| 1. |
- Sheng, Renwang, et al.
(författare)
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Material stiffness in cooperation with macrophage paracrine signals determines the tenogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells
- 2023
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Ingår i: Advanced Science. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 2198-3844. ; 10:17
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Stiffness is an important physical property of biomaterials that determines stem cell fate. Guiding stem cell differentiation via stiffness modulation has been considered in tissue engineering. However, the mechanism by which material stiffness regulates stem cell differentiation into the tendon lineage remains controversial. Increasing evidence demonstrates that immune cells interact with implanted biomaterials and regulate stem cell behaviors via paracrine signaling; however, the role of this mechanism in tendon differentiation is not clear. In this study, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates with different stiffnesses are developed, and the tenogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) exposed to different stiffnesses and macrophage paracrine signals is investigated. The results reveal that lower stiffnesses facilitates tenogenic differentiation of MSCs, while macrophage paracrine signals at these stiffnesses suppress the differentiation. When exposed to these two stimuli, MSCs still exhibit enhanced tendon differentiation, which is further elucidated by global proteomic analysis. Following subcutaneous implantation in rats for 2 weeks, soft biomaterial induces only low inflammation and promotes tendon-like tissue formation. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that soft, rather than stiff, material has a greater potential to guide tenogenic differentiation of stem cells, which provides comprehensive evidence for optimized bioactive scaffold design in tendon tissue engineering.
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| 2. |
- Bagheri, Niusha, et al.
(författare)
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Change in the emission saturation and kinetics of upconversion nanoparticles under different light irradiations
- 2019
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Ingår i: Optical materials (Amsterdam). - : Elsevier. - 0925-3467 .- 1873-1252. ; 97
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nd3+-sensitized upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) can be excited by both 980 and 808 nm light, which is regarded as a particularly advantageous property of these particles. In this work, we demonstrate that the nanoparticles can exhibit significantly different response when excited at these two excitation wavelengths, showing dependence on the intensity of the excitation light and the way it is distributed in time. Specifically, with 808 nm excitation saturation in the emitted luminescence is more readily reached with increasing excitation intensities than upon 980 nm excitation. This is accompanied by delayed upconversion luminescence (UCL) kinetics and weaker UCL intensities. The different luminescence response at 808 and 980 nm excitation reported in this work is relevant in a manifold of applications using UCNPs as labels and sensors. This could also open new possibilities for multi-wavelength excitable UCNPs for upconversion color display and in laser-scanning microscopy providing selective readouts and sub-sectioning of samples.
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| 3. |
- Bergstrand, Jan, et al.
(författare)
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On the decay time of upconversion luminescence
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nanoscale. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 2040-3364 .- 2040-3372. ; 11:11, s. 4959-4969
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, we systematically investigate the decay characteristics of upconversion luminescence (UCL) under anti-Stokes excitation through numerical simulations based on rate-equation models. We find that a UCL decay profile generally involves contributions from the sensitizer's excited-state lifetime, energy transfer and cross-relaxation processes. It should thus be regarded as the overall temporal response of the whole upconversion system to the excitation function rather than the intrinsic lifetime of the luminescence emitting state. Only under certain conditions, such as when the effective lifetime of the sensitizer's excited state is significantly shorter than that of the UCL emitting state and of the absence of cross-relaxation processes involving the emitting energy level, the UCL decay time approaches the intrinsic lifetime of the emitting state. Subsequently, Stokes excitation is generally preferred in order to accurately quantify the intrinsic lifetime of the emitting state. However, possible cross-relaxation between doped ions at high doping levels can complicate the decay characteristics of the luminescence and even make the Stokes-excitation approach fail. A strong cross-relaxation process can also account for the power dependence of the decay characteristics of UCL.
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| 4. |
- Du, Yaoyao, et al.
(författare)
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Cartilage Oligomeric Matrix Protein Inhibits Vascular Smooth Muscle Calcification by Interacting With Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2.
- 2011
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Ingår i: Circulation Research. - 1524-4571. ; 108, s. 79-917
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Rationale: Vascular calcification is a significant contributor to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We recently reported that cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) is pivotal for maintaining the homeostasis of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Whether COMP affects the process of vascular calcification is unknown. Objective: We aimed to test whether COMP modulates vascular calcification. Methods and Results: VSMC calcification in vitro was induced by calcifying media containing high inorganic phosphate or calcium. In vivo medial vessel calcification was induced in rats by 5/6 nephrectomy with a high-phosphate diet or by periadventitial application of CaCl(2) to the abdominal aorta. COMP protein level was markedly reduced in both calcified VSMCs and arteries. COMP deficiency remarkably exacerbated VSMC calcification, whereas ectopic expression of COMP greatly reduced calcification. Furthermore, COMP knockdown facilitated osteogenic markers expression by VSMCs even in the absence of calcifying media. By contrast, COMP overexpression significantly inhibited high phosphate- or high calcium-induced VSMC osteochondrogenic transition. Induction of osteogenic marker expression by COMP silencing was reversed by a soluble form of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 receptor IA, which suggests a BMP-2-dependent mechanism. Our data revealed that COMP bound directly to BMP-2 through the C terminus, inhibited BMP-2 receptor binding, and blocked BMP-2 osteogenic signaling, indicating COMP inhibits osteochondrogenic transition of VSMCs at least partially through inhibiting BMP-2. Conclusions: Our data strongly suggest that COMP is a novel inhibitor of vascular calcification. The imbalance between the effects of COMP and BMP-2 may provide new insights into the pathophysiology of vascular calcification.
