Two-dimensional boron nanosheets for selective enrichment and detection of cis-diol compounds by surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SALDI-TOF MS) is an effective method for detecting of low-mass molecules. In this study, two-dimensional boron nanosheets (2DBs) were fabricated through thermal oxidation etching and coupling liquid exfoliation technologies, and applied as a matrix and selective sorbent for detecting cis-diol compounds by SALDI-TOF MS. The outstanding nanostructure and boric acid active sites of 2DBs endow them with sensitivity for cis-diol compound detection, excellent selectivity, and low background interference for complex samples.

Chiral zinc oxide functionalized quartz crystal microbalance sensor for enantioselective recognition of amino acids.

Chiral transition metal oxides with tunable structures and multiple physicochemical features have been increasingly applied for chiral sensing and detection. In this work, chiral zinc oxide (ZnO) was first applied as selector to construct quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor for enantioselective recognition of amino acids. The chiral ZnO was prepared by a methionine-induced self-assembly strategy and its high topological chirality was confirmed by several techniques such as circular dichroism spectrum.

Pickering emulsion-enhanced Vibrio fischeri assay for ecotoxicity assessment of highly hydrophobic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Accurate ecotoxicity assessment of contaminated soil is critical to public health, and the luminescent bacteria (Vibrio fischeri) method is the most commonly used. Hydrophobic compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil cannot be in contact with luminescent bacteria due to their low water solubility so that the luminescence inhibitory effect cannot be observed. The underestimated biological toxicity makes the test unreliable and en-dangers public health and safety.

Monitoring of the yogurt fermentation process based on a rapid bio-luminescent chiral pattern recognition of amino acids.

The analysis of chiral α-amino acids is of great significance in asymmetric synthesis, nutrition, food science, and microbiology. However, the ability of chiral recognition is difficult to achieve. Due to the demand for expensive equipment and skilled operators, traditional methods such as high-performance liquid chromatography are limited.

Development and Validation of an Ultrasonic Diagnostic Model for Differentiating Follicular Thyroid Carcinoma from Follicular Adenoma.

Background: High-resolution ultrasound is the first choice for the diagnosis of thyroid nodules, but it is still difficult to distinguish between follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) and follicular adenoma (FA). Our research aimed to develop and validate an ultrasonic diagnostic model for differentiating FTC from FA.

Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed 196 patients who were diagnosed as FTC (n=83) and FA (n=113).

The Value of Relative Size in the Ultrasound Diagnosis of Follicular Thyroid Neoplasm.

Purpose: Ultrasonography as the first choice for thyroid nodules is still difficult to distinguish between solid follicular thyroid neoplasm (FTN) and solid nodular goiter (NG). We tried to investigate the value of relative size (M/S, M: the maximum diameter of target nodule, S: the maximum diameter of the largest of the remaining nodules) that may help to differentiate FTN from NG.

Methods: test and chi-square test were used to retrospectively analyze the differences of the clinical and ultrasonographic characteristics between FTN and NG in 422 cases in our hospital.

Simultaneous determination of the concentration and enantiomeric excess of amino acids with a coumarin-derived achiral probe.

The chirality of amino acids plays an important role in biological and medical sciences. The development of achiral small-molecule probes that can simultaneously determine the absolute configuration, enantiomeric excess, and total concentration of amino acids is significant. We reported the currently available achiral coumarin aldehyde probe that could form Schiff bases with free amino acids at room temperature to induce CD signals and change UV-vis signals.

Extra-Thyroid Extension Prediction by Ultrasound Quantitative Method Based on Thyroid Capsule Response Evaluation.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to assess the interaction between thyroid malignancies and thyroid anterior capsule by ultrasound quantification to determine extra-capsular invasion. MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 145 patients preoperatively diagnosed with malignant nodules under the thyroid anterior capsule were selected and routinely examined by ultrasound. The length of the nodules (from the junction of the nodule capsule to the deepest point of the nodule, vertical diameter, V) and the distance between the nodule protruding from thyroid capsule and the highest protruding (ledge length, L) nodule were used to obtain the L/V ratio.

Early neuromuscular electrical stimulation reduces the loss of muscle mass in critically ill patients - A within subject randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) on muscle thickness, strength and morphological and molecular markers of the quadriceps.

