High-throughput 3D spheroid culture and drug testing using a 384 hanging drop array

Culture of cells as three-dimensional (3D) aggregates can enhance in vitro tests for basic biological research as well as for therapeutics development. Such 3D culture models, however, are often more complicated, cumbersome, and expensive than two-dimensional (2D) cultures. This paper describes a 384-well format hanging drop culture plate that makes spheroid formation, culture, and subsequent drug testing on the obtained 3D cellular constructs as straightforward to perform and adapt to existing high-throughput screening (HTS) instruments as conventional 2D cultures. Using this platform, we show that drugs with different modes of action produce distinct responses in the physiological 3D cell spheroids compared to conventional 2D cell monolayers. Specifically, the anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) has higher anti-proliferative effects on 2D cultures whereas the hypoxia activated drug commonly referred to as tirapazamine (TPZ) are more effective against 3D cultures. The multiplexed 3D hanging drop culture and testing plate provides an efficient way to obtain biological insights that are often lost in 2D platforms.     

Synthesis and Crystal Structures of the Molybdenum(II) Complexes with the N,N‐dimethylthiocarbamoyl Containing Ligand: Crystal Structures of [Mo(CO)2(η2‐S2COEt)(η2‐SCNMe2)(PPh3)] and [Mo(CO)2(η2‐S2CNC4H8)(η2‐SCNMe2)(PPh3)]

The reaction of the thiocarbamoyl‐molybdenum complex [Mo(CO)₂(η²‐SCNMe₂)(PPh₃)₂Cl] 1 , with EtOCS2K and C4H8NCS2NH4 in dichloromethane at room temperature yielded the seven coordinated ethyldithiocarbonate thiocarbamoyl‐molybdenum complex [Mo(CO)₂(η²‐S₂COEt)(η²‐SCNMe₂)(PPh₃)] 2 , and the dithiocarbamate thiocarbamoyl‐molybdenum complex [Mo(CO)₂(η²‐S₂CNC₄H₈)(η²‐SCNMe₂)(PPh₃)] 3 . The geometry around the metal atom of compounds 2 and 3 are capped octahedrons as revealed by X‐ray diffraction analyses. The thiocarbamoyl and ethyldithiocarbonate or pyrrolidinyldithiocarbamate ligands coordinate to the molybdenum metal center through the carbon and sulfur and two sulfur atoms, respectively. Structure parameters, NMR, IR and Mass spectra are in agreement with the crystal chemistry of the two compounds.     

Dynamic information for cardiotoxin protein desorption from a methyl-terminated self-assembled monolayer using steered molecular dynamics simulation

Dynamic information, such as force, structural change, interaction energy, and potential of mean force (PMF), about the desorption of a single cardiotoxin (CTX) protein from a methyl-terminated self-assembled monolayer (SAM) surface was investigated by means of steered molecular dynamics (SMD) simulations. The simulation results indicated that Loop I is the first loop to depart from the SAM surface, which is in good agreement with the results of the nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy experiment. The free energy landscape and the thermodynamic force of the CTX desorption process was represented by the PMF and by the derivative of PMF with respect to distance, respectively. By applying Jarzynski's equality, the PMF can be reconstructed from the SMD simulation. The PMFs, calculated by different estimators based upon Jarzynski's equality, were compared with the conventional umbrella sampling method. The best estimation was obtained by using the fluctuation-dissipation estimator with a pulling velocity of v = 0.25 nm/ns for the present study.     

Environment-dependent ultrafast photoisomerization dynamics in azo dye

Azoaromatic dyes have been extensively investigated over the past decade due to their potential use in a variety of optical devices that exploit their ultrafast photoisomerization processes. Among the azoaromatic dyes, Disperse Red 19 is a commercially available azobenzene nonlinear optical chromophore with a relatively high ground-state dipole moment. In the present study, we used ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy to clarify the dynamics of a push-pull substituted azobenzene dye. Solution and film samples exhibited different ultrafast dynamics, indicating that the molecular environment affects the photoisomerization dynamics of the dye.     

