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Naphthalenediimide derivative-absorbed papers had fluorescence intensity and maximum depending on the type of guest aromatic molecules after exposure to vapors of small 10 guest molecules. Furthermore, the papers showed a mechanochromic property.

Maltopentaose-b-PPO copolymer can be incorporated into phospholipid membranes and form bilayer-domains, where they act as synthetic molecular channels.

Transplantable catalytic reactors have attracted considerable attention as therapeutic biomedical materials. However, existing transplantable reactors such as biocatalytic films are limited by their invasiveness. Here, we report the fabrication of biocatalytic supramolecular hydrogels via self-assembly of amphiphilic glycopeptides. We show that the hydrogels have shear-thinning properties, demonstrating their potential to be administered using a syringe. Enzymes can be loaded into the hydrogels by simply adding enzyme solution, and the enzyme-loaded hydrogels can transform a prodrug into an anticancer drug that inhibits tumor cell growth. This study demonstrates the potential of these biocatalytic hydrogels as injectable therapeutic reactors for enzyme prodrug therapy.

Primary pulmonary myxoid sarcoma is a rare lung sarcoma, mostly involving the central lung and harboring the EWSR1::CREB1 fusion. We report an exceptional case of primary pulmonary myxoid sarcoma arising in the peripheral lung and harboring an EWSR1::ATF1 gene fusion. A 67-year-old man presented with a solid nodule in the right lower lobe, and wedge resection was performed. Microscopically, the tumor consisted of reticular proliferation of uniform mildly atypical spindle cells within abundant myxoid stroma. Immunohistochemically, smooth muscle actin was positive but desmin was negative. Fluorescence in situ hybridization confirmed EWSR1 and ATF1 gene rearrangements. No recurrence was seen for 12 months. Pathological findings and gene rearrangements are important for the diagnosis of primary pulmonary myxoid sarcoma. Complete resection and careful observation are required.

Conjugation of maltopentaose to water-soluble homo-poly(sarcosine) induced self-association and formed nanospheres (-150 nm) in water although homo-poly(sarcosine) was water-soluble and did not form any aggregates. Fluorescent probe experiments showed that the spheres were non-ionic glycopeptoid coacervate-like particles with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains inside.

This review describes the self-assembly of sparsely grafted amphiphilic copolymers and highlights the effects of structural factors and solvents on their self-assembly behaviour.

Solute-permeable polymer vesicles are structural compartments for nanoreactors/nanofactories in the context of drug delivery and artificial cells. We previously proposed design guidelines for polymers that form solute-permeable vesicles, yet we did not provide enough experimental verification. In addition, the fact that there is no clear factor for identifying permeable solutes necessitates extensive trial and error. Herein, we report solute-permeable polymer vesicles based on an amphiphilic copolymer, thermoresponsive oligosaccharide-block-poly(N-n-propylglycine). The introduction of a thermoresponsive polymer as a hydrophobic segment into amphiphilic polymers is a viable approach to construct solute-permeable polymer vesicles. We also demonstrate that the polymer vesicles are preferentially permeable to cationic and neutral fluorophores and are hardly permeable to anionic fluorophores due to the electrostatic repulsion between the bilayer and anionic fluorophores. In addition, the permeability of neutral fluorophores increases with the increasing log P value of the fluorophores. Thus, the electrical charge and log P value are important factors for membrane permeability. These findings will help researchers develop advanced nanoreactors based on permeable vesicles for a broad range of fundamental and biomedical applications.

Thermoresponsive polymer vesicles are promising drug-delivery carriers because of their ability to release cargo in a controlled manner. However, the process of thermoresponsive vesicle disassembly has attracted only limited attention to date, and the details remain elusive. Herein, we report using small-angle X-ray scattering and confocal laser scanning microscopy for in situ observation of the disassembly process during the cooling of thermoresponsive maltopentaose-b-poly(propylene oxide) polymer vesicle solutions. Notably, vesicle collapse mainly involves three discrete steps, not a concerted process. We also demonstrate that protein-loaded vesicles can be triggered to release their cargo upon cooling and that released protein retains its enzymatic activity. This study can thus provide a basis for generating guidelines for using thermoresponsive polymer vesicles in the triggered release of cargo and facilitating the development of new thermoresponsive materials based on poly(propylene oxide). The real-time structural changes of thermoresponsive polymer vesicles upon cooling were investigated by small-angle X-ray scattering and confocal laser scanning microscopy. The disassembly process of the vesicles consists of multiple steps: 1) pore formation, 2) opening and shrinkage of the membrane, and 3) dissolving in the solvent. We also demonstrated that the vesicles can be used as compartments for the controlled release of proteins. This study provides the basis for the mechanism of the disassembly process of thermoresponsive vesicles and a guideline for their use as controlled-release medical devices.

