Predictive value of maternal serum placental growth factor levels for discordant fetal growth in twins: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Accurate prenatal recognition of discordant fetal growth in twins is critical for deciding suitable management strategies. We explored the predictive value of the level of maternal second-trimester placental growth factor (PLGF) as a novel indicator of discordant fetal growth.

Methods: A total of 860 women pregnant with twins were enrolled, including 168 women with monochorionic twins (31 cases of discordant fetal growth and 137 without) and 692 with dichorionic twins (79 cases of discordant fetal growth and 613 without).

Simultaneous speciation analysis of arsenic and iodine in human urine by high performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

A high-performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry-based method was developed for the simultaneous determination of four iodine species (i.e. iodate, 3-iodo-tyrosine, 3,5-diiodo-tyrosine, and iodide) and six arsenic species (i.

Design of Raman reporter-embedded magnetic/plasmonic hybrid nanostirrers for reliable microfluidic SERS biosensors.

Magnetic-based microfluidic SERS biosensors hold great potential in various biological analyses due to their integrated advantages including easy manipulation, miniaturization and ultrasensitivity. However, it remains challenging to collect reliable SERS nanoprobe signals for quantitative analysis due to the irregular aggregation of magnetic carriers in a microfluidic chamber. Here, magnetic/plasmonic hybrid nanostirrers embedded with a Raman reporter are developed as capture carriers to improve the reliability of microfluidic SERS biosensors.

Metabolic changes in bile acids with pregnancy progression and their correlation with perinatal complications in intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnant patients.

Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a rare liver disease occurring during pregnancy that is characterized by disordered bile acid (BA) metabolism. It is related to adverse clinical outcomes in both the mother and fetus. Our aim was to evaluate the BA metabolism profiles in different types of ICP and investigate the association between specific BAs and perinatal complications in ICP patients.

Periodic Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering-Encoded Magnetic Beads for Reliable Quantitative Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering-Based Multiplex Bioassay.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based immunoassay on encoded beads is highly attractive with the advantages of ultrasensitivity, multiplex and high throughput. However, it was a great challenge to screen out in-focus signals of the immunoconjugated SERS nanoprobes on spherical bead conveniently. Here, periodic SERS-encoded magnetic beads (PSE-MBs) were developed through droplet optofluidic technique by using monodisperse SERS-encoded magnetic nanospheres as building blocks.

Template-assisted synthesis of Ag/AgCl hollow microcubes and their composition-dependent photocatalytic activity for the degradation of phenol.

Plasmonic photocatalysts with hollow structures and tunable composition exhibit significant advantages due to their high efficiency in light collection and effective charge transfer across the tight contact heterojunction interface. Herein, hollow Ag/AgCl microcubes were developed by treating nanosheet-assembled hollow Ag microcubes with FeCl, where a part of Ag at the interface could be transformed and oxidized into AgCl. Equally, by adjusting the concentration of Fe ions, Ag/AgCl hollow microcubes with different compositions could be easily achieved.

Cu-Embedded SnSe with a High Figure of Merit at Ecofriendly Temperature.

There are many studies concentrated on high-temperature performance of SnSe, but few studies were conducted on low-temperature properties of embedded SnSe. In this work, a series of SnCu Se ( = 0, 0.01, 0.

Eukaryal composition and diversity in anaerobic soils influenced by the novel chiral insecticide Paichongding.

Paichongding (IPP) is a neonicotinoid chiral insecticide with independent intellectual property in China. IPP application can increase crop yield, and also lead to insecticide residue and pollution in soils, which will affect microbial population and community composition in soils. In this study, four different types of soils were employed to inquire into the impact of IPP on eukaryal community and species-group through pyrosequencing of 18S rRNA gene amplicons.

Ultrahigh power factor and enhanced thermoelectric performance of individual Te/TiS2 nanocables.

Here, we present the successful fabrication of Te/TiS2 heterostructure nanocables with enhanced thermoelectric (TE) performance by a two-step route (a facile solvothermal approach for Te nanowires and then the Te nanowires are used as templates for the controllable growth of the Te/TiS2 nanocables), which is scalable for practical nanodevice applications. The heterostructure nanocables of different sizes can be prepared by varying the synthetic composition. Measurements of the Seebeck coefficient (S), electrical conductivity (σ), and thermal conductivity (κ) are carried out on the same nanowires over a temperature range of 2-350 K.

