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Simulated moving bed (SMB) is a kind of continuous process which can increase the efficiency of adsorbents in the adsorbent bed. It contains several sectors of flow rate, the switching time of valves and many other possible influencing variables, moreover, these parameters are highly sensitive, so it is very difficult to achieve precise prediction and control. Model predictive control and PID controller are often used in industrial system. Model predictive control needs a lot of accurate industry experience data, and PID controller depends on the selection of control parameters. Therefore, SMB needs an intelligent controller to bypass those complex mechanisms and parameter adjustment processes. This paper we propose the hierarchical fuzzy controller fuzzy controller which is applied to the SMB system to observe the final concentration. Compared with the PID and MPC controller, it is found that the hierarchical fuzzy controller can control good without knowing the system parameters too accurately., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

An easy-to-use, rapid, robust and inexpensive technique termed ultrasonic-assisted drop-to-drop solvent microextraction (USA-DDSME) in a capillary tube was used to extract trace phthalate esters in the dipping solution of plastic samples, followed by determination by using gas chromatography-flame ionization detection. Extraction conditions were optimized, including type and volume of extraction solvent, sample volume, extraction time and effect of salt concentration. The method showing the best extraction performance was used to obtain optimized conditions: 20 µL of solution sample; extraction solvent, 5.00 µL of dichloromethane; segments of extraction phase, five equal divisions; extraction time, 10 min; no added salt. The linearity of the method was determined by analyzing spiked water samples over a concentration range of 0.1-300 µg/L. All calibration curves were found to be linear, with correlation coefficients > 0.9965. The limit of detection was 0.02 µg/L. The recovery values were in the range of 68.91 to 124.8% and relative standard deviations were not higher than 14.2%. Thus, the USA-DDSME method is suitable for the extraction of trace phthalate esters in complicated samples., (© The Author [2013]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

This paper investigates superspaces 𝒫0(X) and 𝒦0(X) of a tvs-cone metric space (X, d), where 𝒫0(X) and 𝒦0(X) are the space consisting of nonempty subsets of X and the space consisting of nonempty compact subsets of X, respectively. The purpose of this paper is to establish some relationships between the lower topology and the lower tvs-cone hemimetric topology (resp., the upper topology and the upper tvs-cone hemimetric topology to the Vietoris topology and the Hausdorff tvs-cone hemimetric topology) on 𝒫0(X) and 𝒦0(X), which makes it possible to generalize some results of superspaces from metric spaces to tvs-cone metric spaces.

A stable and uniform organic-inorganic nanocomposite that consists of graphene (GR) and pyrenebutyric acid (PBA) was obtained by ultrasonication, which was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV-vis absorption spectra. The dispersion was dropped onto a gold electrode surface to obtain GR-PBA modified electrode (GR-PBA/Au). Electrochemical behaviors of the modified electrode were characterized by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy using [Fe(CN)6](3-/4-) as the electroactive probe. A novel DNA biosensor was constructed based on the covalent coupling of amino modified oligonucleotides with the carboxylic group on PBA. By using methylene blue (MB) as a redox-active hybridization indicator, the biosensor was applied to electrochemically detect the complementary sequence, and the results suggested that the peak currents of MB showed a good linear relationship with the logarithm values of target DNA concentrations in the range from 1.0×10(-15) to 5.0×10(-12) M with a detection limit of 3.8×10(-16) M. The selectivity experiment also showed that the biosensor can well distinguish the target DNA from the non-complementary sequences., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A simple, sensitive and reliable dopamine (DA) biosensor was developed based on a carbon dots (CDs) and chitosan (CS) composite film modified glassy carbon electrode (CDs-CS/GCE). Under optimal conditions, the CDs-CS/GCE showed a better electrochemical response for the detection of DA than that of the glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The oxidation peak current (Ipa) of DA was linear with the concentration of DA in the range from 0.1 μM to 30.0 μM with the limit of detection as 11.2 nM (3S/N). The CDs-CS/GCE was applied to the detection of DA content in an injection solution of DA with satisfactory results.

This review focuses on a solid-phase microextraction (SPME) method coupled with molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), namely molecularly imprinted solid-phase microextraction (MISPME). The first two sections discuss the summaries of conventional SPME and MIPs. The third section reviews the development of MISPME in past years, including the preparation of MISPME, and the applications to compounds in real samples.

A novel DNA biosensor was fabricated through a facile sulfamide coupling reaction. First, the versatile sulfonic dye molecule of 1-amino-2-naphthol-4-sulfonate (AN-SO3(-)) was electrodeposited on the surface of a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) to form a steady and ordered AN-SO3(-) layer. Then the amino-terminated capture probe was covalently grafted to the surface of SO3(-)-AN deposited GCE through the sulfamide coupling reaction between the amino groups in the probe DNA and the sulfonic groups in the AN-SO3(-). The step-by-step modification process was characterized by electrochemistry and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. Using Ru(NH3)6(3+) as probe, the probe density and the hybridization efficiency of the biosensor were determined to be 3.18×10(13) strands cm(-2) and 86.5%, respectively. The hybridization performance of the biosensor was examined by differential pulse voltammetry using Co(phen)3(3+/2+) (phen=1,10-phenanthroline) as the indicator. The selectivity experiments showed that the biosensor presented distinguishable response after hybridization with the three-base mismatched, non-complementary and complementary sequences. Under the optimal conditions, the oxidation peak currents of Co(phen)3(3+/2+) increased linearly with the logarithm values of the concentration of the complementary sequences in the range from 1.0×10(-13)M to 1.0×10(-8)M with a regression coefficient of 0.9961. The detection limit was estimated to be 7.2×10(-14)M based on 3σ., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

