Plasmonic Optical Sensors: Performance Analysis and Engineering Towards Biosensing

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing for quantitative analysis of chemical reactions and biological interactions has become one of the most promising applications of plasmonics. This thesis focuses on performance analysis for plasmonic sensors and implementation of plamonic optical sensors with novel nanofabrication techniques. A universal performance analysis model is established for general two-dimensional plasmonic sensors. This model is based on the fundamental facts of surface plasmon theory. The sensitivity only depends on excitation light wavelength as well as dielectric properties of metal and dielectrics. The expression involves no structure-specified parameters, which validates this formula in broad cases of periodic, quasiperiodic and aperiodic nanostructures. Further analysis reveals the intrinsic relationship between plamonic sensor performance and essential physics of surface plasmon. The analytical results are compared to the sensitivities of previously reported plasmonic sensors in the field. This universal model is a promising qualification criterion for plasmonic sensors. Plasmonic optical sensors are engineered into high-performance on-chip sensors, plasmonic optical fibers and freestanding nanomembranes. (1) Periodic nanohole arrays are patterned on chip by a simple and robust template-transfer approach. A spectral analysis approach is also developed for improving the sensor performance. This sensor is applied to demonstrate the on-chip detection of cardiac troponin-I. (2) Plasmonic optical fibers are constructed by transferring periodic metal nanostructures from patterned templates onto endfaces of optical fibers using an epoxy adhesive. Patterned metal structures are generally extended from nanohole arrays to nanoslit arrays. A special plasmonic fiber is designed to simultaneously implement multimode refractive index sensing with remarkably narrow linewidth and high figure of merit. A real-time immunoassay relying on plasmonic fiber is demonstrated. Plasmonic optical fibers also take advantages of consistent optical responses, excellent stability during fiber bending and capability of spectrum filtering. (3) Large-area freestanding metal nanomembranes are implemented using a novel fabrication approach. The formed transferrable membranes feature high-quality and uniform periodic nanohole arrays. The freestanding nanomembranes exhibit remarkably higher transmission intensity in comparison to the nanohole arrays with same features on the substrate. These three modalities of plasmonic sensors possess different applicability to fulfill various plasmonic sensing tasks in respective scenarios

Effect of seed pre-treatment with plant growth compound regulators on seedling growth under drought stress

Saabunud / Received 28.10.2021 ; Aktsepteeritud / Accepted 10.12.2021 ; Avaldatud veebis / Published online 11.12.2021 ; Vastutav autor / Corresponding author: Andrii Melnyk [email protected] experiment aimed to evaluate the effect of different compound regulators on the germination rate, seedling morphology of two mustard (Brassica juncea L.) cultivars ('Felicia' and 'Prima') under simulated drought stress with PEG-6000. The eight commercial growth compound regulators (ALBIT, VERMISTIMD, ANTISTRESS, AGRINOS, REGOPLAN, BIOFOGE, STIMULATE, and FAST START) were pretreated seeds at recommended doses. The application of growth regulators promoted the growth of seedlings under drought stress but had no obvious effect on the germination rate of the two varieties. The root fresh weight, total root length, leaf area, stem length, and stem volume in 'Felicia' significantly increased with ANTISTRESS treatment by 24.28, 3.30, 24.70, 19.40, and 30.90%. In addition, the number of lateral roots reached the maximum with AGRINOS and REGOPLAN treatment compared with plants without regulators under drought conditions, which were 135.55 and 121.20%, respectively. For 'Prima', the application of FAST START had a remarkable effect on root fresh weight, total root length, lateral root number and primary root length, root surface area, leaf area, and stem volume by 17.62, 18.12, 211.20, 53.75, 28.57, 15.90, and 32.30%, respectively

Roles of DNA damage in renal tubular epithelial cells injury

The prevalence of renal diseases including acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasing worldwide. However, the pathogenesis of most renal diseases is still unclear and effective treatments are still lacking. DNA damage and the related DNA damage response (DDR) have been confirmed as common pathogenesis of acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced DNA damage is one of the most common types of DNA damage involved in the pathogenesis of acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. In recent years, several developments have been made in the field of DNA damage. Herein, we review the roles and developments of DNA damage and DNA damage response in renal tubular epithelial cell injury in acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. In this review, we conclude that focusing on DNA damage and DNA damage response may provide valuable diagnostic biomarkers and treatment strategies for renal diseases including acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease

