The effect of liposome on dyeing mohair/wool blends

The aim of this study was to examine the use of liposome in the dyeing of wool and mohair fibres with acid dyestuffs. Soybean lecithin and cholesterol were used to form the liposome membrane utilised in the dyebath. Liposome production was performed according to the thin lipid layer method (Bangham Method) using a rotary evaporator. Two different forms of liposome were used for dyeing wool and mohair fibres. In its first form, liposome was utilised as an auxiliary agent, where it was added to a conventional dyebath at the beginning of the process. In its second form, dyes were encapsulated with liposome and then used in dyeing. The effects of these two different forms of liposome were compared with conventional dyeing. Dyeing was carried out at depths of shade of 0.5%, 1.0% and 2.0% using three different concentrations of liposome (0.33%, 0.66% and 1.33%). An analysis of K/S values, fastness to washing, and the alkali solubility of fibres was conducted. The fibre samples dyed in the presence of liposome exhibited very good fastness to light (grade 8). The wash fastness test results of the liposomal‐dyed samples were significantly better (grade 4‐5) than for those samples which were conventionally dyed. In the presence of liposome, the tensile strength of fibres was 20 gf, whereas it was 11 gf without liposomes.     

Ultrathin Highly Luminescent Two‐Monolayer Colloidal CdSe Nanoplatelets

Surface effects in atomically flat colloidal CdSe nanoplatelets (NLPs) are significantly and increasingly important with their thickness being reduced to subnanometer level, generating strong surface related deep trap photoluminescence emission alongside the bandedge emission. Herein, colloidal synthesis of highly luminescent two‐monolayer (2ML) CdSe NPLs and a systematic investigation of carrier dynamics in these NPLs exhibiting broad photoluminescence emission covering the visible region with quantum yields reaching 90% in solution and 85% in a polymer matrix is shown. The astonishingly efficient Stokes‐shifted broadband photoluminescence (PL) emission with a lifetime of ≈100 ns and the extremely short PL lifetime of around 0.16 ns at the bandedge signify the participation of radiative midgap surface centers in the recombination process associated with the underpassivated Se sites. Also, a proof‐of‐concept hybrid LED employing 2ML CdSe NPLs is developed as color converters, which exhibits luminous efficacy reaching 300 lm W_opt^?1. The intrinsic absorption of the 2ML CdSe NPLs (≈2.15 × 10⁶ cm^?1) reported in this study is significantly larger than that of CdSe quantum dots (≈2.8 × 10⁵ cm^?1) at their first exciton signifying the presence of giant oscillator strength and hence making them favorable candidates for next‐generation light‐emitting and light‐harvesting applications.     

Coreless Fiber‐Based Whispering‐Gallery‐Mode Assisted Lasing from Colloidal Quantum Well Solids

Whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonators are shown to hold great promise to achieve high‐performance lasing using colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) in solution phase. However, the low packing density of such colloidal gain media in the solution phase results in increased lasing thresholds and poor lasing stability in these WGM lasers. To address these issues, here optical gain in colloidal quantum wells (CQWs) is proposed and shown in the form of high‐density close‐packed solid films constructed around a coreless fiber incorporating the resulting whispering gallery modes to induce gain and waveguiding modes of the fiber to funnel and collect light. In this work, a practical method is presented to produce the first CQW‐WGM laser using an optical fiber as the WGM cavity platform operating at low thresholds of ≈188 µJ cm^?2 and ≈1.39 mJ cm^?2 under one‐ and two‐photon absorption pumped, respectively, accompanied with a record low waveguide loss coefficient of ≈7 cm^?1 and a high net modal gain coefficient of ≈485 cm^?1. The spectral characteristics of the proposed CQW‐WGM resonator are supported with a numerical model of full electromagnetic solution. This unique CQW‐WGM cavity architecture offers new opportunities to achieve simple high‐performance optical resonators for colloidal lasers.     

Highly-Directional,Highly-Efficient Solution-Processed Light-Emitting Diodes of All-Face-Down Oriented Colloidal Quantum Well Self-Assembly

Semiconductor colloidal quantum wells (CQWs) provide anisotropic emission behavior originating from their anisotropic optical transition dipole moments (TDMs). Here, solution-processed colloidal quantum well light-emitting diodes (CQW-LEDs) of a single all-face-down oriented self-assembled monolayer (SAM) film of CQWs that collectively enable a supreme level of IP TDMs at 92% in the ensemble emission are shown. This significantly enhances the outcoupling efficiency from 22% (of standard randomly-oriented emitters) to 34% (of face-down oriented emitters) in the LED. As a result, the external quantum efficiency reaches a record high level of 18.1% for the solution-processed type of CQW-LEDs, putting their efficiency performance on par with the hybrid organic-inorganic evaporation-based CQW-LEDs and all other best solution-processed LEDs. This SAM-CQW-LED architecture allows for a high maximum brightness of 19,800 cd m⁻² with a long operational lifetime of 247 h at 100 cd m⁻² as well as a stable saturated deep-red emission (651 nm) with a low turn-on voltage of 1.7 eV at a current density of 1 mA cm⁻² and a high J₉₀ of 99.58 mA cm⁻². These findings indicate the effectiveness of oriented self-assembly of CQWs as an electrically-driven emissive layer in improving outcoupling and external quantum efficiencies in the CQW-LEDs.     

