An imidazolium-based zwitterionic polymer for antiviral and antibacterial dual functional coatings

An imidazolium-based zwitterionic polymer is reported with dual functions of antivirus and antifouling with broad applicability.

Medieval Interpretation of Phonation Through the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri

The anatomic and medical knowledge of people throughout history is unexpectedly evident in some of the poems and texts written by intellectuals of the time. This article attempts to understand the conception of laryngology in the Middle Ages by analyzing the Divine Comedy, written by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) at the beginning of the 14th century. In the text, Dante mentions the throat several times. He recognizes that the larynx has the dual functions of allowing respiration (dead souls recognize that the poet is alive through movement of his throat when breathing) and speech (souls with their throat cut cannot speak). However, Dante does not seem to know of the existence of vocal cords, thinking that it is the tongue that allows for word formation. In general, Dante’s poem indicates that the anatomy and function of the throat were known during the medieval period, although this knowledge was not precise.

Bioinspired Nanoscale Hierarchical Pillars for Extreme Superhydrophobicity and Wide Angular Transmittance

Hierarchical structures in nature provide unique functions for living organisms that can inspire technology. Nanoscale hierarchical structured surfaces are essential to realize the dual functions of non-wetting and transparency for...

Interaction of a conical carbon scaffold with the thio-substituted model of fluorouracil towards approaching the drug delivery purposes

A representative FeN4-doped conical carbon (C) scaffold was investigated for participating in interactions with the thio-substituted fluorouracil (SFU) anticancer drug by performing density functional theory (DFT) calculations. In this regard, all possible relaxation configurations of SFU at the doped tip of C scaffold were examined, in which three models were obtained including one horizontal relaxation configuration (FC1) and two vertical relaxation configurations (FC2 and FC3). The results indicate the highest stability and strength for FC1 model. Examining formations and strengths of interactions showed two medium strength interactions in each of FC1, FC2, and FC3 models. Moreover, the evaluated electronic molecular orbitals features indicated availability of sensor function for the proposed C scaffold towards the interacting SFU substance. As a consequence, the models were determined to work in dual functions of sensor and carrier towards drug delivery purpose of SFU anticancer drug.

Mechanism of Thermochromic and Self-Repairing of Waterborne Wood Coatings by Synergistic Action of Waterborne Acrylic Microcapsules and Fluorane Microcapsules

The fluorane thermochromic microcapsules and waterborne acrylic resin microcapsules were added into waterborne coatings at the same time to prepare intelligent waterborne coating film with dual functions of color change and self-repairing. The coating film prepared by adding 15.0% fluorane microcapsules and 5.0% waterborne acrylic resin microcapsules to the primer at the same time had better comprehensive properties. At this time, the coating film changed from yellow to colorless. The repair rate of the coating film was 58.4%. When the temperature was lower than 32 °C, waterborne acrylic resin microcapsules can improve the thermochromic performance of the coating film with fluorane microcapsules. Waterborne acrylic resin microcapsules can alleviate the color change of coating film with fluorane microcapsules. The fluorane microcapsules can improve the self-repairing performance of coating film with waterborne acrylic resin microcapsules. The results lay a theoretical and technical foundation for multifunctional coating film.

Profiling of associated proteins reveals dual functions of the phosphatase ABI1 in abscisic acid signaling

Clade A PP2C phosphatases are central components of the ABA-receptor coupled core signaling pathway, and are involved in multiple stress responses and developmental processes. However, the direct targets or partner proteins of A clade PP2Cs that participate in these biological processes are largely unknown. Here, we used a TurboID-based proximity labeling method to identify putative associated proteins of one A clade PP2C phosphatase, ABI1. By combining the results from affinity purification or proximity labeling of biotinylated proteins, we identified more than four hundred putative ABI1-associated proteins, including dozens of known ABI1-intreacting proteins, as well as proteins involved in TOR signaling, phospho-regulation, and other biological processes. We found that RAFs, a group of protein kinases that phosphorylate and activate SnRK2s in ABA and osmotic stress signaling, are direct substrates of ABI1. A conserved serine residue located in the P-loop of the kinase domain, corresponding to Ser619 in RAF3, is a major functional ABI1 target site. ABI1-mediated dephosphorylation on this site strongly promotes the kinase activity of most B2 and B3 RAFs. Thus, ABI1 has dual functions in ABA signaling by dephosphorylating and inhibiting SnRK2 to prevent SnRK2 activation in unstressed conditions, while dephosphorylating B2 and B3 subgroup RAFs to maintain their basal kinase activity. PP2C-mediated dephosphorylation at the conserved serine residue may be a mechanism for RAF activation in both plants and animals, with potential implications for tumorigenesis in humans.