More on false thrombocytopenias: EDTA-dependent pseudothrombocytopenia associated with a congenital platelet release defect

Natural metabolite glycine administered per os to rats in the fetus period of pregnancy in a dose of 1 mg/kg was found to exert a corrective action with respect to the toxic effect of ethanol in the mother-fetus system. Glycine prevents loss in the body weight, normalizes functional state of the nervous system and metabolic disorders in the maternal organism, improve the redox processes in the lymphocytes changed under alcoholization, and protect the fetus both on the metabolic and microstructural levels.     

Pump power stability range of single-mode solid-state lasers with rod thermal lensing

The pump power stability range of solid-state laser resonators operating in the TEM00mode has been thoroughly investigated. It has been shown that, for a very general resonator containing intracavity optical systems, rod thermal lensing engenders a pump power stability range which is a characteristic parameter of laser material and pump cavity, but is independent of resonator configuration. Stability ranges have been calculated and critically discussed for Nd:YAG, Nd:glasses, Nd: Cr: GSGG, and alexandrite. The independence of the pump power stability range from the resonator configuration has been experimentally demonstrated for a CW Nd:YAG laser.     

Enhancing Light Emission in Interface Engineered Spin‐OLEDs through Spin‐Polarized Injection at High Voltages

The quest for a spin‐polarized organic light‐emitting diode (spin‐OLED) is a common goal in the emerging fields of molecular electronics and spintronics. In this device, two ferromagnetic (FM) electrodes are used to enhance the electroluminescence intensity of the OLED through a magnetic control of the spin polarization of the injected carriers. The major difficulty is that the driving voltage of an OLED device exceeds a few volts, while spin injection in organic materials is only efficient at low voltages. The fabrication of a spin‐OLED that uses a conjugated polymer as bipolar spin collector layer and ferromagnetic electrodes is reported here. Through a careful engineering of the organic/inorganic interfaces, it is succeeded in obtaining a light‐emitting device showing spin‐valve effects at high voltages (up to 14 V). This allows the detection of a magneto‐electroluminescence (MEL) enhancement on the order of a 2.4% at 9 V for the antiparallel (AP) configuration of the magnetic electrodes. This observation provides evidence for the long‐standing fundamental issue of injecting spins from magnetic electrodes into the frontier levels of a molecular semiconductor. The finding opens the way for the design of multifunctional devices coupling the light and the spin degrees of freedom.     

Exploiting Unique Alignment of Cobalt Ferrite Nanoparticles,Mild Hyperthermia,and Controlled Intrinsic Cobalt Toxicity for Cancer Therapy

Nanoparticle-based magnetic hyperthermia is a well-known thermal therapy platform studied to treat solid tumors, but its use for monotherapy is limited due to incomplete tumor eradication at hyperthermia temperature (45 °C). It is often combined with chemotherapy for obtaining a more effective therapeutic outcome. Cubic-shaped cobalt ferrite nanoparticles (Co–Fe NCs) serve as magnetic hyperthermia agents and as a cytotoxic agent due to the known cobalt ion toxicity, allowing the achievement of both heat and cytotoxic effects from a single platform. In addition to this advantage, Co–Fe NCs have the unique ability to form growing chains under an alternating magnetic field (AMF). This unique chain formation, along with the mild hyperthermia and intrinsic cobalt toxicity, leads to complete tumor regression and improved overall survival in an in vivo murine xenograft model, all under clinically approved AMF conditions. Numerical calculations identify magnetic anisotropy as the main Co–Fe NCs’ feature to generate such chain formations. This novel combination therapy can improve the effects of magnetic hyperthermia, inaugurating investigation of mechanical behaviors of nanoparticles under AMF, as a new avenue for cancer therapy.     

