Current commercialization status of electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) digital microfluidics.

The emergence of electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) in the early 2000s made the once-obscure electrowetting phenomenon practical and led to numerous activities over the last two decades. As an eloquent microscale liquid handling technology that gave birth to digital microfluidics, EWOD has served as the basis for many commercial products over two major application areas: optical, such as liquid lenses and reflective displays, and biomedical, such as DNA library preparation and molecular diagnostics. A number of research or start-up companies (e.g., Phillips Research, Varioptic, Liquavista, and Advanced Liquid Logic) led the early commercialization efforts and eventually attracted major companies from various industry sectors (e.g., Corning, Amazon, and Illumina). Although not all of the pioneering products became an instant success, the persistent growth of liquid lenses and the recent FDA approvals of biomedical analyzers proved that EWOD is a powerful tool that deserves a wider recognition and more aggressive exploration. This review presents the history around major EWOD products that hit the market to show their winding paths to commercialization and summarizes the current state of product development to peek into the future. In providing the readers with a big picture of commercializing EWOD and digital microfluidics technology, our goal is to inspire further research exploration and new entrepreneurial adventures

Analysis of genetic diversity and construction of core collection of local mulberry varieties from Shanxi Province based on ISSR marker

Genetic diversity of 73 local mulberry varieties from Shanxi Province were screened using ISSR markers, with l5 primers combinations selected for their reproducibility and polymorphism. 129 bands were amplified, of which 115 bands showed polymorphism and the ratio of polymorphism bands was 89.15%. Nei’s genetic similarity coefficients ranged from 0.5891 to 0.9457 with an average of 0.7674. The observed number of alleles of each loci, effective number of alleles of each loci, Nei’s gene diversity, Shannon’s information index were 1.8915, 1.4771, 0.2780 and 0.4197, respectively. Clustering results showed that the 73 varieties could be divided into three different groups and nine subgroups. By using stepwise clustering and random methods and the modified heuristic algorithm, 21 core collections were constructed and the ratio of core collection was 28.77%. The result of t-test to the parameters (the number effective of alleles, Nei's genetic diversity index and Shannon's information index) showed that there was not significant difference between the core collection and initial sample with the exception of the number of observed alleles, that is, the core collection could well represent the initial sample.Key words: Mulberry, germplasm resource, genetic diversity, ISSR, cluster analysis, core collection

Ternary hypervalent silicon hydrides via lithium at high pressure

Hydrogen is rarely observed as ligand in hypervalent species, however, we find that high-pressure hydrogenation may stabilise hypervalent hydrogen-rich materials. Focussing on ternary silicon hydrides via lithium doping, we find anions composed of hypervalent silicon with H ligands formed under high pressure. Our results reveal two new hypervalent anions: layered-SiH−5 and tricapped triangular prismatic SiH2−. These differ from octahedral SiH2− described in earlier studies. In addition, there are further hydrogen-rich structures, Li3SiH10 and Li2SiH6+δ, which may be stabilised at high pressure. Our work provides pointers to future investigations on hydrogen rich materials

Thickness dependence of microstructures in La0.8Ca0.2MnO3 thin films

The thickness dependence of microstructures of La0.8Ca0.2MnO3 (LCMO)/SrTiO3 (STO) thin films was investigated by high-resolution x-ray diffraction, small angle x-ray reflection, grazing incidence x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The results show that all the LCMO films are well oriented in (00l) direction perpendicular to the substrate surface. Self-organized crystalline grains with a tetragonal shape are uniformly distributed on the film surface, indicating the deposition condition being of benefit to the formation of the crystalline grains. With increasing the film thickness, the crystalline quality of the LCMO film is improved, while the surface becomes rougher. There exists a nondesigned cap layer on the upper surface of the LCMO layer for all the samples. The mechanism is discussed briefly.published_or_final_versio

Monoclonal antibodies for copper-64 PET dosimetry and radioimmunotherapy

BACKGROUND: We previously described a two-antibody model of (64)Cu radioimmunotherapy to evaluate low-dose, solid-tumor response. This model was designed to test the hypothesis that cellular internalization is critical in causing tumor cell death by mechanisms in addition to radiation damage. The purpose of the present study was to estimate radiation dosimetry for both antibodies (mAbs) using positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and evaluate the effect of internalization on tumor growth. RESULTS: Dosimetry was similar between therapy groups. Median time to tumor progression to 1 g ranged from 7–12 days for control groups and was 32 days for both treatment groups (p < 0.0001). No statistically significant difference existed between any control group or between the treatment groups. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In female nude mice bearing LS174T colon carcinoma xenografts, tumor dosimetry was calculated using serial PET images of three mice in each group of either internalizing (64)Cu-labeled DOTA-cBR96 (DOTA = 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid) or non-internalizing (64)Cu-labeled DOTA-cT84.66 from 3 to 48 h. For the therapy study, controls (n = 10) received saline, DOTA-cBR96 or DOTA-cT84.66. Treatment animals (n = 9) received 0.890 mCi of (64)Cu-labeled DOTA-cBR96 or 0.710 mCi of (64)Cu-labeled DOTA-cT84.66. Tumors were measured daily. CONCLUSIONS: PET imaging allows the use of (64)Cu for pre-therapy calculation of tumor dosimetry. In spite of highly similar tumor dosimetry, an internalizing antibody did not improve the outcome of (64)Cu radioimmunotherapy. Radio-resistance of this tumor cell line and copper efflux may have confounded the study. Further investigations of the therapeutic efficacy of (64)Cu-labeled mAbs will focus on interaction between (64)Cu and tumor suppressor genes and copper chaperones

