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Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) with elemental labeling is a promising strategy for multiplex microRNA (miRNA) analysis. However, it is still challenging for specific analysis of multiple miRNAs with high homology, and the development of multiplex assays is always limited by the complexity of the sequence design. Herein, a simple and direct ICP-MS-based assay was developed for the simultaneous detection of three miRNAs by combining the lanthanide labeling strategy with entropy-driven catalytic (EDC) amplification. Owing to the specificity of EDC for nucleic acid recognition, it is able to differentiate miRNAs with single-base mutation in each EDC circuit. A universal biotin-labeled DNA strand was designed to hybridize with the DNA substrates for three EDC circuits, targeting miRNA-21, miRNA-155, and miRNA-10b, respectively. All the substrates were loaded on the surface of streptavidin magnetic beads. In the presence of target miRNA, the EDC reaction was initiated, and EDC substrates were dissociated, continuously releasing reporter strands that were labeled with lanthanides (Tb/Ho/Lu). After magnetic separation, the supernatant containing the released reporter strands was introduced into an ICP-MS system for simultaneous detection of

A highly sensitive and simple method based on rolling circle amplification (RCA) and single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICP-MS) was proposed for the homogeneous detection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). In the presence of target DNA, long ssDNA possessing a large number of repeating sequence units was generated by RCA. DNA-labeled AuNP probes assembled into long chains based on complementary base pairing, further aggregating into large particles. Small Au NPs hardly produced pulse signals in spICP-MS; obvious pulse signals appeared in spICP-MS after the agglomeration of Au NPs caused by the addition of RCA products and spermidine. On the basis of this, the homogeneous detection of target DNA was realized by spICP-MS with high sensitivity. Under optimal conditions, the proposed method exhibited a good linear relationship between the frequency of the pulse signal of Au in spICP-MS and the concentration of target HBV DNA in the range of 10-2000 fmol L

Electronic skin (E-skin) is increasingly utilized in modern society, yet current E-skin technology suffers from issues, such as opacity, hardness, and fragility. To address these challenges, a novel E-skin was developed using polyurethane (PU) as the matrix material and silver nanowires (AgNWs) as the sensing material. By leveraging the small degree of microphase separation and lack of crystallization in the PU, combined with the appropriate length–diameter ratio of the AgNWs, the resulting E-skin exhibited a visible light transmittance of 75%. The E-skin also showed excellent self-healing properties (83.63% efficiency in the third repair) and mechanical properties (with almost no degradation after 60 tensile cycles) due to the reversible dynamic cross-linking network within the PU. The synergistic effect of PU and AgNWs resulted in exceptional sensing performance for the E-skin, with a gauge factor of 46 (when ε = 10%). Moreover, the E-skin demonstrated signal stability during human joint motion monitoring and successfully identified different movement states, highlighting its potential for diverse applications. This research presents a simple yet effective approach for producing transparent, durable, and stable E-skin.

High-throughput single-cell analysis is critical to elucidate the cell heterogeneity. Recently, droplet microchips using oil/gas phases to generate single-cell encapsulated droplets have been combined with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for determination of trace elements in single cells with a throughput of dozens of cells per min. To improve the sample throughput and avoid the oil phase introduced into ICP-MS, herein, a negative magnetophoresis focusing microchip was established and online-coupled to ICP-MS for single-cell analysis. MCF-7 cells in the paramagnetic salt solution were introduced into the designed focusing microchannel, in which they were focused into a single stream under both the magnetic repulsion force and inertial lift force, and then were introduced into ICP-MS for online single-cell analysis. The important parameters including the chip design, the concentration of the paramagnetic salt solution, flow rate, cell density, and dwell time were optimized. Under the optimal conditions, a high sample throughput of 1390 cells min

