scholarly journals Cutting-Edge Advances in Electrochemical Affinity Biosensing at Different Molecular Level of Emerging Food Allergens and Adulterants

Biosensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susana Campuzano ◽  
Víctor Ruiz-Valdepeñas Montiel ◽  
Verónica Serafín ◽  
Paloma Yáñez-Sedeño ◽  
José Manuel Pingarrón

The presence of allergens and adulterants in food, which represents a real threat to sensitized people and a loss of consumer confidence, is one of the main current problems facing society. The detection of allergens and adulterants in food, mainly at the genetic level (characteristic fragments of genes that encode their expression) or at functional level (protein biomarkers) is a complex task due to the natural interference of the matrix and the low concentration at which they are present. Methods for the analysis of allergens are mainly divided into immunological and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-based assays. In recent years, electrochemical affinity biosensors, including immunosensors and biosensors based on synthetic sequences of DNA or ribonucleic acid (RNA), linear, aptameric, peptide or switch-based probes, are gaining special importance in this field because they have proved to be competitive with the methods commonly used in terms of simplicity, test time and applicability in different environments. These unique features make them highly promising analytical tools for routine determination of allergens and food adulterations at the point of care. This review article discusses the most significant trends and developments in electrochemical affinity biosensing in this field over the past two years as well as the challenges and future prospects for this technology.

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 189
Author(s):  
Susana Campuzano ◽  
Paloma Yáñez-Sedeño ◽  
José Manuel Pingarrón

The multifaceted key roles of cytokines in immunity and inflammatory processes have led to a high clinical interest for the determination of these biomolecules to be used as a tool in the diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring and treatment of several diseases of great current relevance (autoimmune, neurodegenerative, cardiac, viral and cancer diseases, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes). Therefore, the rapid and accurate determination of cytokine biomarkers in body fluids, cells and tissues has attracted considerable attention. However, many currently available techniques used for this purpose, although sensitive and selective, require expensive equipment and advanced human skills and do not meet the demands of today’s clinic in terms of test time, simplicity and point-of-care applicability. In the course of ongoing pursuit of new analytical methodologies, electrochemical biosensing is steadily gaining ground as a strategy suitable to develop simple, low-cost methods, with the ability for multiplexed and multiomics determinations in a short time and requiring a small amount of sample. This review article puts forward electrochemical biosensing methods reported in the last five years for the determination of cytokines, summarizes recent developments and trends through a comprehensive discussion of selected strategies, and highlights the challenges to solve in this field. Considering the key role demonstrated in the last years by different materials (with nano or micrometric size and with or without magnetic properties), in the design of analytical performance-enhanced electrochemical biosensing strategies, special attention is paid to the methods exploiting these approaches.


2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 935-944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavel Strunz ◽  
Gerhard Schumacher ◽  
Hellmuth Klingelhöffer ◽  
Albrecht Wiedenmann ◽  
Jan Šaroun ◽  
...  

Exposure of a superalloy to an external load results in anisotropic coarsening of the γ′ precipitates, so-called rafting. It was reported in the past that γ′ rafting can also occur as a result of purely thermal treatment, without the simultaneous presence of an external load, if the specimen has been pre-deformed at relatively low temperature. The evolution of γ′ morphology in pre-deformed specimens of SCA425 Ni-base superalloy was examined in the present study. Unlike in the previous experiments, the compressive stress was used for pre-straining.In situsmall-angle neutron scattering (SANS) was employed, which enabled the determination of the morphology directly at high temperature. Both for strong and for weak pre-straining, rounding of the originally cuboidal precipitates towards an ellipsoidal shape on heating was observed. Weak pre-straining (0.1, 0.5%) does not cause rafting on subsequent heating. On the other hand, the detailed evaluation of SANS data provides some indication of rafting during the subsequent heating after severe compressive pre-straining (2%). The experiment indicates the role of dislocation rearrangement at the matrix/precipitate interface during pre-straining.


Author(s):  
Henry S. Slayter

Electron microscopic methods have been applied increasingly during the past fifteen years, to problems in structural molecular biology. Used in conjunction with physical chemical methods and/or Fourier methods of analysis, they constitute powerful tools for determining sizes, shapes and modes of aggregation of biopolymers with molecular weights greater than 50, 000. However, the application of the e.m. to the determination of very fine structure approaching the limit of instrumental resolving power in biological systems has not been productive, due to various difficulties such as the destructive effects of dehydration, damage to the specimen by the electron beam, and lack of adequate and specific contrast. One of the most satisfactory methods for contrasting individual macromolecules involves the deposition of heavy metal vapor upon the specimen. We have investigated this process, and present here what we believe to be the more important considerations for optimizing it. Results of the application of these methods to several biological systems including muscle proteins, fibrinogen, ribosomes and chromatin will be discussed.


