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Key Clinical Message: An encephalocele is a congenital malformation characterized by protrusion of the intracranial contents through a cranial defect. We report that a fetus of a pregnant mother who had two consecutive pregnancies with ultrasound‐detected encephalocele carried compound heterozygous variants in B3GALNT2 NM_152490.5:c.[1423C > T (p.Gln475Ter)]; [261‐2A > G] of maternal and paternal origins, respectively, as confirmed by exome sequencing followed by Sanger sequencing validation. The present case implies that mutations in B3GALNT2, a well‐known dystroglycanopathy causative gene, may result in a phenotype of neural tube defect, providing new insights into the clinical spectrum of B3GALNT2‐related disorders. Our study may contribute to prenatal screening/diagnosis and genetic counseling of congenital brain malformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic solar cells (OSCs) process fascinating solution‐printing capability to achieve low‐cost and large‐scale manufacture. However, the rapid power conversion efficiency (PCE) decay with active layer thickness enlargement inhibits the implement of OSCs' potential advantages. To overcome the bottlenecks of PCE decay in thick active layer OSCs, the electrical doping with componential selectivity in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) film is achieved by introducing a solid solvation additive. Benefiting from the higher exciton splitting efficiency together with the longer drift (Ldr) and diffusion (Ldiff) lengths, an OSC with 100 nm BHJ film demonstrates a PCE increment from 16.44% to 18.24% with prolonged dark and illuminated storage stabilities. Applying the solid solvation assisted (SSA) doping method in the OSCs with 500 nm active layer, the PCE significantly increases by 31.9%, from the original value of 11.79% to 15.55%. It further improves to 15.84% in a ternary blend thick‐film device, which is the record value to the best of our knowledge. Besides, the SSA doping narrows the PCE gap between the 0.04 and 1 cm2 devices. All improvements demonstrate the great potential of SSA doping for OSC commercial manufacture, since it optimizes the photovoltaic performance under all practical conditions of long‐term, thick‐film, and large‐area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recently reported efficient polymerized small‐molecule acceptors (PSMAs) usually adopt a regioregular backbone by polymerizing small‐molecule acceptors precursors with a low‐reactivity 5‐brominated 3‐(dicyanomethylidene)indan‐1‐one (IC) end group or its derivatives, leading to low molecular weight, and thus reduce active layer mechanical properties. Herein, a series of newly designed chlorinated PSMAs originating from isomeric IC end groups are developed by adjusting chlorinated positions and copolymerized sites on end groups to achieve high molecular weight, favorable intermolecular interaction, and improved physicochemical properties. Compared with regioregular PY2Se‐Cl‐o and PY2Se‐Cl‐m, regiorandom PY2Se‐Cl‐ran has a similar absorption profile, moderate lowest unoccupied molecular orbital level, and favorable intermolecular packing and crystallization properties. Moreover, the binary PM6:PY2Se‐Cl‐ran blend achieves better ductility with a crack‐onset strain of 17.5% and improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 16.23% in all‐polymer solar cells (all‐PSCs) due to the higher molecular weight of PY2Se‐Cl‐ran and optimized blend morphology, while the ternary PM6:J71:PY2Se‐Cl‐ran blend offers an impressive PCE approaching 17% and excellent device stability, which are all crucial for potential practical applications of all‐PSCs in wearable electronics. To date, the efficiency of 16.86% is the highest value reported for the regiorandom PSMAs‐based all‐PSCs and is also one of the best values reported for the all‐PSCs. Our work provides a new perspective to develop efficient all‐PSCs, with all high active layer ductility, impressive PCE, and excellent device stability, towards practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bio bar code assay based on oligonucleotide-modified gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) provides a PCR-free method for quantitative detection of nucleic acid targets. However, the current bio bar code assay requires lengthy experimental procedures including the preparation and release of bar code DNA probes from the target-nanoparticle complex and immobilization and hybridization of the probes for quantification. Herein, we report a novel PCR-free electrochemiluminescence (ECL)-based bio bar code assay for the quantitative detection of genetically modified organism (GMO) from raw materials. It consists of tris(2,2'-bipyridyl) ruthenium (TBR)-labeled bar code DNA, nucleic acid hybridization using Au-NPs and biotin-labeled probes, and selective capture of the hybridization complex by streptavidin-coated paramagnetic beads. The detection of target DNA is realized by direct measurement of ECL emission of TBR. It can quantitatively detect target nucleic acids with high speed and sensitivity. This method can be used to quantitatively detect GMO fragments from real GMO products.

The development of organic photoactive materials, especially the newly emerging non-fullerene electron acceptors (NFAs), has enabled rapid progress in organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells in recent years. Although the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of the top-performance OPV cells have surpassed 16%, the devices are usually fabricated via a spin-coating method and are not suitable for large-area production. Here, we demonstrate that the fine-modification of the flexible side chains of NFAs can yield 17% PCE for OPV cells. More crucially, as the optimal NFA has a suitable solubility and thus a desirable morphology, the high efficiencies of spin-coated devices can be maintained when using scalable blade-coating processing technology. Our results suggest that optimization of the chemical structures of the OPV materials can improve device performance. This has great significance in larger-area production technologies that provide important scientific insights for the commercialization of OPV cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigations on the relationships among the chemical structures, morphology and photovoltaic properties of conjugated polymers are crucial in designing high-efficiency semiconducting polymers. Here, two novel copolymers, PIBTO-T and PIBTO-TT, were designed and synthesized to demonstrate the improvement in photovoltaic performance of conjugated polymers by a small change in their chemical structures. PIBTO-TT with thieno[3,2-b]thiophene π-bridges has a more linear backbone conformation, thereby resulting in enhanced intermolecular π–π interactions compared to PIBTO-T with thiophene π-bridges. Benefiting from the closer intermolecular π–π stacking, PIBTO-TT:PC71BM exhibits a higher hole mobility than PIBTO-T:PC71BM. Morphological studies reveal that the miscibility of PC71BM in PIBTO-TT is better than that in PIBTO-T. This enhanced miscibility could shorten the distances between adjacent fullerenes and improve electron transportation in the miscible region. Meanwhile, PIBTO-TT:PC71BM blends have larger donor/acceptor interfacial areas than PIBTO-T:PC71BM samples. All these factors contribute to the better photovoltaic performance of PIBTO-TT-based devices. This study clearly shows that the morphological characteristics and photovoltaic properties of conjugated polymers are closely related to their molecular structures, and the manipulation of backbone conformation through π-bridge modulation is a promising molecular engineering approach to improve the photovoltaic properties of conjugated polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Enrofloxacin (ENR) is a fluoroquinolone developed exclusively for the use in veterinary practice for the treatment of respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, and ciprofloxacin (CIP) is its main active metabolite. Their contents are regulated by the EU Council Regulation no. 2377/90 in animal edible tissues. We developed a sensitive and rapid method for the determination of ENR and CIP by capillary electrophoresis (CE) with electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection. The method is based on the detection of aliphatic tertiary or secondary amino moieties in ENR and CIP with end-column tris(2,2-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) electrochemiluminescence. Parameters that affect separation and detection were optimized. Under the optimized conditions, the calibration functions were linear in the range of 0.03–1μgml−1 for ENR and 0.05–1.2μgml−1 for CIP. The detection limits of ENR and CIR were 10ngml−1 and 15ngml−1, respectively, based on the signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The relative standard derivations of the peak height and the migration time for ENR and CIP were less than 4.13%. The developed method was successfully applied to determine ENR and CIP in milk with a solid-phase extraction procedure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]