Exciton-plasmon interactions in molecular spring assemblies of nanowires and wavelength-based protein detection.
Electronic interactions at the nanoscale represent one of the fundamental problems of nanotechnology. Excitons and plasmons are the two most typical excited states of nanostructures, which have been shown to produce coupled electronic systems. Here, we explore these interactions for the case of nanowires with mobile excitons and nanoparticles with localized plasmons and describe the theoretical formalism, its experimental validation and the potential practical applications of such nanoscale systems. Theory predicts that emission of coupled excitations in nanowires with variable electronic confinement is stronger, shorter and blue-shifted. These predictions were confirmed with a high degree of accuracy in molecular spring assemblies of CdTe nanowires and Au nanoparticles, where we can reversibly change the distance between the exciton and the plasmon. The prepared systems were made protein-sensitive by incorporating antibodies in the molecular springs. Modulation of exciton-plasmon interactions can serve as a wavelength-based biodetection tool, which can resolve difficulties in the quantification of luminescence intensity for complex media and optical pathways.

title: Nanoparticle assemblies with molecular springs: a nanoscale thermometer.
abstract: aretypicallystatic:Theyshowa limitedresponsetoenvironmentalparametersanddonotexhibitsmoothrever-sible transitions of their three-dimensional organization orgeometry in response to external stimuli. Dynamic NPsuperstructures with gradual structural adaptation tocommon physical parameters may reveal interesting analo-gies to biological entities of similar scale.

title: Bioconjugated Ag nanoparticles and CdTe nanowires: metamaterials with field-enhanced light absorption.
abstract: The hybrid assembly of inorganic and metallic nanomaterials by means of chemical and biological bonding to yield manifold optical and electromagnetic properties has received widespread attention. Currently available highly monodispersed nanomaterials such as semiconductors and noble metals that can be conjugated by ligand–receptor, antigen– antibody reactions, polymer tethering, and DNA hybridization are used as building blocks for 2D or 3D superstructures in which new collective properties of these artificial assemblies have been obtained. They represent a large class of newmaterials (i.e., metamaterials) in which the properties are determined not only by classical atomic composition, but also by nanoscale organization of structural components. Recently, metamaterials based on metallic composites have received special attention as these are expected to display negative values for permittivity and refractive index. This property should lead to a multitude of unique optical effects. Many of these effects are related to surface plasmons on Au or Ag nanoparticles (NPs), which generate exceptionally high localized electromagnetic fields, and have been exploited in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and some optoelectronic devices. 22] Metamaterials from semiconductors and their combinations with metals can also produce optical effects that are useful for development of advanced sensing and imaging technologies. Recently, we

title: Bioconjugated superstructures of CdTe nanowires and nanoparticles: multistep cascade Förster resonance energy transfer and energy channeling.
abstract: Nanoparticle/nanowire assemblies with a degree of radial organization were prepared around luminescent semiconducting CdTe nanowires using bioconjugation with streptavidin and D-biotin linkers. Red-emitting nanowires (6.62 +/- 1.55 nm diameter, 512 +/- 119 nm length) and green-emitting nanoparticles (3.2 +/- 0.7 nm diameter) were surface-modified with biotin, while orange-emitting nanoparticles (4.1 +/- 1.2 nm diameter) were decorated with streptavidin. CdTe nanocrystals produced two fuzzy layers around the nanowires in which the diameter of CdTe nanoparticles decreased with the distance from the nanowire axis. Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from the outside layer of nanoparticles to the central nanowire was observed for nanowires conjugated with 4.1 nm CdTe. Addition of 3.2 nm CdTe resulted in a red-orange-green optical progression with band gaps of CdTe decreasing toward the axis of the superstructure. In this case, 4-fold luminescence enhancement of the nanowire luminescence was observed and was attributed to multistep FRET. This observation indicated the accumulation of photogenerated excitons in the cascade terminal. A simple model of multiconjugated superstructure with cascade energy transfer is developed and used to describe and understand the experimental data. The experimental data and theoretical model suggest the possibility of utilization of the prepared superstructures with radial symmetry in several classes of optoelectronic devices including nanomaterials for energy collection. They can also be a convenient model object for the investigation of methods of energy funneling in nanoscale assemblies.

title: Respiration-induced B0 field fluctuation compensation in balanced SSFP: real-time approach for transition-band SSFP fMRI.
abstract: In functional MRI (fMRI) the resonance frequency shift induced from respiration is a major source of physiological noise. In transition-band SSFP fMRI the respiration-induced resonance offset not only increases noise interference, it also shifts the activation band. This leads to a reduction in the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and the potential for varying contrast levels during the experiment. A novel real-time method that compensates for the respiration-induced resonance offset frequency is presented. This method utilizes free induction decay (FID) phase information to measure the resonance offset. For compensation, one can update the resonant frequency in real time by changing the transmit RF pulse and receiver phases to track the measured offset. The results show decreased signal power in the respiration frequency band and increased numbers of activated voxels with higher Z-scores compared to uncompensated experiments.

