Co-delivery of pemetrexed and miR-21 antisense oligonucleotide by lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles and effects on glioblastoma cells

Abstract

Combination therapy using anticancer drugs and nucleic acid is a more promising strategy to overcome multidrug resistance in cancer and to enhance apoptosis. In this study, lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles (LPNs), which contain both pemetrexed and miR-21 antisense oligonucleotide (anti-miR-21), have been developed for treatment of glioblastoma, the most aggressive type of brain tumor. Prepared LPNs have been well characterized by particle size distribution and zeta potential measurements, determination of encapsulation efficiency, and in vitro release experiments. Morphology of LPNs was determined by transmission electron microscopy. LPNs had a hydrodynamic size below 100?nm and exhibited sustained release of pemetrexed up to 10?h. Encapsulation of pemetrexed in LPNs increased cellular uptake from 6% to 78%. Results of confocal microscopy analysis have shown that co-delivery of anti-miR-21 significantly improved accumulation of LPNs in the nucleus of U87MG cells. Nevertheless, more effective cytotoxicity results could not be obtained due to low concentration of anti-miR-21, loaded in LPNs. We expect that the effective drug delivery systems can be obtained with higher concentration of anti-miR-21 for the treatment of glioblastoma.     

Surface active buffered hydrogen fluoride having excellentwettability for ULSI processing

By incorporating selected hydrocarbon surfactants, a surface-active BHF (buffered hydrogen fluoride) has been tailored to achieve the following requirements: (1) the same etch rate as that of conventional BHF; (2) low contact angle; (3) nonsegregation; (4) nonfoaming; (5) low particulate count; (6) few impurities (possibility of purification); (7) low particulate adhesion on the wafer surface; (8) no surface residues; (9) excellent surface smoothness; and (10) high SiO ₂/Si etching selectivity. In order to satisfy these requirements, surfactants must satisfy the following characteristics: (1) good solubility in BHF; (2) hydrophilic property at the wafer surface, (3) nondecomposition in BHF; (4) nonreaction with BHF; and (5) sufficient lowering of contact angle at the critical micelle concentration (CMC). Aliphatic amines satisfy these requirements but have foaming problems. The requirements have been achieved using a binary surfactant system consisting of a combination of aliphatic amine and aliphatic alcohol or aliphatic acid     

Molecular dynamics simulation of boundary lubricated interfaces

A molecular dynamics simulation study of friction in boundary lubrication was conducted in order to investigate the atomic-scale behavior of lubricant molecules during sliding motion. The simulated system consisted of two silicon (001) semi-infinite substrates lubricated by a three-layer film of dodecane. Silicon was modeled using the Stillinger–Weber potential, and the dodecane with the Consistent Force Field function; a novel scheme was used to generate the silicon–dodecane interaction potentials. The simulations show that dodecane molecules strongly prefer to adsorb into the ledges on the silicon surface. The orientation of the adsorbed molecules depends, however, on the concentration of the lubricant at the surface, showing a tendency to stand up at high lubricant concentrations. In sliding, the dodecane layers adsorbed on the surfaces behave as a solid, whereas the middle layer exhibits liquid-like characteristics. The friction coefficient of this well-lubricated case was calculated to be 0.08.     

Direct evidence for dislocation-free zone in Fe–5% Si fractured by Charpy impact test

Defect structure in the subsurface region below a fracture surface of an Fe–5% Si specimen that had been fractured by a Charpy impact test at 77 K was examined by transmission electron microscopy. The specimen was fabricated by a focused ion beam technique to enable analysis of areas that had been carefully selected on the basis of observation. Near the nucleation site of the crack, many dislocations were observed just beneath the fracture surface. Far away from the nucleation site, no dislocations at all were observed in the subsurface region of the fracture surface. Between these two extreme positions, a dislocation-free zone was observed.     

Simplified NDE of a closed vertical crack using ultrasonics

Ultrasonic testing using a normally incident longitudinal wave is used for sizing a closed crack. The crack exists vertically on the back-wall of the inspected plate. In order to evaluate the closed crack, the relationship between the first back-wall echo height and the crack depth for an open crack as the basis for evaluating the closed crack is determined experimentally and is introduced to the analysis of echo height for the closed crack. The unknown parameters in the evaluation of the closed crack, such as crack depth and the stress closing the crack, are determined by comparing the first back-wall echo height obtained through both analysis and experiment on the closed crack.     