Micellar nanoreactors based on the self-assembly of an IEDDA reactive unit bearing amphiphilic polymers are reported. The deployment of the nanoreactors for cancer chemotherapy via prodrug activation by the IEDDA reaction is also demonstrated.

Biocatalytic films are attracting growing attention for their significant potential as scaffolds for therapeutic reactor devices. However, conventional film fabrication methods result either in enzyme denaturation or require cumbersome procedures. Here, we report the preparation of biocatalytic films via self-assembly of a carbohydrate block copolymer and a polysaccharide. Enzyme-loaded films can be prepared by simply drying the polymer solution, and the loaded enzymes retain their biocatalytic activities in the film for prolonged periods of time. We also demonstrate that the enzyme-loaded films can successfully transform a prodrug into an antitumor drug that inhibits tumor cell growth. Our work highlights the potential of these biocatalytic self-assembled films as therapeutic reactor devices for enzyme prodrug therapy. Given the simplicity of the preparation method, this approach could improve the versatility of biocatalytic films and consequently expand their applicability from exclusive use in therapeutic reactor devices to sensing and diagnosis.

Polymer vesicles with intrinsic molecular permeability have attracted attention as structural components for nano/microreactors in the context of drug delivery and artificial cells. However, the mo...

Developing photoactivatable theranostic platforms with integrated functionalities of biocompatibility, targeting, imaging contrast, and therapy is a promising approach for cancer diagnosis and therapy. Here, we report a theranostic agent based on a hybrid nanoparticle comprising fullerene nanocrystals and gold nanoparticles (FGNPs) for photoacoustic imaging and photothermal therapy. Compared to gold nanoparticles and fullerene crystals, FGNPs exhibited stronger photoacoustic signals and photothermal heating characteristics by irradiating light with an optimal wavelength. Our studies demonstrated that FGNPs could kill cancer cells due to their photothermal heating characteristics in vitro. Moreover, FGNPs that are accumulated in tumor tissue via the enhanced permeation and retention effect can visualize tumor tissue due to their photoacoustic signal in tumor xenograft model mice. The theranostic agent with FGNPs shows promise for cancer therapy.

Nanodiscs have attracted considerable attention as structural scaffolds for membrane-protein research and as biomaterials in

Vesicles with molecular permeability have attracted considerable attention as biomedical materials, e.g., as biocatalytic nanoreactors for drug delivery and artificial cells. However, their applications are limited by their low permeability for enzyme substrates. Here, we report the synthesis of oligo(aspartic acid)-b-poly(propylene oxide) polymer vesicle nanoreactors with a negatively charged surface, which are preferentially permeable for cationic and neutral compounds. The permeation of cationic substrates is accelerated by the electrostatic effect, which increases the apparent rate of the enzymatic reaction. Notably, the polymer can be incorporated into a phospholipid membrane, where it acts as a synthetic molecular channel. The obtained results clearly suggest that imparting the vesicle surface with an anionic charge represents a simple and versatile approach to substrate sorting and enhances molecular permeability. This study can thus be expected to open new avenues for the design of vesicles with molecular permeability that may serve as biocatalytic nanoreactors in artificial cells and drug delivery applications.

Fluorescent probes can be used to detect various types of asbestos (serpentine and amphibole groups); however, the fiber counting using our previously developed software was not accurate for samples with low fiber concentration. Machine learning-based techniques (e.g., deep learning) for image analysis, particularly Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), have been widely applied to many areas. The objectives of this study were to (1) create a database of a wide-range asbestos concentration (0–50 fibers/liter) fluorescence microscopy (FM) images in the laboratory; and (2) determine the applicability of the state-of-the-art object detection CNN model, YOLOv4, to accurately detect asbestos. We captured the fluorescence microscopy images containing asbestos and labeled the individual asbestos in the images. We trained the YOLOv4 model with the labeled images using one GTX 1660 Ti Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Our results demonstrated the exceptional capacity of the YOLOv4 model to learn the fluorescent asbestos morphologies. The mean average precision at a threshold of 0.5 (mAP@0.5) was 96.1% ± 0.4%, using the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) fiber counting Method 7400 as a reference method. Compared to our previous counting software (Intec/HU), the YOLOv4 achieved higher accuracy (0.997 vs. 0.979), particularly much higher precision (0.898 vs. 0.418), recall (0.898 vs. 0.780) and F-1 score (0.898 vs. 0.544). In addition, the YOLOv4 performed much better for low fiber concentration samples (

