A comparative study of four Malayan ferns, Christensenia aesculifolia (Bl.) Maxon, Tectaria singaporeana (Wall.) Ching, Abacopteris multilineata (Wall.) Ching and Hymenophyllum polyanthos Sw. from shady habitats and another four, Dicranopteris linearis (Burm.) Und., Lygodium scandens (L.) Sw., Blechnum orientate Linn, and Stenochlaena palustris (Burm.) Bedd. from sunlit habitats showed that the total chlorophyll content expressed on a gram fresh weight basis was greater in the shade ferns. There was little difference in the chlorophyll content between the sun and shade ferns when it was expressed on a per unit leaf area basis. The protein and protohaem content was greater in the sun ferns. Measurements of the in vitro photochemical activities of the photosystems I and II in isolated chloroplasts by means of an oxygen electrode showed higher rates in the sun ferns. As determined by spectrophotometric analysis, the photosynthetic cytochrome content from isolated chloroplasts was greater in the sun ferns. The results indicate that the sun ferns have physiological characteristics favouring greater capacity for photosynthesis. Mitochondria isolated from the sun ferns showed faster rates of electron transport using exogenous NADH as substrate.
BACKGROUND: A leadless intracardiac transcatheter pacing system has been designed to avoid the need for a pacemaker pocket and transvenous lead.
METHODS: In a prospective multicenter study without controls, a transcatheter pacemaker was implanted in patients who had guideline-based indications for ventricular pacing. The analysis of the primary end points began when 300 patients reached 6 months of follow-up. The primary safety end point was freedom from system-related or procedure-related major complications. The primary efficacy end point was the percentage of patients with low and stable pacing capture thresholds at 6 months (≤2.0 V at a pulse width of 0.24 msec and an increase of ≤1.5 V from the time of implantation). The safety and efficacy end points were evaluated against performance goals (based on historical data) of 83% and 80%, respectively. We also performed a post hoc analysis in which the rates of major complications were compared with those in a control cohort of 2667 patients with transvenous pacemakers from six previously published studies.
RESULTS: The device was successfully implanted in 719 of 725 patients (99.2%). The Kaplan-Meier estimate of the rate of the primary safety end point was 96.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 93.9 to 97.3; P<0.001 for the comparison with the safety performance goal of 83%); there were 28 major complications in 25 of 725 patients, and no dislodgements. The rate of the primary efficacy end point was 98.3% (95% CI, 96.1 to 99.5; P<0.001 for the comparison with the efficacy performance goal of 80%) among 292 of 297 patients with paired 6-month data. Although there were 28 major complications in 25 patients, patients with transcatheter pacemakers had significantly fewer major complications than did the control patients (hazard ratio, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.33 to 0.75; P=0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: In this historical comparison study, the transcatheter pacemaker met the prespecified safety and efficacy goals; it had a safety profile similar to that of a transvenous system while providing low and stable pacing thresholds. (Funded by Medtronic; Micra Transcatheter Pacing Study ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02004873.).
The development of antibody-based biosensor has grown steadily during recent years, and their use as a routine instrument in clinical application is not far from reality. This study has demonstrated the capability of conductometric sensor to quantitate human Follicle Stimulating Hormone (hFSH) from urine samples. The principles are adopted from Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) technique. Self fabricated gold coated electrode was dipped in the microtiter well containing antibody-antigen complex. Substrate was added to the system to initiate a secondary reaction, which produced electroactive species and change the conductivity of the solution. The changes were proportional with the concentration of the hormone present. The results obtained correlate well with the conventional ELISA technique. Inter and intra assay variation (%CV) were under 6% and the lowest detection limit is 0.75 mIU/ml which was well under the physiological range of the hormone. This system offered advantages such as simplicity, reliability, minimal addition of reagents, freedom from turbidity and color problem, probability of miniaturizing the electrode thus minimizing the sample volume and the ability of on line data analysis. This study proved that Antigen-Antibody reaction via EIA could be detected electronically and it has a potential to be used as one of the measuring mode in clinical analysis.
BACKGROUND: Optimisation of average glandular dose (AGD) for two-dimensional (2D) mammography is important, as imaging using ionizing radiation has the probability to induce cancer resulting from stochastic effects. This study aims to observe the effects of kVp, anode/filter material, and exposure mode on the dose and image quality of 2D mammography.
