Controlled viable release of selectively captured label-free cells in microchannels

Selective capture of cells from bodily fluids in microchannels has broadly transformed medicine enabling circulating tumor cell isolation, rapid CD4(+) cell counting for HIV monitoring, and diagnosis of infectious diseases. Although cell capture methods have been demonstrated in microfluidic systems, the release of captured cells remains a significant challenge. Viable retrieval of captured label-free cells in microchannels will enable a new era in biological sciences by allowing cultivation and post-processing. The significant challenge in release comes from the fact that the cells adhere strongly to the microchannel surface, especially when immuno-based immobilization methods are used. Even though fluid shear and enzymes have been used to detach captured cells in microchannels, these methods are known to harm cells and affect cellular characteristics. This paper describes a new technology to release the selectively captured label-free cells in microchannels without the use of fluid shear or enzymes. We have successfully released the captured CD4(+) cells (3.6% of the mononuclear blood cells) from blood in microfluidic channels with high specificity (89% ± 8%), viability (94% ± 4%), and release efficiency (59% ± 4%). We have further validated our system by specifically capturing and controllably releasing the CD34(+) stem cells from whole blood, which were quantified to be 19 cells per million blood cells in the blood samples used in this study. Our results also indicated that both CD4(+) and CD34(+) cells released from the microchannels were healthy and amenable for in vitro culture. Manual flow based microfluidic method utilizes inexpensive, easy to fabricate microchannels allowing selective label-free cell capture and release in less than 10 minutes, which can also be used at the point-of-care. The presented technology can be used to isolate and purify a broad spectrum of cells from mixed populations offering widespread applications in applied biological sciences, such as tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, rare cell and stem cell isolation, proteomic/genomic research, and clonal/population analyses.     

Transportation pricing of a truckload carrier

Freight transportation is a major component of logistical operations. Due to the increase in global trade, fierce competition among shippers and raising concerns about energy, companies are putting more emphasis on effective management and usage of transportation services. This paper studies the transportation pricing problem of a truckload carrier in a setting that consists of a retailer, a truckload carrier and a less than truckload carrier. In this setting, the truckload carrier makes his/her pricing decision based on previous knowledge on the less than truckload carrier’s price schedule and the retailer’s ordering behavior. The retailer then makes a determination of his/her order quantity through an integrated model that explicitly considers the transportation alternatives, and the related costs (i.e., bimodal transportation costs) and capacities. In the paper, the retailer’s replenishment problem and the truckload carrier’s pricing problem are modeled and solved based on a detailed analysis. Numerical evidence shows that the truckload carrier may increase his/her gainings significantly through better pricing and there is further opportunity of savings if the truckload carrier and the retailer coordinate their decisions.     

Synthesis and Crystal Structure of Trans-bis(acesulfamato-O)tetraaquazinc(Ⅱ)

<正>The title compound,trans-bis(acesulfamato-O)tetraaquazinc(Ⅱ)(I,C_8H_(16)N_2O_(12)S_2Zn), crystallizes in the triclinic system,space group P_1~-with a=5.1638(5),b=8.5338(9),c=9.9583(9) (?),a=74.325(8),β=81.112(7),γ=75.800(8)°,V=407.77(7)(?)~3,Z=1,F(000)=236,R_(int)=0.085, T=296 K,the final R=0.029 and wR=0.078 for 1832 observed reflections with I2σ(I).The Zn~Ⅱcentre resides on a centre of symmetry and has a distorted octahedral geometry.The basal plane is defined by two carbonyl O atoms of two monodentate trans-oriented acesulfamato ligands and two trans-aqua ligands.The axial positions in the octahedron are occupied by two trans-aqua ligands. Intermolecular O-H…O hydrogen bonds produce R_2~2(8)and R_2~2(16)rings,which lead to two-dimensional polymeric chains.     

Piano‐stool Ru (II) arene complexes that contain ethylenediamine and application in alpha‐alkylation reaction of ketones with alcohols

A series of piano‐stool Ru (II) complexes ( Ru _1–7 ) bearing ethylenediamine with aryl and aliphatic groups were prepared and fully characterized by ¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁹F and ³¹P NMR spectroscopy, FT‐IR and elemental analysis. The crystal structures of Ru _2–4 and Ru ₇ were determined by X‐ray crystallography. They were successfully applied to the alpha(α)‐alkylation of aliphatic and aromatic ketones with alcohols via the borrowing hydrogen strategy in mild reaction conditions within a short time. The catalytic system has a broad substrate scope, which allows the synthesis of alpha alkylated ketones with excellent yields. The electronic and steric effects of complexes on catalytic activity were analysed. The influence of the carbon chain length of the ligand on the alpha‐alkylation reaction of ketones was also investigated. The catalytic cycle was also examined by ¹H‐NMR spectroscopy in d₈‐toluene.     

