Rapid and label-free classification of pathogens based on light scattering,reduced power spectral features and support vector machine

The rapid identification of pathogens is crucial in controlling the food quality and safety. The proposed system for the rapid and label-free identification of pathogens is based on the principle of laser scattering from the bacterial microbes. The clinical prototype consists of three parts: the laser beam, photodetectors, and the data acquisition system. The bacterial testing sample was mixed with 10 mL distilled water and placed inside the machine chamber. When the bacterial microbes pass by the laser beam, the scattering of light occurs due to variation in size, shape, and morphology. Due to this reason, different types of pathogens show their unique light scattering patterns. The photo-detectors were arranged at the surroundings of the sample at different angles to collect the scattered light. The photodetectors convert the scattered light intensity into a voltage waveform. The waveform features were acquired by using the power spectral characteristics, and the dimensionality of extracted features was reduced by applying minimal-redundancy-maximal-relevance criterion (mRMR). A support vector machine (SVM) classifier was developed by training the selected power spectral features for the classification of three different bacterial microbes. The resulting average identification accuracies of E. faecalis,E. coli and S. aureus were 99%, 87%, and 94%, respectively. The overall experimental results yield a higher accuracy of 93.6%, indicating that the proposed device has the potential for label-free identification of pathogens with simplicity, rapidity, and cost-effectiveness.     

基于宏微辨析核心素养分析高中《化学1(必修)》教材*

教材分析是连接教材和课程的桥梁,基于宏观辨识和微观探析核心素养,比较分析了2004年版和2019年版高中《化学1(必修)》教材的特点。通过运用“三序结合”原则,从静态视角对比教材栏目设置、内容组织形式、核心素养呈现方式、学生认知水平以及作业布置形式等5个维度要素在宏微辨析核心素养领域的建构。分析结果显示,2019年版《化学1(必修)》教材在以上要素方面均围绕宏微辨析核心素养,呈现不同水平阶梯型设置。建议在“宏微符”概念形成的过程中增设更为细致的过渡内容,以及更为详尽的与教材配套的辅助内容,便于教材的二次开发。     

An Organoruthenium Anticancer Agent Shows Unexpected Target Selectivity For Plectin

Organometallic metal(arene) anticancer agents require ligand exchange for their anticancer activity and this is generally believed to confer low selectivity for potential cellular targets. However, using an integrated proteomics-based target-response profiling approach as a potent hypothesis-generating procedure, we found an unexpected target selectivity of a ruthenium(arene) pyridinecarbothioamide (plecstatin) for plectin, a scaffold protein and cytolinker, which was validated in a plectin knock-out model in vitro. Plectin targeting shows potential as a strategy to inhibit tumor invasiveness as shown in cultured tumor spheroids while oral administration of plecstatin-1 to mice reduces tumor growth more efficiently in the invasive B16 melanoma than in the CT26 colon tumor model.     

Extended specificity studies of mRNA assays used to infer human organ tissues and body fluids

Messenger RNA (mRNA) profiling is a technique increasingly applied for the forensic identification of body fluids and skin. More recently, an mRNA‐based organ typing assay was developed which allows for the inference of brain, lung, liver, skeletal muscle, heart, kidney, and skin tissue. When applying this organ typing system in forensic casework for the presence of animal, rather than human, tissue is an alternative scenario to be proposed, for instance that bullets carry cell material from a hunting event. Even though mRNA profiling systems are commonly in silico designed to be primate specific, physical testing against other animal species is generally limited. In this study, human specificity of the organ tissue inferring system was assessed against organ tissue RNAs of various animals. Results confirm human specificity of the system, especially when utilizing interpretation rules considering multiple markers per cell type. Besides, we cross‐tested our organ and body fluid mRNA assays against the target types covered by the other assay. Marker expression in the nontarget organ tissues and body fluids was observed to a limited extent, which emphasizes the importance of involving the case‐specific context of the forensic samples in deciding which mRNA profiling assay to use and when for interpreting results.     

Identification and quantitative analysis of physalin D and its metabolites in rat urine and feces by liquid chromatography with triple quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Physalin D is known to show extensive bioactivities. However, no excretion study has elucidated the excretion of physalin D and its metabolites. This study investigates the excretion of physalin D and its metabolites in rats. Metabolites in rat urine and feces were separated and identified by liquid chromatography with triple quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry. Furthermore, a validated high‐performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry method was developed to quantify physalin D, physalin D glucuronide, and physalin D sulfate in rat feces and urine after the intragastric administration of physalin D. The analyte showed good linearity over a wide concentration range (r  > 0.995), and the lower limit of quantification was 0.0532 μg/mL and 0.226 μg/g for urine and feces, respectively. Nine metabolites, including five phase I and four phase II metabolites, were identified and clarified after dosing in vivo. Only 4.0% of the gavaged dose, including physalin D and its phase II metabolites, was excreted in urine, whereas 10.8% was found in feces in the unchanged form. The results indicate that the extensive and rapid metabolism may be the main factors leading to the short half‐life of physalin D. These results can provide a basis for further studies on the structural modification and pharmacology of physalin D.     