An amino-functionalized magnetic covalent organic framework composite TpBD-(NH

Thimerosal (THI) is widely used as an antimicrobial preservative, but can hydrolyze to ethylmercury, causing potentially neurotoxicity. In this work, a THP-1 cell line was used to investigate the biological behavior of THI. An on-line droplet microfluidic chip system combined with time-resolved inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used to quantify Hg in single THP-1 cells. The cellular uptake and elimination behaviors of THI were studied, and the toxicity of THI in terms of redox balance was discussed. The results showed that a small number of cells (200 fg/cell) for THI, and most of the cells (68.8–85.8% for different exposure groups at 25 h) exhibited a relatively low uptake content (2 fg/cell), indicating Hg could not be eliminated completely, which may cause cumulative toxicity to macrophages. Moreover, it was found that exposure to THI even at 50 ng/mL can cause cellular oxidative stress behavior, leading to an increase in reactive oxygen species level and a decrease in glutathione level. This trend would continue for a period of time after stopping THI exposure. With the elimination of Hg, the redox balance of cells showed a tendency to stabilize and restore, but cannot be restored to normal status, indicating a long-term chronic toxicity of THI to THP-1 cells.

The study was intended to eliminate the noise in three-dimensional transvaginal ultrasound (3D-TVS) images and improve the diagnostic accuracy in intrauterine adhesion (IUA). The extreme learning machine (ELM) algorithm was introduced first for statement. One hundred and thirty cases of suspected IUA patients were taken as the research subjects. The denoising effects of ELM algorithm were evaluated in terms of mean square errors (MSE), peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), and running time, and its diagnostic efficiency of IUA was identified from precise, specificity, and sensitivity. Furthermore, the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm was introduced for comparison. It was found that the MSE and PSNR of the ELM algorithm were 0.0021 and 64.5, respectively, and its average operation time was 11.22 ± 0.89s, that the MSE values of SVM algorithm and ELM algorithm were 0.0045 and 0.0021 and the PSNR values were 52.3 and 64.5, respectively, and that the average running time of SVM algorithm was 16.35 ± 1.33s, and the average running time of ELM algorithm was 11.22 ± 0.89s, superior to the SVM algorithm in denoising effects. Moreover, the ELM algorithm showed excellent diagnostic efficiency for patients with various degrees of IUA. In conclusion, ELM can effectively eliminate noise in 3D-TVS images and demonstrates excellent diagnostic efficiency on IUA, which is worthy of clinical application.

Oxidative stress modulation is effective to kill cancer. While considerable effort has focused on the promotion of reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, an additional crucial aspect of ROS regulati...

Background The current study aimed to evaluate the serum pretreatment lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and overall survival (OS) in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients who received first‐line platinum‐containing chemotherapy. Methods A total of 234 SCLC patients, who received first‐line platinum‐based chemotherapy between 2013 and 2018, were retrospectively analyzed. The data of hematological characteristics, age, gender, ECOG score, staging, metastatic site, smoking history, chemotherapy cycle, thoracic radiotherapy and hyponatremia were collected. Overall survival was calculated using the Kaplan‐Meier method. The statistically significant factors in the univariate analysis were selected for the multivariate COX model analysis. Results Age, ECOG score, stage, thoracic radiotherapy, hyponatremia, liver metastasis, brain metastasis, bone metastasis, LDH, NSE and neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were closely correlated to OS in the univariate analysis. Furthermore, the multivariate analysis revealed that age (, The current study aimed to evaluate the serum pretreatment lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and overall survival (OS) in small‐cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients who received first‐line platinum‐containing chemotherapy. A total of 234 SCLC patients, who received first‐line platinum‐based chemotherapy between 2013 and 2018, were retrospectively analyzed. Age

In order to solve the problems of difficulty, time-consuming, and high energy in the establishment of maintenance methods for power station turbines, this paper proposes a method based on immersive virtual reality system to build a virtual environment that is completely consistent with real hydropower plant equipment and facilities, using virtual reality technology With the characteristics of immersive high-level simulation and the advantages of unlimited time and unlimited space, virtual simulation maintenance preview can quickly provide auxiliary decision-making basis for the maintenance of real hydro-turbine generator sets, so as to shorten the maintenance period and improve the quality of maintenance. Taking a power plant equipment emergency repair and maintenance plan as a case, the validity and correctness of this article are demonstrated.

