Near-perfect absorption of a honeycomb metasurface through QBICs.

All-dielectric high-Q metasurface absorbers based on quasi-bound states in the continuum (QBICs) are essential for optical and photonic devices. However, achieving perfect absorption requires adding back reflectors at the bottom or placing at least four asymmetric elements in each unit of monolayer metasurfaces, which will increase the design complexity. This work proposes a honeycomb structure with units periodically arranged as a hexagonal lattice. Each unit cell is made of two nanopost elements. By only tuning the radius difference of two elements to break the in-plane symmetry, two orthogonal QBIC modes corresponding to toroidal dipole (TD) and electric dipole (ED) modes are excited, respectively. The maximum absorption reaches 92.3% at 955 nm with a Q factor of 1501, breaking the monolayer limit of 50% by the degenerate critical coupling. Our work may provide a promising route for designing high-Q all-dielectric metasurface absorbers applied in ultrafast optoelectronic devices.

Exploring the impact of high-altitude de-acclimatization on renal function: The roles of oxidative and endoplasmic reticulum stress in rat models.

BACKGROUND: High-altitude de-acclimatization (HADA) significantly impacts physiological functions when individuals acclimatize to high altitudes return to lower altitudes. This study investigates HADA's effects on renal function and structure in rats, focusing on oxidative and endoplasmic reticulum stress as potential mechanisms of renal injury. OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the pathophysiological mechanisms of renal damage in HADA and evaluate the efficacy of antioxidants Vitamin C (Vit C) and tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) in mitigating these effects. METHODS: 88 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into a control group, a high-altitude (HA) group, a high-altitude de-acclimatization (HADA) group, and a treatment group. The control group was housed in a sea level environment (500 m), while the HA, HADA, and treatment groups were placed in a simulated high-altitude chamber (5000 m) for 90 days. After this period, the HA group completed the modeling phase; the HADA group was further subdivided into four subgroups, each continuing to be housed in a sea level environment for 3, 7, 14, and 30 days, respectively. The treatment group was split into the Vit C group, the TUDCA group, and two placebo groups, receiving medication for 3 consecutive days, once daily upon return to the sea level. The Vit C group received 100 mg/kg Vit C solution via intravenous injection, the TUDCA group received 250 mg/kg TUDCA solution via intraperitoneal injection, and the placebo groups received an equivalent volume of saline similarly. Serum, urine, and kidney tissues were collected immediately after the modeling phase. Renal function and oxidative stress levels were assessed using biochemical and ELISA methods. Renal histopathology was observed with H&E, Masson's trichrome, PAS, and PASM staining. Transmission electron microscopy was used to examine the ultrastructure of glomeruli and filtration barrier. TUNEL staining assessed cortical apoptosis in the kidneys. Metabolomics was employed for differential metabolite screening and pathway enrichment analysis. RESULTS: Compared to the control and HA groups, the HADA 3-day group (HADA-3D) exhibited elevated renal function indicators, significant pathological damage, observable ultrastructural alterations including endoplasmic reticulum expansion and apoptosis. TUNEL-positive cells significantly increased, indicating heightened oxidative stress levels. Various differential metabolites were enriched in pathways related to oxidative and endoplasmic reticulum stress. Early intervention with Vit C and TUDCA markedly alleviated renal injury in HADA rats, significantly reducing the number of apoptotic cells, mitigating endoplasmic reticulum stress, and substantially lowering oxidative stress levels. CONCLUSION: This study elucidates the pivotal roles of oxidative and endoplasmic reticulum stress in the early-stage renal injury in rats undergoing HADA. Early intervention with the Vit C and TUDCA significantly mitigates renal damage caused by HADA. These findings provide insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms of HADA and suggest potential therapeutic strategies for its future management.

The immune cell infiltration-associated molecular subtypes and gene signature predict prognosis for osteosarcoma patients.

Host immune dysregulation involves in the initiation and development of osteosarcoma (OS). However, the exact role of immune cells in OS remains unknown. We aimed to distinguish the molecular subtypes and establish a prognostic model in OS patients based on immunocyte infiltration. The gene expression profile and corresponding clinical feature of OS patients were obtained from TARGET and GSE21257 datasets. MCP-counter and univariate Cox regression analyses were applied to identify immune cell infiltration-related molecular subgroups. Functional enrichment analysis and immunocyte infiltration analysis were performed between two subgroups. Furthermore, Cox regression and LASSO analyses were performed to establish the prognostic model for the prediction of prognosis and metastasis in OS patients. The subgroup with low infiltration of monocytic lineage (ML) was related to bad prognosis in OS patients. 435 DEGs were screened between the two subgroups. Functional enrichment analysis revealed these DEGs were involved in immune- and inflammation-related pathways. Three important genes (including TERT, CCDC26, and IL2RA) were identified to establish the prognostic model. The risk model had good prognostic performance for the prediction of metastasis and overall survival in OS patients. A novel stratification system was established based on ML-related signature. The risk model could predict the metastasis and prognosis in OS patients. Our findings offered a novel sight for the prognosis and development of OS.