An Experimental and Computational Modeling Study on Additively Manufactured Micro-Architectured Ti–24Nb–4Zr–8Sn Hollow-Strut Lattice Structures

Herein, the design, manufacturing, and mechanical testing of hollow-strut lattice structures of the metastable β-titanium alloy Ti–24Nb–4Zr–8Sn (Ti2448) are performed. Due to the absence of studies in the literature, this study focusses on two important aspects: 1) the designing of micro-architectured lattice structures and 2) metastable β-titanium alloy. Face-centered cubic (FCC) and body-centered cubic (BCC) hollow-strut lattices are designed by computer-aided design and manufactured by laser powder bed fusion. The microstructure of the hollow lattices shows plates of α″-martensite phase within the β phase. The FCC hollow lattice structure shows higher tensile strength compared to the BCC hollow lattice structure, while the load-bearing capability of the FCC hollow lattice structure is lower than that of the BCC hollow lattice structure. At lower strains, the tensile force-displacement curve of the hollow lattice structure matches the simulated tensile force-displacement curve. At higher strains, a large deviation in the force-displacement curve is observed in the hollow lattices.     

Investigation of the microbial ecology of Ciauscolo, a traditional Italian salami, by culture-dependent techniques and PCR-DGGE

The microbial ecology of 22 samples of commercially available Ciauscolo salami were investigated using a polyphasic approach, based on culture-dependent and -independent techniques. The viable counts of pathogen and hygiene indicator microorganisms highlighted the adequate application of good manufacturing practices, while the viable counts of the lactic acid bacteria, coagulase negative cocci, and yeasts showed dominance of the first of these microbial groups. Bacterial and fungal DNA were extracted directly from the salami and amplified by PCR, using two primer sets targeting the 16S and 28S rRNA genes, respectively. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and sequencing of selected bands were used to investigate the microbial ecology of these Ciauscolo salami. The most frequently found bacterial species were Lactobacillus sakei and Lb. curvatus, while Debaryomyces hansenii was the prevalent yeast species detected. Cluster analysis of the DGGE profiles and calculation of biodiversity indices allowed the degree of microbial similarity across these salami to be determined.     

Dielectric modeling of multiphase composites

In this paper effective medium theory based on Clausius–Mossoti relation was used to predict dielectric properties of multiphase composite system. The composite consisted of E-glass fibers (plain weave S-glass, J.B. Martin) embedded in bisphenol A diglycidylether epoxy matrix (D.E.R. 324, D.O.W. chemicals) with hollow ceramic spherical inclusions (SF 14, P.Q. Corp.) at different volume fractions. In many engineering applications, materials with designed dielectric properties are often sought. An important question in engineering design of a composite material is how the overall properties of the composite depend on those of the individual constituents. Mixing the epoxy resin with hollow ceramic inclusions can effectively reduce dielectric constant of the resin, which is often desirable, rendering composites as good candidates for many applications, especially in telecommunications. Compensation for degradation of mechanical properties of matrix (due to inclusion insertion) is obtained by embedding fibers into the mixture. Measurements of dielectric constant and loss tangent for this multiphase composite system were conducted in the region between 0.1 and 100 kHz range using DEA 290 (T.A. Instruments) dielectric analyzer and experimental results are presented. Good correlation between analytical model and experimental results was observed throughout all frequency range of investigation.     

Light harvesting with multiwall carbon nanotube/silicon heterojunctions

We report on a significant photocurrent generation from a planar device obtained by coating a bare n doped silicon substrate with a random network of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). This MWCNT/n-Si hybrid device exhibits an incident photon to current efficiency reaching up to 34% at 670 nm. We also show that MWCNTs covering a quartz substrate still exhibit photocurrent, though well below than that of the MWCNTs coating the silicon substrate. These results suggest that MWCNTs are able to generate photocurrent and that the silicon substrate plays a fundamental role in our planar device. The former effect is particularly interesting because MWCNTs are generally known to mimic the electronic properties of graphite, which does not present any photocurrent generation. On the basis of theoretical calculations revealing a weak metallic character for MWCNTs, we suggest that both metallic and semiconducting nanotubes are able to generate e-h pairs upon illumination. This can be ascribed to the presence of van Hove singularities in the density of states of each single wall carbon nanotube constituting the MWCNT and to the low density of electrons at the Fermi level. Finally, we suggest that though both MWCNTs and Si substrate are involved in the photocurrent generation process, MWCNT film mainly acts as a semitransparent electrode in our silicon-based device.