Two‐Photon Polymerization as a Tool for Studying 3D Printed Topography‐Induced Stem Cell Fate

Geometric topographies are known to influence cellular differentiation toward specific phenotypes, but to date the range of features and type of substrates that can be easily fabricated to study these interactions is somewhat limited. In this study, an emerging technology, two‐photon polymerization, is used to print topological patterns with varying feature‐size and thereby study their effect on cellular differentiation. This technique offers rapid manufacturing of topographical surfaces with good feature resolution for shapes smaller than 3 µm. Human‐induced pluripotent stem cells, when attached to these substrates or a non‐patterned control for 1 week, express an array of genetic markers that suggest their differentiation toward a heterogeneous population of multipotent progenitors from all three germ layers. Compared to the topographically smooth control, small features (1.6 µm) encourage differentiation toward ectoderm while large features (8 µm) inhibit self‐renewal. This study demonstrates the potential of using two‐photon polymerization to study and control stem cell fate as a function of substrate interactions. The ability to tailor and strategically design biomaterials in this way can enable more precise and efficient generation or maintenance of desired phenotypes in vitro and in vivo.     

Flow condensing heat transfer of R410A,R22, and R32 inside a micro-fin tube

An experimental study of condensation heat transfer characteristics of flow inside horizontal micro-fin tubes is carried out using R410A, R22, and R32 as the test fluids. This study especially focuses on the influence of heat transfer area upon the condensation heat transfer coefficients. The test sections were made of double tubes using the counter-flow type; the refrigerants condensation inside the test tube enabled heat to exchange with cooling water that flows from the annular side. The saturation temperature and pressure of the refrigerants were measured at the inlet and outlet of the test sections to defined state of refrigerants, and the surface temperatures of the tube were measured. A differential pressure transducer directly measured the pressure drops in the test section. The heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops were calculated using the experimental data. The condensation heat transfer coefficient was measured at the saturation temperature of 48°C with mass fluxes of 50–380 kg/(m²s) and heat fluxes of 3–12 kW/m². The values of experimental heat transfer coefficient results are compared with the predicted values from the existing correlations in the literature, and a new condensation heat transfer coefficient correlation is proposed.     

Effective permeability of cracked unsaturated porous materials

This study focuses on a theoretical estimation of the effective permeability of unsaturated cracked porous media. The closed-form flow solution around and in a superconductive crack, embedded in an infinite porous matrix under a far-field condition, is recalled first. Then the solution of flow around a completely unsaturated (empty) crack that is considered as an obstruction against the flow is determined. The flow solution for partially saturated crack in special configurations is obtained by superposition of the two basic solutions for superconductive and empty cracks. The contribution of an unsaturated crack, with a given saturation degree, to the effective permeability is estimated by using dilute upscaling scheme. Numerical results obtained by Finite Elements Method, are in good agreement with the theoretical results for weak crack densities but show the additional effect of cracks interaction for higher densities.     

A new simulation design of three-mode division (de)multiplexer based on a trident coupler and two cascaded 3 × 3 MMI silicon waveguides

We propose a design of a silicon three-mode (de)multiplexing device based on a trident and two cascaded 3 × 3 multimode interferometers. Input lights at fundamental, first-order, and second-order modes of transverse electric (TE) polarization are simultaneously converted to fundamental TE mode and demultiplexed at different ports at the outputs. The design is carried out through both theoretical analysis and numerical simulation using three dimensional-beam propagation method and effective index method. The results show a successful three-mode multiplexing in 100 nm wavelength range around 1550 nm with low insertion loss (< 0.71 dB) and crosstalk (? 18 dB). The proposed device also exhibit a small footprint (5 µm × 400 µm) that makes it potential for not only wavelength-division multiplexing and multimode-division multiplexing transmission systems, but also high bitrate and compact on-chip silicon photonics integrated circuits.     

Optical bistability in gaussian inhomogeneously broadened ring lasers with saturable absorber

The optical bistability (OB) in Gaussian inhomogeneously broadened ring lasers with saturable absorber (LSA) in both resonance and out-of-resonance is theoretically analyzed in the rate-equation approximation based on the dual two-level model. The OB effect may appear for appropriate sets of LSA control parameter values which can be displayed in phase diagrams. The characteristics of the OB curves as well as their stability behavior are analytically and numerically studied in detail. The influence of the control parameters, including detuning, are investigated and displayed in the figures. A brief comparison with the Lorentzian case is given as well. Paper submitted by authors in English April 20, 1999.     

