Octaarginine-modified chitosan as a nonviral gene delivery vector: properties and in vitro transfection efficiency

Protein transduction domains (PTD) have been identified to have the capacity to facilitate molecular cargo to translocate through cell membrane. This study aims to utilize the cell membrane penetrating ability of octaarginine oligopeptide, a simplified prototype of the PTD, to enhance the transfection efficiency of chitosan. Octaarginine-modified chitosan (R₈-CS) was synthesized as a gene transfer carrier by carbodiimide chemistry. The structure and composition of R₈-CSs were characterized using FTIR and ¹H NMR. Agarose gel electrophoresis assay showed that R₈-CS could efficiently condense the DNA. The particle size of R₈-CS/DNA complexes were determined to be around 100–200 nm. The nanoparticle complexes exhibited a spherical and compact morphology. R₈-CS demonstrated higher transfection activity and lower cytotoxicity as compared to the unmodified chitosan and also showed good serum resistance.     

The temperature evolution of the magnetic correlations in pure and diluted spin ice Ho2−xYxTi2O7

Diffuse polarized neutron scattering studies have been carried out on single crystals of pyrochlore spin ice Ho_2−xY_xTi₂O₇ (x=0, 0.3, and 1) to investigate the effects of doping and anisotropy on spin correlations in the system. The crystals were aligned with the (1 −1 0) orientation coincident with the direction of neutron polarization. For all the samples studied the spin flip (SF) diffuse scattering (i.e. the in-plane component) reveals that the spin correlations can be described using a nearest-neighbour spin ice model (NNSM) at higher temperatures (T=3.6 K) and a dipolar spin ice model (DSM) as the temperature is reduced (T=30 mK). In the non-spin flip (NSF) channel (i.e. the out-of-plane component), the signature of strong antiferromagnetic correlations is observed for all the samples at the same temperature as the dipolar spin ice behaviour appears in the SF channel. Our studies show that the non-magnetic dopant Y does not significantly alter SF or NSF scattering for the spin ice state, even when Y doping is as high as 50%. In this paper, we focus on the experimental results of the highly doped spin ice HoYTi₂O₇ and compare our results with pure spin ice Ho₂Ti₂O₇. The crossover from a dipolar to a nearest-neighbour spin ice behaviour and the doping insensitivity in spin ices are briefly discussed.     

Unruh effect and holography

We study the Unruh effect on the dynamics of quarks and mesons in the context of AdS₅/CFT₄ correspondence. We adopt an AdS₅ metric with the boundary Rindler horizon extending into a bulk Rindler-like horizon, which yields the thermodynamics with Unruh temperature verified by computing the boundary stress tensor. We then embed in it a probe fundamental string and a D7 brane in such a way that they become the dual of an accelerated quark and a meson in Minkowski space, respectively. Using the standard procedure of holographic renormalization, we calculate the chiral condensate, and also the spectral functions for both the accelerated quark and meson. Especially, we extract the corresponding strength of random force of the Langevin dynamics and observe that it can characterize the phase transition of meson melting. This result raises an issue toward a formulation of complementarity principle for the Rindler horizon. We find most of the dynamical features are qualitatively similar to the ones in the thermal bath dual to the AdS black hole background, though they could be quite different quantitatively.     

On the dynamics of radially symmetric granulomas

A granuloma is a collection of macrophages that contains bacteria or other foreign substances that the body?s immune response is unable to eliminate. In this paper we present a simple mathematical model of radially symmetric granuloma dynamics. The model consists of a coupled system of two semi-linear parabolic equations for the macrophage density, and the bacterial density. The boundary of the granuloma is free. This simple framework makes it possible to conduct a mathematical analysis of the system dynamics. In particular, we show that the model system has a unique solution, and that, depending on the biological parameters; the bacterial load either disappears over time or persists. We use numerical methods to establish the existence of stationary solutions and examine how a stationary solution changes with the reproductive rate of the bacteria. These simulations show that the structure of the granuloma breaks down as the reproductive rate of the bacteria increases.     

The Syntheses of Triazinone and Pyrimidinone Biphenyltetrazoles as Angiotensin II Receptor Antagonists

A series of biphenylyltetrazole substituted triazinones and structure-related pyrimidinones are systhesized, and their binding affinities for angiotensin II receptor are reported.     

Some features relevant to switching processes in the amorphous semiconductor Si12Ge10As30Te48

The current-voltage characteristics of the amorphous semiconductor glass Si₁₂Ge₁₀As₃₀Te₄₈ have been measured under various experimenal conditions. The experimental results show that the resistance of the device in the ‘off’ state and the threshold voltage for the onset of switching action decrease with increasing the maximum current (I_p) passing through the device in the ‘on’ state, and that the threshold input power to set in the switching action is practically independent of temperature. The stability and the consistency of the device depend on the magnitude of I_p. When I_p is increased to a certain value the glass within and near the current filament between the electrodes become softened, and when it reaches a critical value the device is changed from its ‘switching-on’ state to a ‘memory’ state. All the results are in good agreement with the model that the filament formed to cause switching consists of a mixture of crystalline domains and amorphous domains with phase separations.     

Sensing and fluorescence behaviors of complex formation between new lariat crown ethers bearing fluorescence sidearm and metal ions in methanol solution

Fluorescence spectroscopic properties of the complex formation between six new C-pivot16-crown-5 ethers bearing fluorescence side arms and metal ions are studied. Six new C-pivot 16-crown-5 ethers that carry fluorescence side arms were synthesized. The research also included the examination of different fluorescent behavior of the new lariat ethers in the presence of silver and sodium ions (Ag⁺ and Na⁺) in methanol. Because of the good fit of the cavity size of these 16-crown-5 ethers with the Ag⁺ and Na⁺ ions, remarkable change in fluorescent spectra were observed. The results showed that the new lariat crown ethers exhibited enhanced selectivity towards sodium ion, but silver ion show quenching abilities towards the ligands. Cooperative participations of the C-pivot side arm oxygen with the ring oxygen molecules in complexation was also confirmed by the single crystal X-ray crystallography of the complex, (C₂₇H₃₀O₇)·NaClO₄. The freezing of crown ring conformation and the diminishment of the chance of sidearm oscillation that occurred upon complexation with sodium ion are the main causes of fluorescent enhancement. The quenching caused by the addition of silver ion was found to explainable by the photo-induced electron transfer that results in the reduction of silver ions.     

The effect of methyl substitution on the spin-state in solid bis(methyl-substituted 2-pyridinalphenylimine)di(thiocyanato)iron(II)

Summary A series of iron(II) complexes of the type [FeL₂(NCS)₂] have been prepared and characterized, where L denotes the bidentate diimine ligands 2-pyridinalphenylimine orN-phenyl-2-pyridinaldimine (ppi) and its methyl-substituted derivatives. The electronic ground spin-state of iron(II) in these complexes has been studied by means of Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility measurements.