Solute-permeable polymer vesicles are structural compartments for nanoreactors/nanofactories in the context of drug delivery and artificial cells. We previously proposed design guidelines for polymers that form solute-permeable vesicles, yet we did not provide enough experimental verification. In addition, the fact that there is no clear factor for identifying permeable solutes necessitates extensive trial and error. Herein, we report solute-permeable polymer vesicles based on an amphiphilic copolymer, thermoresponsive oligosaccharide-block-poly(

As opposed to the case with MOSFETs widely used in the very-large-scale integrated circuit, miniaturization of the photodetectors to the nanometer scale does not always lead the performance improvement mainly due to the reduced thickness and area for the light absorption. However, it is still possible to circumvent the drawback by introducing the optical antenna and to improve the performance by miniaturization. Moreover, the nanometer-scale photodetectors exhibits unique functionalities such as incident angle detection and biosensing. In this report, some examples found in the photodiode with SP antenna, MOSFET single-photon detector, SET-based ultrahigh-frequency rectifier, and terahertz bolometer are introduced.

Controlling polymer vesicle size is difficult and a major obstacle for their potential use in biomedical applications, such as drug-delivery carriers and nanoreactors. Herein, we report size-tunable polymer vesicles based on self-assembly of a thermoresponsive amphiphilic graft copolymer. Unilamellar polymer vesicles form upon heating chilled polymer solutions, and vesicle size can be tuned in the range of 40-70 nm by adjusting the initial polymer concentration. Notably, the polymer can reversibly switch between a monomer state and a vesicle state in accordance with a cooling/heating cycle, which changes neither the size nor the size distribution of the vesicles. This lack of change suggests that the polymer memorizes a particular vesicle conformation. Given our vesicles' size tunability and structural memory, our research considerably expands the fundamental and practical scope of thermoresponsive amphiphilic graft copolymers and renders amphiphilic graft copolymers useful tools for synthesizing functional self-assembled materials.

Polymer vesicles with molecular permeability offer significant potential to contribute to the understanding of biocatalytic processes in nano/micro compartments and therapeutic enzyme reactors. However, constructing such permeable vesicles remains challenging, as clear guidelines for the design of permeable membranes remain elusive. In the present study we focused on a hydrophobic polymer with hydrogen bond donor and acceptor moieties, i.e., a polymer that exhibits a lower-critical-solution-temperature (LCST)-like behavior, as a suitable component for the permeable bilayer membrane. We have developed a carbohydrate-based initiator system for the cationic ring opening polymerization of 2-oxazoline and synthesized molecular permeable polymer vesicles based on an amphiphilic block polymer composed of maltotriose and poly(n-propyl oxazoline) that exhibit LCST-like behavior. The resulting polymer vesicles are permeable to up to 1 kg mol−1 of FITC-PEG. These findings represent a major milestone toward the development of (i) intrinsically permeable polymer vesicles and (ii) functional polymer vesicles for a broad range of fundamental and biomedical applications.

We report the combined enzymatic synthesis of five glucan dendrimers with control of molecular weight and particle size. Amphiphilic properties were introduced through dodecyl group substitution. A Tokyo-green fluorescence assay showed that amphiphilic glucan dendrimers were able to successfully deliver active β-galactosidase to cells.

Molecular chaperones play critical roles in biological functions. They are closely involved in the maintenance of cell homeostasis, proper folding of proteins and nucleic acids, and inhibition of irreversible aggregation in denatured proteins. In addition to protein production, molecular chaperone function is widely recognized as important for peptide and protein drug delivery systems. Therefore, much effort has been made in recent decades to develop chaperone-mimetic molecules that have similar structures and biological functions to natural chaperones. These artificial molecular chaperone systems have been demonstrated to facilitate proper protein and nucleic acid folding, in addition to the formation of higher-order structures of synthetic molecules. Furthermore, the functions of these artificial systems show promising clinical applications in drug delivery and biomolecule detection. This topical review focuses on recent advances in the design, construction, characterization, and potential applications of different artificial molecular systems with distinct functional roles, such as the folding of water-soluble and membrane proteins, nucleic acids, and the self-assembly of synthetic molecules. Strategies used in the construction of some artificial molecule chaperone systems for proteins (such as pairs of amphiphilic molecules or self-assembled nanogels) and their applications as biomaterials are described. Specific examples from each design strategy are also highlighted to demonstrate the mechanisms, challenges, and limitations of the different artificial molecular systems. By highlighting the many new developments that have expanded the applications of the artificial chaperones beyond protein folding, this review aims to stimulate further studies on their design and applications.

