Nanocomposite hydrogel consisting of Na‐montmorillonite with enhanced mechanical properties

A new kind of nanocomposite (NC) hydrogel with Na‐montmorillonite (MMT) is presented in this article. The NC hydrogels were synthesized by free radical copolymerization of acrylamide and (3‐acrylamidopropyl) trimethylammonium chloride (ATC) in the presence of MMT and N,N′‐methylene‐bis‐acrylamide used as chemical cross‐linker. Due to the cation‐exchange reaction between MMT and ATC (cationic monomer) during the synthesis of NC hydrogels, MMT platelets were considered chemical “plane” cross‐linkers, different from “point” cross‐linkers. With increasing amount of MMT, the crosslinking degree enhanced, causing a decrease of the swelling degree at equilibrium. Investigations of mechanical properties indicated that NC hydrogels exhibited enhanced strength and toughness, which resulted from chemical interaction between exfoliated MMT platelets and polymer chains in hydrogels. Dynamic shear measurements showed that both storage modulus and loss modulus increased with increasing MMT content. The idea described here provided a new route to prepare hydrogels with high mechanical properties by using alternative natural Na‐MMT. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 1020–1026     

A Magnetic Nanoparticle-Based Time-Resolved Fluoroimmunoassay for Determination of the Cytokeratin 19 Fragment in Human Serum

A sensitive, rapid and novel measurement method for cytokeratin 19 fragment (CYFRA 21–1) in human serum by magnetic particle-based time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay (TRFIA) is described. Built on a sandwich-type immunoassay format, analytes in samples were captured by one monoclonal antibody coating onto the surface of magnetic beads and “sandwiched” by another monoclonal antibody labeled with europium chelates. The coefficient variations of the method were lower than 7 %, and the recoveries were in the range of 90–110 % for serum samples. The lower limit of quantitation of the present method for CYFRA 21–1 was 0.78 ng/ml. The correlation coefficient of CYFRA 21–1 values obtained by our novel TRFIA and CLIA was 0.980. The present novel TRFIA demonstrated high sensitivity, wider effective detection range and excellent reproducibility for determination of CYFRA 21–1 can be useful for early screening and prognosis evaluation of patients with non-small cell lung cancer.     

Target cell extraction coupled with LC‐MS/MS analysis for screening potential bioactive components in Ginkgo biloba extract with preventive effect against diabetic nephropathy

A rapid and useful approach for screening potential bioactive components in Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) with preventive effect against diabetic nephropathy (DN) was developed using mesangial cells extraction coupled with high‐performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) analysis. Mesangial cells were first divided into two groups according to their treatments with high glucose or high glucose plus GBE. After incubation for 4, 8, 12, 16, 24 and 48 h, the cells were harvested and extracted with 40% acetic acid in water before LC‐MS/MS analysis. Then, 19 compounds and five metabolites were found to selectively combine with mesangial cells. Notably, compounds including quercetin and rutin were identified or tentatively characterized according to the results of retention time and MS spectra, which is highly consistent with our previous reports that quercetin and rutin are potent protective agents against glomerulosclerosis in DN. Therefore, all these results indicate that target cell extraction coupled with LC‐MS/MS analysis can be successfully applied for predicting the bioactive components in GBE with preventive effect against DN. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The High Energy X-ray telescope (HE) onboard the Insight-HXMT astronomy satellite

The Insight-Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope(Insight-HXMT) is a broadband X-ray and γ-ray(1-3000 ke V) astronomy satellite. One of its three main telescopes is the High Energy X-ray telescope(HE). The main detector plane of HE comprises 18 Na I(Tl)/Cs I(Na) phoswich detectors, where Na I(Tl) is used as the primary detector to measure ~ 20-250 ke V photons incident from the field of view(FOV) defined by collimators, and Cs I(Na) is used as the active shielding detector to Na I(Tl) by pulse shape discrimination. Additionally, Cs I(Na) is used as an omnidirectional γ-ray monitor. The HE collimators have a diverse FOV,i.e. 1.1°×5.7°(15 units), 5.7°×5.7°(2 units), and blocked(1 unit). Therefore, the combined FOV of HE is approximately5.7°×5.7°. Each HE detector has a diameter of 190 mm resulting in a total geometrical area of approximately 5100 cm2, and the energy resolution is ~15% at 60 ke V. For each recorded X-ray event by HE, the timing accuracy is less than 10 μs and the deadtime is less than 10 μs. HE is used for observing spectra and temporal variability of X-ray sources in the 20-250 ke V band either by pointing observations for known sources or scanning observations to unveil new sources. Additionally, HE is used for monitoring the γ-ray burst in 0.2-3 Me V band. This paper not only presents the design and performance of HE instruments but also reports results of the on-ground calibration experiments.     

Schauder estimates for higher-order parabolic systems with time irregular coefficients

We prove Schauder estimates for solutions to both divergence and non-divergence type higher-order parabolic systems in the whole space and a half space. We also provide an existence result for the divergence type systems in a cylindrical domain. All coefficients are assumed to be only measurable in the time variable and Hölder continuous in the spatial variables.     

n-In0.35Ga0.65N/p-Si异质结的制备及其电学性能研究

采用双光路双靶材脉冲激光沉积(PLD)系统在p-Si衬底上外延生长InGaN薄膜,研究了InGaN薄膜的显微组织结构和n-InGaN/p-Si异质结的电学性能。研究表明,InGaN薄膜为单晶结构,沿[0001]方向择优生长,薄膜表面光滑致密,In的原子含量为35%。霍尔(Hall)效应测试表明In_0.35Ga_0.65N薄膜呈n型半导体特性,具有高的载流子浓度和迁移率及低的电阻率。I-V曲线分析表明In_0.35Ga_0.65N/p-Si异质结具有良好的整流特性,在±4 V时的整流比为25,开路电压为1.32 V。In_0.35Ga_0.65N/p-Si异质结中存在热辅助载流子隧穿和复合隧穿两种电流传输机制。经拟合,得到异质结的反向饱和电流为1.05×10^-8 A,势垒高度为0.86 eV,理想因子为6.87。