On the Asymmetric Shapley Value for Cooperative Games

We discover an interesting relationship between the Shapley value and the asymmetric Shapley value.AMS Subject Classification (2000): Primary 91A06, 91A12, 91B12, 91B74, Secondary 91A80     

Synthesis and properties of new soluble triphenylamine‐based aromatic poly(amine amide)s derived from N,N′‐bis(4‐carboxyphenyl)‐N,N′‐diphenyl‐1,4‐phenylenediamine

A new triphenylamine‐containing aromatic dicarboxylic acid, N,N′‐bis(4‐carboxyphenyl)‐N,N′‐diphenyl‐1,4‐phenylenediamine, was synthesized by the condensation of N,N′‐diphenyl‐1,4‐phenylenediamine with 4‐fluorobenzonitrile, followed by the alkaline hydrolysis of the intermediate dinitrile compound. A series of novel triphenylamine‐based aromatic poly(amine amide)s with inherent viscosities of 0.50–1.02 dL/g were prepared from the diacid and various aromatic diamines by direct phosphorylation polycondensation. All the poly(amine amide)s were amorphous in nature, as evidenced by X‐ray diffractograms. Most of the poly(amine amide)s were quite soluble in a variety of organic solvents and could be solution‐cast into transparent, tough, and flexible films with good mechanical properties. They had useful levels of thermal stability associated with glass‐transition temperatures up to 280 °C, 10% weight‐loss temperatures in excess of 575 °C, and char yields at 800 °C in nitrogen higher than 60%. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 94–105, 2003     

Computation of reference Bayesian inference for variance components in longitudinal studies

Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) have been applied widely in the analysis of longitudinal data. This model confers two important advantages, namely, the flexibility to include random effects and the ability to make inference about complex covariances. In practice, however, the inference of variance components can be a difficult task due to the complexity of the model itself and the dimensionality of the covariance matrix of random effects. Here we first discuss for GLMMs the relation between Bayesian posterior estimates and penalized quasi-likelihood (PQL) estimates, based on the generalization of Harville’s result for general linear models. Next, we perform fully Bayesian analyses for the random covariance matrix using three different reference priors, two with Jeffreys’ priors derived from approximate likelihoods and one with the approximate uniform shrinkage prior. Computations are carried out via the combination of asymptotic approximations and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. Under the criterion of the squared Euclidean norm, we compare the performances of Bayesian estimates of variance components with that of PQL estimates when the responses are non-normal, and with that of the restricted maximum likelihood (REML) estimates when data are assumed normal. Three applications and simulations of binary, normal, and count responses with multiple random effects and of small sample sizes are illustrated. The analyses examine the differences in estimation performance when the covariance structure is complex, and demonstrate the equivalence between PQL and the posterior modes when the former can be derived. The results also show that the Bayesian approach, particularly under the approximate Jeffreys’ priors, outperforms other procedures.     

Crystallization of poly(aryl ether ketone ketone) copolymers containing terephthalate/isophthalate moieties

In a previous study, we have investigated the structure, crystallization, and morphology of poly(aryl ether ketone ketone), PEKK, copolymers prepared from diphenyl ether (DPE), terephthalic acid (T), and isophthalic acid (I) with T/I ratios from 100/0 to 50/50. These materials were considered as having -DPE-T-DPE-T- (TT) and/or -DPE-T-DPE-I- (TI) “phthalate diads.” In this work, we continue the study of this copolymer series with six different T/I ratios (40/60, 30/70, 20/80, 15/85, 10/90, and 0/100), which are viewed as having TI and/or -DPE-I-DPE-I- (II) “diads.” The I moieties (1,3-linked isomers) were always found to be incorporated in the crystals and acted as “entropy or symmetry” defects that effectively decreased the equilibrium melting temperature T_m^o and the rate of crystallization. However, the retardation of crystallization in PEKK 0/100 (the homopolymer with pure II diads) was significantly less than expected, which was attributed to the segregation of I moieties between the chains leading to a reduction of total entropy in the unit cells. The evidence of segmental segregation in PEKK 0/100 was seen in x-ray diffraction patterns, where several extra reflections were seen that could only be indexed by the published unit cell modified with a larger c-axis dimension (3.048 nm, corresponding to the length of six phenyl residues or 1.524 nm, the length of three phenyl residues). The composition of 15/85 was found to have the lowest value of T_m^o and the slowest crystallization rate. Upon heating, the “II” crystals (T/I from 30/70 to 0/100) exhibited the conventional double-melting behavior rather than the triple-melting behavior as in the “TI” crystals (50/50 to 40/60). No indication of the second polymorph form 2 was found in “II” crystals. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Stable methods for an inverse problem in acoustic scattering by an obstacle and an inhomogeneous medium

We consider (in two-dimensional Euclidean space) the scattering of a plane, time-harmonic acoustic wave by an inhomogeneous medium Ω with compact support and a bounded obstacle D lying completely outside of the inhomogeneous medium. We show that one may determine the shape of D and the local speed of sound in Ω from a knowledge of the asymptotic behavior of the scattered wave (i.e. the far field). This is done by considering a constrained optimization problem and employing integral equation and conformal mapping techniques. By assuming a priori that the functions which determine the shape of D and the local speed of sound in Ω lie in given compact sets, we show that the problem is stable, in the sense that the solution of the inverse scattering problem depends continuously on the far field data.