An electrically neutral cobalt complex, [Co(GA)2(phen)] (GA = glycollic acid, phen = 1,10-phenathroline), was synthesized and its interactions with double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) were studied by using electrochemical methods on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). We found that [Co(GA)2(phen)] could intercalate into the DNA duplex through the planar phen ligand with a high binding constant of 6.2(±0.2)×10(5)  M(-1). Surface studies showed that the cobalt complex could electrochemically accumulate within the modified dsDNA layer, rather than within the single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) layer. Based on this feature, the complex was applied as a redox-active hybridization indicator to detect 18-base oligonucleotides from the CaMV35S promoter gene. This biosensor presented a very low background signal during hybridization detection and could realize the detection over a wide kinetic range from 1.0×10(-14)  M to 1.0×10(-8)  M, with a low detection limit of 2.0 fM towards the target sequences. The hybridization selectivity experiments further revealed that the complementary sequence, the one-base-mismatched sequence, and the non-complementary sequence could be well-distinguished by the cobalt-complex-based biosensor., (Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

L-gulono-gamma-lactone oxidase (GULO) catalyzes the final step in vertebrate vitamin C biosynthesis. Vitamin C-incapable vertebrates lack the GULO gene. Gene structure and phylogenetic analyses showed that vertebrate GULO genes are 64-95% identical at the amino acid level and consist of 11 conserved exons. GULO pseudogenes have multiple indel mutations and premature stop codons in higher primates, guinea pigs, and some bats. No GULO-like sequences were identified in teleost fishes. During animal GULO evolution, exon F was subdivided into F1 and F2. Additional GULO retropseudogenes were identified in dogs, cats, and giant pandas. GULO-flanking genome regions acquired frequent segment translocations and inversions during vertebrate evolution. Purifying selection was detected across vertebrate GULO genes (d(N)/d(S) = 0.069), except for some positively selected sites identified in sharks and frogs. These positive sites demonstrated little functional significance when mapped onto the three-dimensional GULO protein structure. Vertebrate GULO genes are conserved except for those that are lost.

Coastal organisms are often exposed to both iron enrichment and eutrophication. Trace elements transfer in coastal food webs are critical for marine life and therefore influence coastal ecosystem function and the global carbon cycle. However, how these exposures affect algal element uptake and the subsequent element transfer to marine copepods (Tigriopus japonicus) is unknown. Here we investigated the effects of nitrate addition and iron speciation (Fe (OH)3 or EDTA-Fe) on the biological uptake of Cu, Zn, and Se under phosphate and iron enrichment, using Thalassiosira weissflogii, Skeletonema costatum, and Chlorella vulgaris as model marine algae. Algal element adsorption/absorption generally increased with increasing macronutrient concentrations. Algal element assimilation efficiencies depended on iron speciation and marine algae species. Element assimilation efficiencies of copepods were significantly correlated to the intracellular element concentrations in algal cells. Element uptake and transfer were controlled by eutrophication, iron speciation, and algal species in coastal food webs., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The electrochemical behaviors of acetaminophen (ACOP) on a graphene-chitosan (GR-CS) nanocomposite modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronocoulometry (CC) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Electrochemical characterization showed that the GR-CS nanocomposite had excellent electrocatalytic activity and surface area effect. As compared with bare GCE, the redox signal of ACOP on GR-CS/GCE was greatly enhanced. The values of electron transfer rate constant (ks), diffusion coefficient (D) and the surface adsorption amount (Γ(*)) of ACOP on GR-CS/GCE were determined to be 0.25s(-1), 3.61×10(-5) cm(2) s(-1) and 1.09×10(-9) mol cm(-2), respectively. Additionally, a 2e(-)/2H(+) electrochemical reaction mechanism of ACOP was deduced based on the acidity experiment. Under the optimized conditions, the ACOP could be quantified in the range from 1.0×10(-6) to 1.0×10(-4) M with a low detection limit of 3.0×10(-7) M based on 3S/N. The interference and recovery experiments further showed that the proposed method is acceptable for the determination of ACOP in real pharmaceutical preparations., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

As a kind of folk medicine, edible mushrooms are known to be of medicinal characteristics, for example antitumor activity. However, the mechanism is not clear. In this study, the fluorescence (FL) spectroscopy was used to study the binding reactions of polysaccharide extracted from Auricularia polytricha with quantum dots (QDs). The modified Stern-Volmer quenching constant at different temperatures and corresponding thermodynamic parameters were calculated (∆G < 0, ∆H < 0, and ∆S < 0). The results show that the quenching constant is inversely correlated with temperature. It indicates that the quenching mechanism is the static quenching in nature rather than dynamic quenching. The negative values of free energy (∆G < 0) suggest that the binding process is spontaneous; ∆H < 0 and ∆S < 0 suggest that the binding of polysaccharide to QDs is enthalpy-driven. QDs were found to damage the plasmid DNA according to atomic force microscopy images. DNA damage is the important factor to induce tumor. Many chemical substances can induce tumor, which has been proved by modern medical science. In the presence of polysaccharide from A. polytricha, however, DNA was protected from damage due to polysaccharide winding around QDs, which is the basis for the bioeffect of polysaccharides. This study helps to understand that antitumor activity of edible mushrooms is attributed to protection of DNA from damage in the presence of harmful substances.

