Electric field-induced alignment of Ag/Au nanowires for ultrasensitive in situ detection of Interleukin-6.

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a key parameter and critical role in cancer progression. However, for detection of IL-6 in colorectal cancer diagnosis, developing a sensitive biosensor is necessary and very important. In this paper, to enhance the sensitivity of IL-6 electrochemical biosensor, the electric field was used to orient arrangement of silver nanowires (AgNWs) to be free-standing AgNWs electrode.

Designing boron-doped carbon dot-functionalized COFs for fluorescence screening and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry detection of toxins.

In recent years, mushroom poisoning has been one of the most important factors of food poisoning in China, timely identification of the toxins contained in mushrooms is crucial for the treatment of patients. In this study, boric acid carbon dots (BA-CDs) can undergo specific boron affinity reactions with amatoxins toxins containing o-dihydroxyl groups by means of boric acid groups. Functional covalent organic framework (COF) and BA-CDs were combined to design a adsorbent with boric acid group (COF@VBC@BA-CDs) was designed to meet the requirements of both fluorescent and pretreated materials for amatoxins.

Overcoming Debye screening effect in field-effect transistors for enhanced biomarker detection sensitivity.

Field-effect transistor (FET)-based biosensors not only enable label-free detection by measuring the intrinsic charges of biomolecules, but also offer advantages such as high sensitivity, rapid response, and ease of integration. This enables them to play a significant role in disease diagnosis, point-of-care detection, and drug screening, among other applications. However, when FET sensors detect biomolecules in physiological solutions (such as whole blood, serum, ), the charged molecules will be surrounded by oppositely charged ions in the solution.

Preparation and chromatographic evaluation of hydrophilic polymer brushes grafted-silica with post modification of silicon/carbon dots as a green liquid chromatography stationary phase.

Polar stationary phases were prepared by grafting hydrophilic acrylamide (Am) polymer brushes with post modification of carbon dots (CDs) and silicon dots (SiDs) onto SiO particles. The prepared stationary phases, SiO-PAm-CDs, SiO-PAm-CDs/SiDs, and SiO-PAm-SiDs, were packed as chromatographic columns, respectively. Using nucleic bases, organic acids, and β-agonists as target substances to investigate the influence of chromatographic conditions on retention and separation, the packed columns showed the partitioning and adsorption of mixed retention behavior in hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography mode and successfully separated the polar compounds.

Zwitterionic polymers grafting of metal organic framework encapsulated boronic acid carbon dots as antibiofouling fluorescent probe for baicalin monitoring.

The sensitivity and accuracy of fluorescence probes for biological samples are affected by not only interfering molecule compounds but also the nonspecific adsorption of proteins and other macromolecules. Herein, fluorescence probe based on zwitterionic sulfobetaine methacrylate polymer (PSBMA) as an antibiofouling layer and amino boric acid carbon dots encapsulated in the metal-organic framework UiO-66-NH (UiO-66-NH/BN-CDs) as a target recognition site was designed for the detection of baicalin (BAI). Owing to the introduction of BN-CDs into UiO-66-NH with high specific surface area, the prepared UiO-66-NH/BN-CDs@PSBMA probe exhibited a high adsorption capacity of 78.

Sensitivity-Enhancing Strategies of Graphene Field-Effect Transistor Biosensors for Biomarker Detection.

The ultrasensitive recognition of biomarkers plays a crucial role in the precise diagnosis of diseases. Graphene-based field-effect transistors (GFET) are considered the most promising devices among the next generation of biosensors. GFET biosensors possess distinct advantages, including label-free, ease of integration and operation, and the ability to directly detect biomarkers in liquid environments.

Assessing the Risk of Bias in Randomized Clinical Trials With Large Language Models.

Importance: Large language models (LLMs) may facilitate the labor-intensive process of systematic reviews. However, the exact methods and reliability remain uncertain.

Objective: To explore the feasibility and reliability of using LLMs to assess risk of bias (ROB) in randomized clinical trials (RCTs).