Polymeric Scaffolds for Cartilage Tissue Engineering

Polymeric scaffolds are three-dimensional, porous structures that may be used as a vehicle to deliver cells or therapeutic factors to repair tissue defects. Both biodegradable and non-biodegradable polymers have been developed for this purpose. In this review, we survey the polymers that have been investigated for cartilage tissue engineering and discuss the critical parameters for successful applications in the future.     

Selective Indicator Reaction for Kinetic Determination of Traces of Manganese(II), Ribavirin and Tiazofurin

 In this work it was established that, in the presence of ammonium carbonate, traces of manganese(II) catalyse the oxidation of Nile Blue A by hydrogen peroxide, which enables its kinetic determination in the concentration range from 6.6 to 65.9 ng cm⁻³, the detection limit being 8.0 × 10⁻² ng cm⁻³. Antiviral/antitumour substances modify the catalytic activity of manganese(II): 1-β-D-ribofuranosyl-1,2,4-triazole-3-carboxamide, ribavirin, increases the catalytic effect of manganese(II), while 2-β-D-ribofuranosyl-thiazole-4-carboxamide, tiazofurin, acts as an inhibitor. On the basis of these effects, a kinetic method for determining ribavirin concentrations from 0.5 × 10⁻¹ to 4.0 × 10⁻¹ μg cm⁻³ and tiazofurin concentrations from 0.3 to 2.6 μg cm⁻³ is proposed. The kinetics of the indicator reaction were studied in the presence of the substances examined, the kinetic equations established, and the constants of the corresponding reaction rates calculated. The effect of temperature on these reactions was also investigated. The method was applied to the determination of manganese(II) in mineral water and ribavirin in pharmaceutical preparations. Received December 16, 1999. Revision June 6, 2000.     

Constituents from the Fruiting Bodies of Trametes cubensis and Trametes suaveolens in Vietnam and Their Anti-Inflammatory Bioactivity

It is reported that various fungi have been used for medicine and edible foods. The tropical Trametes genus is popular and well-known in Vietnam for its health effects and bioactivities. In this study, the fruiting bodies of the edible fungi T. cubensis and T. suaveolens were collected in Vietnam. The preliminary bioactivity screening data indicated that the methanol extracts of the fruiting bodies of T. cubensis and T. suaveolens displayed significant inhibition of superoxide anion generation and elastase release in human neutrophils. Therefore, the isolation and characterization were performed on these two species by a combination of chromatographic methods and spectrometric analysis. In total, twenty-four compounds were identified, and among these (1–3) were characterized by 1D-, 2D-NMR, and HRMS analytical data. In addition, the anti-inflammatory potentials of some purified compounds were examined by the cellular model for the inhibition of superoxide anion generation and elastase release in human neutrophils. Among the isolated compounds, (5,14), and (19) displayed significant anti-inflammatory potential. As the results suggest, the extracts and isolated compounds from T. cubensis and T. suaveolens are potential candidates for the further development of new anti-inflammatory lead drugs or natural healthy foods.     

Dragon Fruit Foliage: An Agricultural Cellulosic Source to Extract Cellulose Nanomaterials

In this report, we focus our effort to extract cellulose nanomaterials (CNs) from an agricultural cellulosic waste, Dragon Fruit foliage (DFF). DFF was first pretreated by several mechanical treatments and then bleached by chemical treatment to obtain bleached DFF. CNs were then produced from the hydrolysis of the bleached DFF catalyzed by sulfuric acid. We obtained CNs with a small diameter (50 to 130 nm) and length (100 to 500 nm) and a height of 3 to 10 nm. The CNs have a high crystallinity (crystallinity index 84.8%), high −COOH content (0.74 mmol·g⁻¹), good thermal stability and a good Cu (II) adsorption capacity with an adsorption maximum of ~103 mg·g⁻¹. These findings demonstrated the great potential of converting many agricultural cellulosic wastes into valuable cellulose nanomaterials.