Effects of Methyl Acetate as a Co-Solvent in Carbonate-Based Electrolytes for Improved Lithium Metal Batteries.

In lithium metal batteries (LMBs), electrolytes composed of salts and organic solvents play a significant role in transporting Li+ ions and creating the surface film on Li-metal anodes. Herein, the effect of methyl acetate (MA) as a co-solvent is reported, which enables the facilitated Li+ transport and formation of a robust solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the Li-metal anode. The symmetrical Li//Li cell tests show remarkable cycle stability of MA-based electrolytes at 3 mA/cm2 without obvious voltage fluctuation. At 5 mA/cm2, the Li//Li cells in MA-based electrolytes can still run up to 110 h with lower overpotential, compared to the cell cycled with MA-free electrolytes. Furthermore, the LMBs consisting of the Li anode and LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05O2 (NCA) cathode deliver the high capacity (∼200 mA h/g), good cycling stability up to 300 cycles, excellent rate capability (10 C), and low self-discharging rates (8.5%) with MA-based electrolytes. Especially, the capacity of the Li//NCA cells with MA30 electrolytes at -35 °C is as high as 144 mA h/g, which is higher than that of the cells in MA-free electrolytes. It demonstrates that the MA is beneficial for the LMB operation at high rate and low temperature.

Function Analysis of the Euclidean Distance between Probability Distributions.

Minimization of the Euclidean distance between output distribution and Dirac delta functions as a performance criterion is known to match the distribution of system output with delta functions. In the analysis of the algorithm developed based on that criterion and recursive gradient estimation, it is revealed in this paper that the minimization process of the cost function has two gradients with different functions; one that forces spreading of output samples and the other one that compels output samples to move close to symbol points. For investigation the two functions, each gradient is controlled separately through individual normalization of each gradient with their related input. From the analysis and experimental results, it is verified that one gradient is associated with the role of accelerating initial convergence speed by spreading output samples and the other gradient is related with lowering the minimum mean squared error (MSE) by pulling error samples close together.

Human tear analysis with miniaturized multiplex cytokine assay on "wall-less" 96-well plate.

PURPOSE: Tears are a particularly limited body fluid and commonly used in the diagnosis of patients who have ocular diseases. A popular method for analysis of ocular inflammation in tears uses Luminex® bead multiplex technology to generate valuable multiple cytokine profile outputs with 25-50 µl tear sample volume. We propose a method for measuring tear cytokines with 5 µl tear sample volume and 80% reduced Luminex reagents compared to previous protocols. METHODS: Using human tears pooled from 1,000 participants, the DA-Bead-based method running at 5-20 µl volume, using manual pipetting, in conjunction with a magnetic Luminex cytokine (four-plex) panel assay in a 96-well format was performed and validated for tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-1ß, and IL-6. RESULTS: Upon use of the DA-Bead method at the 5 µl volume with cytokine standards, the concentrations of each of the four cytokines were found to be linear over a range of 3.5-4 log pg/ml with an intra-assay coefficient of variation (CV) ≤5%, inter-assay %CV ≤10%, and accuracy within the 70-130% range. Upon use of a 5 µl healthy pooled tear sample, cytokine concentrations were detected with a precision intra-assay %CV ˂ 20% for IL-6, IFN-γ, or TNF-α or 30.37% with IL-1ß. The inter-assay %CV with tears was ≤20.84% for all cytokines. Tear volumes run at 5 µl on DA-Bead produced a similar cytokine expression profile at a 1-month interval and were highly correlated with the larger 10 µl-based tear sample volume cytokine profile with R(2) = 0.98. CONCLUSIONS: DA-Bead assay is highly sensitive and reproducible and has a performance profile that is potentially suitable for use in standard clinical scenarios. Considering the use of as little as 5 µl of assay beads and 5 µl sample, this is also likely to reduce the assay cost significantly and ease diagnosis of patients with ocular diseases.

Miniaturization of mitotic index cell-based assay using "wall-less" plate technology.

