Recycled, Contaminated, Crumpled Aluminum Foil-Driven Triboelectric Nanogenerator.

With rapid urbanization and global population growth, the amount of wasted aluminum foil is significantly increasing. Most deformed and contaminated foil is difficult to recycle; hence, it is landfilled or incinerated, causing environmental pollution. Therefore, using aluminum foil waste for electricity may be conducive to addressing environmental problems.

Photocatalytic degradation of 1,4-dioxane using liquid phase plasma on visible light photocatalysts.

The compound 1,4-dioxane (DO) irritates the eyes, skin, and mucous membrane and is classified as a carcinogen. In this study, the decomposition of DO by photocatalytic reaction using liquid phase plasma (LPP) with photocatalyst was suggested. Plasma was directly discharged as an aqueous DO solution to enhance photocatalytic decomposition activity.

Facile Preparation of Ni-Co Bimetallic Oxide/Activated Carbon Composites Using the Plasma in Liquid Process for Supercapacitor Electrode Applications.

In this study, a plasma in a liquid process (PiLP) was used to facilely precipitate bimetallic nanoparticles composed of Ni and Co elements on the surface of activated carbon. The physicochemical and electrochemical properties of the fabricated composites were evaluated to examine the potential of supercapacitors as electrode materials. Nickel and cobalt ions in the aqueous reactant solution were uniformly precipitated on the AC surface as spherical nanoparticles with a size of about 100 nm by PiLP reaction.

Heterogeneous photocatalytic degradation and hydrogen evolution from ethanolamine nuclear wastewater by a liquid phase plasma process.

Ethanolamine in a wastewater which is released from nuclear power plant was decomposed using a plasma discharged into the solution directly. Ni-TiO supported on mesoporous materials were employed as a photocatalyst. The photocatalytic reaction using the liquid phase plasma led to a degradation of ethanolamine with hydrogen evolution, simultaneously.

Characterization of hidden rules linking symptoms and selection of acupoint using an artificial neural network model.

Comprehension of the medical diagnoses of doctors and treatment of diseases is important to understand the underlying principle in selecting appropriate acupoints. The pattern recognition process that pertains to symptoms and diseases and informs acupuncture treatment in a clinical setting was explored. A total of 232 clinical records were collected using a Charting Language program.

Automated Dielectrophoretic Tweezers-Based Force Spectroscopy System in a Microfluidic Device.

We reported an automated dielectrophoretic (DEP) tweezers-based force spectroscopy system to examine intermolecular weak binding interactions, which consists of three components: (1) interdigitated electrodes and micro-sized polystyrene particles used as DEP tweezers and probes inside a microfluidic device, along with an arbitrary function generator connected to a high voltage amplifier; (2) microscopy hooked up to a high-speed charge coupled device (CCD) camera with an image acquisition device; and (3) a computer aid control system based on the LabVIEW program. Using this automated system, we verified the measurement reliability by measuring intermolecular weak binding interactions, such as hydrogen bonds and Van der Waals interactions. In addition, we also observed the linearity of the force loading rates, which is applied to the probes by the DEP tweezers, by varying the number of voltage increment steps and thus affecting the linearity of the force loading rates.

Detection of Silver Ions Using Dielectrophoretic Tweezers-Based Force Spectroscopy.

Understanding of the interactions of silver ions (Ag) with polynucleotides is important not only to detect Ag over a wide range of concentrations in a simple, robust, and high-throughput manner but also to investigate the intermolecular interactions of hydrogen and coordinate interactions that are generated due to the interplay of Ag, hydrogen ions (H), and polynucleotides since it is critical to prevent adverse environmental effects that may cause DNA damage and develop strategies to treat this damage. Here, we demonstrate a novel approach to simultaneously detect Ag satisfying the above requirements and examine the combined intermolecular interactions of Ag-polycytosine and H-polycytosine DNA complexes using dielectrophoretic tweezers-based force spectroscopy. For this investigation, we detected Ag over a range of concentrations (1 nM to 100 μM) by quantifying the rupture force of the combined interactions and examined the interplay between the three factors (Ag, H, and polycytosine) using the same assay for the detection of Ag.

Biaxial Dielectrophoresis Force Spectroscopy: A Stoichiometric Approach for Examining Intermolecular Weak Binding Interactions.

The direct quantification of weak intermolecular binding interactions is very important for many applications in biology and medicine. Techniques that can be used to investigate such interactions under a controlled environment, while varying different parameters such as loading rate, pulling direction, rupture event measurements, and the use of different functionalized probes, are still lacking. Herein, we demonstrate a biaxial dielectrophoresis force spectroscopy (BDFS) method that can be used to investigate weak unbinding events in a high-throughput manner under controlled environments and by varying the pulling direction (i.

Characterization of the Stiffness of Multiple Particles Trapped by Dielectrophoretic Tweezers in a Microfluidic Device.

Characterization of the stiffness of multiple particles trapped by tweezers-based force spectroscopy is a key step in building simple, high-throughput, and robust systems that can investigate the molecular interactions in a biological process, but the technology to characterize it in a given environment simultaneously is still lacking. We first characterized the stiffness of multiple particles trapped by dielectrophoretic (DEP) tweezers inside a microfluidic device. In this characterization, we developed a method to measure the thermal fluctuations of the trapped multiple particles with DEP tweezers by varying the heights of the particles in the given environment at the same time.

