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Understanding plasmonic enhancement of nanoscale magnetic materials is important to evaluate their potential for application. In this study, the Faraday rotation (FR) enhancement of gold coated Fe2O3 nanoparticles (NP) is investigated experimentally and theoretically. The experiment shows that the Faraday rotation of a Fe2O3 NP solution changes from approximately 3 rad/Tm to 10 rad/Tm as 5 nm gold shell is coated on a 9.7 nm Fe2O3 core at 632 nm. The results also show how the volume fraction normalized Faraday rotation varies with the gold shell thickness. From the comparison of experiment and calculated Faraday rotation based on the Maxwell-Garnett theory, it is concluded that the enhancement and shell dependence of Faraday rotation of Fe2O3 NPs is a result of the shifting plasmon resonance of the composite NP. In addition, the clustering of the NPs induces a different phase lag on the Faraday signal, which suggests that the collective response of the magnetic NP aggregates needs to be considered even in solution. From the Faraday phase lag, the estimated time of the full alignment of the magnetic spins of bare (cluster size 160 nm) and gold coated NPs (cluster size 90 nm) are found to be 0.65 and 0.17 μs. The calculation includes a simple theoretical approach based on the Bruggeman theory to account for the aggregation and its effect on the Faraday rotation. The Bruggeman model provides a qualitatively better agreement with the experimentally observed Faraday rotation and points out the importance of making a connection between component properties and the average 'effective' optical behavior of the Faraday medium containing magnetic nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microfluid chips integrating with organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are useful for manufacturing biosensors with high throughput and large-scale analyses. We report here the utilization of alternating current (AC) electrodeposition to fabricate OECTs in situ on a microfluid chip. With this method, the organic semiconductor (OS) layer with a channel length of 8 ώm was readily prepared without requiring the post-bonding process in the conventional construction of microfluidic chips. Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate)/graphene quantum dots (PEDOT:PSS/GQDs) composites with different morphologies, such as microfilms, nanodendrites and nanowires were electropolymerized. The mass transfer process of the electropolymerization reaction was evidenced to be diffusion limited. Morphologies, growth directions, and chemical structures of OS layers could be tuned by the amplitude and the frequency of the AC voltage. Transfer and output characteristic curves of OECTs were measured on the microfluidic chip. The maximum transconductance, on/off current ratio and threshold voltage measured in the experiment was 1.58 mS, 246, and 0.120 V, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fatty acid chain grafted with terpene rings via catalyst Amberlyst ‐ 15 has been demonstrated as a promising structure for the design of biobased epoxy, by which high biocontent (80 wt %) product with excellent optical (transmittance   =   90%), mechanical (tensile strength   =   64 Mpa) and processing (viscosity   =   2.7 Pa s) properties were achieved through UV ‐ curing in seconds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous proteases are known to be necessary for cancer development and progression including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), tissue serine proteases, and cathepsins. The goal of this research is to develop an Fe/Fe3O4 nanoparticle-based system for clinical diagnostics, which has the potential to measure the activity of cancer-associated proteases in biospecimens. Nanoparticle-based “light switches” for measuring protease activity consist of fluorescent cyanine dyes and porphyrins that are attached to Fe/Fe3O4 nanoparticles via consensus sequences. These consensus sequences can be cleaved in the presence of the correct protease, thus releasing a fluorescent dye from the Fe/Fe3O4 nanoparticle, resulting in highly sensitive (down to 1 × 10−16 mol l−1 for 12 proteases), selective, and fast nanoplatforms (required time: 60 min). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have transfected murine neural stem cells (NSCs) and rat umbilical cord matrix-derived stem cells (RUCMSCs) with a plasmid expressing gaussia luciferase (gLuc). These cells are engineered to secrete the luciferase. We have used gLuc containing supernatant from culturing the NSCs to perform in vitro photodynamic therapy of murine melanoma cells (B16F10), and RUCMSCs to perform in vivo PDT of lung melanomas in C57BL/6 mice. The treatment system was comprised of aminolevulic acid as a prodrug for the synthesis of the photosensitizer protoporphyrin IX, gaussia luciferase, and its’ substrate coelenterazine. A significant reduction of the number of live melanoma cells in vitro and a borderline significant retardation of tumour growth in vivo was observed after coelenterazine-mediated PDT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT) has been investigated as a means of cancer treatment without affecting