Aptamer-functionalized quantum dots as theranostic nanotools against cancer and bacterial infections: A comprehensive overview of recent trends

Aptamers (Apts) are synthetic nucleic acid ligands that can be engineered to target various molecules, including amino acids, proteins, and pharmaceuticals. Through a series of adsorption, recovery, and amplification steps, Apts are extracted from combinatorial libraries of synthesized nucleic acids. Using aptasensors in bioanalysis and biomedicine can be improved by combining them with nanomaterials. Moreover, Apt-associated nanomaterials, including liposomes, polymeric, dendrimers, carbon nanomaterials, silica, nanorods, magnetic NPs, and quantum dots (QDs), have been widely used as promising nanotools in biomedicine. Following surface modifications and conjugation with appropriate functional groups, these nanomaterials can be successfully used in aptasensing. Advanced biological assays can use Apts immobilized on QD surfaces through physical interaction and chemical bonding. Accordingly, modern QD aptasensing platforms rely on interactions between QDs, Apts, and targets to detect them. QD-Apt conjugates can be used to directly detect prostate, ovarian, colorectal, and lung cancers or simultaneously detect biomarkers associated with these malignancies. Tenascin-C, mucin 1, prostate-specific antigen, prostate-specific membrane antigen, nucleolin, growth factors, and exosomes are among the cancer biomarkers that can be sensitively detected using such bioconjugates. Furthermore, Apt-conjugated QDs have shown great potential for controlling bacterial infections such as Bacillus thuringiensis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumannii, Campylobacter jejuni, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella typhimurium. This comprehensive review discusses recent advancements in the design of QD-Apt bioconjugates and their applications in cancer and bacterial theranostics.     

Standard method for detecting Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus disease-resistant silkworm varieties

Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) disease is one of the most serious silkworm diseases, and it has caused great economic losses to the sericulture industry. So far, the disease has not been controlled effectively by therapeutic agents. Breeding resistant silkworm varieties breeding may be an effective way to improve resistance to BmNPV and reduce economic losses. A precise resistance-detection method will help to accelerate the breeding process. For this purpose, here we described the individual inoculation method (IIM). Details of the IIM include pathogen BmNPV preparation, mulberry leaf size, pathogen volume, rearing conditions, course of infection, and breeding conditions. Finally, a resistance comparison experiment was performed using the IIM and the traditional group inoculation method (GIM). The incidence of BmNPV infection and the within-group variance results showed that the IIM was more precise and reliable than the GIM.     

LAMP-LFD技术及其在生物快检方面应用

LAMP-LFD技术是环介导横温扩增技术(Loop-mediated isothermal amplification)与横向流动试纸条(Lateral flow dipstick)相结合的一种新颖的检测技术,该技术将核酸横温扩增和可视化试纸条检测有机地结合。环介导等温扩增技术(LAMP),只需要在恒温(60℃~65℃)条件下保温几十分钟,即可将所需目的基因扩增到109水平。横向流动试纸条(LFD),融合了免疫层析技术和分子生物学手段,能在纸条上形成有颜色的检测线从而可以特异性地检测出该目标产物。环介导横温扩增技术(LAMP)与横向流动试纸条(LFD)相互结合的技术,使LAMP扩增产物现场检测可视化,检测结果明显直观,通过肉眼即可辨认,并具有高特异性、高灵敏度、简便、安全及成本低的特点,一度引起科研工作者的广泛关注。综述了环介导横温扩增方法与横向流动试纸条相结合(LAMP-LFD)技术的原理、优势、及其在生物快速检测方面的应用等,并指出了LAMP-LFD技术目前存在的不足以及展望。     

Long-term changes in frequencies ofPythium iwayamai andP. paddicum in upland- and paddy-field soils

The long-term changes in the frequencies ofPythium iwayamai andP. paddicum in upland- and flooded paddy-field soils were compared. The frequencies of both species fell in both soils within the first 6 months after they had been buried. After 36 and 48 months,P. iwayamai showed higher frequency thanP. Paddicum in upland-field soil, whileP. paddicum showed higher frequency thanP. iwayamai in paddy-field soil. These findings indicate respectively higher colonization ability to organic matters ofP. iwayamai in upland-field soil andP. paddicum in paddy-field soil.This study was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid (no. 63560048) from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan.     

Morphological differentiation and occurrence of thiophenes in leaf callus cultures from Tagetes species: Relation to the growth medium of the plants

The morphology, and the number and concentration of thiophene-like compounds were studied in leaves, roots and calli of Tagetes species grown with different nutrient solutions. The type of nutrient solution exerted no effect on the number of thiophene-like compounds, but altered the type of morphological differentiation and thiophene content of calli. Calli of T. minuta L. showed little differentiation and resulted in suspensible callus after two passages. Calli of T. erecta L. cv. Rose d'Inde differentiated rapidly and turned dark brown after one passage. The morphology of calli from T. patula L. cv. Nana furia was intermediate. Tertiary callus of T. patula contained more thiophene-like compounds and higher concentrations than did the corresponding calli of T. minuta . The content of thiophene-like compounds decreased after various callus passages, but the relative decrease varied between species.     

