A Novel Model for Protein Immobilization on Microspheres

The immobilization of proteins, especially receptor proteins commonly used in high through-put screening of drugs (HTS), have received great attention in recent years. There are many successful isothermal models for describing the adsorption of protein onto solid surface, such as Langmuir model, Bi-Langmuir model, Fowler model, Freundlich model, Freundlich-Langmuir model and Tekmin model etc. In all these models, Langmuir model was the most favorable one model accepted by many researchers, but the experimental results showed that it was not entirely fit to all adsorption behaviors. So new models were required for describing protein adsorption onto microspheres in different conditions.In our research, a novel isothermal model, including Langmuir and other adsorbing behaviors was presented basing on the holding degree of surface active sites and the interaction styles of protein immobilization. In Langmuir model, the adsorbing amount of protein was described as [PS] =Km[P]/1 + K[P], where [PS] was the concentration of adsorbed protein, [P] was the concentration of freeprotein at equilibrium state, and Km and K was constant. According to the interactions of protein and ligands, there were three patterns in the interactions of protein and ligands. On the similar assumption that the interaction of protein and microspheres were three styles, and based on the definition of the holding degree of surface active sites (Y), three adsorption behaviors could be described as Y K[ P ]φ/ K[P]φ+1 or ln K + φ ln[P] =ln(Y/1-Y) in which [P] was the concentration of free protein at equilibrium state, and φ and K was constant. Different scale of φ presented different adsorption behaviors, especially when φ was 1, the adsorption behavior was Langmuir adsorbing model. Figure I indicated the different adsorbing results in different adsorption behaviors (φ＞1, φ＜1,and φ=1).     

Application of High Pressure-DTA for High Pressure-liquid Phase Epitaxy of Doped Mercury and Thallium HTS Formations

The fabrication method of superconducting thin films of compositions HgBa₂Ca₂Cu₃O_8+δ (Hg-1223) and Tl₂Ba₂CuO_y (2201) on single-crystalline SrTiO₃ and LaAlO₃ substrates is reported. The highest obtained T _c was 134 K and J _c over 10⁶ A cm^–2 at 77 K. High pressure DTA(HP-DTA) was applied to grow mercury- and thallium-based high-temperature superconducting crystals and thin films, to identify melting points of particular phases within these oxide systems and determine suitable processing conditions. The DTA system operates at the: maximum temperature of 1200°C, volume up to 5 cm³, working pressure up to 1.5 GPa and at a working atmosphere — inert gas with up to 25% oxygen. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Characterization of OV-1/FFAP-mixture coated glass capillary columns used for the separation of free fatty acids

As an alternative to acid pretreated UCON and FFAP capillaries for the analysis of wide-boiling free fatty acid mixtures, OV-1 : FFAP phase mixtures were used on high-temperature silylated inert glass capillary columns. The HETP-carrier gas velocity curves, peak asymmetry factors, coating efficiency, gas phase and stationary phase contributions to the mass transfer resistance were determined for various OV-1 : FFAP ratios. Mixed-phase capillaries showed optimum performance at a 2 : 1 OV-1 : FFAP ratio. The thermal and long-term stability of OV-1-stabilized FFAP columns surpassed those of the UCON and pure FFAP reference column used.     

The effect of calcination conditions on the superconducting properties of Y−Ba−Cu−O powders

Calcination conditions of the precursor powders, i.e. temperature, type of atmosphere and duration, were determined with a view to obtain superconducting powders with the most advantageous physico-chemical properties. Investigated were powders in the Y?Ba?Cu?O system prepared by the sol-gel method. Thermogravimetric examinations of the powders have revealed that the decomposition kinetics of BaCO₃ determines the formation rate of the superconducting YBa₂Cu₃O_7?x (‘123’) phase. It follows from the decomposition kinetics of BaCO₃ that the process is the most intensive in argon, whereas in static air and oxygen it is the slowest. The phase composition analysis (XRD) and low-temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements of the calcinated powders, confirm the above mentioned changes in the decomposition kinetics. The reaction of barium carbonate can be completed if the calcination process is conducted at the temperature of 850°C for 25 h, yielding easily sinterable powders for obtaining single-phase superconducting bulk samples with advantageous functional parameters.     

实用化超导材料研究进展与展望

超导技术是21世纪具有重大经济和战略意义的高新技术,在国民经济诸多领域具有广阔的应用前景,如在超导弱电应用中的超导量子干涉器、滤波器;在超导强电应用中的电缆、限流器、电机、储能系统、变压器、磁体技术、医疗核磁共振成像、高能物理实验和高速交通输运等。实用化超导材料是超导技术发展的基础。目前,国际上发现的实用化超导材料主要有低温超导线材、铋系高温超导带材、YBCO涂层导体、MgB₂线带材以及新型铁基超导线带材。文章在简要介绍超导材料发展历程的基础上,重点综述了上述实用化超导材料制备及加工、性能和应用方面的最新研究进展,并对相关领域存在的问题及今后的发展作出展望。     

