Proteomic analysis of cellular soluble proteins from human bronchial smooth muscle cells by combining nondenaturing micro 2DE and quantitative LC‐MS/MS. 2. Similarity search between protein maps for the analysis of protein complexes

Human bronchial smooth muscle cell soluble proteins were analyzed by a combined method of nondenaturing micro 2DE, grid gel‐cutting, and quantitative LC‐MS/MS and a native protein map was prepared for each of the identified 4323 proteins [1]. A method to evaluate the degree of similarity between the protein maps was developed since we expected the proteins comprising a protein complex would be separated together under nondenaturing conditions. The following procedure was employed using Excel macros; (i) maps that have three or more squares with protein quantity data were selected (2328 maps), (ii) within each map, the quantity values of the squares were normalized setting the highest value to be 1.0, (iii) in comparing a map with another map, the smaller normalized quantity in two corresponding squares was taken and summed throughout the map to give an “overlap score,” (iv) each map was compared against all the 2328 maps and the largest overlap score, obtained when a map was compared with itself, was set to be 1.0 thus providing 2328 “overlap factors,” (v) step (iv) was repeated for all maps providing 2328 × 2328 matrix of overlap factors. From the matrix, protein pairs that showed overlap factors above 0.65 from both protein sides were selected (431 protein pairs). Each protein pair was searched in a database (UniProtKB) on complex formation and 301 protein pairs, which comprise 35 protein complexes, were found to be documented. These results demonstrated that native protein maps and their similarity search would enable simultaneous analysis of multiple protein complexes in cells.     

Topological Effect on the Structure of Self‐Assembled Aggregates from Amphiphilic Macromolecules in Solution

The self‐assembled morphologies of cyclic amphiphiles, which are composed of a long hydrophobic block and a short hydrophilic block, in selective solutions are studied by using a simulated annealing method. The morphological dependence of the aggregates on solvent quality is investigated. The topology effects are studied by comparing results from linear counterparts of the amphiphiles. It is observed that, in addition to spherical micelles, cylindrical micelles, disklike micelles, vesicles, and large compound micelles, muticompartment vesicles with several fluidic cores can be formed by the cyclic systems. The morphologies are regulated by the interaction parameter ε_AS between the hydrophobic block and solvents. Furthermore, it is revealed that the differences of characteristics of the self‐assembled aggregates originate from the difference in architectural constraint. The wide region of forming multicompartment vesicles suggests that cyclic amphiphilic macromolecules could be a suitable candidate for applications to deliver multiple functional components by compartmentalizing different components in different confined space of vesicles.     

Frame‐Guided Assembly of Amphiphiles

Frame‐guided assembly, a recently discovered strategy for amphiphilic assembly, is discussed as a strategy for constructing vesicle assemblies with programmed geometries and dimensions under identical surrounding conditions. The strategy is inspired by the cytoskeletal‐membrane protein–lipid bilayer structure and shows great potential in the understanding and controlling of the amphiphilic assembly process. Both the principles and basic requirements are discussed, along with recently reported examples. The prospects and potential investigations of frame‐guided assembly are also proposed.     

UV‐Responsive Supramolecular Vesicles with Double Hydrophobic Chains

In order to improve the stability of polymeric vesicles, supramolecular vesicles are developed via self‐assembly of the inclusion of γ‐cyclodextrin (γ‐CD) and 1‐pyrenemethyl palmitate (Py‐pal). The inclusion has one hydrophilic head and double hydrophobic tails, which looks like the phospholipid. From the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image, it can be observed that the average diameter of supramolecular vesicles is approximately 55 nm and there is a huge cavity in supramolecular vesicles. Due to the photo‐breakable ester of Py‐pal, supramolecular vesicles are broken under UV irradiation. Supramolecular vesicles are used as UV‐responsive drug carriers to release the hydrophilic drug such as doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX•HCl).

     

Double-Layered Plasmonic–Magnetic Vesicles by Self-Assembly of Janus Amphiphilic Gold–Iron(II,III) Oxide Nanoparticles

Janus nanoparticles (JNPs) offer unique features, including the precisely controlled distribution of compositions, surface charges, dipole moments, modular and combined functionalities, which enable excellent applications that are unavailable to their symmetrical counterparts. Assemblies of NPs exhibit coupled optical, electronic and magnetic properties that are different from single NPs. Herein, we report a new class of double-layered plasmonic–magnetic vesicle assembled from Janus amphiphilic Au-Fe₃O₄ NPs grafted with polymer brushes of different hydrophilicity on Au and Fe₃O₄ surfaces separately. Like liposomes, the vesicle shell is composed of two layers of Au-Fe₃O₄ NPs in opposite direction, and the orientation of Au or Fe₃O₄ in the shell can be well controlled by exploiting the amphiphilic property of the two types of polymers.     

Numerical investigation of the propagation of shock waves in rigid porous materials: flow field behavior and parametric study

A numerical parametric study of the flow field which develops when a planar shock wave impinge on a rigid porous material is presented. This study complements an earlier study (Levy et al. 1996a) where the values of some dominating parameters were estimated and the dependence of the resulting flow field on these values was not checked. Received 22 April 1996 / Accepted 5 January 1997     

Insight into the physics of foam densification via numerical simulation

Foamed materials are increasingly finding application in engineering systems on account of their unique properties. The basic mechanics which gives rise to these properties is well established, they are the result of collapsing the foam microstructure. Despite a basic understanding, the relationship between the details of foam microstructure and foam bulk response is generally unknown. With continued advances in computational power, many researchers have turned to numerical simulation to gain insight into the relationship between foam microstructure and bulk properties. However, numerical simulation of foam microscale deformation is a very challenging computational task and, to date, simulations over the full range of bulk deformations in which these materials operate have not been reported. Here a particle technique is demonstrated to be well-suited for this computational challenge, permitting simulation of the compression of foam microstructures to full densification. Computations on idealized foam microstructures are in agreement with engineering guidelines and various experimental results. Dependencies on degree of microstructure regularity and material properties are demonstrated. A surprising amount of porosity is found in fully-densified foams. The presence of residual porosity can strongly influence dynamic material response and hence needs to be accounted for in bulk (average) constitutive models of these materials.     

Traveling waves for nonlinear cellular neural networks with distributed delays

In this paper, we will establish the existence and nonexistence of traveling waves for nonlinear cellular neural networks with finite or infinite distributed delays. The dynamics of each given cell depends on itself and its nearest m left or l right neighborhood cells where delays exist in self-feedback and left or right neighborhood interactions. Our approach is to use Schauder?s fixed point theorem coupled with upper and lower solutions of the integral equation in a suitable Banach space. Further, we obtain the exponential asymptotic behavior in the negative infinity and the existence of traveling waves for the minimal wave speed by the limiting argument. Our results improve and cover some previous works.