A Highly Selective Colorimetric Sensor for Cysteine in Water Solution and Bovine Serum Albumin

A simple colorimetric sensor, 2-bromonaphthalene-1,4-dione, has been developed for the Cysteine detection. The sensor showed its best performance in a mixture of ethanol and HEPES (5 : 5, v/v) solution at pH of 7.0. The results of UV-vis and fluorescence indicated that 2-bromonaphthalene-1,4-dione was selective and sensitive for Cysteine detection without the interference of other amino acids (Cysteine, Alanine, Arginine, Aspartinie, Glutamine, Glycine, Histidine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Proline, Serine, Threonine, Phenylalanine, Valine, Tryptophan, and Hydroxyproline). 2-Bromonaphthalene-1,4-dione also showed binding ability for Cysteine in bovine serum albumin and could be used as a potential colorimetric sensor among eighteen kinds of natural amino acids. Importantly, the recognition of CySH could be observed by naked eye

CW dual-frequency MOPA laser with frequency separation of 45 GHz

A CW dual-frequency master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) laser system with dozens of gigahertz (GHz) frequency separation is presented. The MOPA system consists of a monolithic microchip seed laser and a double-end pumped traveling wave power amplifier. The short length of seed laser cavity guarantees the seed signal with a large frequency separation (above 53 GHz) but low output power (below 247.8 mW). By adding a long and low-doped active medium laser amplifier stage, a significant increase in laser power and an improvement in beam quality are obtained. After fine temperature tuning of seed laser cavity for spectra matching , a 2.40 W dual-frequency laser signal with 45 GHz frequency separation is achieved

Clinical identification and microbiota analysis of Chlamydia psittaci- and Chlamydia abortus- pneumonia by metagenomic next-generation sequencing

IntroductionRecently, the incidence of chlamydial pneumonia caused by rare pathogens such as C. psittaci or C. abortus has shown a significant upward trend. The non-specific clinical manifestations and the limitations of traditional pathogen identification methods determine that chlamydial pneumonia is likely to be poorly diagnosed or even misdiagnosed, and may further result in delayed treatment or unnecessary antibiotic use. mNGS's non-preference and high sensitivity give us the opportunity to obtain more sensitive detection results than traditional methods for rare pathogens such as C. psittaci or C. abortus. MethodsIn the present study, we investigated both the pathogenic profile characteristics and the lower respiratory tract microbiota of pneumonia patients with different chlamydial infection patterns using mNGS.ResultsMore co-infecting pathogens were found to be detectable in clinical samples from patients infected with C. psittaci compared to C. abortus, suggesting that patients infected with C. psittaci may have a higher risk of mixed infection, which in turn leads to more severe clinical symptoms and a longer disease course cycle. Further, we also used mNGS data to analyze for the first time the characteristic differences in the lower respiratory tract microbiota of patients with and without chlamydial pneumonia, the impact of the pattern of Chlamydia infection on the lower respiratory tract microbiota, and the clinical relevance of these characteristics. Significantly different profiles of lower respiratory tract microbiota and microecological diversity were found among different clinical subgroups, and in particular, mixed infections with C. psittaci and C. abortus resulted in lower lung microbiota diversity, suggesting that chlamydial infections shape the unique lung microbiota pathology, while mixed infections with different Chlamydia may have important effects on the composition and diversity of the lung microbiota. DiscussionThe present study provides possible evidences supporting the close correlation between chlamydial infection, altered microbial diversity in patients' lungs and clinical parameters associated with infection or inflammation in patients, which also provides a new research direction to better understand the pathogenic mechanisms of pulmonary infections caused by Chlamydia

Evaluation of Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Vicagrel, a Novel P2Y12 Antagonist, in Healthy Chinese Volunteers

Background: Vicagrel is a novel anti-platelet drug and hydrolyzed to the same intermediate as clopidogrel via esterase, instead of CYP2C19. Here we report the first clinical trial on the tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of different doses of vicagrel, and comparison with clopidogrel in healthy Chinese volunteers.Methods: This study was conducted in two parts. Study I was a dose-escalating (5–15 mg) study. For each dose, 15 participants were randomized into three groups (total n = 45); nine participants were given vicagrel, three were given clopidogrel, and three were given a placebo. Study II was conducted to assess interactions between vicagrel and aspirin in 15 healthy participants. The plasma concentrations of the metabolites of vicagrel and clopidogrel were determined using a LC-MS/MS method. Platelet aggregation was assessed using the VerifyNow-P2Y12 assay.Results: Vicagrel (5–15 mg per day) dosing for 10 days or addition of aspirin was well tolerated in healthy volunteers. The exposure of the active metabolite increased proportionally across the dose range and was higher (~10-fold) than clopidogrel. The levels of IPA dosing 75 mg clopidogrel were between the responses of 5 mg and 10 mg vicagrel. After a single loading dose of vicagrel (30 mg) and a once-daily maintenance dose (7.5 mg) for 8 days, the maximum inhibition of platelet aggregation was similar to that seen with the combined use of vicagrel and aspirin (100 mg/day).Conclusion: Oral vicagrel demonstrated a favorable safety profile and excellent anti-platelet activity, which could be a promising P2Y12 antagonist as anti-platelet drug and can be further developed in phase II/III studies, and marketing for the unmet medical needs of cardiovascular diseases. The study was registered at http://www.chictr.org.cn (ChiCTR-IIR-16009260)

Schizophrenia-associated somatic copy-number variants from 12,834 cases reveal recurrent NRXN1 and ABCB11 disruptions

While germline copy-number variants (CNVs) contribute to schizophrenia (SCZ) risk, the contribution of somatic CNVs (sCNVs)—present in some but not all cells—remains unknown. We identified sCNVs using blood-derived genotype arrays from 12,834 SCZ cases and 11,648 controls, filtering sCNVs at loci recurrently mutated in clonal blood disorders. Likely early-developmental sCNVs were more common in cases (0.91%) than controls (0.51%, p = 2.68e−4), with recurrent somatic deletions of exons 1–5 of the NRXN1 gene in five SCZ cases. Hi-C maps revealed ectopic, allele-specific loops forming between a potential cryptic promoter and non-coding cis-regulatory elements upon 5′ deletions in NRXN1. We also observed recurrent intragenic deletions of ABCB11, encoding a transporter implicated in anti-psychotic response, in five treatment-resistant SCZ cases and showed that ABCB11 is specifically enriched in neurons forming mesocortical and mesolimbic dopaminergic projections. Our results indicate potential roles of sCNVs in SCZ risk

The Impacts of Fiscal Subsidies on the Carbon Emissions of Mining Enterprises: Evidence from China

Lowering carbon output and reducing emissions have been worldwide concerns as global warming and environmental pollution worsen. Governments play a key role in driving corporate action related to carbon and emission reduction. In this paper, mining companies listed in China’s A-share market were taken as samples to analyze the impacts of fiscal subsidies on the carbon emissions of mining enterprises through empirical tests. These findings demonstrated that fiscal subsidies could substantially lower corporate carbon emissions by incentivizing and enhancing their green-technology innovation. Financing constraints provided no prominent mediator effects between fiscal subsidies and carbon emissions, and these subsidies failed to considerably relieve their financing constraints in order to restrain carbon emissions. These results indicate that government policies on fiscal subsidies could represent significant guidance for corporate low-carbon and environmental-protection efforts, thereby providing empirical evidence for governmental environmental-protection policies