DNA diagnosis by capillary electrophoresis and microfabricated electrophoretic devices

DNA diagnosis is experiencing an impressive progression towards the development of novel technology to identity various clinically relevant categories of genetic changes and to meet the exponential growth of genomics. The introduction of capillary electrophoresis has dramatically accelerated the completion of the first draft of the human DNA sequence in the Human Genome Project, and thus, has become the method of choice for analysis of various genetic variants. The recent development of microfabricated electrophoretic devices has led to the possibility of integrating multiple sample handling with the actual measurement steps required for automation of molecular diagnostics. This review highlights the most recent progress in capillary electrophoresis and electrophoretic microdevices for DNA-based diagnostics, including the important areas of genotyping for point mutation, single nucleotide polymorphisms, short tandem repeats and organism identification. The application of these techniques for infectious and genetic disease diagnosis, as well as forensic identification purpose, are covered. The promising development and the challenges for techinical problems are also discussed.

Introduction to Molecular Analysis of Ectomycorrhizal Communities

A number of methods are available for those researchers considering the addition of molecular analyses of ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungi to their research projects and weighing the various approaches they might take. Analyzing natural EcM fungal communities has traditionally been a highly skilled, time-consuming process relying heavily on exacting morphological characterization of EcM root tips. Increasingly powerful molecular methods for analyzing EcM communities make this area of research available to a much wider range of researchers. Ecologists can gain from the body of work characterizing EcM while avoiding the requirement for exceptional expertise by carefully combining elements of traditional methods with the more recent molecular approaches. A cursory morphological analysis can yield a traditional quantification of EcM fungi based on tip numbers, a unit with functional and historical significance. Ectomycorrhizal root DNA extracts may then be analyzed with molecular methods widely used for characterizing microbiota. These range from methods applicable only to the simple mixes resulting from careful morphotyping, to community-oriented methods that identify many types in mixed samples as well as provide an estimate of their relative abundances. Extramatrical hyphae in bulk soil can also be more effectively studied, extending characterization of EcM fungal communities beyond the rhizoplane. The trend toward techniques permitting larger sample sets without prohibitive labor and time requirements will also permit us to more frequently address the issues of spatial and temporal variability and better characterize the roles of EcM fungi at multiple scales.

Study on Broadband Emitting Self-Assembled Quantum-Dot Material and Devices

City Univ Hong Kong

Considerable effects of diversity indices and spatial scales on conclusions relating to ecological diversity

The relationships between ecological diversity and ecosystem functions such as stability and productivity have long been debated and have no final conclusion until now. It is ignored that the debate should be firstly based on the same diversity index, which should be theoretically complete, and on same observation scale. For the issue on the scale of ecotope observation, ecosystems should be distinguished according to intensity of human disturbance. For the issue on the scale of species observation, either number diversity or biomass diversity should be identified. This paper takes grassland ecosystems located within the Bayin Xile grassland of Xilin Gol League of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as an example to analyze effects of different diversity indices and spatial scales on the conclusions of ecological diversity and its relationships with ecosystem functions. The analysis results both on the scale of ecotope observation and on the scale of species observation show that different diversity indices might give different conclusions and spatial resolution has a great effect on the relative conclusions. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Solution-processable highly efficient yellow- and red-emitting phosphorescent organic light emitting devices from a small molecule bipolar host and iridium complexes

A bipolar transport compound, 2,5-bis(4-(9-(2-ethylhexyl)-9H-carbazol-3-yl) phenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (CzOXD), incorporating both electron-and hole-transport functionalities, was synthesized and fully characterized by H-1 NMR, C-13 NMR, elemental analysis and mass spectrometry. Its thermal, electrochemical, electronic absorption and photoluminescent properties were studied

Multifunctional metallophosphors with anti-triplet–triplet annihilation properties for solution-processable electroluminescent devices

With the goal to provide organometallic triplet emitters with good hole-injection/hole-transporting properties, highly amorphous character for simple solution-processed organic light-emitting diodes, and negligible triplet-triplet (T-T) annihilation, a series of new phosphorescent cyclometalated Ir-III and Pt-II complexes with triphenylamine-anchored fluorenylpyridine dendritic ligands were synthesized and characterized. The photophysical, thermal, electrochemical and electroluminescent properties of these molecules are reported.

Cross-linkable aromatic amines as materials for insoluble hole-transporting layers in light-emitting devices

A series of cross-linkable aromatic amines has been synthesized by the multi-step synthetic rout. Full characterization of their structure by H-1 NMR-, IR- and mass spectrometry is presented. The synthesized materials were examined by various techniques including differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetry, UV and electron photoemission spectrometry.

