Recognition of dipole-induced electric field in 2D materials for surface-enhanced Raman scattering.

The application of two-dimensional (2D) materials, including metallic graphene, semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides, and insulating hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) for surface-enhancement Raman spectroscopy has attracted extensive research interest. This article provides a critical overview of the recent developments in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy using 2D materials. By re-examining the relationship between the lattice structure and Raman enhancement characteristics, including vibration selectivity and thickness dependence, we highlight the important role of dipoles in the chemical enhancement of 2D materials.

Diagnosis and treatment of finger flexion contracture caused by forearm flexor disease / 中国修复重建外科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To summarize the clinical characteristics, differential diagnosis, and treatment methods of finger flexion contracture caused by three kinds of forearm flexor diseases.@*METHODS@#Between December 2008 and August 2021, 17 patients with finger flexion contracture were treated, including 8 males and 9 females, aged 5-42 years, with a median of 16 years. The disease duration ranged from 1.5 months to 30 years, with a median of 13 years. The etiology included 6 cases of Volkmann's contracture, all of which were flexion deformity of the 2nd to 5th fingers, accompanied by limitation of thumb dorsiflexion in 3 cases and limitation of wrist dorsiflexion in 3 cases; 3 cases of pseudo-Volkmann's contracture, including 2 cases of flexion deformity of middle, ring, and little fingers, and 1 case of flexion deformity of ring and little fingers; 8 cases of ulnar finger flexion contracture caused by forearm flexor disease or anatomical variations, all of which were flexion deformity of middle, ring, and little fingers. Operations such as slide of flexor and pronator teres origin, excision of abnormal fibrous cord and bony prominence, and release of entrapped muscle (tendon) were performed. Hand function was evaluated according to WANG Haihua's hand function rating standard or modified Buck-Gramcko classification standard, and muscle strength was evaluated according to British Medical Research Council (MRC) muscle strength rating standard.@*RESULTS@#All patients were followed up 1-10 years (median, 1.5 years). At last follow-up, 8 patients with contracture caused by forearm flexor disease or anatomical variations and 3 patients with pseudo-Volkmann's contracture achieved excellent hand function, with muscle strength of grade M5 in 6 cases and grade M4 in 5 cases. One patient with mild Volkmann's contracture and 3 patients with moderate Volkmann's contracture without severe nerve damage had excellent hand function in 2 cases and good in 2 cases, with muscle strength of grade M5 in 1 case and grade M4 in 3 cases. Two patients with moderate or severe Volkmann's contracture had poor hand function, with 1 case of muscle strength of grade M3 and 1 case of grade M2, which improved when compared with those before operation. The overall excellent and good rate of hand function and the proportion of patients with muscle strength of grade M4 and above were 88.2% (15/17), respectively.@*CONCLUSION@#The finger flexion contracture caused by different etiology can be differentiated by analyzing the history, physical examination, radiographs, and intraoperative findings. After different surgical treatments, such as resection of contracture band, release of compressed muscle (tendon), and downward movement of flexor origin, most patients have a good outcome.

Tailoring TiO2/Al2O3 heterolayers as optical filters for the visible region.

Optical filters operating in the visible region of the spectrum are highly desired for applications ranging from optical communication and sensing to fluorescence microscopy and skin therapy. However, complex fabrication procedures and/or inferior performance, limit the practical applications of previously reported thin-film-based optical filters. Herein, we describe the structual design concepts and facile fabrication of vertically stacked heterolayers of TiO2/Al2O3 to obtain a bandpass filter and a longwave pass edge filter operating in the spectral range 410-600 nm and 400-597 nm, respectively. The optical filters are designed according to MacLeod simulation and fabricated via magnetron sputtering, depositing alternative stacks of low (Al2O3) and high (TiO2) refractive index materials with different thicknesses, as confirmed by spectroscopic ellipsometry. Owing to a reasonable matching between the design and the fabrication, our developed TiO2/Al2O3 heterolayer optical filters exhibited 54.60% transmission for 7-layer longwave pass edge filter and 15% reflectance for 14-layer bandpass filter of a selective set of wavelengths (400-800 nm).

Epigenetic regulation in pulmonary heart disease by non-coding RNA / 中国药理学通报

Pulmonary heart disease (PHD) is a common cardiovascular disease in China, with high mortality ratein its late stage.Currently, PHD treatments are mainly to delay the disease progression, which cannot effectively improve and cure the disease.Consequently, it is in urgent need to find a new treatment for PHD.Epigenetic regulation plays an important role in the occurrence and pathological process of diseases, which provides a novel idea of developing new drugs by regulating non-coding RNA(ncRNA).However, ncRNA studies in PHD are at the stage of few and shallow, stray and scattered.Therefore, this review for the first time summarizes ncRNA related to various PHD phenotypes, and discusses the epigenetic regulation in PHD by ncRNA.

The selective and sensitive detection of formaldehyde by ZIF-90-LWvia aza-Cope rearrangement.

