Nano-sized Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes and their use as a precursor for synthesis of CuO and ZnO nanoparticles: A study on their sonochemical synthesis,characterization, and DNA-binding/cleavage,anticancer, and antimicrobial activities

Two new divalent copper (C1) and zinc (C2) chelates having the formulae [M(PIMC)₂] (where M = Cu(II), Zn(II) and PIMC = Ligand [(E)-3-(((3-hydroxypyridin-2-yl)imino)methyl)-4H-chromen-4-one] were obtained and characterized by several techniques. Structures and geometries of the synthesized complexes were judged based on the results of alternative analytical and spectral tools supporting the proposed formulae. IR spectral data confirmed the coordination of the ligands to the copper and zinc centers as monobasic tridentate in the enol form. Thermal analysis, UV-Vis spectra and magnetic moment confirmed the geometry around the copper center to be tetrahedral, square pyramidal and octahedral. Study of the binding ability of the synthesized compounds with Circulating tumor DNA (CT-DNA) bas been evaluated applying UV-Vis spectral titration and viscosity measurements. The copper and zinc oxides were achieved from the copper and zinc nano-particles structures Schiff base complexes as the raw material after calcination for 5 hr at 600°C. On the other hand, synthesized of C1 and C2 NPs were used as suitable precursors to the preparation of CuO and ZnO NPs. Finally, the synthesized of the two complexes exhibited enhanced activity against the tested bacterial (Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia Coli) and fungal strains (Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus) as compared to HPIMC. Among all these synthesized compounds, C1 exhibits good cleaving ability compared to other newly synthesized C2.     

High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic Method for the Simultaneous Determination of Four Flavonols in Food Supplements and Pharmaceutical Formulations

A method using high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) as a powerful separation technique has been developed for the simultaneous determination of the four flavonols rutin, quercetin, kaempferol and isorhamnetin in food supplements and pharmaceutical formulations. The chromatographic separation was achieved in 36?min using a Symmetry C₁₈ column (250?×?3?mm; 5?µm) as the stationary phase and a mixture of methanol, acetonitrile, and pH 2.5 aqueous acetic acid as the mobile phase in gradient elution mode. The analytical wavelengths were 256?nm for rutin, quercetin and isorhamnetin, and 368?nm for kaempferol. An ultrasound-assisted extraction protocol was performed using methanol as solvent. The detection and quantification limits were lower than 0.03?µg mL^?1 and 0.08?µg mL^?1, respectively. The inter-day and intra-day precisions were less than 4.8 and 5.1%, respectively, and the average recoveries were in the range from 96 to 107%. The method was applied for the determination of the studied flavonols in food supplements and pharmaceutical preparations. The satisfactory recovery values demonstrate the potential of the developed method for the determination of the analytes in these samples. In addition, the method is suitable for routine quality control due its ease of operation.     

On‐chip technology for single‐cell arraying,electrorotation‐based analysis and selective release

This paper reports a method for label‐free single‐cell biophysical analysis of multiple cells trapped in suspension by electrokinetic forces. Tri‐dimensional pillar electrodes arranged along the width of a microfluidic chamber define actuators for single cell trapping and selective release by electrokinetic force. Moreover, a rotation can be induced on the cell in combination with a negative DEP force to retain the cell against the flow. The measurement of the rotation speed of the cell as a function of the electric field frequency define an electrorotation spectrum that allows to study the dielectric properties of the cell. The system presented here shows for the first time the simultaneous electrorotation analysis of multiple single cells in separate micro cages that can be selectively addressed to trap and/or release the cells. Chips with 39 micro‐actuators of different interelectrode distance were fabricated to study cells with different sizes. The extracted dielectric properties of Henrietta Lacks, human embryonic kidney 293, and human immortalized T lymphocytes cells were found in agreements with previous findings. Moreover, the membrane capacitance of M17 neuroblastoma cells was investigated and found to fall in in the range of 7.49 ± 0.39 mF/m².     

Structure transition and photoluminescence of CdS/Si nanoheterostructure array on thermal annealing

CdS/Si heterojunctions have been prepared through growing CdS nanocrystallites (nc-CdS) on the silicon nanoporous pillar array (Si-NPA) by the chemical bath deposition method. Cadmium nanocrystallites (nc-Cd) have been observed and ascribed to the reducibility of Si-NPA. The reason for the appearance of CdO is indistinct and the related work will be done in the future. The blue, green and red emissions are ascribed to the silicon oxide layer, band gap of nc-CdS and the sulphur vacancies, respectively. Redshift and blueshift with the annealing temperature about green emissions are contributed to quantum size effect and the structure transition from nc-Cd to CdO. It is beneficial for investigating the structures and defects to the application of CdS/Si in the optoelectronic field.     

Analyzing the coexistence of DSRC and Wi-Fi networks using the Poisson line Cox process

Vehicular networks can aid in traffic monitoring, autonomous driving, and car accidents prevention. Yet, the deployment of these networks has been delayed due to the limited spectrum, especially for the case of unlicensed operations. To handle this issue, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed to permit Wi-Fi devices to operate in the 5.9 GHz band allocated to the intelligent transportation system (ITS). In a recent work, we analyzed the impact of the coexistence of dedicated short range communications (DSRC) and Wi-Fi on future DSRC network deployments by developing a stochastic geometry analytical model that considers a dynamic medium access probability (MAP) of DSRC nodes which uses carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA). This previous work was based on the standard 2D homogeneous Poisson Point Process (PPP) model. In this work, we model the roads using the more applicable but more complex Poisson line process (PLP) Cox point process. We generate performance metrics represented through coverage probability and area system throughput, and we compare these results to our earlier work. The importance of this work is two-fold. First, it allows a further understanding of the impact of DSRC-Wi-Fi coexistence on future DSRC network deployments, and second, it highlights the effectiveness of the PLP in modeling the distribution of vehicles in an area by producing more accurate performance results.     