Although intensive efforts have been devoted to fabricating Ti

A fluorinated covalent organic framework (COF), named F-COF, was fabricated via simple room-temperature synthesis. With the characteristics of rich fluorine atoms, hydrophobicity, and large conjugated structure, F-COF was evaluated for the extraction of five benzoylurea insecticides (BUs) containing fluorine atoms, benzene ring, and urea bridge. Specifically, F-COF-coated stir bars were prepared by physical adhesion and exhibited higher extraction recovery (73-93 versus 40-85%) toward BUs than commercial stir bars in a shorter extraction time (50 min versus 24 h). The adsorption behavior of BUs on F-COF was explored, and it was assumed that the halogen bond (O-F), hydrophobic interaction, electrostatic interaction, and π-π stacking contributed to the adsorption. On the basis of it, a method combining stir bar sorptive extraction with liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detector was developed for trace analysis of five BUs. Under the optimal conditions, the limits of detection for BUs were found to be 0.301-0.672 μg/L, with the linear range of 1.0/2.0-500 μg/L and relative standard deviations of8.0% (

Single-cell studies can help to understand individual differences and obtain atypical cellular characteristics in view of cellular heterogeneity. Herein, the accumulation of mercury (Hg) in single algae cells was studied by droplet chip-time resolved inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analytical system, and the relation of Hg accumulation to the physiological responses of algae cell was explored. When low concentrations of Hg

This work reported a simple and ultrasensitive label-free method for the detection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA by combining hyperbranched rolling circle amplification (HRCA) with dual-mode detection by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and fluorescence using ruthenium complex [Ru(bpy)2dppz]2+ (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine, dppz = dipyrido [3,2-a:2',3'-c] phenazine) as a dual functional probe. An HBV DNA-initiated HRCA system was designed to realize the highly efficient amplification of HBV DNA with the generation of a mass of dsDNA. Also, the [Ru(bpy)2dppz]2+ probe was then added to intercalate into the dsDNA products, resulting in strong fluorescence recovery of the probe for fluorescence detection. Meanwhile, using a biotin-modified primer in HRCA, the dsDNA-[Ru(bpy)2dppz]2+ complexes could be captured by the avidin-coated 96-well plates, and the captured [Ru(bpy)2dppz]2+ probe was later desorbed by acid for ICP-MS detection. The linear range of the proposed method was 3.5-200 amol L-1 and the limit of detection (LOD) was 1 amol L-1 for ICP-MS detection, while the linear range was 20-500 amol L-1 and the LOD was 9.6 amol L-1 for fluorescence detection. The developed method was applied to human serum sample analysis, and the analytical results coincided very well with those obtained by the real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. The developed dual-mode label-free detection method was ultrasensitive, simple, and accurate, showing great potential for therapeutic monitoring of HBV infection.

Objective The standard surgical treatment for supracondylar humeral fractures in children is closed reduction and percutaneous pinning. Given the need for greater fixation strength and higher risk of joint stiffness for children older than 8 years, external fixation is often performed for treating supracondylar humeral fractures in older children. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of lateral entry pins and Slongo’s external fixation for treating supracondylar humeral fractures in older children. Methods Children older than 8 years who underwent surgery for supracondylar humeral fractures at our hospital for surgery from January 2016 to December 2020 are to be retrospectively assessed. One group (n = 36) underwent internal fixation and percutaneous pinning with three lateral Kirschner wires, and the other group (n = 32) underwent Slongo’s external fixator surgery. The demographic data, operation duration, number of fluoroscopies, and fracture healing time were compared between both groups. The elbow joint function was evaluated 6 months after the surgery on the basis of fracture healing time, lifting angle, elbow joint range of motion (ROM), and Flynn score. The incidence of postoperative complications was also recorded. Results There was no significant difference between the two patient groups in terms of the demographic parameters. Compared to external fixation surgery, Kirschner wire surgery required shorter duration and fewer fluoroscopies (P < 0.05). Nevertheless, the fracture healing time was significantly less (P < 0.05), and the elbow ROM and Flynn scores were higher in the external fixator group compared to the Kirschner wire fixation group (P < 0.05). There was one case of secondary fracture displacement in the Kirschner wire group and one of pin tract infection in the external fixator group. No other iatrogenic injuries or complications were observed. Conclusion Maybe Slongo’s external fixator is a suitable alternative treatment option for supracondylar humeral fractures in children older than 8 years since it can achieve better fixation strength and early restoration of elbow joint movement with a lower risk of joint stiffness.

