Assistance devide

Currently, optical sensors based on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been attracting significant interest. MIP sensing relies on the combination of the MIP's selective capability, which is conveyed to the polymeric material by a template-assisted synthesis, with optical techniques that offer exquisite sensitivity. In this work, we devised an MIP nanoparticle optical sensor for the ultralow detection of serum albumin through time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. The Fluo-nanoMIPs (∅~120 nm) were synthetized using fluorescein-O-methacrylate (0...

(1) Background: Guidelines on vaginal breech delivery require birth weight restrictions and neglect the impact of pelvic measurements despite contradicting evidence. There is a great need for more evidence on delivery outcome predicting factors for patients counselling. (2) Methods: We performed a prospective cohort study on 748 primiparous women intending vaginal breech birth and analyzed combined influence of fetal birth weight (BW) and the obstetric conjugate (conjugate vera obstetrica, CVO) on delivery outcome...

Nanosized biomimetics prepared by the strategy of molecular imprinting, that is, the stamping of recognition sites by means of a template-assisted synthesis, are demonstrating potential as plastic antibodies in medicine, proving effective for cell imaging and targeted therapies. Most molecularly imprinted nanoparticles (MIP-NPs) are currently made of soft matter, such as polyacrylamide and derivatives. Yet, MIP-NPs biocompatibility is crucial for their effective translation into clinical uses. Here, we propose the original idea to synthesize fully biocompatible molecularly imprinted nanoparticles starting from the natural polymer silk fibroin (MIP SF-NPs), which is nontoxic and highly biocompatible...

Hazelnut ( Corylus avellana L.) is one of the most appreciated nut crops, which is motivating the cultivation outside its historical production areas. Despite that, there is still limited knowledge about the floral biology of the species and its developmental fruiting stages under different environments. Adverse climatic conditions can threaten the pollination process and fruit development. In South Africa, the deciduous fruit industry identified the net shading as a tool to mitigate the effects of unfavorable abiotic events...

The introduction of nanoparticles (NPs) into the breath-figure-templated self-assembly (BFTSA) process is an increasingly common method to selectively decorate a surface porous structure. In the field of prosthetic devices, besides controlling the morphology and roughness of the structure, NPs can enhance the osteointegration mechanism because of their specific ion release. Among the most widely used NPs, there are silica and hydroxyapatite (HAp). In this work, we propose a novel one-stage method to fabricate NP-decorated surface porous structures that are suitable for prosthetic coating applications...

Soft molecularly imprinted nanogels (nanoMIPs), selective for human transferrin (HTR), were prepared via a template assisted synthesis. Owing to their soft matter, the nanoMIPs were observed to deform at binding to HTR: while no relevant changes were observed in the hydrodynamic sizes of HTR-free compared to HTR-loaded nanoMIPs, the HTR binding resulted in a significant increment of the nanoMIP stiffness, with the mean Young's modulus measured by AFM passing from 17 ± 6 kPa to 56 ± 18 kPa. When coupled to a plastic optical fibre (POF) plasmonic platform, the analyte-induced nanoMIP-deformations amplified the resonance shift, enabling to attain ultra-low sensitivities (LOD = 1...

Bacteria commonly exhibit a high degree of cellular organization and polarity, which affects many vital processes such as replication, cell division and motility. In Shewanella and other bacteria, HubP is a polar marker protein, which is involved in proper chromosome segregation, placement of the chemotaxis system and various aspects of pili- and flagella-mediated motility. Here we show that HubP also recruits a transmembrane multi-domain protein, PdeB, to the flagellated cell pole. PdeB is an active phosphodiesterase and degrades the second messenger c-di-GMP...

Patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) must stand at crossroads when their disease advances causing respiratory failure; they have to decide whether or not to use tracheal intermittent positive pressure ventilation (TIPPV). Because the decision may devide their lives into alive or dead, appropriate information should be provided to the patients and their family before they make the decision. The information they would require include not only on medical care but also on social or economical issues if they should be on ventilator dependent life...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the advantage and disadvantage of laser-assisted liposuction compared with conventional liposuction. METHODS: Ten swines were devided into three groups, the laser liposuction group, conventional liposuction group and control group. We compared the two surgical groups with the following aspects: ecchymosi, edema, lipocrit study, hemoglobin studies and blood biochemical changes, etc. RESULTS: There is a benefit of laser-assisted liposuction in the following aspects such as ecchymosi, edema, lipocrit and postoperative complications...

In this paper, the design of a multi-processor for digital color ultrasonic medical imaging system is discussed. It is a shared memory multiprocessor of MIMD architecture. The whole system is devided into several parts according to the complexity of the signal-processing, and each part is allocated a certain duties. Besides, the solving method of multiprocessor's bus conflicting is discussed and an architecture block diagram is given in the paper.