An updated correlation for crack-arrest fracture toughness for nuclear reactor pressure vessel steels

An updated and statistically-rigorous correlation is provided for crack-arrest toughness values versus normalized temperature for light-water nuclear reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels. The database used in this effort is larger than applied heretofore and includes results from tests of laboratory-size specimens and from tests of large-scale specimens, which contain features prototypical of operating RPVs. The mathematical methodology used is based on a lognormal distribution, with its parameters calculated by orthogonal distance regression. This correlation was developed as one of several items updated for use in the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's extensive program to evaluate and potentially revise its rule for ensuring structural integrity of operating RPVs when subjected to pressurized thermal-shock transients.     

Enzymatic hydrolysis of lysine diisocyanate based polyurethanes and segmented polyurethane ureas by various proteases

This work studies the enzymatic degradation of polyurethanes (PUs) and segmented polyurethane ureas (SPUUs) derived from lysine diisocyanate (LDI) by various proteases. Thiol proteases, such as papain, bromelain, and ficin, showed high activity on PUs. Protease K and chymotrypsin also hydrolyzed the PUs. For almost all SPUUs, papain showed high activity. For example, LDI/poly(caprolactone) diol (M_w = 1250)/ethylene diamine (2/1/1) was hydrolyzed to 43% under the same conditions. The water-soluble degradation products of a polyurethane, LDI/BD (1/1), and two model compounds treated with papain were studied with NMR and GPC analysis. From the results, it was evident that the pendant methyl ester group in LDI was rapidly hydrolyzed, followed by slow hydrolysis of urethane bonds in the backbone chain.     

Biomimetic Mg- and Mg,CO3-substituted hydroxyapatites: synthesis characterization and in vitro behaviour

The doping of the apatite with carbonate or/and Mg ions in biologically-like amounts (6 and 1 wt.%, respectively) was performed. Chemico-physical characterizations and cell culture tests were carried out onto the synthetic Mg- and Mg,CO₃-substituted (∼30–40 nm particle size) powders in comparison with stoichiometric HA (∼160 nm particle size) to determine as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can directly use the mineral microenvironment to stimulate their own proliferation and differentiation activities. At the same time the growth of human osteoblast like cells (MG-63) was evaluated to determine the compatibility of the synthetic doped apatites for bone substitution. Cell morphology analysis by SEM as well as MTT and ALP tests were performed.The peculiar chemico-physical properties of the doped (Mg- and Mg,CO₃-substituted) materials improved the behaviours of MSC and MG-63 cells in term of adhesion, proliferation and metabolic activation compared to stoichiometric HA.     

Fullerene: biomedical engineers get to revisit an old friend

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Recent advances in the design,development, and targeting mechanisms of polymeric micelles for delivery of siRNA in cancer therapy

Small interfering RNA (siRNA) is a relatively novel nucleic acid-based therapy to treat diseases such as cancer. Nevertheless, substantial obstacles to its clinical applications have been reported, such as low cellular uptake, immunogenicity, off-target effects, and instability in physiological environments. The design of appropriate delivery vehicles capable of transporting siRNA to target cells has been pursued. Nanoparticles are extensively studied for the delivery of siRNA. Among the various nanocarriers, polymeric micelles have recently gained strong interest. Polymeric micelles of average nanometer size are straightforward to design and modify. Hydrophilic groups incorporated in the polymeric micelles can extend in vivo half-life of siRNA to ensure adequate accumulation in tumors, be exchanged for cations that electrostatically interact with siRNA, and be coupled to various ligands for cell-specific targeting. The polymeric micelle core provides stability and serves as a loading dock for drugs. In this review, the different types of polymers used, the design and characterization of polymeric micelles for siRNA delivery, and the established polymeric micelle targeting mechanisms are discussed.     