In this study, we prepared 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane (APTEOS) functionalized sodium alginate (SA) porous membrane adsorbent (APTEOS/SA) and tested its adsorption performance for removing of Cr(III) ions. The physico-chemical properties of the pristine and Cr(III) ions loaded APTEOS/SA were investigated by FT-IR, SEM-EDX, TG, AFM, and contact angle goniometer methods. To investigate the adsorption kinetics of Cr(III) ions onto this newly developed APTEOS/SA, we performed a batch of experiments under different adsorption conditions: solution pH, adsorbent dose, initial Cr(III) ion concentration, adsorption temperature, and contact time. The APTEOS/SA exhibited an encouraging uptake capacity of 90.0mg/g under suitable adsorption conditions. To study the mechanism of adsorption process, we examined the Lagergren pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic model, the intra-particular diffusion model, and the Crank model. Kinetics experiments indicated that the pseudo-first-order model displayed the best correlation with adsorption kinetics data. The Crank model showed that the intra-particle solute diffusion was the main rate-controlling step. Furthermore, our adsorption equilibrium data could be better described by the Freundlich equation. We also carried out consecutive adsorption-desorption experiments eight times to show that the APTEOS/SA has encouraging adsorption-desorption efficiencies. The results indicates that the prepared adsorbent is promising for using as an effective and economical adsorbent for Cr(III) ions removal., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Carbon nanodots (CDs) have been synthesized at gram scale with a high yield (41.8%) by carbonization of sucrose with oil acid in one simple step. The synthesized CDs are monodisperse with a narrow size distribution (average 1.84 nm in size), and show a high fluorescence quantum yield (21.6%) without passivation. The PL intensity of the obtained CDs is pH independent over a range of 2-8. Besides, their PL intensity remains unchanged even after six hours of UV excitation and six months of storage, exhibiting excellent stability. The obtained CDs have been used for cell imaging. The results demonstrate that the prepared CDs have great potential for real applications.

NiS nanoparticles (NiS NPs) have been hydrothermally prepared and characterized by the methods of X-ray diffraction, scanning electronic microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra, photoluminescence, and thermogravimetric analysis. NiS NPs exhibit fast adsorption in the removal of Congo red (CR) in aqueous solution, in which the pseudo-second-order model was the best to describe the adsorption kinetics, and the intraparticle diffusion was not only the rate-limiting step. The NiS NPs also exhibit efficient photocatalytic activity in the degradation of CR under visible-light irradiation, in which the 30 mg/L CR was almost completely degraded after illumination during 210 min. The •OH radicals in the process of photocatalytic degradation were observed by fluorescence technique.

A facile and effective sensor array consisting of three cataluminescence (CTL) sensors based on nanomaterial Y(2)O(3), γ-Al(2)O(3) and ZrO(2) as probes was firstly proposed for the molecular recognition and quantitative analysis of xylene isomers. Under the optimized conditions, the linear range of CTL intensity versus concentration of xylene isomers was 86.70-8670.00 mg m(-3). The use of a sensor array instead of a single sensor has provided a novel strategy for the process of identifying similar chemical compounds, which should have a bright future in environmental and industrial monitoring.

The transformation and metabolism of dietary compounds are affected significantly by gut microbiota. Hence, gut microbiota are used to improve bionic gastrointestinal tracts. The effect of the cp4-epsps gene on metal bioavailability was proved by the comparison of the affinity-liposome metal content ratio (AMCR) in transgenic and conventional crops. The bioavailability of V, Mn, Co, Ga, Ag, Ba, and Pb in roundup ready soybean decreased significantly because the ratio of AMCR (R(AMCR)) in the transgenic crop and its corresponding conventional type ranged from 0.36 to 0.69. In roundup ready maize, metal bioavailability decreased for Li and Cr (i.e., R(AMCR) was 0.26 and 0.39, respectively) but increased for V, Co, and Pb (i.e., R(AMCR) was 1.48, 2.07, and 2.12, respectively). Compared with conventional crops, safe dosage and maximum consumption of roundup ready crops were 1.59 times for soybean and 0.78 times for maize.