Risk of kidney and liver diseases after COVID-19 infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

COVID-19 is not only associated with substantial acute liver and kidney injuries, but also with an elevated risk of post-acute sequelae involving the kidney and liver system. We aimed to investigate whether COVID-19 exposure increases the long-term risk of kidney and liver disease, and what are the magnitudes of these associations. We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.

Internal multiple interactions-adsorption and external zwitterionic polymer-exclusion of restricted access materials as adsorbent for offline and online extraction of neonicotinoid pesticides in Goji samples.

A method based on novel restricted access materials (RAMs) for the determination of neonicotinoid pesticides in Goji samples using offline and online solid phase extraction (SPE) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (LC). RAMs were synthesized using poly(chloromethylstyrene-co-divinylbenzene) (P) microspheres as substrate, styrene (St) and n-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) were first copolymerized on the interior to construct adsorption sites, and sulfobetaine methacrylate (SBMA) was then polymerized on the exterior to form exclusion sites via two-step surface initiated-atom transfer polymerization. The prepared P@poly(St-co-NVP)@poly(SBMA) RAMs could efficiently extract neonicotinoid pesticides and automatically exclude proteins.

Preparation and chromatographic evaluation of a mixed polymer brush-silica stationary phase with temperature-sensitive property.

In this study, a developed chromatographic stationary phase combines the high selectivity of mixed-mode retention with a temperature-responsive property to boost separation efficiency. Copolymer brushes were grafted onto silica gels through surface initiated-atom transfer radical polymerization by polymerizing two types of monomer, temperature-responsive vinylcaprolactam (VCl) and quinine (Qun) containing benzopyridine, a tertiary ammonium positive center, and hydroxyl groups. The obtained silica@poly(Qun--VCl) stationary phases were packed as a chromatographic column, and the retention behavior of hydrophobic polycyclic aromatics, highly polar nucleosides, charged organic acids and β-agonists was studied for this column under different separation modes.

Comparison of the levels of depression and anxiety in elderly aortic stenosis patients treated with surgical or transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Objective: Currently, only a few studies have been conducted on the mental status recovery in elderly aortic stenosis (AS) patients after treatment. How transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) differentially impinge on the mental status of elderly AS patients is completely unknown. The present prospective study aims to investigate this question by comparing the post-treatment levels of depression and anxiety, quality of life and frailty.

Experimental study of methane hydrate generation characteristics in the presence of GO and Re-GO.

The industrial application of hydrate technology is greatly hindered by its slow generation rate, low gas storage rate, harsh generation conditions, and poor environmental friendliness of traditional additives. In this paper, the kinetic and thermodynamic promotion effects of graphene oxide (GO) and recovered graphene oxide (Re-GO) on methane hydrate in different systems were studied by the constant volume methods. The promotion mechanism was analyzed from the micro perspectives of molecular physical properties, interfacial reaction, and nucleation sites.

Oligomerization of the FliF Domains Suggests a Coordinated Assembly of the Bacterial Flagellum MS Ring.

The bacterial flagellum is a complex, self-assembling macromolecular machine that powers bacterial motility. It plays diverse roles in bacterial virulence, including aiding in colonization and dissemination during infection. The flagellum consists of a filamentous structure protruding from the cell, and of the basal body, a large assembly that spans the cell envelope.

Left Bundle Branch Area Pacing vs. Biventricular Pacing for Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy: A Meta-Analysis.

Left bundle branch area pacing (LBBAP) is a recently proposed method for conduction system pacing. We performed a meta-analysis of controlled studies to compare the clinical outcome in patients who received LBBAP vs. biventricular pacing (BVP) for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).

Toward the Understanding of Small Protein-Mediated Collagen Intrafibrillar Mineralization.

The design of improved materials for orthopedic implants and bone tissue engineering scaffolds relies on materials mimicking the properties of bone. Calcium phosphate (Ca-PO)-mineralized collagen fibrils arranged in a characteristic hierarchical structure constitute the building blocks of mineralized vertebrate tissues and control their biomechanical and biochemical properties. Large, flexible, acidic noncollagenous proteins (ANCPs) have been shown to influence collagen mineralization but little is known about mineralization mechanisms with the aid of small proteins.

