Soft contact lens biosensor for in situ monitoring of tear glucose as non-invasive blood sugar assessment

A contact lens (CL) biosensor for in situ monitoring of tear glucose was fabricated and tested. Biocompatible 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) polymer and polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) were employed as the biosensor material. The biosensor consists of a flexible Pt working electrode and a Ag/AgCl reference/counter electrode, which were formed by micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technique. The electrode at the sensing region was modified with glucose oxidase (GOD). The CL biosensor showed a good relationship between the output current and glucose concentration in a range of 0.03-5.0 mM, with a correlation coefficient of 0.999. The calibration range covered the reported tear glucose concentrations in normal and diabetic patients. Also, the CL biosensor was applied to a rabbit for the purpose of tear glucose monitoring. The basal tear glucose was estimated to 0.11 mM. Also, the change of tear glucose induced by the change of blood sugar level was assessed by the oral glucose tolerance test. As a result, tear glucose level increased with a delay of 10 min from blood sugar level. The result showed that the CL biosensor is expected to provide further detailed information about the relationship between dynamics of blood glucose and tear glucose.     

Surfacial modification of polymer powders as drug carriers

Preparation of warfarin methacrylate(WaMA) was carried out by esterification of warfarin as thromboembolism drug with methacryloyl chloride. Radical copolymerization of WaMA with 1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone(VPr) was carried out in 1,4-dioxane at 60°C using 2,2′-azoisobutyronitrile as initiator. The surfacial modification of the copolymer powders was achieved using the freeze-drying by dissolving the copolymer in benzene and micellation by benzene-in-water and water-in-benzene systems. The hydrolysis of the copolymer including the drug was investigated under mild condition from a view point of released rate of the drug.     

Strong influence of boron doping on nanocrystalline silicon-carbide formation by using photo-CVD technique

We select the boron as a dopant of wide bandgap nanocrystalline silicon-carbide (nc-SiC:H) film in order to achieve a high conductivity. Boron atoms introduced at the growing surface play important roles on the structural, electrical and optical characteristics of this material. It is found that they hinder the nucleation of nanocrystallites by elevating the deposition speed. Therefore, a relevant light doping is essential to improve the electrical conductivity without deteriorating significantly the crystallinity and optical bandgap.     

Effects of vapor‐phase‐formaldehyde treatments on thermal conductivity and diffusivity of ramie fibers in the range of low temperature

To understand the influence to thermal conductivity by bridging in the polymer fibers, the thermal conductivity, and thermal diffusivity of ramie fiber and those bridged by formaldehyde (HCHO) using vapor‐phase method (VP‐HCHO treatment) were investigated in the lower temperature range. The thermal conductivities of ramie fiber with and without VP‐HCHO treatments decreased with decreasing temperature. Thermal diffusivities of ramie fiber with and without VP‐HCHO treatments were almost constant in the temperature range of 250–50 K, and increased by decreasing temperature below 50 K. Thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of ramie fiber decreased by VP‐HCHO treatment. The crystallinities and orientation angles of ramie fibers with and without VP‐HCHO treatment were measured using solid state NMR and X‐ray diffraction. These were almost independent of VP‐HCHO treatment. Although tensile modulus decreased slightly by VP‐HCHO treatment, the decrease could not explain the decrease in thermal conductivity and diffusivity with decreasing sound velocity. The decrease of the thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity by VP‐HCHO treatment suggested the possibility of the reduction of the mean free path of phonon by HCHO in VP‐HCHO treated ramie fiber. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 43: 2754–2766, 2005     

Two-stage amorphization of scandium molybdate at high pressure

Using Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction we find that at high pressure amorphization of scandium molybdate occurs in two stages. Excessive broadening of molybdate internal modes arising from distortion and disordering of MoO₄ tetrahedra, together with rapid weakening of diffraction from large d-spacings and disappearance of diffraction from small d-spacings suggest gross molybdate ion disorder above 4 GPa. On the other hand, complete amorphization occurs at the significantly higher pressure of 12 GPa, where diffraction disappears completely. The amorphization is also found to be irreversible.     

Diastereomeric selective effects of double-stranded peptides conjugated with -Phe-Phe- residue for growth inhibition and permeability of Ca(2+) on A431, src(ts)NRK, and A549 cells proliferation

Our aim in this study is to elucidate the correlations between inhibition and chirality, especially, diastereomer, against cell proliferation of double-stranded peptides. In previous studies, we reported on the design, synthesis, and chemical properties on a series of novel double-stranded peptides, (y-AA-x-AA)(2)-spacer(S) (AA=amino acid, S=spacer, symbols x and y represent L- or D-forms, and (y-, x-) as represent of the symbol) conjugated with -y-AA-x-AA- and -z-AA-y-AA-x-AA- sequences to a spacer of carbon number n. The inhibition of A431 and src(ts)NRK cells growth by four diastereomers of the N(1),N(12)-bis(y-Phe-x-Phe)dodecanediamines (n=12) increased in the following order: (L-, L-)<(D-, D-)<(L-, D-)<(D-, L-). A similar trend was seen in the order for the activity of (y-AA-x-AA)(2)-spacer(S) with a spacer of carbon number n=2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 12 against the cell growth inhibition. To understand the mechanism of diasteromer selective cell growth inhibition, the correlations between chirality and cell growth inhibition were investigated from the measurement of the changes in cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration (=[Ca(2+)](c)) of A431 cells. Although less active N(1),N(12)-bis(L-Phe-L-Phe)dodecanediamine increases cytosolic [Ca(2+)](c), more active diasteromers, N(1),N(12)-bis(L-Phe-D-Phe)dodecanediamine and N(1),N(12)-bis(D-Phe-L-Phe)dodecanediamine, decrease cytosolic [Ca(2+)](c) in A431 cell. This study provides diastereomeric effected new insights - this controls the polarity of double-stranded peptides - into the control of tumor cell proliferation and design of the uptake by penetration through the cell membrane of drugs.     

Syntheses of 1-substituted 4,4-dimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrobenzo[b]-1,4-azasilines and 1-substituted 3,3-dimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrobenzo[e]-1,3-azasilines

1-Substituted 4,4-dimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrobenzo[b]1,4-azasilines (X) and 1-substituted 3,3-dimethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrobenzo[e]-1,3-azasilines (XIII) were synthesized by the intramolecular benzyne reaction of the corresponding N-substituted 2-(3-chlorophenyl)dimethylsilylethylamines (IX) and N-substituted (3-chlorobenzyl)dimethylsilylmethylamines (XII).     

A note on the Bogomolov-type smoothness on deformations of the regular parts of isolated singularities

We apply the Tian-Todorov method, proving the Bogomolov
smoothness theorem (for deformations of compact Kähler manifolds) to deformations of the regular part of a Stein space with a finite number of isolated singular points. By the argument based on the Hodge structure on a strongly pseudo-convex Kähler domain or on a punctured Kähler space, we obtain an unobstructed subspace of the infinitesimal deformation space.