Fabrication of interdigitated high-performance zinc oxide nanowire modified electrodes for glucose sensing

Diabetes is a metabolic disease with a prolonged elevated level of glucose in the blood leads to long-term complications and increases the chances for cardiovascular diseases. The present study describes the fabrication of a ZnO nanowire (NW)-modified interdigitated electrode (IDE) to monitor the level of blood glucose. A silver IDE was generated by wet etching-assisted conventional lithography, with a gap between adjacent electrodes of 98.80 μm. The ZnO-based thin films and NWs were amended by sol–gel and hydrothermal routes. High-quality crystalline and c-axis orientated ZnO thin films were observed by XRD analyses. The ZnO thin film was annealed for 1, 3 and 5 h, yielding a good-quality crystallite with sizes of 50, 100 and 110 nm, and the band gaps were measured as 3.26, 3.20 and 3.17 eV, respectively. Furthermore, a flower-modeled NW was obtained with the lowest diameter of 21 nm. Our designed ZnO NW-modified IDE was shown to have a detection limit as low as 0.03 mg/dL (correlation coefficient = 0.98952) of glucose with a low response time of 3 s, perform better than commercial glucose meter, suitable to instantly monitor the glucose level of diabetes patients. This study demonstrated the high performance of NW-mediated IDEs for glucose sensing as alternative to current glucose sensors.     

High-performance integrated field-effect transistor-based sensors

Field-effect transistors (FETs) have succeeded in modern electronics in an era of computers and hand-held applications. Currently, considerable attention has been paid to direct electrical measurements, which work by monitoring changes in intrinsic electrical properties. Further, FET-based sensing systems drastically reduce cost, are compatible with CMOS technology, and ease down-stream applications. Current technologies for sensing applications rely on time-consuming strategies and processes and can only be performed under recommended conditions. To overcome these obstacles, an overview is presented here in which we specifically focus on high-performance FET-based sensor integration with nano-sized materials, which requires understanding the interaction of surface materials with the surrounding environment. Therefore, we present strategies, material depositions, device structures and other characteristics involved in FET-based devices. Special attention was given to silicon and polyaniline nanowires and graphene, which have attracted much interest due to their remarkable properties in sensing applications.     

Site-Specific Hyperphosphorylation Inhibits,Rather than Promotes,Tau Fibrillization,Seeding Capacity,and Its Microtubule Binding

The consistent observation of phosphorylated tau in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease has contributed to the emergence of a model where hyperphosphorylation triggers both tau disassociation from microtubules and its subsequent aggregation. Herein, we applied a total chemical synthetic approach to site-specifically phosphorylate the microtubule binding repeat domain of tau (K18) at single (pS356) or multiple (pS356/pS262 and pS356/pS262/pS258) residues. We show that hyperphosphorylation of K18 inhibits 1) its aggregation in vitro, 2) its seeding activity in cells, 3) its binding to microtubules, and 4) its ability to promote microtubule polymerization. The inhibition increased with increasing the number of phosphorylated sites, with phosphorylation at S262 having the strongest effect. Our results argue against the hyperphosphorylation hypothesis and underscore the importance of revisiting the role of site-specific hyperphosphorylation in regulating tau functions in health and disease.     

Divergent heparin oligosaccharide synthesis with preinstalled sulfate esters

Traditional chemical synthesis of heparin oligosaccharides first involves assembly of the full length oligosaccharide backbone followed by sulfation. Herein, we report an alternative strategy in which the O-sulfate was introduced onto glycosyl building blocks as a trichloroethyl ester prior to assembly of the full length oligosaccharide. This allowed divergent preparation of both sulfated and non-sulfated building blocks from common advanced intermediates. The O-sulfate esters were found to be stable during glycosylation as well as typical synthetic manipulations encountered during heparin oligosaccharide synthesis. Furthermore, the presence of sulfate esters in both glycosyl donors and acceptors did not adversely affect the glycosylation yields, which enabled us to assemble multiple heparin oligosaccharides with preinstalled 6-O-sulfates.     

