Transfection using hydroxyapatite nanoparticles in the inner ear via an intact round window membrane in chinchilla

Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (nHAT) are known to have excellent biocompatibility, and have attracted increasing attention as new candidates of non-viral vectors for gene therapy. In our previous studies, nHAT carrying a therapeutic gene and a reporter gene were successfully transfected into the spiral ganglion neurons in the inner ear of guinea pigs in vivo as well as in the cultured cell lines, although the transfection efficiencies were never higher than 30%. In this study, the surface modification of nHAT with polyethylenimine (PEI) was made (PEI–nHAT, diameter = 73.09 ± 27.32 nm) and a recombinant plasmid carrying enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) gene and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) gene was constructed as pEGFPC2–NT3. The PEI modified nHAT and the recombinant plasmid was then connected to form the nHAT-based vector–gene complex (PEI–nHAT–pEGFPC2–NT3). This complex was then placed onto the intact round window membranes of the chinchillas for inner ear transfection. Auditory brainstem response (ABR) was tested to evaluate auditory function. Green fluorescence of EGFP was observed using confocal microscopy 48 h after administering vector–gene complexes. There was no significant threshold shift in tone burst-evoked ABR at any tested frequency. Abundant, condensed green fluorescence was found in dark cells on both sides of the crista and around the macula of the utricle. Scattered EGFP signals were also detected in vestibular hair cells, some Schwann cells in the cochlear spiral ganglion region, some outer pillar cells in the organ of Corti, and a few cells in the stria vascularis. The density of green fluorescence-marked cells was obviously higher in the vestibular dark cell area than in other areas of the inner ear, suggesting that vestibular dark cells may have the ability to actively engulf the nHAT-based vector–gene complexes. Considering the high transfection efficiency in the vestibular system, PEI–nHAT may be a potential vector for gene therapy of inner ear diseases, especially vestibular disorders, and deserves further study.     

PH, PD和PT分子常数理论研究

采用内收缩多参考组态相互作用(MRCI)方法和包含Davidson修正(+Q) 的MRCI方法结合相关一致基aug-cc-pV5Z研究了PH (X³Σ^-, a¹Δ和A³∏)分子的势能曲线. 在同位素质量识别的基础上对势能曲线进行拟合, 得到PH, PD和PT分子各个电子态的光谱常数(T_e, R_e, ω_e, ω_ex_e, α_e和 B_e). 通过与已有实验数据的比较发现, 本文的结果与实验结果非常一致. 对于PH, PD和PT分子的Σ^-电子态, 计算得到了J = 0时的前12个振动态. 对于每一个振动态, 还分别计算了它的振动能级、惯性转动常数和离心畸变常数. 与其他理论结果和实验数据进行比较可知, 本文的结果更精确、更完整. 文中PD和PT分子的光谱常数和分子常数均属首次报导.     

Biomimetic compound eye with a high numerical aperture and anti-reflective nanostructures on curved surfaces

Biomimetic compound eyes with a high numerical aperture on a curved surface were successfully fabricated by intelligent integration of traditional top-down and bottom-up micro- and nanofabrication methods together. In addition, the new hybrid micro- and nanofabrication method allows us to fabricate the antireflective nanostructures on each ommatidium to increase its vision sensitivity by improving the light transmission. The fabricated compound eye was optically characterized and was shown to have a numerical aperture of 0.77 for each ommatidium. Furthermore, it is shown that the transmission of the compound eye can be improved by 2.3% for the wavelength of 632.8 nm and a clearer image can be formed by the fabricated compound eye with antireflective nanostructures compared with that without antireflective nanostructures. In addition, the developed hybrid manufacturing method can be adapted to the fabrication of other complex micro- and nanodevices for photonics or other research areas.     

Integrated optical devices based on broadband epsilon-near-zero meta-atoms

We verify the feasibility of the proposed theoretical strategy for designing the broadband near-zero permittivity (ENZ) metamaterial at optical frequency range with numerical simulations. In addition, the designed broadband ENZ stack is used as meta-atoms to build functional nanophotonic devices with extraordinary properties, including an ultranarrow electromagnetic energy tunneling channel and an ENZ concave focusing lens.     

脉冲磁化条件下非晶磁芯的损耗特性

基于工频或高频磁化条件下磁芯的测试数据不能准确反映磁芯在单次脉冲磁化下的性能,给出了一种脉冲磁化条件下磁芯性能的测试方法和数据处理方法,实验研究了快脉冲磁化条件下非晶态合金磁芯的损耗特性,磁芯最短饱和时间67 ns,最大磁化速率达到40 T/s。通过数据处理,给出了磁芯损耗与磁化速率的关系曲线,获得了不同磁化速率下磁芯的损耗数据。分析了脉冲磁化条件下涡流损耗和磁滞损耗所占的比例。研究结果表明:脉冲磁化条件下非晶态合金磁芯损耗与磁化速率关系符合饱和波模型,磁芯损耗随磁化速率增大而线性增大。     