title: Sensitivity of MRI resonance frequency to the orientation of brain tissue microstructure
abstract: Recent advances in high-field (≥7 T) MRI have made it possible to study the fine structure of the human brain at the level of fiber bundles and cortical layers. In particular, techniques aimed at detecting MRI resonance frequency shifts originating from local variation in magnetic susceptibility and other sources have greatly improved the visualization of these structures. A recent theoretical study [He X, Yablonskiy DA (2009) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:13558–13563] suggests that MRI resonance frequency may report not only on tissue composition, but also on microscopic compartmentalization of susceptibility inclusions and their orientation relative to the magnetic field. The proposed sensitivity to tissue structure may greatly expand the information available with conventional MRI techniques. To investigate this possibility, we studied postmortem tissue samples from human corpus callosum with an experimental design that allowed separation of microstructural effects from confounding macrostructural effects. The results show that MRI resonance frequency does depend on microstructural orientation. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of the resonance frequency shift suggests an origin related to anisotropic susceptibility effects rather than microscopic compartmentalization. This anisotropy, which has been shown to depend on molecular ordering, may provide valuable information about tissue molecular structure.

title: Principles of locomotion for simple-shaped cells
abstract: MOVING cells display a variety of shapes and modes of locomotion1, but it is not clear how motility at the molecular level relates to the locomotion of a whole cell, a problem compounded in studies of cells with complex shapes2–5. A striking feature of fish epidermal keratocyte locomotion is its apparent simplicity6. Here we present a kinematic description of locomotion which is consistent with the semicircular shape and persistent 'gliding'; motion of fish epidermal keratocytes. We propose that extension of the front and retraction of the rear of these cells occurs perpendicularly to the cell edge, and that a graded distribution of extension and retraction rates along the cell margin maintains cell shape and size during locomotion. Evidence for this description is provided by the predicted circumferential motion of lamellar features and the curvature of 'photo-marked' lines within specific molecular components of moving keratocytes. Our description relates the dynamics of molecular assemblies to the movement of a whole cell.

title: Marketplace Analysis Demonstrates Quality Control Standards Needed for Black Raspberry Dietary Supplements
abstract: There is currently no standard for the minimum anthocyanin concentration a black raspberry dietary supplement must contain for legal sale in the US. All consumer available black raspberry products (n = 19), packaged as dietary supplements or otherwise prepared (freeze-dried whole and pre-ground powders), were purchased and analyzed for their anthocyanin composition and concentration. Seven of the 19 samples contained no anthocyanins from black raspberry fruit, while three of those seven (without black raspberry fruit) had no anthocyanins of any kind. There was a wide range of anthocyanin concentration within the remaining products (18.1–2,904.8 mg/100 g; n = 12). When expressed as per capsule or per ∼1 teaspoon, concentration ranged from 0.1 to 145.2 mg (average 28 mg; n = 12). Until US dietary supplement labeling comes under regulatory oversight similar to food guidelines, foods are a more dependable source for dietary phenolics than supplements.

title: Erasing genomic imprinting memory in mouse clone embryos produced from day 11.5 primordial germ cells.
abstract: Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic mechanism that causes functional differences between paternal and maternal genomes, and plays an essential role in mammalian development. Stage-specific changes in the DNA methylation patterns of imprinted genes suggest that their imprints are erased some time during the primordial germ cell (PGC) stage, before their gametic patterns are re-established during gametogenesis according to the sex of individuals. To define the exact timing and pattern of the erasure process, we have analyzed parental-origin-specific expression of imprinted genes and DNA methylation patterns of differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in embryos, each derived from a single day 11.5 to day 13.5 PGC by nuclear transfer. Cloned embryos produced from day 12.5 to day 13.5 PGCs showed growth retardation and early embryonic lethality around day 9.5. Imprinted genes lost their parental-origin-specific expression patterns completely and became biallelic or silenced. We confirmed that clones derived from both male and female PGCs gave the same result, demonstrating the existence of a common default state of genomic imprinting to male and female germlines. When we produced clone embryos from day 11.5 PGCs, their development was significantly improved, allowing them to survive until at least the day 11.5 embryonic stage. Interestingly, several intermediate states of genomic imprinting between somatic cell states and the default states were seen in these embryos. Loss of the monoallelic expression of imprinted genes proceeded in a step-wise manner coordinated specifically for each imprinted gene. DNA demethylation of the DMRs of the imprinted genes in exact accordance with the loss of their imprinted monoallelic expression was also observed. Analysis of DNA methylation in day 10.5 to day 12.5 PGCs demonstrated that PGC clones represented the DNA methylation status of donor PGCs well. These findings provide strong evidence that the erasure process of genomic imprinting memory proceeds in the day 10.5 to day 11.5 PGCs, with the timing precisely controlled for each imprinted gene. The nuclear transfer technique enabled us to analyze the imprinting status of each PGC and clearly demonstrated a close relationship between expression and DNA methylation patterns and the ability of imprinted genes to support development.