In plants, basic leucine zipper (bZIP) proteins regulate numerous biological processes such as seed maturation, flower and vascular development, stress signalling and pathogen defence. We have carried out a genome-wide identification and analysis of 125 bZIP genes that exist in the maize genome, encoding 170 distinct bZIP proteins. This family can be divided into 11 groups according to the phylogenetic relationship among the maize bZIP proteins and those in Arabidopsis and rice. Six kinds of intron patterns (a-f) within the basic and hinge regions are defined. The additional conserved motifs have been identified and present the group specificity. Detailed three-dimensional structure analysis has been done to display the sequence conservation and potential distribution of the bZIP domain. Further, we predict the DNA-binding pattern and the dimerization property on the basis of the characteristic features in the basic and hinge regions and the leucine zipper, respectively, which supports our classification greatly and helps to classify 26 distinct subfamilies. The chromosome distribution and the genetic analysis reveal that 58 ZmbZIP genes are located in the segmental duplicate regions in the maize genome, suggesting that the segment chromosomal duplications contribute greatly to the expansion of the maize bZIP family. Across the 60 different developmental stages of 11 organs, three apparent clusters formed represent three kinds of different expression patterns among the ZmbZIP gene family in maize development. A similar but slightly different expression pattern of bZIPs in two inbred lines displays that 22 detected ZmbZIP genes might be involved in drought stress. Thirteen pairs and 143 pairs of ZmbZIP genes show strongly negative and positive correlations in the four distinct fungal infections, respectively, based on the expression profile and Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis.

Nanometer SiO(2) was coated onto the inner wall of a slotted quartz tube atomizer (STAT) and then was used as a new atomizer (NSC- STAT) for the determination of Zn and Cu by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). Compared to conventional STAT-FAAS, the analytical performance of NSC-STAT-FAAS was improved as follows: (a) the linear range of calibration curves was expanded from 30.0-200.0 ng mL(-1) to 5.0-400.0 ng mL(-1) for Zn, and from 100.0-1000.0 ng mL(-1) to 50.0-2000.0 ng mL(-1) for Cu; and (b) the characteristic concentration was decreased from 6.0 ng mL(-1)/1% to 2.7 ng mL(-1)/1% for Zn and from 25.0 ng mL(-1)/1% to 10.1 ng mL(-1)/1% for Cu. NSC-STAT-FAAS was applied for the determination of Zn and Cu in edible plants, including herbal medicine, marine algae, tomato leaves (NIST 1573), and apple leaves (NIST 1515).

Argonaute (AGO) proteins are highly specialized small-RNA-binding modules and small RNAs are anchored to their specific binding pockets guiding AGO proteins to target mRNA molecules for silencing or destruction. The 135 full-length AGO protein sequences derived from 36 species covering prokaryote, archaea, and eukaryote are chosen for structural and functional analyses. The results show that bacteria and archaeal AGO proteins are clustered in the same clade and there exist multiple AGO proteins in most eukaryotic species, demonstrating that the increase of AGO gene copy number and horizontal gene transfer (HGT) have been the main evolutionary driving forces for adaptability and biodiversity. And the emergence of PAZ domain in AGO proteins is the unique evolutionary event. The analysis of middle domain (MID)-nucleotide contaction shows that either the position of sulfate I bond in Nc&#95;QDE2 or the site of phosphate I bond in Hs&#95;AGO2 represents the 5'-nucleotide binding site of miRNA. Also, H334, T335, and Y336 of Hs&#95;AGO1 can form hydrogen bonds with 3'-overhanging ends of miRNAs and the same situation exists in Hs&#95;AGO2, Hs&#95;AGO3, Hs&#95;AGO4, Dm&#95;AGO1, and Ce&#95;Alg1. Some PIWI domains containing conserved DDH motif have no slicer activity, and post-translational modifications may be associated with the endonucleolytic activities of AGOs. With the numbers of AGO genes increasing and fewer crystal structures available, the evolutionary and functional analyses of AGO proteins can help clarify the molecular mechanism of function diversification in response to environmental changes, and solve major issues including host defense mechanism against virus infection and molecular basis of disease., (Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The WRKY transcription factor family plays crucial roles in biotic responses, such as fungi, bacteria, viruses and nematode infections and insect attacks. In this article, multiple-strategy analyses of the three subgroups were performed in order to gain structural and evolutionary proofs of the overall WRKY family and unravel the functions possessed by each group or subgroup. Thus we analyzed the similarity of WRKY factors between maize and Arabidopsis based on homology modelling. The gene structure and motif analyses of Group II demonstrated that specific motifs existing in the given subgroups may contribute to the functional diversification of WRKY proteins and the two types of conserved intron splice sites suggest their evolutionary conservation. The evolutionary divergence time estimation of Group III proteins indicated that the divergence of Group III occurred during the Neogene period. Further, we focused on the roles of maize WRKYs in pathogen responses based on publicly available microarray experiments. The result suggested that some ZmWRKYs are expressed specifically under the infection of certain fungus, among which some are up-regulated and some are down-regulated, indicating their positive or negative roles in pathogen response. Also, some genes remain unchanged upon fungal infection. Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) analysis was performed using 62 fungal infection experiments to calculate the correlation between each pair of genes. A PCC value higher than 0.6 was regarded as strong correlation - in these circumstances, ninety pairs of genes showed a strong positive correlation, while fifteen pairs of genes displayed a strong negative correlation. These correlated genes form a co-regulatory network and help us investigate the existence of interactions between WRKY proteins.