Author(s):  
H.J. Dudek

The chemical inhomogenities in modern materials such as fibers, phases and inclusions, often have diameters in the region of one micrometer. Using electron microbeam analysis for the determination of the element concentrations one has to know the smallest possible diameter of such regions for a given accuracy of the quantitative analysis.In th is paper the correction procedure for the quantitative electron microbeam analysis is extended to a spacial problem to determine the smallest possible measurements of a cylindrical particle P of high D (depth resolution) and diameter L (lateral resolution) embeded in a matrix M and which has to be analysed quantitative with the accuracy q. The mathematical accounts lead to the following form of the characteristic x-ray intens ity of the element i of a particle P embeded in the matrix M in relation to the intensity of a standard S


Author(s):  
Dr. G. Kaemof

A mixture of polycarbonate (PC) and styrene-acrylonitrile-copolymer (SAN) represents a very good example for the efficiency of electron microscopic investigations concerning the determination of optimum production procedures for high grade product properties.The following parameters have been varied:components of charge (PC : SAN 50 : 50, 60 : 40, 70 : 30), kind of compounding machine (single screw extruder, twin screw extruder, discontinuous kneader), mass-temperature (lowest and highest possible temperature).The transmission electron microscopic investigations (TEM) were carried out on ultra thin sections, the PC-phase of which was selectively etched by triethylamine.The phase transition (matrix to disperse phase) does not occur - as might be expected - at a PC to SAN ratio of 50 : 50, but at a ratio of 65 : 35. Our results show that the matrix is preferably formed by the components with the lower melting viscosity (in this special case SAN), even at concentrations of less than 50 %.


Author(s):  
C.T. Hu ◽  
C.W. Allen

One important problem in determination of precipitate particle size is the effect of preferential thinning during TEM specimen preparation. Figure 1a schematically represents the original polydispersed Ni3Al precipitates in the Ni rich matrix. The three possible type surface profiles of TEM specimens, which result after electrolytic thinning process are illustrated in Figure 1b. c. & d. These various surface profiles could be produced by using different polishing electrolytes and conditions (i.e. temperature and electric current). The matrix-preferential-etching process causes the matrix material to be attacked much more rapidly than the second phase particles. Figure 1b indicated the result. The nonpreferential and precipitate-preferential-etching results are shown in Figures 1c and 1d respectively.


2017 ◽  
pp. 93-105
Author(s):  
Olha NIPIALIDI

Introduction. The most important factors for “financial health” of the company are effectively structured cash flows, precondition for sustainable growth and achievement of high end results of economic activity as a whole. Knowledge and practical use of modern methods of organization and efficient management of cash flows enables transition of the company to a new quality of economic development. Purpose. The aim of the article is the research and development of theoretical, methodological and practical recommendations concerning the organization of the management process of cash flows at the enterprise. Results. Methodology of traditional assessment of financial stability of the enterprise, its elements and the factors influencing it can significantly complement and improve through the use of advanced mathematical models that allow to analyze the accuracy and objectivity of expert assessments for determination the level of the financial condition of the enterprise. Conclusion. The system of indicators used in the analysis of cash flows at the enterprises is investigated and systematized. It is advisable to choose those indicators from the total aggregate of indicators that are the most attracted to specific users of accounting information. Methods for analyzing cash flow is supplemented as regards the determination of the integral index of financial stability, which makes it possible to install ranked of the investigated enterprise. Proposals for amendments the methodological approaches to estimating of future cash flows will allow more effectively increase usefulness and reliability of accounting and analytical information for making management decisions.


Author(s):  
Richard Adelstein

This chapter elaborates the operation of criminal liability by closely considering efficient crimes and the law’s stance toward them, shows how its commitment to proportional punishment prevents the probability scaling that systemically efficient allocation requires, and discusses the procedures that determine the actual liability prices imposed on offenders. Efficient crimes are effectively encouraged by proportional punishment, and their nature and implications are examined. But proportional punishment precludes probability scaling, and induces far more than the systemically efficient number of crimes. Liability prices that match the specific costs imposed by the offender at bar are sought through a two-stage procedure of legislative determination of punishment ranges ex ante and judicial determination of exact prices ex post, which creates a dilemma: whether to price crimes accurately in the past or deter them accurately in the future. An illustrative Supreme Court case bringing all these themes together is discussed in conclusion.


Author(s):  
Peter H. Wiebe ◽  
Ann Bucklin ◽  
Mark Benfield

This chapter reviews traditional and new zooplankton sampling techniques, sample preservation, and sample analysis, and provides the sources where in-depth discussion of these topics is addressed. The net systems that have been developed over the past 100+ years, many of which are still in use today, can be categorized into eight groups: non-opening/closing nets, simple opening/closing nets, high-speed samplers, neuston samplers, planktobenthos plankton nets, closing cod-end samplers, multiple net systems, and moored plankton collection systems. Methods of sample preservation include preservation for sample enumeration and taxonomic morphological analysis, and preservation of samples for genetic analysis. Methods of analysis of zooplankton samples include determination of biomass, taxonomic composition, and size by traditional methods; and genetic analysis of zooplankton samples.


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