Preparation and Release Properties of Sol-Gel Encapsulated Proteins

A glycoprotein, bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as a model compound for encapsulation in a sol-gel matrix. Dried gels were ground into powders and meshed to achieve particle sizes less than 250 μm. The products were washed with phosphate buffer. Capillary electrophoresis was used to evaluate the encapsulation efficiency and the kinetic properties of protein release. Several parameters, including the pH and composition of the background electrolyte, were investigated in an effort to eliminate the matrix effect from the determination of release kinetics. Complete separation of the silica matrix from BSA was using phosphate buffer, an applied voltage of 15 kV, and detection at 278 nm. Kinetic studies indicated that most of the BSA was released in the first 5 h. The rate of BSA release gradually decreased, and some BSA after 25 h. These results indicated that dilute potassium phosphate buffer could accelerate protein release, but this was not observed for the concentrations greater than 50 mM. We believe the developed method has potential utility in other systems for in vitro matrix dissolution and drug release studies.

Submonolayer biolasers for ultrasensitive biomarker detection

Biomarker detection is key to identifying health risks.However,designing sensitive and single-use biosensors for early diagnosis remains a major challenge.Here,we report submonolayer lasers on optical fibers as ultrasensitive and disposable biosensors.Telecom optical fibers serve as distributed optical microcavities with high Q-factor,great repeatability,and ultralow cost,which enables whispering-gallery laser emission to detect biomarkers.It is found that the sensing performance strongly depends on the number of gain molecules.The submonolayer lasers obtained a six-order-of-magnitude improvement in the lower limit of detection(LOD)when compared to saturated monolayer lasers.We further achieve an ultrasensitive immunoassay for a Parkinson's disease biomarker,alpha-synuclein(α-syn),with a lower LOD of 0.32 pM in serum,which is three orders of magnitude lower than theα-syn concentration in the serum of Parkinson's disease patients.Our demonstration of submonolayer biolaser offers great potentials in high-throughput clinical diagnosis with ultimate sensitivity.

Magnetic Bead Manipulation in Microfluidic Chips for Biological Application

Magnetic beads manipulation in microfluidic chips is a promising research field for biological application,especially in the detection of biological targets.In this review,we intend to present a thorough and indepth overview of recent magnetic beads manipulation in microfluidic chips and its biological application.First,we introduce the mechanism of magnetic manipulation in microfluidic chip,including force analysis,particle properties,and surface modification.Then,we compare some existing methods of magnetic manipulation in microfluidic chip and list their biological application.Besides,the suggestions and outlook for future developments in the magnetic manipulation system are also discussed and summarized.

High-Q, low-mode-volume microsphere-integrated Fabry–Perot cavity for optofluidic lasing applications

We develop a hybrid optofluidic microcavity by placing a microsphere with a diameter ranging from 1 to 4 μm in liquid-filled plano-plano Fabry–Perot(FP) cavities, which can provide an extremely low effective mode volume down to 0.3–5.1 μm^3 while maintaining a high Q-factor up to 1 × 10~4–5 × 10~4 and a finesse of ~2000. Compared to the pure plano-plano FP cavities that are known to suffer from the lack of mode confinement, diffraction, and geometrical walk-off losses as well as being highly susceptible to mirror misalignment, our microsphere-integrated FP(MIFP) cavities show strong optical confinement in the lateral direction with a tight mode radius of only 0.4–0.9 μm and high tolerance to mirror misalignment as large as 2°. With the microsphere serving as a waveguide, the MIFP is advantageous over a fiber-sandwiched FP cavity due to the open-cavity design for analytes/liquids to interact strongly with the resonant mode, the ease of assembly, and the possibility to replace the microsphere. In this work, the main characteristics of the MIFP, including Q-factor, finesse, effective mode radius and volume, and their dependence on the surrounding medium's refractive index, mirror spacing, microsphere position inside the FP cavity, and mirror misalignment, are systematically investigated using a finite-element method.Then, by inserting dye-doped polystyrene microspheres of various sizes into the FP cavity filled with water, we experimentally realize single-mode MIFP optofluidic lasers that have a lasing threshold as low as a few microjoules per square millimeter and a lasing spot radius of only ~0.5 μm. Our results suggest that the MIFP cavities provide a promising technology platform for novel photonic devices and biological/chemical detection with ultra-small detection volumes.

A case of mimicking angioedema： chin silicone granulomatous reaction spreading all over the face after receiving liquid silicone injection forty years previously

Liquid injectable silicone has been used for soft tissue augmentation for five decades. Many complications following liquid silicone injection have been reported. To diagnose and manage silicone granuloma remains difficult. Silicone granuloma must be diagnosed with the history of liquid silicone injection and the histology of tissue biopsy. We presented a case of granulomatous reaction after the injection of liquid silicone for chin augmentation forty years ago, causing total facial swelling, which mimicking angioedema initially. We administered methylprednisolone to the patient. Initial response to methylprednisolone was favorable.

Quantum deleting and cloning in a pseudo-unitary system

In conventional quantum mechanics,quantum no-deleting and no-cloning theorems indicate that two different and nonorthogonal states cannot be perfectly and deterministically deleted and cloned,respectively.Here,we investigate the quantum deleting and cloning in a pseudo-unitary system.We first present a pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian with real eigenvalues in a two-qubit system.By using the pseudo-unitary operators generated from this pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian,we show that it is possible to delete and clone a class of two different and nonorthogonal states,and it can be generalized to arbitrary two different and nonorthogonal pure qubit states.Furthermore,state discrimination,which is strongly related to quantum no-cloning theorem,is also discussed.Last but not least,we simulate the pseudo-unitary operators in conventional quantum mechanics with post-selection,and obtain the success probability of simulations.Pseudo-unitary operators are implemented with a limited efficiency due to the post-selections.Thus,the success probabilities of deleting and cloning in the simulation by conventional quantum mechanics are less than unity,which maintain the quantum no-deleting and no-cloning theorems.

Dynamic photonic barcodes for molecular detection based on cavity-enhanced energy transfer

Optical barcodes have demonstrated a great potential in multiplexed bioassays and cell tracking for their distinctive spectral fingerprints.The vast majority of optical barcodes were designed to identify a specific target by fluorescence emission spectra,without being able to characterize dynamic changes in response to analytes through time.To overcome these limitations,the concept of the bioresponsive dynamic photonic barcode was proposed by exploiting interfacial energy transfer between a microdroplet cavity and binding molecules.Whispering-gallery modes resulting from cavity-enhanced energy transfer were therefore converted into photonic barcodes to identify binding activities,in which more than trillions of distinctive barcodes could be generated by a single droplet.Dynamic spectral barcoding was achieved by a significant improvement in terms of signal-to-noise ratio upon binding to target molecules.Theoretical studies and experiments were conducted to elucidate the effect of different cavity sizes and analyte concentrations.Timeresolved fluorescence lifetime was implemented to investigate the role of radiative and non-radiative energy transfer.Finally,microdroplet photonic barcodes were employed in biodetection to exhibit great potential in fulfilling biomedical applications.

Hemorrhagic stroke caused by moyamoya disease in a patient with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

To the Editor:Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy(HCM)has an increased risk of developing ischemic stroke(5%–10%in unselected HCMpatients),whereas hemorrhagic stroke only accounts for no more than 0.6%of HCM patients.[1]We present a rare case of HCM complicated with hemorrhagic stroke that caused by underlying moyamoya disease.