The H5N1 HPAI virus has brought heavy loss to poultry industry. Although, there exists limited human-to-human transmission, it poses potential serious risks to public health. HA is responsible for receptor-binding and membrane-fusion and contains the host receptor-binding sites and major epitopes for neutralizing antibodies. To investigate molecular adaption of HPAI H5N1 viruses, we performed a phylogenetic analysis of HA sequences with 240 HPAI virus strains isolated from human. The topology of the tree reveals overall clustering of strains in four major clusters based on geographic location, and shows antigenic diversity of HA of human H5N1 isolates co-circulating in Asia, Africa, and Europe. The four clusters possess distinct features within the cleavage site and glycosylation sites, respectively. We identified six sites apparently evolving under positive selection, five of which persist in the population. Three positively selected sites are found to be located either within or flanking the receptor-binding sites, suggesting that selection at these sites may increase the affinity to human-type receptor. Furthermore, some sites are also associated with glycosylation and antigenic changes. In addition, two sites are found to be selected differentially in the two clusters. The analyses provide us deep insight into the adaptive evolution of human H5N1 viruses, show us several candidate mutations that could cause a pandemic, and suggest that efficiency measures should be taken to deal with potential risks.

The WRKY transcription factors function in plant growth and development, and response to the biotic and abiotic stresses. Although many studies have focused on the functional identification of the WRKY transcription factors, much less is known about molecular phylogenetic and global expression analysis of the complete WRKY family in maize. In this study, we identified 136 WRKY proteins coded by 119 genes in the B73 inbred line from the complete genome and named them in an orderly manner. Then, a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of five species was performed to explore the origin and evolutionary patterns of these WRKY genes, and the result showed that gene duplication is the major driving force for the origin of new groups and subgroups and functional divergence during evolution. Chromosomal location analysis of maize WRKY genes indicated that 20 gene clusters are distributed unevenly in the genome. Microarray-based expression analysis has revealed that 131 WRKY transcripts encoded by 116 genes may participate in the regulation of maize growth and development. Among them, 102 transcripts are stably expressed with a coefficient of variation (CV) value of <15%. The remaining 29 transcripts produced by 25 WRKY genes with the CV value of >15% are further analysed to discover new organ- or tissue-specific genes. In addition, microarray analyses of transcriptional responses to drought stress and fungal infection showed that maize WRKY proteins are involved in stress responses. All these results contribute to a deep probing into the roles of WRKY transcription factors in maize growth and development and stress tolerance.

The process from stress signal perception and the trigger of ABA biosynthesis to dynamic regulation of ABA level is an important stress signaling pathway in cells. Compared to the downstream events in ABA signal transduction, the researches in this field are relatively lagged. Expression of synthase genes, such as ZEP in roots and rate-limiting enzyme genes NCED, AtRGS1 and ABA2, can be activated in response to stresses. However, the expression of genes encoding degradative enzymes, including 7'-, 8'-, 9'-hydroxylase and glucosyltransferase, negatively regulates ABA accumulation. Meanwhile, the expressions of the synthases, such as ZEP and NCED3, are induced by increasing endogenous ABA contents. Additionally, the analyses of gene expression and source-sink dynamics indicates that sustained supply from root-sourced ABA is required for the maintenance of leaf ABA dynamic pool. It is notable that miRNAs should be involved in ABA signal origin and ABA level dynamic adjustment. Further dynamic analysis of ABA metabolism revealed that endogenous ABA signal levels are synergistically controlled by the expressions of synthases and degradative enzymes.

