Dumbbell probe-mediated cascade isothermal amplification: A novel strategy for label-free detection of microRNAs and its application to real sample assay

Considering the great significance of microRNAs (miRNAs) in cancer detection and typing, the development of sensitive, specific, quantitative, and low-cost methods for the assay of expression levels of miRNAs is desirable. We describe a highly efficient amplification platform for ultrasensitive analysis of miRNA (taking let-7a miRNA as a model analyte) based on a dumbbell probe-mediated cascade isothermal amplification (DP-CIA) strategy. The method relies on the circularization of dumbbell probe by binding target miRNA, followed by rolling circle amplification (RCA) reaction and an autonomous DNA machine performed by nicking/polymerization/displacement cycles that continuously produces single-stranded G-quadruplex to assemble with hemin to generate a color signal. In terms of the high sensitivity (as low as 1 zmol), wide dynamic range (covering 9 orders of magnitude), good specificity (even single-base difference) and easy operation (one probe and three enzymes), the proposed label-free assay is successfully applied to direct detection of let-7a miRNA in real sample (total RNA extracted from human lung tissue), demonstrating an attractive alternative for miRNA analysis for gene expression profiling and molecular diagnostics, particularly for early cancer diagnosis.     

Dual stacked partial least squares for analysis of near-infrared spectra

A new ensemble learning algorithm is presented for quantitative analysis of near-infrared spectra. The algorithm contains two steps of stacked regression and Partial Least Squares (PLS), termed Dual Stacked Partial Least Squares (DSPLS) algorithm. First, several sub-models were generated from the whole calibration set. The inner-stack step was implemented on sub-intervals of the spectrum. Then the outer-stack step was used to combine these sub-models. Several combination rules of the outer-stack step were analyzed for the proposed DSPLS algorithm. In addition, a novel selective weighting rule was also involved to select a subset of all available sub-models. Experiments on two public near-infrared datasets demonstrate that the proposed DSPLS with selective weighting rule provided superior prediction performance and outperformed the conventional PLS algorithm. Compared with the single model, the new ensemble model can provide more robust prediction result and can be considered an alternative choice for quantitative analytical applications.     

Photo-Ritter Reaction of Arylmethyl Bromides in Acetonitrile

The photo-Ritter reaction of five arylmethyl bromides can occur in acetonitrile to give acetamides. The intermediates, carbocations, which are formed from subsequent electron transfer between the radical pairs generated from initial homolytic cleavage of the C–Br bond, are trapped by acetonitrile, and subsequent hydrolysis generates the corresponding acetamides.     

Remarks on Rawnsley’s $$\varvec{\varepsilon }$$ε -function on the Fock–Bargmann–Hartogs domains

In this paper, we mainly study a family of unbounded non-hyperbolic domains in $$\mathbb {C}^{n+m}$$, called Fock–Bargmann–Hartogs domains $$D_{n,m}(\mu )$$ ($$\mu >0$$) which are defined as a Hartogs type domains with the fiber over each $$z\in \mathbb {C}^{n}$$ being a ball of radius $$e^{-\frac{\mu }{2} {\Vert z\Vert }^{2}}$$. The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, we obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for Rawnsley’s $$\varepsilon $$-function $$\varepsilon _{(\alpha ,g)}(\widetilde{w})$$ of $$\big (D_{n,m}(\mu ), g(\mu ;\nu )\big )$$ to be a polynomial in $$\Vert \widetilde{w}\Vert ^2$$, where $$g(\mu ;\nu )$$ is a Kähler metric associated with the Kähler potential $$\nu \mu {\Vert z\Vert }^{2} -\ln (e^{-\mu {\Vert z\Vert }^{2}}-\Vert w\Vert ^2)$$. Secondly, using above results, we study the Berezin quantization on $$D_{n,m}(\mu )$$ with the metric $$\beta g(\mu ;\nu )$$$$(\beta >0)$$.     

Poset extensions, convex sets, and semilattice presentations

The paper is devoted to an algebraic and geometric study of the feasible set of a poset, the set of finite probability distributions on the elements of the poset whose weights satisfy the order relationships specified by the poset. For a general poset, this feasible set is a barycentric algebra. The feasible sets of the order structures on a given finite set are precisely the convex unions of the primary simplices, the facets of the first barycentric subdivision of the simplex spanned by the elements of the set. As another fragment of a potential complete duality theory for barycentric algebras, a duality is established between order-preserving mappings and embeddings of feasible sets. In particular, the primary simplices constituting the feasible set of a given finite poset are the feasible sets of the linear extensions of the poset. A finite poset is connected if and only if its barycentre is an extreme point of its feasible set. The feasible set of a (general) disconnected poset is the join of the feasible sets of its components. The extreme points of the feasible set of a finite poset are specified in terms of the disjointly irreducible elements of the semilattice presented by the poset. Semilattices presented by posets are characterised in terms of various distributivity concepts.     

Identification of tartrazine and sunset yellow by fluorescence spectroscopy combined with radial basis function neural network

The fluorescence spectra of synthetic food dyes of sunset yellow and tartrazine are analyzed. The fluorescence peak wavelengths of sunset yellow and tartrazine are 576 and 569 nm, respectively, while the fluorescence spectra widths are 480-750 and 500 750 nm induced by ultraviolet light between 310-400 nm. The fluorescence spectra of sunset yellow overlap heavily with those of tartrazine, so it is difficult to distinguish them. Based on the principle of radial basis function neural network, a neural network is obtained from the training of the 14 groups of experimental data. The results show that the species of sunset yellow and tartrazine could be recognized accurately. This method has potential applications in other synthetic food dyes detection and food safety inspection.     

强Duffing系统的局部分岔分析

本文通过坐标变化和近恒等变化，将强Ｄｕｆｆｉｎｇ方程化成范式，从而可以得到在不同共振条件下的分合方程以及其近似解，应用奇异性理论研究了强Ｄｕｆｆｉｎｇ在开折参数及物理参数平面上的转迁集及其局部分岔图．     

NMR spectra and potentiometry studies of aluminum(III) binding with coenzyme NAD+ in acidic aqueous solutions.

Complexation and conformational studies of coenzyme NAD+ with aluminum were conducted in acidic aqueous solutions (pH 2-5) by means of potentiometry as well as multinuclear (1H, 13C, 31P, 27Al) and two-dimensional (1H, 1H-NOESY) NMR spectroscopy. These led to the following results: (1) Al could coordinate with NAD+ through the following binding sites: N7' of adenine and pyrophosphate free oxygen (O(A)1, O(N)1,O(A)2) to form various mononuclear 1:1 (AlLH23+, AlLH2+) and 2:1 (AlL2-) species, and dinuclear 2:2 (Al2L22+) species. (2) The conformations of NAD+ and Al-NAD+ depended on the solvents and different species in the complexes. The results suggest the occurrence of an Al-linked complexation, which causes structural changes at the primary recognition sites and secondary conformational alterations for coenzymes. This finding will help us to understand role of Al in biological enzyme reaction systems.     

多组分水溶液中的石油磺酸盐与OP—10的荧光发射光谱

含苯氧基的非离子型和阴离子型表面活性剂在一定激发波长下可发出特定波长的荧光，在稀溶液中荧光发射强度与其浓度成正比，不受溶液里存在的其他物质的影响，在适当条件下相互之间也无影响。本文报道了用荧光检测复合驱油体系中的ＯＰ１０、石油磺酸盐和ＯＰ１０＋石油磺酸盐的结果。此法选择性高，灵敏度高，操作简便，可望用于复合驱油体系中表面活性剂的分析、研究。