ObjectiveThe goal was to develop methods for detection of chromosomal and subchromosomal abnormalities in fetal cells in the mother's circulation at 10–16 weeks' gestation using analysis by array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and/or next‐generation sequencing (NGS).MethodNucleated cells from 30 mL of blood collected at 10–16 weeks' gestation were separated from red cells by density fractionation and then immunostained to identify cytokeratin positive and CD45 negative trophoblasts. Individual cells were picked and subjected to whole genome amplification, genotyping, and analysis by array CGH and NGS.ResultsFetal cells were recovered from most samples as documented by Y chromosome PCR, short tandem repeat analysis, array CGH, and NGS including over 30 normal male cells, one 47,XXY cell from an affected fetus, one trisomy 18 cell from an affected fetus, nine cells from a trisomy 21 case, three normal cells and one trisomy 13 cell from a case with confined placental mosaicism, and two chromosome 15 deletion cells from a case known by CVS to have a 2.7 Mb de novo deletion.ConclusionWe believe that this is the first report of using array CGH and NGS whole genome sequencing to detect chromosomal abnormalities in fetal trophoblastic cells from maternal blood. © 2016 The Authors. Prenatal Diagnosis published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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To effectively improve the power density and rate capability of layered double hydroxide (LDH) based supercapacitors, a hybrid supercapacitor (HSC) comprising of hierarchical ultrathin NiAl-LDH nanosheet arrays on carbon nanotube paper (CNP-LDH) is developed with porous graphene nanosheets as the negative electrode for the first time. SEM image shows that hierarchical NiAl LDH nanosheet arrays are assembled by numerous ultrathin nanosheets with thickness of a few to tens of nanometers. Remarkably, with an operating voltage of 1.6 V, the * Corresponding author.E-mail address: bizhui@umac.mo (Kwun Nam Hui), k.hui@uea.ac.uk (Kwan San Hui) 1 These authors contributed equally to this work. Even at a fast discharging time of 3.9 s, a high energy density (23.3 Wh kg -1 ) could also be retained at a power density of 21.5 kW kg -1 . Moreover, the HSC exhibits cycling stability with a retention rate of 78% after 5000-cycle charge-discharge test at 5 A g -1 . The results inspire us to propose our high-performance CNP-LDH as a promising electrode for energy storage applications.

A 3D network of single-walled carbon nanotubes embedded in poly-(dimethylsiloxane) is presented as a promising route to the fabrication of a flexible film with ordered and interconnected single-walled carbon nanotubes. This is possible using a simple transfer method of as-grown hierarchical single-walled carbon nanotubes on a Si pillar substrate. This film is used as a highly sensitive strain gauge sensor. This type of network embedded in a polymer film should be applicable to many fields involving mechanically stable and reliable strain sensors.

Abstract:In this work, a facile two-step hydrothermal method was reported to grow hierarchical 1 flower-like NiAl layered double hydroxide (LDH) directly on 3D nickel foam (NF) which was 2 further coated with 2D graphene nanosheets (GNS) layers as binder-free supercapacitor electrode. 3The positive and negative effects of GNS on the electrochemical performance of LDH-NF 4 electrode were investigated in detail. The prepared LDH-NF/GNS electrode maintained an 5 enhanced specific capacity of 165.6 C g -1 after 4000 cycles at a high current density of 40 A g -1 .6 Furthermore, a hybrid supercapacitor, with LDH-NF/GNS and GNS-NF as the positive and 7 negative electrodes, achieved an energy density (31.5 Wh kg -1 at a power density of 400 W kg -1 ) 8 and super long-term cycle stability (a specific capacity of 67.2 C g -1 at 5 A g -1 after 5000 cycles 9 with 80% retention). This study not only opens up the possibility of engineering LDH-NF/GNS 10 into a promising electrode, but also highlights the positive and negative roles of GNS on LDH-NF 11 as binder-free electrodes for further development of high-performance supercapacitors.