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| 5. |
- Ji, Yanan, et al.
(författare)
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Cascade photon upconversion amplification for selective multispectral narrow-band near-infrared photodetection
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Facing the fact that selective detection of multiple narrow spectral bands in the near-infrared (NIR) region still poses a fundamental challenge, we have, in this work, developed NIR photodetectors (PDs) using photon upconversion nanocrystals (UCNCs) combined with perovskite films. In order to conquer the relatively high pumping threshold of UCNCs, we designed a novel cascade amplification strategy for upconversion luminescence (UCL) through cascading the superlensing effect of dielectric microlens arrays and the plasmonic effect of gold nanorods, which readily leads to a UCL enhancement by more than four orders of magnitude under weak light irradiation. By accommodating multiple optical active lanthanide ions in a core-shell-shell hierarchical architecture, the developed PDs on top can detect three well-separated narrow bands in the NIR region, i.e., 808, 980, and 1540 nm, respectively. Due to the large UCL enhancement, the obtained PDs demonstrate extremely high responsivity of 30.73, 23.15, 12.20 A/W and detectivity of 5.36, 3.45, 1.91x10^11 Jones for the 808, 980, and 1540 nm light detection, respectively, together with short response times in the range of 80-120 ms. Moreover, we demonstrate for the first time that the response to the excitation modulation frequency of a PD can be employed to discriminate the incident light wavelength. We believe that our work provides a novel insight for developing NIR PDs, and that it can spur the development of other applications using upconversion nanotechnology.
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| 6. |
- Labrador-Páez, Lucia, et al.
(författare)
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Excitation Pulse Duration Response of Upconversion Nanoparticles and Its Applications
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1948-7185 .- 1948-7185. ; 13:48, s. 11208-11215
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have rich photophysics exhibiting complex luminescence kinetics. In this work, we thoroughly investigated the luminescence response of UCNPs to excitation pulse durations. Analyzing this response opens new opportunities in optical encoding/decoding and the assignment of transitions to emission peaks and provides advantages in applications of UCNPs, e.g., for better optical sectioning and improved luminescence nanothermometry. Our work shows that monitoring the UCNP luminescence response to excitation pulse durations (while keeping the duty cycle constant) by recording the average luminescence intensity using a low-time resolution detector such as a spectrometer offers a powerful approach for significantly extending the utility of UCNPs.
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| 7. |
- Li, Wei, et al.
(författare)
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Non-lab and semi-lab algorithms for screening undiagnosed diabetes : A cross-sectional study
- 2018
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Ingår i: EBioMedicine. - : ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV. - 2352-3964. ; 35, s. 307-316
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The terrifying undiagnosed rate and high prevalence of diabetes have become a public emergency. A high efficiency and cost-effective early recognition method is urgently needed. We aimed to generate innovative, user-friendly nomograms that can be applied for diabetes screening in different ethnic groups in China using the non-lab or noninvasive semi-lab data. Methods: This multicenter, multi-ethnic, population-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in eight sites in China by enrolling subjects aged 20-70. Sociodemographic and anthropometric characteristics were collected. Blood and urine samples were obtained 2 h following a standard 75 g glucose solution. In the final analysis, 10,794 participants were included and randomized into model development (n - 8096) and model validation (n = 2698) group with a ratio of 3:1. Nomograms were developed by the stepwise binary logistic regression. The nomograms were validated internally by a bootstrap sampling method in the model development set and externally in the model validation set. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to assess the screening performance of the nomograms. Decision curve analysis was applied to calculate the net benefit of the screening model. Results: The overall prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes was 9.8% (1059/10794) according to ADA criteria. The non-lab model revealed that gender, age, body mass index, waist circumference, hypertension, ethnicities, vegetable daily consumption and family history of diabetes were independent risk factors for diabetes. By adding 2 h post meal glycosuria qualitative to the non-lab model, the semi-lab model showed an improved Akaike information criterion (AIC: 4506 to 3580). The AUC of the semi-lab model was statistically larger than the non-lab model (0.868 vs 0.763, P < 0.001). The optimal cutoff probability in semi-lab and non-lab nomograms were 0.088 and 0.098, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity were 76.3% and 81.6%, respectively in semi-lab nomogram, and 72.1% and 673% in non-lab nomogram at the optimal cut off point. The decision curve analysis also revealed a bigger decrease of avoidable OGTT test (52 per 100 subjects) in the semi-lab model compared to the non-lab model (36 per 100 subjects) and the existed New Chinese Diabetes Risk Score (NCDRS, 35 per 100 subjects). Conclusion: The non-lab and semi-lab nomograms appear to be reliable tools for diabetes screening, especially in developing countries. However, the semi-lab model outperformed the non-lab model and NCDRS prediction systems and might be worth being adopted as decision support in diabetes screening in China.
