MCMASTER UNIVERSITY

Methods of diagnosing Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis in subjects is provided based on the determination of metabolites in urine samples, such as serine, hypoxanthine, kynurenine, threonine, dimethylglycine, tryptophan, indoxylsulfate, phenylacetylglutamine, sialic acid, 5-hydroxy-6-indolyl-o-sulfate, 5-(Δ-carboxybutyl) homocysteine, and/or an anion having m/z:RMT:polarity of 345.1553:0.770:n, or determination of metabolites in stool samples, such as ketodeoxycholic acid, cholic acid, choline, tryptophan, trimethyllysine, serine, butyric acid, lactic acid, hypoxanthine and/or guanine.

Described herein is a zwitterionic polymer-based coating that, when applied to an electrochemical biosensor, is capable of reducing fouling without compromising the current signal while also facilitating probe attachment.

In at least one embodiment, a DC-DC power converter comprises a primary circuit coupled to a DC input voltage, a secondary circuit coupled to a DC output voltage, and a transformer isolating the primary from the secondary circuit. The primary circuit comprises a first and second circuit branch. The first circuit branch comprises a plurality of switches, a diode, and a reconfiguration switch. The second circuit branch comprises a plurality of switches, and a plurality of diodes. The reconfiguration switch is operable to switch the primary circuit between a first mode and a second mode, wherein the primary circuit operates as a full-bridge circuit in the first mode and the primary circuit operates as a half-bridge circuit in the second mode.

The present invention discloses novel pentamidine analogues such as pentamidine analogs having the general formula: wherein: X is C, N, or —CH—CH—, Y is Y1 when X is N, and Y is Y1 and Y2 when X is C, or —CH—CH—, Y1, or Y1 and Y2 independently, are selected from H, hydroxyl, lower alkyl, lower alkoxy, halogen, nitro, amino, cyano or thiol, wherein the lower alkyl or alkoxy is optionally substituted with one or more of hydroxyl, halogen, nitro, amino, cyano, thiol, or a 5- or 6-membered aromatic or non-aromatic ring, optionally substituted with one or more of hydroxyl, lower alkyl, lower alkoxy, halogen, nitro, amino, cyano or thiol, wherein Y1 is not H when X is N; or Y1 is a 5- or 6-membered aromatic or non-aromatic ring, optionally substituted with one or more groups selected from hydroxyl, lower alkyl, lower alkoxy, halogen, nitro, amino, cyano, carboxy, or thiol, and Y2 is H, if present; or Y1 and Y2 together with X form a 5- to 8-membered hydrocarbon ring, optionally substituted with one or more groups selected from hydroxyl, lower alkyl, lower alkoxy, halogen, nitro, amino, cyano, carboxyl, or thiol; Z is phenyl, optionally substituted with one or more groups selected from hydroxyl, lower alkyl, lower alkoxy, halogen, nitro, amino, cyano, carboxyl, or thiol; and R 1 to R 4 are each independently H, hydroxyl, halogen, lower alkyl or lower alkoxy; as well as related pentamidine analogs and their use to inhibit bacterial growth and treat bacterial infection.

Hybrid silicon devices are disclosed in which a silicon-based resonant structure is coated with a rare-earth-doped tellurium oxide layer that facilitates optical gain, thereby forming a silicon-based laser cavity. The silicon-based laser cavity supports at least one resonant mode that has a modal volume extending from the silicon resonant base structure into the rare-earth-doped tellurium oxide layer. The silicon-based laser cavity is optically coupled to a silicon waveguide to facilitate the delivery of pump laser energy to the silicon-based laser cavity, such that at least a portion of the pump laser energy propagating through the silicon waveguide is coupled to the silicon-based laser cavity for excitation of the rare earth dopant within the rare-earth-doped tellurium oxide layer. The silicon waveguide that is optically coupled to the silicon-based laser cavity also facilitates the external delivery of the laser energy generated within silicon-based laser cavity.

Disclosed herein are of systems, methods, and computer-program products of determining a peripheral neural synchrony value based on eCAPS and correlating the peripheral neural synchrony value with temporal resolution acuity and speech perception outcomes measured in quiet and in noise in the patient.

Example methods, compositions and structures are presented whereby sub-10-nm-thick strain-relieving Si 1-x Ge x layers can be realized by Ge ion implantation, into, and selective oxidation of, Si(111) wafers. The resulting Ge-rich layers are fully strain relaxed via a network of misfit dislocations at the Si/Si 1-x Ge, interface, which do not propagate through the Si 1-x Ge x film. The dislocation network has been found to coincide with a periodic variation in the composition at the Si/Si 1-x Ge x interface and is believed to result from the defect-medicated diffusion of Si atoms from the Si substrate through the Si 1-x Ge x layer to the above SiO 2 layer. The epitaxial growth of GaAs on such ultra-thin substrates is demonstrated, presenting a promising approach for solving the long-standing challenge of local, monolithic integration of III-V optoelectronics on the Si platform.

A protease-resistant ADAMTS13 mutant protein or nucleic acid encoding the ADAMTS13 mutant protein is provided. The ADAMTS13 mutant protein comprises a mammalian ADAMTS13 protein in which one or more protease cleavage sites within the protein are replaced with amino acid sequence that is resistant to protease cleavage, and the mutant protein retains von Willebrand factor (VWF)-cleaving activity. The protease-resistant ADAMTS13 mutant is useful as a thrombolytic agent to treat common thrombotic disorders, including stroke, myocardial infarction, venous thromboembolism, and rare microvascular thrombotic disorders like thrombotic thrombocytopenia purpura (TTP).

This disclosure relates to magnetic microgel beads, and in particular to magnetic microgel beads for biofunctionalization and methods of making and uses thereof, for example, in biosensing assays. In an embodiment, a magnetic microparticle comprising a magnetic nanoparticle encapsulated by a polymer hydrogel. In another embodiment, an assay for detecting the presence of a target analyte in a sample comprising a) the magnetic microparticle disclosed herein, wherein the biorecognition agent further comprises a reporter moiety; b) an electrochemical chip comprising a working electrode, a counter electrode and a reference electrode; and c) a capture probe functionalized on the working electrode; wherein binding of the biorecognition agent to the target analyte results in production of an electrochemical, electroluminescent or photoelectrochemical signal.

A portable biosensing readout system for analyzing a sample is described herein. The system include a biosensor comprising a working electrode, a reference electrode and a counter electrode. The system also includes a core potentiostat circuit coupled to the biosensor, the core potentiostat circuit having one or more amplifiers configured to inject an excitation signal into the biosensor; isolate the reference electrode; and convert current of an output signal from the biosensor to voltage. The system also includes a microcontroller unit in communication with the core potentiostat circuit, the microcontroller unit being configured to: generate various different types of excitation signals that are transmitted to the core potentiostat circuit and, subsequently, to the biosensor; receive the output signal from the core potentiostat circuit; and communicate the output signal to an external computing device. The system also includes a peripheral instrument in communication with the microcontroller unit for processing the sample.