As classical soft materials, conductive hydrogels have attracted wide attention in the field of strain sensors due to their unique flexibility and conductivity. However, there are still challenges in developing conductive hydrogels with comprehensive mechanical strength, self-healing ability and sensitive sensing properties. In this paper, a novel PAV/CMGG hydrogel was prepared by a simple one-pot method through the introduction of 1-vinyl-3-butylimidazolium bromide (VBIMBr), acrylic acid (AA), carboxymethyl guar gum (CMGG) and AlCl3. The coordination bond between Al3+ and -COO- groups on PAA and CMGG, the hydrogen bond between PAA and CMGG, and the electrostatic interaction between [VBIM]+ and -COO- endow the hydrogel with good mechanical properties, self-recovery ability, fatigue resistance and great self-healing properties. PAV/CMGG hydrogel had good conductivity of 2.31 S/m which could successfully light up the bulb. The hydrogel as the strain sensor had not only a wide strain sensing capability (strain ranging from 0 to 800 %), but also a high strain sensitivity (gauge factor (GF) = 28.50 for the strain ranging from 600 to 800 %). This study can provide inspiration for the construction of new high-performance flexible sensors.

Limaprost, an orally administered analogue of prostaglandin E1, possesses potent vasodilatory, antiplatelet, and cytoprotective properties. Due to its extremely low therapeutic doses and exceedingly low plasma concentrations, the pharmacokinetic and bioequivalence studies of limaprost necessitate a highly sensitive quantitative method with a sub-pg/mL level of lower limit of quantification. Moreover, the intensity of endogenous interferences can even exceed the maximum concentration level of limaprost in human plasma, presenting further challenge to the quantification of limaprost. As a result, existing methods have not yet met the necessary level of sensitivity, selectivity, and throughput needed for the quantitative analysis of limaprost in pharmacokinetic and bioequivalence investigations. This study presents a new methodology that combines differential mobility spectrometry (DMS) with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and utilizes a distinctive strategy to achieve more accurate DMS conditions. This integration yields a method that is currently the most sensitive and features the shortest analytical time, making it the sole technique capable of meeting the requirements for limaprost pharmacokinetic and bioequivalence investigations. This method demonstrates robustness and is successfully employed in a pharmacokinetic investigation of limaprost in human subjects, underscoring that the combination of DMS with LC-MS/MS serves as an efficacious strategy for overcoming the challenges inherent in analyzing biological samples afflicted by multiple interferences.

Silicon photonic-based refractive index sensors are of great value in the detection of gases, biological and chemical substances. Among them, microring resonators are the most promising due to their compact size and narrow Lorentzian-shaped spectrum. The electric field in a subwavelength grating waveguide (SWG) is essentially confined in the low-refractive index dielectric, favoring enhanced analyte-photon interactions, which represents higher sensitivity. However, it is very challenging to further significantly improve the sensitivity of SWG ring resonator refractive index sensors. Here, a hybrid waveguide blocks double slot subwavelength grating microring resonator (HDSSWG-MRR) refractive index sensor operating in a water refractive index environment is proposed. By designing a new waveguide structure, a sensitivity of up to 1005 nm/RIU has been achieved, which is 182 nm/RIU higher than the currently highest sensitivity silicon photonic micro ring refractive index sensor. Meanwhile, utilizing a unique waveguide structure, a Q of 22,429 was achieved and a low limit of detection of 6.86 × 10-5 RIU was calculated.

To realize on stable and real-time monitoring of human activities, novel hydrogels using polyacrylic acid (PAA) and carboxymethyl guar gum (CMGG) were fabricated as wearable and flexible strain or pressure sensors in the presence of lignosulfonate (LS) and Al3+. Based on the co-existence of metal coordination bonds, hydrogen bonds and ionic interaction in this system, the obtained hydrogels exhibited desirable mechanical properties with good self-recovery ability. The hydrogels displayed good self-adhesion behavior and an ultra-high tensile sensitivity (gauge factor (GF) = 24.30), therefore, they could precisely detect human joints movements such as elbow, wrist, and finger bending as well as tiny movements and external stimuli such as swallowing, smile, frown, pulse, speaking, writing, and even the falling of different liquid drops. Additionally, the hydrogels showed excellent self-healing ability with the healing efficiency as high as 100 % after 30 h. Most importantly, the healed hydrogel could perform the same sensing performance as before. Based on these distinguished characteristics, this hydrogel represents great potentials in wearable and flexible sensors for long-term and stable health monitoring application.