Improving the non-magnetic low-frequency electromagnetic (EM) wave performances of common microwave-absorbing materials is yet very difficult and depends on the assistance of structural design to realize tremendous microwave reflectance absorption in a limited space. Herein, a biomimetic three-dimensional coral reef-like graphene oxide (GO)@TiO2 composite framework was prepared with porous TiO2–C inlaid subunits derived from MIL-125 (Ti), which provided an effective platform for concentrating two unusual structures of TiO2 and carbon sources into single particles. The formation mechanism of the material was analyzed in detail. Compared with GO@TiO2/TiO2–C composite materials at varying mass ratios, the minimum RL of GO@TiO2/TiO2–C-15 is −64.4 dB at 7.4 GHz, and the intensity of −25 dB (>99% energy absorption) can be improved at different thickness, which exhibits an excellent low-frequency EM absorption behavior. Simultaneously, GO@TiO2/TiO2–C-15 has obvious extended performances, including antimicrobial activities and low infrared emissivity, which demonstrate the versatility and application potential of non-magnetic low-frequency microwave absorbers in wearable devices and other fields. The new material is beneficial to reducing the EM waves-caused threat to human health in communication band and to attaining the sustainable utilization of EM waves.

It has been well established that the early-stage interactions of nanoparticles with cells are governed by the extracellular protein corona. However, after entering into the cells, the evolving protein corona is the key to subsequent processing of nanoparticles by cells. To identify the protein corona around intracellular nanoparticles, it is essential to maintain its original compositions during cell treatment. Herein, we develop a paraformaldehyde (PFA) cross-linking strategy to stabilize corona compositions when extracting protein coronas from cells, providing original information on protein coronas around intercellular gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The stability of the protein corona after PFA cross-linking was carefully investigated with several characterization methods, and the results demonstrate that PFA cross-linking successfully prevents the dissociation and exchange of corona proteins. Then the recovered intracellular protein corona around AuNPs from living HepG2 cells with a PFA cross-linking strategy was subjected to nanoHPLC-MS/MS for proteomic analysis. It was found that the compositions of intracellular protein coronas are dominated by cell-derived proteins and undergo significant variation of protein species and amounts over time during internalization. Time-resolved analysis provides relevant proteins involved in nanoparticle cellular uptake and transportation, indicating that AuNPs are endocytosed mainly by a clathrin-mediated uptake mechanism and directed into an endolysosomal pathway toward their final destination. Such proteomic-based results are verified by pharmacological inhibition and TEM imaging analysis. This work provides a universal strategy to study compositions of protein corona around intercellular nanoparticles and could be a footstone to link the formation of protein corona around nanoparticles to their biological function in cells.

A novel sulfur-containing functional core–shell magnetic porous organic polymer (Fe3O4@BD-TpMA-S-SH MOP) was synthesized as a magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) sorbent for mercury speciation followed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) detection. The prepared Fe3O4@BD-TpMA-S-SH MOP possessed rich active adsorption sites (S: 25 wt%), high magnetism (39.2 emu g−1) and high adsorption capacity (636, 656, 649 and 366 mg g−1 for Hg2+, methylmercury (MeHg+), ethylmercury (EtHg+) and phenylmercury (PhHg+), respectively). Under the optimal conditions, the limit of detection (LOD) of the developed MSPE-HPLC-ICP-MS method was 0.43, 0.55, 0.69 and 1.1 ng L−1 for Hg2+, MeHg+, EtHg+ and PhHg+, respectively, with a high enrichment factor (EF) in the range of 346–383-fold. The accuracy of the method was validated, and it was successfully applied for trace/ultratrace mercury speciation in environmental water and fish samples. The developed method has high sensitivity, low LOD, high EF, fast adsorption/desorption dynamics and good matrix resistance ability, showing great applicability in real sample analysis with complex sample matrices.

