DSN signal amplification strategy based nanochannels biosensor for the detection of miRNAs.

MiRNA-21 is recognized as an important biological marker for the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of breast cancer. Here, we have created a nanochannel biosensor utilizing the duplex-specific nuclease (DSN) signal amplification strategy to achieve the detection of miRNAs. In this system, DNA as the capture probe was covalently immobilized on the surface of nanochannels, which hybridized with the target miRNA and forms RNA/DNA duplexes. DSN could cleave the probe DNA in RNA/DNA duplexes, recycling target miRNA, which may again hybridized with other DNA probes. After N cycles, most of the DNA probes had been cleaved, and the content of miRNA could be quantified by detecting changes in surface charge density. This biosensor can distinguish miR-21 from non-complementary miRNAs and one-base mismatched miRNAs, with reliable detection limits as low as 1 fM in PBS. In addition, we had successfully applied this method to analysis of total RNA samples in MCF-7 cells and HeLa cells, and the nanochannels had also shown excellent responsiveness and strong anti-interference ability. This new method is expected to contribute to miRNA detection in clinical diagnostics, providing a unique approach to detecting and distinguishing disease-associated molecules.

Passive leg raising modulates low-frequency oscillation propagation in peripheral atherosclerosis: A pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: Low-frequency oscillations (LFOs) observed in the periphery may reflect physiological processes. The aim of this study was to investigate these processes' effects on LFOs and the differences between healthy subjects and those with peripheral arteriosclerosis disease (PAD). METHODS: 14 PAD patients and 25 healthy controls were studied in resting (RS) and passive leg raising (PLR) states. We simultaneously measured LFOs at the peripheral left earlobes (LE), right earlobes (RE), left fingertips (LF), right fingertips (RF), left toes (LT), and right toes (RT), along with coherence and phase shift analysis processing. RESULTS: The coherence coefficients in the PAD group were lower than those in the healthy group (p < .01), and the phase shifts in the PAD group were higher than those in the healthy group (p < .01) in a resting state. Mild to moderate PAD patients had greater coherence coefficients and smaller phase shifts than severe PAD patients. 0.05 Hz PLR LFOs originating in the LT can be observed in other peripheral positions. The proportion of occurrence times for 0.05 Hz PLR LFOs peaks observed at different peripheral positions was different in healthy subjects, patients with bilateral multiple lower limb arteriosclerosis, and those with left or right lower limb arteriosclerosis. CONCLUSION: The coherence coefficient and phase shift characteristics of LFOs were different between healthy subjects and PAD patients. LFOs have the potential to provide valuable physiological process information associated with atherosclerosis in the periphery.

Ti3C2Tx MXene-based hybrid nanocoating for flame retardant, early fire-warning and piezoresistive tension sensing smart polyester fabrics.

Flammability feature of textiles is a big underlying risk causing fire disasters. The fabrication of reliable fire resistant and quick fire warning fabrics is imperative but challenging. Herein, three types of early fire-warning polyester fabrics, namely, FPP@AM-X, FPP@PM-X and FPP@AX-M1, with good flame retardant and piezoresistive sensing performance were developed by fabricating polyethyleneimine (PEI), ammonium polyphosphate (APP), phytic acid (PA) and MXenes onto phosphorus-containing flame retardant polyethylene terephthalate (FRPET) via polydopamine (PDA) mediated layer-by-layer self-assembly. Owing to the improved thermoelectric properties of MXenes, FPP@A5-M1 exhibited a maximum thermoelectric voltage of 0.59 mV at a temperature difference of 130 °C and can provide an ideal cyclic early fire warning response within 4 s. In addition, due to the synergistic flame retardant effect of MXenes and APP in the coating layer, FPP@A5-M1 could be self-extinguished within 2 s after ignition and the value of peak heat release ratio and total smoke production decreased by 41.9% and 30.4%, respectively. Besides, the MXene-based hybrid coated fabric can detect the movement of human fingers and elbows, illustrating its potential application in piezoresistive tension sensing. This work provides a new route to designing and developing multi-functional and smart fire protection fabrics.

Differences in symmetrical low-frequency oscillations among healthy subjects, and those with stroke or peripheral arterial disease.