The use of microscopic imaging for the accurate assessment of cells in mitosis is hampered by the round morphology of mitotic cells, which renders them poorly adherent and highly susceptible to loss during the washing stage of cell-based assays. Here, to circumvent these limitations, we make use of DropArray, a recent technology that allows high retention of weakly adherent cells and suspension cells. DropArray offers the competitive advantage of maintaining the classic high throughput format of microtiter plates while reducing classic microwell volume by up to 90% by using a drop format. Here, we present a mitotic index cell-based assay using the mitosis marker phospho histone H3 at serine 10 on a DropArray 384-well plate format. Dose-response curve analysis of the mitotic index assay with an antimitotic drug (docetaxel) on DropArray is presented that shows an effective dosage compared to previous established results similar to those obtained with conventional microtiter plates. The mitotic index assay with DropArray showed a Z-factor >0.6. Our results validate DropArray as a suitable platform for high throughput screening for compounds affecting mitosis or the cell cycle.

Micro-volume wall-less immunoassays using patterned planar plates.

Miniaturization of immunoassays has numerous potential advantages over traditional ELISAs. Here we present a novel approach using patterned planar plates (PPPs). These 'wall-less' plates consist of a 16 × 24 array of 2 mm diameter hydrophilic regions surrounded by a hydrophobic polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coating. Assays are performed by adding 2 µL droplets to the hydrophilic areas. These droplets are overlaid with an immiscible mixture of perfluorocarbon liquid (PFCL) that essentially eliminates evaporation. During wash steps, a thin film of PFCL covers the hydrophobic coating and prevents its wetting by wash buffer; as a result, the hydrophilic wells remain intact and inter-well cross-contamination is prevented. We compared the performance of three immunoassays using PPPs versus traditional 384-well ELISA plates. These included assays for soluble FcRH5 in human serum, SDF-1 in mouse serum, and human IgG in mouse plasma. The results show that the PPP assays were closely comparable to the ELISAs in terms of sensitivity, linearity of dilution, and sample quantitation. Moreover, the PPP assays were rapid to perform, easily adapted from ELISA protocols, and used 10- to 50-fold less sample and reagent volume as compared to 384- or 96-well plate ELISAs. As an additional advantage, PPPs conform to established microplate dimensional standards making them compatible with pre-existing equipment and workflows. PPPs therefore represent an attractive and broadly applicable approach to flexible miniaturization of plate-based immunochemical assays.

A case report of carbon monoxide poisoning induced cardiomyopathy complicated with left ventricular thrombus.

The heart and the brain, most oxygen-dependent organs, may be severely affected after carbon monoxide (CO) exposure. CO induced cardiotoxicity may occur as a consequence of moderate to severe CO poisoning, including angina attack, myocardial infarct, arrhythmias, and heart failure. We present a rare case of CO poisoning induced cardiomyopathy with left ventricular (LV) thrombus. It is thought that LV thrombus may have been caused severely decreased LV function with dyskinesis. After short-term anticoagulant therapy, echocardiography findings revealed complete recovery of LV dyskinesis and resolution of LV thrombus.

Recyclable hydrophilic-hydrophobic micropatterns on glass for microarray applications.

A novel method for fabricating recyclable hydrophilic-hydrophobic micropatterns on glass chips is presented. TiOx patterns (100-2000 microm) were sputtered on glass chips via a through-hole mask. The patterned chips were then vapor-coated with fluoroalkylsilane, for example, (heptadecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrodecyl)triethoxysilane (FTES) to form a hydrophobic coating layer. The fluoroalkyl chain of FTES film on TiOx patterns was photocleaved under UV irradiation, exposing the fresh hydrophilic TiOx patterns. The resulting chip could be used multiple times by repeating the coating and photocleaving processes with negligible deterioration of the hydrophobic FTES film coated on glass. If desired, bare glass patterns could also be generated by removing the TiOx patterns with KOH. The patterned glass chips have been successfully used for microarray fabrication.