Atherosclerotic vascular disease (ASVD) is a chronic process, with a progressive course over many years, but it can cause acute clinical events, including acute coronary syndromes (ACS), myocardial ...infarction (MI) and stroke. In addition to a series of typical risk factors for atherosclerosis, like hyperlipidemia, hypertension, smoking and obesity, emerging evidence suggests that atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease, suggesting that chronic infection plays an important role in the development of atherosclerosis. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are the most characteristic members of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), which play an important role in innate immune mechanism. TLRs play different roles in different stages of infection of atherosclerosis-related pathogens such as
Chlamydia pneumoniae
(
C. pneumoniae
)
,
periodontal pathogens including
Porphyromonas gingivalis
(
P. gingivalis
)
, Helicobacter pylori
(
H. pylori
) and
human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV). Overall, activation of TLR2 and 4 seems to have a profound impact on infection-related atherosclerosis. This article reviews the role of TLRs in the process of atherosclerosis after
C. pneumoniae
and other infections and the current status of treatment, with a view to providing a new direction and potential therapeutic targets for the study of ASVD.
Current paper‐based potentiometric ion‐sensing platforms are planar devices used for clinically relevant ions. These devices, however, have not been designed for the potentiometric biosensing of ...proteins or small molecule analytes. A three‐dimensional origami paper‐based device, in which a solid‐contact ion‐selective electrode is integrated with an all‐solid‐state reference electrode, is described for the first time. The device is made by impregnation of paper with appropriate bioreceptors and reporting reagents on different zones. By folding and unfolding the paper structures, versatile potentiometric bioassays can be performed. A USB‐controlled miniaturized electrochemical detector can be used for simple and in situ measurements. Using butyrylcholinesterase as a model enzyme, the device has been successfully applied to the detection of enzyme activities and organophosphate pesticides involved in the enzymatic system as inhibitors. The proposed 3D origami paper device allows the potentiometric biosensing of proteins and small molecules in a simple, portable, and cost‐effective way.
Assays on folding paper have potential: A three‐dimensional origami paper‐based device, in which a solid‐contact ion‐selective electrode is integrated with an all‐solid‐state reference electrode, has been developed for potentiometric biosensing.
Molecular imprinting-based solid-phase extraction (MI-SPE) has been in the spotlight to improve the recognition selectivity and detection sensitivity. MI-SPE provides a powerful tool for ...chemo/bioanalysis in complex matrices and meanwhile, benefits from distinguished advantages such as easy operation, high throughput, low cost, high selectivity and durability. This review proposed the recent advances in molecular imprinting concerning novel preparation strategies of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and typical applications of MI-SPE. Preparation strategies are highlighted by dividing into ten sections mainly including dummy imprinting, multi-template imprinting, surface imprinting, water-compatible imprinting, restricted access material combining imprinting etc.; each section provides the descriptions about what restrictions led to the emergence of any strategy, strengths/weaknesses of every strategy and universal applications of upgraded MIPs in various SPE modes prior to chromatographic analysis. The potential of MIPs for implementation in routine laboratory activities and scale-up is expected, and finally remaining challenges and future perspectives are proposed.
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•Current challenges on MIPs and related imprinting strategies are comprehensively summarized.•Applications of upgraded molecular imprinting based solid-phase extraction are discussed.•The potential of MIPs for implementation in routine laboratory activities and scale-up is summarized.•The future study requirements are highlighted.
In this work, we provided a novel strategy of antibody-free biomarker analysis by in-situ synthesized molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) on movable valve microfluidic paper-based electrochemical ...device (Bio-MIP-ePADs) for clinical detection of biomarkers. The newly movable valves on the device enable continuous and convenient delivery of fluid, which guarantee the performance for fabricating MIPs structure during long time electropolymerization. Moreover, this strategy can directly detect antigens by taking advantage of molecular imprinting on paper-based device, which greatly decreases the cost during clinical testing, reduces the tedious washing procedure and does not need to consider the preservation of the antibody in enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). This feature makes the chip suitable for the on-site family treatment or commercial products. To further validate the applicability of this proposed method for clinical diagnostic testing, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was applied as prototyping model target for the clinical analysis. The proposed Bio-MIP-ePADs were cheap, easy to prepare, disposable and provided reliable analysis by comparing with ELISA. We hope the application of this technology will open up a new avenue to the point-of-care testing (POCT).
