Ratiometric Detection of microRNA Using Hybridization Chain Reaction and Fluorogenic Silver Nanoclusters

miRNA (miR)-155 is a potential biomarker for breast cancers. We aimed at developing a nanosensor for miR-155 detection by integrating hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and silver nanoclusters (AgNCs). HCR serves as an enzyme-free and isothermal amplification method, whereas AgNCs provide a built-in fluorogenic detection probe that could simplify the downstream analysis. The two components were integrated by adding a nucleation sequence of AgNCs to the hairpin of HCR. The working principle was based on the influence of microenvironment towards the hosted AgNCs, whereby unfolding of hairpin upon HCR has manipulated the distance between the hosted AgNCs and cytosine-rich toehold region of hairpin. As such, the dominant emission of AgNCs changed from red to yellow in the absence and presence of miR-155, enabling a ratiometric measurement of miR with high sensitivity. The limit of detection (LOD) of our HCR-AgNCs nanosensor is 1.13 fM in buffered solution. We have also tested the assay in diluted serum samples, with comparable LOD of 1.58 fM obtained. This shows the great promise of our HCR-AgNCs nanosensor for clinical application.     

Structure of Tetra[β-(1,2,4-triazole-1-yl)propiophenone] Dichloro Nickel(II) Solvate Hexahydrate Complex: [NiCl_2(C_2H_2N_3CH_2CH_2COPh)_4]·6H_2O

IntroductionRecently ,thecompoundscontaining 1H 1,2 ,4 tria zolegrouphaveattractedmuchinterestbecausetheyex hibitsomefungicidalactivity ,plantgrowthregulatingac tivity ,1antibacterialactivityagainstPucciniareconditeandrootsgrowthregulationforcucumber .2 Also ,suchcom poundsareincreasinglybeingstudiedbecauseofthecoor dinationchemistryoftriazolesactingasligandsintransi tionmetalcompounds .Asamatteroffact ,thetriazolederivativeshavebeenextensivelyusedasterminalandbridgingligands ,andtheyleadto…     

二甲胺修饰戊二醛交联壳聚糖树脂的制备及性能

研究了在均匀水相介质条件下，采用戊二醛稀溶液制备交联壳聚糖树脂的方法，并以三聚氯氰为活化剂，合成了二甲胺修饰戊二醛交联壳聚糖树脂．研究了该树脂的红外光谱及吸附性能．该树脂对铜(Ⅱ)和牛血清白蛋白(BSA)的吸附容量分别为42mg／g(干)和940mg／g(干)，其吸附行为均符合Freundlich等温吸附模型．该树脂制备工艺简单，机械强度较好，可作为金属离子或蛋白质分离纯化的吸附剂和色谱填料．     

Synthesis, Structure and Biological Activities of Novel Triazole Compounds Containing N,N-Dialkyldithiocarbamate Moiety

Introduction As an important type of fungicides, triazole compounds are highly efficient, low poisonous and inward absorbent.1-3 At present, the studies on triazole derivatives are mainly concentrated on compounds with triazole as the only active group. The report of triazole compounds that contain both triazole group and other active group in a single molecule has rarely been found. Dialkyl-substituted dithiocarbamate salts have also shown interesting biological effects.4 N,N-Dialkyldithio-…     

Electrochemical Characteristics of Mg0.9Ti0.1-xZrxNi （x=0.02, 0.04, 0.06） Alloys

Mg-based hydrogen storage alloys Mg0.9Ti0.1-xZrxNi (x=0.02, 0.04, 0.06) were successfully prepared by means of mechanical alloying (MA). The effects of Zr addition on the discharge capacity and the cycle performance of the Mg-based electrodes were also studied. It was found that the discharge capacities were improved with addition of a small amount of Zr and the cycle performances of the alloy were stabilized with the addition of Ti. The effects of surface modification or coating on the properties of Mg0.9Ti0.06Zr0.04Ni were also studied. The results indicated that coating with graphite improved both the discharge capacity and cycle life of the amorphous Mg0.9Ti0.06Zr0.04Ni electrode.     