METHODS: This experimental study was conducted using full-field digital mammography. The entrance surface air kerma was determined using thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) 100H and ionization chamber (IC) on three types of Computerized Imaging Reference System (CIRS) phantom with 50/50, 30/70, and 20/80 breast glandularity, respectively, in the auto-time mode and auto-filter mode. The Euref protocol was used to calculate the AGD while the image quality was evaluated using contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), figure of merit (FOM), and image quality figure (IQF).
RESULTS: It is shown that AGD values in the auto-time mode did not decrease significantly with the increasing tube voltage of the silver filter (r = -0.187, P > 0.05) and rhodium filter (r = -0.131, P > 0.05) for all the phantoms. The general linear model showed that AGD for all phantoms had a significant effect between different exposure factors [F (6,12.3) = 4.48 and mode of exposure F (1,86) = 4.17, P < 0.05, respectively] but there is no significant difference between the different anode/filter combination [F (1,4) = 0.571].
CONCLUSION: In summary, the 28, 29, and 31 kVp are the optimum kVp for 50%, 30%, and 20% breast glandularity, respectively. Besides the auto-filter mode is suitable for 50%, 30%, and 20% breast glandularity because it is automatic, faster, and may avoid error done by the operator.
KEYWORDS: CDMAM; digital mammography; radiation dose
The present investigation represents a continuation of studies on the effect of ortho'-substitution on the reactivity of anodically generated methoxystilbene cation radicals. Whereas previous studies have focused on the effect of ortho'-substituted nucleophilic groups such as OH, NH2, CH2OH, CH2NH2, and COOH, the present study extends the investigation to ortho'-substituted vinyl and formyl groups. The results show that when the ortho'-substituent is a vinyl group, the products include a bisdihydronaphthalene derivative and a doubly bridged, dibenzofused cyclononane from direct trapping of a bis carbocation intermediate. In the presence of an additional 3-methoxy substituent, the products are the tetracyclic chrysene derivatives. When the ortho'-substituent is a nonnucleophilic formyl group, the products include fused indanylnaphthalenes and indanylbenzopyran aldehydes. When an additional 3-methoxy group is present, an unusual fused benzofluorene-dibenzoannulene product is obtained. Mechanistic rationalization for the formation of the various products is presented. The results have contributed to a deeper understanding of how the reactivity of the methoxystilbene cation radicals is affected by the nature of the ortho'-substituents.
An effective electrode was developed based on electromembrane extraction (EME) and square wave voltammetry (SWV) for simultaneous separation, pre-concentration and determination of lead (II) (Pb(II)) ions in complex aqueous samples. Electrochemically reduced graphene oxide-graphite reinforced carbon (ErGO-GRC) was utilized in conjunction with the SWV. Pb(II) ions were extracted from an aqueous sample solution into an acidic acceptor phase (1M HCl) in the lumen of the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane bag by the application of voltage of maximum 6 V across the supported liquid membrane (SLM), consisting of organic solvent and di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (D2EHPA). The parameters affecting the EME were optimized for Pb(II) ions. The optimum EME conditions were found to be 20% D2EHPA in 1-octanol impregnated in the wall of PVDF membrane (PVDF17) as the SLM, extraction time of 20 min, pH of sample solution of 8 and a voltage of 5 V. The PVDF-ErGO-GRC electrode system attained enrichment factors of 40 times and 80% of extraction with relative standard deviations (n=5) of 8.3%. Good linearity ranging from 0.25 to 2 nM with coefficients correlation of 0.999 was obtained. The Pb(II) ions detection limit of PVDF-ErGO-GRC electrode was found to be 0.09 nM. The newly developed single setup electrochemical system was applied to complex aqueous samples such as tap, river and sea water to evaluate the feasibility of the method for applications.