The synergized diagnostic value of VTQ with chemokine CXCL13 in lung tumors

Virtual Touch Tissue Quantification (VTQ) offers several advantages in the diagnosis of various lung diseases. Chemokine expression levels, such as CXCL13, play a vital role in the occurrence and development of tumors and aid in the diagnosis process. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the combined value of VTQ and changes in CXCL13 expression levels for the diagnosis of lung tumors. A total of 60 patients with thoracic nodules and pleural effusion were included, with 30 of them having malignant pleural effusion (based on pathology) and the remaining 30 having benign thoracic nodules and pleural effusion. The relative expression level of CXCL13 was measured in the collected pleural effusions using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). The relationship between CXCL13 expression levels and various clinical features was analyzed. A Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was conducted on the VTQ results and relative expression levels of CXCL13, and the areas under the curve, critical values, sensitivity, and specificity were calculated. Multivariate analysis incorporating multiple indicators was performed to determine the accuracy of lung tumor diagnosis. The results showed that the expression levels of CXCL13 and VTQ were significantly higher in the lung cancer group compared to the control group (P < 0.05). In the Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) group, CXCL13 expression levels increased with later TNM staging and poorer tumor differentiation. The expression level of CXCL13 in adenocarcinoma was higher than that in squamous cell carcinoma. The ROC curve analysis revealed that CXCL13 had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.74 (0.61, 0.86) with an optimal cut-off value of 777.82 pg/ml for diagnosing lung tumors. The ROC curve analysis of VTQ showed an AUC of 0.67 (0.53, 0.82) with a sensitivity of 60.0% and a specificity of 83.3%, and an optimal diagnostic cut-off of 3.33 m/s. The combination of CXCL13 and VTQ for diagnosing thoracic tumors had an AUC of 0.842 (0.74, 0.94), which was significantly higher than either factor alone. The results of the study demonstrate the strong potential of combining VTQ results with chemokine CXCL13 expression levels for lung tumor diagnosis. Additionally, the findings suggest that elevated relative expression of CXCL13 in cases of malignant pleural effusion caused by non-small cell lung cancer may indicate a poor prognosis. This provides promising potential for using CXCL13 as a screening tool and prognostic indicator for patients with advanced lung cancer complicated by malignant pleural effusion

Cumulative exposure to remnant cholesterol and the risk of fragility fractures: a longitudinal cohort study

ObjectiveTo investigate the association between cumulative remnant cholesterol (cumRC) and the risk of new-onset fragility fractures.MethodsThis study included individuals who participated in the 2006, 2008, and 2010 Kailuan health examinations. Baseline characteristics were compared between groups according to cumRC quartiles. The incidence density was calculated, and the log-rank test was used to compare the cumulative incidence. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI), and restricted cubic spline was used to examine the possibly non-linear relation between cumRC and the risk of fragility fractures. Additional analyses were performed with stratification by age (≥ or <65 years).ResultsA total of 43,839 individuals were included in this study. During the median follow-up period of 10.97 years, a total of 489 fragility fractures occurred. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model 3 showed that the Q1 and Q4 groups versus the Q2 group were associated with a higher HR of fragility fracture (HR 1.61, 95% CI: 1.23–2.11; HR 1.38, 95% CI: 1.06–1.81), and restricted cubic spline regression analysis showed a non-linear relationship between cumRC level and the risk of fragility fractures (POverall association < 0.001, PNon-linear association = 0.001). The association was significant in the age group <65 years but not in the age group ≥65 years. The sensitivity analyses were consistent with the main results.ConclusionsBoth too high and too low cumRC levels were associated with a greater risk of fragility fractures, and this association was more significant in young and middle-aged people

The Effect of Chinese Herbal Medicine on Quality of Life and Exercise Tolerance in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background: Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has a good effect of alleviating symptoms and improving quality of life and exercise tolerance in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), but it wasn't sufficiently valued and promoted because of the lack of evidence-based medical evidence.Aim: To systematically review the effect of CHM on quality of life and exercise tolerance in patients with HFpEF.Methods: We conducted a systematic literature search for Chinese and English studies in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database, Wanfang Data, and China Science and Technology Journal Database. Databases were searched using terms relating to or describing CHM, HFpEF and randomized controlled trials, without any exclusion criteria for other types of diseases or disorders. Literature retrieval, data extraction, and risk of bias assessments were performed independently by two investigators. Differences were resolved by consensus. RevMan 5.3.0 was used for data analysis. Quantitative synthesis was used when the included studies were sufficiently homogeneous and subgroup analyses were performed for studies with different sample sizes and blind methods. GRADEpro was used to grade the available evidence to minimize bias in our findings.Results: Seventeen studies with 2,724 patients were enrolled in this review. ROB assessments showed a relatively high selection and performance bias. Meta-analyses showed that compared with conventional western medicine, combined CHM and conventional western medicine could significantly improve 6-min walk distance (MD = 52.13, 95% CI [46.91, 57.34], P < 0.00001), and it seemed to be more effective as compared with combined placebo and conventional western medicine. Similar results were observed for quality of life and the results were better in a larger sample. The GRADEpro showed a very low to moderate level of the available evidence.Conclusion: Combined CHM and conventional western medicine might be effective to improve exercise tolerance and quality of life in HFpEF patients, but new well-designed studies with larger sample size, strict randomization, and clear description about detection and reporting processes are needed to further strengthen this evidence

The transplant rejection response involves neutrophil and macrophage adhesion-mediated trogocytosis and is regulated by NFATc3

The anti-foreign tissue (transplant rejection) response, mediated by the immune system, has been the biggest obstacle to successful organ transplantation. There are still many enigmas regarding this process and some aspects of the underlying mechanisms driving the immune response against foreign tissues remain poorly understood. Here, we found that a large number of neutrophils and macrophages were attached to the graft during skin transplantation. Furthermore, both types of cells could autonomously adhere to and damage neonatal rat cardiomyocyte mass (NRCM) in vitro. We have demonstrated that Complement C3 and the receptor CR3 participated in neutrophils/macrophages-mediated adhesion and damage this foreign tissue (NRCM or skin grafts). We have provided direct evidence that the damage to these tissues occurs by a process referred to as trogocytosis, a damage mode that has never previously been reported to directly destroy grafts. We further demonstrated that this process can be regulated by NFAT, in particular, NFATc3. This study not only enriches an understanding of host-donor interaction in transplant rejection, but also provides new avenues for exploring the development of novel immunosuppressive drugs which prevent rejection during transplant therapy