Investigations on Preparation,Crystal Structure and Thermal Stability of Bis(O-ethylcarbonodithiolato-S,S′)(1,10-phenanthroline-N~1,N~(10))cobalt(II) Complex:[Co(Et-XA)_2·phen]·H_2O (XA=xanthate)

IntroductionTheincreasingcommercialvalueoftransitionmetalcomplexesofxanthateshasarousedconsiderableinterestintheirchemistry .Whiletheiranalyticalapplicationsarewellknown ,1theyarenowfindingextensiveuseinvulcan izationofrubber ,frothfloatationprocessforconcentrationofsulphideores ,asantioxidants ,lubricants ,2 ,3andhavebeenfoundtopossessfungicidalandinsecticidalactivi ties .4 Recently ,molecularrecognitionbetweenhostandguestmolecules ,inclusionphenomenaandnoncovalentmolecularinteractionarefunda…     

A universal temperature controlled membrane interface for the analysis of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds

A universal temperature controlled membrane interface (TCMI) has been constructed for hollow-fibre membranes. The membrane temperature is controllable in the range -70 to 250 degrees C using an electric heater and a flow of cooled nitrogen or helium gas. Volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds may be detected either by continuous diffusion across the membrane or by in-membrane pre-concentration followed by thermal desorption into the detector. The TCMI interface is demonstrated in combination with mass spectrometry and GC-MS, for the determination of VOCs and SVOCs in aqueous and air samples and for the on-line monitoring of a bioreactor.     

Preliminary investigation of the application of on-line membrane extraction of trifluoroacetic acid as an aid to improvement of negative ion electrospray mass spectrometry data

We have recently investigated the biodegradation of a number of acidic aromatic compounds that give excellent chromatography using trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) based HPLC methods. Unfortunately HPLC methods using TFA are not usually compatible with detection by negative ion mass spectrometry as TFA suppresses ionisation of the analyte during the electrospray process. We present a preliminary investigation of the use of an anion-exchange micro-membrane suppressor to remove TFA on-line post column with the aim of improvement of mass spectral data using an aromatic acid as an example, Thus LC-MS using a TFA based HPLC method with negative ion mass spectral detection is shown to be possible with good sensitivity.     

Escape of Brownian particles and stochastic resonance with low-temperature quantum fluctuations

In this paper, we investigate the escape of Brownian particles and stochastic resonance (SR) with low-temperatures quantum fluctuations by using the quantum Smoluchowski equations at low-temperature. Two specific examples have been considered: one is the example of bistable system, and the other is the example of metastable system. The explicit expressions of the mean-first passage time (MFPT) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for both specific examples are obtained, respectively. Based on the numerical compu...     

Surface modification of polyolefin separators for lithium ion batteries to reduce thermal shrinkage without thickness increase

Surface chemical modification of polyolefin separators for lithium ion batteries is attempted to reduce the thermal shrinkage, which is important for the battery energy density. In this study, we grafted organic/inorganic hybrid crosslinked networks on the separators, simply by grafting polymerization and condensation reaction. The considerable silicon-oxygen crosslinked heat-resistance networks are responsible for the reduced thermal shrinkage. The strong chemical bonds between networks and separators promise enough mechanical support even at high temperature. The shrinkage at 150 C for 30 min in the mechanical direction was 38.6% and 4.6% for the pristine and present graft-modified separators, respectively. Meanwhile, the grafting organic-inorganic hybrid crosslink networks mainly occupied part of void in the internal pores of the separators, so the thicknesses of the graft-modified separators were similar with the pristine one. The half cells prepared with the modified separators exhibited almost identical electrochemical properties to those with the commercial separators, thus proving that, in order to enhance the thermal stability of lithium ion battery, this kind of grafting-modified separators may be a better alternative to conventional silica nanoparticle layers-coated polyolefin separators.