Low-frequency oscillations (LFOs) observed in near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) reflect autonomic physiological processes, and may serve as useful indicators for detecting and monitoring circulatory dysfunction. The aim of this study was to reveal whether LFOs can be used as vascular perfusion biomarkers to differentiate different types and degrees of vascular lesions based on clinical patient data. Materials and Methods: In this study, healthy controls, ischemic stroke patients and peripheral atherosclerosis patients completed a resting-state LFO detection experiment. LFOs were collected simultaneously at peripheral right and left earlobes, fingertips and toes, along with coherence and phase shift analyses processing. Results: The results showed that the coherence coefficients of symmetric peripheral positions and the absolute value-phase shifts of fingers and toes can be used to distinguish healthy individuals, ischemic stroke patients and peripheral atherosclerosis patients. The symmetric earlobes' absolute value-phase shifts could be used to differentiate mild and severe ischemic stroke patients; the coherence coefficients and absolute value-phase shifts of the symmetric toes could be used to differentiate mild and severe peripheral arteriosclerosis patients. The accuracy of differentiating between types of patients was 70%; those with different degrees of peripheral atherosclerosis was 85%, and those with different degrees of ischemic stroke was 72%. Conclusions: LFOs can serve as vascular perfusion biomarkers to differentiate types and degrees of vascular lesions. Therefore, LFOs have the potential to provide valuable patient information to assist researchers and clinicians in identifying specific peripheral circulatory damage subgroups.

Obese rats intervened with Rhizoma coptidis revealed differential gene expression and microbiota by serum metabolomics.

BACKGROUND: Integrating systems biology is an approach for investigating metabolic diseases in humans. However, few studies use this approach to investigate the mechanism by which Rhizoma coptidis (RC) reduces the effect of lipids and glucose on high-fat induced obesity in rats. METHODS: Twenty-four specific pathogen-free (SPF) male Sprague-Dawley rats (80 ± 10 g) were used in this study. Serum metabolomics were detected by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry. Liver tissue and cecum feces were used for RNA-Seq technology and 16S rRNA gene sequencing, respectively. RESULTS: We identified nine potential biomarkers, which are differential metabolites in the Control, Model and RC groups, including linoleic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, arachidonic acid, stearic acid, and L-Alloisoleucine (p < 0.01). The liver tissue gene expression profile indicated the circadian rhythm pathway was significantly affected by RC (Q ≤ 0.05). A total of 149 and 39 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), which were highly associated with biochemical indicators and potential biomarkers in the cecum samples (FDR ≤ 0.05), respectively, were identified. CONCLUSION: This work provides information to better understand the mechanism of the effect of RC intervention on hyperlipidemia and hypoglycemic effects in obese rats. The present study demonstrates that integrating systems biology may be a powerful tool to reveal the complexity of metabolic diseases in rats intervened by traditional Chinese medicine.

New catalytically active conjugated microporous polymer bearing ordered salen-Cu and porphyrin moieties for Henry reaction in aqueous solution.

A catalytically active conjugated microporous polymer (SP-CMP-Cu) was facilely constructed with condensation polymerization of salen-Cu (salen = N,N'-bis(3-tertbutyl-5-formylsalicylidene) ethylenediamine) and pyrrole. The as-synthesized SP-CMP-Cu was completely characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The morphological features of SP-CMP-Cu were revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). According to the N2 adsorption/desorption isotherm, the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of SP-CMP-Cu was calculated to be 252 m2 g-1 with a total pore volume of 0.178 cm3 g-1. SP-CMP-Cu exhibited an outstanding catalytic performance for the Henry reaction in aqueous solutions with excellent conversion and good selectivity. Moreover, SP-CMP-Cu can be reused for up to five consecutive runs without any significant loss in its catalytic efficiency.

Small RNA sequencing reveals dynamic microRNA expression of important nutrient metabolism during development of Camellia oleifera fruit.

To obtain insight into the function of miRNAs in the synthesis and storage of important nutrients during the development of Camellia oleifera fruit, Illumina sequencing of flower and fruit small-RNA was conducted. The results revealed that 797 miRNAs were significantly differentially expressed between flower and fruit samples of Camellia oleifera. Through integrated GO and KEGG function annotations, it was determined that the miRNA target genes were mainly involved in metabolic pathways, plant hormone signal transduction, fruit development, mitosis and regulation of biosynthetic processes. Carbohydrate accumulation genes were differentially regulated by miR156, miR390 and miR395 in the fruit growth and development process. MiR477 is the key miRNA functioning in regulation of genes and involved in fatty acid synthesis. Additionally, miR156 also has the function of regulating glycolysis and nutrient transformation genes.

[Development of System of Measuring Multiple Physiological Parameters by Special Cushion].

In order to monitor the physiological condition of the human body in daily life, this study has designed a system of measuring physiological parameters based on cushion, which could detect heart rate and respiration rate when people are sitting. The system can continuously colect signal from cushion with a state of low pressure and without sticking any electrode on people's bodies. The hardware part mainly includes the signal acquisition circuit of the sensor, microcomputer control module and Bluetooth wireless transmission module. For the two physiological signals have the characteristic of the large noise and low-frequency, we use the Butterworth low-pass filter to process the signal according to an optimized Matlab algorithm. The results show that this system can measure heart rate and respiration rate accurately. Thus, the real-time monitoring on body's information can be implemented.