Evaluation of a novel nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite powder and a solid hydroxyapatite/Chitosan-Gelatin bioceramic for scaffold preparation used as a bone substitute material

Artificially fabricated hydroxyapatite (HAP) shows excellent biocompatibility with various kinds of cells and tissues which makes it an ideal candidate for a bone substitute material. In this study, hydroxyapatite nanoparticles have been prepared by using the wet chemical precipitation method using calcium nitrate tetra-hydrate [Ca(NO₃)₂.4H₂O] and di-ammonium hydrogen phosphate [(NH₄)₂ HPO₄] as precursors. The composite scaffolds have been prepared by a freeze-drying method with hydroxyapatite, chitosan, and gelatin which form a 3D network of interconnected pores. Glutaraldehyde solution has been used in the scaffolds to crosslink the amino groups (|NH₂) of gelatin with the aldehyde groups (|CHO) of chitosan. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) performed on different scaffolds indicates that the incorporation of a certain amount of hydroxyapatite has no influence on the chitosan/gelatin network and at the same time, the organic matrix does not affect the crystallinity of hydroxyapatite. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images show the needle-like crystal structure of hydroxyapatite nanoparticle. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis shows an interconnected porous network in the scaffold where HAP nanoparticles are found to be dispersed in the biopolymer matrix. Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirms the presence of hydroxyl group (OH^-) , phosphate group (PO^3-₄) , carbonate group (CO^2-₃) , imine group (C=N), etc. TGA reveals the thermal stability of the scaffolds. The cytotoxicity of the scaffolds is examined qualitatively by VERO (animal cell) cell and quantitatively by MTTassay. The MTT-assay suggests keeping the weight percentage of glutaraldehyde solution lower than 0.2%. The result found from this study demonstrated that a proper bone replacing scaffold can be made up by controlling the amount of hydroxyapatite, gelatin, and chitosan which will be biocompatible, biodegradable, and biofriendly for any living organism.     

光波导二氧化氮气敏传感元件的研究

本文用离子交换法制备K+交换玻璃光波导元件,并在其表面固定纳米级敏感层酞菁铜(CuPc)薄膜,利用光波导气体检测系统对NO2气体进行测试.结果表明,该传感元件常温下对NO2等气体有快速、可逆的响应,并具有重现性好,灵敏度高等特点.     

一维函数方法求解原子和分子薛定谔方程

对薛定谔方程的严格数值求解, 尤其是发展标准方法之外的、 包含新功能的解法, 一直是物理学研究的基本关注点. 本文介绍一种近些年发展的一维函数近似解方法, 该方法通过对波函数的不同坐标分量进行处理来求解原子和分子体系的薛定谔方程. 电子的试探波函数被离散化到实空间均匀格点上, 因此可以通过残差矢量校正的方法对其进行改进. 一维函数方法本身的特征决定其非常利于数值积分, 避免了很多由常规的多电子、 多中心势分子积分所带来的问题. 计算中, 最终能量是从严格的能量上限逐渐收敛所获得, 计算出的两电子薛定谔波函数呈现出常规单电子近似方法所含有的电子关联效应. 不同于密度泛函理论及Hartree-Fock的单电子解法, 本方法对电子-电子排斥能的多体效应的处理更加精确.     

Dynamics on reactive potential energy surfaces: hyperspherical view and signatures of ‘quantum chaos’

Adiabatic energy levels for two prototypical reactions, F + H₂ → HF + H and He + H⁺ ₂ → HeH⁺ + H, are analysed by means of statistical tests. These levels result from quantum mechanical calculations of dynamics based on the hyperspherical approach, and are given as a function of the total inertia of the system measured by the hyperradius ρ The nearest neighbour level spacing distributions of Brody and of Berry and Robnik, the spectral rigidity δ₃ of Dyson and Mehta and the correlation coefficient are reported, together with other properties, such as variance, skewness and kurtosis of the distributions. Trends are studied as a function of ρ, proposed as a natural control variable. For low ρ, which correspond to the transition state, evidence is found of Wigner-like behaviour, which is interpreted as the signature of quantum chaos. On the passage of the systems through intermediate ρ a mixture of Wigner- and Poisson-like behaviour emerges. The situation for high ρ where reactants and products of the reactions are well separated, is characterized by a tendency towards regular Poisson-like behaviour. A comparison between the two investigated systems shows that the chaotic regime in the transition state region is more pronounced for the He reaction, which proceeds through a deep well and whose dynamics are characterized by a rich resonance pattern.     

Tea Polyphenols Reducing Lipopolysaccharide-induced Inflammatory Responses in RAW264.7 Macrophages via NF-κB Pathway

The anti-inflammatory activity of tea polyphenols(TPs) in RAW264.7 macrophages stimulated by lipopolysaccharide(LPS) was investigated in this paper. RAW264.7 macrophages were treated with different concentrations of TP(0, 12.5, 25, 50, 100, and 200 μg/mL) and then stimulated by LPS. Another blank control group was set up. The expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines associated with the nuclear factor-kappa B(NF-κB) signaling pathway was investigated before and after TP treatment. Pretreatment of RAW264.7 cells with TP decreased the expression of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), interleukin-6(IL-6) and interleukin 1 beta(IL-1β) pro-inflammatory cytokines. In addition, TP inhibited the phosphorylation of p65 and IκB by blocking the phosphorylation and the degradation of NF-κB inhibitor protein. In conclusion, TP exerts anti-inflammatory effects by regulating the release of inflammatory mediators via the NF-κB signaling pathway.     

Nonlinear propagation of dust-acoustic solitary waves in a dusty plasma with arbitrarily charged dust and trapped electrons

A theoretical investigation of dust-acoustic solitary waves in three-component unmagnetized dusty plasma consisting of trapped electrons, Maxwellian ions, and arbitrarily charged cold mobile dust was done. It has been found that, owing to the departure from the Maxwellian electron distribution to a vortex-like one, the dynamics of small but finite amplitude dust-acoustic (DA) waves is governed by a nonlinear equation of modified Korteweg–de Vries (mKdV) type (instead of KdV). The reductive perturbation method was employed to study the basic features (amplitude, width, speed, etc.) of DA solitary waves which are significantly modified by the presence of trapped electrons. The implications of our results in space and laboratory plasmas are briefly discussed.     

The Homotopy Perturbation Method and the Adomian Decomposition Method for the Nonlinear Coupled Equations

In this paper, we have used the homotopy perturbation and the Adomian decomposition methods to study the nonlinear coupled Kortewge-de Vries and shallow water equations. The main objective of this paper is to propose alternative methods of solutions, which do not require small parameters and avoid linearization and physical unrealistic assumptions. The proposed methods give more general exact solutions without much extra effort and the results reveal that the homotopy perturbation and the Adomian decomposition methods are very effective, convenient and quite accurate to the systems of coupled nonlinear equations.