Emerging Implications of Nonmammalian Cytosine Deaminases on Cancer Therapeutics

Nonmammalian cytosine deaminases (CDs) have been investigated for last 30?years in the context of cancer therapy. The therapeutic effect of CD is based on its ability to catalyze the conversion of nontoxic prodrug 5-fluorocytosine (5FC) into the anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5FU) by deamination of the number 4 carbon of 5FC. This deamination property of CD has been explored to develop innovative therapeutic approach for treatment of cancer. A general overview is needed for the identification of efficient cytosine deaminases for potential use in cancer therapy. In this review, we have discussed about nonmammalian CDs for a variety of prodrug gene/enzyme therapy applications with several recent examples. Finally, we have provided a prospective on the future aspects of CDs and their applications in cancer therapy.     

MgCl(2)·4((CH(3))(2)CHCH(2)OH): A new molecular adduct for the preparation of TiCl(x)/MgCl(2) catalyst for olefin polymerization

A new molecular adduct of MgCl(2) with isobutanol, namely MgCl(2)·4((CH(3))(2)CHCH(2)OH) (MgiBOH), has been prepared as a precursor to the supporting material for an olefin polymerization catalyst. The MgiBOH adduct and final titanated Ziegler-Natta catalysts have been thoroughly characterized by powder XRD, thermal analysis, Raman spectroscopy and solid-state NMR for structural and spectroscopy aspects. A peak observed at 712 cm(-1) in the Raman spectra of MgiBOH indicates the characteristic Mg-O(6) breathing mode and the formation of the adduct. The diffraction feature at 2θ = 7.8° (d = 11.223 ?) in the XRD confirms the adduct formation and the layered structure. The aim of the present article is to study how the insertion of a bulky isobutanol moiety affects the structural and electronic properties of the MgCl(2)·isobutanol molecular adduct. Indeed, the focus of the present study is to explore how the presence of isobutanol, in the initial molecular adduct, influences the final Z-N catalyst properties and its activity.     

A new metal-organic nonlinear optical material: L-Asparagine Indium chloride (LAIn) for photonics application

Single crystal of l-Asparagine Indium chloride (LAIn), a new semi-organic crystal was grown by slow evaporation method with deionized water as solvent at ambient condition. The crystal structure of LAIn has been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction and the result shows that the crystal belongs to the orthorhombic system with P2₁2₁2₁ space group. The crystalline nature of grown crystal was analyzed by powder X-ray diffraction analysis. Optical parameters, such as absorbance, transmittance and optical band gap energy were analyzed using UV–Vis NIR transmittance data at the range of 190–800?nm. The ultraviolet (UV) emission nature of the sample was established from the sharp emission peaks in photoluminescence (PL) spectrum. The photo conductivity test exhibits that the grown crystal has positive photo conductive nature. The induced surface laser damage threshold (LDT) for the grown crystal was measured using Nd:YAG laser. The nonlinear optical efficiency of the LAIn crystal was studied using modified Kurtz-Perry powder technique. The hardness, Meyer index, yield strength and elastic stiffness constant were calculated for the grown crystal using Vickers microhardness tester. The variation of dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the grown crystals as a function of frequency has been investigated at different temperatures. The melting point and thermal stability of the LAIn single crystal have been studied by thermo gravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA).     

A needle-like Cu2CdSnS4 alloy nanostructure-based integrated electrochemical biosensor for detecting the DNA of Dengue serotype 2

Microchimica Acta - The authors describe an integrated biosensor for amperometric DNA detection of Dengue virus in real time. Cu2CdSnS4 (CCTS) quaternary alloy nanostructures were successfully...     

Prompt electron emission and collisional ionization of ambient gas during pulsed laser ablation of silver

17 cm^-3 and it is found that the density increases as a function of distance away from the target. Dependence of probe current on laser intensity shows plasma shielding at high laser intensities. Received: 5 January 1998/Accepted: 3 July 1998