•The strategy of antibody-free biomarker electrochemical analysis was proposed on microfluidic paper based device.•This method can directly detect cancer biomarkers using molecular imprinting technique.•MIPs structure could be in-situ synthesized by movable valves on paper-based device during electropolymerization.•The proposed paper-based electrochemical device showed potential application for clinical detection in human serum.
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•The paper based microfluidic platform provided a simple, robust and user-friendly way for multiplexed detection Cu2+ and Hg2+ ions.•This method can realize the liquid phase of ...QDs@IIPs being transferred to the solid glass fiber paper and improve the portability of the device.•The real samples were successfully analyzed with good sensitivity, selectivity and reliability.
In this study, a novel three-dimensional (3D) origami ion imprinted polymers microfluidic paper-based chip device for specific, sensitive and multiplexed detection of Cu2+ and Hg2+ ions has been proposed. In this device, the surface of the paper was activated by grafting with CdTe QDs through amino processing and formation of Cu2+ or Hg2+ IIPs and CdTe QDs complex that led to fluorescence quenching of QDs because the photo luminescent energy of QDs could be delivered to the complex. This method can realize the liquid phase of QDs@IIPs being transferred to the solid glass fiber paper and improve the portability of the device. Moreover, this platform allows to simultaneous detection of Cu2+ and Hg2+ ions with good selectivity and sensitivity. The proposed method reveals that the copper ion imprinted fluorescent sensor demonstrated a good linearity from 0.11 to 58.0μg/L with the detection limit of 0.035μg/L and the mercury ion linear range is 0.26–34.0μg/L with detection limit of 0.056μg/L. Importantly, this device can provide quantitative information conveniently and show great potential to be further extended to the detection of other metal ions for environmental monitoring and food safety field.
In this study, we first present rotational paper-based microfluidic chips (RPADs) combined with a molecular-imprinting (MIP) technique to detect phenolic pollutants. The proposed rotational ...paper-based microfluidic chips could implement qualitative and quantitative analysis of two different phenolic contaminants, 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP), simultaneously. Qualitative and quantitative analysis could be implemented simultaneously through fluorescence-intensity changes depending on the structures of quantum dots combined with a molecular-imprinting technique. Moreover, the rotational paper-based microfluidic chips provide a low cost, flexible, and easy way to operate the entire process conveniently. Under the optimal conditions, the proposed sensors showed high sensitivity and selectivity. Our final experimental results illustrated that the detection limits of 4-NP and TNP in the paper-based quantum-dot MIP (PQ-MIP) RPADs ranged from 0.5 to 20.0 mg/L, with detection limits of 0.097 and 0.071 mg/L, respectively. This novel rotational paper-based microfluidic device shows great potential and versatility for multiplexed, portable, and rapid testing of environmental and biological samples in the future.
Microfluidic paper chip combined with ion imprinting technology and ZnSe quantum dots for the detection of cadmium and lead ions in oceans and lakes.
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•A novel ZnSe quantum dots-based ...MIP paper microfluidic devices (μPADs) was developed.•ZnSe quantum dots are less toxic to the environment.•The rotary μPADs gave a flexible convenient way to multiplexed detection of Cd2+ and Pb2+.
