Two new standard reference materials for the determination of drugs of abuse in human hair

Two new standard reference materials (SRM) for drugs of abuse in human hair have been developed. SRM 2379 consists of hair spiked with cocaine, benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene, phencyclidine, amphetamine, and methamphetamine. SRM 2380 consists of hair spiked with codeine, morphine, monoacetylmorphine, and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The SRMs were prepared by soaking the hair in a solution of the target analytes in water-dimethylsulfoxide. The concentration of each analyte was determined using two methods, one based upon gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and one based upon liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). Both methods used 0.1 M HCl for extraction of all the analytes from the hair, except for THC, which was extracted with 1 M NaOH. For isolation of the analytes from the extracts, the GC/MS-based methods used different clean-up procedures from those used for the LC/MS-based methods. The results from the two methods were in good agreement with mean differences for the analytes ranging from 4% to 16%. These materials will enable laboratories performing analyses of hair for drugs of abuse to test the accuracy of their methods.     

Dysfunction of Shh signaling activates autophagy to inhibit trophoblast motility in recurrent miscarriage

In early pregnancy, the placenta anchors the conceptus and supports embryonic development and survival. This study aimed to investigate the underlying functions of Shh signaling in recurrent miscarriage (RM), a serious disorder of pregnancy. In the present study, Shh and Gli2 were mainly observed in cytotrophoblasts (CTBs), Ptch was mainly observed in syncytiotrophoblasts (STBs), and Smo and Gli3 were expressed in both CTBs and STBs. Shh signaling was significantly impaired in human placenta tissue from recurrent miscarriage patients compared to that of gestational age-matched normal controls. VEGF-A and CD31 protein levels were also significantly decreased in recurrent miscarriage patients. Furthermore, inhibition of Shh signaling impaired the motility of JAR cells by regulating the expression of Gli2 and Gli3. Intriguingly, inhibition of Shh signaling also triggered autophagy and autolysosome accumulation. Additionally, knockdown of BECN1 reversed Gant61-induced motility inhibition. In conclusion, our results showed that dysfunction of Shh signaling activated autophagy to inhibit trophoblast motility, which suggests the Shh pathway and autophagy as potential targets for RM therapy.Subject terms: Embryology, Endocrine reproductive disorders, Autophagosomes     

RESERVOIR DESCRIPTION BY USING A PIECEWISE CONSTANT LEVEL SET METHOD

We consider the permeability estimation problem in two-phase porous media flow. We try to identify the permeability field by utilizing both the production data from wells as well as inverted seismic data. The permeability field is assumed to be piecewise constant, or can be approximated well by a piecewise constant function. A variant of the level set method, called Piecewise Constant Level Set Method is used to represent the interfaces between the regions with different permeability levels. The inverse problem is solved by minimizing a functional, and TV norm regularization is used to deal with the ill-posedness. We also use the operator-splitting technique to decompose the constraint term from the fidelity term. This gives us more flexibility to deal with the constraint and helps to stabilize the algorithm.     

Syringaresinol Alleviates Oxaliplatin-Induced Neuropathic Pain Symptoms by Inhibiting the Inflammatory Responses of Spinal Microglia

Oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy (OIPN) is a serious side effect that impairs the quality of life of patients treated with the chemotherapeutic agent, oxaliplatin. The underlying pathophysiology of OIPN remains unclear, and there are no effective therapeutics. This study aimed to investigate the causal relationship between spinal microglial activation and OIPN and explore the analgesic effects of syringaresinol, a phytochemical from the bark of Cinnamomum cassia, on OIPN symptoms. The causality between microglial activation and OIPN was investigated by assessing cold and mechanical allodynia in mice after intrathecal injection of the serum supernatant from a BV-2 microglial cell line treated with oxaliplatin. The microglial inflammatory response was measured based on inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (p-ERK), and phosphorylated nuclear factor-kappa B (p-NF-κB) expression in the spinal dorsal horn. The effects of syringaresinol were tested using behavioral and immunohistochemical assays. We found that oxaliplatin treatment activated the microglia to increase inflammatory responses, leading to the induction of pain. Syringaresinol treatment significantly ameliorated oxaliplatin-induced pain and suppressed microglial expression of inflammatory signaling molecules. Thus, we concluded that the analgesic effects of syringaresinol on OIPN were achieved via the modulation of spinal microglial inflammatory responses.     