Highly efficient white organic light-emitting devices based on a multiple-emissive-layer structure

Characteristics of white organic light-emitting devices based on phosphor sensitized fluorescence are improved by using a multiple-emissive-layer structure, in which a phosphorescent blue emissive layer is sandwiched between red and green&yellow ones. In this device, bis[(4,6-difluorophenyl)-pyridinato-N,C-2] (picolinato), bis(2,4-diphenyl-quinoline) iridium (III) acetylanetonate, fac bis (2-phenylpyridine) iridium, and 5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnaphthacene are used as blue, red, green, and yellow emitters, respectively.

Layer-by-layer assembly of carbon nanotubes and Prussian blue nanoparticles: A potential tool for biosensing devices

A promising method for assembling carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) protected Prussian blue nanoparticles (P-PB) to form three-dimensional (3D) nanostructured films is proposed. The electrostatic interaction, combined with layer-by-layer self-assembly (LBL), between negatively charged CNTs and positively charged P-PB is strong enough to drive the formation of the 3D nanostructured films. Thus, prepared multilayer films were characterized by ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared spectroscopy (UV-vis-NIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and cyclic voltammetry (CV).

Improving performance of polymer photovoltaic devices using an annealing-free approach via construction of ordered aggregates in solution

Low crystalline order has been proved to be one of the main hindrances for achieving high performance devices based on thin films composed of crystallizable polymer. In this work, we use a facile method to substantially improve crystallinity of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) in its pure or composite film via the construction of ordered precursors in the solution used for thin film deposition. These improvements have been confirmed by bright-field transmission electron micrography, electron diffraction, UV-Vis absorption and wide-angle X-ray diffraction.

Realization of write-once-read-many-times memory devices based on poly(N-vinylcarbazole) by thermally annealing

A nonvolatile write-once-read-many-time (WORM-time) memory device based on poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) films was realized by thermally annealing. The device can be fabricated using a simple spin coat method. It was found that the control of PVK film surface morphology by thermally annealing plays an important role in achieving the WORM memory properties. The memory device showed an ON/OFF current ratio as high as 10(4) and the retention time was over 2000 s without degradation.

The morphology control of pentacene for write-once-read-many-times memory devices

We realized write-once-read-many-times (WORM) memory devices based on pentacene and demonstrated that the morphology control of the vacuum deposited pentacene thin film is greatly important for achieving the unique nonvolatile memory properties. The resulted memory devices show a high ON/OFF current ratio (10(4)), long retention time (over 12 h), and good storage stability (over 240 h). The reduction of the barrier height caused by a large interface dipole and the damage of the interface dipole under a critical bias voltage have been used to explain the transition processes.

Origin of negative differential resistance and memory characteristics in organic devices based on tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum

Negative differential resistance (NDR) and memory phenomenon have been realized in current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of indium tin oxide/tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum/aluminum devices. The I-V curves have been divided into three operational regions that are associated with different working regimes of the devices: (i) bistable region, (ii) NDR region, and (iii) monotonic region. The bistable region disappeared after a couple of voltage sweeps from zero to a positive voltage. The bistable nature can be reinstated by applying a suitable negative voltage.

The effect of annealing treatment on performance of interdiffused organic photovoltaic devices

We fabricated the interdiffused organic photovoltaic devices, which composed of poly (2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethylhexyloxy)-1, 4-phenylenevinylene) (MEH-PPV) and buckminsterfullerene (C-60), by annealing treatment. After annealing, C60 diffused into the MEH-PPV layer, in consequence, MEH-PPV/C-60 interfacial area was increased and their interface became closer proximity. The results lead to reduce reverse-bias saturation current (J(s)), and increase the open-circuit voltage (V-OC) and the short-circuit current (J(SC)).

Mechanisms of efficiency enhancement in the doped electroluminescent devices based on a europium complex

In this study, we investigated the dependence of electroluminescence (EL) efficiency on carrier distribution in the light-emitting layer (EML) of the device based on Eu(TTA)(3)phen (TTA = thenoyltrifluoroacetone, phen = 1, 10-phenanthroline) doped 4,4'-N,N'-dicarbazole- biphenyl (CBP) system. We found that EL efficiency increases monotonously with increasing hole injection even when holes are the majority carriers. This phenomenon was attributed to the accumulation of holes in EML, which improves the balance of holes and electrons on Eu(TTA)(3)phen molecules, thus enhancing the EL efficiency.