Highly Sensitive and Reproducible SERS Performance from Uniform Film Assembled by Magnetic Noble Metal Composite Microspheres.

To realize highly sensitive and reproducible SERS performance, a new route was put forward to construct uniform SERS film by using magnetic composite microspheres. In the experiment, monodisperse Fe3O4@SiO2@Ag microspheres with hierarchical surface were developed and used as building block of SERS substrate, which not only realized fast capturing analyte through dispersion and collection under external magnet but also could be built into uniform film through magnetically induced self-assembly. By using R6G as probe molecule, the as-obtained uniform film exhibited great improvement on SERS performance in both sensitivity and reproducibility when compared with nonuniform film, demonstrating the perfect integration of high sensitivity of hierarchal noble metal microspheres and high reproducibility of ordered microspheres array.

The template-assisted synthesis of polypyrrole hollow microspheres with a double-shelled structure.

Double-shelled polypyrrole hollow microspheres were synthesized via a novel template-assisted concept, using iron oxide hollow microspheres as both the sacrificial template and initiator in acidic solution.

Gel-limited synthesis of dumbbell-like Fe3O4-Ag composite microspheres and their SERS applications.

A novel gel-limited strategy was developed to synthesize dumbbell-like Fe3O4-Ag composite microspheres through a simple one-pot solvothermal method. In such a reaction system, a special precursor solution containing oleic, water, ethanol and silver ions was used and transformed into a bulk gel under heating at the very beginning of the reaction, thus all the subsequent reactions proceeded in the interior of the gel. The gel-limited reactions had two advantages, on the one hand, the magnetic Fe3O4 microspheres were fixed in the gel which avoided them aggregating together, whereas on the other hand, the silver ions stored in the gel could be gradually released and tended to diffuse towards the nearest Fe3O4 microsphere, which favored the generation of a dumbbell-like Fe3O4-Ag structure.

Ultraviolet electroluminescence of light-emitting diodes based on single n-ZnO/p-AlGaN heterojunction nanowires.

We present successful fabrication of single n-ZnO/p-AlGaN heterojunction nanowires with excellent optoelectronic properties. Because of the formation of high-quality interfacial structure, heterojunction nanowire showed a diodelike rectification behavior and an electroluminescence (EL) ultraviolet (UV) emission centered at 394 nm from a single nanowire was observed when the injection current is 4 μA due to high exciton efficiency in the interfacial layer between ZnO and AlGaN. With the increase of the applied current, the EL peak at 5 μA becomes weaker revealing an optimal injection current of less than 5 μA.

Facile and economical synthesis of large hollow ferrites and their applications in adsorption for As(V) and Cr(VI).

Unlike the previous ferrites (MFe2O4; M=Fe, Co, Zn, and Mn) solid nanospheres/nanoparticles, which were prepared by polluted solvothermal (glycol) approaches, here controllable monodisperse porous ferrites hollow nanospheres are promptly synthesized by a nontemplate hydrothermal method which has introduced an addition agent, polyacrylamide. The hollow nanospheres with different size can be prepared by varying the synthetic compositions. Scanning/transmission micros-graphs show the outside diameters of ferrite nanospheres are 180-380 nm and the shell thicknesses of that are only 20-45 nm, which could be adjusted by controlling CH3COONa concentration.

Morphological evolution, growth mechanism, and magneto-transport properties of silver telluride one-dimensional nanostructures.

Single crystalline one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures of silver telluride (Ag2Te) with well-controlled shapes and sizes were synthesized via the hydrothermal reduction of sodium tellurite (Na2TeO3) in a mixed solution. The morphological evolution of various 1D nanostructures was mainly determined by properly controlling the nucleation and growth process of Ag2Te in different reaction times. Based on the transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy studies, the formation mechanism for these 1D nanostructures was rationally interpreted.

Controlled synthesis of homogeneous Ag nanosheet-assembled film for effective SERS substrate.