The difficulty in achieving high removal efficiency for contaminants in textile wastewater over a wide range of pH impedes the progress of its treatment technique greatly. Herein, a facile and sustainable strategy was adopted for constructing magnetic ordered mesoporous polymers (M-OMPs) without the assistance of organic solvent and catalyst. The prepared M-OMPs were endowed with high special surface area and good superparamagnetism simultaneously, and exhibited high removal efficiency (>99%) for Methylene Blue (MB) within a short time (10 min) at a concentration of 50 mg/L. What's more, high removal efficiency was achieved over a wide range of pH 2-12 and the adsorption capacity for MB on M-OMPs was substantially retained even after 5 adsorption-desorption cycles, further demonstrating the application potential of M-OMPs in the decontamination of textile wastewater.

Quantification of multiple disease-related microRNAs (miRNAs) is of great significance for clinical diagnosis. Based on the simultaneous multiple element detection ability of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and good specificity of multicomponent nucleic acid enzymes (MNAzymes), a novel and simple method based on the MNAzyme amplification strategy and lanthanide labeling coupled with ICP-MS detection was proposed for the sensitive and simultaneous detection of three miRNAs (miRNA-21, miRNA-155, and miRNA-10b). Specifically, a probe consisting of streptavidin-modified magnetic beads (SA-MBs) and three DNA substrates labeled with lanthanide tags (159Tb/165Ho/175Lu) was constructed. In the presence of target miRNAs, three pairs of MNAzymes were assembled where each pair was hybridized with the corresponding miRNA, and then the substrates on the SA-MBs were cleaved by the activated MNAzymes, continuously releasing the fragment with lanthanide tags. The released lanthanide tags in the supernatant were collected after magnetic separation and analyzed by ICP-MS, realizing the simultaneous quantification of multiple miRNAs. The correlation of the lanthanide tag signal with the miRNA concentration fitted well in a linear model in the range of 50-1000 pmol L-1 (miRNA-21) and 50-2000 pmol L-1 (miRNA-155 and miRNA-10b). The limits of detection for three miRNAs were 11-20 pmol L-1, with the relative standard deviations of 2.2-2.7%. The recoveries of target miRNAs in the human serum and HepG-2 cells were in the range of 87.2-111% and 93.3-111%, respectively. Overall, the method is ideal for the simultaneous quantification of multiple miRNAs with advantages of low spectral interference, high sensitivity, good selectivity, and strong resistance to the complex matrix.

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has emerged as a promising analytical platform for the quantification of biomolecules using elemental tags; however, absolute quantification at extremely low concentrations by ICP-MS without a calibration curve remains challenging. Here, we developed a digital loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for counting hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA using single-particle (sp) ICP-MS. The sample and LAMP reagents were mixed and encapsulated in agarose droplets, which were generated by homemade centrifugal droplet generators. The agarose droplets were incubated at 65 °C for amplifying the virus DNA with LAMP primers and then cooled to 4 °C for generating "gel" particles during the temperature-dependent "sol-gel" transition. The LAMP amplicons were intercalated into the agarose particles using polyacrylamide-modified LAMP primers, enabling the labeling of dsDNA with [Ru(bpy)

Exosomes, potential biomarkers for liquid biopsy, provide a promising opportunity for early cancer diagnosis in a noninvasive manner. However, direct analysis of exosomes in complicated biological samples is still challenging. Herein, a cholesterol recognition assay was proposed for detection of exosomes by gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) labeling inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Specifically, exosomes were captured by anti-CD63, and then cholesterol-modified rolling circle amplification product was inserted into the membrane of exosomes for signal amplification. Simultaneously, Au NPs-labelled DNA was prepared for labeling and read-out signal. The proposed method achieved the quantification of the exosome concentration in a range of 10-10