大气条件等离子体针处理Enterococcus faecalis菌

自行研制的等离子体针在大气压下通过介质阻挡放电产生的等离子体,再由喷嘴处安装的漏斗形装置聚焦形成针状等离子体. 然后对针状等离子体的基本特性和杀Enterococcus faecalis（E. faecalis）菌进行了研究,E. faecalis菌是一种引起完善充填根管再感染的主要微生物. 当等离子体针功率为5—28?W时,对等离子体的温度进行了测量,表明它不同于其他热杀菌方式. 通过改变等离子体针内电极末端注入的氧气量,发现适当的氧气量,不仅增加等离子体内含氧粒子的浓度而且对等离子体的长度影响也不明显. 实验表明最佳参数为功率15?W,0.1?m³·h^-1氦和2.5%氧气,间距12?mm,处理时间30 s. 为了找出杀菌的关键粒子,进一步比较了大气压下的等离子体针的发射光谱与agar（琼脂）2?mm下的光谱并找出关键粒子. 关键词： 大气压等离子体 介质阻挡放电 E. faecalis菌')" href="#">E. faecalis菌 光谱     

Filter-free ultra-wideband doublet pulses generation based on wavelength conversion and fiber dispersion effect

Filter-free ultra-wideband (UWB) doublet pulse generation is experimentally demonstrated in the optical domain based on cross-gain modulation (XGM) in semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and UWB-over-fiber technology is implemented by exploiting dispersion-induced pulse broadening effect in single-mode fiber (SMF). In our proposed system, the SOA generates a polarity-inversed Gaussian pulse train with respect to the injected one through the XGM. After a piece of SMF, the bandwidth of polarity-reversed Gaussian pulse broadens due to the induced dispersion. After the combination of the two light waves with a suitable time delay between them, UWB pulse is obtained. The key parameters for UWB pulse, including central frequency, 10 dB bandwidth, as well as fractional bandwidth are experimentally obtained with 8 GHz, 9.9 GHz and 123% respectively. The generated UWB doublet pulse conforms with the UWB definition of Federal Communications Commission (FCC).     

Simultaneous chromatic dispersion monitoring,extinction ratio enhancement and wavelength conversion using four-wave mixing

This paper presents a multi-functional all-optical device performs simultaneous chromatic dispersion (CD) monitoring, extinction ratio (ER) improvement and tunable wavelength conversion using four-wave mixing (FWM) in a single piece of highly nonlinear optical fiber (HNLF). The multi-functional ability arises from the nonlinear power transfer function (PTF) between the input signal and the output idler wave, which not only maps the CD information of the signal onto the average power of idler wave, but also transfers the data information to the idler wave with ER enhancement, making the device compact and cost effective. Furthermore within the wavelength tuning range the monitoring sensitivity and output ER can be much higher compared to all optical monitors and regenerators proposed before. Numerical simulations are then used to demonstrate the efficiency of this method.     

Ionic liquid-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of dendrite-like NaY(MoO4)2:Tb phosphor

Micro-sized NaY(MoO₄)₂:Tb³⁺ phosphors with dendritic morphology was synthesized by a ionic liquid-assisted hydrothermal process. X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicated that the as-prepared product is pure tetragonal phase of NaY(MoO₄)₂. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) images showed that the as-prepared NaY(MoO₄)₂:Tb³⁺ phosphors have dendritic morphology. The photoluminescent (PL) spectra displayed that the as-prepared NaY(MoO₄)₂:Tb³⁺ phosphors show a stronger green emission with main emission wavelength 545 nm corresponding to the ⁵D₄→⁷F₅ transition of Tb³⁺ ion, and the optimal Tb³⁺ doping concentration for obtaining maximum emission intensity was confirmed to be 10 mol%. Based on Van Uitert's and Dexter's models the electric dipole–dipole (D–D) interaction was confirmed to be responsible for the concentration quenching of ⁵D₄ fluorescence of Tb³⁺ in the NaY(MoO₄)₂:Tb³⁺ phosphors. The intrinsic radiative transition lifetime of ⁵D₄ level is found to be 0.703 ms.     

Exchange bias in (1 1 0)-orientated Bi0.9La0.1FeO3/La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 films

We performed a systematic study on the exchange bias in (1 1 0)-orientated Bi_0.9La_0.1FeO₃/La_0.5Ca_0.5MnO₃ (BLFO/LCMO) heterostructure with a fixed BLFO film thickness of 600 nm and different LCMO layers ranging from t=0 to 30 nm. The LCMO is found to be weakly ferromagnetic, with the Curie temperature descending from ∼225 K to 0 as the layer thickness decreases from 30 nm to 3 nm. The main magnetic contributions come from the BLFO film, and the areal magnetization ratio is 1:0.07 for t=5 nm and 1:0.82 for t=30 nm for BLFO to LCMO at the temperature of 5 K. Further experiments show the presence of significant exchange bias, and it is, at the temperature of 10 K, ∼40 Oe for t=0 and ∼260 Oe for t=30 nm. The exchange bias reduces dramatically upon warming and disappears above the blocking temperature of the spin-glasslike behavior observed in the samples. The possible origin for exchange bias is discussed.