Vanadium(IV) and vanadium(V) can be determined by using differential pulse cathodic stripping voltammetry technique (DPCSV). Cupferron (ammonium N-nitrosophenylhydroxylamine) was used as ligand to form complex compounds with vanadium ions in Britton-Robinson buffer (BRB) solution. At concentration lower than 1.0×10(-6) M, both V(IV) and V(V) cupferron complexes showed a single cathodic peak at -0.576 V in BRB of pH 4; thus V(IV) and V(V) ions cannot be differentiated at low concentration. However, the ionic species of vanadium can be differentiated at high concentration in the presence of cupferron. Parameters including pH of BRB solution, initial potential and accumulation potential were optimized. Under the optimized parameters, the limit of detection (LOD) was 0.09 nM, and the peak current was linear in the concentration range 0.01-0.9 µM total vanadium ions. The determination of V(IV) and V(V) ions was carried out at higher concentration in the sample using calibration plot method. At higher concentration range of 10-60 µM V(IV) and V(V) ions were determined with LOD of 1.2 and 1.1 µM, respectively. The developed method was successfully applied to 10,00,000 fold diluted Benfield sample and 0.6227 M total vanadium ions were determined. The determination of V(IV) and V(V) ions were also successfully carried out in artificial sample as well as Benfield sample (dilution factor, 10,000). The concentration of V(IV) and V(V) ions was 22.52 µM and 38.91 µM, respectively, giving total vanadium concentration of 0.6143 M in Benfield sample.
The characteristics of a potentiometric biosensor for the determination of permethrin in treated wood based on immobilised cells of the fungus Lentinus sajor-caju on a potentiometric transducer are reported this paper. The potentiometric biosensor was prepared by immobilisation of the fungus in alginate gel deposited on a pH-sensitive transducer employing a photocurable acrylic matrix. The biosensor gave a good response in detecting permethrin over the range of 1.0-100.0 µM. The slope of the calibration curve was 56.10 mV/decade with detection limit of 1.00 µM. The relative standard deviation for the sensor reproducibility was 4.86%. The response time of the sensor was 5 min at optimum pH 8.0 with 1.00 mg/electrode of fungus L. sajor-caju. The permethrin biosensor performance was compared with the conventional method for permethrin analysis using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and the analytical results agreed well with the HPLC method (at 95% confidence limit). There was no interference from commonly used organophosphorus pesticides such as diazinon, parathion, paraoxon, and methyl parathion.
A new cobalt(II) ion selective electrode based on palladium(II) dichloro acetylthiophene fenchone azine(I) has been developed. The best membrane composition is found to be 10:60:10:21.1 (I)/PVC/NaTPB/DOP (w/w). The electrode exhibits a Nerstian response in the range of 1.0 × 10(-1)-1.0 × 10(-6)M with a detection limit and slope of 8.0 × 10(-7)M and 29.6 ± 0.2 mV per decade respectively. The response time is within the range of 20-25s and can be used for a period of up to 4 months. The electrode developed reveals good selectivity for cobalt(II) and could be used in pH range of 3-7. The electrode has been successfully used in the determination of cobalt(II) in water samples.
A new poly(4-vinyl pyridine) (P4VP) based cadmium (Cd)-ion selective electrode (ISE) was developed. The 4-vinyl pyridine (4VP) was first polymerized electrochemically on the surface of graphite, later characterized by FTIR, SEM/EDX and then optimized as ISE for Cd. At optimal pH 6.4, slope of 27.7±0.8mVdecade(-1), linear concentration range of 1×10(-7) to 1.0×10(-1)M Cd(2+) and limit of detection (S/N=3) of 2.51×10(-8)M were obtained. The ISE was very selective towards Cd(2+), with K(pot)<1×10(-2) in the presence of the usual cations and anions in water samples. Response time and shelf life of less than 1min and 90 days, respectively, were observed. Its application was tested in various types of samples.
Recent advances in microfluidic systems, particularly in the Micro Total Analysis System (μTAS) or Lab On a Chip (LOC), drive the current analysis tools and equipment towards miniaturization, rapid at-line testing and mobility. The state-of-the-art microfluidic technology targets a wider range but smaller volumes of analytes, making the analytical procedure relatively easier and faster. This trend together with faster electronics and modern instrumentation systems will make real-time and in situ analysis a definite possibility. This review focuses on microchip capillary electrophoresis with amperometric detection (MCE-AD) for the detection of DNA and other electroactive analytes. The problems associated with the microchip design, in particular the choice of materials and the configuration of electrodes are discussed thoroughly and solutions are proposed. Significant developments in the related areas are also covered and reviewed critically.