Formaldehyde (FA), as one of the simplest reactive carbonyl species (RCS), is widely known as an environmental toxin and carcinogen. In this work, a new ZIF-90 type material (ZIF-90-LW) was synthesized and investigated, which combines the two strategies of "2-aza-Cope rearrangement" and "MOF structure", by the combination of a pre-functionalized 2-allylaminoimidazole ligand and Zn2+ salt under solvothermal conditions. From this, the hurdle of selectivity over other carbonyl compounds (RCS) could be overcome despite their similar electrophilic reactivities to FA, and a prominent fluorescence turn-on type signal was realized through the 2-aza-Cope rearrangement mechanism. A good linear relationship (R2 = 0.9979) was obtained by fitting the fluorescence intensity towards FA from 0 to 25 mM, and the detection limit of ZIF-90-LW for FA was 2.3 µM. In addition, it also showed potentially useful sensing ability for the detection of FA in the gas phase, and might therefore be used to rapidly detect FA with a response time of 28 s in the liquid phase. All of the above features clearly demonstrate that ZIF-90-LW has great potential for sensitive and selective recognition of FA in the environment.

Ultrasensitive Field-Effect Biosensors Enabled by the Unique Electronic Properties of Graphene.

This review provides a critical overview of current developments on nanoelectronic biochemical sensors based on graphene. Composed of a single layer of conjugated carbon atoms, graphene has outstanding high carrier mobility and low intrinsic electrical noise, but a chemically inert surface. Surface functionalization is therefore crucial to unravel graphene sensitivity and selectivity for the detection of targeted analytes. To achieve optimal performance of graphene transistors for biochemical sensing, the tuning of the graphene surface properties via surface functionalization and passivation is highlighted, as well as the tuning of its electrical operation by utilizing multifrequency ambipolar configuration and a high frequency measurement scheme to overcome the Debye screening to achieve low noise and highly sensitive detection. Potential applications and prospectives of ultrasensitive graphene electronic biochemical sensors ranging from environmental monitoring and food safety, healthcare and medical diagnosis, to life science research, are presented as well.

Association of FOXO1 gene single nucleotide polymorphisms with type 2 diabetic nephropathy / 中华内分泌代谢杂志

Objective To investigate the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms ( SNPs) of FOXO1 gene and type 2 diabetic nephropathy(T2DN). Methods A total of 654 Chinese Han patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM;394 without and 260 with T2DN) were enrolled. Six FOXO1 gene tags SNPs were selected using the Hapmap database. The genotypes of six SNPs in FOXO1 were determined by PCR-RFLP, and the clinical characteristics of the subjects were also evaluated. The interaction of SNPs with these clinical factors was analyzed by multiple factor reduction(MDR) method. Results After adjusting for age, gender, DM course, body mass index ( BMI ) , HbA1C , total cholesterol ( TC ) , triglycerides ( TG ) , high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol ( HDL-C ) , low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol ( LDL-C ) , hypertension history, DM family history, smoking, and drinking, FOXO1 rs17446614 variant genotype was significantly associated with an increased risk of T2DN, while rs17446593 variant genotype was associated with a decreased T2DN risk. In the stratified analysis of risk factors, the correlation between rs17446614 and T2DN was unrelated with patient' s gender, hypertension history, and blood TC level. Simultaneously, rs17446614 variant genotype significantly increased the risk of T2DN in people older than 60 years,BMI less than 24 kg/m2 , LDL-C less than or equal to 3. 5 mmol/L , or DM family history. rs2721068 variant genotype significantly decreased the risk of T2DN in people less than 60 years old or without DM family history. rs2951787 variant genotype significantly increased the risk of T2DN in people with DM duration longer than 10 years or with DM family history. A variant genotype rs17592236 significantly increased the risk of T2DN in male or TC higher than 5 mmol/L. A variant genotype rs17446593 significantly decreased the risk of T2DN in male or those DM duration longer than 10 years, or BMI≥24 kg/m2 . The interactions among rs17446614, DM duration, TC, and hypertension history were also observed. Conclusion The genetic variants rs17446614, rs2721068, rs2951787, rs17592236, and rs17446593 in FoxO1 may contribute to the risk of T2DN in T2DM patients.

Detection of Listeria monocytogenes in CSF from Three Patients with Meningoencephalitis by Next-Generation Sequencing

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Encephalitis caused by Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) is rare but sometimes fatal. Early diagnosis is difficult using routine cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tests, while next-generation sequencing (NGS) is increasingly being used for the detection and characterization of pathogens. METHODS: This study set up and applied unbiased NGS to detect L. monocytogenes in CSF collected from three cases of clinically suspected listeria meningoencephalitis. RESULTS: Three cases of patients with acute/subacute meningoencephalitis are reported. Magnetic resonance imaging and blood cultures led to a suspected diagnosis of L. monocytogenes, while the CSF cultures were negative. Unbiased NGS of CSF identified and sequenced reads corresponding to L. monocytogenes in all three cases. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report highlighting the feasibility of applying NGS of CSF as a diagnostic method for central nervous system (CNS) L. monocytogenes infection. Routine application of this technology in clinical microbiology will significantly improve diagnostic methods for CNS infectious diseases.