BMP-6 Loaded Polyelectrolyte Complex Nanoparticles Inducing Osteogenic Differentiation and Apoptosis of Malignant Plasma Cells for Local Treatment of Multiple Myeloma

In the malignant plasma cell disease multiple myeloma (MM), bone lesions and resulting fractures caused by MM cell (MMC) accumulation represent a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Despite recent advantages in systemic treatment, residual MMCs remain, especially in bone lesions. Therefore an interfacial delivery system for local treatment of MM and induced bone disease based on polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticles (PEC NP) loaded with bone morphogenetic protein 6 (BMP-6) inducing de-novo bone formation and MMC apoptosis is presented herein. BMP-6 loaded PEC NP are fabricated by defined mixing bio-related cationic and anionic polysaccharides and BMP-6 according to molar ratio of BMP-6/PEC-NP of 1/3. BMP-6/PEC NP bound to a model substrate releases 10% BMP-6 sustainably within two weeks as accessed by infrared spectroscopy. BMP-6 loaded PEC NP adheres to cell membranes of MMCs and MSCs and activated phosphorylation of Smad 1/5. Osteogenic differentiation (ALP-concentration) is enhanced in MSCs (p < 0.05). All patient samples (10/10) of MMCs show significant induction of apoptosis (median 84%, p < 0.05). Finally, BMP-6/PEC NP are successfully integrated in a commercial hyaluronic acid based hydrogel material revealing MMC death as principal proof for the local treatment of MM induced bone lesions.     

Search for hadronic decays of a light Higgs boson in the radiative decay Υ→γA0

We search for hadronic decays of a light Higgs boson (A(0)) produced in radiative decays of an Υ(2S) or Υ(3S) meson, Υ→γA(0). The data have been recorded by the BABAR experiment at the Υ(3S) and Υ(2S) center-of-mass energies and include (121.3±1.2)×10(6) Υ(3S) and (98.3±0.9)×10(6) Υ(2S) mesons. No significant signal is observed. We set 90% confidence level upper limits on the product branching fractions B(Υ(nS)→γA(0))B(A(0)→hadrons) (n=2 or 3) that range from 1×10(-6) for an A(0) mass of 0.3 GeV/c(2) to 8×10(-5) at 7 GeV/c(2).     

1H, 13C and 15N NMR assignments for N6‐isopentenyladenosine/inosine analogues

The complete ¹H, ¹³C and ¹⁵N NMR signals assignments of some new isopentenyladenosine analogues were achieved using one‐ and two‐dimensional experiments (gs‐NOESY, gs‐HMQC and gs‐HMBC). Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Orthogonal and unitary tensor decomposition from an algebraic perspective

While every matrix admits a singular value decomposition, in which the terms are pairwise orthogonal in a strong sense, higher-order tensors typically do not admit such an orthogonal decomposition. Those that do have attracted attention from theoretical computer science and scientific computing. We complement this existing body of literature with an algebro-geometric analysis of the set of orthogonally decomposable tensors.More specifically, we prove that they form a real-algebraic variety defined by polynomials of degree at most four. The exact degrees, and the corresponding polynomials, are different in each of three times two scenarios: ordinary, symmetric, or alternating tensors; and real-orthogonal versus complex-unitary. A key feature of our approach is a surprising connection between orthogonally decomposable tensors and semisimple algebras—associative in the ordinary and symmetric settings and of compact Lie type in the alternating setting.     

Solid-state gas sensors for breath analysis: A review

The analysis of volatile compounds is an efficient method to appraise information about the chemical composition of liquids and solids. This principle is applied to several practical applications, such as food analysis where many important features (e.g. freshness) can be directly inferred from the analysis of volatile compounds.     

“Zero” temperature stochastic 3D ising model and dimer covering fluctuations: A first step towards interface mean curvature motion

We consider the Glauber dynamics for the Ising model with “+” boundary conditions, at zero temperature or at a temperature that goes to zero with the system size (hence the quotation marks in the title). In dimension d = 3 we prove that an initial domain of linear size L of “−” spins disappears within a time τ₊, which is at most L²(log L)^c and at least L²/(c log L) for some c > 0. The proof of the upper bound proceeds via comparison with an auxiliary dynamics which mimics the motion by mean curvature that is expected to describe, on large time scales, the evolution of the interface between “+” and “−” domains. The analysis of the auxiliary dynamics requires recent results on the fluctuations of the height function associated to dimmer coverings of the infinite honeycomb lattice. Our result, apart from the spurious logarithmic factors, is the first rigorous confirmation of the Lifshitz law τ₊ ≃ const × L², conjectured on heuristic grounds [8, 13]. In dimension d = 2, τ₊ can be shown to be of order L² without logarithmic corrections: the upper bound was proven in [6], and here we provide the lower bound. For d = 2, we also prove that the spectral gap of the generator behaves like for L large, as conjectured in [2]. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.