Differentiated adipose-derived stem cells act synergistically with RGD-modified surfaces to improve neurite outgrowth in a co-culture model.

Peripheral nerve damage is a problem encountered after trauma and during surgery and the development of synthetic polymer conduits may offer a promising alternative to autografts. In order to improve the performance of the polymer to be used for nerve conduits, poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) films were chemically functionalized with RGD moieties, using a chemical reaction previously developed. In vitro cultures of dissociated dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons provide a valid model to study different factors affecting axonal growth. In this work, DRG neurons were cultured on RGD-functionalized PCL films. Adult adipose-derived stem cells differentiated to Schwann cells (dASCs) were initially cultured on the functionalized PCL films, resulting in improved attachment and proliferation. dASCs were also co-cultured with DRG neurons on treated and untreated PCL to assess stimulation by dASCs on neurite outgrowth. Neuron response was generally poor on untreated PCL films, but long neurites were observed in the presence of dASCs or RGD moieties. A combination of the two factors enhanced even further neurite outgrowth, acting synergistically. Finally, in order to better understand the extracellular matrix (ECM)-cell interaction, a β1 integrin blocking experiment was carried out. Neurite outgrowth was not affected by the specific antibody blocking, showing that β1 integrin function can be compensated by other molecules present on the cell membrane. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Design and modelling of a fluid inerter

Mechanical spring-damper network performance can often be improved by the inclusion of a third passive component called the inerter. This ideally has the characteristic that the force at the terminals is directly proportional to the relative acceleration between them. The fluid inerter presented here has advantages over mechanical ball screw devices in terms of simplicity of design. Furthermore, it can be readily adapted to implement various passive network layouts. Variable orifices and valves can be included to provide series or parallel damping. Test data from prototypes with helical tubes have been compared with models to investigate parasitic damping effects of the fluid. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Highly efficient detector of the neurotransmitter ACh and AChE inhibitors

Among the variety of applications for biosensors one of the exciting frontiers is to utilize those devices as post-synaptic sensing elements in chemical coupling between neurons and solid-state systems. The first necessary step to attain this challenge is to realize highly efficient detector for neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh). Herein, we demonstrate that the combination of floating gate configuration of ion-sensitive field effect transistor (ISFET) together with diluted covalent anchoring of enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) onto device sensing area reveals a remarkable improvement of a four orders of magnitude in dose response to ACh. This high range sensitivity in addition to the benefits of peculiar microelectronic design show, that the presented hybrid provides a competent platform for assembly of artificial chemical synapse junction. Furthermore, our system exhibits clear response to eserine, a competitive inhibitor of AChE, and therefore it can be implemented as an effective sensor of pharmacological reagents, organophosphates, and nerve gases as well. © 2007 Materials Research Society.

Developmental expression of CagMdkb during gibel carp embryogenesis

Midkine (Mdk) genes have been revealed to have different expression patterns in vertebrates and therefore, additional studies on Mdk expression patterns are required in more species. In this study, CagMdkb has been cloned and characterized from a SMART cDNA library of 10-somite stage embryos of Carassius auratus gibelio. Its full length cDNA is 1091 bp and encodes a sequence of 147 amino acids, which shows 97.3% identity to zebrafish Mdkb on the amino acid level. RT-PCR analysis reveals that CagMdkb is first transcribed in gastrula embryos and maintains a relatively stable expression level during subsequent embryogenesis. Western blot analysis reveals a 19 kDa maternal CagMdkb protein band and the zygotic CagMdkb protein is expressed from gastrula stage. At around 10 somite stage, the 19 kDa CagMdkb is processed to another protein band of about 17 kDa, which might be the secreted form with the 21-residue signal peptide removed. With immunofluorescence analysis, maternal CagMdkb protein was found to be localized in each blastamere cell of early embryos. The zygotic CagMdkb positive fluorescence signal was detected from a pair of large neurons at 18-somite stage. At the later stages, CagMdkb protein was also extended to numerous small neurons in the forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain, as well as to nerve fibers in the spinal cord. Co-localization with 3A10 antibody revealed CagMdkb immunoreactivity on developing Mauthner neurons, a member of reticulospinal neurons. In addition, ectopic expression of CagMdkb in early embryos of gibel carp and zebrafish suppressed head formation and CagMdkb function was found to depend on secretory activity. All these findings indicate that CagMdkb plays an important role in neural development during gibel carp embryogenesis and there is functional conservation of Mdkb in fish head formation.

