Electric Field Promoted Click Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy for Rapid and Specific Detection of DNA 2-Deoxyribose 5'-Aldehyde Oxidation Products in Plasma.

Rapid identification of DNA oxidative damage sites is of great significance for disease diagnosis. In this work, electric field-regulated click reaction surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (e-Click-SERS) was developed aiming at the rapid and specific analysis of furfural, the biomarker of oxidative damage to the 5-carbon site of DNA deoxyribose. In e-Click-SERS, cysteamine-modified porous Ag filaments (cys@p-Ag) were prepared and used as electrodes, amine-aldehyde click reaction sites, and SERS substrates. Cysteamine was controlled as an "end-on" conformation by setting the voltage of cys@p-Ag at -0.1 V, which ensures its activity in participating in the amine-aldehyde click reaction during the detection of furfural. Benefiting from this, the proposed e-Click-SERS method was found to be sensitive, rapid-responding, and interference-resistant in analyzing furfural from plasma. The method detection limits of furfural were 5 ng mL-1 in plasma, and the whole "extraction and detection" procedure was completed within 30 min with satisfactory recovery. Interference from 13 kinds of common plasma metabolites was investigated and found to not interfere with the analysis, according to the exclusive adaptation of the amine-aldehyde click reaction. Notably, the e-Click-SERS technique allows in situ analysis of biological samples, which offers great potential to be a point-of-care testing tool for detecting DNA oxidative damage.

Engineering the crystal facets of α-MnO2 nanorods for electrochemical energy storage: experiments and theory.

Crystal facet engineering is an effective strategy for precisely regulating the orientations and electrochemical properties of metal oxides. However, the contribution of each crystal facet to pseudocapacitance is still puzzling, which is a bottleneck that restricts the specific capacitance of metal oxides. Herein, α-MnO2 nanorods with different exposed facets were synthesized through a hydrothermal route and applied to pseudocapacitors. XRD and TEM results verified that the exposure ratio of active crystal facets was significantly increased with the assistance of the structure-directing agents. XPS analysis showed that there was more adsorbed oxygen and Mn3+ on the active crystal facets, which can provide strong kinetics for the electrochemical reaction. Consequently, the α-MnO2 nanorods with {110} and {310} facets exhibited much higher pseudocapacitances of 120.0 F g-1 and 133.0 F g-1 than their α-MnO2-200 counterparts (67.5 F g-1). The theoretical calculations proved that the {310} and {110} facets have stronger adsorption capacity and lower diffusion barriers for sodium ions, which is responsible for the enhanced pseudocapacitance of MnO2. This study provides a strategy to enhance the electrochemical performance of metal oxide, based on facet engineering.

The effects of unrepaired cleft palate on early language development in Chinese infants.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of unrepaired cleft palate on the development of vocabulary comprehension and expression of Chinese children aged 8 to 15 months. METHODS: The parents or caregivers of 40 infants with unrepaired cleft palate were recruited from the Cleft Lip and Palate Center at the Stomatology School of Peking University. Vocabulary development was assessed using a parent report protocol, the Chinese Communicative Development Inventory: Infant, for Putonghua (PCDI: Infant). The scores for vocabulary comprehension and expression of infants with clefts were compared with typically developing infants in the same age group. RESULTS: All infants with unrepaired cleft palate performed below the typically developing infants in vocabulary comprehension, but there were no significant differences from 8 to 15 months of age. No significant differences were found from 8 to 13 months of age on the expressive vocabulary portion of the Chinese Communicative Development Inventory: Infant, for Putonghua. However, a significant difference appeared at 14 and 15 months, with infants with cleft palate performing at a significantly lower level than the typically developing infants. CONCLUSION: The development of vocabulary comprehension in Chinese infants younger than 14 months with unrepaired cleft palate is not significantly delayed. At 14 and 15 months, however, the development of vocabulary expression is delayed. The reasons may be found in the specific phonetic characteristics of Putonghua.

The electronic effects of ligands on metal-coordination geometry: a key role in the visual discrimination of dimethylaminopyridine and its application towards chemo-switch.

Due to its special coordination ability to Cu(II)-terpyridine complexes, a simple and straightforward visual recognition of p-DMAP out of its analogues has been realized via selective metallogel collapse. In combination with the selective gel collapse and the self-healing properties of metallohydrogel , its potential application towards chemo-switch is also demonstrated.

Photoresponsive metallo-hydrogels based on visual discrimination of the positional isomers through selective thixotropic gel collapse.

Incorporating the visual discrimination of 2,2'-bipyridine and self-healing properties, a novel photo-switchable metallo-hydrogel system is fabricated using a pincer-type Cu(II) complex and 2,2'-azopyridine.

Tunable reversible metallo-hydrogels: a new platform for visual discrimination of biothiols.

By using metallo-hydrogel as a new platform, a simple and straightforward selective visual discrimination of cysteine, homocysteine and glutathione from each other as well as from other amino acids has been realized.