Spin-label ESR with nanochannels to improve the study of backbone dynamics and structural conformations of polypeptides

Nanochannels of mesoporous silica materials were previously found useful for reducing the tumbling motion of encapsulated biomolecules while leaving the biomolecular structure undisturbed. Here we show that experiments of cw-ESR distance measurement in nano-confinement can benefit immediately from the above mentioned features of sufficiently slow molecular tumbling, enabling more accurate determination of interspin distances throughout the temperature range, from 200 to 300 K. A 26-residue prion protein peptide, which can fold into either a helical or hairpin structure, as well as its variants, are studied by using ESR. By comparing the spectra obtained in vitrified bulk solutions vs. mesopores, the spectra from the latter display typical slow-motional lineshapes, thereby enabling dipolar anisotropy to be unambiguously revealed throughout the temperature range, whereas the spectra from the former are dominated by the disordering of the side chain and the rotational tumbling of the peptide. The spectral changes regarding the two secondary structures in nano-confinement are found to show a strong correlation with the dynamic properties of the backbones. The effect of viscosity agent perturbation on the motion of an R1 nitroxide side chain, a commonly employed probe, could be substantial in a bulk solution condition, though it is absolutely absent in nanochannels. Under nano-confinement, the probe is proven sufficiently sensitive to the backbone motions. Overall, the distance distributions determined from the mesopore studies not only describe the conformational structures (by average distances), but also the backbone dynamics (by distribution widths) of the spin-labeled peptides.     

Induction of apoptosis in human breast adenocarcinoma cells MCF-7 by monapurpyridine A, a new azaphilone derivative from Monascus purpureus NTU 568

A new azaphilonidal derivative, monapurpyridine A (MPA), has recently been isolated from the fermented products of Monascus purpureus NTU 568. The structure of MPA was elucidated by nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, COSY, HMQC, and HMBC) and other spectroscopic analyses. Biological evaluation revealed that MPA could induce cell death in human breast adenocarcinoma cells MCF-7, and it has no significant toxicity to normal mammary epithelial cells M10. The MTT assay and flow cytometric analysis were employed to investigate cell viability and cell cycle influenced by MPA. Moreover, we used Western blot and caspase activity assay to demonstrate the activation of caspase-3, -8 and -9 resulted from MPA. All evidence supported that MPA was suitable for developing into a chemotherapeutic or chemopreventive agent against breast cancer.     

The application of an optically switched dielectrophoretic (ODEP) force for the manipulation and assembly of cell-encapsulating alginate microbeads in a microfluidic perfusion cell culture system for bottom-up tissue engineering

This study reports the utilisation of an optically switched dielectrophoretic (ODEP) force for the manipulation and assembly of cell-encapsulating alginate microbeads in a microfluidic perfusion cell culture system for bottom-up tissue engineering. One of the key features of this system is the ODEP force-based mechanism, which allows a commercial projector to be coupled with a computer to manipulate and assemble cell-encapsulating microbeads in an efficient, manageable, and user-friendly manner. Another distinctive feature is the design of the microfluidic cell culture chip, which allows the patterned cell-encapsulating microbeads to be cultivated on site under culture medium perfusion conditions. For demonstrating its application in bottom-up cartilage tissue engineering, chondrocyte-encapsulating alginate microbeads varying in encapsulated cell densities were generated. The manipulation forces associated with operating the alginate microbeads were experimentally evaluated. The results revealed that the measured manipulation forces increased with increases in both the applied electric voltage and the number of cells in the alginate microbeads. Nevertheless, the observed manipulation force was found to be independent of the size of the cell-free alginate microbeads. It can be speculated that the friction force may influence the estimation of the ODEP force within the experimental conditions investigated. In this study, chondrocyte-encapsulating alginate microbeads with three different cell densities were manipulated and assembled in the proposed microfluidic system to form a compact sheet-like cell culture construct that imitates the cell distribution in the cross-section of native articular cartilage. Moreover, the demonstration case also showed that the cell viability of the cultured cells in the microfluidic system remained as high as 96 ± 2%. In this study, four sheet-like cell culture constructs were stacked to create a larger assembled cell culture construct. The cell distribution inside the cell culture construct was further confirmed by a confocal microscopy observation, which showed that the distribution was similar to that in native articular cartilage. As a whole, the proposed system holds great promise as a platform for engineering tissue constructs with easily tunable inner cell distributions.     