A Novel Aptamer-Imprinted Polymer-Based Electrochemical Biosensor for the Detection of Lead in Aquatic Products

Lead contamination in aquatic products is one of the main hazard factors. The aptasensor is a promising detection method for lead ion (Pb(II)) because of its selectivity, but it is easily affected by pH. The combination of ion-imprinted polymers(IIP) with aptamers may improve their stability in different pH conditions. This paper developed a novel electrochemical biosensor for Pb(II) detection by using aptamer-imprinted polymer as a recognition element. The glassy carbon electrode was modified with gold nanoparticles and aptamers. After the aptamer was induced by Pb(II) to form a G-quadruplex conformation, a chitosan-graphene oxide was electrodeposited and cross-linked with glutaraldehyde to form an imprint layer, improving the stability of the biosensor. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the current signal change (∆I) showed a linear correlation of the content of Pb(II) in the range of 0.1–2.0 μg/mL with a detection limit of 0.0796 μg/mL (S/N = 3). The biosensor also exhibited high selectivity for the determination of Pb(II) in the presence of other interfering metal ion. At the same time, the stability of the imprinted layer made the sensor applicable to the detection environment with a pH of 6.4–8.0. Moreover, the sensor was successfully applied to the detection of Pb(II) in mantis shrimp.     

CeO2修饰Ni3S2纳米片用于高效电催化析氧

电化学水分解制氢作为重要的生产氢能的新能源技术,包括氢气析出反应(HER)和氧气析出反应(OER).然而,OER进行的是多步电子转移过程,动力学过程缓慢且过电位高,严重制约了电解水制氢的发展.因此开发低成本、高效稳定的非贵金属催化剂替代贵金属催化剂(RuO2,IrO2)来降低过电位,减少能源消耗十分必要.Ni3S2由于...     

电子传输材料噻二唑衍生物的密度泛函研究

用密度泛函B3LYP方法对7种3-(3'-吡啶基)-6-芳基-1,2,4-三唑并[3,4-b]-1,3,4-噻二唑分子进行全优化, 所有化合物都是平面分子. 计算了分子的垂直电子亲和势(VEA)、绝热电子亲和势(AEA)、分子内重组能以及绝对硬度等相关能量, 结果显示化合物的HOMO 与LUMO能级可通过连接不同取代基进行调节, 变化幅度为0.346～1.10 eV. 分子内重组能证实3-(4'-氰基-3'-吡啶基)-6-芳基-1,2,4-三唑并[3,4-b]-1,3,4-噻二唑是很有前途的电子传输材料, 不同取代基所对应的化合物分子内重组能也不同. 绝对硬度数据与分子内重组能都表明, 化合物E, G难于传输电子. 用TDDFT方法计算了化合物A, B和C的吸收光谱, 与实验值相比, 最大吸收峰的差值在3～10 nm之间.     

3D Multiphase Piecewise Constant Level Set Method Based on Graph Cut Minimization

Segmentation of three-dimensional (3D) complicated structures is of great importance for many real applications. In this work we combine graph cut minimization method with a variant of the level set idea for 3D segmentation based on the Mumford-Shah model. Compared with the traditional approach for solving the Euler-Lagrange equation we do not need to solve any partial differential equations. Instead, the minimum cut on a special designed graph need to be computed. The method is tested on data with complicated structures. It is rather stable with respect to initial value and the algorithm is nearly parameter free. Experiments show that it can solve large problems much faster than traditional approaches.     

Fabrication and evaluation of bacterial cellulose-polyaniline composites by interfacial polymerization

The fabrication and evaluation of nanocomposites based on microbial cellulose and polyaniline (PANi) are described. Microbial cellulose, so called, bacterial cellulose (BC) was introduced to interfacial polymerization of aniline. Two different phases based on water and chloroform made it easy for nanosized PANi particles to be synthesized on BC. Without any help of a surfactant or templates, BC played a critical role of supporting the growth of PANi. As a function of aniline concentration, the corresponding PANi content and volume resistivity were checked. From morphological images observed by FE-SEM, PANi nanoparticles were densely arrayed along every fiber of BC. The conjugated backbone of PANi was thought to contribute to the improvements of thermal stability of PANi/BC composites. The stiffness and brittleness of PANi were compensated by more ductile BC, suggesting BC can be a promising substrate for it. By the simple and facile interfacial polymerization, the electrical conductivity of PANi/BC composites reached up to 3.8?×?10^?1?S/cm when 0.32?M of aniline was used. This PANi/BC nanocomposite can be useful in applications requiring biocompatibility and electrical conductivity such as biological and chemical sensors.