N-lump and interaction solutions of localized waves to the (2 + 1)-dimensional asymmetrical Nizhnik–Novikov–Veselov equation arise from a model for an incompressible fluid

The present article deals with M-soliton solution and N-soliton solution of the (2 + 1)-dimensional asymmetrical Nizhnik–Novikov–Veselov equation by virtue of Hirota bilinear operator method. The obtained solutions for solving the current equation represent some localized waves including soliton, breather, lump, and their interactions, which have been investigated by the approach of the long-wave limit. Mainly, by choosing the specific parameter constraints in the M-soliton and N-soliton solutions, all cases of the one breather or one lump can be captured from the two, three, four, and five solitons. In addition, the performances of the mentioned technique, namely, the Hirota bilinear technique, are substantially powerful and absolutely reliable to search for new explicit solutions of nonlinear models. Meanwhile, the obtained solutions are extended with numerical simulation to analyze graphically, which results in localized waves and their interaction from the two-, three-, four-, and five-soliton solutions profiles. They will be extensively used to report many attractive physical phenomena in the fields of acoustics, heat transfer, fluid dynamics, classical mechanics, and so on.     

Theory of half-metallic ferrimagnetism in double perovskites

Double perovskites such as Sr(2)FeMoO(6) are rare examples of materials with half-metallic ground states and a ferrimagnetic T(c) above room temperature. We present a comprehensive theory of the temperature and disorder dependence of their magnetic properties by deriving and validating a new effective spin Hamiltonian for these materials, amenable to large-scale three-dimensional simulations. We show how disorder, ubiquitous in these materials, affects T(c), the magnetization, and the conduction electron polarization. We conclude with a novel proposal to enhance T(c) without sacrificing polarization.     

4-Amino-3-（p-chlorophenyl）-5-（p-methoxybenzyl）-4H-1,2,4-triazole：X-ray and DFT-calculated Structures

The title compound, 4-amino-3-(p-chlorophenyl)-5-(p-methoxybenzyl)-4H-1,2,4- triazole I , C16H15ClN4O), has been determined using X-ray diffraction techniques and the molecular structure has also been optimized at the B3LYP/6-31 G(d, p) level using density functional theory (DFT). The triazole ring exhibits dihedral angles of 41.61(15)o and 80.73(11)o with the phenyl rings. The molecules are linked principally by N–H…N hydrogen bonds involving the amino NH2 group and a triazole N atom, forming C(5) chains which are further linked to give a two-dimensional network of molecules. The N–H…N hydrogen bonding is supported by C–H…N hydrogen bond and C–H…π interaction. Intermolecular N–H…N and C–H…N hydrogen bonds produce R22(9), R44(10) and R44(20) rings.     

（E）-1-[4-（2-hydroxy-5-methoxybenzylideneamino）-phenyl]ethanone and （E）-1-[4-（2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzylideneamino） phenyl]ethanone：X-ray and DFT-calculated structures

The isomeric structures of(E)-1-[4-(2-hydroxy-5-methoxybenzylideneamino)-phenyl] ethanone(I) and(E)-1-[4-(2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzylideneamino) phenyl]ethanone(Ⅱ) ,both C16H15NO3,have been determined using X-ray diffraction techniques and characterized by IR,and their molecular structures have also been optimized at the B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level using density functional theory(DFT) . The energetic behaviors of the title compounds in solvent media have been examined using B3LYP method with the 6-31G(d,p) basis set by applying the polarizable continuum model(PCM) . The total energies of the title compounds decrease with the increasing polarity of the solvent. In addition,DFT calculations of the title compounds' molecular electrostatic potentials(MEP) were performed at the B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level of theory. X-ray study shows that the title compounds both have strong intramolecular O-H…N hydrogen bonds. The molecules of Ⅰ are linked into a one-dimensional framework structure by C-H…π interactions,while in Ⅱ,intermolecular π···π interactions result in the formation of infinite chains running along the [010].     

Optimisation and validation of liquid chromatographic and partial least-squares-1 methods for simultaneous determination of enalapril maleate and nitrendipine in pharmaceutical preparations

Simultaneous determination of enalapril maleate (ENA) and nitrendipine (NIT) in pharmaceutical preparations was performed using liquid chromatography (LC) and the partial least-squares-1 (PLS-1) method. In LC, the separation was achieved on a C8 column and the optimum mobile phase for good separation in a gradient elution programme was found to be acetonitrile-water (φ _r = 81: 19) and optimum flow-rate, temperature, injection volume, and detection wavelength were set at 1.0 mL min⁻¹, 25°C, 10 μL, and 210 nm, respectively. Dienogest was selected as an internal standard. In the spectrophotometry, a PLS-1 chemometric method was used. The absorbance data matrix related to the concentration data matrix was established by measurement of absorbances in their zero order spectra with an increment of Δλ = 1 nm in the 220–290 nm range for ENA and with Δλ = 1 nm in the 230–290 nm range for NIT in the PLS-1 method. Following this step, calibration was established by using this data matrix to predict the unknown concentrations of ENA and NIT in their binary mixture. These optimised methods were validated and successfully applied to a pharmaceutical preparation in tablet form and the results were subjected to comparison.     

A Learning Algorithm for Level Sets Weights in Weighted Level-based Averaging Method

The method which we call the Weighted Averaging Based on Levels (WABL) can be used to calculate the average representative of a fuzzy number. It utilizes weight coefficients for the level sets as well as the sides of a fuzzy number. We have developed an algorithm to obtain these coefficients. The most remarkable feature of this algorithm is that it makes use of the decision maker’s (DM) aggregation strategy.