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| 8. |
- Liu, Qingyun, 1993-, et al.
(författare)
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High throughput decoding approach for luminescencekinetics-based optical encoding of lanthanide upconversion nanoparticles
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Lanthanide upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are increasingly explored to develop high-security-level anti-counterfeiting and multiplexing applications, due to the availability of ample encoding dimensions. Among other applications, upconversion luminescence(UCL) kinetics-based optical encoding is particularly attractive as it provides an almost unlimited encoding capacity due to the ease of manipulating the UCL kinetics by chemical engineering. However, current decoding methods limit its applications because of a typically low throughput and high cost of the system. In this Letter, we propose a novel decoding approach for UCL kinetics-based optical encoding, which utilizes a pulsed excitation source with adjustable pulse duration and a low time-resolution and large-area detector. We develop a theoretical fitting model and show how fingerprint time constants of the UCNPs (the encoding identities) can be extracted from the correlation between the averaged UCL intensity and the pulse duration. Our new approach provides a high-throughput and cost-effective solution to decode UCL kinetics.
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| 9. |
- Liu, Qingyun, et al.
(författare)
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Microlens array enhanced upconversion luminescence at low excitation irradiance
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nanoscale. - : ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY. - 2040-3364 .- 2040-3372. ; 11:29, s. 14070-14078
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The dearth of high upconversion luminescence (UCL) intensity at low excitation irradiance hinders the prevalent application of lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) in many fields ranging from optical bioimaging to photovoltaics. In this work, we propose to use microlens arrays (MLAs) as spatial light modulators to manipulate the distribution of excitation light fields in order to increase UCL, taking advantage of its nonlinear response to the excitation irradiance. We show that multicolored UCL from NaYF4:Yb3+,Er3+@NaYF4:Yb3+,Nd3+ and NaYF4:Yb3+,Tm3+@NaYF4:Yb3+,Nd3+ core/shell UCNPs can be increased by more than one order of magnitude under either 980 or 808 nm excitation, by simply placing a polymeric MLA onto the top of these samples. The observed typical green (525/540 nm) and red (654 nm) UCL bands from Er3+ and a blue (450/475 nm) UCL band from Tm3+ exhibit distinct enhancement factors due to their different multi-photon processes. Importantly, our ray tracing simulation reveals that the MLA is able to spatially confine the excitation light (980 and 808 nm) by orders of magnitude, thus amplifying UCL by more than 225-fold (the 450 nm UCL band of Tm3+) at low excitation irradiance. The proposed MLA method has immediate ramifications for the improved performance of all types of UCNP-based devices, such as UCNP-enhanced dye sensitized solar cells demonstrated here.
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| 10. |
- Liu, Qingyun
(författare)
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Studies of optical properties of lanthanide upconversion nanoparticles for emerging applications.
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- YTTERBY, a small village very close to Stockholm where I live, is the place in the world which has lent its name to the largest number of elements in the periodic table, namely four - YTTRIUM, YTTERBIUM, ERBIUM and TERBIUM. Three more lanthanide elements were discovered from the now empty quarry located in this village. By the time of their discoveries in the 19th century little could be known about their fantastic properties, the versatility of their use and functionality in what we now call nanotechnology. This is a circumstance that motivated me to rather recently enter lanthanide research, in particular studies of their outstanding optical properties for the purpose of information technology and energy harvesting.So far, upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have been much explored as unique spectral converters for various applications, like biotechnology, information technology and photovoltaic devices due to properties like sharp emission profiles, low autofluorescence and large anti-Stoke shifts. Still, there is much to explore and to understand in order to fully utilize the very unique properties of UCNPs. The kinetic dynamics of the upconversion process is one such aspect that is not well understood, and a deeper understanding of the kinetic dynamics of lanthanide upconversion systems could thus broaden their applications. Therefore, the work of this thesis is focused on investigating the kinetic dynamics of upconversion processes mainly based on systems with NaYF4 as host material, and Yb3+/Er3+ or Yb3+/Tm3+ embedded as sensitizer/activator. Through rate equation models, the kinetic dynamics of upconversion are comparatively investigated with numerical simulations and analytical derivation. The temporal response regarding upconverted luminescence and quantum yield power density dependence, excitation duration response and excitation frequency response of the upconversion systems are investigated and the corresponding applications for multicolor imaging, optical encoding, photovoltaics, IR photodetectors are explored and analyzed in the thesis, taking advantage of the kinetic properties.
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