Innovative Diagnostic Peptide-Based Technologies for Cancer Diagnosis: Focus on EGFR-Targeting Peptides

Active targeting using biological ligands has emerged as a novel strategy for the targeted delivery of diagnostic agents to tumor cells. Conjugating functional targeting moieties with diagnostic probes can increase their accumulation in tumor cells and tissues, enhancing signal detection and, thus, the sensitivity of diagnosis. Due to their small size, ease of chemical synthesis and site-specific modification, high tissue penetration, low immunogenicity, rapid blood clearance, low cost, and biosafety, peptides offer several advantages over antibodies and proteins in diagnostic applications. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is one of the most promising cancer biomarkers for actively targeting diagnostic and therapeutic agents to tumor cells due to its active involvement and overexpression in various cancers. Several peptides for EGFR-targeting have been identified in the last decades, which have been obtained by multiple means including derivation from natural proteins, phage display screening, positional scanning synthetic combinatorial library, and in silico screening. Many studies have used these peptides as a targeting moiety for diagnosing different cancers in vitro, in vivo, and in clinical trials. This review summarizes the progress of EGFR-targeting peptide-based assays in the molecular diagnosis of cancer.     

Synthesis and characterization of polymers containing naphthyl-2H-benzotriazoles, 3. Hydrogen bonding in monomers and polymers containing naphthyl-2H-benzotriazole

The UV absorption characteristics of a number of dihydroxynaphthyl-2H-benzotriazoles, their (meth)acryloyloxy derivatives and the corresponding polymers have been studied in a range of solvents of different polarity. It was shown that the formation of hydrogen bonds in these compounds strongly depends on the polarity of the solvent and an equilibrium exists between intramolecular and intermolecular hydrogenbonded states. The stability of the intramolecular hydrogen bond was determined quantitatively. The equilibrium between the intramolecular and the intermolecular hydrogen-bonded state of the molecule was strongly affected by the chemical structure of the naphthyl-2H-benzotriazole. The stability of the intramolecular hydrogen bond increased when electron-donating substituents were introduced into the benzotriazole or when the naphthyl-2-benzotriazole was fixed to a polymer backbone.     

An adaptive series control for an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor with actuator compensation

An adaptive series speed control system for an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) drive is presented in this paper. This control system consists of a current and a speed control loop, and it is intended to improve the drive’s speed tracking performance as well as to compensate for voltage distortions caused by non-ideal characteristics of the drive’s actuator, which is a voltage source inverter (VSI). To achieve these goals, a simple model that captures these characteristics of the VSI is developed and embedded in the motor’s electrical model. Then, based on the resulting model, an adaptive proportional-integral (PI) control for the current loops is designed, allowing for state regulation and actuator compensation. Additionally, to improve the drive’s speed tracking performance, a proportional-model-reference adaptive controller (MRAC) is designed for the speed loop. Techniques from machine learning are used for designing the MRAC to effectively address nonlinearities and uncertainties in the speed dynamic. Finally, simulation results are presented to illustrate the outstanding performance of the proposed multi-loop controller.     

High‐gain waveguide slot antenna using simple parasitic patch's cover

In this article, a way based on using miniature patch cells has been proposed to increase gain and bandwidth of the waveguide slot antenna. In the presented approach, an array of 3 × 3 metal patches has been used as superstrate to create Fabry Perot theorem resonance cavity. The proposed high ‐ gain and simple antenna is composed of a conventional waveguide slot antenna with an extended broad wall, and an array of parasitic patches which are symmetrically placed over slot at a distance of about free ‐ space half wavelength. The slot has been created on a rectangular waveguide WR90 with 22.86 mm × 10.16 mm × 52.5 mm dimension, also extended wall dimension is 2λ₀ (67.5 mm) × 3λ₀ (107 mm). It has been shown that the proposed structure compared with the conventional waveguide slot antenna improves antenna peak gain from 6.5 to 16.5 dBi and, in the same time, antenna bandwidth from 11% to around 16.2%. More important advantage of the proposed antenna is that unlike to other Fabry Perot antenna with the same gain, there is not any dielectric material in the proposed structure. A prototype antenna was simulated, fabricated, and measured for verification.     

A framework for designing cognitive trajectory controllers using genetically evolved interval type-2 fuzzy cognitive maps

In this paper, we provide a complete framework for the design of genetically evolved cognitive tracking controller based on interval type-2 (IT2) fuzzy cognitive map (FCM). We construct the cognitive controller based on a nonlinear controller by transforming its representation into a FCM. This representation gives the opportunity to prove the stability of the cognitive controller in the framework of nonlinear control theory. Moreover, with the deployment of IT2-fuzzy sets which are known to be capable to handle high level of uncertainty, the proposed cognitive controller has the ability to deal with uncertainty that are encountered in real-time world applications. To accomplish the design of the cognitive controller, we present a systematic approach based on genetic algorithm to optimize its parameters and learn fuzzy rules by extracting them from model space (e.g., a set of rules). Within the paper, all steps in constructing and designing the IT2-FCM-based cognitive controller are presented. We first show the performance improvements of the proposed IT2-FCM-based tracking controller with extensive and comparative simulation results and then with experimental results that were collected on real-world mobile robot. The results clearly show the superiority of proposed cognitive control systems when compared to its conventional and fuzzy controller counterparts. We believe that the proposed genetically evolved design approach of the IT2-FCM-based cognitive controller will provide a bridge between the well-developed cognitive sciences and control theory.     

A novel green synthesis of zero valent iron nanoparticles (NZVI) using three plant extracts and their efficient application for removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions

In the present study, NZVI particles were synthesized from the plant extracts including Rosa damascene (RD), Thymus vulgaris (TV), and Urtica dioica (UD). The FTIR arspectshowed that polyphenols, proteins and organic acids which serve as reducing and stabilizing agents play a significant role in the synthesis of NPs and reduce the possibility of aggregation of NPs compared to chemical techniques of NPs synthesis. The amount and type of compounds in plant extracts affect the structure and also agglomeration of NPs after adsorption process. Based on the results, the highest removal efficiency occurred at pH 2. With increase in contact time and amount of dose, the percentage removal increases. Inversely, increase of initial concentration of Cr(VI) decreases the removal efficiency of the contaminant. These nanoparticles have a high adsorption capacity. Accordingly, by applying a dose of 0.2 g/l and contact time of 10 min, the three NPs yielded >90% removal efficiency. Also, for 1 min contact time, the percentage removal was 94.87%, 83.48% and 86.8% for RD-Fe, UD-Fe and TV-Fe, respectively. By an increase to 25 min, the removal percentage reached to 100% for TV-Fe and UD-Fe. Moreover, 30 min was required to remove Cr(VI) completely by RD-F.     

Toughening of epoxy resin systems using core–shell rubber particles: a literature review

Journal of Materials Science - Excellent thermal and mechanical properties and high chemical resistance with low shrinkage of epoxy resins open a wide window of various industrial applications,...