The Relevance of Physico-Chemical Properties and Protein Corona for Evaluation of Nanoparticles Immunotoxicity—In Vitro Correlation Analysis on THP-1 Macrophages

Alongside physiochemical properties (PCP), it has been suggested that the protein corona of nanoparticles (NPs) plays a crucial role in the response of immune cells to NPs. However, due to the great variety of NPs, target cells, and exposure protocols, there is still no clear relationship between PCP, protein corona composition, and the immunotoxicity of NPs. In this study, we correlated PCP and the protein corona composition of NPs to the THP-1 macrophage response, focusing on selected toxicological endpoints: cell viability, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and cytokine secretion. We analyzed seven commonly used engineered NPs (SiO₂, silver, and TiO₂) and magnetic NPs. We show that with the exception of silver NPs, all of the tested TiO₂ types and SiO₂ exhibited moderate toxicities and a transient inflammatory response that was observed as an increase in ROS, IL-8, and/or IL-1β cytokine secretion. We observed a strong correlation between the size of the NPs in media and IL-1β secretion. The induction of IL-1β secretion was completely blunted in NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) knockout THP-1 cells, indicating activation of the inflammasome. The correlations analysis also implicated the association of specific NP corona proteins with the induction of cytokine secretion. This study provides new insights toward a better understanding of the relationships between PCP, protein corona, and the inflammatory response of macrophages for different engineered NPs, to which we are exposed on a daily basis.     

IR-MALDI-MS analysis of HPTLC-separated phospholipid mixtures directly from the TLC plate

The application of a recently developed direct coupling of high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) and infrared matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization orthogonal extracting time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Dreisewerd, K.; Müthing, J.; Rohlfing, A.; Meisen, I.; Vukelic, Z.; Peter-Katalinic, J.; Hillenkamp, F.; Berkenkamp, S. Anal. Chem. 2005, 77, 4098-4107) to the analysis of phospholipid mixtures is demonstrated. Mixtures of six phospholipid types were exemplarily analyzed. The sensitivity was found to be in the range between about 10 and 150 pmol of material spotted for HPTLC, depending on phospholipid acidity, Rf value, and ion polarity. The lateral resolution of the analysis is on the order of the laser focus diameter of about 220 x 300 microm2, allowing differentiation between phospholipid species of different acyl chain composition within one single HPTLC band, which were undistiguishable by a mere visual assessment. Analyte diffusion due to the addition of glycerol to the HPTLC plate was found to be-if at all notable-of only minor importance.     

Genetic and association mapping study of wheat agronomic traits under contrasting water regimes

Genetic analyses and association mapping were performed on a winter wheat core collection of 96 accessions sampled from a variety of geographic origins. Twenty-four agronomic traits were evaluated over 3 years under fully irrigated, rainfed and drought treatments. Grain yield was the most sensitive trait to water deficit and was highly correlated with above-ground biomass per plant and number of kernels per m(2). The germplasm was structured into four subpopulations. The association of 46 SSR loci distributed throughout the wheat genome with yield and agronomic traits was analyzed using a general linear model, where subpopulation information was used to control false-positive or spurious marker-trait associations (MTAs). A total of 26, 21 and 29 significant (P < 0.001) MTAs were identified in irrigated, rainfed and drought treatments, respectively. The marker effects ranged from 14.0 to 50.8%. Combined across all treatments, 34 significant (P < 0.001) MTAs were identified with nine markers, and R(2) ranged from 14.5 to 50.2%. Marker psp3200 (6DS) and particularly gwm484 (2DS) were associated with many significant MTAs in each treatment and explained the greatest proportion of phenotypic variation. Although we were not able to recognize any marker related to grain yield under drought stress, a number of MTAs associated with developmental and agronomic traits highly correlated with grain yield under drought were identified.     

The Slovenian food composition database

The preliminary Slovenian food composition database was created in 2003, through the application of the Data management and Alimenta nutritional software. In the subsequent projects, data on the composition of meat and meat products of Slovenian origin were gathered from analyses, and low-quality data of the preliminary database were discarded. The first volume of the Slovenian food composition database was published in 2006, in both electronic and paper versions. When Slovenia joined the EuroFIR NoE, the LanguaL indexing system was adopted. The Optijed nutritional software was developed, and later upgraded to the OPEN platform. This platform serves as an electronic database that currently comprises 620 foods, and as the Slovenian node in the EuroFIR virtual information platform. With the assimilation of the data on the compositions of foods of plant origin obtained within the latest project, the Slovenian database provides a good source for food compositional values of consistent and compatible quality.     

