Micro/Nano-Fabrication of Flexible Poly(3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene)-Based Conductive Films for High-Performance Microdevices.

With the increasing demands for novel flexible organic electronic devices, conductive polymers are now becoming the rising star for reaching such targets, which has witnessed significant breakthroughs in the fields of thermoelectric devices, solar cells, sensors, and hydrogels during the past decade due to their outstanding conductivity, solution-processing ability, as well as tailorability. However, the commercialization of those devices still lags markedly behind the corresponding research advances, arising from the not high enough performance and limited manufacturing techniques. The conductivity and micro/nano-structure of conductive polymer films are two critical factors for achieving high-performance microdevices. In this review, the state-of-the-art technologies for developing organic devices by using conductive polymers are comprehensively summarized, which will begin with a description of the commonly used synthesis methods and mechanisms for conductive polymers. Next, the current techniques for the fabrication of conductive polymer films will be proffered and discussed. Subsequently, approaches for tailoring the nanostructures and microstructures of conductive polymer films are summarized and discussed. Then, the applications of micro/nano-fabricated conductive films-based devices in various fields are given and the role of the micro/nano-structures on the device performances is highlighted. Finally, the perspectives on future directions in this exciting field are presented.

The disruption of the MAPKK gene triggering the synthesis of flavonoids in endophytic fungus Phomopsis liquidambaris.

Flavonoids, which are mainly extracted from plants, are important antioxidants and play an important role in human diseases. However, the growing market demand is limited by low productivity and complex production processes. Herein, the flavonoids biosynthesis pathway of the endophytic fungus Phomopsis liquidambaris was revealed. The mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MAPKK) of the strain was disrupted using a newly constructed CRISPR-Cas9 system mediated by two gRNAs which was conducive to cause plasmid loss. The disruption of the MAPKK gene triggered the biosynthesis of flavonoids against stress and resulted in the precipitation of flavonoids from fermentation broth. Naringenin, kaempferol and quercetin were detected in fed-batch fermentation with yields of 5.65 mg/L, 1.96 mg/L and 2.37 mg/L from P. liquidambaris for dry cell weigh using the mixture of glucose and xylose and corn steep powder as carbon source and nitrogen source for 72 h, respectively. The biosynthesis of flavonoids was triggered by disruption of MAPKK gene in P. liquidambaris and the mutant could utilize xylose.

A smartphone-combined ratiometric fluorescence probe for specifically and visibly detecting cephalexin.

A smartphone-combined dual-emission ratiometric fluorescence probe for specifically and visibly detecting cephalexin was first designed. In the probe, blue-emitting fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) was synthesized and covered with a layer of silica spacer. Red-emitting fluorescent CdTe QDs (r-QDs) was grafted onto the silica nanospheres as an analytical probe. Then, the cephalexin antibody was covalent grafted to the ratio sensor to increase the selectivity. The ratio of fluorescence intensity (FL) of r-QDs and CDs was quenched with the increasing concentration of cephalexin. The detection method has good linear response in the range of 1-500 µM and the detection limit was 0.7 µM. Then portable device based on smartphone detection was constructed according to the color change under UV lamp. The detection image was obtained through the smartphone camera, and the color picker APP installed in the smartphone captured the RGB value of the image. In addition, this method was also used to determine the amount of cephalexin in milk samples with recovery of 94.1%-102.2%. These results showed that it was a portable, simple and visible method to detect cephalexin in food analysis and environmental monitoring.

Serum 14-3-3η Could Improve the Diagnostic Rate of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Correlates to Disease Activity.

OBJECTIVES: Serum 14-3-3η is a novel joint-derived proinflammatory mediator associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic capacity of serum 14-3-3η and its correlation with clinical variables in patients with RA. METHODS: A total of 94 patients with RA and 80 age- and sex-matched controls, including 40 healthy subjects, were included. Serum 14-3-3η levels were assessed by quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves analysis was used to determine the sensitivity and specificity of 14-3-3η. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationship between 14-3-3η and other clinical measures in patients with RA. RESULTS: Median (interquartile range) of serum 14-3-3η concentration (ng/ml) in RA patients (2.34 [1.56-3.39]) was significantly higher than that in healthy subjects (0.17[0.11-0.30]) and disease controls (1.66[1.21-2.74]; P<0.05). ROC curve analysis comparing patients with RA with all controls demonstrated a significant (P<0.001) area under the curve (AUC) of 0.81 (95% confidence interval: 0.74-0.88). At a cutoff of 1.44 ng/mL, the ROC curve yielded a sensitivity of 78.7% and specificity of 73.8%. The sensitivity of anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) and rheumatoid factor (RF) were 84.0% and 72.3%, respectively. Adding 14-3-3η to ACPA and/or RF discriminated more than 96% of patients with RA. The positive rate of at least one of the three markers was up to 99%, with a specificity of about 70%. The results of correlation analyses revealed that serum levels of 14-3-3η protein positively correlated with C-reactive protein (r=0.250, P<0.05), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r=0.294, P<0.01), and 28-joint disease activity score (r=0.275, P<0.05) in patients with RA. CONCLUSIONS: 14-3-3η protein is a novel marker that can apparently enhance the detection rate of patients with RA. The level of serum 14-3-3η protein correlates to some degree with disease activity.

Epitope imprinted polymer coating CdTe quantum dots for specific recognition and direct fluorescent quantification of the target protein bovine serum albumin.

A novel epitope molecularly imprinted polymer (EMIP) for specific recognition and direct fluorescent quantification of the target protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) was demonstrated where polymerization was performed on the surface of silica nanospheres embedded CdTe quantum dots (QDs). The synthetic peptide derived from the surface-exposed C-terminus of bovine serum albumin (BSA, residues 599-607) was selected as the template molecule. The resulting EMIP film was able to selectively capture the template peptide and the corresponding target protein BSA via the recognition cavities. Based on the fluorescence quenching, the EMIP-coated QDs (molecular imprinted polymer coating CdTe QDs using epitope as the template) nanospheres were successfully applied to the direct fluorescence quantification of BSA. Compared with BMIP-coated QDs (molecular imprinted polymer coating CdTe QDs using BSA as the template), the imprinting factor and adsorption capacity of EMIP-coated QDs were greatly increased. The prepared EMIP-coated QDs can also discriminate even one mismatched sequences from the original sequences of the epitope of the BSA. The practical analytical performance of the EMIP-coated QDs was examined by evaluating the detection of BSA in the bovine calf serum sample with satisfactory results. In addition, the resulting EMIP-coated QDs nanospheres were also successfully applied to separating BSA from the bovine blood sample.

Selective capture and fluorescent quantification of glycoproteins using aminophenylboronic acid functionalized mesoporous silica coated CdTe quantum dots.

In this work, aminophenylboronic acid functionalized mesoporous silica coated CdTe quantum dots (APBA-coated QDs) were synthesized and applied to the selective capture and fluorescent quantification of glycoproteins. The as-prepared APBA-coated QDs, relying on the interaction between APBA and cis-diol containing structures, demonstrated excellent selectivity for the glycoproteins. Their high surface area and APBA-enriched silica matrixes give rise to faster binding kinetics and higher binding capacity for the glycoproteins, which further make them attractive for biomedical/chemical sensing applications. Based on the fluorescent properties of the particles, the as-prepared APBA-coated QDs were successfully applied to the fluorescence quantification of glycoproteins. The present study provides a facile strategy to fabricate functionalized fluorescent materials and is of great significance for isolation and detection of glycoproteins in proteomics.