Role of garlic in the prevention of ischemia-reperfusion injury

Garlic in different forms has antioxidant properties. These properties are shown to be due to the existence of compounds such as water soluble organosulfur compounds, S-allylcysteine and lipid soluble compounds like diallyl sulfide. The in vivo and in vitro ischemia reperfusion studies showed that prophylactic administration of aqueous garlic prior to ischemia reperfusion inhibit lipid peroxidation and prevent depletion in glutathione through its compounds that led to functional recovery. Its ability to inhibit neutrophil migration could suppress fibrosis formation. These preventive effects are seen in models that studied organs such as kidney and liver with functional recovery. Organ system specific activity such as angiotensin converting enzyme-inhibiting activity contributes to a cardioprotective and blood pressure lowering effect. Future studies should focus on post ischemia reperfusion administration of garlic to explore its rescue potential rather than prophylactic impact. Bench research findings should be translated into clinical use through human studies.     

Hemostatic activities of nano/microporous bilayer dressings in a femoral artery bleeding rat model

Recently, an effective hemostatic dressing requirement has become a major problem in both the military and civilian world. Available hemostatic agents are too expensive, ineffective, unsafe, or complicated to use. Here, we evaluated the hemostatic efficacy of a nano/micro bilayer hemostatic dressing including a porous sublayer from chitosan (CTS) and bacterial cellulose (BC) and a nanofibrillar upper layer from silk fibroin (SF). In addition, several active agents rolled in coagulation cascade [vitamin K (Vit K), protamine sulfate (PS), kaolin (Kao), etc.] were doped to the sublayer of bilayer hemostatic agent and their activities were compared via in vivo and in vitro tests. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity test results demonstrated that BC/CTS, SF‐coated BC/CTS, and Vit K K/BC/CTS, SF/phosphatidylcholine (PC)‐coated BC/CTS showed higher LDH activity compared to standard gauze (p < 0.005). In a femoral artery bleeding rat model, SF‐coated PS/BC/CTS significantly reduced bleeding time (80 ± 0.3 s) compared to standard gauze and kaolin‐doped group (p < 0.005). Blood loss and mortality rate with 2.3 g and 37.5% SF‐coated BC/CTS and SF‐coated PS/BC/CTS showed increased efficacy in achieving hemostasis compared to standard gauze. All the prepared hemostatic dressings except for kaolin‐doped BC/CTS and standard gauze induced no inflammatory reaction in the tissue. All these data suggest that active agent‐doped BC/CTS/SF‐based bilayer hemostatic dressings have a great influence on the resulting hemostatic action. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43657.     

Synthesis of monodisperse CdS nanorods catalyzed by Au nanoparticles

Semiconductor nanocrystals (dots, rods, wires, etc.) exhibit a wide range of electrical and optical properties that differ from those of the corresponding bulk materials. These properties depend on both nanocrystal size and shape. Compared with nanodots, nanorods have an additional degree of freedom, the length or aspect ratio, and reduced symmetry, which leads to anisotropic properties. In this paper, we report the Au nanoparticlecatalyzed colloidal synthesis of monodisperse CdS nanorods. Based on systematic high resolution transmission electron microscopy studies, we propose a growth mechanism for these nanorods. Electronic Supplementary Material  Supplementary material is available for this article at and is accessible for authorized users. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com     

Fabrication of Gentamicin Sulfate-Loaded 3D-Printed Polyvinyl Alcohol/Sodium Alginate/Gelatin-Methacryloyl Hybrid Scaffolds for Skin Tissue Replacement

3D-printed scaffolds can better mimic the function of human skin, both biologically and mechanically. Within the scope of this study, the effect of the addition of different amounts (10, 15, 20 mg) of gentamicin sulfate (GS) to a 10 mL solution of natural and synthetic polymers is investigated. Sodium alginate (SA), gelatin-methacryloyl (GelMA), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) are chosen as bioactive materials. The surface morphology and pore structures are visualized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). According to the results, it is observed that the pore sizes of all scaffolds are smaller than 270 µm, the lowest value (130 µm) is obtained in the scaffold loaded with 15 mg GS, and it also has the highest tensile strength value (12.5 ± 7.6 MPa). Similarly, it is observed that the tensile strength (9.7 ± 4.5 MPa) is high in scaffold loaded with 20 mg GS. The biocompatibility test is performed with fibroblast cells, and the results show that the scaffolds are biocompatible with cells. The antibacterial test is carried out against the S.aureous and E. coli and the results indicate that all GS-loaded scaffolds demonstrate antibacterial activity.