The manipulation of fluids in channels with dimensions of tens of micrometres--microfluidics--has emerged as a distinct new field. Microfluidics has the potential to influence subject areas from chemical synthesis and biological analysis to optics and information technology. But the field is still at an early stage of development. Even as the basic science and technological demonstrations develop, other problems must be addressed: choosing and focusing on initial applications, and developing strategies to complete the cycle of development, including commercialization. The solutions to these problems will require imagination and ingenuity.

The origins and the future of microfluidics

Nanoparticles containing magnetic materials, such as magnetite (Fe3O4), are particularly useful for imaging and separation techniques. As these nanoparticles are generally considered to be biologically and chemically inert, they are typically coated with metal catalysts, antibodies or enzymes to increase their functionality as separation agents. Here, we report that magnetite nanoparticles in fact possess an intrinsic enzyme mimetic activity similar to that found in natural peroxidases, which are widely used to oxidize organic substrates in the treatment of wastewater or as detection tools. Based on this finding, we have developed a novel immunoassay in which antibody-modified magnetite nanoparticles provide three functions: capture, separation and detection. The stability, ease of production and versatility of these nanoparticles makes them a powerful tool for a wide range of potential applications in medicine, biotechnology and environmental chemistry.

Intrinsic peroxidase-like activity of ferromagnetic nanoparticles

http://lovely-physics.persiangig.com/document/DLLME.pdf

Determination of organic compounds in water using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction

For decades, studies of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) have challenged traditional concepts in toxicology, in particular the dogma of “the dose makes the poison,” because EDCs can have effects at low doses that are not predicted by effects at higher doses. Here, we review two major concepts in EDC studies: low dose and nonmonotonicity. Low-dose effects were defined by the National Toxicology Program as those that occur in the range of human exposures or effects observed at doses below those used for traditional toxicological studies. We review the mechanistic data for low-dose effects and use a weight-of-evidence approach to analyze five examples from the EDC literature. Additionally, we explore nonmonotonic dose-response curves, defined as a nonlinear relationship between dose and effect where the slope of the curve changes sign somewhere within the range of doses examined. We provide a detailed discussion of the mechanisms responsible for generating these phenomena, plus hundreds of examples from...

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Hormones and endocrine-disrupting chemicals: Low-dose effects and nonmonotonic dose responses

Background: Thyroid disease in pregnancy is a common clinical problem. Since the guidelines for the management of these disorders by the American Thyroid Association (ATA) were first published in 2...

https://www.thyca.org/download/document/486/PregnancyandPostpartum.pdf

2017 Guidelines of the American Thyroid Association for the Diagnosis and Management of Thyroid Disease During Pregnancy and the Postpartum

A denuder assembly is adapted for the collection and removal of a gaseous analyte from a sample gas. The denuder includes a housing including an internal cavity, a sample gas inlet fluidly coupled with a sample gas source, a denuder liquid inlet fluidly coupled with a denuder liquid source, a barrier sheet extending across the internal cavity and separating the internal cavity into a liquid reservoir and a gas flow-through channel fluidly coupled with and downstream of the sample gas inlet, the barrier sheet having a liquid-reservoir surface and a gas-channel surface and being porous to gas and liquid; and a denuder liquid disposed in the liquid reservoir and permeating the barrier sheet to coat the gas-channel surface of the barrier sheet thereby allowing the denuder liquid on the gas-channel surface to contact the sample gas flowing within the gas flow-through channel and allowing the analyte to diffuse through the barrier sheet into the liquid reservoir. A method of using the denuder assembly for collection and removal of soluble atmospheric gases is also disclosed.

Denuder assembly for collection and removal of soluble atmospheric gases

Although many electrochemical gas sensors have been reported, electrochemical gas sensors based on liquid collection constitute a smaller subset. Minimally, a liquid interface based electrochemical gas sensor is composed of two electrodes and an ion conducting electrolyte. There is a large number of possible arrangements of these parts, and many choices exist for their composition and preparation methods. This results in a diverse and rich technology now available for gas sensing. The measurement of some analyte gases of interest, notably ozone, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen peroxide, formaldehyde, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide are specifically discussed. Finally, the recent reviews that are likely to be the most relevant to the further development of electrochemical detection approaches for gases with a liquid collection interface are cited and discussed.

Electrochemical sensing of gases based on liquid collection interfaces

Two approaches to interfacing a suppressed ion chromatography (IC) system with a suppressed conductometric capillary electrophoresis (CE) separation system are described. The first interface uses a six-port loop valve which allows selective introduction of any segment of an IC eluite band into the CE system. This arrangement is also suitable as a sample delivery system, especially with CE systems using relatively short capillaries and high electric fields. In the second interface, a small fraction of the IC effluent passes through a length of Nafion tube immersed in a solution of saturated Na2B4O7. Thus, sufficient borax is introduced by Donnan penetration to increase the ionic strength of the flowing stream to an extent appropriate for carrying out CE separations. This valveless design allows the continuous injection of all IC eluite bands into the CE system without additional electrolyte preparation for CE. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Micro Sep8: 561–568, 1996

Direct Coupling of Ion Chromatography with Suppressed Conductometric Capillary Electrophoresis

The formaldehyde content of the atmospheric aerosol

We report ultrabright, photostable, sub-25 nm nanoparticle agglomerates (suprananoparticles) assembled from a few hundred 3.3 ± 0.9 nm units, each hosting on average a single rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) dye molecule encased in a thin organosilicate cage. These individual Rh6G-doped nanoparticle (DOSNP) units consist of a hydrophobic core containing the dye and an ultrathin, conformal silicate shell modified by CO2 plasma to confer a beneficial “cage effect” as well as surface hydrophilicity. The isolation of the dye within individual DOSNP units in the final 22 ± 5 nm agglomerate avoids dimerization and related spontaneous molecular interactions that otherwise lead to self-quenching in closely co-localized fluorophores. The resulting suprananoparticles are over 200 times brighter than the free Rh6G molecules in the same volume. There is no observable dye leaching, and the labels are 20-fold more resistant to photobleaching than free Rh6G in solution. We demonstrate the attractive features of DOSNPs as labels in bioimaging applications.

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Purnendu K. Dasgupta

Papers

Denuder assembly for collection and removal of soluble atmospheric gases

Electrochemical sensing of gases based on liquid collection interfaces

Direct Coupling of Ion Chromatography with Suppressed Conductometric Capillary Electrophoresis

The formaldehyde content of the atmospheric aerosol

Confeito-like assembly of organosilicate-caged fluorophores: ultrabright suprananoparticles for fluorescence imaging