Synthesis,characterization, and in vitro biocompatibility study of novel disulfide cross‐linked hydrogels based on poly(amic acid)

In this study, novel disulfide cross‐linked hydrogels were designed and synthesized. First, ethylenediaminetetraacetic dianhydride reacted with butanediamine and amino‐terminated polyethylene glycol via N‐acylation reaction to give biocompatible poly(amic acid) (PAA) with pendant carboxyl groups; then, the amino groups of cystamine reacted with carboxyl groups of PAA to generate disulfide cross‐linked network polymer (PAA‐SS). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, gel permeation chromatography with multiangle laser light scattering, potentiometric titration, rheology, hydrolytic degradation, morphology, porosity, and in vitro biocompatibility studies were used to qualitatively and quantitatively characterize the obtained polymers. The results indicated that the equilibrium swelling ratio of the PAA‐SS decreased with the increase in Rm. The PAA‐SS provided good mechanical strength to maintain their integrity, and the storage modules (G′) of the hydrogels can be adjusted by Rm. The PAA‐SS presented co‐continuum pores, and the pore size correlated with the cross‐linking degree. The degradation of PAA‐SS could be controlled by regulating the concentration of dithiothreitol. Particularly, the PAA‐SS possessed an excellent biocompatibility, as the average proliferating rate of osteoblasts on PAA‐SS was appreciably higher than that on PAA and glass coverslips. In conclusion, the above obtained results demonstrate that the performance of the PAA‐SS outbalance and facilitate the application in biomedical region, particularly in bone tissue regeneration. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40930.     

Matrix-based pairwise key establishment for wireless mesh networks

Wireless communication in wireless mesh networks (WMNs), like other types of wireless networks, is vulnerable to many malicious activities such as eavesdropping. As one of the fundamental security technologies, pairwise key establishment has been widely studied to secure wireless communication. In this paper, we propose a new matrix-based pairwise key establishment scheme for mesh clients in WMNs. A fact in WMNs is that mesh routers are more powerful than mesh clients, in both communication and storage. Motivated by this fact, expensive operations can be delegated to mesh routers to alleviate the overhead of mesh clients when establishing pairwise keys between them. Compared with other matrix-based schemes, our scheme has significant advantages: any two mesh clients can directly establish pairwise keys while communication and storage costs of mesh clients are significantly reduced.     

Modulation of Viscoelasticity and HIV Transport as a Function of pH in a Reversibly Crosslinked Hydrogel

Materials that respond to physiological stimuli are important in developing advanced biomaterials for modern therapies. The reversibility of covalent crosslinks formed by phenylboronate (PBA) and salicylhydroxamate (SHA) has been exploited to provide a pH‐responsive gel for application to the vaginal tract. Dynamic rheology reveals that the gel frequency‐dependent viscoelastic properties are modulated by pH. At pH 4.8 the viscous component dominates throughout most of the frequency range. As the pH increases, the characteristic relaxation time continues to increase while the G′_Plateau levels off above pH 6. At pH 7.5, the elastic component dominates throughout the frequency sweep and is predominately independent of frequency. Particle tracking assesses the transport of both fluorescently labeled HIV‐1 and 100‐nm latex particles in the PBA–SHA crosslinked gel as a function of pH. At pH 4.8 the ensemble‐averaged mean squared displacement at lag times greater than three seconds reveals that transport of the HIV‐1 and 100‐nm particles becomes significantly impeded by the matrix, exhibiting diffusion coefficients less than 0.0002 µm² s^?1. This pH‐responsive gel thus displays properties that have the potential to significantly reduce the transport of HIV‐1 to susceptible tissues and thus prevent the first stage of male‐to‐female transmission of HIV‐1.     

A synthesis of copper based metal-organic framework for O-acetylation of alcohols

A novel metal-organic framework, Cu–BDC was synthesized by static hydrothermal method using innocuous solvents and characterized by several techniques such as powder XRD, ESR, TG–DTA, elemental analysis, ICP-AES, SEM, EDXS, FT-IR, BET surface area, pore volume and pore size. The catalytic performance of Cu–BDC was explored for O-acetylation of alcohols under solvent-free conditions at room temperature. The catalyst exhibited remarkable activity and reusability affording the desired products in excellent yields.