An electrically neutral cobalt complex, Co(Eim)(4)(NCS)(2) (Eim=1-ethylimidazole, NCS=isothiocyanate) was synthesized and its interaction with double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) was comprehensively studied by electrochemical methods on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The experimental results revealed that the cobalt complex could interact with dsDNA via a specific groove-binding mode with an affinity constant of 3.6×10(5)M(-1). The surface-based studies showed that Co(Eim)(4)(NCS)(2) could electrochemically accumulate within the immobilized dsDNA layer rather than single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) layer. Based on this fact, the cobalt complex was utilized as an electrochemical hybridization indicator for the detection of oligonucleotides related to CaMV35S promoter gene. The results showed that the developed biosensor presented very low background interference due to the negligible affinity of the Co(Eim)(4)(NCS)(2) complex with ssDNA. The hybridization specificity experiments further indicated that the biosensor could well discriminate the complementary sequence from the base-mismatched and the non-complementary sequences. The complementary target sequence could be quantified over the range from 5.0×10(-9)M to 2.0×10(-6)M with a detection limit of 2.0×10(-10)M., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Enantioseparation of naproxen was performed on an immobilized polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phase (CSP), Chiralpak IA, in the normal-phase mode. The effects of polar alcohol modifier in mobile phase and column temperature on retention, enantioseparation, and elution order were investigated. Two unusual phenomena were observed. One was solvent-induced reversal of elution order for the two enantiomers. Not only the type but also the content of polar alcohol modifier could induce the reversal. Another uncommon phenomenon was peak deformation under some chromatographic conditions., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The direct electron transfer of myoglobin (Mb) was achieved based on the immobilization of Mb/Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on glassy carbon electrode by multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs)-chitosan(Chit) film. The immobilized Mb displayed a pair of well-defined and reversible redox peaks with a formal potential (E(θ')) of -24 mV (vs. Ag/AgCl) in 0.1 M pH 7.0 phosphate buffer solution. The apparent heterogeneous electron transfer rate constants (k(s)) of Mb confined to Chit-MWNTs film was evaluated as 5.47 s(-1) according to Laviron's equation. The surface concentration (Γ(*)) of the electroactive Mb in the Chit-MWNTs film was estimated to be (4.16±0.35)×10(-9) mol cm(-2). Meanwhile, the catalytic ability of Mb toward the reduction of H(2)O(2) was studied. Its apparent Michaelis-Menten constant for H(2)O(2) was 0.024 mM, showing a good affinity. The linear range for H(2)O(2) determination was from 2.5×10(-5) M to 2.0×10(-4) M with a detection limit of 1.02×10(-6) M (S/N=3). Moreover, the biosensor displays rapid response to H(2)O(2) and good stability and reproducibility., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The influences of macronutrient enrichment on iron absorption, adsorption, and the bioconcentration factor (BCF) of iron by coastal diatoms were examined. In addition, the distribution of different iron size fractions in seawater in relation to two diatom species exposed to nutrient enrichment over an extended period (6 days for Thalassiosira weissflogii, and 4 days for Skeletonema costatum), was investigated. Iron concentrations were measured of seven size fractions: particles (>0.4 μm), colloidal particles (0.4 μm-100, 100-50, 50-30, 30-10, 10-3 kDa), and soluble species (<3 kDa). The absorption, adsorption, uptake, BCF of iron by the diatoms, and the iron species distribution in seawater were affected by the diatom species, as well as the nitrate (N) and phosphate (P) concentration. The addition of P could affect the iron internalization strategy. The content of soluble iron species was positively correlated with the amount of iron absorption by T. weissflogii, but it was not suitable for S. costatum., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The nanometer TiO(2) particle was coated onto the inner wall of a T-shaped quartz tube atomizer (QTA) and then was used as a new atomizer (NT-QTA) for the determination of Hg and Se by hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (HGAAS). After coating 67.4 mg TiO(2) on a quartz tube, the analytical performance of NT-QTA-HGAAS was compared to conventional QTA-HGAAS and it was improved as follows: (a) the linear range of the calibration curves was expanded from 10.0-80.0 ng mL(-1) to 5.0-150.0 ng mL(-1) for Hg, and from 10.0-70.0 ng mL(-1) to 5.0-100.0 ng mL(-1) for Se; (b) the characteristic concentration of was decreased from 2.8 ng mL(-1)/1% to 1.1 ng mL(-1)/1% for Hg and from 1.2 ng mL(-1)/1% to 0.8 ng mL(-1)/1% for Se; and (c) the interference from the coexistence of As on the determination of Hg and Se could be eliminated. The achieved technique was applied for the determination of Hg and Se in herbal medicines and hair., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Gram-negative bacteria are generally more tolerant to disinfectants than Gram-positive bacteria due to outer membrane (OM) barrier, but the tolerant mechanism is not well characterized. We have utilized comparative proteomic methodologies to characterize the OM proteins of E. coli K-12 K99+ in response to phenol stress and found that nine proteins were altered significantly. They were OM proteins OmpA, FadL, LamB, and OmpT, cytoplasmic-associated proteins AceA and EF-Tu, inner membrane protein AtpB, putative capsid protein Q8FewO, and unknown location protein Dps. They were reported here for the first time to be phenol-tolerant proteins. The alteration and functional characterization of the four OM proteins were further investigated using western blotting, genetically modified strains with gene deletion and gene complementation approaches. Our results characterized the functional OM proteins of E. coli in resistance to phenol, and provide novel insights into the mechanisms of bacterial disinfectant-tolerance and new drug targets for control of phenol-resistant bacteria.

The adsorption ability of duckweed (Lemna minor) powders for removing inorganic and organic mercury (methyl and ethyl mercury) has been studied using cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry. The optimal adsorption conditions were: (a) the pH value of the solution 7.0 for inorganic and ethyl mercury, 9.0 for methyl mercury, and (b) equilibrium adsorption time 10, 20, and 40 min for inorganic mercury, methyl mercury, and ethyl mercury, respectively. After adsorption by L. minor powder for 40 min, when the initial concentrations of inorganic and organic mercury were under 12.0 μg L(-1) and 50.0 μg L(-1), respectively, the residual concentrations of mercury could meet the criterion of drinking water (1.0 μg L(-1)) and the permitted discharge limit of wastewater (10.0 μg L(-1)) set by China and USEPA, respectively. Thorough removal of both inorganic and organic mercury from aqueous solutions was reported for the first time. The significant adsorption sites were C-O-P and phosphate groups by the surface electrostatic interactions with aqueous inorganic and organic mercury cations, and then the selective adsorption was resulted from the strong chelating interaction between amine groups and mercury on the surface of L. minor cells., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A new biomimetic digestion and absorption system, including in vitro bionic digestion and biomimetic membrane extraction, was used for the first time for the pretreatment of edible Laminaria japonica . After bionic digestion, 11 species of trace metals (V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Se, As, Cd, and Pb) in the resulting chyme were transformed into their final coordinated complexes and then absorbed by the biomembrane. Similar to the biomembrane between gastrointestinal tract and blood vessels, monolayer liposome was used for the first time as a biomembrane model. Affinity-monolayer liposome metals (AMLMs) were separated, determined by ICP-MS, and then used for the metal bioavailability assessment as the bioassimilated part. The action of gastrointestinal acidity and components (including digestive enzymes) was assessed on the basis of the concentration of AMLMs; the safe dosage and tolerable upper intake level of L. japonica for adults were proposed as 33.3 and 230.8 g/day, respectively.