This paper describes the preparation of and experimentation undertaken by heterogeneous chitosan membrane as ion selective electrode for glutamate ion. The linearity response was obtained in the range of 1.0x10(-5) to 1.0x10(-1)M with a detection limit of 1.0x10(-6)M. The performance of the electrode was found in the pH range of 4.0-8.0 at temperature 25+/-3 degrees C. The response time was at 5-35s and was useful for a period of more than 4 months. The selectivity values towards some anions indicates good selectivity over a number of interfering anions. No significant improvement of membrane performance over additional of plasticizers such as 2-NPOE, BEHA and DOPP. The electrodes gave sufficient Nernstian responses with the exception of membrane with 2-NPOE.
In this report, silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were successfully deposited on graphene oxide (GO) sheets to form GO-Ag nanocomposite using garlic extract and sunlight and the nanocomposite modified glassy carbon (GC) electrode was applied as an electrochemical sensor for the detection of nitrite ions. The formation of GO-Ag nanocomposite was confirmed by using UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, TEM, XRD and FTIR spectroscopy analyses. Further, TEM pictures showed a uniform distribution Ag on GO sheets with an average size of 19 nm. The nanocomposite modified electrode produced synergistic catalytic current in nitrite oxidation with a negative shift in overpotential. The limit of detection (LOD) values were found as 2.1 µM and 37 nM, respectively using linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and amperometric i-t curve techniques. The proposed sensor was stable, reproducible, sensitive and selective toward the detection nitrite and could be applied for the detection of nitrite in real water sample.
In this study, a sensitive and cost-effective electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (ErGO) on graphite reinforced carbon (GRC) was developed for the detection of lead (Pb(II)) ions present in the real-life samples. A film of graphene oxide (GO) was drop-casted on GRC and their electrochemical properties were investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV), amperometry and square wave voltammetry (SWV). Factors influencing the detection of Pb(II) ions, such as grades of GRC, constant applied cathodic potential (CACP), concentration of hydrochloric acid and drop-casting drying time were optimised. GO is irreversibly reduced in the range of -0.7 V to -1.6 V vs Ag/AgCl (3 M) in acidic condition. The results showed that the reduction behaviour of GO contributed to the high sensitivity of Pb(II) ions detection even at nanomolar level. The ErGO-GRC showed the detection limit of 0.5 nM and linear range of 3-15 nM in HCl (1 M). The developed electrode has potential to be a good candidate for the determination of Pb(II) ions in different aqueous system. The proposed method gives a good recovery rate of Pb(II) ions in real-life water samples such as tap water and river water.
A new lead(II) electrode has been constructed with poly(hydroxamic acid) (PHXA) as the active material and silicone rubber as the supporting material. The electrode gave near Nerstian response over the concentration range 4 x 10(-5)-1 x 10(-2)M lead(II). The detection limit of the electrode is approximately 4 x 10(-6)M and the electrode works well in the pH range 4.5-6.0. The response time was 50-120 sec over the whole concentration range and the electrode has a working life of at least 4 weeks. Iron(III) severely poisoned the electrode membrane. Nickel(II) and mercury(II) gave very strong interference compared to copper(II), silver(I), cobalt(II), sodium(I), potassium(I), zinc(II) and cadmium(II) which gave some or little interference. Values determined with atomic absorption (AAS) and a commercial lead(II) electrode were in good agreement with those measured with the lead(II) electrode reported here.
Three main types of PVC solvent polymeric membrane ion-selective electrodes for chloroquine are described. They are based on three ion-pairing agents namely dipicrylamine (DPA), tetraphenylborate (TPB) or tetrakis(4-chlorophenyl)borate (TCPB) with either dioctylphenyl phosphonate (DOPP) or trioctyl phosphate (TOP) solvent mediator. All electrodes exhibit Nernstian responses, fast dynamic response times and a wide useful pH range. The best all-round electrode is based on TPB and TOP plasticizing solvent mediators with a limit of detection of 7.1 x 10(-6)M and was utilized for the assay of chloroquine in tablets. Direct potentiometric determinations with either the analyte addition method or the normal calibration method gave results comparable to the official method.
