A self-heating cartridge for molecular diagnostics

A disposable, water-activated, self-heating, easy-to-use, polymeric cartridge for isothermal nucleic acid amplification and visual fluorescent detection of the amplification products is described. The device is self-contained and does not require any special instruments to operate. The cartridge integrates chemical, water-triggered, exothermic heating with temperature regulation facilitated with a phase-change material (PCM) and isothermal nucleic acid amplification. The water flows into the exothermic reactor by wicking through a porous paper. The porous paper's characteristics control the rate of water supply, which in turn controls the rate of exothermic reaction. The PCM material enables the cartridge to maintain a desired temperature independent of ambient temperatures in the range between 20 °C and 40 °C. The utility of the cartridge is demonstrated by amplifying and detecting Escherichia coli DNA with loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). The device can detect consistently as few as 10 target molecules in the sample. With proper modifications, the cartridge also can work with other isothermal nucleic acid amplification technologies for detecting nucleic acids associated with various pathogens borne in blood, saliva, urine, and other body fluids as well as in water and food. The device is suitable for use at home, in the field, and in poor-resource settings, where access to sophisticated laboratories is impractical, unaffordable, or nonexistent.     

The Synthesis and Spectroscopic Characterization of Heterobimetallic Bu2Sn(IV) Complexes Derived from Some Chelating Ligands

The interaction of Bu₂Sn(OPrⁱ)₂ with a trifunctional tetradentate Schiff base (LH₃) (where H₃L = HOC₆H₄CH═NCH₃C(CH₂OH)₂) yields the precursor complex Bu₂Sn(LH) 1, which, on equimolar reactions with different metal alkoxides [Al(OPrⁱ)₃, Bu₃Sn(OPrⁱ), Ge(OEt)₄]; Al(Medea)(OPrⁱ) (where Medea = CH₃N- (CH₂CH₂O)₂); and Me₃SiCl in the presence of Et₃N], affords, respectively, the complexes Bu₂Sn(L)Al(OPrⁱ)₂ 2, Bu₂Sn(L)Al(Medea) 3, Bu₂Sn(L)Bu₃Sn 4, Bu₂Sn(L)Ge(OEt)₃ 5, and Bu₂Sn(L)SiMe₃ 6. The reactions of 2 with 2,5-dimethyl-2,5-hexanediol in a 1:1 ratio and with acetylacetone (acacH) in a 1:2 molar ratio afforded derivatives Bu₂Sn(L)Al(OC(CH₃)₂CH₂CH₂C(CH₃)₂ O) 7 and Bu₂Sn(L)Al(acac)₂ 8, respectively. All of the derivatives 1– 8 have been characterized by elemental analyses, molecular weight measurements, and spectroscopic [IR and NMR (¹H, ¹¹⁹Sn, ²⁹Si, and ²⁷Al)] studies.     

Catalyzed Autoxidation of Hydrogensulfite by Cobalt(II) (2,3,9,10-tetramethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraaza-cyclotetradeca-1,3,8,10-tetraene) (H 2 O) 2 2+

The catalytic autoxidation of hydrogensulfite (hydrogentrioxosulfate(1-)) in the presence of Co(tim)(H 2 O) 2 2+ (tim=2,3,9,10-tetramethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradeca-1,3,8,10-tetraene) was studied. Dioxygen reacts with excess sulfite in the presence of Co(tim)(H 2 O) 2 2+ in a complex process (a minimum of five kinetic steps can be identified) to produce Co(tim)(SO 3 ) x (3 m 2 x )+ ( x =1 or 2) ( u max at 350 nm) and sulfate. Seventy turnovers over 4 h were attained in a system where dioxygen and sulfite were supplied constantly. The Co(III) product formed reacts only slowly with dioxygen to produce sulfate. A mechanistic analysis of the results implies the involvement of a Co(tim)-dioxygen adduct, stabilized by an axial sulfite ligand.     

Tertiary-poly-amine ligands as stabilisers of transition metal complexes with uncommon oxidation states

Abstract

Tertiary-amine ligands are known to be poorer [sgrave] donor ligands than the corresponding primary- or secondary-amine ligands. They are known to shift the redox potentials of given couples to the anodic direction relative to the corresponding complexes with primary- or secondary-amine ligands. A review of data in the literature and of recent results on nickel complexes with tetra-aza-macrocyclic ligands and copper complexes with open chain polyamine ligands suggests that the major source for these effects is the poorer solvation of the complexes with the tertiary-amine complexes due to the lack of hydrogen bonding between the complexes and the solvent, or the counter ions. Thus the stabilisation of low valent transition metal complexes by tertiary-amine ligands is due to thermodynamic reasons. On the other hand, tertiary-amine-macrocyclic ligands stabilise high valent complexes because the route to the formation of imine groups is kinetically inhibited in these complexes.     

Geometric phase opens new frontiers in nonlinear frequency conversion of light

Narrow-bandgap materials possess the intriguing optical-electric properties and unique structures,which can be widely applied in the field of photonics,energy optoelectronic sensing and biomedicine,etc.Nowadays,the researches on nonlinear optical properties of narrow-bandgap materials have attracted extensive attention worldwide.In this paper,we review the progress of narrow-bandgap materials from many aspects,such as background,nonlinear optical properties,energy band structure,methods of preparation,and applications.These materials have obvious nonlinear optical characteristics and the interaction with the short pulse laser excitation shows the extremely strong nonlinear absorption characteristics,which leads to the optical limiting or saturable absorption related to Pauli blocking and excited state absorption.Especially,some of these novel narrow-bandgap materials have been utilized for the generation of ultrashort pulse that covers the range from the visible to mid-infrared wavelength regions.Hence,the study on these materials paves a new way for the advancement of optoelctronics devices.     

Jet signals for low mass strings at the large hadron collider

The mass scale M{s} of superstring theory is an arbitrary parameter that can be as low as few TeVs if the Universe contains large extra dimensions. We propose a search for the effects of Regge excitations of fundamental strings at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), in the process pp-->gamma+jet. The underlying parton process is dominantly the single photon production in gluon fusion, gg-->gammag, with open string states propagating in intermediate channels. If the photon mixes with the gauge boson of the baryon number, which is a common feature of D-brane quivers, the amplitude appears already at the string disk level. It is completely determined by the mixing parameter-and it is otherwise model (compactification) independent. Even for relatively small mixing, 100 fb{-1} of LHC data could probe deviations from standard model physics, at a 5sigma significance, for M{s} as large as 3.3 TeV.     

Nanoscale imaging with resonant coherent X rays: extension of multiple-wavelength anomalous diffraction to nonperiodic structures

The methodology of multiple-wavelength anomalous diffraction, widely used for macromolecular structure determination, is extended to the imaging of nonperiodic nanostructures. We demonstrate the solution of the phase problem by a combination of two resonantly recorded coherent scattering patterns at the carbon K edge (285 eV). Our approach merges iterative phase retrieval and x-ray holography approaches, yielding unique and rapid reconstructions. The element, chemical, and magnetic state specificity of our method further renders it widely applicable to a broad range of nanostructures, providing a spatial resolution that is limited, in principle, by wavelength only.