Tissue refractometry using Hilbert phase microscopy

We present, for the first time to our knowledge, quantitative phase images associated with unstained 5 mum thick tissue slices of mouse brain, spleen, and liver. The refractive properties of the tissue are retrieved in terms of the average refractive index and its spatial variation. We find that the average refractive index varies significantly with tissue type, such that the brain is characterized by the lowest value and the liver by the highest. The spatial power spectra of the phase images reveal power law behavior with different exponents for each tissue type. This approach opens a new possibility for stain-free characterization of tissues, where the diagnostic power is provided by the intrinsic refractive properties of the biological structure. We present results obtained for liver tissue affected by a lysosomal storage disease and show that our technique can quantify structural changes during this disease development.     

Antihaemorrhagic potentials of Fagonia cretica against Naja naja karachiensis (black Pakistan cobra) venom

Plants have been extensively used as a remedy for the treatment of snake bites. The aim of this study was to determine the antivenom potentials of methanolic extract from the aerial parts (leaves and twigs) of Fagonia cretica L. on a haemorrhage induced by venom from Naja naja karachiensis. The haemorrhagic response of venom was dose dependent from 0.1 to 4.0?μg per 1.5?μL phosphate buffer saline (PBS) on vitelline veins of fertilised hens' eggs in their shells. The extract effectively eliminated and neutralised, in a dose-dependent manner, the haemorrhagic activity of snake venom. The minimum effective neutralising dose of F. cretica extract was found to be 15?μg per 1.5?μL PBS. The extract possesses potentials as haemorrhagic inhibitor against snake venom compared to the standard antiserum and various plants reported in the literature. This study also provides a scientific base for the use of F. cretica in traditional medicine for the treatment of snake bite.     

Efficient and solvent-free synthesis of bis-indolylmethanes using silica gel supported aluminium chloride as a reusable catalyst

Stable and non-hygroscopic silica gel supported aluminium chloride（SiO₂-AlCl₃）,which is prepared easily from cheap and commercially available compounds was found to be an environmentally friendly heterogeneous catalyst for the condensation of indole with aldehydes and ketones to afford bis-indolylmethanes at room temperature under solvent-free conditions.The catalyst can be reused up to five times after simple washing with ether.     

Prediction of low-sensitivity reactive dye recipe in exhaust dyeing influenced by material to liquor ratio and nature of salt

Reactive dyeings were carried out by exhaust method on 100% cotton knits. A trichromatic combination was chosen with only change in blue component. Colorimetric data were produced under controlled dyeing conditions by comparing the color difference between the target shade and resulting shades. Giving a change in liquor ratio and nature of salt the colorimetric data were regenerated again produced the shades. The data will be helpful to predict the low-sensitivity reactive dye recipe, which lead to the concept of right-first-time dyeing. The aim of this research is to help a dyer to select the right recipe. A set of the dye recipes was applied by dyeing with reactive dyes on cotton. Sodium chloride shows best results in terms of dye sensitivity as compared to Glauber's salt at low liquor ratio that is 1:10. Blue BRF in combination with yellow and red shows best result as compared to navy blue BF.     

Super Face Antimagic Labelings of Union of Antiprisms

In this paper we deal with the problem of labeling the vertices, edges and faces of a disjoint union of m copies of antiprism by the consecutive integers starting from 1 in such a way that the set of face-weights of all s-sided faces forms an arithmetic progression with common difference d, where by the face-weight we mean the sum of the label of that face and the labels of vertices and edges surrounding that face. Such a labeling is called super if the smallest possible labels appear on the vertices. The paper examines the existence of such labelings for union of antiprisms for several values of the difference d.     

Live cell refractometry using microfluidic devices

Using Hilbert phase microscopy for extracting quantitative phase images, we measured the average refractive index associated with live cells in culture. To decouple the contributions to the phase signal from the cell refractive index and thickness, we confined the cells in microchannels. The results are confirmed by comparison with measurements of spherical cells in suspension.     

Design of Multi-Metallic-Based Electrocatalysts for Enhanced Water Oxidation

Electrochemical water splitting by renewable energy resources is an efficient and green approach for hydrogen gas production. However, the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) largely impedes the industrial application due to its sluggish four-electron-transition kinetics. Although various materials have been developed to accelerate the OER rate, still some issues should be addressed to meet the industrial demand: (i) considerable 200–300 mV overpotential as extra onset energy input, (ii) limited survival and performance in acidic electrolyte for the majority of oxide/hydroxide composite materials, (iii) unsatisfying long-term durability and (iv) the need for facile and scalable preparation methods. Here, we emphasize on multi-metallic composites with enhanced OER activity based on both precious and nonprecious elements that outperform the unary and binary composites. The regulation effect from multi-metal incorporation is also summarized systematically: (i) introducing foreign metal atoms to the host material boosts the physical properties such as conductivity, surface area, defect density, morphology, wettability, etc., (ii) metal doping can synergistically regulate the electronic features of the host material, e. g. oxygen vacancy, e_g orbit filling, coordinative number and covalence state, which can optimize the absorption/desorption energy of the M−O intermediate, (iii) chaotic impact from the added atoms twists the catalyst lattice into a more aggressive and higher energy state, which is more feasible to transform to an active intermediate with lower required energy supply. This review aims to provide a practical approach to further improve the OER performance via multi-metallic-based catalysts.