A Dual-Fluorescent Composite of Graphene Oxide and Poly(3-Hexylthiophene) Enables the Ratiometric Detection of Amines

A composite prepared by grafting a conjugated polymer, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), to the surface of graphene oxide was shown to result in a dual-fluorescent material with tunable photoluminescent properties. Capitalizing on these unique features, a new class of graphene-based sensors that enables the ratiometric fluorescence detection of amine-based pollutants was developed. Moreover, through a detailed spectroscopic study, the origin of the optical properties of the aforementioned composite was studied and was found to be due to electronic decoupling of the conjugated polymer from the GO. The methodology described herein effectively overcomes a long-standing challenge that has prevented graphene based composites from finding utility in sensing and related applications.Meng, Dongli, Shaojun Yang, Dianming Sun, Yi Zeng, Jinhua Sun, Yi Li, Shouke Yan, Yong Huang, Christopher W. Bielawski, and Jianxin Geng. "A dual-fluorescent composite of graphene oxide and poly (3-hexylthiophene) enables the ratiometric detection of amines." Chemical Science 5, no. 8 (Apr., 2014): 3130-3134.Chemistr

SU(3) breaking corrections to the DD, D∗D^*, BB, and B∗B^* decay constants

We report on a first next-to-next-to-leading order calculation of the decay constants of the $D$ ($D^*$) and $B$ ($B^*$) mesons using a covariant formulation of chiral perturbation theory. It is shown that, using the state-of-the-art lattice QCD results on $f_{D_s}/f_D$ as input, one can predict quantitatively the ratios of $f_{D_s^*}/f_{D^*}$, $f_{B_s}/f_B$, and $f_{B^*_s}/f_{B^*}$ taking into account heavy-quark spin-flavor symmetry breaking effects on the relevant low-energy constants. The predicted relations between these ratios, $f_{D^*_s}/f_{D^*}<f_{D_s}/f_D$ and $f_{B_s}/f_B>f_{D_s}/f_D$, and their light-quark mass dependence should be testable in future lattice QCD simulations, providing a stringent test of our understanding of heavy quark spin-flavor symmetry, chiral symmetry and their breaking patterns.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables; typos corrected, clarifications added, results remaining unchange

Mammalian E-type Cyclins Control Chromosome Pairing, Telomere Stability and CDK2 Localization in Male Meiosis

Loss of function of cyclin E1 or E2, important regulators of the mitotic cell cycle, yields viable mice, but E2-deficient males display reduced fertility. To elucidate the role of E-type cyclins during spermatogenesis, we characterized their expression patterns and produced additional deletions of Ccne1 and Ccne2 alleles in the germline, revealing unexpected meiotic functions. While Ccne2 mRNA and protein are abundantly expressed in spermatocytes, Ccne1 mRNA is present but its protein is detected only at low levels. However, abundant levels of cyclin E1 protein are detected in spermatocytes deficient in cyclin E2 protein. Additional depletion of E-type cyclins in the germline resulted in increasingly enhanced spermatogenic abnormalities and corresponding decreased fertility and loss of germ cells by apoptosis. Profound meiotic defects were observed in spermatocytes, including abnormal pairing and synapsis of homologous chromosomes, heterologous chromosome associations, unrepaired double-strand DNA breaks, disruptions in telomeric structure and defects in cyclin-dependent-kinase 2 localization. These results highlight a new role for E-type cyclins as important regulators of male meiosis

Transcriptome-Guided Functional Analyses Reveal Novel Biological Properties and Regulatory Hierarchy of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Ventricular Cardiomyocytes Crucial for Maturation

Human (h) embryonic stem cells (ESC) represent an unlimited source of cardiomyocytes (CMs); however, these differentiated cells are immature. Thus far, gene profiling studies have been performed with non-purified or non-chamber specific CMs. Here we took a combinatorial approach of using systems biology to guide functional discoveries of novel biological properties of purified hESC-derived ventricular (V) CMs. We profiled the transcriptomes of hESCs, hESC-, fetal (hF) and adult (hA) VCMs, and showed that hESC-VCMs displayed a unique transcriptomic signature. Not only did a detailed comparison between hESC-VCMs and hF-VCMs confirm known expression changes in metabolic and contractile genes, it further revealed novel differences in genes associated with reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism, migration and cell cycle, as well as potassium and calcium ion transport. Following these guides, we functionally confirmed that hESC-VCMs expressed IKATP with immature properties, and were accordingly vulnerable to hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced apoptosis. For mechanistic insights, our coexpression and promoter analyses uncovered a novel transcriptional hierarchy involving select transcription factors (GATA4, HAND1, NKX2.5, PPARGC1A and TCF8), and genes involved in contraction, calcium homeostasis and metabolism. These data highlight novel expression and functional differences between hESC-VCMs and their fetal counterparts, and offer insights into the underlying cell developmental state. These findings may lead to mechanism-based methods for in vitro driven maturation. © 2013 Poon et al.published_or_final_versio

Isostructural Phase Transition of TiN Under High Pressure

In situ high-pressure energy dispersive x-ray diffraction experiments on polycrystalline powder TiN with NaCl-type structure have been conducted with the pressure up to 30.1 GPa by using the diamond anvil cell instrument with synchrotron radiation at room tempearture. The experimental results suggested that an isostructural phase transition might exist at about 7 GPa as revealed by the discontinuity of V/V0 with pressure.Comment: submitte