Tetramethylguanidinium‐polyallylamine (Tmg‐PA): A new class of nonviral vector for efficient gene transfection

Highly toxic polyallylamine (PA) was reacted with a varying amount of a novel linker, 6‐(N,N,N′,N′‐tetramethylguanidinium chloride) hexanoic acid (Tmg‐HA), to prepare a series of tetramethylguanidinium‐PA (Tmg‐PA) polymers, which were used as vectors for gene transfection. The extent of attachment of the linker, Tmg‐HA, to the PA backbone was determined by 2,4,6‐trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid assay. The modified polymers (Tmg‐PAs), when complexed with pDNA, exhibited good condensation ability. The nanoparticles, so formed, were characterized by their size and zeta potential and were subsequently evaluated for their toxicity and transfection ability on various mammalian cells, viz., HeLa, CHO, and HEK 293 cells. Mobility shift assay revealed that on increasing the percent substitution of Tmg‐HA onto PA (from Tmg‐PA1 to Tmg‐PA6), relatively higher amounts of modified polymers were required to retard the mobility of a fixed amount of DNA. Besides, Tmg‐PA polymers provided sufficient protection (ca. 84–88%) to bound DNA against nucleases and one of the formulations, Tmg‐PA2 (ca. 15% substitution) displayed the highest transfection efficiency outcompeting the commercial transfection reagent, Lipofectamine? with minimal cytotoxicity. More impressively, the transfection efficiency increased despite recording a decrease in the buffering capacity of the grafted polymers suggesting that buffering capacity is not the sole parameter in determining the gene delivery efficiency of a vector system. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

M4C9+(M = Ti, V): New gas phase clusters

New metal-carbon clusters, M₄C₉ ⁺ (M = Ti, V), generated using a combined thermal arc discharge evaporation set-up, have been studied with quadrupole mass spectrometry. Reactivities of these clusters have been investigated by means of association reactions with H₂O. Metal-carbon clusters of other compositions have also been studied. We speculate on the mechanism of formation of larger metal-carbon clusters.     

平台2015:Intel处理器及平台在下一个十年的演化

毫无疑问,近年来计算技术取得了长足的进步。但是,在未来的十年,主流计算技术中新的工作量、使用模式的出现及变化对未来的计算平台提出的要求,与过去十年所取得的进展也差不多,这些巨大的要求包括:更高的性能、更低的功率密度、更好的功能可扩展性。倘若出现这些使用计算机的震撼性的变化,我们怎样定义和构架未来的计算平台,就将不得不做出引人注目的改变。要整体地理解和满足的,不仅仅有计算的需要,而且还有接口以及系统基础设施的需要。Intel对这三个基础平台要素的演化的长期设想,以及驱动演化的架构的创新和核心能力,即是我们称之为平台2015(Platform2015)的内容。除了考察相关的趋势、使用、平台处理含意之外,本文将集中在平台2015的计算单元,描述Intel微处理器架构在未来十年的演化。     

Information patterns and Nash equilibria in extensive games: 1

In this paper we explore the relation between information patterns and Nash Equilibria in extensive games. By information we mean what players know about moves made by others, as well as by chance. For the most part we confine ourselves to pure strategies. But in Section 2 behavioral strategies are also examined. It turns out that they can be modeled as pure strategies of an appropriately enlarged game. Our results, applied to the enlarged game, can then be reinterpreted in terms of the behavioral strategies of the original game.     

Controlled induction, enhancement, and guidance of neuronal growth cones by use of line optical tweezers

We report an optical tweezers based approach for efficient and controlled manipulation of neuronal growth cones. The approach exploits asymmetric transverse gradient force created in a line optical tweezers to transport actin monomers in the desired growth direction. With this approach induction of artificial growth cones from the neuronal cell body and enhancement of the growth rate of the natural growth cones have been achieved. The use of this approach to bring two growth cones into close proximity for establishing a neuronal connection is also discussed.     

Superlubricity of graphite

Using a home-built frictional force microscope that is able to detect forces in three dimensions with a lateral force resolution down to 15 pN, we have studied the energy dissipation between a tungsten tip sliding over a graphite surface in dry contact. By measuring atomic-scale friction as a function of the rotational angle between two contacting bodies, we show that the origin of the ultralow friction of graphite lies in the incommensurability between rotated graphite layers, an effect proposed under the name of "superlubricity" [Phys. Rev. B 41, 11 837 (1990)]].     

Model for heat conduction in nanofluids

A comprehensive model has been proposed to account for the large enhancement of thermal conductivity in nanofluids and its strong temperature dependence, which the classical Maxwellian theory has been unable to explain. The dependence of thermal conductivity on particle size, concentration, and temperature has been taken care of simultaneously in our treatment. While the geometrical effect of an increase in surface area with a decrease in particle size, rationalized using a stationary particle model, accounts for the conductivity enhancement, a moving particle model developed from the Stokes-Einstein formula explains the temperature effect. Predictions from the combined model agree with the experimentally observed values of conductivity enhancement of nanofluids.     

Structural and functional analogue of the active site of polysulfide reductase from Wolinella succinogenes

Synthesis of [PPh4]2[Mo(SPh)2(S2C2(CN)2)2] (2) from [PPh4]2[MoO(S2C2(CN)2)2] (1) has been achieved to mimic the postulated [Mo(S)6] core of polysulfide reductase with two thiolates and two bis(ene-dithiolate) ligands. Compound 2 reacts with polysulfide to yield H2S, modeling the function of polysulfide reductase. The facile conversion of 2 back to 1 in moist solvent suggests that the interconversion of the [MoIV = O] and [MoIV - X] (X = O-Ser, S-Cys, Se-Cys) moieties might occur in the DMSO reductase class of enzymes under appropriate hydrophobic/hydrophilic conditions.     

Irradiance dependence of the He-Ne laser-induced protection against UVC radiation in E. coli strains

He-Ne laser pre-irradiation-induced protection against UVC damage was investigated in wild-type E. coli K12 strain AB1157 and its isogenic DNA repair mutant strains. At a dose of 7 kJ/m(2), pre-irradiation was observed to induce protection in recA proficient strains (AB1157 and uvrA(-) AB1886) at both the irradiances investigated (2 and 100 W/m(2)). However, at the same dose (7 kJ/m(2)), while no protection was observed at 100 W/m(2) in the recA(-) strain, some protection appeared to be there at 2 W/m(2). Mechanistic studies carried out on these strains at the two irradiances suggest that, whereas the protection observed at 100 W/m(2) is mediated by singlet oxygen, that observed at 2 W/m(2) is not. Further, the fact that protection at 100 W/m(2) was observed only in recA proficient strains suggests that it may arise due to the induction of DNA repair processes controlled by the recA gene. The latter may arise due to the oxidative stress produced by singlet oxygen generated by He-Ne laser irradiation. In contrast, the protection observed at 2 W/m(2) appears to be independent of the DNA repair proficiency of the strain.