The Cellular Interactions of PEGylated Gold Nanoparticles: Effect of PEGylation on Cellular Uptake and Cytotoxicity

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) is frequently used to coat various medical nanoparticles (NPs). As PEG is known to minimize NP interactions with biological specimens, the question remains whether PEGylated NPs are intrinsically less toxic or whether this is caused by reduced NP uptake. In the present work, the effect of gold NP PEGylation on uptake by three cell types is compared and evaluated the effect on cell viability, oxidative stress, cell morphology, and functionality using a multiparametric methodology. The data reveal that PEGylation affects cellular NP uptake in a cell‐type‐dependent manner and influences toxicity by different mechanisms. At similar intracellular NP numbers, PEGylated NPs are found to yield higher levels of cell death, mostly by induction of oxidative stress. These findings reveal that PEGylation significantly reduces NP uptake, but that at similar functional (= cell‐associated) NP levels, non‐PEGylated NPs are better tolerated by the cells.     

Cation distribution in natural ferrites

Mössbauer spectra of jacobsite have been recorded at temperatures of 4.2, 125, 180, 240 and 300 K and with an external magnetic field of 60 kOe applied parallel to the incident radiation at 4.2 K. The results show the presence of two different magnetic hyperfine interactions associated with the iron nuclei. Spectra of samples in external magnetic fields indicate the same sign for the magnetic hyperfine interactions, implying that both iron ions occupy only the octahedral sublattice. These results are compared with data from synthetic stoichiometry manganese ferrite, and a model of cation distribution, assuming the existence of vacancies, is proposed. According to this model, the mineral jacobsite is rich in manganese compared with stoichiometric MnFe₂O₄ ferrite.     

Prospects for e+e- physics at Frascati between the φ and the ψ

We present a detailed study, done in the framework of the INFN 2006 Roadmap, of the prospects for e⁺e^- physics at the Frascati National Laboratories. The physics case for an e⁺e^- collider running at high luminosity at the φ resonance energy and also reaching a maximum center of mass energy of 2.5 GeV is discussed, together with the specific aspects of a very high luminosity τ-charm factory. Subjects connected to kaon decay physics are not discussed here, being part of another INFN Roadmap working group. The significance of the project and the impact on INFN are also discussed. All the documentation related to the activities of the working group can be found in http://www.roma1.infn.it/people/bini/roadmap.html.     

Valley susceptibility of an interacting two-dimensional electron system

We report direct measurements of the valley susceptibility, the change of valley population in response to an applied symmetry-breaking strain, in an AlAs two-dimensional electron system. As the two-dimensional density is reduced, the valley susceptibility dramatically increases relative to its band value, reflecting the system's strong electron-electron interaction. The increase has a remarkable resemblance to the enhancement of the spin susceptibility and establishes the analogy between the spin and valley degrees of freedom.     

Enhancement of the SHG efficiency in a doubly resonant 2D-photonic crystal microcavity

In this paper we discuss the conditions to obtain the enhancement of second harmonic generation in a two-dimensional circular photonic crystal AlGaAs cavity. The photonic crystal circular cavity offers the possibility of having high-Q resonance modes with respect to those obtained with other types of photonic crystal lattices. The crystallographic cut of the AlGaAs provides a strong nonlinear coupling between a transverse-magnetic (TM) polarized resonant mode at the fundamental wavelength and a transverse-electric (TE) polarized resonant mode at second harmonic wavelength. The double resonance condition leads to a strong improvement of the second harmonic generation process. A preliminary linear analysis has been performed by using the finite-difference time-domain method, which includes the dispersive response of the material, modeled using the well-known one-pole pair Lorentzian function.     

Multiplicity studies and effective energy in ALICE at the LHC

In this work we explore the possibility to perform “effective energy” studies in very high energy collisions at the CERN large hadron collider (LHC). In particular, we focus on the possibility to measure in pp collisions the average charged multiplicity as a function of the effective energy with the ALICE experiment, using its capability to measure the energy of the leading baryons with the zero degree calorimeters. Analyses of this kind have been done at lower centre-of-mass energies and have shown that, once the appropriate kinematic variables are chosen, particle production is characterized by universal properties: no matter the nature of the interacting particles, the final states have identical features. Assuming that this universality picture can be extended to ion–ion collisions, as suggested by recent results from RHIC experiments, a novel approach based on the scaling hypothesis for limiting fragmentation has been used to derive the expected charged event multiplicity in AA interactions at LHC. This leads to scenarios where the multiplicity is significantly lower compared to most of the predictions from the models currently used to describe high energy AA collisions. A mean charged multiplicity of about 1000–2000 per rapidity unit (at η∼0) is expected for the most central Pb–Pb collisions at . In memory of A. Smirnitskiy     

Core-level photoelectron study of indium chains on Si(1 1 1) at 10 K

High-resolution core-level data from the prototypical In/Si(1 1 1) system have been acquired at 10 K. An asymmetric tail in the In 4d spectra reveals a metallic character of the low temperature Si(1 1 1)8 × 2 phase confined to the inner indium rows. The decoupling of the one-dimensional inner indium chains from any metallic environment at ∼10 K suggests a possible Luttinger liquid behavior. At room temperature essentially a broadening of the spectral features is noticed, which appears compatible with a fluctuation scenario.     

Evolution of emergent C-points, L-lines, and C-lines in free space

Polarization singularities,which emerge from the incoherent superposition of two vector electric fields with the same frequency,and their evolution in free space are studied analytically and illustrated by numerical examples.It is shown that there exist C-points,L-lines,in particular,C-lines in incoherently superimposed two-dimensional wavefields.Usually,the C-lines are unstable and disappear during the free-space propagation.The motion,pair creation-annihilation process of the emergent C-points,as well as the distortion of the L-lines may take place,and the degree of polarization of the emergent C-points varies upon propagation and may be less than 1.