Violet/blue emission from hydrogenated amorphous carbon films deposited from energetic CH3+ ions and ion bombardment

Considering the complexity of the general plasma techniques, pure single CH3+ ion beams were selected for the deposition of hydrogenated amorphous (a) carbon films with various ion energies and temperatures. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements have been performed on the films and violet/blue emission has been observed. The violet/blue emission is attributed to the small size distribution of sp(2) clusters and is related to the intrinsic properties of CH3 terminals, which lead to a very high barrier for the photoexcited electrons. Ion bombardment plays an important role in the PL behavior. This would provide further insight into the growth dynamics of a-C:H films. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

A power-saving scheme for IEEE 802.11 Ad hoc networks

In the Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), the terminals are often powered by battery, so the power-saving performance of the wireless network card is a very important issue. For IEEE 802.11 Ad hoc networks, a power-saving scheme is presented in Medium Access Control (MAC) layer to reduce the power consumption by allowing the nodes enter into the sleep mode, but the scheme is based on Time-Drive Scheme (TDS) whose power-saving efficiency becomes lower and lower with the network load increasing. This paper presented a novel energy-saving mechanism, called as Hybrid-Drive Scheme (HDS), which introduces into a Message.-Drive Scheme (MDS) and combines MDS with the conventional TDS. The MDS, could obtain high efficiency when the load is heavy; meanwhile the TDS has high efficiency when the network load is small. The analysis shows that the proposed HDS could obtain high energy-efficiency whether the network load is light or heavy and have higher energy-saving efficiency than conventional scheme in the IEEE 802.11 standard.

全永磁ECR离子源研究进展

Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) ion source is regarded as the most efficient machine to produce stable multiple charge state ion beams. Because of the special characteristics, all-permanent magnet ECR ion sources have been widely adopted around the world to produce stable ion beams of multiple charge state with good repetition have been widely adopted around the world to produce stable ion beams of multiple charge state with good repetition and high duty factor for compact research platforms and ion beam implanters. In this paper, all-permanent magnet ECR ion sources developed at IMP are presented, and typical parameters and performances are discussed. The high charge state source, LAPECR2, is mainly used to produce intense high charge state ion beams, and the LAPECR1 source is designed to produce intense ion beams of medium and low charge state. An improved LAPECR1-M is specially designed to produce heavy metal ion beams of low charge state. These ECR ion sources have been adopted by different experimental terminals at IMP and, with their nice performance, many experimental studies could be possible. 中文文摘：ECR(电子回旋共振)离子源是产生稳定的强流多电荷态离子束流最有效装置。全永磁ECR 离子源因其独特的特点为很多中小型多电荷态离子束流实验平台与离子注入机等系统所采用，为后者产生重复性好、稳定性强的多电荷态离子束流。本文着重论述了中国科学院近代物理研究所研制的几台全永磁多电荷态ECR 离子源及其特性与典型性能，如能产生强流高电荷态离子束流的高性能全永磁离子源LAPECR2，能产生强流中 低电荷态离子束流的LAPECR1，能产生多电荷态重金属离子束流的LAPECR1-M 等。这些性能稳定的离子源为提高近代物理研究所相关试验平台的性能提供了关键的束流品质保障。

Commissioning test of LAPECR2 source on the 320kV HV platform

The high charge state all permanent Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source (ECRIS) LAPECR2 (Lanzhou All Permanent magnet ECR ion source No.2) has been successfully put on the 320kV HV platform at IMP and also has been connected with the successive LEBT system. This source is the largest and heaviest all permanent magnet ECRIS in the world. The maximum mirror field is 1.28T (without iron plug) and the effective plasma chamber volume is as large as circle divide 67mm x 255mm. It was designed to be operated at 14.5GHz and aimed to produce medium charge state and high charge state gaseous and also metallic ion beams. The source has already successfully delivered some intense gaseous ion beams to successive experimental terminals. This paper will give a brief overview of the basic features of this permanent magnet ECRIS. Then commissioning results of this source on the platform, the design of the extraction system together with the successive LEBT system will be presented.