normal tissues. This system is based on the delivery of a suicide gene, a gene encoding an enzyme which is able to convert its substrate from non-toxic prodrug to cytotoxin. In this experiment, we have developed a targeted suicide gene therapeutic system that is completely contained within tumor-tropic cells and have tested this system for melanoma therapy in a preclinical model. First, we established double stable RAW264.7 monocyte/macrophage-like cells (Mo/Ma) containing a Tet-On Advanced system for intracellular carboxylesterase (InCE) expression. Second, we loaded a prodrug into the delivery cells, double stable Mo/Ma. Third, we activated the enzyme system to convert the prodrug, irinotecan, to the cytotoxin, SN-38. Our double stable Mo/Ma homed to the lung melanomas after 1 day and successfully delivered the prodrug-activating enzyme/prodrug package to the tumors. We observed that our system significantly reduced tumor weights and numbers as targeted tumor therapy after activation of the InCE. Therefore, we propose that this system may be a useful targeted melanoma therapy system for pulmonary metastatic tumors with minimal side effects, particularly if it is combined with other treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydroxyl soybean oils, also called soy polyols, are biobased chemicals designed to replace petroleum-based polyols mainly for polyurethane (PU) applications. Soy polyols are obtained by acid-catalyzed ring opening of expoxidized soybean oils or other epoxidized plant oils by nucleophilic SN2 attack of methanol. Recyclable heterogeneous catalysts are preferred for the ring-opening reactions over non-recyclable homogeneous catalysts because they minimize environmental impact. The drawbacks of current solid catalysts such as SAC 13 and Amberlite 15 are low production yield and high energy consumption. Here, we demonstrate a greener synthetic pathway of soy polyols with low energy consumption and excellent atom economy and environment (E) factor by using novel sulfamic acid-functionalized iron (iron/iron oxide core shell) nanoparticles (NPs) as a heterogeneous catalyst. The excellent selectivity of the reaction with the recyclable NPs was confirmed by 1H NMR, 1H-1H COSY NMR, and ESI-MS comparable to non-recyclable H2SO4. The synthetic route with the NPs resulted in higher product yield (almost 100%) as H2SO4 at room temperature for 30 min over the SAC 13 (83% yield at 60 °C for 60 min) and Amberlite 15 (87% yield at 60 °C for 100 min). Life cycle assessment (LCA) revealed that the NP synthetic technology for soy polyol production is superior or equal to the competing routes (H2SO4, SAC 13, and Amberlite 15 methods) with respect to 9 environmental impacts (acidification potential, ozone depletion potential, smog formation potential, global warming potential, human toxicity by ingestion, human toxicity by inhalation, persistence, bioaccumulation, and abiotic resource depletion potential). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Extracellular vesicles contain biological molecules specified by cell-type of origin and modified by microenvironmental changes. To conduct reproducible studies on exosome content and function, storage conditions need to have minimal impact on airway exosome integrity. Aim: We compared surface properties and protein content of airway exosomes that had been freshly isolated vs. those that had been treated with cold storage or freezing. Methods: Mouse bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) exosomes purified by differential ultracentrifugation were analysed immediately or stored at +4°C or −80°C. Exosomal structure was assessed by dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and charge density (zeta potential, ζ). Exosomal protein content, including leaking/dissociating proteins, were identified by label-free LC-MS/MS. Results: Freshly isolated BALF exosomes exhibited a mean diameter of 95 nm and characteristic morphology. Storage had significant impact on BALF exosome size and content. Compared to fresh, exosomes stored at +4°C had a 10% increase in diameter, redistribution to polydisperse aggregates and reduced ζ. Storage at −80°C produced an even greater effect, resulting in a 25% increase in diameter, significantly reducing the ζ, resulting in multilamellar structure formation. In fresh exosomes, we identified 1140 high-confidence proteins enriched in 19 genome ontology biological processes. After storage at room temperature, 848 proteins were identified. In preparations stored at +4°C, 224 proteins appeared in the supernatant fraction compared to the wash fractions from freshly prepared exosomes; these proteins represent exosome leakage or dissociation of loosely bound “peri-exosomal” proteins. In preparations stored at −80°C, 194 proteins appeared in the supernatant fraction, suggesting that distinct protein groups leak from exosomes at different storage temperatures. Conclusions: Storage destabilizes the surface characteristics, morphological features and protein content of BALF exosomes. For preservation of the exosome protein content and representative functional analysis, airway exosomes should be analysed immediately after isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]