To investigate the association between different treatments of tubal ectopic pregnancy (EP) -expectant management, methotrexate (MTX), selected or recommended laparoscopic surgery-and the subsequent reproductive outcomes.We conducted a retrospective cohort study including 228 EPs. The patients were divided into four treatment groups: 28 (12.3%) with expectant management successfully, 60 (26.3%) with MTX successfully, 140 patients with laparoscopic salpingectomy, of which 47 (20.6%) were assigned to selected surgery group because they opted for surgical treatment versus MTX, 93 (40.8%) were assigned to recommended surgery group as recommended by the attending physician.The recommended surgery group had the lowest rate of intrauterine pregnancy (IUP) (77.42%) and live birth (LB) (72.04%), while the incidence of recurrent EP (REP) (20.43%) was the highest, but the statistical differences were not significant. We did not observe significant differences of the EP-IUP time interval, rates of LB and miscarriage (MIS) between the four groups. Compared to the MTX group, recommended surgery was negatively associated with IUP (adjusted OR, 95%CI: 0.34, 0.11-1.03) and LB (0.35, 0.14-0.92), while it had higher risk for REP (3.48, 1.03-11.74) in the subsequent pregnancy. Further, compared to selective surgery group, recommended surgery was negatively associated with IUP (0.15, 0.03-0.68) and LB (0.23, 0.07-0.74), while it had higher risk for REP (6.83, 1.43-32.67) in the subsequent pregnancy. Expectant treatment was negatively associated with assisted reproductive technology (ART) (0.08, 0.02-0.40) compared with MTX. Of the185 patients who had LBs, all adverse outcomes were not statistically different between the four groups.Patients with recommended laparoscopic salpingectomy had worse reproductive outcomes than the other treatment groups. The disease status of EP may play an important role in the association rather than the surgery alone.

In order to solve the problems of large rendering load and low frame rate caused by the large screen of the power system five-sided LED-CAVE immersive virtual simulation platform, the article proposes a 1+N cluster rendering synchronization for the power system five-sided LED-CAVE Display management system. Configure the five-sided LED-CAVE with 1+N high-performance graphics rendering workstations and synchronous display cards according to the size and resolution of each screen. Through the synchronous rendering display system and 3D optical tracking and positioning system, achieve the effect that 5 screens refresh the stereo display simultaneously. This method improves the efficiency and immersive experience of power system virtual reality simulation rendering.

Background Cotton is the source of natural fibers globally, fulfilling 90% of the textile industry's requirements. However, fiber development is a complex biological process comprising four stages. Fiber develops from a single cell, and cell elongation is a vital process in fiber development. Therefore, it is pertinent to understand and exploit mechanisms underlying cell elongation during fiber development. A previous report about cell division control protein 42 (CDC-42) with its key role in cell elongation in eukaryotes inspired us to explore its homologs Rho GTPases for understanding of cell elongation during cotton fiber development. Result We classified 2 066 Rho proteins from 8 Gossypium species into 5 and 8 groups within A and D sub-genomes, respectively. Asymmetric evolution of Rho members was observed among five tetraploids. Population fixation statistics between two short and long fiber genotypes identified highly diverged regions encompassing 34 Rho genes in G. hirustum, and 31 of them were retained through further validation by genome wide association analysis (GWAS). Moreover, a weighted gene co-expression network characterized genome-wide expression patteren of Rho genes based on previously published transcriptome data. Twenty Rho genes from five modules were identified as hub genes which were potentially related to fiber development. Interaction networks of 5 Rho genes based on transcriptional abundance and gene ontology (GO) enrichment emphasized the involvement of Rho in cell wall biosynthesis, fatty acid elongation, and other biological processes. Conclusion Our study characterized the Rho proteins in cotton, provided insights into the cell elongation of cotton fiber and potential application in cotton fiber improvement.

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), as a high-energy phosphate compound that stores and releases energy in living cells, has an irreplaceable role in many physiological processes and maintenance of biological functions, and can be used as an indicator of many diseases. In this work, a composite nanoprobe, silver nanocluster (AgNC) @ molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), was designed to achieve in situ fluorescence imaging and quantitative analysis of intracellular ATP in HeLa cells by fluorescence spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The probe was constructed based on the adsorption of DNA-AgNCs by MoS2 nanosheets, and the DNA-AgNCs were prepared with the ATP aptamer as a template, whose fluorescence was initially quenched by MoS2. When the probe was incubated into the cells, intracellular ATP recognized the aptamer sequence and caused the DNA-AgNCs to fall off the MoS2 nanosheets, resulting in fluorescence recovery. Here, AgNCs not only acted as a fluorescence label for imaging, but also as an element tag for quantitative analysis of intracellular ATP with the detection of 107Ag by ICP-MS. The ATP in HeLa cells detected by this method was 24.6 ± 1.7 nmol L−1, which was in good agreement with the test result of the ATP test kit (20.4 ± 0.8 nmol L−1). The proposed method has potential application in medical clinical diagnosis and evaluation of the body’s metabolic level via fluorescence imaging and ICP-MS detection of intracellular ATP.