八单元一维位置灵敏雪崩室

In the experiment of nuclear reaction, it is important to measure the mass, charge, energy and emitted direction of particles. For multiparameter measurement, we must use a detector or a group of detectors which can give the time, energy, and position information. The Large Area position sensitive Ionization Chamber(LAIC) is one of the eight experiment terminals of HIRFL. It is built for researching nuclear reactions from low energy to intermediate energy. It is an excellent equipment for energy measurements and atomic number identification of emitted fragments in this energy region. It is also designed to give the time and position information of the emitted fragments by itself. Obviously, an IC can not supply a good timing signal. Moreover, the mechanical installation is different from the original design by some other reasons. In this case, it is not enough to obtain the correct direction information of the emitted fragments. To obtain good timing signals and the correct direction information, some modifications must be made. It is well known that a PPAC can give us excellent timing signals. It also can be easily built as a position sensitive detector. For this reason, a specially designed PPAC is installed in the entrance of the LAIC. For the different purposes, two types of PPACs were designed and tested. Both are OCTPSACs (OCTunit one dimension Position Sensitive Avalanche Counter). In this paper, both OCTPSACs will be introduced. Based on the requirements of the LAIC, the OCTPSACs consist of eight position sensitive PPACs. Each PPAC has an anode and a cathode. In both cases, the sizes are same. But different type of cathodes are used. In one type of OCTPSAC, its cathode is made of wire plane. It consists of gold-plated tungsten wires with the diameter of 20μm, spaced 0.5 mm apart from each other. The anode is a mylar foil which was evaporated by gold layer with the thickness of 50μg/cm~2 mounted on a printed plate in the shape of rectangle. the thickness of mylar foil is 1.5μm. The gap between anode and cathode is 3mm. The performance of the OCTPSAC has been tested by using a ~(252)Cf source in flowing isobutylene gas at the pressure of 3.4mb. The intrinsic time resolution of 289ps and position resolution of 2 mm have been obtained. In another type of OCTPSAC, the cathode is made of mylar foil, which is composed of gold strip by vacuume evaporation method with a special mask on the mylar foil. The thickness and the width of the gold strip is 50μg/cm~2 and 1.7mm. The strips are spaced 0.3 mm apart from each other. The anode is the same as the former type. We have obtained the time resolution of 296ps and position resolution of 2mm by using ~(241)Am-a source when the gas pressure is 6 mb and high voltage is 600V. The working gas is heptane

Electroactive oligoaniline-containing self-assembled monolayers for tissue engineering applications

A novel electroactive silsesquioxane precursor, N-(4-aminophenyl)-M-(4'-(3-triethoxysilyl-propyl-ureido) phenyl-1,4-quinonenediimine) (ATQD), was successfully synthesized from the emeraldine form of amino-capped aniline trimers via a one-step coupling reaction and subsequent purification by column chromatography. The physicochemical properties of ATQD were characterized using mass spectrometry as well as by nuclear magnetic resonance and UV-vis spectroscopy. Analysis by cyclic voltammetry confirmed that the intrinsic electroactivity of ATQD was maintained upon protonic acid doping, exhibiting two distinct reversible oxidative states, similar to polyaniline. The aromatic amine terminals of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of ATQD on glass substrates were covalently modified with an adhesive oligopeptide, cyclic Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) (ATQD-RGD). The mean height of the monolayer coating on the surfaces was similar to 3 nm, as measured by atomic force microscopy. The biocompatibility of the novel electroactive substrates was evaluated using PC12 pheochromocytoma cells, an established cell line of neural origin. The bioactive, derivatized electroactive scaffold material, ATQD-RGD, supported PC12 cell adhesion and proliferation, similar to control tissue-culture-treated polystyrene surfaces.