Real-Time Analysis of Cellular Response to Small-Molecule Drugs within a Microfluidic Dielectrophoresis Device.

Quantitative detection of the biological properties of living cells is essential for a wide range of purposes, from the understanding of cellular characteristics to the development of novel drugs in nanomedicine. Here, we demonstrate that analysis of cell biological properties within a microfluidic dielectrophoresis device enables quantitative detection of cellular biological properties and simultaneously allows large-scale measurement in a noise-robust and probeless manner. Applying this technique, the static and dynamic biological responses of live B16F10 melanoma cells to the small-molecule drugs such as N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) and [(dihydronindenyl)oxy]alkanoic acid (DIOA) were quantitatively and statistically examined by investigating changes in movement of the cells.

Vascular disease prevalence and risk factors in a screened Korean male population.

Background: Vascular diseases, such as carotid artery stenosis (CAS), abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), and peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAD) of the lower limb, are common in elderly men. These diseases have not been thoroughly reported in Eastern countries as well as in Western countries. We compare the prevalence rates in Korea with previous reports, and evaluate correlations between known risk factors and these conditions in this population.

Prognostic Value of Preoperative Serum Levels of Five Tumor Markers (Carcinoembryonic Antigen, CA19-9, Alpha-fetoprotein, CA72-4, and CA125) in Gastric Cancer.

Background/aims: There is no known specific tumor marker for gastric cancer, although several tumor markers have been used. The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic significance of preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), CA 19-9, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), CA 72-4, and CA 125 levels in patients with gastric cancer.

Methodology: Medical records of 1,253 patients who were diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinoma were retrospectively reviewed.

Primary mesenteric carcinoid tumor.

Primary mesenteric carcinoid tumor is very rare, although secondary mesenteric involvement is common, reported as 40% to 80%. And distant metastasis rate reported as 80% to 90%, when the size is larger than 2 cm. We present a case of very rare primary mesenteric carcinoid tumor showing benign character though large size.

Microfluidic multifunctional probe array dielectrophoretic force spectroscopy with wide loading rates.

The simultaneous investigation of a large number of events with different types of intermolecular interactions, from nonequilibrium high-force pulling assays to quasi-equilibrium unbinding events in the same environment, can be very important for fully understanding intermolecular bond-rupture mechanisms. Here, we describe a novel dielectrophoretic force spectroscopy technique that utilizes microsized beads as multifunctional probes for parallel measurement of intermolecular forces with an extremely wide range of force rate (10(-4) to 10(4) pN/s) inside a microfluidic device. In our experiments, various forces, which broadly form the basis of all molecular interactions, were measured across a range of force loading rates by multifunctional probes of various diameters with a throughput of over 600 events per mm(2), simultaneously and in the same environment.

Gastrokine 1 functions as a tumor suppressor by inhibition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in gastric cancers.

Purpose: Gastrokine 1 (GKN1) plays an important role in the gastric mucosal defense mechanism and also acts as a functional gastric tumor suppressor. The specific aim of this study was to determine the molecular mechanisms underlying GKN1 tumor suppressor activity in the progression of gastric cancers.

Methods: We examined the effect of GKN1 on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cell migration in GKN1-transfected and recombinant GKN1-treated AGS gastric cancer cells using in vitro wound healing, microchemotaxis, and invasion assays.

Laparoscopic splenectomy: 3 ports are enough.

With advanced technologies and accumulating experience, a new consensus concerning the least invasive laparoscopic splenectomy should be addressed. We retrospectively analyzed 41 consecutive patients who underwent laparoscopic splenectomy from 1994 to 2007. We divided our patients into 3 groups according to the number of trocars used: group 1 (n=11, 5 trocars), group 2 (n=21, 4 trocars), and group 3 (n=9, 3 trocars).

Heterogeneous copper catalyst for the cycloaddition of azides and alkynes without additives under ambient conditions.

A new copper catalyst was developed by immobilizing copper nanoparticles in aluminum oxyhydoxide fiber. The catalyst showed high catalytic activity for the (3+2) Huisgen cycloaddition of nonactivated alkynes as well as activated ones with various azides at room temperature. The catalyst was recycled five times without significant loss of activity.

Magnetically separable Pd catalyst for highly selective epoxide hydrogenolysis under mild conditions.

A magnetically separable palladium catalyst was synthesized simply through a sol-gel process incorporating palladium nanoparticles and superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in aluminum oxyhydroxide matrix, which is highly active and selective for epoxide hydrogenolysis at room temperature under 1 atm H2. The catalyst was recycled for 25 times without loss of the activity.

Acceptor-free alcohol dehydrogenation by recyclable ruthenium catalyst.

An efficient oxidant-free oxidation for a wide range of alcohols was achieved by a recyclable ruthenium catalyst. The catalyst was prepared from readily available reagents by a one-pot synthesis through nanoparticle generation and gelation. [structure: see text]

Rhodium nanoparticles entrapped in boehmite nanofibers: recyclable catalyst for arene hydrogenation under mild conditions.

A new recyclable rhodium catalyst was synthesized by a simple procedure from readily available reagents, which showed high activities in the hydrogenation of various arenes under 1 atm H2 at room temperature.