyl-5′,7′-bis­(2-ethylhexyl)­benzo­[1′,2′-c:4′,5′-c′]­dithiophene-4,8-dione))]:3,9-bis­(2-methylene-(3-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)-indanone)-5,5,11,11-tetrakis­(4-hexylphenyl)-dithieno­[2,3-d:2′,3′-d′]-s-indaceno­[1,2-b:5,6-b′]­dithiophene (PBDB-T:ITIC) system. On the basis of the melting point depression method, the Flory–Huggins interaction parameters for PDCBT:PBDB-T(1:9) and P3HT:PBDB-T(1:9) blends were calculated to be −0.08 and −0.07, respectively, whereas the values are 0.99, 0.66, and 0.41 for PDCBT:ITIC, PBDB-T:ITIC, and P3HT:ITIC blends, respectively. PDCBT and P3HT tend to form bimolecular crystals with PBDB-T, as revealed by grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS). The more evident phase separation induced by poor miscibility between PDCBT and ITIC in addition to bimolecular crystallization between PDCBT and PBDB-T contributes to the obvious enhancement in power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 9.40% to 10.97%. Unfortunately, the miscibility mismatch and the change in charge transport upon the incorporation of P3HT into PBDB-T:ITIC results in the nonuniform P3HT distribution and energy level alignment, leading to a serious reduction in the PCE value. Miscibility matching in the selection of an appropriate third component should be a reasonable way to guide the fabrication of high-performance ternary organic solar cells.

No abstract

The mechanism of how the solvent type influences photovoltaic performance and thermal stability of non-fullerene organic solar cells remains unexplored. In this article, the well-known PTB7-Th was selected as a donor, while F8IC was used as an acceptor. The PTB7-Th:F8IC processed from chloroform (CF) exhibited a superiorly higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.5%, in contrast to the specimen processed from chlorobenzene (CB) of 6.8%. In addition, upon thermal annealing at 160 °C for 120 min, the device processed from CF was more stable than that processed from CB. The incorporation of perylene diimide derivative TBDPDI-C11, serving as the third additive, could also obviously improve the PCE value and thermal stability of PTB7-Th:F8IC processed from CB. According to ultraviolet spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering analyses, the enhanced photovoltaic performance and thermal stability are mainly attributed to formation of PTB7-Th nanofibers and appropriate aggregation of F8IC. The interaction free energy calculated using water and diiodomethane contact angles reveals that PTB7-Th well disperses in CB and tends to aggregate in CF, while F8IC aggregates strongly in CB. The preaggregation matching of the donor and acceptor in solution is essential for the optimization of morphology, efficiency, and thermal stability. The findings in this article could provide useful guidelines to fabricate efficient and thermally stable organic solar cells simply by analyzing the surface energy of components processed from different solvents.

Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD) results in microglial activation, which may participate in the inflammatory cascade accelerating tissue damage. In this study, we sought to characterize the alleviatory role of microRNA-711 (miR-711) encapsulated in microglia-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) in a model of AD. Ultracentrifugation was employed to extract EVs from microglia (BV2 cells), which were identified using Western blot analysis of the EVs marker proteins Alix and CD63. A repetitive mild traumatic brain injury (rmTBI) mouse model was induced by controlled cortical impact. After overexpressing miR-711 or 1,4,5-trisphosphate 3-kinase B (Itpkb) in BV2 cells, we evaluated the inflammation in BV2 cells and the ratio of microglia M2/M1. Further, we injected BV2 cell-secreted EVs with overexpressed miR-711 or Itpkb into rmTBI mice through a tail vein to investigate the inflammation markers in mouse serum and, the M2/M1 phenotype ratio of microglia in brain tissues, and to evaluate neurological deficit and cognitive function. The EVs obtained by ultracentrifugation were verified by the presence of Alix and CD63 expression. Mechanistic studies suggested that miR-711 targeted and inhibited Itpkb, thereby repressing Tau phosphorylation and increasing the ratio of M2/M1. Furthermore, miR-711-containing EVs reduced the score of neurological deficits and improved cognitive function in rmTBI mice. The administration of microgliaderived EVs loaded with miR-711, which mediated the hyperphosphorylation of Tau protein in the Itpkb pathway, effectively alleviated neurodegenerative changes and cognitive dysfunction in AD.