A highly sensitive and selective antioxidant probe based on a bi-modally functionalized conjugated polyelectrolyte

A new water-soluble anionic conjugated polyelectrolyte with a nitroxide radical covalently linked to the sulfonated poly(phenylene ethynylene) backbone (PPE-SO(3)) is reported. This radical-functionalized PPE-SO(3) (RF-PPE-SO(3)) demonstrates fluorescence and electron spin resonance (ESR) bimodal signaling function and shows sensitive and selective response to antioxidants.Ministry of Science and Technology of China[2011CB910403]; National Natural Science Foundation of China[20835005, 20975086, J1030415

The AST3-NIR Camera for the Kunlun Infrared Sky Survey

AST3-NIR is a new infrared camera for deployment with the AST3-3 wide-field survey telescope to Dome A on the Antarctic plateau. This project is designed to take advantage of the low Antarctic infrared sky thermal background (particularly within the Kdark near infrared atmospheric window at 2.4 μm) and the long Antarctic nights to provide high sensitivity temporal data from astronomical sources. The data collected from the Kunlun Infrared Sky Survey (KISS) will be used to conduct a range of astronomical science cases including the study of supernovae, exo-planets, variable stars, and the cosmic infrared background

Fluorescent core-shell silica nanoparticles as tunable precursors: towards encoding and multifunctional nano-probes

Core-shell silica nanoparticles comprised of a RuBpy doped silica core and a Pas-DTPA doped silica shell were synthesized and post-functionalized with an encoding fluorescence combination and multiplex imaging function

Exoplanets in the Antarctic Sky I. The first data release of AST3-II (CHESPA) and new found variables within the southern CVZ of TESS

Located at Dome A, the highest point of the Antarctic plateau, the Chinese Kunlun station is considered to be one of the best ground-based photometric sites because of its extremely cold, dry, and stable atmosphere. A target can be monitored from there for over 40 days without diurnal interruption during a polar winter. This makes Kunlun station a perfect site to search for short-period transiting exoplanets. Since 2008, an observatory has existed at Kunlun station, and three telescopes are working there. Using these telescopes, the AST3 project has been carried out over the last 6 yr with a search for transiting exoplanets as one of its key programs (CHESPA). In the austral winters of 2016 and 2017, a set of target fields in the southern continuous viewing zone (CVZ) of TESS were monitored by the AST3-II telescope. In this paper, we introduce the CHESPA and present the first data release containing photometry of 26,578 bright stars (m(i) <= 15). The best photometric precision at the optimum magnitude for the survey is around 2 mmag. To demonstrate the data quality, we also present a catalog of 221 variables with a brightness variation greater than 5 mmag from the 2016 data. Among these variables, 179 are newly identified periodic variables not listed in the AAVSO database (https://www.aavso.org/), and 67 are listed in the Candidate Target List. These variables will require careful attention to avoid false-positive signals when searching for transiting exoplanets. Dozens of new transiting exoplanet candidates will be released in a subsequent paper

The functional spectrum of low-frequency coding variation

Background Rare coding variants constitute an important class of human genetic variation, but are underrepresented in current databases that are based on small population samples. Recent studies show that variants altering amino acid sequence and protein function are enriched at low variant allele frequency, 2 to 5%, but because of insufficient sample size it is not clear if the same trend holds for rare variants below 1% allele frequency. Results The 1000 Genomes Exon Pilot Project has collected deep-coverage exon-capture data in roughly 1,000 human genes, for nearly 700 samples. Although medical whole-exome projects are currently afoot, this is still the deepest reported sampling of a large number of human genes with next-generation technologies. According to the goals of the 1000 Genomes Project, we created effective informatics pipelines to process and analyze the data, and discovered 12,758 exonic SNPs, 70% of them novel, and 74% below 1% allele frequency in the seven population samples we examined. Our analysis confirms that coding variants below 1% allele frequency show increased population-specificity and are enriched for functional variants. Conclusions This study represents a large step toward detecting and interpreting low frequency coding variation, clearly lays out technical steps for effective analysis of DNA capture data, and articulates functional and population properties of this important class of genetic variatio

Exoplanets in the Antarctic Sky. II. 116 Transiting Exoplanet Candidates Found by AST3-II (CHESPA) within the Southern CVZ of TESS

We report first results from the CHinese Exoplanet Searching Program from Antarctica (CHESPA)-a wide-field high-resolution photometric survey for transiting exoplanets carried out using telescopes of the AST3 (Antarctic Survey Telescopes times 3) project. There are now three telescopes (AST3-I, AST3-II, and CSTAR-II) operating at Dome A-the highest point on the Antarctic Plateau-in a fully automatic and remote mode to exploit the superb observing conditions of the site, and its long and uninterrupted polar nights. The search for transiting exoplanets is one of the key projects for AST3. During the austral winters of 2016 and 2017 we used the AST3-II telescope to survey a set of target fields near the southern ecliptic pole, falling within the continuous viewing zone of the TESS mission. The first data release of the 2016 data, including images, catalogs, and light curves of 26,578 bright stars (7.5 <= m(i) <= 15), was presented in Zhang et al. The best precision, as measured by the rms of the light curves at the optimum magnitude of the survey (m(i) = 10), is around 2 mmag. We detect 222 objects with plausible transit signals from these data, 116 of which are plausible transiting exoplanet candidates according to their stellar properties as given by the TESS Input Catalog, Gaia DR2, and TESS-HERMES spectroscopy. With the first data release from TESS expected in late 2018, this candidate list will be timely for improving the rejection of potential false-positives

The AST3-NIR Camera for the Kunlun Infrared Sky Survey

AST3-NIR is a new infrared camera for deployment with the AST3-3 wide-field survey telescope to Dome A on the Antarctic plateau. This project is designed to take advantage of the low Antarctic infrared sky thermal background (particularly within the Kdark near infrared atmospheric window at 2.4 μm) and the long Antarctic nights to provide high sensitivity temporal data from astronomical sources. The data collected from the Kunlun Infrared Sky Survey (KISS) will be used to conduct a range of astronomical science cases including the study of supernovae, exo-planets, variable stars, and the cosmic infrared background