Bubble collapse in compressible fluids using a spectral element marker particle method. Part 2. Viscoelastic fluids

This paper is concerned with the development of a high‐order numerical scheme for two‐phase viscoelastic flows. In the companion paper, herein referred to as Part 1, the scheme is applied to the modelling of two‐phase Newtonian flows. The particular problem of the collapse of a 2D bubble in the vicinity of a rigid boundary is considered. Attention is given to the construction of the most general form of the compressible Oldroyd B model that is consistent with the compressible Newtonian and upper‐convected Maxwell models in the appropriate limits. The governing equations are discretized using the spectral element method, and the two phases are modelled using a marker particle method. A comprehensive set of results is presented for the problem of bubble collapse near a rigid wall, and qualitative agreement is obtained with other numerical studies and experimental observations. Viscoelastic effects that are predicted include increased bubble oscillation with increasing Weissenberg number and considerable bubble deformation and cusping near the wall. Most importantly, it has been shown that viscoelasticity has the ability to prevent jet formation and therefore is likely to have a mitigating effect on cavitation damage. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Technical improvement of the TBP (tubulin‐based polymorphism) method for plant species detection,based on capillary electrophoresis

Nowadays, feed and food safety and traceability are of primary importance. Hence, a correct labeling of the different products is highly desirable in general, but mandatory for those people who are suffering from eating disorders and food allergies. Among the technologies that have been developed for feed and food analysis, the patented tubulin‐based polymorphism (TBP) method emerges as an easy, versatile, and inexpensive diagnostic tool. Initially used to fingerprint different plant species and varieties, TBP was then successfully applied to trace species in mixtures of plant origin such as commercial feeds. TBP is a DNA‐based molecular marker, that makes use of PCR for the selective amplification of plant β‐tubulin introns. Amplified fragments are then separated by PAGE and visualized by silver staining. We have now developed an improved version of TBP. Based on capillary electrophoresis and fluorescence detection, it makes the method automatic, more sensible, reproducible, and faster. Compared to the classic TBP, this new version allows to obtain a better data resolution and an easier interpretation of the results, clearing the way to large‐scale feed/food diagnostics.     

From polymeric particles to multifunctional nanocapsules for biomedical applications using the miniemulsion process

The miniemulsions process represents a versatile tool for the formation of polymeric nanoparticles consisting of different kinds of polymer as obtained by a variety of polymerization types ranging from radical, anionic, cationic, enzymatic polymerization to polyaddition, and polycondensation. The process perfectly allows the encapsulation of hydrophilic and hydrophobic liquids and solids in polymeric shells, molecularly dissolved dyes or other components. In combination with a specific functionalization of the nanoparticles' or nanocapsules' surfaces and the possibility to release substances in a defined way from the interior, complex nanoparticles or nanocapsules are obtained, which are ideally suited for application in biomedical application as marker and targeted drug‐delivery system. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 493–515, 2010     

Recent analytical approaches in quality control of traditional Chinese medicines—A review

Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) are gaining more and more attention all over the world, due to their specific theory and long historical clinical practice. But the uncontrollable quality is a bottleneck for its modernization and globalization. This paper reviewed the recent analytical methods in the quality control of TCMs, including screening strategies of bioactive markers from TCMs through biochromatographic methods, the traditional chromatographic methods, DNA methods, as well as the spectroscopic methods, including FT-IR, NIR and NMR. The comprehensive methods, such as fingerprint and multi-component quantification are emphasized; hyphenated techniques, like HPLC-MS, GC-MS, CE-MS, LC-NMR, chemometric methods, and combination of chemical and biological methods, such as biofingerprint, metabolic fingerprint are now more and more widely used in TCMs. In a few word, the analysis and quality control of TCMs are moving towards an integrative and comprehensive direction, in order to better address the inherent holistic nature of TCMs.     

Micro-plate magnetic chemiluminescence immunoassay and its applications in carcinoembryonic antigen analysis

A micro-plate magnetic chemiluminescence immunoassay was developed for rapid and high throughput detection of carcinoembryonic antigens (CEA) in human sera. This method was based on a sandwich immunoreaction of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled anti-CEA antibodies, CEA antigens, and horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated anti-CEA antibodies in mi- cro-plate. The immunomagnetic particles coated with anti-FITC antibodies were used as the solid phase for the immunoassay. The separation procedure was c...     

Correcting for biases in affected sib-pair linkage analysis caused by uncertainty in sibling relationship

When there is uncertainty in sibling relationship,the classical affected sib-pair(ASP) linkage tests may be severely biased.This can happen,for example,if some of the half sib-pairs are mixed with full sib-pairs.The genomic control method has been used in association analysis to adjust for population structures.We show that the same idea can be applied to ASP linkage analysis with uncertainty in sibling relationship.Assuming that,in addition to the candidate marker,null markers that are unlinked to the disease locus are also genotyped,we may use the information on these loci to estimate the proportion of half sib-pairs and to correct for the bias and variance distortion caused by the heterogeneity of sibling relationship.Unlike in association studies,the null loci are not required to be matched with the candidate marker in allele frequency for ASP linkage analysis.This makes our approach flexible in selecting null markers.In our simulations,using a number of 30 or more null loci can effectively remove the bias and variance distortion.It is also shown that,even the null loci are weakly linked to the disease locus,the proposed method can also provide satisfactory correction.     