Sample preparation is the first crucial step in the speciation analysis, bioavailability and risk assessment of trace metals in plant samples such as herb and vegetables. Two bionic technologies titled 'in vitro digestion' and 'extraction with biomembrane' were developed for pre-treatment of herbal decoction. The decoctions of Aconiteum carmichaeli and Paeonia lactiflora were digested at body temperature, at the acidity of the stomach or intestine and with inorganic and organic materials (digestive enzymes were included for whole-bionic and excluded for semi-bionic) found in the stomach or intestine. Being similar to the biomembrane between the gastrointestinal tract and blood vessels, monolayer liposome was used as a biomembrane model. Affinity-monolayer liposome metals and water-soluble metals were used for speciation analysis and bioavailability assessment of copper and zinc in herbal decoction. In the decoction of Aconiteum carmichaeli and Paeonia lactiflora, Zn was mainly absorbed in the intestine and Cu was mainly absorbed by both stomach and intestine. The safe dosage for males and females is below 257.1 g/day Aconiteum carmichaeli and 529.4 g/day Paeonia lactiflora., (Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Enantioseparation of 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol (BINOL) was performed on a polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phase, Chiralcel OD-H, under normal-phase mode. The effects of polar modifier in the mobile phase on the retention, enantioseparation and elution order were investigated in detail. Solvent-induced reversal of elution order for BINOL was observed. When linear alcohols were adopted, R-BINOL was always eluted first. S-BINOL was eluted first when 2-propanol was used as a polar modifier. Enantioseparation could not be obtained when sec-butyl alcohol or tert-butyl alcohol was used as a polar modifier. When isoamyl alcohol or cyclohexanol was used as a polar modifier, favorable enantioseparation was obtained as with 1-pentanol or 1-hexanol; also, R-BINOL was the first-eluted enantiomer. It is worth emphasizing that significantly better enantioseparation was obtained when higher alcohols were used as polar modifier of the mobile phase. A nonlinear characteristic for the lnalpha against 1/T plots was universally observed in this study though the lnk against 1/T plots exhibited a linear feature. Associated with the obtained thermodynamic parameters, some interesting inferences about chiral recognition mechanism were proposed., (Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A novel protein molecularly imprinted membrane (PMIM) was synthesized on the surface of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) through a surface molecular imprinting technique by using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as the template molecule, acrylamide (AAm) as the functional monomer, N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (NNMBA) as the cross-linker and ammonium persulphate [(NH(4))(2)S(2)O(8)] as the initiator. The amounts of raw materials were optimized in this paper and the suitable amount is 0.1g of CNTs, 0.02 g of BSA, 0.24 g of AAm, 0.1g of MBA and 0.025 mg of (NH(4))(2)S(2)O(8). The selective recognition ability of PMIM/MWNTs was evaluated using adsorption experiments. Maximum adsorption capacity was 5.53 microg/mg PMIM/MWNTs and a saturation value was achieved at a BSA concentration of 0.2mg/mL. The selectivity adsorption experiments showed that the PMIM/MWNTs also had higher adsorption capacities for BSA than for such molecules, as HSA, HB, pepsin and HRP. The PMIM/MWNTs displayed a 2.6-fold increase in affinity to BSA compared to the nPMIM/MWNTs. The PMIM/MWNTs, on the other hand, did not exhibit any significant change in affinity to other molecules compared to the nPMIM/MWNTs. In the experiment, the characteristics of the PMIM/MWNTs were analyzed using infrared spectroscopy and their configurations were observed using scanning electron microscopy., ((c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A novel method for preconcentration of Ti(IV) with nanometer size ZrO(2) and determination by spectrophotometry has been developed. Ti(IV) was selectively adsorbed on 300 mg ZrO(2) from 500 mL solution at pH 6.0, then eluted by 5 mL 11.3 mol L(-1) HF. The eluent added was diantipyrylmethane (DAPM, as chromogenic reagent) and ascorbic acid (as masking agent), used for the analysis of Ti(IV) by measuring the absorbance at 390 nm with spectrophotometry, based on the chromogenic reaction between the Ti(IV) and DAPM. This method gave a concentration enhancement of 100 for 500 mL sample, eliminated the sizable interferences on direct determination with spectrophotometry. Detection limit (3 sigma, n=11) of 0.1 microg L(-1) was obtained. The method was applied to determine the concentration of Ti(IV) in river water and seawater and the analytical recoveries of Ti(IV) added to samples were 97.6-101.3%.