[Correlation between rhizosphere environment and content of medicinal components of Arnebia euchroma].

This study aimed to explore the correlation between rhizosphere soil microorganisms of wild Arnebia euchroma and the content of medicinal components to provide guidance for the selection of the ecological planting base. The total DNA of rhizosphere soil microorganisms of wild A. euchroma was extracted, and the microbial community structure of rhizosphere soil microorganisms was analyzed by IlluminaMiseq high-throughput sequencing technology. The content of total hydroxynaphthoquinone pigment and ß,ß'-dimethylacrylalkannin in medicinal materials was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). The physicochemical pro-perties of rhizosphere soil of wild A. euchroma in main producing areas were determined, and the correlation of soil microbial abundance with index component content and soil physicochemical properties was analyzed by SPSS software. The results showed that the species composition of rhizosphere fungi and bacteria in A. euchroma from different habitats was similar at the phylum and genus levels, but their relative abundance, richness index(Chao1), and community diversity(Simpson) index were different. Correlation analysis showed that the content of available phosphorus in soil was positively correlated with the content of total hydroxynaphthoquinone pigment and ß,ß'-dimethylacrylalkannin, and the abundance of five fungal genera such as Solicoccozyma and six bacterial genera such as Pseudo-nocardia and Bradyrhizobium was positively correlated with the content of medicinal components in medicinal materials. The abundance of Bradyrhizobium was significantly positively correlated with the content of ß,ß'-dimethylacrylalkanin. The abundance of fungi such as Archaeorhizomyces was significantly positively correlated with the content of available phosphorus in rhizosphere soil, and Bradyrhizobium was significantly negatively correlated with soil pH. Therefore, the abundance of fungi and bacteria in the rhizosphere of A. euchroma has a certain correlation with the medicinal components and the physicochemical properties of the rhizosphere soil, which can provide a scientific basis for the selection of ecological planting bases in the later stage.

Nonlocal effective medium theory for phononic temporal metamaterials.

We have developed a nonlocal effective medium theory (EMT) for phononic temporal metamaterials using the multiscale technique. Our EMT yields closed-form expressions for effective constitutive parameters and reveals these materials as reciprocal media with symmetric band dispersion. Even without spatial symmetry breaking, nonzero Willis coupling coefficients emerge with time modulation and broken time-reversal symmetry, when the nonlocal effect is taken into account. Compared to the local EMT, our nonlocal version is more accurate for calculating the bulk band at high wavenumbers and essential for understanding nonlocal effects at temporal boundaries. This nonlocal EMT can be a valuable tool for studying and designing phononic temporal metamaterials beyond the long-wavelength limit.

Parental presence during induction of anesthesia in children undergoing tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of parental presence during induction of anesthesia (PPIA) in relieving preoperative anxiety of children undergoing tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. METHODS: One hundred and sixty children undergoing tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy were divided into the control group and the trial group. The control group received routine nursing in the operation room, while anesthesia was induced in the trial group children in the presence of their parents as part of the routine nursing. The differences in heart rate and mean dynamic pressure during pre-operative visit and anesthesia induction between the two groups were observed and recorded. The Modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (m-YPAS) and the Induction Compliance Checklist (ICC) were scored. The anxiety status of the children and their family members in the two groups was scored at different times, and the psychological stress of anesthesiologists during anesthesia induction was scored by a visual analogue scale. The differences in each index between the two groups were compared. Operation time and costs in-hospital were also compared. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the heart rate and blood pressure scores as well as the ICC in the trial group were lower than those in the control group (P < 0.01). On comparing the scores of m-YPAS between the two groups, we observed that the scores of the children in the trial group were lower than those in the control group before entering the induction room and anesthesia induction (P < 0.01). There was no statistical difference between the scores of the children in the trial group and the control group on the day of operation and on the way to the operating room (P > 0.05). The nursing satisfaction scores of the family members in the trial group were significantly superior to those in the control group (P < 0.01). The scores of the visual analogue scale for psychological pressure of anesthesiologists during anesthesia induction were higher in the trial group than in the control group (P < 0.05). The operation time and costs in study group were both significantly higher than those of control group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: PPIA can significantly reduce preoperative anxiety and surgical physiological stress response in children undergoing tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, and it is worth being encouraged.