High strength thermoresponsive semi‐IPN hydrogels reinforced with nanoclays

Two series of nanoclay reinforced, thermoresponsive hydrogels were prepared, one based on poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA) and the other on semi‐interpenetrating networks containing PNIPA and poly(N‐vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP), designated as SIPNs. The gels were crosslinked with 1, 3, and 5 wt % inorganic clay (hectorite) and SIPN gels additionally contained 1 wt % of PVP. The hydrogels were tested in the “as‐prepared state,” i.e., at 10 wt % PNIPA concentration in water and at equilibrium (maximum) swelling. Increasing the concentration of nanoclays increases crosslink density, modulus, tensile strength, elongation (except in equilibrium swollen gels), hysteresis and with decreases in the degree of swelling, broadening of the phase transition region, and a decrease in elastic recovery at high deformations. The presence of linear PVP in the networks increases porosity and the pore size, increases swelling, deswelling rates, and hysteresis, but decreases slightly lower critical solution temperature (LCST), tensile strength, elongation, and elastic recovery. The strongest hydrogels were ones with 10 wt % PNIPA and 5 wt % of nanoclays, displaying tensile strengths of 85 kPa and elongation of 955%. All properties of hydrogels at the equilibrium swollen state are lower than in the as‐prepared state, due to the lower concentration of chains per unit volume, but the trends are preserved. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

Mechanical and thermal properties of UV cured mixtures of linear and hyperbranched urethane acrylates

The properties of urethane acrylate resin mixtures based on the linear and hyperbranched aliphatic polyesters were examined. Linear polyester was synthesized from neopentil glycol and adipic acid. Hyperbranched polyester of the third generation was synthesized from 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl)propionic acid and di-trimethylol propane. The modification of 60% of hyperbranched aliphatic polyester OH end groups was carried out with isononanoic acid or with soybean fatty acids. Two hyperbranched urethane acrylates, with the same degree of acrylation, and one linear urethane acrylate were obtained by reaction of appropriate polyester and isophorone diisocyanate and 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate. The influence of added amount of HUA and nature of non-acrylic end groups on the rheological, mechanical and thermal properties of the uncured and UV cured mixtures diluted with 20 wt.% hexanediol diacrylate was examined. The nature of non-acrylic end groups have great effect on the interaction between linear and hyperbranched urethane acrylates, which further has a crucial influence on the examined properties of uncured and UV cured mixture samples.     

Feedforward neural network and adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system in study of power lines

Over the past several decades, concerns have been raised over the possibility that the exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields from power lines may have harmful effects on human and living organisms. This paper presents novel approach based on the use of both feedforward neural network (FNN) and adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) to estimate electric and magnetic fields around an overhead power transmission lines. An FNN and ANFIS used to simulate this problem were trained using the results derived from the previous research. It is shown that proposed approach ensures satisfactory accuracy and can be a very efficient tool and useful alternative for such investigations.     

Experimental study and thermodynamic remodeling of the Bi–Cu–Ni system

Phase equilibria in the Bi–Cu–Ni ternary system have been studied using differential thermal analysis (DTA) as well as by using the calculation of the phase diagram (CALPHAD) method. Literature experimental phase equilibria data and DTA results from this study were used for thermodynamic modeling of the Bi–Cu–Ni ternary system. Isothermal sections at 300, 400, and 500 °C, vertical sections from bismuth corner with molar ratio Cu:Ni=1/3, 1/1 and 3/1 and vertical section at 40 at.% Cu were calculated and compared with corresponding experimental results. Reasonable agreement between the calculated and experimental data was observed in all cases.     

Prediction of magnetic field near power lines by normalized radial basis function network

Over the past several decades, concerns have been raised over the possibility that the exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields from power lines may have harmful effects on human and living organisms. This work involved the computation of the magnetic field generated by 110 kV overhead power lines using a normalized radial basis function (NRBF) network. Training of the evolving NRBF network is achieved by using the data generated from the numerical simulation based on Charge Simulation method (CSM). Then, NRBF has been used to determine the magnetic field distribution in a new geometry differing from the geometries used for training. These test results show that proposed NRBF network can be used as useful tool to calculate the magnetic fields from power lines, alternative to the conventional methods.     

Hydrogels reinforced with nanoclays with improved response rate

Two series of semiinterpenetrating networks (SIPN) based on linear hydrophilic poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and thermo‐responsive poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA), physically crosslinked with inorganic clay, are presented. The hydrogels with different crosslinking densities were prepared by varying the content of clay from 1 to 6 wt % and contained linear interpenetrant, PVA in the range of 0.5–1.5 wt %. The effect of clay content on swelling/deswelling behavior and phase transition in PNIPA gels, as well as the feasibility of reinforcing the gels with high molecular weight PVA, were analyzed. The thermal response of hydrogels, followed by DSC, confirmed that the insertion of hydrophilic PVA did not have a significant effect on the onset of the volume phase transition temperature, while the response was faster. The equilibrium degree of swelling of SIPNs and PNIPA hydrogels was in the range of 9–79 and decreased with increasing content of clay. The internal morphology and surface wettability of the hydrogels were investigated by scanning electron microscope analysis and contact angle measurements, respectively. The network structural parameters of the PNIPA and SIPN nanocomposites hydrogels, such as the average molecular weight between crosslinks, M_c, and effective crosslinking density, N_e, were determined by dynamic mechanical analysis. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 44535.