Materials And Methods: Adult critically ill patients with an expected prolonged stay received unilateral quadriceps NMES sessions for 7 consecutive days. Before and after the intervention period, quadriceps thickness was measured with ultrasound.

A Cold Environment Aggravates Cough Hyperreactivity in Guinea Pigs With Cough by Activating the TRPA1 Signaling Pathway in Skin.

Cough exacerbation in cold environments is a characteristic feature of patients with chronic cough. There is consensus that inhalation of cold air stimulates cough receptors but this idea is not consistent with the fact that cold air is usually unable to directly enter the lower airway. To elucidate the effects of cold environments and transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) on cough, we compared cough reactivity, airway inflammation, and TRPA1 expression in guinea pigs with chronic cough induced by the repeated inhalation of citric acid for 15 days.

Different bacterial host-based lux reporter array for fast identification and toxicity indication of multiple metal ions.

Although luminescent bacteria-based bioluminescence inhibition assay has been widely used in the toxicity assessment of environmental pollutants, the response of a luminescent bacterium usually lacks specificity to a target analyte. Recently, some specific analyte inductive promoters were fused to the lux genes for the purpose of selective bioluminescent sensing, and suits of specific promoters were fused to lux genes to compose a bioluminescent array sensor for simultaneous identification of multiple analytes. However, specific promoter-based methods still suffer from drawbacks including limited selectivity, slow responding time, expensive to construct different promoters involved plasmids, and laborious to find new promoters.

Time-Resolved Monitoring of Intracellular Processes with a Cyclical On-Off Photoswitchable Nanoprobe.

Fluorescent microscopic imaging with the help of small-molecule probes (chemoprobes) is one of the most feasible approaches for noninvasive sensing of intracellular molecules. However, the "always on" property of current chemoprobes failed to achieve time-resolved monitoring. Here, we report the development of a supramolecular nanoassembling strategy to integrate multiple functions on one nanoscale probe (nanoprobe) with a cyclical on-off switchable sensing ability.

Red-Near-Infrared Fluorescent Probe for Time-Resolved in Vivo Alkaline Phosphatase Detection with the Assistance of a Photoresponsive Nanocontainer.

The monitoring of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in different tissues is significant for disease diagnosis and therapy. However, the time-resolved in vivo sensing of ALP activity remained unresolved. Herein, a novel red-near-infrared fluorescent ALP probe (Cl-BDCM-ALP) based on a dichloro-substituted dicyanomethylene-4-chromene derivative was designed and synthesized with high fluorescence efficiency and stability under biological pH range.

Enantiomeric helical TiO nanofibers modulate different peptide assemblies and subsequent cellular behaviors.

The effect of the morphological chirality of inorganic TiO nanofibers on peptide assembly and cellular behaviors was investigated. Model peptide insulin maintains its native structure and served as a growth factor for promoting proliferation and differentiation of PC12 cells on the surface of right-handed TiO. In contrast, insulin forms amyloid fibrils and loses its bioactivity on the left-handed TiO.

Cytotoxic arylalkenyl α,β-unsaturated δ-lactones from Cryptocarya brachythyrsa.

Three new arylalkenyl α,β-unsaturated δ-lactones, cryptobrachytones A-C (1-3), together with one known analogue kurzilactone (4), were isolated from the leaves and twigs of Cryptocarya brachythyrsa. Their structures were elucidated based on extensive spectroscopic data and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) analysis. All the isolates were evaluated in vitro for anti-proliferative activity against a panel of five human cancer cell lines and one human normal cell, respectively, and the results showed 1, 2 and 4 possessing significant selective cytotoxicity toward the human cancer cell lines with IC values from 5.

Y-shaped DNA-Mediated hybrid nanoflowers as efficient gene carriers for fluorescence imaging of tumor-related mRNA in living cells.

Organic-inorganic hybrid nanomaterial has gained much attention due to its excellent performances in bioanalysis and biomedicine. However, the preparation of DNA-inorganic hybrid nanomaterial with suitable size for cell uptake remains a huge challenge. Herein, a moderate biomineralization strategy for synthesis of Y-DNA@Cu(PO) (Y-DNA@CuP) hybrid nanoflowers is reported.