Optical analogy for temporal diffraction in tight-binding lattice.

The wave propagating through the temporal boundary has attracted considerable attention in the past few years because of the potential applications of time-varying systems in the optics community. However, temporal diffraction of light remains to be investigated, because free space is non-dispersive. Here, we theoretically provide the analytical expressions for the temporal diffraction contributions of electron waves across the temporal boundary between the free space and a dispersive medium. With the help of coupled waveguide arrays, temporal diffraction is analogously observed by the optical platform. The optical analogy results confirm the theoretical predictions of the temporal diffraction wave at the temporal boundary. By changing the permittivity of the waveguides, implying the coupling coefficient is modified, the temporal diffraction angle is tuned. Our analysis and observations of temporal diffraction of dispersive media have great potential in time-varying physics, signal processing, and photonics communications.

Lorentzian dispersive antireflection temporal coatings with multiple time durations.

As the temporal counterparts of traditional antireflection coatings, antireflection temporal coatings (ATCs) provide a novel approach to eliminate reflections by employing two-step temporal modulations. The interval between these two temporal modulation steps is called the time duration of the ATC. In this Letter, we explore ATCs utilizing Lorentzian dispersive media through an extended temporal transfer matrix method, and we discover that they exhibit diverse time durations and offer the potential for enhanced transmission. On one hand, the Lorentzian dispersive ATC can function as a temporal quarter-wave impedance transformer, similar to nondispersive ATCs. In this scenario, the time durations are consistently shorter than those of nondispersive ATCs, gradually converging to a constant value as the dielectric constant of the output layer approaches infinity. On the other hand, by finely tuning the parameters of the Lorentzian dispersive temporal coating, reflections can also be accidentally eliminated, which is not achievable with nondispersive temporal coatings. Consequently, Lorentzian dispersive ATCs offer additional time durations compared with nondispersive ATCs. Furthermore, Lorentzian dispersive ATCs with different time durations lead to distinct transmission characteristics. In certain cases, they can even enhance transmissions, a feat unattainable for nondispersive ATCs. These Lorentzian dispersive ATCs are feasible in the gigahertz and even terahertz regimes.

Compressible viscoelasticity of cell membranes determined by gigahertz-frequency acoustic vibrations.

Membrane viscosity is an important property of cell biology, which determines cellular function, development and disease progression. Various experimental and computational methods have been developed to investigate the mechanics of cells. However, there have been no experimental measurements of the membrane viscosity at high-frequencies in live cells. High frequency measurements are important because they can probe viscoelastic effects. Here, we investigate the membrane viscosity at gigahertz-frequencies through the damping of the acoustic vibrations of gold nanoplates. The experiments are modeled using a continuum mechanics theory which reveals that the membranes display viscoelasticity, with an estimated relaxation time of ca. 5.7 + 2.4 / - 2.7 ps. We further demonstrate that membrane viscoelasticity can be used to differentiate a cancerous cell line (the human glioblastoma cells LN-18) from a normal cell line (the mouse brain microvascular endothelial cells bEnd.3). The viscosity of cancerous cells LN-18 is lower than that of healthy cells bEnd.3 by a factor of three. The results indicate promising applications of characterizing membrane viscoelasticity at gigahertz-frequency in cell diagnosis.

Acetylated tau exacerbates learning and memory impairment by disturbing with mitochondrial homeostasis.

Increased tau acetylation at K274 and K281 has been observed in the brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and animal models, and mitochondrial dysfunction are noticeable and early features of AD. However, the effect of acetylated tau on mitochondria has been unclear until now. Here, we constructed three type of tau forms, acetylated tau mutant by mutating its K274/K281 into Glutamine (TauKQ) to mimic disease-associated lysine acetylation, the non-acetylation tau mutant by mutating its K274/K281 into Arginine (TauKR) and the wild-type human full-length tau (TauWT). By overexpression of these tau forms in vivo and in vitro, we found that, TauKQ induced more severe cognitive deficits with neuronal loss, dendritic plasticity damage and mitochondrial dysfunctions than TauWT. Unlike TauWT induced mitochondria fusion, TauKQ not only induced mitochondria fission by decreasing mitofusion proteins, but also inhibited mitochondrial biogenesis via reduction of PGC-1a/Nrf1/Tfam levels. TauKR had no significant difference in the cognitive and mitochondrial abnormalities compared with TauWT. Treatment with BGP-15 rescued impaired learning and memory by attenuation of mitochondrial dysfunction, neuronal loss and dendritic complexity damage, which caused by TauKQ. Our data suggested that, acetylation at K274/281 was an important post translational modification site for tau neurotoxicity, and BGP-15 is a potential therapeutic drug for AD.

