Metallized electrospun polymeric fibers for electrochemical sensors and actuators

Electrospun polymeric fibers present an emerging alternative for the development of flexible electronics, enabling applications in wearable sensors and biosensors for continuous monitoring, and actuators for tissue engineering. The possibility to prepare sub-micrometric polymeric scaffolds, their processing for increasing the conductivity, their modification with different materials, conductive polymers and biomolecules in order to obtain functional flexible electrodes, allows the development of innovative devices for healthcare, and biomedical applications. In this review, the impact of metallized electrospun polymeric fibers in electrochemical (bio)sensors and actuators is discussed. A relation between their structure and functionality is provided, alongside with an overview of the different methods to obtain functional conductive fibers.     

Conductive triethylene glycol monomethyl ether substituted polythiophenes with high stability in the doped state

Synthesis of two conducting polymers containing 3‐hexylthiophene and 3‐[2‐(2‐(2‐methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)ethoxy]thiophene is demonstrated. In thin‐film transistors, the high‐molecular‐weight polymer shows an average mobility of 4.2 × 10^?4 cm² V^?1 s^?1. Most importantly, the polymers have high conductivity upon doping with iodine and also have high stability in the doped state with high conductivities measured even after 1 month. Furthermore, the doping causes transparency to thin films of the polymer and the films are resistant to common organic solvents. All these properties indicate a great potential for the iodine‐doped polymer to be used as an alternative to commercially available poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate). © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019 , 57, 1079–1086     

Improvement in the Pharmacological Profile of Copper Biological Active Complexes by Their Incorporation into Organic or Inorganic Matrix

Every year, more Cu(II) complexes are proven to be biologically active species, but very few are developed as drugs or entered in clinical trials. This is due to their poor water solubility and lipophilicity, low stability as well as in vivo inactivation. The possibility to improve their pharmacological and/or oral administration profile by incorporation into inorganic or organic matrix was studied. Most of them are either physically encapsulated or conjugated to the matrix via a moiety able to coordinate Cu(II). As a result, a large variety of species were developed as delivery carriers. The organic carriers include liposomes, synthetic or natural polymers or dendrimers, while the inorganic ones are based on carbon nanotubes, hydrotalcite and silica. Some hybrid organic-inorganic materials based on alginate-carbonate, gold-PEG and magnetic mesoporous silica-Schiff base were also developed for this purpose.     

Promising Roles of Alternative Medicine and Plant-Based Nanotechnology as Remedies for Urinary Tract Infections

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are considered to be the most common infections worldwide, having an incidence rate of 40−60% in women. Moreover, the prevalence of this disorder in adult women is 30 times more than in men. UTIs are usually found in many hospitals and clinical practice; as disorders, they are complicated and uncomplicated; in uncomplicated cases, there is no structural or functional abnormality in the urogenital tract. However, obstruction, retention of urine flow and use of catheters increase the complexity. There are several bacteria (e.g., E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus vulgaris, etc.) successfully residing in the tract. The diagnosis must not only be accurate but rapid, so early detection is an important step in the control of UTIs caused by uropathogens. The treatment of UTIs includes appropriate antimicrobial therapy to control the infection and kill the causal microbes inside the body. A long-time usage of antibiotics has resulted in multidrug resistance causing an impediment in treatment. Thus, alternative, combinatorial medication approaches have given some hope. Available treatments considered Homeopathic, Ayurvedic, Unani, and other herbal-based drugs. There are new upcoming roles of nanoparticles in combating UTIs which needs further validation. The role of medicinal plant-based nanotechnology approaches has shown promising results. Therefore, there must be active research in phyto-based therapies of UTIs, such as Ayurvedic Biology.     

Thermal and mechanical behavior of biodegradable polyester films containing cellulose nanofibers

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Agricultural waste is a valuable source of advanced materials. Cheap nanocellulose may be obtained from plum shells agricultural residues and further...     

Quantitative results for the limiting semigroup generated by the multidimensional Bernstein operators

Semigroup Forum - A quantitative estimate for the Trotter’s approximation theorem for the limiting semigroup of operators generated by the multidimensional Bernstein operators on a simplex is...     

Anionic and ionic coordinative polymerization of L-lactide

The potassium naphthalenide complex with 18-crown-6 is able to initiate anionic polymerization of L -lactide at 20°C. This type of anionic initiator does not have to be removed from the polymer as it does not affect metabolic processes. The ionic polymerization of L -lactide with an initiator based on Zn(II) acetyl acetonate, which is fairly stable, has been investigated. It has been found that this process leads to the corresponding polyesters, at high yields. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Styrene‐butadiene rubber synthesized by anionic polymerization

In this paper we report on the copolymerization of styrene with butadiene in cyclohexane as solvent. Some experiments were also done using toluene as a solvent in order to check the influence of this solvent on the polydispersity index of the copolymers obtained, n‐ Butyllithium (BuLi) was used as initiator, while methyl‐tert‐butyl ether (MTBE) was used as an active center modifier. Reaction parameters such as polymerization temperature, the [MTBE]/[BuLi] molar ratio and the nature of solvent were studied in relation to their effects on the copolymerization rate, the randomness of the polymer and the microstructure of the butadiene units incorporated.     

Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidant Properties of Carvacrol and Magnolol,in Periodontal Disease and Diabetes Mellitus

Periodontal disease and diabetes mellitus are two pathologies that are extremely widespread worldwide and share the feature of chronic inflammation. Carvacrol is a phenolic monoterpenoid, produced by a variety of herbs, the most well-known of which is Origanum vulgare. Magnolol is a traditional polyphenolic compound isolated from the stem bark of Magnolia officinalis, mainly used in Chinese medicine. The purpose of this paper is to review the therapeutic properties of these bioactive compounds, in the treatment of periodontitis and diabetes. Based on our search strategy we conducted a literature search in the PubMed and Google Scholar databases to identify studies. A total of one hundred eighty-four papers were included in the current review. The results show that carvacrol and magnolol have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-osteoclastic, and anti-diabetic properties that benefit both pathologies. Knowledge of the multiple activities of carvacrol and magnolol can assist with the development of new treatment strategies, and the design of clinical animal and human trials will maximize the potential benefits of these extracts in subjects suffering from periodontitis or diabetes.