RNase H meets molecular beacons: an ultrasensitive fluorometric assay for nucleic acids.

An innovative signal amplification strategy assisted by RNase H is described here for the detection of DNA targets in a universal fashion. A tailor-made RNA molecular beacon (RMB) conjugated with a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) pair (fluorophore and quencher) was designed, characterized, and combined with the employment of RNase H. Its performance is compared to that of other nucleases including Exonuclease III and T7 exonuclease.

Simultaneous targeting PI3K and PERK pathways promotes cell death and improves the clinical prognosis in esophageal squamous carcinoma.

PI3K pathway is an important anti-tumor target, but its effect and mechanism is not clear in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). By analysis of the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) datasets, we found that PI3Ks level were significantly upregulated in human esophageal cancer tissues compared with that in non-cancer tissues. The alteration of PI3K can significantly affect the overall patient survival in ESCC but not in esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC).

A Quantum Dot Fluorescence Sensor System Design for Hg²⁺ Trace Detection.

The detection of Hg²⁺ ions usually requires large laboratory equipment, which encounters difficulties for rapid field test in most applications. In this paper, we design a reflective sensor for trace Hg²⁺ analysis based on the fluorescent quenching of Quantum dots, which contains two major modules, i. e.