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Plasmonic metal nanoparticles exhibit large dipole moments upon photoexcitation and have the potential to induce electronic transitions in nearby materials, but fast internal relaxation has to date limited the spatial range and efficiency of plasmonic mediated processes. In this work, we use photo-electrochemistry to synthesize hybrid nanoantennas comprised of plasmonic nanoparticles with photoconductive polymer coatings. We demonstrate that the formation of the conductive polymer is selective to the nanoparticles and that polymerization is enhanced by photoexcitation. In situ spectroscopy and simulations support a mechanism in which up to 50% efficiency of nonradiative energy transfer is achieved. These hybrid nanoantennas combine the unmatched light-harvesting properties of a plasmonic antenna with the similarly unmatched device processability of a polymer shell.ConspectusThe structures and spectroscopic properties of molecules and condensed-phase systems are usually experimentally characterized by X-ray, infrared (IR), Raman, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and electronic absorption/emission spectra. Quantum mechanics (QM) calculations are critical in quantitatively understanding the relationship between the structure and physicochemical properties of various chemical systems. However, it is very challenging to apply traditional QM methods to large molecules and condensed-phase systems with large unit cells due to their steep computational scaling with the system size. To overcome this difficulty, theoretical chemists have developed various linear (or low) scaling QM methods, among which energy-based fragmentation methods have achieved great success for large molecules or clusters. One of the most popular energy-based fragmentation methods is the generalized energy-based fragmentation (GEBF) approach developed by us.In this approach, the ground-state energy of a llations on molecular crystals and liquids to be feasible on ordinary workstations. The PBC-GEBF approach has been applied to predict the crystal structures, lattice energies, and spectroscopic properties of some typical molecular crystals and solutions. Selleck Crenolanib By combining the GEBF method and machine learning (ML) method, a GEBF-ML force field has been developed for long normal alkanes, and the IR spectra of long alkanes can be obtained from the GEBF-ML molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The GEBF and its periodic variant are expected to play increasingly important roles in investigating real-life chemical systems of broad interests at the ab initio levels.Rapid detection of the handiness of chiral molecules is an important topic for pharmaceutical industries because chiral drugs with opposing handiness sometimes exhibit unwanted side effects. In this research, a rapid optical method is proposed to determine the handiness of the chiral drug “Thalidomide”. The platform is a large array of three-dimensional (3D) twisted metamaterials fabricated with a novel method by combining nanospherical-lens lithography (NLL) and hole-mask lithography (HML). The fabrication is high-throughput and the twisted metamaterials cover a large area. Strong circular dichroism (CD) response is observed in the near-infrared (NIR) region, which enables the chiral detection to be performed by a low-cost and portable spectroscope system. The proposed nanofabrication method significantly improves the capabilities of NLL and HML, which can be quickly adapted to fabricate various periodic 3D metamaterials. In addition, the results of this research pave the road for the rapid penetration of nanophotonics into the pharmaceutical industries.Environmental and individual risk factors make leishmaniasis an important public health problem. Presently, there are several medicines existing for the cure of leishmaniasis, but a major problem associated with them is their adverse effects. The affinity to the fucose receptor increases the phagocytosis of ligand-bound carriers and simultaneously targets the delivery of the antileishmanial agent. Paromomycin sulphate-bearing nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) were formulated by a double emulsion solvent evaporation technique, and then chemistry of ring opening trailed by the reaction of fucose’s aldehyde groups was analyzed for conjugation. The NLCs and conjugated-NLCs were examined in terms of average size, entrapment efficiency of drugs, polydispersity index, zeta potential, and in vitro drug release. Hemolytic toxicity was measured on whole human blood, and percent hemolysis by drug-loaded fucosylated-NLCs is reduced from 21.09 ± 1.5% to 5.81 ± 0.9 compared to the plain drug. Macrophage uptake of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-loaded plain NLCs and fucosylated-NLCs showed that mean FITC measured intensity increases in macrophage cell lines. MTT cytotoxicity assay ensured that NLCs could be beneficial as a biocompatible drug carrier for biomedical and pharmaceutical use. BALB/c mice were used for in vivo studies. Qualitative uptake of fucosylated-NLCs was observed by fluorescence microscopy, and the access of fucosylated-NLCs to the liver was revealed. Similar results were obtained by biodistribution studies. Therefore, fucose-conjugated nanoparticulate carriers can be designed to target macrophages with antileishmanial agents against the Leishmania parasite.

A cross-sectional study.

To translate and cross-culturally adapt Copenhagen Neck Function Disability Scale into a Simplified Chinese version (CNFDS-C), and evaluate the reliability and validity of CNFDS-C in patients with non-specific chronic neck pain.

The CNFDS is a reliable and valid evaluation instrument for chronic neck pain. However, Simplified Chinese version of CNFDS hasn’t been validated.

A total of 150 participants were included in this study. Internal consistency was estimated according to Cronbach’s alpha. Test-retest reliability was assessed by Intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Construct validity was analyzed by correlations between CNFDS-C and the Neck Disability Index (NDI), Visual analogue scale (VAS) as well as the short form (36) health survey (SF-36).

The original version of the CNFDS was cross-culturally adapted and translated into Simplified Chinese. CNFDS-C was indicated to have excellent reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.810, ICC = 0.927). Moderate to substantial correlations between CNFDS-C and NDI (r = 0.