Enzymatic Extraction of Bioactive and Self‐Assembling Wool Keratin for Biomedical Applications

Keratin is widely recognized as a high‐quality renewable protein resource for biomedical applications. Despite their extensive existence, keratin resources such as feathers, wool, and hair exhibit high stability and mechanical properties because of their high disulfide bond content. Consequently, keratin extraction is challenging and its application is greatly hindered. In this work, a biological extraction strategy is proposed for the preparation of bioactive keratin and the fabrication of self‐assembled keratin hydrogels (KHs). Based on moderate and controlled hydrolysis by keratinase, keratin with a high molecular weight of approximately 45 and 28 kDa that retain its intrinsic bioactivities is obtained. The keratin products show excellent ability to promote cell growth and migration and are conferred with significant antioxidant ability because of their intrinsically high cysteine content. In addition, without the presence of any cross‐linking agent, the extracted keratin can self‐assemble into injectable hydrogels. The KHs exhibit a porous network structure and 3D culture ability, showing potential in promoting wound healing. This enzyme‐driven keratin extraction strategy opens up a new approach for the preparation of keratin that can self‐assemble into injectable hydrogels for biomedical engineering.     

The comparable structural,elastic anisotropic and thermophysical properties of advanced U–Si fuel to baseline UO2: a DTF method

The European Physical Journal B - Molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo methods are common measurements to study the diffusion coefficients of the fluid particles under restricted conditions. Here,...     

Polymer Scaffolds for Biomedical Applications in Peripheral Nerve Reconstruction

The nervous system is a significant part of the human body, and peripheral nerve injury caused by trauma can cause various functional disorders. When the broken end defect is large and cannot be repaired by direct suture, small gap sutures of nerve conduits can effectively replace nerve transplantation and avoid the side effect of donor area disorders. There are many choices for nerve conduits, and natural materials and synthetic polymers have their advantages. Among them, the nerve scaffold should meet the requirements of good degradability, biocompatibility, promoting axon growth, supporting axon expansion and regeneration, and higher cell adhesion. Polymer biological scaffolds can change some shortcomings of raw materials by using electrospinning filling technology and surface modification technology to make them more suitable for nerve regeneration. Therefore, polymer scaffolds have a substantial prospect in the field of biomedicine in future. This paper reviews the application of nerve conduits in the field of repairing peripheral nerve injury, and we discuss the latest progress of materials and fabrication techniques of these polymer scaffolds.     

InSb芯片碎裂与迸溅金点的关系

批量生产中经常发生的锑化铟(InSb)芯片碎裂问题制约着InSb红外焦平面探测器(IRFPAs)成品率的提升.经分析认为:低周期液氮冲击下发生在器件边沿区域的InSb芯片破碎与该区域中迸溅金点的存在有关.为从理论上明晰迸溅金点对InSb芯片局部碎裂的影响,本文建立了包含迸溅金点的InSb IRFPAs结构模型,分析了迸溅金点的存在对应力分布的影响.在此基础上,在应力集中处预置不同长度的初始裂纹用以描述InSb晶片中的位错,以能量释放率为判据,探究InSb芯片碎裂与迸溅金点和位错线长短的关系.结论如下:1)迸溅金点的存在对InSb芯片碎裂的影响是局部的,在迸溅金点与InSb芯片接触区域的两侧会形成两个应力集中点; 2)环绕预置裂纹的能量释放率会随着预置裂纹长度的增加而加速增大,当预置裂纹长度接近InSb芯片上表面时,能量释放率近乎指数增加,并在预置裂纹贯穿InSb芯片时达到最大值; 3)迸溅金点引起的InSb芯片破碎属于Ⅰ型断裂失效模式,在多周期液氮冲击中,位错线在应力集中效应的驱使下逐步扩展,直至贯穿InSb芯片,最终形成宏观碎裂失效现象.     

染料敏化太阳能电池载流子传输的数值模拟

由于在染料敏化太阳能电池(dye-sensitized solar cell, DSSC)中存在染料弛豫、半导体薄膜中电子与氧化态染料分子发生反应和电子在电解质中与氧化态离子复合等不利反应,利用一个更完善的DSSC载流子传输模型对电池的光电性能进行模拟就显得非常重要。为此,本文基于由多重俘获理论建立的DSSC中的包括电子、染料阳离子、碘化物和三碘化物在内的载流子传输模型,数值模拟得到了不同TiO₂薄膜厚度、不同入射光强度与不同染料分子吸收系数下DSSC的J-V曲线。结果表明,随着TiO₂薄膜厚度的增加,太阳能电池的短路电流密度增大,开路电压减小,光电转换效率先增大后减小。当DSSC的TiO₂薄膜厚度为20 μm时,光电转换效率达到最大值7.41%,同时光电转换效率随入射光强度与染料分子吸收系数的增大均有一定程度提高,其中在吸收系数为4 500 cm^-1时,光电转换效率为6.73%。以上结果可以为改进DSSC的光电性能提供理论指导。     

Tissue distribution and excretion study of neopanaxadiol in rats by ultra‐performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Neopanaxadiol (NPD), a major ginsenoside in Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer (Araliaceae), was reported to have neuroprotective effect. In this study, a method of ultra‐performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/QTOF‐MS) was developed and validated for quantitative analysis of NPD in tissues, urine and feces, using liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) to isolate NPD from different biological samples, and chromatographic separation was performed on an Agilent Zorbax Stable Bond C₁₈ (2.1 × 50 mm, 1.8 µm) column with 0.1% formic acid in water and acetonitrile. All standard calibration curves were linear (all r² > 0.995) within the test range. After oral administration, NPD was extensively distributed to most of the tissues without long‐term accumulation. The higher levels were observed in stomach and intestine, followed by kidney and liver. Approximately 64.56 ± 20.32% of administered dose in feces and 0.0233 ± 0.0356% in urine were found within 96 h, which indicated that the major elimination route was fecal excretion. This analytical method was applied to the study of NPD distribution and excretion in rats after oral intake for the first time. The results we found here are helpful for us to understand the pharmacological effects of NPD, as well as its toxicity. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.