Efficient Preparation of a Magnetic Helical Carbon Nanomotor for Targeted Anticancer Drug Delivery.

The applications of nanomotors in the biomedical field have been attracting extensive attention. However, it remains a challenge to fabricate nanomotors in a facile way and effectively load drugs for active targeted therapy. In this work, we combine the microwave heating method and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) to fabricate magnetic helical nanomotors efficiently. The microwave heating method can accelerate intermolecular movement, which converts kinetic energy into heat energy and shortens the preparation time of the catalyst used for carbon nanocoil (CNC) synthesis by 15 times. Fe3O4 nanoparticles are in situ nucleated on the CNC surface by the microwave heating method to fabricate magnetically driven CNC/Fe3O4 nanomotors. In addition, we achieved precise control of the magnetically driven CNC/Fe3O4 nanomotors through remote manipulation of magnetic fields. Anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) is then efficiently loaded onto the nanomotors via π-π stacking interactions. Finally, the drug-loaded CNC/Fe3O4@DOX nanomotor can accurately accomplish cell targeting under external magnetic field control. Under short-time irradiation of near-infrared light, DOX can be quickly released onto target cells to effectively kill the cells. More importantly, CNC/Fe3O4@DOX nanomotors allow for single-cell or cell-cluster-targeted anticancer drug delivery, providing a dexterous platform to potentially perform many medically relevant tasks in vivo. The efficient preparation method and application in drug delivery are beneficial for future industrial production and provide inspiration for advanced micro/nanorobotic systems using the CNC as a carrier for a wide range of biomedical applications.

Efficient free-space to on-chip coupling of THz-bandwidth pulses for biomolecule fingerprint sensing.

Wide bandwidth THz pulses can be used to record the distinctive spectral fingerprints related to the vibrational or rotational modes of polycrystalline biomolecules, and can be used to resolve the time-dependent dynamics of such systems. Waveguides, owing to their tight spatial confinement of the electromagnetic fields and the longer interaction distance, are promising platforms with which to study small volumes of such systems. The efficient input of sub-ps THz pulses into waveguides is challenging owing to the wide bandwidth of the THz signal. Here, we propose a sensing chip comprised of a pair of back-to-back Vivaldi antennas feeding into, and out from, a 90° bent slotline waveguide to overcome this problem. The effective operating bandwidth of the sensing chip ranges from 0.2 to 1.15 THz, and the free-space to on-chip coupling efficiency is as high as 51% at 0.44 THz. Over the entire band, the THz signal is ∼42 dB above the noise level at room temperature, with a peak of ∼73 dB above the noise. In order to demonstrate the use of the chip, we have measured the characteristic fingerprint of α-lactose monohydrate, and its sharp absorption peak at ∼0.53 THz was successfully observed, demonstrating the promise of our technique. The chip has the merits of efficient in-plane coupling, ultra-wide bandwidth, ease-of-integration, and simple fabrication. It has the potential for large-scale manufacture, and can be a strong candidate for integration into other THz light-matter interaction platforms.

Carbon nanocoils decorated with scale-like mesoporous NiO nanosheets for ultrasensitive room temperature ppb-level NO2 sensing.

Although NO2 detection based on metal oxide semiconductors (MOSs) has received continuous attention, the sensing properties of MOSs still need to be further improved for practical application. Carbon nanocoils (CNCs) exhibit excellent physicochemical properties due to their unique polycrystalline amorphous structure and helical morphology. Herein, CNCs composited with NiO nanosheets were developed for room temperature NO2 sensing, in which highly dispersed mesoporous NiO nanosheets on CNCs was achieved with extremely higher sensitivity. Due to a large number of exposed active sites and the efficient conductive network of CNCs, this particular scale-like nanocomposite exhibits a nearly 8 times higher response to 60 ppm NO2 than bare NiO nanosheets at room temperature, outperforming the majority of previously reported NO2 sensors at room temperature. Moreover, the nanocomposite-based gas sensor has a detection concentration limit of 60.3 ppb, which is advantageous for the sensing of NO2 at low concentrations. We believe that this work will provide the direction for the research and development of highly sensitive smart sensors, as well as encourage further investigation of multifunctional sensing applications utilizing CNCs as the primary frame support material.

