Human Albumin-Based Hydrogels for Their Potential Xeno-Free Microneedle Applications

Nowadays, hydrogels-based microneedles (MNs) have attracted a great interest owing to their outstanding qualities for biomedical applications. For the fabrication of hydrogels-based microneedles as tissue engineering scaffolds and drug delivery carriers, various biomaterials have been tested. They are required to feature tunable physiochemical properties, biodegradability, biocompatibility, nonimmunogenicity, high drug loading capacity, and sustained drug release. Among biomaterials, human proteins are the most ideal biomaterials for fabrication of hydrogels-based MNs; however, they are mechanically weak and poorly processible. To the best of the knowledge, there are no reports of xeno-free human protein-based MNs so far. Here, human albumin-based hydrogels and microneedles for tissue engineering and drug delivery by using relatively new processible human serum albumin methacryloyl (HSAMA) are engineered. The resultant HSAMA hydrogels display tunable mechanical properties, biodegradability, and good biocompatibility. Moreover, the xeno-free HSAMA microneedles display a sustained drug release profile and significant mechanical strength to penetrate the model skin. In vitro, they also show good biocompatibility and anticancer efficacy. Sustainable processible human albumin-based biomaterials may be employed as a xeno-free platform in vivo for tissue engineering and drug delivery in clinical trials in the future.     

Increasing Chemical Diversity of B2N2 Anthracene Derivatives by Introducing Continuous Multiple Boron-Nitrogen Units

Increasing the chemical diversity of organic semiconductors is essential to develop efficient electronic devices. In particular, the replacement of carbon-carbon (C−C) bonds with isoelectronic boron-nitrogen (B−N) bonds allows precise modulation of the electronic properties of semiconductors without significant structural changes. Although some researchers have reported the preparation of B₂N₂ anthracene derivatives with two B−N bonds, no compounds with continuous multiple BN units have been prepared yet. Herein, we report the synthesis and characterization of a B₂N₂ anthracene derivative with a BNBN unit formed by converting the BOBN unit at the zigzag edge. Compared to the all-carbon analogue 2-phenylanthracene, BNBN anthracene exhibits significant variations in the C−C bond length and a larger highest occupied molecular orbital–lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy gap. The experimentally determined bond lengths and electronic properties of BNBN anthracene are confirmed through theoretical calculations. The BOBN anthracene organic light-emitting diode, used as a blue host, exhibits a low driving voltage. The findings of this study may facilitate the development of larger acenes with multiple BN units and potential applications in organic electronics.     

Medical radioisotope 89Zr production with RFT-30 cyclotron

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - 89Zr is an emerging radionuclide with promising application in nuclear medicine for the non-invasive diagnosis of various cancers with PET...     

Electrochemical characteristics of the blended polymer electrolytes containing lithium salts

Blend-based polymer electrolytes composed of poly(ethylene oxide), poly(oligo[oxyethylene]oxysebacoyl), and lithium salts have been prepared. These polymer electrolytes have been investigated in terms of ionic conductivity, transport number, and interfacial characteristics of the lithium electrode in contact with the polymer electrolyte. The influences of the blend composition, the salt used, and its concentration on the electrochemical behavior were studied. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A 3D Nanostructured Hydrogel‐Framework‐Derived High‐Performance Composite Polymer Lithium‐Ion Electrolyte

Solid‐state electrolytes have emerged as a promising alternative to existing liquid electrolytes for next generation Li‐ion batteries for better safety and stability. Of various types of solid electrolytes, composite polymer electrolytes exhibit acceptable Li‐ion conductivity due to the interaction between nanofillers and polymer. Nevertheless, the agglomeration of nanofillers at high concentration has been a major obstacle for improving Li‐ion conductivity. In this study, we designed a three‐dimensional (3D) nanostructured hydrogel‐derived Li_0.35La_0.55TiO₃ (LLTO) framework, which was used as a 3D nanofiller for high‐performance composite polymer Li‐ion electrolyte. The systematic percolation study revealed that the pre‐percolating structure of LLTO framework improved Li‐ion conductivity to 8.8×10^?5 S cm^?1 at room temperature.     

A functional equation having monomials as solutions

For each n=1,2,3, we obtain the general solution and the stability of the functional equation

f(2x+y)+f(2x-y)=2^n-2[f(x+y)+f(x-y)+6f(x)].     

An adjustable approach to fuzzy soft set based decision making

Molodtsov’s soft set theory was originally proposed as a general mathematical tool for dealing with uncertainty. Recently, decision making based on (fuzzy) soft sets has found paramount importance. This paper aims to give deeper insights into decision making based on fuzzy soft sets. We discuss the validity of the Roy-Maji method and show its true limitations. We point out that the choice value designed for the crisp case is no longer fit to solve decision making problems involving fuzzy soft sets. By means of level soft sets, we present an adjustable approach to fuzzy soft set based decision making and give some illustrative examples. Moreover, the weighted fuzzy soft set is introduced and its application to decision making is also investigated.     

Inexpensive d‐dimensional matchings

Suppose that independent U(0, 1) weights are assigned to the ${d\choose 2}n^{2}$ edges of the complete d‐partite graph with n vertices in each of the d maximal independent sets. Then the expected weight of the minimum‐weight perfect d‐dimensional matching is at least $\frac{3}{16}n^{1-(2/d)}$. We describe a randomized algorithm that finds a perfect d‐dimensional matching whose expected weight is at most 5d³n^1?(2/d)+d¹⁵ for all d≥3 and n≥1. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 20, 50–58, 2002