Development of nanomaterial chemosensors for toxic metal ions sensing

Heavy metal ions are harmful to aquatic life and humans owing to their high toxicity and non‐biodegradability, so their removal from wastewater is an important task. Therefore, this work focuses on designing suitable, simple and economical nanosensors to detect and remove these metal ions with high selectivity and sensitivity. Based on this idea, different types of mesoporous materials such as hexagonal SBA‐15, cubic SBA‐16 and spherical MCM‐41, their chloro‐functionalized derivatives, as well as 4‐(4‐nitro‐phenylazo)‐naphthalen‐1‐ol (NPAN) azo dye have been synthesized, with the aim of designing some optical nanosensors for metal ions sensing applications. The mentioned azo dye has been anchored into the chloro‐functionalized mesoporous materials. The designed nanosensors were characterized using scanning and transmission electron microscopy as well as Fourier transform infrared and UV–visible spectral analysis, nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms, low‐angle X‐ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analyses. Their optical sensing to various toxic metal ions such as Cd (II), Hg (II), Mn (II), Fe (II), Zn (II) and Pb (II) at different values of pH (1.1, 4.9, 7 and 12) was investigated. The optimization of experimental conditions, including the effect of pH and metal ion concentration, was examined. The experimental results showed that the solution pH had a major impact on metal ion detection. The optical nanosensors respond well to the tested metal ions, as reflected by the enhancement in both absorption and emission spectra upon adding different concentrations of the metal salts and were fully reversible on adding ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid or citric acid to the formed complexes. High values of the binding constants for the designed nanosensors were observed at pHs 7 and 12, confirming the strong chelation of different metals to the nanosensor at these pHs. Also, high binding constants and sensitivity were observed for NPAN‐MCM‐41 as a nanosensor to detect the different metal ions. From the obtained results, we succeeded in transforming the harmful azo dye into an environmentally friendly form via designing of the optical nanosensors used to detect toxic metal ions in wastewater with high sensitivity.     

拉曼光谱编码的荧光液相生物芯片检测系统研究

随着医疗诊断需求的增加，生物分子检测技术越来越受到人们的重视，液相生物芯片技术作为一种高通量，多通道的分子检测手段在近几年得到了飞速发展。通过层层自组装方法制备以微片为载体的拉曼光谱编码液相生物芯片，并利用自行搭建的一套高灵敏度、高分辨率的光学系统，实现对液相生物芯片的定性与定量分析。光学系统由拉曼光谱检测系统与荧光显微成像系统耦合而成。在拉曼光谱检测系统中激光器发射出785 nm波长的激光，通过二向色镜，带反反射镜与物镜汇聚到样品上，样品产生的拉曼散射光，经物镜，带反反射镜，二向色镜与拉曼滤波片，最后通过凹透镜聚焦到光谱仪的狭缝上，光谱仪色散实现在线阵CCD上拉曼光谱的获取。荧光显微成像系统应用光学成像原理，通过调节凹透镜与405 nm的激发光之间的距离，使激发光通过物镜均匀的照射到样品之上，样品激发出的荧光，通过物镜，带反反射镜，二向色镜，滤波片与相应的凹透镜，最后成像到面阵CCD上。改进传统便携式拉曼光谱检测系统光路并选用相应波段的带反反射镜与焦距20倍的物镜完成拉曼光谱检测系统与荧光显微成像系统的耦合。为了减少两路系统之间的相互影响选用合适的二向色镜以及滤波片，在提高耦合系统获取数据的准确性中有着重要的作用。该系统通过对反应之后的液相生物芯片进行拉曼光谱检测，以完成对每个编码玻片的定性识别，即解码；同时激发反应后液相生物芯片的荧光并采集荧光强度图，根据每个解码玻片上的荧光强度值完成对目标检测物的定量分析。区别于传统荧光编码液相生物芯片, 拉曼光谱编码具有稳定性更强，光谱分辨率更高等优点。该光学系统集拉曼光谱检测系统与荧光显微成像系统于一体，解决了目前未有基于拉曼编码的液相生物芯片的检测系统的问题，并且可同时对多种目标物进行识别和定量分析，提升了实验结果的准确性。     

Polyphenolic profiling of Ipomoea carnea Jacq. by HPLC-DAD and its implications in oxidative stress and cancer

Ipomoea carnea Jacq. is an important folklore medicinal plant, assessed for its underexplored biological potential. Antioxidant, cytotoxic, antiproliferative and polyphenolic profile of whole plant was evaluated using various techniques. Maximum extract recovery (29% w/w), phenolic [13.54 ± 0.27 μg GAE/mg dry weight (DW)] and flavonoid (2.11 ± 0.10 μg QE /mg DW) content were recorded in methanol-distilled water (1:1) flower extract. HPLC-DAD analysis quantified substantial amount of six different polyphenols ranging from 0.081 to 37.95 μg/mg extract. Maximum total antioxidant and reducing potential were documented in methanol-distilled water and acetone-distilled water flower extracts (42.62 ± 0.47 and 24.38 ± 0.39 μg AAE/mg DW) respectively. Ethanol-chloroform root extract manifested highest free radical scavenging (IC₅₀ of 61.22 μg/mL) while 94.64% of the extracts showed cytotoxicity against brine shrimps. Ethanol leaf extract exhibited remarkable activity against THP-1 cell line (IC₅₀ = 8 ± 0.05 μg/mL) and protein kinases (31 mm phenotype bald zone).