The biomaterial-based immunoengineering has become one of the most attractive research fields in the last decade. In the present study, a solid-in-oil-in-water (S/O/W) emulsion encapsulating antigen in the oil phase of an oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion was prepared as a novel vaccine carrier consisting of similar materials to the emulsion adjuvant of which the safety, immunogenicity and vaccination efficacy have been already confirmed in human. Direct observation by high-resolution confocal laser scanning microscopy and small angle X-ray scattering analysis showed that the antigens were dispersed inside of the oil phase of the S/O/W emulsion as solid-state particles. The S/O/W emulsion robustly produced antigen-specific antibodies and enhanced the antitumor effects in a therapeutic cancer vaccination compared with free antigens or the O/W emulsion in vivo. This result is in good agreement with the activation effect of antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes and antigen presentation by the S/O/W emulsion, indicating that the S/O/W emulsion consisting of already approved materials is a promising vaccine carrier to produce both humoral and cellular immunity.

Introduction Prolonged air leak is the most common complication after pulmonary resection. This occurs more frequently in patients with incomplete interlobar fissure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or emphysema. Interlobar lymphadenopathy can make interlobar fissure division difficult. Surgical technique Several techniques of interlobar fissure division have been documented. The interlobar fissure is routinely divided using a stapler during pulmonary lobectomy. Normally, a stapler is used extravascularly. Here, we present a patient who successfully underwent interlobar fissure division wherein the jaw of the stapler passed through the interlobar pulmonary artery between A6 and A8 branches during resection of a lung squamous cell carcinoma in the left lower lobe with an interlobar lymphadenopathy. Conclusion Interlobar fissure division inserting a jaw of stapler into pulmonary artery is easy and useful option for left lower lobectomy. This technique is especially useful for a patient with an interlobar lymphadenopathy.

Metallic single-electron transistors (SETs) with Nb nanodots were fabricated and their high-frequency rectifying characteristics were evaluated. By reducing the gap size of the electrodes and film deposition area to nanometer scale, improved SET characteristics with gate control and better frequency response of the rectifying current with gentler decrease than 1/f at high frequency were achieved. A comparison between the characteristics of micrometer- and nanometer-size devices is made, and the reasons for their differences are discussed with the aid of simulations based on the experimentally extracted parameters.

Nanometer-size gel particles, or nanogels, have potential for delivering therapeutic macromolecules. A cationic surface promotes cellular internalization of nanogels, but undesired electrostatic interactions, such as with blood components, cause instability and toxicities. Poly(ethylene glycol) coating has been used to shield charges, but this decreases delivery efficiency. Technical difficulties in synthesis and controlling molecular weights make it unfeasible to, instead, coat with biodegradable polymers. Our proposed solution is cationized nanogels enzymatically functionalized with branched polysaccharide chains, forming a shell to shield charges and increase stability. Biodegradation of the polysaccharides by an endogenous enzyme would then expose the cationic charges, allowing cellular internalization and cargo delivery. We tested this concept, preparing maltopentaose functionalized cholesteryl poly(l-lysine) nanogel and using tandem enzymatic polymerization with glycogen phosphorylase and glycogen branching enzyme, to add branched amylose moieties, forming a CbAmyPL nanogel. We characterized CbAmyPL nanogels and investigated their suitability as small interfering RNA (siRNA) carriers in murine renal carcinoma (Renca) cells. The nanogels had neutral ζ potential values that became positive after degradation by α-amylase. Foster resonance energy transfer demonstrated that the nanogels formed stable complexes with siRNA, even in the presence of bovine serum albumin and after α-amylase exposure. The nanogels, with or without α-amylase, were not cytotoxic. Complexes of CbAmyPL with siRNA against vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), when incubated alone with Renca cells decreased VEGF mRNA levels by only 20%. With α-amylase added, however, VEGF mRNA knockdown by the siRNA/nanogels complexes was 50%. Our findings strongly supported the hypothesis that enzyme-responsive nanogels are promising as a therapeutic siRNA delivery platform.