Effect of the Inclination Angle on Premixed Flame Dynamics in Half-Open Ducts.

The propagation of premix methane/air flames in long half-open ducts with different inclination angles θ between the sidewall and the horizon was numerically investigated using the laminar model. The numerical result was compared with the experimental and theoretical ones to validate the numerical model. The results show that the numerical results are in good agreement with them.

Modeling and analyzing neural signals with phase variability using Fisher-Rao registration.

Background: The dynamic time warping (DTW) has recently been introduced to analyze neural signals such as EEG and fMRI where phase variability plays an important role in the data.

New Method: In this study, we propose to adopt a more powerful method, referred to as the Fisher-Rao Registration (FRR), to study the phase variability.

Comparison With Existing Methods: We systematically compare FRR with DTW in three aspects: (1) basic framework, (2) mathematical properties, and (3) computational efficiency.

Structure-Activity Relationships of Hydroxyapatite-Binding Peptides.

Elucidating the structure-activity relationships between biomolecules and hydroxyapatite (HAP) is essential to understand bone mineralization mechanisms, develop HAP-based implants, and design drug delivery vectors. Here, four peptides identified by phage display were selected as model HAP-binding peptides (HBPs) to examine the effects of primary amino acid sequence, phosphorylation of serine, presence of charged amino acid residues, and net charge of the peptide on (1) HAP-binding affinity, (2) secondary conformation, and (3) HAP nucleation and crystal growth. Binding affinities were determined by obtaining adsorption isotherms by mass depletion, and the conformations of the peptides in solution and bound states were observed by circular dichroism.

Recent Development of pH-Responsive Polymers for Cancer Nanomedicine.

Cancer remains a leading cause of death worldwide with more than 10 million new cases every year. Tumor-targeted nanomedicines have shown substantial improvements of the therapeutic index of anticancer agents, addressing the deficiencies of conventional chemotherapy, and have had a tremendous growth over past several decades. Due to the pathophysiological characteristics that almost all tumor tissues have lower pH in comparison to normal healthy tissues, among various tumor-targeted nanomaterials, pH-responsive polymeric materials have been one of the most prevalent approaches for cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Systematically benchmarking peptide-MHC binding predictors: From synthetic to naturally processed epitopes.

A number of machine learning-based predictors have been developed for identifying immunogenic T-cell epitopes based on major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and II binding affinities. Rationally selecting the most appropriate tool has been complicated by the evolving training data and machine learning methods. Despite the recent advances made in generating high-quality MHC-eluted, naturally processed ligandome, the reliability of new predictors on these epitopes has yet to be evaluated.

Quantitatively Identifying the Roles of Interfacial Water and Solid Surface in Governing Peptide Adsorption.

Understanding the molecular mechanism of protein adsorption on solids is critical to their applications in materials synthesis and tissue engineering. Although the water phase at the surface/water interface has been recognized as three types: bulk water, intermediate water phase and surface-bound water layers, the roles of the water and surface in determining the protein adsorption are not clearly identified, particularly at the quantitative level. Herein, we provide a methodology involving the combination of microsecond strengthen sampling simulation and force integration to quantitatively characterize the water-induced contribution and the peptide-surface interactions into the adsorption free energy.

Osteocalcin facilitates calcium phosphate ion complex growth as revealed by free energy calculation.

The nanoscopic structural and thermodynamic basis of biomolecule-regulated assembly and crystallization of inorganic solids have a tremendous impact on the rational design of novel functional nanomaterials, but are concealed by many difficulties in molecular-level characterization. Here we demonstrate that the free energy calculation approach, enabled by combining advanced molecular simulation techniques, can unravel the structural and energetic mechanisms of protein-mediated inorganic solid nucleation. It is observed that osteocalcin (OCN), an important non-collagenous protein involved in regulating bone formation, promotes the growth of nanosized calcium phosphate (CaP) ion clusters from a supersaturated solution.