A cross-reactive plasmonic sensing array for drinking water assessment.

The continuous monitoring of remote drinking water purification systems is a global challenge with direct consequences for human and environmental health. Here, we utilise a "nano-tastebud" sensor comprised of eight chemically-tailored plasmonic metasurfaces, for testing the composition of drinking water. Through undertaking a full chemometric analysis of the water samples and likely contaminants we were able to optimise the sensor specification to create an array of suitable tastebuds. By generating a unique set of optical responses for each water sample, we show that the array-based sensor can differentiate between untreated influent and treated effluent water with over 95% accuracy in flow and can detect compositional changes in distributed modified tap water. Once fully developed, this system could be integrated into water treatment facilities and distribution systems to monitor for changes in water composition.

Fluorous-Directed Assembly of DNA Origami Nanostructures.

An orthogonal, noncovalent approach to direct the assembly of higher-order DNA origami nanostructures is described. By incorporating perfluorinated tags into the edges of DNA origami tiles we control their hierarchical assembly via fluorous-directed recognition. When we combine this approach with Watson-Crick base-pairing we form discrete dimeric constructs in significantly higher yield (8x) than when either molecular recognition method is used in isolation. This integrated "catch-and-latch" approach, which combines the strength and mobility of the fluorous effect with the specificity of base-pairing, provides an additional toolset for DNA nanotechnology, one that enables increased assembly efficiency while requiring significantly fewer DNA sequences. As a result, our integration of fluorous-directed assembly into origami systems represents a cheap, atom-efficient means to produce discrete superstructures.

Pseudobasophilia and the Advia 120.

Pseudobasophilia is an analyzer phenomenon whereby abnormal cells in the peripheral blood are counted as basophils. Previously described on the Technicon H-series hematology analyzers, pseudobasophilia is also a technical consideration on the Advia 120. Sometimes seen as a hindrance to inexperienced users, an understanding of the basophil (baso) method and baso cytogram produced by the Advia 120 can be utilized to alert the laboratory scientist and clinician to the possible presence of an abnormal cell population in the peripheral blood. Cytogram analysis should form part of routine laboratory practice and the present annotation aims to offer some assistance to users of the Advia 120 and Advia 2120.