Analysis of Static Molecular Gradients in a High-Throughput Drug Screening Microfluidic Assay

In this study, we thoroughly analyzed molecular gradient generation, its stability over time, and linearity in our high-throughput drug screening microfluidic assay (HTS). These parameters greatly affect the precision and accuracy of the device’s analytical protocol. As part of the research, we developed a mathematical model of dependence of the concentration profile on the initial concentrations of active substances in reservoirs and the number of tilts, as well as the dependence of the active substance concentration profiles in the culture chambers on the concentration profile of the reference dye in the indicator chamber. The mean concentration prediction error of the proposed equations ranged from 1.4% to 2.4% for the optimized parameters of the procedure and did not increase with the incubation time. The concentration profile linearity index, Pearson’s correlation coefficient reached −0.997 for 25 device tilts. The observed time stability of the profiles was very good. The mean difference between the concentration profile after 5 days of incubation and the baseline profile was only 7.0%. The newly created mathematical relationships became part of the new HTS biochip operating protocols, which are detailed in the article.     

高气压反射式高能电子衍射仪监控脉冲激光外延氧化物薄膜

在超高真空分子束外延（MBE）生长技术中，反射式高能电子衍射仪（RHEED）能实时显示半导体和金属外延生长过程，给出薄膜表面结构和平整度的信息，成为MBE必备的原位表面分 析仪.为了研究氧化物薄膜如高温超导（YBa₂Cu₃O₇） 、铁电薄膜（Sr_1-xBa_x TiO₃）及它们的同质和异质外延结构的生长机理，获得高质量的符合各种应用 需要的氧化 物多层薄膜结构，在常规的制备氧化 关键词： 高温超导薄膜 RHEED     

Development of chromium-free iron-based catalysts for high-temperature water-gas shift reaction

Chromium-free iron-based catalysts were prepared and studied in regard to their performance in the high-temperature water-gas shift reaction (HTS). The effects of various catalyst preparation variables (i.e., Fe/promoter ratio, pH of precipitation medium, calcination and reduction temperatures) and preparation methods were investigated. Aluminum is a potential chromium replacement in HTS catalysts. Further improvement in WGS activity of Fe–Al catalysts can be achieved by the addition of small amounts of copper or cobalt. Catalysts were characterized using BET surface area measurements, temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS). As a textural promoter, aluminum and chromium prevent the sintering of iron oxides and stabilize magnetite phase by retarding its further reduction to FeO and metallic Fe. The promotional effect of Cu is found to be strongly dependent on the preparation method.     

Preparation of Micron-size Functional Fluorescent Microspheres

As a kind of special functional microspheres, fluorescent polymer microspheres could be used in cell label and separation, blood flow assay, flow cytometer marking, chemical reaction assay,and in analyst of the transform and diffusion of particles in soil 1. However, one of the most important applications of fluorescent microspheres is in the high-throughput screening of drugs (HTS) 2. Through affinity interaction, radioactive ligands (latent drugs) are bound to fluorescent microspheres covered by receptor, and luminescence is produced by radioactivity, so ligands can be assayed and screened.In this study, we developed a technique for preparing micron-size fluorescent microspheres with different functional groups. The methods included the synthesis of micron-size polystyrene microspheres through the dispersion polymerization of styrene in different media such as ethanol,ethanol-water, and isopropanol; the functional polystyrene microspheres were prepared by introduction of functional monomers into the reaction system of styrene; the functional fluorescent microspheres were obtained by the way of dying functional microspheres in the fluorescent material's ethanol solvent.The average diameter of microspheres was in the range of 1～10 μm, and the distribution was normal distribution. The functional groups included -OH, -CHO, -COOH, -CONH2, and SO3H. The absorbing spectrum and exciting spectrum were tested, the results showed that the maximal absorbance of fluorescent microsphere was near 306.5 nm, and its maximal excitation was near 362 nm. The excitation spectrum of fluorescent material (DPO) and fluorescent microspheres were shown in figure 1, and it indicated that the developed fluorescent microspheres showed the same excitation behavior like DPO, which related to the fluorescent microspheres had stable luminescence property.     

大功率高温超导滤波器的设计与功率测试

本文在双面YBCO高温超导薄膜上设计并制备了两节大功率超导滤波器,根据滤波器功率承载能力与最大电流密度之间的关系,减小电流密度和分散电流密度的分布是提高功率承载能力的关键.本文采用增加超导谐振器尺寸、优化几何结构及改进馈线耦合方式的方法,设计了两节2 GHz频段梭型谐振器结构的滤波器.设计及测量结果显示了馈线结构及谐振器几何尺寸优化程度对超导滤波器功率承载能力有不同程度的影响,说明了在大功率超导滤波器设计中应选用无结点间隙耦合式馈线以抑制电流密度的聚集.采用优化后的谐振器结构制备的梭型两节超导滤波器经测试功率承载能力为2 W.超导滤波器的尺寸为25×12 mm LaAlO3基片,中心频率2.022 GHz,相对带宽为2.4%.同时给出了超导滤波器功率测试的结构和方法.