In this study, a newly fluorescent ZnSe quantum dots (QDs) with ion imprinting technology was firstly realized on the three-dimensional (3D) rotary paper–based microfluidic chip platform which can be used to realize specific and multiplexed detection of Cadmium ions (Cd2+) and Lead ions (Pb2+). Compared to CdTe quantum dots, ZnSe quantum dots are less toxic and more environmental friendly. In addition, this design improved the portability of the device by transferred the liquid phase of ZnSe QDs@ion imprinted polymers to solid glass fiber paper. Moreover, the 3D rotary microfluidic chip (μPADs) showed great advantages including low cost, simple and fast facile operation, multiplexed detection, and showed good sensitivity and selectivity. Under optimal experiment conditions, our proposed method was enabled to realize specific and multi-channel determination of Cd2+ and Pb2+ ions. The developed sensor of Cd2+μPADs provided a linear response from 1 to 70 μg/L with a lower detection limit of 0.245 μg/L, and Pb2+μPADs provided a linear response from 1 to 60 μg/L with a lower detection limit of 0.335 μg/L, respectively. Excitingly, this newly designed 3D rotary μPADs exhibited quantitative information conveniently, which showed the promising application prospects to rapid testing target metal ions in environmental in the future.
Abstract
Inverted perovskite solar cells (IPSCs) have great potential for commercialization, in terms of compatibility with flexible and multijunction solar cells. However, non-ideal stability limits ...their entry into the market. To shed light on the unstable origins of IPSCs, an analysis of recent research progress is needed. Here, we systematically discuss the stability of IPSCs, including each functional layer, interface and entire device, and consider environmental and operational stressors. We summarize a range of strategies for improving device stability and discuss the significance of stability test protocols. Finally, we highlight the shortcomings of current approaches for stability improvement and assessment, and provide recommendations for improving the stability of IPSCs.
This paper describes a novel rotational paper-based analytical device (RPAD) to implement multi-step electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunoassays. The integrated paper-based rotational valves can be ...easily controlled by rotating paper discs manually and this advantage makes it user-friendly to untrained users to carry out the multi-step assays. In addition, the rotational valves are reusable and the response time can be shortened to several seconds, which promotes the rotational paper-based device to have great advantages in multi-step operations. Under the control of rotational valves, multi-step ECL immunoassays were conducted on the rotational device for the multiplexed detection of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and prostate specific antigen (PSA). The rotational device exhibited excellent analytical performance for CEA and PSA, and they could be detected in the linear ranges of 0.1–100 ng mL−1 and 0.1–50 ng mL−1 with detection limits down to 0.07 ng mL−1 and 0.03 ng mL−1, respectively, which were within the ranges of clinical concentrations. We hope this technique will open a new avenue for the fabrication of paper-based valves and provide potential application in clinical diagnostics.
This paper describes a rotational paper-based analytical strategy to implement multi-step electrochemiluminescence immunoassay for cancer biomarkers. Display omitted
•The novel rotational paper-based devices (RPADs) opened a new avenue for the fabrication of 3D paper-based devices.•The integrated paper-based rotational valves could be easily operated in a simple, low-cost and user-friendly way.•Multi-step ECL immunoassays were conducted for the detection of cancer biomarkers by the manipulation of rotational valves.
In this study, a fast, low‐cost, and facile spray method was proposed. This method deposits highly sensitive surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on the ...paper‐microfluidic scheme. The procedures for substrate preparation were studied including different strategies to synthesize AgNPs and the optimization of spray cycles. In addition, the morphologies of the different kinds of paper substrates were characterized by SEM and investigated by their SERS signals. The established method was found to be favorable for obtaining good sensitivity and reproducible results. The RSDs of Raman intensity of randomly analyzing 20 spots on the same paper or different filter papers depositing AgNPs are both below 15%. The SERS enhancement factor is approximately 2 × 107. The whole fabrication is very rapid, robust, and does not require specific instruments. Furthermore, the total cost for 1000 pieces of chip is less than $20. These advantages demonstrated the potential for growing SERS applications in the area of environmental monitoring, food safety, and bioanalysis in the future.
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