Engineered 3D microporous gelatin scaffolds to study cell migration

Here we present a facile method to fabricate microporous hydrogel scaffolds that can be functionalized with a chemokine gradient. These scaffolds allow studying cellular responses in a 3D environment.     

A general method for the computation of probabilities in systems of first order chemical reactions

We present a general method for the computation of molecular population distributions in a system of first-order chemical reactions. The method is based on the observation that the molecules in first-order reactions do not interact with each other. Therefore, the population distributions are a convolution of densities for one molecule. With this method one can study reactions involving any number of molecules. Such analysis is demonstrated on several examples, including an enzyme catalyst reaction and a first-order reaction chain.     

Polymeric Multilayer Capsules in Drug Delivery

Recent advances in medicine and biotechnology have prompted the need to develop nanoengineered delivery systems that can encapsulate a wide variety of novel therapeutics such as proteins, chemotherapeutics, and nucleic acids. Moreover, these delivery systems should be “intelligent”, such that they can deliver their payload at a well‐defined time, place, or after a specific stimulus. Polymeric multilayer capsules, made by layer‐by‐layer (LbL) coating of a sacrificial template followed by dissolution of the template, allow the design of microcapsules in aqueous conditions by using simple building blocks and assembly procedures, and provide a previously unmet control over the functionality of the microcapsules. Polymeric multilayer capsules have recently received increased interest from the life science community, and many interesting systems have appeared in the literature with biodegradable components and biospecific functionalities. In this Review we give an overview of the recent breakthroughs in their application for drug delivery.     

Energy spectra for decaying 2D turbulence in a bounded domain

We use results derived in the framework of the replica approach to study the liquid-glass thermodynamic transition. The main results are derived without using replicas and applied to the study of the Lennard-Jones binary mixture introduced by Kob and Andersen. We find that there is a phase transition due to the entropy crisis. We compute both analytically and numerically the value of the phase transition point T(K) and the specific heat in the low temperature phase.     

Benzo- and indoloquinolizines: X—application of carbon-13 n.m.r. to the stereochemistry of the 4b,5,6,7,8,8a,10,11,16,16b-decahydrodibenz[f,h]indolo[2,3-a]quinolizine isomers

The carbon-13 n.m.r. spectra of three isomers of 4b, 5,6,7,8,8a,10,11,16,16b-decahydrodibenz[f,h]indolo[2,3-a]quinolizine were interpreted with the aid of the 1,2,3,4,4a,5,6,10b-octahydro-6-phenylphenanthridines and the 2-phenylcylohexylamines. The configuration and the conformation of these compounds can be determined from the chemical shift values.     

Redox-responsive degradable PEG cryogels as potential cell scaffolds in tissue engineering

A Michael addition strategy involving the reaction between a maleimide double bond and amine groups is investigated for the synthesis of cryogels at subzero temperature. Low-molecular-weight PEG-based building blocks with amine end groups and disulfide-containing building blocks with maleimide end groups are combined to synthesize redox-responsive PEG cryogels. The cryogels exhibit an interconnected macroporous morphology, a high compressive modulus and gelation yields of around 95%. While the cryogels are stable under physiological conditions, complete dissolution of the cryogels into water-soluble products is obtained in the presence of a reducing agent (glutathione) in the medium. Cell seeding experiments and toxicologic analysis demonstrate their potential as scaffolds in tissue engineering.     

Ternary Covering Codes Derived from BCH Codes

It is shown how ternary BCH codes can be lengthened to get linear codes with covering radius 2. The family obtained has the ternary Golay code as its first code, contains codes with record-breaking parameters, and has a good asymptotic behavior. The ternary Golay code is further used to obtain short proofs for the best known upper bounds for the football pool problem for 11 and 12 matches.     

Asymmetric co-evaporated Co-Cr films: magnetic parameters and reversal mechanism

The magnetic parameters of co-evaporated Co–Cr films, where Cr was deposited obliquely, are investigated. Process-induced compositional separation enhanced the energy product. When the substrate was rotated during evaporation, the perpendicular characteristics were lost.     

High field magnetization of NdAl2 single crystals interpreted with crystal field theory

The magnetization of NdAl₂ single crystals was measured at 4.2, 20.3 and 77 K, in magnetic fields up to 35 tesla applied in the 〈100〉, 〈110〉 and 〈111〉 directions. The magnetization in these directions may be described theoretically, without any fitting, in terms of two cubic crystalline electric field parameters and one molecular field constant which have been taken from inelastic neutron scattering data.⁵