Modification of nanocrystalline TiO2 coatings with molecularly imprinted TiO2 for uric acid recognition

Combining the surface modification and molecular imprinting technique, a novel piezoelectric sensing platform with excellent molecular recognition capability was established for the detection of uric acid (UA) based on the immobilization of TiO₂ nanoparticles onto quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) electrode and modification of molecularly imprinted TiO₂ (MIT) layer on TiO₂ nanoparticles. The performance of the fabricated biosensor was evaluated, and the results indicated that the biosensor exhibited high sensitivity in UA detection, with a linear range from 0.04 to 45 μM and a limit of detection of 0.01 μM. Moreover, the biosensor presented high selectivity towards UA in comparison with other interferents. The analytical application of the UA biosensor confirmed the feasibility of UA detection in urine sample.     

Effect of detection heterogeneity in occupancy‐detection models: an experimental test of time‐to‐first‐detection methods

Imperfect detection can bias estimates of site occupancy in ecological surveys but can be corrected by estimating detection probability. Time‐to‐first‐detection (TTD) occupancy models have been proposed as a cost–effective survey method that allows detection probability to be estimated from single site visits. Nevertheless, few studies have validated the performance of occupancy‐detection models by creating a situation where occupancy is known, and model outputs can be compared with the truth. We tested the performance of TTD occupancy models in the face of detection heterogeneity using an experiment based on standard survey methods to monitor koala Phascolarctos cinereus populations in Australia. Known numbers of koala faecal pellets were placed under trees, and observers, uninformed as to which trees had pellets under them, carried out a TTD survey. We fitted five TTD occupancy models to the survey data, each making different assumptions about detectability, to evaluate how well each estimated the true occupancy status. Relative to the truth, all five models produced strongly biased estimates, overestimating detection probability and underestimating the number of occupied trees. Despite this, goodness‐of‐fit tests indicated that some models fitted the data well, with no evidence of model misfit. Hence, TTD occupancy models that appear to perform well with respect to the available data may be performing poorly. The reason for poor model performance was unaccounted for heterogeneity in detection probability, which is known to bias occupancy‐detection models. This poses a problem because unaccounted for heterogeneity could not be detected using goodness‐of‐fit tests and was only revealed because we knew the experimentally determined outcome. A challenge for occupancy‐detection models is to find ways to identify and mitigate the impacts of unobserved heterogeneity, which could unknowingly bias many models.     

The visual fields of Common Guillemots Uria aalge and Atlantic Puffins Fratercula arctica: foraging,vigilance and collision vulnerability

Significant differences in avian visual fields are found between closely related species that differ in their foraging technique. We report marked differences in the visual fields of two auk species. In air, Common Guillemots Uria aalge have relatively narrow binocular fields typical of those found in non‐passerine predatory birds. Atlantic Puffins Fratercula arctica have much broader binocular fields similar to those that have hitherto been recorded in passerines and in a penguin. In water, visual fields narrow considerably and binocularity in the direction of the bill is probably abolished in both auk species. Although perceptual challenges associated with foraging are similar in both species during the breeding season, when they are piscivorous, Puffins (but not Guillemots) face more exacting perceptual challenges when foraging at other times, when they take a high proportion of small invertebrate prey. Capturing this prey probably requires more accurate, visually guided bill placement and we argue that this is met by the Puffin's broader binocular field, which is retained upon immersion; its upward orientation may enable prey to be seen in silhouette. These visual field configurations have potentially important consequences that render these birds vulnerable to collision with human artefacts underwater, but not in air. They also have consequences for vigilance behaviour.     

Quantifying change in distributions: a new departure index that detects,measures and describes change in distributions from population structures,size-classes and other ordered data

Many statistics are available to compare distributions. Some are limited to nominal data while others, such as skew, Kullback-Leibler, Kolmogorov-Smirnov and the Gini coefficient, are useful for providing information about ordered distributions. While many of these tests are useful for determining properties of data in histograms, there has not been a test until now that allows for the detection of differences between distributions, describes the difference and is sensitive to the location of the departures. Such a test could be critical for comparing pre-and post-event distributions, such as a change in the distribution of biomass due to fire, for example, or for comparing data from different locations, such as soil size distributions, and even for evaluating economic disparity or examining differences in age demographics. We present a new statistic, a departure index, which allows a test distribution to be compared with any reference distribution. The resulting index contains information about the location, magnitude and direction of departure from the reference distribution to the test distribution. The departure index in turn provides a standardized response range that allows for a comparison of results from different analyses. A case study of actual fire data demonstrates the sensitivity and range of the test.     

Estimating Wind Turbine-Caused Bird Mortality

ABSTRACT Mortality estimates are needed of birds and bats killed by wind turbines because wind power generation is rapidly expanding worldwide. A mortality estimate is based on the number of fatalities assumed caused by wind turbines and found during periodic searches, plus the estimated number not found. The 2 most commonly used estimators adjust mortality estimates by rates of searcher detection and scavenger removal of carcasses. However, searcher detection trials can be biased by the species used in the trial, the number volitionally placed for a given fatality search, and the disposition of the carcass on the ground. Scavenger removal trials can be biased by the metric representing removal rate, the number of carcasses placed at once, the duration of the trial, species used, whether carcasses were frozen, whether carcasses included injuries consistent with wind turbine collisions, season, distance from the wind turbines, and general location. I summarized searcher detection rates among reported trials, and I developed models to predict the proportion of carcasses remaining since the last fatality search. The summaries I present can be used to adjust previous and future estimates of mortality to improve comparability. I also identify research directions to better understand these and other adjustments needed to compare mortality estimates among wind farms.