2-Amino-4-(4-meth­oxy­phen­yl)-5-oxo-5,6,7,8-tetra­hydro-4H-chromene-3-carbonitrile

The title compound, C17H16N2O3, crystallizes with two independent mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit. In both mol­ecules, the fused cyclo­hexenone ring adopts a sofa conformation. In the crystal, N—H⋯N and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol­ecules into corrugated layers parallel to the (101) plane

PLASMA HEATING INSIDE INTERPLANETARY CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS BY ALFVÉNIC FLUCTUATIONS DISSIPATION

Nonlinear cascade of low-frequency Alfvénic fluctuations (AFs) is regarded as one of the candidate energy sources that heat plasma during the non-adiabatic expansion of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). However, AFs inside ICMEs were seldom reported in the literature. In this study, we investigate AFs inside ICMEs using observations from Voyager 2 between 1 and 6 au. It has been found that AFs with a high degree of Alfvénicity frequently occurred inside ICMEs for almost all of the identified ICMEs (30 out of 33 ICMEs) and for 12.6% of the ICME time interval. As ICMEs expand and move outward, the percentage of AF duration decays linearly in general. The occurrence rate of AFs inside ICMEs is much less than that in ambient solar wind, especially within 4.75 au. AFs inside ICMEs are more frequently presented in the center and at the boundaries of ICMEs. In addition, the proton temperature inside ICME has a similar "W"-shaped distribution. These findings suggest significant contribution of AFs on local plasma heating inside ICMEs

Genetic and phenotypic profiling of single living circulating tumour cells from patients with microfluidics

Accurate prediction of the efficacy of immunotherapy for cancer patients through the characterization of both genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity in individual patient cells holds great promise in informing targeted treatments, and ultimately in improving care pathways and clinical outcomes. Here, we describe the nanoplatform for interrogating living cell host-gene and (micro-)environment (NICHE) relationships, that integrates micro- and nanofluidics to enable highly efficient capture of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood samples. The platform uses a unique nanopore-enhanced electrodelivery system that efficiently and rapidly integrates stable multichannel fluorescence probes into living CTCs for in situ quantification of target gene expression, while on-chip coculturing of CTCs with immune cells allows for the real-time correlative quantification of their phenotypic heterogeneities in response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). The NICHE microfluidic device provides a unique ability to perform both gene expression and phenotypic analysis on the same single cells in situ, allowing us to generate a predictive index for screening patients who could benefit from ICI. This index, which simultaneously integrates the heterogeneity of single cellular responses for both gene expression and phenotype, was validated by clinically tracing 80 non–small cell lung cancer patients, demonstrating significantly higher AUC (area under the curve) (0.906) than current clinical reference for immunotherapy prediction

SF6 Optimized O2 Plasma Etching of Parylene C

Parylene C is a widely used polymer material in microfabrication because of its excellent properties such as chemical inertness, biocompatibility and flexibility. It has been commonly adopted as a structural material for a variety of microfluidics and bio-MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) applications. However, it is still difficult to achieve a controllable Parylene C pattern, especially on film thicker than a couple of micrometers. Here, we proposed an SF6 optimized O2 plasma etching (SOOE) of Parylene C, with titanium as the etching mask. Without the SF6, noticeable nanoforest residuals were found on the O2 plasma etched Parylene C film, which was supposed to arise from the micro-masking effect of the sputtered titanium metal mask. By introducing a 5-sccm SF6 flow, the residuals were effectively removed during the O2 plasma etching. This optimized etching strategy achieved a 10 μm-thick Parylene C etching with the feature size down to 2 μm. The advanced SOOE recipes will further facilitate the controllable fabrication of Parylene C microstructures for broader applications

Effects of Fluoro Substitution on the Electrochromic Performance of Alternating Benzotriazole and Benzothiadiazole-Based Donor–Acceptor Type Copolymers

Two new donor–acceptor type electrochromic copolymers containing non-fluorinated and di-fluorinated benzothiadiazole analogues, namely P(TBT-TBTh) and P(TBT-F-TBTh), were synthesized successfully through chemical polymerization. Both polymers were measured by cyclic voltammetry, UV-vis spectroscopy, colorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis to study the influence of fluoro substitution on the electrochromic performance. The results demonstrated that the two polymer films displayed well-defined redox peaks in pairs during the p-type doping, and showed distinct color change from dark gray blue to light green for P(TBT-TBTh) with the band gap of 1.51 eV, and from gray blue to celandine green for P(TBT-F-TBTh) with the band gap of 1.58 eV. P(TBT-F-TBTh) presented lower highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels, and better stability than P(TBT-TBTh). It was found that the two fluorine atoms participated in not only inductive effects but also mesomeric effects in the P(TBT-F-TBTh) backbone. In addition, the polymers exhibited high optical contrasts, short response time, and favorable coloration efficiency, especially in the near infrared region. The characterization results indicated that the two reported polymers can be the potential choice as electrochromic materials

Microfabrication of Micropore Array for Cell Separation and Cell Assay

Micropore arrays have attracted a substantial amount of attention due to their strong capability to separate specific cell types, such as rare tumor cells, from a heterogeneous sample and to perform cell assays on a single cell level. Micropore array filtration has been widely used in rare cell type separation because of its potential for a high sample throughput, which is a key parameter for practical clinical applications. However, most of the present micropore arrays suffer from a low throughput, resulting from a low porosity. Therefore, a robust microfabrication process for high-porosity micropore arrays is urgently demanded. This study investigated four microfabrication processes for micropore array preparation in parallel. The results revealed that the Parylene-C molding technique with a silicon micropillar array as the template is the optimized strategy for the robust preparation of a large-area and high-porosity micropore array, along with a high size controllability. The Parylene-C molding technique is compatible with the traditional micromechanical system (MEMS) process and ready for scale-up manufacture. The prepared Parylene-C micropore array is promising for various applications, such as rare tumor cell separation and cell assays in liquid biopsy for cancer precision medicine

Bonding-friendly pcPDMS: Depositing Parylene C into PDMS matrix at an elevated temperature

This paper reported a simple and effective process of bonding-friendly Parylene C-caulked PDMS (pcPDMS) for low-permeability required microfluidics. Parylene C was deposited into PDMS matrix at an elevated temperature (higher than 135 degrees C) to caulk the permeable sites. The so-prepared pcPDMS can be directly bonded with oxygen plasma treatment just as pristine PDMS. SEM EDAX and Laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) were introduced to characterize the Parylene C caulked status in the PDMS matrix based on the specific Cl element component and the firstly-found temperature-sensitive autofluorescence of Parylene C. The preliminary results indicated that the present bonding-friendly pcPDMS can successfully suppress the diffusion of small molecules into the PDMS matrix.EICPCI-S(ISTP)[email protected]

3D morphology reconstruction of high aspect ratio MEMS structure by using autofluorescence of Parylene C

This paper reported a MEMS fabrication compatible, damage free method for in-process 3D morphology reconstruction of high aspect ratio microstructure. As a novel morphology tracer, Parylene C thin film was conformally deposited onto the structure and annealed at high temperature under N-2. The autofluorescence of Parylene C was considerably enhanced by the annealing, which made it possible to image the microstructure. By scanning with a confocal microscopy, 3D morphology of the microstructure was reconstructed. The preliminary result indicated that microstructure with width of 8 mu m and depth of 34 mu m (34.1 mu m actual depth by SEM) was successfully and accurately measured by this method.EICPCI-S(ISTP)[email protected]