The Analysis of Phenolic Compounds in Walnut Husk and Pellicle by UPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS and HPLC

Husk and pellicle as the agri-food waste in the walnut-product industry are in soaring demand because of their rich polyphenol content. This study investigated the differential compounds related to walnut polyphenol between husk and pellicle during fruit development stage. By using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-orbitrap (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap), a total of 110 bioactive components, including hydrolysable tannins, flavonoids, phenolic acids and quinones, were tentatively identified, 33 of which were different between husk and pellicle. The trend of dynamic content of 16 polyphenols was clarified during walnut development stage by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). This is the first time to comprehensive identification of phenolic compounds in walnut husk and pellicle, and our results indicated that the pellicle is a rich resource of polyphenols. The dynamic trend of some polyphenols was consistent with total phenols. The comprehensive characterization of walnut polyphenol and quantification of main phenolic compounds will be beneficial for understanding the potential application value of walnut and for exploiting its metabolism pathway.     

Metabolite Profiling and Characterization of LW6, a Novel HIF-1α Inhibitor,as an Antitumor Drug Candidate in Mice

A novel HIF (hypoxia-inducible factor)-1α inhibitor, the (aryloxyacetylamino)benzoic acid derivative LW6, is an anticancer agent that inhibits the accumulation of HIF-1α. The aim of this study was to characterize and determine the structures of the metabolites of LW6 in ICR mice. Metabolite identification was performed using a predictive multiple reaction monitoring-information dependent acquisition-enhanced product ion (pMRM-IDA-EPI) method in negative ion mode on a hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometer (QTRAP). A total of 12 metabolites were characterized based on their MS/MS spectra, and the retention times were compared with those of the parent compound. The metabolites were divided into five structural classes based on biotransformation reactions: amide hydrolysis, ester hydrolysis, mono-oxidation, glucuronidation, and a combination of these reactions. From this study, 2-(4-((3r,5r,7r)-adamantan-1-yl)phenoxy)acetic acid (APA, M7), the metabolite produced via amide hydrolysis, was found to be a major circulating metabolite of LW6 in mice. The results of this study can be used to improve the pharmacokinetic profile by lowering the clearance and increasing the exposure relative to LW6.     

运用综合手段研究铅锌硫化物精矿的氧化和鉴定其产物

南京关口每年从国外进口铅、锌精矿达几百万吨,随着我国国民经济的发展,作为重要有色金属来源的该矿种的进口量仍将逐年增加。硫化物精矿在运输和储存过程中都有可能发生氧化,由此导致金属品位的波动是常见现象,然而此前在这方面的报导甚少。为此,作者以铅锌硫化物精矿为例对其进行了模拟状态下的氧化实验并采用能谱、光学显微镜、化学物相分析、X射线衍射分析、扫描电镜等手段对氧化前及氧化后的样品进行了鉴定。结果表明,在模拟精矿储运条件下两种精矿的氧化皆甚为明显,铅精矿为1.5%,而锌精矿达到了14.5%,由此引起的品位变化是不可忽视的。鉴于有色金属硫化物精矿在储运过程中呈现了它们的易氧化性并对品位产生影响,所以有关这类矿产品的商贸过程中涉及取样、样品加工和保管、公证等问题,均应在科学实验基础上规范化。     

外泌体分离与纯化技术研究进展

外泌体是所有真核细胞分泌到细胞外的直径介于30～150 nm的一种膜性纳米囊泡,参与细胞间生物信号的传递。大量实验证据表明,外泌体参与多种生物功能并发挥重要作用,包括蛋白质、RNA和脂质等生物分子的转移及多种疾病生理和病理过程的调节,被认为是疾病诊断、治疗和预后的重要的生物标志物和药物载体,因此发展简单、高效、经济的外泌体分离与纯化技术将有助于疾病的早期诊断和精准治疗。目前,利用外泌体的物理化学和生物化学特性已开发出多种分离外泌体的技术,但仍缺乏标准化和规模化临床级外泌体的分离方法,从而限制了其临床应用。另外,对分离出的外泌体的特征、纯度和数量的鉴定是判断外泌体分离纯化方法优劣的重要指标。本文综述了外泌体分离与纯化技术以及鉴定方法的研究进展,主要讨论分离技术的机制、性能、挑战和前景以及外泌体的鉴定方法,以期为外泌体的分离纯化提供新的思路和解决策略。     

毒品与化学*

毒品与化学的种种纠葛在2018年中国毒品形势报告中得到了淋漓尽致的体现,因此为做好禁毒工作,必须厘清化学与毒品的关系。从为什么毒品是化学品(毒品的本质),毒品检验和识别,毒品成瘾的本质,由传统毒品到新型毒品的转变等4个方面系统阐述毒品与化学的关系。