Phycocyanin - carbon dots nanoprobe for the ratiometric fluorescence determination of peroxynitrite.

As a kind of reactive oxygen species, peroxynitrite is related to various diseases closely such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Constructing probes with highly specific ability and a wide linear detection range for peroxynitrite detection is crucial for understanding the pathogenesis of related diseases and optimizing treatments. In this work, we developed a novel luminescent ratiometric fluorescence nanoprobe (PC-CDs) based on carbon dots and phycocyanin. PC-CDs are constructed by amidation reaction between carbon dots and phycocyanin. The nanoprobe we obtained has a good ability of distinguishing peroxynitrite from other reactive oxygen species and interfering substances. Moreover, the linear range of the nanoprobe is 0.5-100 µM and the limit of detection is 0.5 µM when detecting peroxynitrite. In the spiked recovery experiments under phosphate buffered saline (PBS) environment, our nanoprobe has a good recovery performance and the recovery is 99% - 104%, which will be beneficial to the further development of peroxynitrite testing and the research progress of related diseases. Finally, we discuss the quenching mechanism of peroxynitrite for nanoprobe, and found that there is the combination of dynamic and static quenching in the quenching process.

Fast dopamine detection based on evanescent wave detection platform.

A compact evanescent wave detection platform (EWDP) is developed for the detection of fluorescence gold nanoclusters. The EWDP employs a simple optical system and a Si-based photodetector SOP-1000 assembly to improve the optical efficiency and detection sensitivity. A microfluidic sample cell is also used to decrease the amount of analyte to 200 µL (The volume of sample cell is really about 30 µL). On this basis, we design a strategy for detecting dopamine (DA) based on the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) quenching mechanism. By introduction of tyrosinase (TYR) during the detection, the testing time is shortened to 1 min. The fluorescence emission signal decreased dramatically and the quenching ratio (F0-F)/F0 is linearly related to the concentration of DA in the range of 0.03-60 µM with a detection limit of 0.03 µM. Additionally, this detection platform has potential applications for DA fast detection in the microsamples.

Technical note: developmental validation of a novel 41-plex Y-STR system for the direct amplification of reference samples.

The SureID® PathFinder Plus is a new 6-dye, 41-plex Y-STR system that includes the 17 loci from the Yfiler® kit (DYS19, DYS385a/b, DYS389I/II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635, and Y-GATA-H4) plus 14 rapidly mutating Y-STR loci (DYS449, DYS481, DYS518, DYS527a/b, DYS533, DYS549, DYS570, DYS576, DYS627, DYF387S1a/b, and DYF404S1), and 10 low-medium mutation loci (DYS388, DYS444, DYS447, DYS460, DYS522, DYS557, DYS593, DYS596, DYS643, and DYS645). The inclusion of the 14 rapidly mutating Y-STR loci improves the discrimination of related individuals. Conversely, the 10 low-medium mutation loci are suitable not only for familial searching but also for providing a higher refinement in the construction of Y chromosome phylogenetic relationships among lineages. The 41-plex Y-STR system is designed for direct amplification of reference samples, such as blood samples on an FTA® Card, gauze, tissue, or cotton substrates as well as hair root or buccal samples on swabs. We performed developmental validation work including accuracy, stability, stutter precision, species specificity, sensitivity, PCR inhibitors, reproducibility, parallel testing of the system, and suitability for use on DNA mixtures. In addition, mutations of the loci were analyzed by 754 DNA-confirmed father-son pairs. The results demonstrate that this kit, developed in-house, is time-efficient, accurate, reliable, and highly informative for forensic database, familial searching, and distinguishing related males.

Static Ice Pressure Measuring System Based on Fiber Loop Ring-Down Spectroscopy and FPGA.

Hydraulic engineering built in the cold region, such as reservoirs and hydropower stations, is often threatened by static ice pressure from nature. Therefore, it is of vital significance to research the pressure variation in the growth and melting processes of the ice layer for the design and protection of hydraulic structures in cold regions. This paper introduces an optical fiber sensor system based on the fiber loop ring-down spectroscopy technology and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) pulse modulation technology. An electro-optic modulation scheme that relied on FPGA to generate optical pulses with adjustable pulse width and period is proposed, which is more suitable for the in-situ observation. In addition, the temperature stability and repeatability of the system are also discussed. This system was applied to the real-time detection of static ice pressure on the sidewall and bottom of the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe during the ice growth and melting processes. The results indicate that the system has favorable stability and sensitivity, and the relationship obtained between the static ice pressure and temperature could provide some references for the field application in the future.

Forensic and phylogenetic analyses among three Yi populations in Southwest China with 27 Y chromosomal STR loci.

We have analyzed the Y chromosome haplotypes of 510 non-related Yi males grouped in three Chinese provinces (Guizhou, Sichuan, and Yunnan) using the Yfiler® Plus Kit. A total of 484 haplotypes were detected, out of which 460 were unique. The observed haplotype diversity and discrimination capacity were 0.9998 and 0.9490, respectively. To investigate the genetic relationship of the studied population, multidimensional scaling (MDS) plot and neighbor-joining (NJ) tree phylogenetic analyses were constructed which demonstrated that the Y chromosome lineage among the Yi ethnicity was different.

A New Belief Entropy to Measure Uncertainty of Basic Probability Assignments Based on Belief Function and Plausibility Function.

How to measure the uncertainty of the basic probability assignment (BPA) function is an open issue in Dempster-Shafer (D-S) theory. The main work of this paper is to propose a new belief entropy, which is mainly used to measure the uncertainty of BPA. The proposed belief entropy is based on Deng entropy and probability interval consisting of lower and upper probabilities. In addition, under certain conditions, it can be transformed into Shannon entropy. Numerical examples are used to illustrate the efficiency of the new belief entropy in measurement uncertainty.

Population genetics of 17 Y-STR loci in a large Chinese Han population from Zhejiang Province, Eastern China.

Seventeen Y-STRs (DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385a, DYS385b, DYS438, DYS439, DYS437, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635 and YGATAH4) were analyzed for 4451 Chinese Han unrelated males from Zhejiang Province, Eastern China, with the AmpFlSTR Yfiler™ PCR Amplification kit. A total of 3389 different haplotypes was identified, of which 2877 were unique and 512 repeatedly found among different individuals. The overall haplotype diversity (HD) and discrimination capacity (DC) were 0.999696 and 0.761402, respectively. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) tests demonstrated that genetic distance between Zhejiang Han and most Chinese Han populations is closer than that between Zhejiang Han and non-Han populations. This study provides information for the application of Y-chromosomal STRs to forensic identification, indicating that the extended genotyping of Y-STRs is needed for forensic practice.