Stereoselective polymerization of rac-lactide using a monoethylaluminum Schiff base complex

A monoethylaluminum Schiff base complex (2) with formula LA1Et (L = N,N'-(2,2-dimethylpropylene)bis(3,5-di-tei-t-butylsalicylideneimine) was synthesized and employed for the stercoselective ring-opening polymerization of rac-lactide (rac-LA). The complex 2 was characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance, crystal structure, and elemental analysis. It contains a five-coordinate aluminum atom with distorted trigonal bipyramidal geornetry in the solid state. In the presence of 2-propanol, 2 showed high stereoselectivity for the polymerization of rac-LA. The polymerization yielded crystalline poly(rac-LA) with a high melting temperature (193-201 degreesC). NMR, differential scanning calorimetry, and wide-angle X-ray diffraction indicated that the poly(rac-LA) was highly isotactic, and a stereocomplex was formed between poly-L- and poly-D-lactide block sequences. By the analysis of electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry and H-1 NMR, the polymer was demonstrated to be endcapped in both terminals with an isopropyl ester and a hydroxy group, respectively. The polymerization was of first order in rac-LA concentration. The relationship between the rac-LA conversion and molecular weights of the polymer was linear so that the polymerization could be well controlled.

Poly(aryl ether)s containing ter- and pentafluorene pendants for efficient blue light emission

Four novel thermally stable poly(aryl ether)s, e.g., P3F, P5F, P2A3F, and P2A5K containing ter- or pentafluorene units in the side chains for efficient blue light emission have been designed and synthesized. All the polymers show the optical properties identical to the corresponding monomers and are amorphous with higher glass transition temperature (T-g) than their monomeric Counterparts. The polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) were fabricated with the device structure of ITO/(PEDOT:PSS)/polymer/Ca/Al. The incorporation of diphenylamine group to oligofluorene terminals significantly reduces the hole-injection energy barrier in PLEDs. The devices based on P2A3F and P2A5F show the luminous efficiencies of 1.2 and 2.0 cd/A at a brightness of 300 cd/m(2) with the Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.15, 0.13) and (0.19, 0.20), respectively. All these indicate that the high-performance light-emitting polymers can be synthesized with the traditional condensation polymerization through careful design of polymer structures.

Synthesis and characterization of a novel biodegradable, thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer

A series of biodegradable, thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers poly (epsilon-caprolactone-co-lactide)polyurethane [PCLA-PU] were synthesized from a random copolymer Of L-lactide (LA) and epsilon-caprolactone (CL), hexamethylene diisocyanate, and 1,4-butanediol. The effects of the LA/CL monomer ratio and hard-segment content on the thermal and mechanical properties of PCLA-PUs were investigated. Gel permeation chromatography, IR, C-13 NMR, and X-ray diffraction were used to confirm the formation and structure of PCLA-PUs. Through differential scanning calorimetry, tensile testing, and tensile-recovery testing, their thermal and mechanical properties were characterized. Their glass-transition temperatures were below -8 degrees C, and their soft domains became amorphous as the LA content increased. They displayed excellent mechanical properties, such as a tensile strength as high as 38 MPa, a tensile modulus as low as 10 MPa, and an elongation at break of 1300%. Therefore, they could find applications in biomedical fields, such as soft-tissue engineering and artificial skin.

Shear induced molecular alignments of a side-chain liquid crystalline polyacetylene containing biphenyl mesogens

Mesomorphic properties of a side chain liquid crystalline polyacetylene, poly(11-{[(4'-heptyloxy-4-biphenylyl)carbonyl]oxy}-1-undecyne) (PA9EO7), are investigated using polarized optical microscope, X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscope. Polymer PA9EO7 forms enantiotropic smectic A and smectic B phases. It also exhibits an additional high order smectic phase, a sandwich structure consisting of different molecular packing of biphenyl mesogenic moieties from that of alkyl spacers and terminals, when it is prepared from its toluene solution. Shearing the polymer film at its smectic A phase generates banded texture with the alignment of the backbones parallel to the direction of shear force. While at its high order smectic phase, the mesogen pendants of the polymer are arranged parallel to the direction of shear. The different mesomorphic behaviors arise from different molecular alignments influenced by the fluidity.

Electrochemical biosensing in extreme environment

This review presents recent developments of electrochemical biosensors in extreme working environments. After a brief introduction to the electrochemical biosensor, the applications of biocatalytic biosensors and bioaffinity biosensors in harsh working conditions, in organic solvent, in gas-phase, in vivo measurement and in toxic environments, are discussed by means of several examples. Methods for improving the stability and extending the biosensor application scope are suggested, and new trends about biosensor development are also discussed.