Impact of Collection Volume and DNA Extraction Method on the Detection of Biomarkers and HPV DNA in First-Void Urine

The potential of first-void (FV) urine as a non-invasive liquid biopsy for detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA and other biomarkers has been increasingly recognized over the past decade. In this study, we investigated whether the volume of this initial urine stream has an impact on the analytical performance of biomarkers. In parallel, we evaluated different DNA extraction protocols and introduced an internal control in the urine preservative. Twenty-five women, diagnosed with high-risk HPV, provided three home-collected FV urine samples using three FV urine collection devices (Colli-Pee) with collector tubes that differ in volume (4, 10, 20 mL). Each collector tube was prefilled with Urine Conservation Medium spiked with phocine herpesvirus 1 (PhHV-1) DNA as internal control. Five different DNA extraction protocols were compared, followed by PCR for GAPDH and PhHV-1 (qPCR), HPV DNA, and HBB (HPV-Risk Assay), and ACTB (methylation-specific qPCR). Results showed limited effects of collection volume on human and HPV DNA endpoints. In contrast, significant variations in yield for human endpoints were observed for different DNA extraction methods (p < 0.05). Additionally, the potential of PhHV-1 as internal control to monitor FV urine collection, storage, and processing was demonstrated.     

Quantification of Tin and Lead in Binary Alloys Using Voltammetry of Immobilized Microparticles

Voltammetry of immobilized microparticles (VMP) has been used in this work for the quantitative determination of tin and lead particles in their binary alloys. Carbon paste electrodes, which contained small amounts of tin and lead or their mixtures, were used as working electrodes and square wave voltammograms of each electrode were recorded. Quantification was performed using optimum experimental conditions, obtained by an experimental design technique. The calibration was made by measuring the percentage peak height of each metal taking the sum of peak currents of the both metals as 100 %. The results were compared with quantitative results of X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) technique to evaluate the capability of VMP method in its quantitative determination of solid samples.     

Microcapillary electrochemical droplet cells: applications in solid-state surface analysis

Capillary–based microcells, also known as microcapillary electrochemical droplet cells, have proved their capabilities in various electrochemical surface investigations in recent decades. Due to the large measured current density and the high limiting current, this technique provides high–resolution electrochemical responses. Current densities in the range from a few femto to pico Acm^?2 to hundreds of Acm^?2 can be measured using this technique. Various applications for microcapillary cells have been reported. Technical limitations, such as the Ohmic drop and changes in the composition of the measurement area near the tip of the microcapillary have also been considered by some researchers. The rapid increase in the application of microcells and the increase in the number of related reports published in the literature have paralleled recent attempts to develop and improve microcell setups, showing that this technique is already well established for electrochemical surface studies.     

Axial non-uniformity of longitudinal hollow-cathode discharges for laser applications: numerical modeling and comparison with experiments

It is demonstrated by means of numerical modeling that longitudinal hollow-cathode discharges (HCDs) typically used for laser applications are strongly non-uniform in the axial direction. Two kinds of HCDs are investigated; those having one anode ring and those having two anode rings at opposite ends of the HCD tube. The HCD under study was made of copper and operated in a mixture of helium and argon. The calculated potential varied considerably in the axial direction. The densities of the major plasma species showed no maxima in the middle of the HCD, but rather at the anode side(s). The same applied to the sputtering rate at the cathode and the electron-impact ionization and excitation rates in the plasma. The calculation results for both configurations have been compared with measured data, i.e. with the electric current and the optical emission intensities of He (I) and Cu (I) lines as a function of axial position, and reasonable agreement has been reached. Received: 25 June 2002 / Revised version: 29 August 2002 / Published online: 22 November 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +32-3/820-23-76, E-mail: annemie.bogaerts@ua.ac.be     

Effect of helium/argon gas ratio in a He-Ar-Cu<Superscript>+</Superscript> IR hollow-cathode discharge laser: modeling study and comparison with experiments

The He-Ar-Cu⁺ IR laser operates in a hollow-cathode discharge, typically in a mixture of helium with a few-% Ar. The population inversion of the Cu⁺ ion levels, responsible for laser action, is attributed to asymmetric charge transfer between He⁺ ions and sputtered Cu atoms. The Ar gas is added to promote sputtering of the Cu cathode. In this paper, a hybrid modeling network consisting of several different models for the various plasma species present in a He-Ar-Cu hollow-cathode discharge is applied to investigate the effect of Ar concentration in the gas mixture on the discharge behavior, and to find the optimum He/Ar gas ratio for laser operation. It is found that the densities of electrons, Ar⁺ ions, Ar_m ^* metastable atoms, sputtered Cu atoms and Cu⁺ ions increase upon the addition of more Ar gas, whereas the densities of He⁺ ions, He₂ ⁺ ions and He_m ^* metastable atoms drop considerably. The product of the calculated Cu atom and He⁺ ion densities, which determines the production rate of the upper laser levels, and hence probably also the laser output power, is found to reach a maximum around 1–5 % Ar addition. This calculation result is compared to experimental measurements, and reasonable agreement has been reached. Received: 14 October 2002 / Revised version: 28 November 2002 / Published online: 19 March 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +32-3/820-23-76, E-mail: annemie.bogaerts@ua.ac.be     

Surface characterization of a cross‐linked cytochrome c film on cysteamine‐modified gold electrodes

The aim of the present paper is to characterize a cross‐linked horse heart cytochrome c (HHC) film on cysteamine‐modified gold electrodes. The HHC film was deposited using 1‐ethyl‐3‐(3‐dimethylaminopropyl)‐carbodiimide (EDC) as a coupling agent. Attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR‐IR) spectroscopic analyses were performed to characterize the newly formed surface on a qualitative and conformational level. The film thickness was measured using a noncontact optical surface profiler, while quantitative data and information on the heterogeneity of the film were obtained by means of synchrotron radiation X‐ray micro fluorescence (SR micro‐XRF). Results indicate that, in addition to electrochemical studies, spectroscopic analysis methods are essential to gain insight in the effect of immobilization strategies on protein conformations. The latter is of relevance in the development and optimization of biosensors. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Loss reduction in silicon nanophotonic waveguide micro-bends through etch profile improvement

Single mode silicon photonic wire waveguides allow low-loss sharp micro-bends, which enables compact photonic devices and circuits. The circuit compactness is achieved at the cost of loss induced by micro-bends, which can seriously affect the device performance. The bend loss strongly depends on the bend radius, polarization, waveguide dimension and profile. In this paper, we present the effect of waveguide profile on the bend loss. We present waveguide profile improvement with optimized etch chemistry and the role of etch chemistry in adapting the etch profile of silicon is investigated. We experimentally demonstrate that by making the waveguide sidewalls vertical, the bend loss can be reduced up to 25% without affecting the propagation loss of the photonic wires. The bend loss of a 2 μm bend has been reduced from 0.039dB/90° bend to 0.028dB/90° bend by changing the sidewall angle from 81° to 90°, respectively. The propagation loss of 2.7 ± 0.1dB/cm and 3 ± 0.09dB/cm was observed for sloped and vertical photonic wires respectively was obtained.