OBJECTIVE: Long axial field-of-view (LAFOV) PET/CT showed improved performance resulting from higher sensitivity. The aim was to quantify the impact of using the full acceptance angle (UHS) in image reconstructions with the Biograph Vision Quadra LAFOV PET/CT (Siemens Healthineers) compared to the limited acceptance angle (high sensitivity mode, HS).
METHODS: 38 oncological patients examined on a LAFOV Biograph Vision Quadra PET/CT were analysed. 15 patients underwent [18F]FDG-PET/CT, 15 patients underwent [18F]PSMA-1007 PET/CT, and 8 patients underwent [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-TOC PET/CT. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and standardised uptake values (SUVmean/max/peak) were used to compare UHS and HS with different acquisition times.
RESULTS: The SNR was significantly higher for UHS compared to HS over all acquisition times (SNR UHS/HS [18F]FDG: 1.35 ± 0.02, p < 0.001; [18F]PSMA-1007: 1.25 ± 0.02, p < 0.001; [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-TOC: 1.29 ± 0.02, p < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: UHS showed significantly higher SNR opening the possibility of halving short acquisition times. This is of advantage in further reduction of whole-body PET/CT acquisition.

Photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) based gas sensors with high sensitivity, wide dynamic range, low cost, and small footprint are desirable in energy, environment, safety, and public health. However, most works have focused on either acoustic resonator to enhance acoustic wave or optical resonator to enhance optical wave. Herein, we develop a gas sensor based on doubly resonant PAS in which the acoustic and optical waves are simultaneously enhanced using combined optical and acoustic resonators in a centimeter-long configuration. Not only the lower detection limit is enhanced by the double standing waves, but also the upper detection limit is expanded due to the short resonators. As an example, we developed a sensor by detecting acetylene (C2H2), achieving a noise equivalent absorption of 5.7 × 10-13 cm-1 and a dynamic range of eight orders. Compared to the state-of-the-art PAS gas sensors, the developed sensor achieves a record sensitivity and dynamic range.

A suspended carbon nanotube (SCNT)-based field effective transistor (SCNT-FET), which was fabricated by utilizing the surface tension of liquid silver to suspend a CNT between two Pd electrodes, was proposed for the detection of DNA hybridization. Benefits from the separation between the CNT and the substrates could be observed; namely, the conductivity of a SCNT-FET was much higher (two orders of magnitude) than that of a FET based on an unsuspended CNT and about 50% sensing surface of CNT was freed from substrate. The Slater-Koster tight-binding method was adopted for geometry optimization and transport property calculation of the SCNT bound with DNA. The result showed that the conductance (G = 1/R) of the SCNT decreased in order with the binding of single-stranded DNA (SSDNA, probe DNA) and double-stranded DNA (DSDNA) and that the ability of DSDNA to weaken the conductivity of the SCNT was several times higher than that of SSDNA. SEM and Raman spectroscopy were used to demonstrate that DNA could be bound successfully onto the SCNT using a 1-pyrenebutanoic acid succinimidyl ester (PBASE) as a linkage. Ultra-high sensitivity detection of DNA [with a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 10 aM] was obtained using such an SCNT-FET, which showed a lower value than that of a previously reported FET DNA biosensor whose sensing materials were in direct contact with the substrate.

A nanoimmunosensor based on wavelength-dependent dark-field illumination with enhanced sensitivity was used to detect a disease-related protein molecule at zeptomolar (zM) concentrations. The assay platform of 100-nm gold nanospots could be selectively acquired using the wavelength-dependence of enhanced scattering signals from antibody-conjugated plasmonic silver nanoparticles (NPs) with on-off switching using optical filters. Detection of human thyroid-stimulating hormone (hTSH) at a sensitivity of 100 zM, which corresponds to 1-2 molecules per gold spot, was possible within a linear range of 100 zM-100 fM (R=0.9968). A significantly enhanced sensitivity (~4-fold) was achieved with enhanced dark-field illumination compared to using a total internal reflection fluorescence immunosensor. Immunoreactions were confirmed via optical axial-slicing based on the spectral characteristics of two plasmonic NPs. This method of using wavelength-dependent dark-field illumination had an enhanced sensitivity and a wide, linear dynamic range of 100 zM-100 fM, and was an effective tool for quantitatively detecting a single molecule on a nanobiochip for molecular diagnostics.