Development of precocious puberty in children: Surmised medicinal plant treatment.

Precocious puberty in children is one of the common endocrine diseases in paediatrics. Epidemiological surveys have shown that the number of children with precocious puberty has significantly increased globally. Precocious puberty negatively affects the physical and mental health of children and may increase the risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity and infertility in adulthood. Therefore, the initiating factors of adolescence have become core issues in the study of sexual development in children. Owing to developments in molecular genetics, many studies have been able to show that precocious puberty is mostly resulted in autosomal inheritance. For instance, makorin ring finger protein 3 gene (MKRN3) may be implicated in familial CPP. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) is the gold standard for treatment, but its safety still requires long-term evaluation and management. Traditional medicinal plants have been used in clinical treatments and in exploring novel treatment methods. From the collected datas, in Asia, traditional Chinese medicine treatment is based on the principles of nourishing Yin, lowering fire and draining fire from the liver to help precocious children and alleviate or delay the onset of precocious puberty by medicinal plants such as Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bge., Phellodendron amurense Rupr., Rehmannia glutinosa and Poria cocos Wolf. They play an important role in exploring the pharmacological mechanisms of precocious puberty treatment effects and drug development. Therefore, by elucidating the occurrence and development of precocious puberty, this review provides novel and valuable insights of paediatric endocrine therapy accessing the published researches on the effectiveness of traditional herbal medicine in the treatment of precocious puberty and its therapeutic mechanisms.

Detection of Matrix Metalloproteinase-1 in Human Saliva Based on a Pregnancy Test Strip Platform.

Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) is closely correlated with tumorigenesis and progression. Establishing a low-cost, simple, rapid, and sensitive method for its detection is highly desired for the broad-spectrum screening of oral cancer. Herein, we combine the MMP-specific cleavage ability with magnetic separation technology and a commercial test strip to construct a sensitive biosensor to detect MMP-1 conveniently for the first time. The method involves two DNA probes, peptide-DNA1 and hCG-DNA2, where DNA1 and DNA2 are complementary sequences, and the peptide labeled with biotin can bind streptavidin-modified magnetic nanoparticles stably. The human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is the target of the pregnancy test strip. The cleavage reaction mediated by MMP-1 releases peptide-DNA1 and the hybridized hCG-DNA2 into the solution, and the hCG probe in the solution can develop color on the test strip for the determination of MMP-1 after magnetic separation. This method utilizes the high specificity of MMP-1's proteolytic cleavage and the high sensitivity of the test strip to the target probe, achieving a sensitive detection of MMP-1 with a visual detection limit of 65.5 pg/mL. The method shows better anti-interference and sensitivity than the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in the application of a biological sample matrix, suggesting its great potential for clinical diagnosis, especially for broad-spectrum oral cancer screening.

Tunable bilayer dielectric metasurface via stacking magnetic mirrors.

Functional tunability, environmental adaptability, and easy fabrication are highly desired properties in metasurfaces. Here we provide a tunable bilayer metasurface composed of two stacked identical dielectric magnetic mirrors. The magnetic mirrors are excited by the interaction between the interference of multipoles of each cylinder and the lattice resonance of the periodic array, which exhibits nonlocal electric field enhancement near the interface and high reflection. We achieve the reversible conversion between high reflection and high transmission by manipulating the interlayer coupling near the interface between the two magnetic mirrors. Controlling the interlayer spacing leads to the controllable interlayer coupling and scattering of meta-atom. The magnetic mirror effect boosts the interlayer coupling when the interlayer spacing is small. Furthermore, the high transmission of the bilayer metasurface has good robustness due to the meta-atom with interlayer coupling can maintain scattering suppression against positional perturbation. This work provides a straightforward method to design tunable metasurface and sheds new light on high-performance optical switches applied in communication and sensing.

To Analyze the Mechanism of SalB Regulating SIRT1 to Inhibit NLRP3 and Its Ameliorative Effect on Tubulogastric Junction Tumor Lesions Complicated with Myocardial Injury.