钢节点板的渐进结构优化设计

渐进结构优化法被用于确定轴力作用下钢节点板的最优形状。采用一系列不同的节点板应用在不同类型的连接中,然后采用渐进结构优化法来寻找在这些连接中最佳形状的节点板。第一个例子假定节点板具有两个孔,可以用于带张力的双角钢连接,分析了某些参数如材料去除率、网格尺寸和带孔模型的最终形状。带3、4、5个孔的节点板同时也被设计为最佳形状。此外,设计模型包括两排多孔、错排多孔连接。最后,在单个螺栓连接中优化确定的形状与目前实际使用的非常相似,然而其重量更轻。那些为多重连接和焊接双角连接的形状目前还不可预测。这表明渐进结构优化法在确定节点板最佳形状方面还有研究的潜力。     

Focused ion beam preparation techniques dedicated for the fabrication of TEM lamellae of fibre-reinforced composites

Two Focused Ion Beam based transmission electron microscopy (TEM) thin film preparation techniques are introduced. One is dedicated to the preparation of single fibres, the other to fibre/matrix interfaces of fibre reinforced composites. Due to their thin film quality, reliability and predictable processing times both techniques are suited for routine applications in material science like TEM studies of fibre microtextures and fibre/matrix interfaces. Exemplarily they are applied to Carbon Fibres and Carbon Fibre reinforced Carbon Matrix Composites (C/C). The achieved preparation standard in both cases is substantiated by TEM investigations.     

A New Sensor for Determination of Anionic Surfactants in Detergent Products with Carbon Nanotubes as Solid Contact

A new solid‐state sensor for potentiometric determination of surfactants with a layer of multi‐walled carbon nanotubes was prepared. As a sensing material, 1,3‐didecyl‐2‐methylimidazolium–tetraphenylborate ion‐pair was used. The investigated sensor showed a Nernstian response for both dodecylbenzenesulphonate (DBS, 57.6 mV/decade of activity between 5 × 10^?7 to 1 × 10^?3 M) and sodium lauryl sulfate (LS, 58.4 mV/decade of activity between 2 × 10^?7 to 2 × 10^?3 M). It responded in 8–10 s for each ten‐fold concentration change in the range of 1 × 10^?6 to 3 × 10^?3 M. The detection limits for DS and DBS were 2 × 10^?7 and 3 × 10^?7 M, respectively. The sensor revealed a stable response (signal drift 2.6 mV/h) and exhibited satisfactory selectivity performances for LS over most of the anions generally used in surfactant‐based commercial detergents. The main application of this sensor was the end‐point determination in potentiometric titrations of anionic surfactants. The (diisobutyl phenoxy ethoxy ethyl)dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (Hyamine), cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, hexadecylpyridinium chloride monohydrate (HDPC) and 1,3‐didecyl‐2‐methylimidazolium chloride were tested as potential cationic titrants, and all exhibited analytically usable titration curves with well‐defined equivalence points. The standard solution of HDPC was used as a cationic titrant by all potentiometric titrations. The operational life‐time of the sensor described was prolonged to more than 3 months.     

Medicinal foodstuffs. V. Moroheiya. (1): Absolute stereostructures of corchoionosides A, B, and C, histamine release inhibitors from the leaves of Vietnamese Corchorus olitorius L. (Tiliaceae)

Three new ionone glucosides named corchoionosides A, B, and C were isolated from the leaves of Corchorus olitorius, commonly called "moroheiya" in Japanese, together with seven known compounds, an ionone glucoside (6S,9R)-roseoside, a monoterpene glucoside betulalbuside A, two flavonol glucosides astragalin and isoquercitrin, two coumarin glucosides scopolin and cichoriine, and chlorogenic acid. The absolute stereostructures of corchoionosides A, B, and C were determined by chemical and physiochemical evidence, which included the result of application of a modified Mosher's method, the CD helicity rule, and chemical correlation with (6S,9R)-roseoside. Corchoionosides A and B and (6S,9R)-roseoside were found to inhibit the histamine release from rat peritoneal exudate cells induced by antigen-antibody reaction.     

Wear of metals at high sliding speeds

High speed sliding wear of AISI 1020 steel, AISI 304 stainless steel and commercially pure titanium (75A) was studied using a pin-on-ring geometry. All the tests were carried out in air without any lubricant. The sliding speed was 0.5–10.0 m s^?1 and the normal force was 49.0 N (5 kgf).The friction coefficient of all the materials tested decreased with the sliding speed; this appears to be a consequence of oxide formation. The wear rate of 304 stainless steel increased monotonically with speed, whereas the wear rate of 1020 steel and titanium first decreased and then increased and again decreased, with a maximum occurring at about 5 m s^?1. The complex variation of the wear rate as a function of speed is explained in terms of the dependence of the friction coefficient, hardness and toughness of the materials on temperature. Microscope examinations of the wear track, the sub-surface of worn specimens and the wear particles indicate that the wear mode was predominantly by subsurface deformation, crack nucleation and growth processes, i.e. the delamination process, similar to the low speed sliding wear of metals. Oxidative and adhesion theories proposed in the past to explain the high speed sliding wear of metals are found to be incompatible with the experimental observations.