Homogeneous Ag nanosheet-assembled film was successfully fabricated by using Cu plate through a simple modified solution method, where weak reductive Cu2O layer and complexing agent citrate ions were both introduced into the reaction system to control the reaction process. Meanwhile, citrate ions were used as morphology-controlled reagent to lead Ag units to grow in the form of nanosheet. The growth process exhibited that Ag nanosheet-assembled film formed slowly with reaction proceeding.

Template-assisted synthesis of uniform nanosheet-assembled silver hollow microcubes.

Uniform silver hollow microcubes assembled by nanosheets have been synthesized by using Cu(2)O cubes as chemical template at room temperature. In the reaction system, the Ag(+) ions were reduced by Cu(+) ions released from Cu(2)O cubes, meanwhile the morphology of silver growth units were controlled by trisodium citrate in the form of nanosheets around the template during the reaction. It was found that the concentrations of acid, citrate ions and AgNO(3) were critical to the formation of perfect nanosheet-assembled hollow microcubes.

Synthesis of high saturation magnetization superparamagnetic Fe3O4 hollow microspheres for swift chromium removal.

High saturation magnetization monodisperse Fe(3)O(4) hollow microspheres (109.48 emu/g) with superparamagnetic property at room temperature are promptly synthesized by a one-step solvothermal process with the presence of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate as an additive. The as-synthesized products possess superparamagnetism, large cavity, high water solubility, and saturation magnetization at room temperature.

Structural, optical, and magnetic studies of manganese-doped zinc oxide hierarchical microspheres by self-assembly of nanoparticles.

In this study, a series of manganese [Mn]-doped zinc oxide [ZnO] hierarchical microspheres [HMSs] are prepared by hydrothermal method only using zinc acetate and manganese acetate as precursors and ethylene glycol as solvent. X-ray diffraction indicates that all of the as-obtained samples including the highest Mn (7 mol%) in the crystal lattice of ZnO have a pure phase (hexagonal wurtzite structure). A broad Raman spectrum from as-synthesized doping samples ranges from 500 to 600 cm-1, revealing the successful doping of paramagnetic Mn2+ ions in the host ZnO.

Wet chemical synthesis and magnetic properties of single crystal Co nanochains with surface amorphous passivation Co layers.

: In this study, for the first time, high-yield chain-like one-dimensional (1D) Co nanostructures without any impurity have been produced by means of a solution dispersion approach under permanent-magnet. Size, morphology, component, and structure of the as-made samples have been confirmed by several techniques, and nanochains (NCs) with diameter of approximately 60 nm consisting of single-crystalline Co and amorphous Co-capped layer (about 3 nm) have been materialized. The as-synthesized Co samples do not include any other adulterants.

Magnetic Properties of Ni-doped ZnO Nanocombs by CVD Approach.

The search for above room temperature ferromagnetism in dilute magnetic semiconductors has been intense in recent year. Arrays of perpendicular ferromagnetic nanowire/rods have recently attracted considerable interest for their potential use in many areas of advanced nanotechnology. We report a simple low-temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) to create self-assembled comb-like Ni-/undoped ZnO nanostructure arrays.

Synthesis and photoluminescence of a full zinc blende phase ZnO nanorod array.

A single-crystalline ZnO nanorod array with rectangular cross-sections has been synthesized, in which the as-obtained products are a complete metastable zinc blende (ZB) phase. X-ray powder diffraction, electron microscopy, and elemental maps have been used to show that the ZB-ZnO samples have a lattice constant a = 4.580 Å, and are free from contamination by hexagonal wurtzite (HW) ZnO.

Transmission electron microscopy investigation of Sb-doped ZnO nanoribbons and Zn7Sb2O12 branched ZnO nanoribbon structure.

Sb-doped ZnO nanoribbons have been synthesized by simple thermal evaporation of powder mixtures of Zn and Sb2O3. The Sb-doped ZnO nanoribbons with hexagonal wurtzite structure have a growth direction of [0110], widths of 100-300 nm, and lengths up to several hundreds of micrometers. The atomic ratio of Sb and Zn is about 1:40 by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy measurement.