Silica nanowires: Growth,integration, and sensing applications

This review (with 129 refs.) gives an overview on how the integration of silica nanowires (NWs) into micro-scale devices has resulted, in recent years, in simple yet robust nano-instrumentation with improved performance in targeted application areas such as sensing. This has been achieved by the use of appropriate techniques such as di-electrophoresis and direct vapor-liquid-growth phenomena, to restrict the growth of NWs to site-specific locations. This also has eliminated the need for post-growth processing and enables nanostructures to be placed on pre-patterned substrates. Various kinds of NWs have been investigated to determine how their physical and chemical properties can be tuned for integration into sensing structures. NWs integrated onto interdigitated micro-electrodes have been applied to the determination of gases and biomarkers. The technique of directly growing NWs eliminates the need for their physical transfer and thus preserves their structure and performance, and further reduces the costs of fabrication. The biocompatibility of NWs also has been studied with respect to possible biological applications. This review addresses the challenges in growth and integration of NWs to understand related mechanism on biological contact or gas exposure and sensing performance for personalized health and environmental monitoring. Figure

Silica nanowires decorated micro-electrodes for sensing application     

Track etch membranes (TEMs) for separation sciences from BARC-TIFR Pelletron accelerator

Track etch membranes (TEMs) program at 14 UD Pelletron accelerator at TIFR, Mumbai, India using 25 micron thick polyethylene terepthalate film is described. Large scale preparation of TEMs by scanning heavy ion beams using a electromagnetic scanner and rolling mechanism using a geared D.C. motor and vacuum rotary feed through are presented. The selection of ions of suitable energy and etching parameters for making various pore sizes were investigated using Rutherford scattered beam from Pelletron accelerator. Pore size and pore density were measured using scanning electron microscope. Scanning width up to 35 cm and irradiation up to 22 m were successfully carried out using this facility. Some applications carried out using these membranes are also mentioned.     

NIR vibrational overtone spectra of N-methylaniline, N,N-dimethylaniline and N,N-diethylaniline--a conformational structural analysis using local mode model

In aniline, the lone pair electrons on the nitrogen atom in the amino group interact with the pi electrons of the ring and the mechanical frequency of the ring CH oscillator shows a red shift from that of benzene. This happens because of the parallel orientation of the pi electrons in the two molecules. This effect is observed in N-methylaniline also. But in N,N-dimethylaniline, the addition of two alkyl group to the amino group changes the parallel orientation of pi electrons of the nitrogen. This changes the electron donating nature of the amino substituent and as a result, a blue shift is observed in the mechanical frequency of the ring CH oscillator from that of benzene. The same effect is observed in the ring CH oscillator frequency of N,N-diethylaniline also.     

Rival penalized competitive learning (RPCL): a topology-determining algorithm for analyzing gene expression data

DNA arrays have become the immediate choice in the analysis of large-scale expression measurements. Understanding the expression pattern of genes provide functional information on newly identified genes by computational approaches. Gene expression pattern is an indicator of the state of the cell, and abnormal cellular states can be inferred by comparing expression profiles. Since co-regulated genes, and genes involved in a particular pathway, tend to show similar expression patterns, clustering expression patterns has become the natural method of choice to differentiate groups. However, most methods based on cluster analysis suffer from the usual problems (i) dead units, and (ii) the problem of determining the correct number of clusters (k) needed to classify the data. Selecting the k has been an open problem of pattern recognition and statistics for decades. Since clustering reveals similar patterns present in the data, fixing this number strongly influences the quality of the result. While there is no theoretical solution to this problem, the number of clusters can be decided by a heuristic clustering algorithm called rival penalized competitive learning (RPCL). We present a novel implementation of RPCL that transforms the correct number of clusters problem to the tractable problem of clustering based on the degree of similarity. This is biologically significant since our implementation clusters functionally co-regulated genes and genes that present similar patterns of expression. This new approach reveals potential genes that are co-involved in a biological process. This implementation of the RPCL algorithm is useful in differentiating groups involved in concerted functional regulation and helps to progressively home into patterns, which are closely similar.     

Electron spin resonance spectrum of imidazo p-benzoquinone anion: a possible case of proton jump

The influence of a molecule's dipole moment on its ability to capture an electron into a stable bound state is examined. It is proved that, in the fixednuclei approximation, a value greater than 1·625 Debye for the dipole moment suffices to guarantee the existence of a discrete spectrum of negative ion states. Implications for Hartree-Fock calculations of negative ions are discussed. The interaction of electronic, vibrational and rotational motions in negative dipolar ions is studied, and conclusions are drawn for real molecules.     

Fast and Sensitive HPLC-ESI-MS/MS Method for Etoricoxib Quantification in Human Plasma and Application to Bioequivalence Study

Etoricoxib is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to treat pain and inflammation. The objective of the current study was to develop a sensitive, fast and high-throughput HPLC-ESI-MS/MS method to measure etoricoxib levels in human plasma using a one-step methanol protein precipitation technique. A tandem mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray ionization (ESI) source operated in a positive mode and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) were used for data collection. The quantitative MRM transition ions were m/z 359.15 > 279.10 and m/z 363.10 > 282.10 for etoricoxib and IS. The linear range was from 10.00 to 4000.39 ng/mL and the validation parameters were within the acceptance limits of the European Medicine Agency (EMA) and Food and Drug Analysis (FDA) guidelines. The present method was sensitive (10.00 ng/mL with S/N > 40), simple, selective (K prime > 2), and fast (short run time of 2 min), with negligible matrix effect and consistent recovery, suitable for high throughput analysis. The method was used to quantitate etoricoxib plasma concentrations in a bioequivalence study of two 120 mg etoricoxib formulations. Incurred sample reanalysis results further supported that the method was robust and reproducible.     

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