Electrochemical Preparation and Delivery of Melanin–Iron Covered Gold Nanoparticles

Attractive combination: Biopolymer‐modified nanoparticles which combine magnetic properties with biocompatibility are prepared and delivered following a three‐step strategy (see figure): i) Adsorption of thiol‐capped metal nanoparticles on graphite, ii) electrochemical modification, iii) potential‐induced delivery of the modified nanoparticles to the electrolyte.

     

Macromol. Biosci. 5/2009

Cancer‐cell phenotype is not only the result of malignant progression, but also dependent on the microenvironment surrounding them, including influences from the extracellular matrix and its structural properties. We have investigated the influence of the nanofiber matrix of the self‐assembling peptide, RADA16, in comparison with collagen I and Matrigel on the malignant phenotype of the human breast‐cancer cell, MDA‐MB‐231, in 3D cultures, including the morphology, survival, proliferation rate, migration potential and the effect of these matrices on the malignancy of the cancer cells in vivo. Our data indicate that these tumor cells change their morphology in response to the different 3D matrix in vitro cultures and the RADA16 self‐assembling peptide scaffold mimics an extracellular matrix and could effectively reduce the malignant phenotype of the tumor cells in vitro and in vivo.

     

Sub-Riemannian vs. Euclidean dimension comparison and fractal geometry on Carnot groups

We solve Gromov's dimension comparison problem for Hausdorff and box counting dimension on Carnot groups equipped with a Carnot-Carathéodory metric and an adapted Euclidean metric. The proofs use sharp covering theorems relating optimal mutual coverings of Euclidean and Carnot-Carathéodory balls, and elements of sub-Riemannian fractal geometry associated to horizontal self-similar iterated function systems on Carnot groups. Inspired by Falconer's work on almost sure dimensions of Euclidean self-affine fractals we show that Carnot-Carathéodory self-similar fractals are almost surely horizontal. As a consequence we obtain explicit dimension formulae for invariant sets of Euclidean iterated function systems of polynomial type. Jet space Carnot groups provide a rich source of examples.     

Phase plane analysis and classification of solutions of a mixed sublinear-superlinear elliptic problem

In this paper, some mixed sublinear-superlinear critical problem extending the famous problem of Brezis–Nirenberg are analysed. The existence of solutions is discussed. A phase plane analysis is performed in order to transform the problem into an ordinary differential equation. Finally, a full classification of radial solutions according to their behavior at the origin is performed for subcritical, critical and supercritical cases.     

On the choice of explicit stabilizing terms in column generation

Column generation algorithms are instrumental in many areas of applied optimization, where linear programs with an enormous number of columns need to be solved. Although successfully employed in many applications, these approaches suffer from well-known instability issues that somewhat limit their efficiency. Building on the theory developed for nondifferentiable optimization algorithms, a large class of stabilized column generation algorithms can be defined which avoid the instability issues by using an explicit stabilizing term in the dual; this amounts at considering a (generalized) augmented Lagrangian of the primal master problem. Since the theory allows for a great degree of flexibility in the choice and in the management of the stabilizing term, one can use piecewise-linear or quadratic functions that can be efficiently dealt with using off-the-shelf solvers. The practical effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated by extensive computational experiments on large-scale Vehicle and Crew Scheduling problems. Also, the results of a detailed computational study on the impact of the different choices in the stabilization term (shape of the function, parameters), and their relationships with the quality of the initial dual estimates, on the overall effectiveness of the approach are reported, providing practical guidelines for selecting the most appropriate variant in different situations.     

Direct approach to <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis><Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis></Superscript> estimates in homogenization theory

We derive interior L ^p -estimates for solutions of linear elliptic systems with oscillatory coefficients. The estimates are independent of ε, the small length scale of the rapid oscillations. So far, such results are based on potential theory and restricted to periodic coefficients. Our approach relies on BMO-estimates and an interpolation argument, gradients are treated with the help of finite differences. This allows to treat coefficients that depend on a fast and a slow variable. The estimates imply an L ^p -corrector result for approximate solutions.      

Fourier multipliers and spectral measures in Banach function spaces

It is classical that amongst all spaces L^p (G), 1 ≤ p ≤ ∞, for , or say, only L² (G) (that is, p = 2) has the property that every bounded Borel function on the dual group Γ determines a bounded Fourier multiplier operator in L² (G). Stone’s theorem asserts that there exists a regular, projection-valued measure (of operators on L² (G)), defined on the Borel sets of Γ, with Fourier-Stieltjes transform equal to the group of translation operators on L² (G); this fails for every p ≠ 2. We show that this special status of L² (G) amongst the spaces L^p (G), 1 ≤ p ≤ ∞, is actually more widespread; it continues to hold in a much larger class of Banach function spaces defined over G (relative to Haar measure).      

1-Phenylthio-3-vinyl-3-cyclohexenol, a new reagent for bis-annelation of silyl enol ethers

1-Phenylthio-3-vinyl-cyclohex-1-en-3-ol (2) has been synthesized and investigated as a new bis-annelation reagent for silyl enol ethers. Reagent 2 can be synthesized by a Grignard reaction of vinyl magnesium bromide with 3-phenylthiocyclohexenone. The reaction with silyl enol ethers takes place under Lewis acid catalysis and generally proceeds in good yields. The resulting phenylthiodienes can be hydrolyzed to enones, which have been cyclized in a homologous aldol reaction to polycyclic compounds.     

Improved 2-DE of microorganisms after acidic extraction

2-DE separations of protein extracts sometimes have problems with poor resolution and streaking. This problem is particularly apparent with microorganisms, most notably those with a large cell wall. Here we describe a novel, rapid protocol for the extraction of microorganisms in acidic conditions, leading to increased resolution and 2-D gel quality. The efficiency of the protocol is demonstrated with extracts of bacteria, Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis; fungus, Trichoderma harzianum and yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We also demonstrate using a membrane centrifugal filtration, that large acidic molecules in excess of 100 kDa, probably including cell wall material, are responsible for the separation difficulties. A range of acidic extraction conditions were investigated, and it was found that optimal extraction is achieved using an extraction solution acidified to pH 3 by 80 mM citric acid. These findings have significant implications for the proteomic study of many medically, agriculturally and environmentally significant microorganisms, as the cell walls of these organisms are often considerably more complex than many commonly studied laboratory strains.     

Solvation of Na+ in argon clusters

The structures and stabilities of Ar(n)Na+ clusters (n < or = 54) are investigated using atomistic potentials fitted to reproduce ab initio calculations performed at the coupled-cluster level on the smaller clusters. Polarization effects are described using either the interaction between dipoles induced by the sodium ion, or a small charge transfer in the framework of a fluctuating charges model. In both models, extra three-body contributions of the Axilrod-Teller type are also included between the sodium ion and all pairs of argon atoms. The two models predict essentially similar growth patterns, and a transition in the metal ion coordination from 8 (square antiprism) to 12 (icosahedron) is seen to occur near n = 50, in response to the intrasolvent constraints.