Synthesis of surface imprinted polymers based on wrinkled flower-like magnetic graphene microspheres with favorable recognition ability for BSA

Nowadays,the employing of molecular imprinting technique in the analysis and separation of proteins from complex biological samples has been widely favored by researchers.To enrich the types of surface protein imprinted materials and expand the application fields of graphene materials,novel surface molecular imprinted polymers (MIPs) based on magnetic graphene microspheres Fe304@rGO@MIPs are first synthesized in this paper.Fe304@rGO@MIPs are prepared by oxidative self-polymerization of dopamine on the surface of magnetic graphene (Fe304@rGO) composite microspheres.Bovine serum albumin (BSA) is selected as protein template.Fe3O4@rGO microspheres with wrinkled flower-like structure are obtained by compounding Fe3O4 and graphene oxide in an appropriate ratio via the method of high-temperature reduction self-assembly.The microspheres exhibit promising dispersibility,high external surface area,rich pore structure,and sufficient magnetic properties.These advantages not only prevent the agglomeration of imprinted microspheres in the aqueous phase,which is conducive to contact and static adsorption,but also increase the amount of protein imprinting.Additionally,sufficient magnetic properties ensure fast and effective separation of the adsorbents.While the adsorption capacity is increased,the separation procedure becomes simple.The binding capacity of Fe304@rGO@MIPs for BSA can reach 317.58 mg/g within 60 min,and the imprinting factor (IF) is 4.24.More importantly,Fe3O4@rGO@MIPs can specifically recognize the target BSA from the mixed proteins and the actual sample.There is no significant decrease in the adsorption amount,IF,and magnetic properties after eight runs.It is promising to be used in the separation of proteins from the actual biological samples.     

Design formulations for non-welded and welded aluminium columns using Continuous Strength Method

Aluminium members are used in structural applications due to their high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, attractive appearance, recyclability, ease of production and availability. Thin aluminium sections are susceptible to buckling at a relatively low stress and welding makes it even worse; the design stress i.e. 0.2% proof stress is almost halved in the vicinity of the heat affected zones (HAZs). Currently available design codes have their guidelines both for welded and non-welded aluminium columns, but the predictions for welded aluminium columns are often quite inconsistent. The current research exploits a newly developed strain based design approach the ‘Continuous Strength Method’ (CSM) to predict the behaviour of aluminium members with SHS and RHS cross-sections subjected to compression. A new design curve is proposed herein to predict the cross-sectional resistance in compression; this concept is further extended to propose a new Perry type buckling curve to predict the flexural buckling resistance of aluminium columns. A simplified technique is proposed to include the effect of heat affected zone (HAZ) in CSM formulations. The CSM predictions for aluminium columns are compared against those obtained using available guidelines proposed by the European, American and Australian/ New Zealand standards of aluminium structures. The CSM predictions for non-welded columns are in line with the code predictions, whilst the proposed simple technique for transversely welded columns seems to produce significantly improved predictions.     

The electromechanical properties of fluid-filled bone: A new dimension

The current understanding of electromechanical effects in fully hydrated bone is that they are electrokinetic (streaming potential) in nature. The presence of a second competing mechanism, piezoelectricity, which dominates in dry conditions, has been denied in conditions of full hydration based on the absence of a piezoelectric response from wet collagen. Since the mineralized collagenous matrix of bone can only absorb 26 wt% water (Relative Humidity (RH)=60%), there seems no reason to dismiss a piezoelectric component entirely and experimental evidence was sought using a new measuring technique. A comprehensive analysis has been developed to relate both mechanisms to bone structure at different levels of hydration. Our results indicate the presence of both mechanisms at full hydration, with the piezoelectric effect leading streaming potential in the time domain. The immediate implication of this finding is that it is the piezoelectric effect which determines the characteristics of the generated electrical signal and may subsequently influence bone generation and remodelling.     

Rapid Detection of Wheat Blast Pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum Pathotype Using Genome-Specific Primers and Cas12a-mediated Technology

Wheat blast, caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum (MoT) pathotype, is a devastating disease persistent in South America and Bangladesh. Since MoT generally fails to cause visual symptoms in wheat until the heading stage when the infection would have advanced, disease control by fungicide application solely based on the detection of visual symptoms is ineffective. To develop an accurate and sensitive method to detect MoT at the seedling and vegetative stages for disease control, we sequenced the genomes of two MoT isolates from Brazil and identified two DNA fragments, MoT-6098 and MoT-6099, that are present in the MoT genome but not in the genome of the rice-infecting Magnaporthe oryzae Oryzae (MoO) pathotype. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we confirmed the specificity of the two markers in 53 MoT and MoO isolates from South America and Bangladesh. To test the efficiency of the two markers, we first established a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method to detect MoT at isothermal conditions, without the use of a PCR machine. Following this, we used the Cas12a protein and guide RNAs (gRNAs) to target the MoT-6098 and MoT-6099 sequences. The activated Cas12a showed indiscriminate single-stranded deoxyribonuclease (ssDNase) activity. We then combined target-dependent Cas12a ssDNase activation with recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) and nucleic acid lateral flow immunoassay (NALFIA) to develop a method that accurately, sensitively, and cost-effectively detects MoT-specific DNA sequences in infected wheat plants. This novel technique can be easily adapted for the rapid detection of wheat blast and other important plant diseases in the field.     

A sensitive enzyme-based colorimetric assay for choline-containing phospholipids

An enzyme-based colorimetric assay for choline-containing phospholipids is described. When tested with egg yolk and serum, the method proved very sensitive, correlated well with other methods and avoided turbidity problems. The method is potentially applicable to a wide variety of samples.     

A microprocessor-based dual slope phase meter

A dual-slope phase meter has been designed and tested to investigate its limitations. The design does not require a time standard; it offers good resolution, relative simplicity, low sensitivity to changes of internal circuit parameters, and microprocessor compatibility. The idea is based on a single-slope approach demonstrated by W.T. Davis (1986), but several disadvantages of the system have been eliminated. The main problem with the system, relating to the error due to the finite time of sampling, is discussed     

Design and optimization of radioisotope sources for betavoltaic batteries

A Monte Carlo source model using PENELOPE was developed to investigate different tritiated metals in order to design a better radioisotope source for betavoltaic batteries. The source model takes into account the self‐absorption of beta particles in the source which is a major factor for an efficient source design. The average beta energy, beta flux, source power output, and source efficiency were estimated for various source thicknesses. The simulated results for titanium tritide with 0° and 90° angular distributions of beta particles were validated with experimental results. The importance of the backscattering effect due to isotropic particle emission was analyzed. The results showed that the normalized average beta energy increases with the source thickness, and it reaches peak energy depending on the density and the specific activity of the source. The beta flux and power output also increase with increasing source thickness. However, the incremental increase in beta flux and power output becomes minimal for higher thicknesses, as the source efficiency decreases significantly at higher thicknesses due to the self‐absorption effect. Thus, a saturation threshold is reached. A low‐density source material such as beryllium tritide provided a higher power output with higher efficiency. A maximum power output of approximately 4 mW/cm³ was obtained for beryllium tritide with SiC. A form factor approach was used to estimate the optimum source thickness. The optimum source thickness was found near the thickness where the peak beta particle average energy occurs.