Light-guide plate using periodical and single-sized microstructures to create a uniform backlight system

Light-guide plates (LGPs) with aperiodic or size-varied microstructures are widely used in edge-lit light-source backlight systems for their high uniformity. In this Letter we designed a LGP with periodic and single-sized microstructures and analyzed the relationship between the holistic arrangement density of the microstructures and the uniformity. By controlling the holistic arrangement density of the microstructures, the uniformity could also be increased.     

Approximate Solutions of the Schrödinger Equation for the Eckart Potential and Its Parity-Time-Symmetric Version Including Centrifugal Term

The energy eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the Schrödinger equation for Eckart potential as well as the parity-time-symmetric version of the potential in three dimensions with the centrifugal term are investigated approximately by using the Nikiforov-Uvarov method. To show the accuracy of our results, we calculate the energy eigenvalues for various values of n and l. It is found that the results are in good agreement with the numerical solutions for short-range potential (large a). For the case of 1/a i/a, the potential is also studied briefly.     

Pd/TiC-C催化剂对甲酸氧化的电催化性能

研究了TiC和C作混合载体的Pd(Pd/TiC-C)催化剂对甲酸氧化的电催化性能。发现Pd/TiC-C催化剂对直接甲酸燃料电池(DFAFC)中甲酸氧化的电催化性能要优于Pd/C催化剂。而且,Pd/TiC-C催化剂的电催化性能与C和TiC的质量比有关,当质量比为2时,Pd/TiC-C催化剂对甲酸氧化的电催化活性和稳定性最好,甲酸在C和TiC的质量比为2的Pd/TiC-C催化剂电极上的氧化峰峰电位为0.164 V,比在Pd/C催化剂电极上负移12 mV,峰电流密度为23.08 mA/cm2,比在Pd/C催化剂电极上高约42％。     

(Al16Ti)n± (n=0-3)离子团簇中Ti原子对电子结构及其与H2O分子相互作用的显著影响

用密度泛函理论结合全电子自旋极化方法构建并优化出了最稳定的(Al₁₆Ti)^n± (n=0-3)离子团簇, 研究了其几何结构、稳定性和电子结构. 同时研究了水分子在(Al₁₆Ti)^n± (n=0-3)离子团簇表面的吸附结构和吸附能. 研究结果与纯(Al₁₇Ti)^n± (n=0-3)离子团簇的电子结构及其与H₂O分子的相互作用规律做了对比. 通过电子最高占据轨道和最低空轨道的空间分布, 发现大部分的活性电子占据在Ti 原子位置, 少量电子根据曲率从大到小的顺序依次占据. 通过分析最稳定的(Al₁₆TiH₂O)^n± (n=0-3)吸附化合物的几何结构可以看出, 水分子都倾向于吸附在Ti原子上, 并且为亲氧吸附. 在所有的吸附化合物中, (Al₁₆TiH₂O)⁺具有最短的平均O―H键长, 比孤立H₂O分子中的O―H键约长0.0003 nm, 然后随着电子数的增加或减少, O―H键都会进一步被拉长. 研究结果表明, Al 团簇离子中Ti 原子的掺杂可以有效提高H₂O分子的解离效率. 另外, 在金属团簇的几何结构效应与杂质效应共同出现时, 杂质的影响占据了主导地位.     

炭载Pd-Ni合金纳米粒子对甲酸的电催化氧化

通过液相还原法制备了具有不同原子比例的Pd-Ni/C催化剂,并且使用X射线衍射（XRD）、透射电子显微镜(TEM)和X射线光电子能谱(XPS) 等表征手段对制备的催化剂进行了表征,总结了Ni的掺杂对Pd-Ni合金纳米粒子的尺寸及晶体结构的影响。电化学测试结果表明：适量的Ni的掺杂不但能够增强催化剂对甲酸催化氧化的活性,而且还能够提高催化剂的稳定性。因此,Pd-Ni/C催化剂是一类具有潜在应用前景的直接甲酸燃料电池阳极催化剂     

直接甲酸燃料电池炭载Pd阳极催化剂的稳定性

用X射线衍射和电化学方法研究了在甲酸溶液中浸泡一段时间后的Pd/C催化剂的结构和电催化性能, 发现在甲酸溶液中浸泡15 d后, Pd/C催化剂中Pd粒子的相对结晶度由1.73增加到3.34, 平均粒径由4.4 nm降低到1.8 nm, 对甲酸氧化的电催化活性和稳定性降低, 甲酸氧化的峰电流密度由9.3 mA/cm2降低到6.7 mA/cm2. 这可能是由Pd/C催化剂中的Pd在甲酸中会有一定的溶解和Pd/C催化剂能催化分解甲酸引起的.