In this work, we proposed a biosensor for trypsin proteolytic activity assay using immobilization of model peptides on screen-printed electrodes (SPE) modified with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) prepared by electrosynthetic method. Sensing of proteolytic activity was based on electrochemical oxidation of tyrosine residues of peptides. We designed peptides containing N-terminal cysteine residue for immobilization on an SPE, modified with gold nanoparticles, trypsin-specific cleavage site and tyrosine residue as a redox label. The peptides were immobilized on SPE by formation of chemical bonds between mercapto groups of the N-terminal cysteine residues and AuNPs. After the incubation with trypsin, time-dependent cleavage of the immobilized peptides was observed by decline in tyrosine electrochemical oxidation signal. The kinetic parameters of trypsin, such as the catalytic constant (kcat), the Michaelis constant (KM) and the catalytic efficiency (kcat/KM), toward the CGGGRYR peptide were determined as 0.33 ± 0.01 min-1, 198 ± 24 nM and 0.0016 min-1 nM-1, respectively. Using the developed biosensor, we demonstrated the possibility of analysis of trypsin specificity toward the peptides with amino acid residues disrupting proteolysis. Further, we designed the peptides with proline or glutamic acid residues after the cleavage site (CGGRPYR and CGGREYR), and trypsin had reduced activity toward both of them according to the existing knowledge of the enzyme specificity. The developed biosensor system allows one to perform a comparative analysis of the protease steady-state kinetic parameters and specificity toward model peptides with different amino acid sequences.
Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic studies have been undertaken to investigate the interactions among components in a system of hexanoyl chitosan-lithium trifluoromethanesulfonate (LiCF(3)SO(3))-diethyl carbonate (DEC)/ethylene carbonate (EC). LiCF(3)SO(3) interacts with the hexanoyl chitosan to form a hexanoyl chitosan-salt complex that results in the shifting of the N(COR)(2), CONHR and OCOR bands to lower wavenumbers. Interactions between EC and DEC with LiCF(3)SO(3) has been noted and discussed. Evidence of interaction between EC and DEC has been obtained experimentally. Studies on polymer-plasticizer spectra suggested that there is no interaction between the polymer host and plasticizers. Competition between plasticizer and polymer on associating with Li(+) ions was observed from the spectral data for gel polymer electrolytes. The obtained spectroscopic data has been correlated with the conductivity performance of hexanoyl chitosan-based polymer electrolytes.
Successful face recognition is important for social interactions and public security. Although some preliminary evidence suggests that anodal and cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) might modulate own- and other-race face identification, respectively, the findings are largely inconsistent. Hence, we examined the effect of both anodal and cathodal tDCS on the recognition of own- and other-race faces. Ninety participants first completed own- and other-race Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) as baseline measurements. Next, they received either anodal tDCS, cathodal tDCS or sham stimulation and finally they completed alternative versions of the own- and other-race CFMT. No difference in performance, in terms of accuracy and reaction time, for own- and other-race face recognition between anodal tDCS, cathodal tDCS and sham stimulation was found. Our findings cast doubt upon the efficacy of tDCS to modulate performance in face identification tasks.
We performed a comparative study to select the efficient mother wavelet (MWT) basis functions that optimally represent the signal characteristics of the electrical activity of the human brain during a working memory (WM) task recorded through electro-encephalography (EEG). Nineteen EEG electrodes were placed on the scalp following the 10-20 system. These electrodes were then grouped into five recording regions corresponding to the scalp area of the cerebral cortex. Sixty-second WM task data were recorded from ten control subjects. Forty-five MWT basis functions from orthogonal families were investigated. These functions included Daubechies (db1-db20), Symlets (sym1-sym20), and Coiflets (coif1-coif5). Using ANOVA, we determined the MWT basis functions with the most significant differences in the ability of the five scalp regions to maximize their cross-correlation with the EEG signals. The best results were obtained using "sym9" across the five scalp regions. Therefore, the most compatible MWT with the EEG signals should be selected to achieve wavelet denoising, decomposition, reconstruction, and sub-band feature extraction. This study provides a reference of the selection of efficient MWT basis functions.