A coating-free superhydrophobic sensing material for full-range human motion and microliter droplet impact detection

Traditional waterproofing strategies (e.g. plastic seals, superhydrophobic coatings) of strain sensors greatly limit their sensing performance (e.g., sensitivity, working-range, and working-life). Here a unique ultra-stretchable, coating-free superhydrophobic material is developed for high-performence strain sensing in harsh environments. This material integrates high sensitivity (GF of 2.1 to 214), wide sensing range (up to 447% strain), low resolution (<0.2% strain), dynamic durability (over 10,000 stretching cycles at 50% strain), and ultra-robust superhydrophobicity (mechanically, chemically, thermally, and UV impervious) in a single system, outperforming most of reported waterproof sensors. Such remarkable sensing materials can detect full range human movement, pulse rate and vocal fold vibration. The sensing material is designed to be superhydrophobic throughout its bulk material for work in harsh environments (water, corrosive liquid, high humidity, etc.). More importantly, the superhydrophobicity enables the highly sensitive sensor to detect microliter droplets impact with minimized energy loss. Thus, this sensing material should find many potential applications in wearable electronics, measurement platform, rainfall monitoring and intelligent irrigation system

Evidence for variation in the effective population size of animal mitochondrial DNA

Background: It has recently been shown that levels of diversity in mitochondrial DNA are remarkably constant across animals of diverse census population sizes and ecologies, which has led to the suggestion that the effective population of mitochondrial DNA may be relatively constant. Results: Here we present several lines of evidence that suggest, to the contrary, that the effective population size of mtDNA does vary, and that the variation can be substantial. First, we show that levels of mitochondrial and nuclear diversity are correlated within all groups of animals we surveyed. Second, we show that the effectiveness of selection on non-synonymous mutations, as measured by the ratio of the numbers of non-synonymous and synonymous polymorphisms, is negatively correlated to levels of mitochondrial diversity. Finally, we estimate the effective population size of mitochondrial DNA in selected mammalian groups and show that it varies by at least an order of magnitude. Conclusions: We conclude that there is variation in the effective population size of mitochondria. Furthermore we suggest that the relative constancy of DNA diversity may be due to a negative correlation between the effective population size and the mutation rate per generation

Interface-Coupled BiFeO<inf>3</inf>/BiMnO<inf>3</inf> Superlattices with Magnetic Transition Temperature up to 410 K

This research was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, (EP/P50385X/1), the European Research Council (ERC-2009-AdG 247276 NOVOX). The work at Texas A&M was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (DMR-1401266). The work at Los Alamos was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through the LANL/LDRD program and was performed, in part, at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, a U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences user facility. Use of the National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory, was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/admi.20150059

Assessment of the potential in vivo ecotoxicity of Double-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (DWNTs) in water, using the amphibian Ambystoma mexicanum

Because of their specific properties (mechanical, electrical, etc), carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are being assessed for inclusion in many manufactured products. Due to their massive production and number of potential applications, the impact of CNTs on the environment must be taken into consideration. The present investigation evaluates the ecotoxic potential of CNTs in the amphibian larvae (Ambystoma mexicanum). Acute toxicity and genotoxicity were analysed after 12 days of exposure in laboratory conditions. The genotoxic effects were analysed by scoring the micronucleated erythrocytes in the circulating blood of the larvae according to the French standard micronucleus assay. The results obtained in the present study demonstrated that CNTs are neither acutely toxic nor genotoxic to larvae whatever the CNTs concentration in the water, although black masses of CNTs were observed inside the gut. In the increasing economical context of CNTs, complementary studies must be undertaken, especially including mechanistic and environmental investigations

The Kinematic Algebra From the Self-Dual Sector

We identify a diffeomorphism Lie algebra in the self-dual sector of Yang-Mills theory, and show that it determines the kinematic numerators of tree-level MHV amplitudes in the full theory. These amplitudes can be computed off-shell from Feynman diagrams with only cubic vertices, which are dressed with the structure constants of both the Yang-Mills colour algebra and the diffeomorphism algebra. Therefore, the latter algebra is the dual of the colour algebra, in the sense suggested by the work of Bern, Carrasco and Johansson. We further study perturbative gravity, both in the self-dual and in the MHV sectors, finding that the kinematic numerators of the theory are the BCJ squares of the Yang-Mills numerators.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures. v2: references added, published versio