The objective of this research is to investigate the mediating impact of salvianolic acid B (SalB) on SIRT1 signaling pathway and the mechanism by which it inhibits Nod-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3), as well as to examine how SalB affects myocardial injury brought on by tumor lesions at the junction of the tube and the stomach. Through the establishment of the integration of a stomach tube tumor lesion rats combined with the experimental rat model, this study establishes the normal group, model group, and different SalB dose groups. For each group of cells, cell activity and cell apoptosis were determined and compared using colorimetry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent method about lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). Interleukin-1 beta levels are measured. DCFH-DA fluorescent probe was applied to identify intracellular "reactive oxygen species" (ROS). "Western blot" was used to determine NLRP3, caspase-1, and apoptosis-related spotted protein (ASC) in each group of cells. And SIRT1 signaling pathway related to SIRT1, phosphorylated AMP protein-activated kinase α (P-AMPK α), AMP protein-activated kinase α (AMPKα), and "peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α) protein expression" are used. According to the final findings, SalB mediated the SIRT1 signaling pathway and had a beneficial impact on the upregulation of SIRT1, P-AMPK/AMPK, and PGC-1 protein expressions. SalB positively affects the downregulation of NLRP3 inflammasome-related proteins. Caspase-1 and ASC protein expression suggesting that SalB may inhibit the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome induced by oxidative stress by activating SIRT1/AMPK/PGC-1α signaling pathway. This plays an antimyocardial injury effect.

All-angle reflectionless negative refraction with ideal photonic Weyl metamaterials.

Negative refraction, an unnatural optical phenomenon in which the incident and the refracted waves reside on the same side of the surface normal, has been demonstrated with the invention of negative index media based on artificially engineered photonic structures called metamaterials. It has received wide attention due to its potential applications in imaging, nonlinear optics, and electromagnetic cloaking. However, it is highly challenging to realize negative refraction operating at all angles and with the perfect transmission. In this work, leveraging the recent development in topological photonics, we propose to realize reflectionless negative refraction for all incident angles with a topological metamaterial. The proposed metamaterial possesses two Weyl points of opposite topological charges. By interfacing the metamaterial with a perfect electric conductor (PEC) or a perfect magnetic conductor (PMC), the Fermi arc connecting the two Weyl points can take the form of a half-circle possessing a positive or a negative refractive index. Importantly, due to the topological protection, there is no reflection at the interface between the PEC and PMC covered areas, leading to the observation of all-angle negative refraction without reflection at the boundary. Our work provides a new platform for manipulating the propagation of surface waves, which may find applications in the construction of integrated photonic devices.

Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase associated with split G-quadruplex/hemin deoxyribozyme amplification detection for various contaminants in milk based on pregnancy test strip platform.

Contaminant residue analysis in milk can provide essential assistance for safety quality and contamination level management of milk production, which is critical for safeguarding public health. In this study, the pregnancy test strip is employed to achieve multiple analytes detection based on the specific recognition of aptamer and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase associated with split G-quadruplex/hemin deoxyribozyme system. Through the subsequent enzyme catalyzed reaction, the detection signal can be further amplified to improve the sensitivity. The method does not need to assemble test strip, prepare and purify antibodies/haptens, nor design complex probe sequences. By coupling human chorionic gonadotrophin with DNA probes and combining magnetic separation technology, the targets can be determined via the test strip. Under the optimized conditions, the visual detection limits for mercury ion, bisphenol A, and penicillin are 1, 0.1 and 0.05 nM, respectively. The detection results show that the method displays good accuracy and practicability in spiked milk sample. The method presents a simple scheme, low cost as well as good design versatility, which demonstrates great application prospect for the sensitive, low-cost, and convenient detection of food matrices.

[The distribution of Mas-related G protein-coupled receptor A in cerebrospinal fluid-contacting nucleus of normal rats and its up-regulation in neuropathic pain].

This study was aimed to observe the distribution of Mas-related G protein-coupled receptor A (MrgA) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-contacting nucleus of normal rats and its expression in neuropathic pain, and to provide morphological evidence for CSF-contacting nucleus to participate in neuropathic pain. The model of neuropathic pain with chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve was made in Sprague-Dawley rats. The thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) and mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) were measured. The expressions of MrgA in the CSF-contacting nucleus were examined by double labeling with immunofluorescent staining. The results showed that on the 5th, 7th, 10th and 14th days, the values of MWT and TWL in CCI group were all lower than those in sham group (P < 0.05). MrgA was found to be distributed in CSF-contacting nucleus of normal rats; and the expression was markedly up-regulated in rats at the peak of neuropathic pain. Our data suggest that CSF-contacting nucleus may participate in neuropathic pain through the MrgA-mediated signaling pathway.