Toward structurally defined carbon dots as ultracompact fluorescent probes.

There has been much discussion on the need to develop fluorescent quantum dots (QDs) as ultracompact probes, with overall size profiles comparable to those of the genetically encoded fluorescent tags. In the use of conventional semiconductor QDs for such a purpose, the beautifully displayed dependence of fluorescence color on the particle diameter becomes a limitation. More recently, carbon dots have emerged as a new platform of QD-like fluorescent nanomaterials.

Formation of trans fatty acids during the frying of chicken fillet in corn oil.

To assess effects of heated edible oils on intake of trans fatty acids (TFAs); the formation of TFAs in cooking conditions was investigated by a frying system model, in which chicken fillet was fried in a commercial corn oil at 170 °C, for 12 frying cycles. The main TFAs detected in chicken fillet were trans C18:2 fatty acids (FAs) and trans C18:3 FAs, which exhibited no significant differences among the frying cycles. Besides, the content of trans C18:1 FAs were very low in all samples on different frying cycles.

Graphene oxide: a nonspecific enhancer of cellular growth.

There have been multiple conflicting reports about the biocompatibility and antimicrobial activity of graphene oxide. To address this, we conducted a study to characterize the antimicrobial properties of graphene oxide (GO) and its biocompatibility with mammalian cells. When GO was added to a bacterial culture at 25 μg/mL, the results showed that bacteria grew faster and to a higher optical density than cultures without GO.