It is essential to manufacture microwave absorbers with strong absorption as well as tunable absorption bands at a low filler content. However, it remains challenging for pure biomass material to reach this goal without loading other components. MoSe2, as a transition metal chalcogenide with semiconductor properties, has emerged as a potential microwave absorber filler. Herein, bacterial cellulose (BC)-derived carbon nanofibers/MoSe2 nanocomposite was fabricated and phosphoric acid was used to dope phosphorus in BC, in which MoSe2 microspheres were dropped on the BC network like a dew-covered spider web. This unique network structure enhances conductive loss and multiple reflections of the incident wave. The collocation of BC and MoSe2 is helpful to impedance match and introduces interfacial/dipolar polarization loss; moreover, the P-doping of BC helps to tune the absorption bands. Overall, the optimal reflection loss of undoped one reaches −53.33 dB with only 20 wt.% filler content, whose main absorption peaks focus on X-band. Interestingly, after the P-doping of BC, the main absorption peaks move to Ku-band and the optimal reflection loss gets stronger (−66.84 dB) with the same filler loading. Strong absorption and tunable absorption bands can be realized, and thus wide frequency range is covered. This work is expected to enlighten future exploration of biomass carbon materials on high-performance microwave absorption materials.

Background Pancreatic cancer is a highly malignant tumor of the digestive system. Early pancreatic cancer is often difficult to diagnosis due to its atypical clinical symptoms. Patients with pancreatic cancer have a very poor prognosis because they have lost the opportunity for radical surgical tumor resection and they are less sensitive to the clinically used radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Methods In this study, a peptide targeting pancreatic cancer cells was screened by phage display technology, and its targeting property was evaluated in vitro using PANC1 cells by fluorescence imaging and flow cytometry. Furthermore, the targeting peptide was conjugated to the pro-apoptotic KLAKLAKKLAKLAK (KLA), the fusion peptide and its targeting ability that allowing KLA to specifically enter pancreatic tumor cells in vitro and in vivo was confirmed by fluorescence imaging and in vivo imaging system (IVIS). Its mechanism was determined using flow cytometry, mitochondrial membrane potential evaluation and Western blot. The inhibitory effect on pancreatic tumor growth and toxic effects were evaluated by animal experiment. Results Due to the internalization facilitated by the targeting mechanism of the targeting peptide, KLA specifically entered pancreatic cancer cells, destroyed mitochondria and induced apoptosis. The fusion peptide and its targeting ability that allowing KLA to specifically enter pancreatic tumor cells and exert a significant inhibitory effect on pancreatic tumor growth with reduced toxic effects. Conclusion This approach possesses potential advantages in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) is a promising diagnostic marker for cancer, depression, Parkinson's disease, and liver disease. The fluorescence detection of MAO-A in living animals is of extreme importance for the early diagnosis of related diseases. However, the development of specific and mitochondrial-targeted and near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence MAO-A probes is still inadequate. Here, we designed and synthesized four NIR fluorescence probes containing a dihydroxanthene (DH) skeleton to detect MAO-A in complex biological systems. The specificity of our representative probe DHMP2 displays a 31-fold fluorescence turn-on in vitro, and it can effectively accumulate in the mitochondria and specifically detect the endogenous MAO-A concentrations in PC-3 and SH-SY5Y cell lines. Furthermore, the probe DHMP2 can be used to visualize the endogenous MAO-A activity in zebrafish and tumor-bearing mice. More importantly, it is the first time that the MAO-A activity of hepatic fibrosis tissues is detected through the probe DHMP2. The present study shows that the synthesized DHMP2 might serve as a potential tool for monitoring MAO-A activity in vivo and diagnosing related diseases.

