Focusing of Fe3O4 nanoparticles using a rotating magnetic field in various environments

The paper shows the application of a new method – Magnetic Nanoparticles Focusing 3D, MNF-3D – for focusing of magnetic nanoparticles at any point in a three-dimensional space between the rotating magnet system. The results of focusing process of nanoparticles in water, human blood, human serum and polyurethane sponge are presented. Additionally, blood flow was also considered. The effectiveness of nanoparticle focusing was monitored optically and quantitatively by electron spin resonance method. The method enabled focusing of magnetic nanoparticles within a few minutes in different environments. A good efficiency of focusing process was observed for all the samples.     

Diamond kinoform hard X‐ray refractive lenses: design,nanofabrication and testing

Motivated by the anticipated advantageous performance of diamond kinoform refractive lenses for synchrotron X‐ray radiation studies, this report focuses on progress in designing, nanofabricating and testing of their focusing performance. The method involves using lift‐off and plasma etching to reproduce a planar definition of numerically determined kinoform refractive optics. Tests of the focusing action of a diamond kinoform refractive lens at the APS 8‐ID‐I beamline demonstrate angular control of the focal spot.     

一种二维多孔窗口型膦酸锆材料的合成及其对不同金属离子的吸附性能

合成了一种二维窗口型膦酸锆材料β-丙氨酸-N,N-双亚甲基膦酸锆(ZrNCP),采用X射线衍射仪、扫描电镜、透射电镜分析了合成产物的相组成和微观结构;利用N2吸脱附试验装置测定了合成产物对不同金属离子的吸附性能,考察了浓度、温度及pH对其吸附性能的影响.结果表明,合成产物内部存在大量分布均匀的微介孔,材料微观形貌为规整片状.随着金属离子半径的增大,ZrNCP对各种金属离子的平衡吸附量(mmol/g)呈逐渐减小趋势.     

Acyclovir-Loaded Chitosan Microspheres for Gastroretention: Development and Evaluation

Mucoadhesive chitosan microspheres of acyclovir were prepared to prolong the gastric residence time using simple emulsification phase separation technique. The particle morphology of drug-loaded formulations was measured by SEM and the particle size distribution was determined using an optical microscope. The release profile of acyclovir from microspheres was examined in simulated gastric fluid (SGF pH 1.2). The particles were found to be discreet and spherical with the maximum particles of an average size (31.62 ± 4.64). The entrapment efficiency was found to be in the range of 40.24 to 67.29%. The concentration of the glutaraldehyde (25%v/v) as a cross-linker 2 ml and drug polymer ratio of 1:2 caused an increase in the entrapment efficiency and the extent of drug release. The optimized chitosan microspheres were found to possess good bioadhesion (79.89 ± 1.01%). The gamma-scintigraphy study showed the gastric residence time of more than 6 hours which revealed that optimized formulation could be a good choice for gastroretentive systems.     

Simple power supply for power load controlled isoelectric focusing

The power supply for IEF based on features of the Cockcroft‐Walton voltage multiplier (CW VM) is described in this work. The article describes a design of the IEF power supply, its electric characteristics, and testing by IEF analysis. A circuit diagram of the power supply included two opposite charged branches (each consisting of four voltage doublers). The designed CW VM was powered by 230 V/50 Hz alternate current and it generated up to 5 kV and 90 mW at the output. Voltage and current characteristics of the power supply were measured by known load resistances in the range from 10 kΩ to 1 GΩ, which is a common resistance range for IEF strip geometry. Further, the power supply was tested by a separation of a model mixture of colored pI markers using a 175 × 3 × 0.5 mm focusing bed. Automatically limited power load enabled analysis of samples without previous optimization of the focusing voltage or electric current time courses according to sample composition. Moreover, the developed power supply did not produce any intrinsic heat and was easy to set up with cheap and commonly available parts.     

Broadband spin‐controlled focusing via logarithmic‐spiral nanoslits of varying width

This work presents analytical, numerical and experimental demonstrations of light diffracted through a logarithmic spiral (LS) nanoslit, which forms a type of switchable and focus‐tunable structure. Owing to a strong dependence on the incident photon spin, the proposed LS‐nanoslit converges incoming light of opposite handedness (to that of the LS‐nanoslit) into a confined subwavelength spot, while it shapes light with similar chirality into a donut‐like intensity profile. Benefitting from the varying width of the LS‐nanoslit, different incident wavelengths interfere constructively at different positions, i.e., the focal length shifts from 7.5 μm (at λ = 632.8 nm) to 10 μm (at λ = 488 nm), which opens up new opportunities for tuning and spatially separating broadband light at the micrometer scale.