In order to establish high-frequency regeneration and high-efficiency genetic transformation system in maize, the significance of the 11 factors influencing maize embryonic callus induction and 9 factors affecting embryonic callus differentiation was researched by orthogonal experiment. The results showed that genotype had highly significant impact on induction of embryonic callus. The concentration of 6-BA, AgNO3, 2,4-D, ABA, and medium are the significant factors. The Multi-comparison showed that ABA 2 mg/L has a significant influence. Among the callus differentiation factors, the genotype and 6-BA concentration showed a strong main effect, the concentrations of NAA, medium, KT and 2,4-D had significant impacts on callus differentiation. Southern blotting analysis demonstrated that the resistant callus rate under the selection pressure of 25 mg/L hygromycin was a reliable indicator for system optimization in resistance screening. The concentration of acetosyringone (AS) showed sensitive differences among genotypes. The highest transformation rate was found with the optimized combination of 24-25 degrees C for co-culture temperature, 0.7 ODx15 min for Agrobacterium tumefa-ciens concentration and incubation-time, and pH 5.5-6.2. By this optimized combination, the survival rate of resistant calli as an index for the stable transformation rates of inbred lines Huangzao 4 and Zong 31 by introducing GUS gene into maize inbred lines was as high as 48.6% and 46.2%, respectively.

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, [Cu(C(6)H(15)NO(3))(H(2)O)(2)]SO(4)·H(2)O, contains a complex cation, a sulfate anion and one uncoordinated water mol-ecule. In the complex cation, the Cu(II) ion is coordinated by five O atoms (three of which are from the triethano-lamine ligand and two from coordinated water mol-ecules) and one N atom of the triethano-lamine ligand in a typical Jahn-Teller-distorted octa-hedral geometry. Classical inter-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the cation, the sulfate anion and the water mol-ecule into a two-dimensional network.

In this work, the enantioseparations of 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol (BINOL) and its three derivatives were performed on an immobilized polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phase, Chiralpak IA, under normal-phase mode. The effects of the content of polar modifier in the mobile phase and the column temperature on the retention and enantioseparation were investigated in detail. Temperature-induced inversion of elution order for BINOL was observed directly when n-hexane/2-propanol (92/8, v/v) was used as mobile phase. The isoenantioselective temperature (T(iso)) was calculated to be 31.4 degrees C. When n-hexane/2-propanol/THF (93/2/5, v/v/v) was used as mobile phase, the T(iso) value decreased to -8.2 degrees C. Entropically driven enantioseparation which had practical application was obtained successfully (separation factor being 1.189 and 1.332 at 25 degrees C and 50 degrees C, respectively). The corresponding thermodynamic parameters for other three binaphthyl compounds were compared with that for BINOL. Some inferences about chiral recognition mechanism were stressed.

Discrimination of a mix-ligand polypyridyl copper complex, [Cu(phendione)(DAP)]SO(4) (phendione=1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione, DAP=2,3-diaminophenazine) to single-stranded (ss-) and double-stranded (ds-) DNA is presented in this paper. UV absorption spectra suggested that the copper complex could be a typical metallointercalator for dsDNA. Surface-based electrochemical experiments showed that [Cu(phendione)(DAP)](2+) underwent different electrochemical behaviors at ssDNA and dsDNA modified GCE because of the different affinities of the copper complex with ssDNA and dsDNA, which suggested that the copper complex could be an effective discriminator for ssDNA and dsDNA in sensing analysis. The different binding parameters such as binding constant (K) and binding site size (s), and the kinetic and thermodynamic binding parameters of [Cu(phendione)(DAP)](2+) with ssDNA and dsDNA were also evaluated, further quantificationally proving the discrimination ability.

Seven binaphthyl compounds were enantioseparated by HPLC with an immobilized polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phase, Chiralpak IA. The experiments were performed under normal-phase conditions. Effects of polar modifier and column temperature on the retention time and separation factor were evaluated. All examined compounds obtained complete resolutions. This was the unique one ever reported that 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol and its monoether, diether and diester derivatives could all be enantioseparated on a given CSP. Apparent thermodynamic parameters were also deduced from Van't Hoff plots, and some aspects of chiral recognition mechanism were discussed further.

In the title metal-organic framework complex, {[Cu(C(4)H(4)N(2))(2)](C(8)H(5)O(7)S).H(2)O}(n) or {[Cu(I)(pyz)(2)](H(2)SIP).H(2)O}(n) (pyz is pyrazine and H(3)SIP is 5-sulfoisophthalic acid or 3,5-dicarboxybenzenesulfonic acid), the asymmetric unit is composed of one copper(I) center, one whole pyrazine ligand, two half pyrazine ligands lying about inversion centres, one H(2)SIP(-) anion and one lattice water molecule, wherein each Cu(I) atom is in a slightly distorted tetrahedral coordination environment completed by four pyrazine N atoms, with the Cu-N bond lengths in the range 2.017 (3)-2.061 (3) A. The structure features a three-dimensional diamondoid network with one-dimensional channels occupied by H(2)SIP(-) anions and lattice water molecules. Interestingly, the guest-water hydrogen-bonded network is also a diamondoid network, which interpenetrates the metal-pyrazine network.

The title compound, [Cu(2)(C(14)H(8)O(4))(2)(C(10)H(8)N(2))(2)], is a centrosymmetric binuclear copper(II) complex, with a Cu⋯Cu separation of 6.136 (16) Å. The Cu atom displays a cis-CuN(2)O(2) square-planar geometry, although two long (> 2.43 Å) Cu⋯O contacts complete a distorted cis-CuN(2)O(4) octa-hedron. Extensive C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol-ecules into a three-dimensional network.