An Integrated Sweat Sensor for Synchronous Detection of Multiple Atherosclerosis Biomarkers

Atherosclerosis conditions are often assessed in the clinic by measuring blood viscosity, blood flow, and blood lesion levels. In alignment with precision medicine, it is essential to develop convenient and noninvasive approaches for atherosclerosis diagnostics. Herein, an integrated electrochemical sensor was successfully demonstrated for simultaneously detecting cholesterol, transferrin, and K+ in sweat, all biomarker indicators of atherosclerosis. The sensing substrate was based on carbon quantum dots integrated within multiwalled carbon nanotubes, creating a hybrid framework with low electron transfer resistance and highly efficient electron transfer rate, yielding a highly electrochemical active platform for ultrasensitive detection of trace sweat biomarkers. To ensure specificity to corresponding targets, the sensing mechanisms were based on molecular recognition reactions of cholesterol and β-cyclodextrin, transferrin and molecular cavities, and K+ and ion-selective permeation membrane. Moreover, the integrated nonenzymatic sensor exhibited excellent long-term stability. Furthermore, the practical utility of the sensor was successfully demonstrated by the simultaneous detection of three atherosclerosis biomarkers in sweat from volunteers who underwent predesigned daily activities. The sensor shows promise for convenient indexing of atherosclerosis conditions in a noninvasive way

Inhibition on flocculation of different yeast strains by sugars.

<p>The concentration of each sugar is 0.5 M. Data are means ± standard deviations of three independent experiments.</p

Effect of mannose, Ca²⁺ and pH on flocculation of different yeast strains.

<p>Flocculation ability was compared under conditions with different concentrations of mannose (A) and Ca<b>²⁺</b> (B) at pH 4.5, and different pH values (C). Symbols: YSF1 (red squares: ▪, □), YSF1c1/YSF1c2/YSF1c3 (black circles: •, ○), YSF1c12/YSF1c13/YSF1c23 (black triangles: ▴, △), YSF1c (black squares: ▪, □), open symbols represent the flocculation recovery of strains treated by different pH conditions. Because almost same levels of flocculation were obtained for the three variants YSF1c1, YSF1c2 and YSF1c3 under same conditions, data for one of the three variants were shown as an example. The same treatment was performed for variants YSF1c12, YSF1c13 and YSF1c23. Values are means of three independent experiments, and error bars represent standard deviation (n = 3).</p

Primers used in this study.

*<p>Restriction sites of <i>Sal</i>I and <i>Hin</i>dIII in primers P1 and P4 are underlined.</p

Flocculation abilities of yeast strains under different pH with different Ca²⁺ concentrations.

<p>Flocculation was determined as described in Materials and Methods. A. pH 4.5, B. pH 2.0, C. pH 8.0. Symbols: YSF1 (red square: ▪), YSF1c1/YSF1c2/YSF1c3 (black circle: •), YSF1c12/YSF1c13/YSF1c23 (black triangle: ▴), YSF1c (black square: ▪). Because almost same levels of flocculation were obtained for the three variants YSF1c1, YSF1c2 and YSF1c3 under same conditions, data for one of the three variants were shown as an example. The same treatment was performed for variants YSF1c12, YSF1c13 and YSF1c23. Values are means of three independent experiments, and error bars represent standard deviation (n = 3).</p

Cell surface hydrophobicity of strains YSF1 and YSF1c at different pH values.

<p>The hydrophobicity of cell surface was determined using the method described in Materials and Methods. Symbols: YSF1 (red square: ▪), YSF1c (black square: ▪). Values are means of three independent experiments, and error bars represent standard deviation (n = 3).</p

The intensity evolution of the generated fractional vortex beam with TC of -1.mp4

The intensity evolution of the generated fractional vortex beam with TC of -1 during a time of 10 seconds

Longistyline C acts antidepressant in vivo and neuroprotection in vitro against glutamate-induced cytotoxicity by regulating NMDAR/NR2B-ERK pathway in PC12 cells

<div><p>Depressive disorder is a common psychiatric disease which ranks among the leading cause of disability worldwide. The antidepressants presently used had low cure rate and caused a variety of side-effects. The screening of antidepressant drugs is usually used classic behavioural tests and neuroprotective strategy. Longistyline C, a natural stilbene isolated from the leaves of Cajanuscajan (L.) Millsp, was firstly investigated the antidepressant effect using animal behavioural tests, and studied the neuroprotection and its possible signaling pathways on glutamate-induced injury in PC12 cells. The results of animal test demonstrated that longistyline C had the antidepressant activity, which the effect is similar to the positive control. In current study, we investigated the effect of longistyline C on glutamate-induced injury in PC12 cells and explored its possible signaling pathways. The results demonstrated that pretreatment with longistyline C at the concentrations of 2–8 μmol/L for 24 h had a significant reduction of the cytotoxicity induced by glutamate (15 mmol/L) in PC12 cells using MTT, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay and Annexin V—PI double staining. Subsequently, we found that pretreatment with longistyline C (8 μmol/L) could drastically down-regulate the over-expression of NMDAR/NR2B and Ca²⁺/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII), up-regulate the expressions of p-ERK and p-CREB and alleviate ER stress. In conclusison, longistyline C is most possibly through regulating NMDAR/NR2B-ERK1/2 related pathway and restoring endoplasmic reticulum function to exert neuroprotective effect against glutamate-induced injury in PC12 cells.</p></div

Effects of longistyline C on GADD153, GRP78, XBP-1, caspase-9 and caspase-12 expressions.

<p>The data are presented as the means ± SD (n = 3). Densitometric analyses of protein bands were standardized to a loading control GAPDH. ##P<0.01 as compared with the control group; *P<0.05 and **P<0.01 as compared with the glutamate group. All experiments included in control, glutamate, longistline C, and glutamate+longistyline C groups using GAPDH as the loading control. (a) Expression of GADD153; (b) Expression of GRP78; (c) Expression of XBP-1; (d) Expression of caspase-12; (e) Expression of caspase-9. Blots in Fig 11a, b, c, d, e are cropped for clarity and conciseness.</p

Antitumor activity and mechanisms of action of total glycosides from aerial part of targeted against hepatoma-2

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Antitumor activity and mechanisms of action of total glycosides from aerial part of targeted against hepatoma"</p><p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/7/237</p><p>BMC Cancer 2007;7():237-237.</p><p>Published online 31 Dec 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC2222640.</p><p></p