     

Numerical study of dielectrophoresis-modified inertial migration for overlapping sized cell separation

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been proven to have significant prognostic, diagnostic, and clinical values in early-stage cancer detection and treatment. The efficient separation of CTCs from peripheral blood can ensure intact and viable CTCs and can, thus, give proper genetic characterization and drug innovation. In this study, continuous and high-throughput separation of MDA-231 CTCs from overlapping sized white blood cells (WBCs) is achieved by modifying inertial cell focusing with dielectrophoresis (DEP) in a single-stage microfluidic platform by numeric simulation. The DEP is enabled by embedding interdigitated electrodes with alternating field control on a serpentine microchannel to avoid creating two-stage separation. Rather than using the electrokinetic migration of cells which slows down the throughput, the system leverages the inertial microfluidic flow to achieve high-speed continuous separation. The cell migration and cell positioning characteristics are quantified through coupled physics analyses to evaluate the effects of the applied voltages and Reynolds numbers (Re) on the separation performance. The results indicate that the introduction of DEP successfully migrates WBCs away from CTCs and that separation of MDA-231 CTCs from similar sized WBCs at a high Re of 100 can be achieved with a low voltage of magnitude 4 ×10⁶ V/m. Additionally, the viability of MDA-231 CTCs is expected to be sustained after separation due to the short-term DEP exposure. The developed technique could be exploited to design active microchips for high-throughput separation of mixed cell beads despite their significant size overlap, using DEP-modified inertial focusing controlled simply by adjusting the applied external field.     

Nd3+ Sensitized Fluorescent Nanoprobes for Vascular Imaging in the Second Near Infrared Window北大核心CSCD

In recent years,in comparison to the light in the visible range（400~700 nm）and first near-infrared window（NIR-Ⅰ,700~1000 nm）,the light in the second near-infrared window（NIR-Ⅱ,1000~ 1700 nm）possess the merits of the lowest optical scattering and absorption in the bio-tissue. So NIR-Ⅱ fluorescence imaging with deeper tissue penetration depths,high spatiotemporal resolution and signal to noise ratio（SNR）plays an important role in the fields of angiography,lymphangiography and so on. Herein, Nd3+ sensitized fluorescent nanoprobe （U/DNPs,NaGdF4 ∶Yb（18% mole fraction）,Ho（2%）,Ce（30%） @NaGdF4 ,Nd（60%）@NaGdF4 ,Nd（10%）） with core-shell-shell is synthesized through high-temperature coprecipitation and epitaxial growth method. Under the irradiation of 808 nm,the NIR-Ⅱ fluorescence at 1056 nm and 1332 nm are obtained via down-conversion process for further vascular imaging. Furthermore,it can emit red upconversion fluorescence with high red to green（R/G）ratio（I647 /I540 = 22. 6）,possessing greatly potential application for photodynamic therapy. After successful modification of polyvinyl pyrrolidone（PVP） via ligand-exchange strategy,the U/DNPs-PVP nanomaterials possess excellent solubility in water and good biocompatibility,and can achieve the NIR-Ⅱ fluorescence vessels imaging with spatial resolution of 336. 3 µμm in vivo. © 2022, Science Press (China). All rights reserved.     

超薄宽带平面聚焦超表面及其在高增益天线中的应用

针对相位梯度超表面在灵活操控电磁波与提高天线增益中的潜在应用,提出一种新型的宽带超表面单元,实现了在较宽频带范围内操控电磁波波前与提高天线增益.本文首先设计了一种圆环十字形对称单元来控制反射波的相移量,单元厚度为1 mm,尺寸为0.3λ_0(λ_0=20 mm),工作频段15—18 GHz,而后验证了由该单元组成的相位梯度超表面在15—18 GHz范围内对电磁波的奇异反射与聚焦特性.最后将设计的反射聚焦超表面应用于提高天线增益中,仿真与测试结果均表明,天线最高增益在15—18 GHz内平均增加了11 d B且-1 dB增益带宽为15—18 GHz(相对带宽为18.2%).由于厚度薄、重量轻、频带宽,设计的该单元拓展了相位梯度超表面在微波领域的应用,有望为高增益天线的实现提供新的方法.     

Determination of PEGylation homogeneity of polyethylene glycol-modified canine uricase

Polyethylene glycol-modified canine uricase (PEG-UHC) was prepared by modifying the ε-amino group of lysine residues on the canine uricase (UHC) protein to near-saturation with 5 kDa monomethoxyl-polyethylene glycol succinimide (mPEG-SPA-5k). In order to accurately determine the PEGylation uniformity of PEG-UHC, CZE, 3–8% gradient gel SDS-PAGE, and imaging CIEF (iCIEF) analyses were compared. CZE could not effectively separate PEG-UHC proteins with different degrees of modification, 3–8% gradient gel SDS-PAGE could separate PEG-UHC into seven gel bands; however, most of the gel bands were smeared or blurred, and the separation of PEG-UHC samples by iCIEF was significantly better than that by 3–8% gradient gel SDS-PAGE. Under denatured conditions, iCIEF separated 12 pI peaks, and could also accurately quantify the relative monomer PEG-UHC content. More than 85% of the total monomeric PEG-UHC was conjugated with 7–12 PEG molecules; of this 85%, approximately 40% was conjugated with 9–10 PEG molecules. These results demonstrated that iCIEF exhibits good potential for determining the PEGylation homogeneity of PEGylated protein drugs.