A spiral stir bar was proposed by using stainless steel spring as the extraction phase carrier to avoid the extraction phase friction and increase the amount of extraction phase for improving extraction efficiency. The extraction phase is filled in the cavity of the spring, resulting in a larger amount of the extraction phase than that conventionally coated on glass stir bar or stainless steel wire. Polyaniline-polydimethylsiloxane sol-gel packed spiral stir bar was prepared and evaluated for the extraction of five estrogens. The prepared spiral stir bar presented good extraction efficiency/preparation reproducibility and long lifetime (more than 150 reused times) for target estrogens. Based on it, a method of spiral stir bar sorptive extraction combined with high performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultra-violet detection was developed for the analysis of trace estrogens in environmental and food samples. The detection limit for five estrogens was 0.11-.31 µg/L, with the enrichment factors of 83.0-118-fold (maximal enrichment factor: 200-fold). The reproducibility evaluated with each estrogen of 5 µg/L (n = 5) was 5.8-8.9%. The method was successfully applied for the determination of estrogens in environmental water and animal-derived food samples.

Fe-doped mesoporous alumina (MA) was successfully synthesized via a facile one-pot synthesis method. The resulting Fe-doped MA samples possess typical mesoporous structure, relatively high BET surface area, and narrowed pore size diameter. Besides, the iron species are well-dispersed in the alumina matrix, and more importantly, some small oligonuclear iron oxide clusters are linked on the surface of alumina, leading to the elimination of strong acid sites. The reaction of phenol hydroxylation was preceded at room temperature for 2 h. The introduction of mesoporous structure in alumina would be favorable for the adsorption and diffusion process of reactant and product molecules, and also the well-dispersed iron species in alumina matrix and large amount of acid sites stimulate more active hydroxyl radicals which are greatly beneficial for the catalytic process, especially the elimination of strong acid sites would inhibit the over-oxidation reaction. In this case, the sample of 5Fe–MA displays the best catalytic performance especially with the extremely high dihydroxybenzene selectivity of 93.2%, and the good catalytic stability is also evidenced by the five times recycling tests. In this work, the Fe-doped mesoporous alumina (MA) was successfully prepared. The iron species are well-dispersed in the alumina matrix, and some small oligonuclear iron oxide clusters are linked on the surface of alumina, leading to the elimination of strong acid sites. The advanced properties of mesoporous structure, well-dispersed metal active centers and lack of strong acid sites in Fe-doped MA are greatly beneficial for the catalytic process, especially for the dihydroxybenzene selectivity with extremely high value of 93.2%.

BACKGROUND: Thyroid transcription factor 1 (TTF-1), which is usually expressed by lung adenocarcinomas and small cell carcinomas, is usually used to distinguish adenocarcinoma and small cell carcinoma from cells of another type of lung cancer. We examined the association between TTF-1 expression and overall survival between patients with stage IV pulmonary adenocarcinoma to investigate the role of TTF-1 as a predictive and/or prognostic tumor marker in patients with advanced lung adenocarcinomas. METHODS: Analysis of the clinicopathologic features, treatment regimens, and overall survival of 209 lung adenocarcinoma patients who had been detected for TTF-1 expression and received consecutive treatments in the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University. RESULTS: TTF-1 expression was positive in 166 (79%) and negative in 43 (21%) patients who were reviewed. Moreover, there was no significant difference between the clinicopathologic features of TTF-1 positive and TTF-1 negative tumors. In the multivariable review, the overall survival of TTF-1 positive tumor patients was significantly longer than that of TTF-1 negative tumor patients [22.7 vs. 11.8 months (P

In this paper, by using the adaptive control method, the global matrix-projective synchronization of delayed fractional-order competitive neural network with different time scales is researched for the first time. Firstly, the fractional-order global matrix-projective synchronization is defined. Then, in order to achieve the matrix-projective synchronization, the sufficient condition is obtained under an adaptive controller and its effectiveness is proved by combining the fractional-order Barbalat theory with a suitable Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional as well as some fractional-order differential inequalities. And all unknown parameters are identified and estimated to the fixed constants successfully. Finally, as applications, a numerical example with simulations is employed to demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the new synchronization analysis.