A novel anion exchange method based on in situ selectively reductive desorption of Cr(VI) for its separation from V(V): Toward the comprehensive use of hazardous wastewater.

In China, the wastewater produced after vanadate precipitation (AVP wastewater) from industrial vanadium extraction contains toxic V(V) and carcinogenic Cr(VI). When considering environmental protection and wastewater use, V(V) and Cr(VI) must be extracted and separated from the hazardous AVP wastewater. However, separating V(V) and Cr(VI) is difficult because of their highly similar physicochemical properties.

A multichannel Au nanosensor for visual and pattern inspection of fatty acids.

Fatty acids (FAs) are important dietary sources of fuel for animals and structural components for cells. The number, position and configuration of olefins in the alkyl chains play important roles in the impacts of FAs on human health. Currently, structural profiling of FAs in edible oils and fats is an important issue in nutrition industries and food safety.

An array consisting of glycosylated quantum dots conjugated to MoS nanosheets for fluorometric identification and quantitation of lectins and bacteria.

A fluorescent array based on the use of saccharide-functionalized multicolored quantum dots (s-QDs) and of 4-mercaptophenylboronic acid-functionalized MoS nanosheets (PBA-MoS) was constructed for multiple identification and quantitation of lectins and bacteria. In this array, the fluorescence of the s-QDs is quenched by the PBA-MoS nanosheets. In the presence of multiple lectins, s-QDs differentially detach from the surface of PBA-MoS nanosheets, producing distinct fluorescence response patterns due to both quenching and enhancement of fluorescence.

Test Paper for Colorimetric Inspection of Fatty Acids and Edible Oils.

Fatty acids (FAs) are of interest to the areas of food science and medicine because they are important dietary sources of fuel for animals and play important roles in many biological processes. The health effects of FAs are different due to the diversity of olefinic bonds in the alkyl chains including number, position and configuration. However, the discrimination of FAs is difficult from a chemical sensing perspective due to the lack of diversity in terms of functional groups.

Preparation and Characterization of Chiral Transition-Metal Dichalcogenide Quantum Dots and Their Enantioselective Catalysis.

Two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) had attracted enormous interests owing to their extraordinary optical, physical, and chemical properties. Herein, we prepared for the first time a series of chiral TMD quantum dots (QDs) from MoS and WS bulk crystals by covalent modification with chiral ligands cysteine and penicillamine. The chiral TMD QDs were carefully investigated by spectroscopic and microscopic techniques.

Simultaneous quadruple-channel optical transduction of a nanosensor for multiplexed qualitative and quantitative analysis of lectins.

A multichannel optical nanosensor capable of identifying and quantitating multiple lectins simultaneously was developed. The quadruple channel of fluorescence and scattering signals can be in situ collected from the same solution system, which offers high accuracy, discrimination resolution and measurement convenience. This nanosensor can in principle be generalized to the analysis of all lectins and saccharide binding organisms.

MoS quantum dots modified with a labeled molecular beacon as a ratiometric fluorescent gene probe for FRET based detection and imaging of microRNA.

A dual-channel ratiometric nanoprobe is described for detection and imaging of microRNA. It was prepared from MoS quantum dots (QDs; with blue emission and excitation/emission peaks at 310/398 nm) which acts as both the gene carrier and as a donor in fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). Molecular beacons containing loops for molecular recognition of microRNA and labeled with carboxyfluorescein (FAM) were covalently attached to the MoS QDs and serve as the FRET acceptor.

Visual and Colorimetric High-Throughput Analysis of Chiral Carboxylic Acids Based on Enantioselective Charge Shielding of Gold Nanoparticles.

Because chiral carboxylic acids (CCAs) are a class of important biological molecules and common functional moieties found in pharmaceutical molecules, the chiral analysis of CCAs has received much attention. Herein, we developed a simple, rapid, and cost-effective method for visual and colorimetric high-throughput analysis of CCAs using chiral di-imine structure-modified gold nanoparticles (C-AuNPs) as the probe. The C-AuNPs are positively charged in the presence of zinc ion, and they can be enantioselectively shielded by the negatively charged CCA enantiomers.