MALDI‐based intact spore mass spectrometry of downy and powdery mildews

Fast and easy identification of fungal phytopathogens is of great importance in agriculture. In this context, matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (MALDI‐TOF MS) has emerged as a powerful tool for analyzing microorganisms. This study deals with a methodology for MALDI‐TOF MS‐based identification of downy and powdery mildews representing obligate biotrophic parasites of crop plants. Experimental approaches for the MS analyses were optimized using Bremia lactucae, cause of lettuce downy mildew, and Oidium neolycopersici, cause of tomato powdery mildew. This involved determining a suitable concentration of spores in the sample, selection of a proper MALDI matrix, looking for the optimal solvent composition, and evaluation of different sample preparation methods. Furthermore, using different MALDI target materials and surfaces (stainless steel vs polymer‐based) and applying various conditions for sample exposure to the acidic MALDI matrix system were investigated. The dried droplet method involving solvent evaporation at room temperature was found to be the most suitable for the deposition of spores and MALDI matrix on the target and the subsequent crystallization. The concentration of spore suspension was optimal between 2 and 5 × 10⁹ spores per ml. The best peptide/protein profiles (in terms of signal‐to‐noise ratio and number of peaks) were obtained by combining ferulic and sinapinic acids as a mixed MALDI matrix. A pretreatment of the spore cell wall with hydrolases was successfully introduced prior to MS measurements to obtain more pronounced signals. Finally, a novel procedure was developed for direct mass spectra acquisition from infected plant leaves. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Advances in cancer tissue microarray technology: Towards improved understanding and diagnostics

Over the past few years, tissue microarray (TMA) technology has been established as a standard method for assessing the expression of proteins or genes across large sets of tissue specimens. It is being adopted increasingly among leading research institutions around the world and utilized in cancer research in parallel with the cDNA microarray technology. This article summarizes various aspects of cancer understanding and diagnostics in which TMA has had great impact. Although tremendous advances continue to be made to facilitate imaging and archiving of TMA specimens, automatic evaluation and quantitative analysis of TMA still remains an important challenge for modern investigators.     

An ultrasensitive streptavidin-functionalized carbon nanotubes platform for chemiluminescent immunoassay

An ultrasensitive chemiluminescent (CL) immunoassay system was developed for the detection of tumor marker. This sandwich CL assay method was for the first time designed based on a highly efficient streptavidin-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) platform. The glass slide was firstly silylanized with 3-gycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS) to generate surface epoxy group functionality. Subsequently, the MWCNTs/chitosan solution was mixed with streptavidin solution, and a certain amount of the resulting suspension was dropped on the surface of the epoxy-activated glass substrate to form a firm streptavidin-functionalized MWCNTs platform. The biofunctionalized-MWCNTs platform shows large reactive surface area and excellent biocompatibility. The capture antibody can be efficiently immobilized on the biosensing platform surface based on the highly selective recognition of streptavidin to biotinylated antibody. Using α-fetoprotein (AFP) as model analyte, the proposed method exhibits wide linear range of 0.001–0.1 ng mL⁻¹ with a low detection limit down to 0.52 pg mL⁻¹. The CL immunoassay system displays 7.9-fold increase in the detection sensitivity compared to the immunosensor without using MWCNTs. Moreover, the resulting immunosensor demonstrates excellent specificity, good reproducibility, and acceptable stability. This streptavidin-functionalized MWCNTs platform opens a novel and promising avenue for fabricating ultrasensitive CL immunoassay system.     

超高效液相色谱-串联质谱法测定乳与乳制品中牛乳铁蛋白

建立了超高效液相色谱-串联质谱技术定量检测乳制品中牛乳铁蛋白含量的方法。样品经脱脂、酶解后,利用超高效液相色谱-四极杆/静电场轨道阱高分辨质谱（UPLC-Q/Exactive-HRMS）和Protein Pilot软件分析,实现了乳铁蛋白及其肽段的鉴定;通过初级局部序列搜索工具（basic local alignment search tool,BLAST）与Uniprot数据库对比分析筛选出牛乳铁蛋白的8个特征肽段;选择其中3个响应强度高、稳定性好的特征肽段进一步通过超高效液相色谱-三重四极杆质谱（UPLC-QqQ-MS）进行验证和多反应监测（MRM）定量研究,并考察了空白基质匹配的外标法和内标法对乳铁蛋白检测结果的差异。采用外标法定量时,3个肽段在各自范围内线性关系良好,检出限为0.023~0.041 mg/kg,定量限为0.077~0.137 mg/kg,平均回收率为93.8%~103.9%,日内精密度≤8.8%,日间精密度≤9.5%。该方法抗干扰能力强,灵敏度高,重复性好,适用于乳及乳制品中牛乳铁蛋白的含量测定。