A Smart Hyperthermia Nanofiber-Platform-Enabled Sustained Release of Doxorubicin and 17AAG for Synergistic Cancer Therapy

This study demonstrates the rational fabrication of a magnetic composite nanofiber mesh that can achieve mutual synergy of hyperthermia, chemotherapy, and thermo-molecularly targeted therapy for highly potent therapeutic effects. The nanofiber is composed of biodegradable poly(ε-caprolactone) with doxorubicin, magnetic nanoparticles, and 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin. The nanofiber exhibits distinct hyperthermia, owing to the presence of magnetic nanoparticles upon exposure of the mesh to an alternating magnetic field, which causes heat-induced cell killing as well as enhanced chemotherapeutic efficiency of doxorubicin. The effectiveness of hyperthermia is further enhanced through the inhibition of heat shock protein activity after hyperthermia by releasing the inhibitor 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin. These findings represent a smart nanofiber system for potent cancer therapy and may provide a new approach for the development of localized medication delivery.     

Performance of compression/absorption hybrid refrigeration cycle with propane/mineral oil combination

This paper discusses the feasibility of a vapor compression/absorption hybrid refrigeration cycle for energy saving and utilization of waste heat. The cycle employs propane as a natural refrigerant and a refrigeration oil as an absorbent. A prototype of the cycle is constructed, in which a compressor and an absorption unit are combined in series. The performance of the cycle is examined both theoretically and experimentally. Although the solubility of the propane with the oil is not enough as a working pair in the absorption unit, the theoretical calculation shows that the hybrid cycle has a potential to achieve a higher performance in comparison with a simple vapor compression cycle by using the waste heat. In the experiment, the prototype cycle is operated successfully and it is found that an improvement of an absorber is necessary to achieve the good performance close to the theoretical one. The application of an AHE (absorber heat exchanger) can reduce the heat input to a generator. Further examinations on some other combinations of refrigerant/refrigeration oil and additives are desirable.     

Time-series primitive static states for detailing work state and flow of human-operated work machine

This paper proposes a quantification method for a comprehensive work flow in construction work for describing work states in more detail on the basis of analyzing state transitions of primitive static states (PSS), which consist of 16 symbolic work states defined by using on-off state of the lever operations and joint loads for the manipulator and end-effector. On the basis of the state transition rules derived from a transition-condition analysis, practical state transitions (PST), which are common and frequent transitions in arbitrary construction work, are defined. PST can be classified into essential state transition (EST) or nonessential state transitions (NST). EST extracts common phases of work progress and estimates positional relations between a manipulator and an object. NST reveals wasted movements that degrade the efficiency and quality of work. To evaluate comprehensive work flows modeled by combining EST and NST, work-analysis experiments using our instrumented setup were conducted. Results indicate that all the PSS definitely changes on the basis of PST under various work conditions, and work analysis using EST and NST easily reveals work characteristics and untrained tasks related to wasted movements.     

Gel-size dependence of temperature-induced microphase separation in weakly-charged polymer gels

The gel-size dependence of microphase separation in weakly-charged gels of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPA) and 1-vinylimidazole (VI) copolymers has been investigated using swelling measurement, small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), and dynamic and static light scattering (DLS/SLS). It is known that weakly-charged polymer gels undergo microphase separation in a poor solvent as a result of competing interactions involving hydrophobic attraction versus electrostatic repulsion. The microphase separation is characterized by a scattering maximum in SANS intensity functions of which Bragg spacing, Λ, is around 20-30 nm. However, when gel size was reduced to the order of Λ, no microphase separation was observed. Instead, a typical scattering of isolated spherical particles was clearly observed. On the basis of the experimental evidence, we conclude that microphase separation has its own wavelength independent of gel size, and nanometer-order gels, i.e., nanogels, do not undergo microphase separation.     

Elastoplastic Finite Element Analysis and Strength Evaluation of Adhesive Butt Joints of Similar and Dissimilar Hollow Shafts Subjected to External Bending Moments

Stress distributions and deformation of adhesive butt joints are analyzed by an elastoplastic finite element method when the joints of similar and dissimilar shafts are subjected to external bending moments. The effects of the ratio of Young's modulus for the adherends to that for an adhesive and the effects of the adhesive thickness on the interface stress distribution are investigated. Joint strength is predicted by using the elastoplastic interface stress distributions. It is found that the singular stress at the edge of the interfaces increases with an increase of the ratio of Young's modulus. Measurement of strains in joints and experiments on joint strength were conducted. The numerical results are in fairly good agreement with the experimental results. It is observed that the joint strength for dissimilar shafts are smaller than those for similar shafts. A fracture of dissimilar adhesive up-bonded shafts occurred from the interface of the adherend with smaller Young's modulus. It is seen that joint strength increases as the adhesive thickness increases.     

Morphology,thermal, and mechanical properties of vinylester resin nanocomposites with various organo‐modified montmorillonites

New nanocomposites based on a vinylester resin (VER) and the organo‐montmorillonites (ODA‐M, BHL‐M, DEM‐M, BHLV‐M) modified with octadecylammonium, bis(2‐hydroxyethyl)lauryl ammonium, diethyl[2‐(methacryloyloxyl)ethyl]ammonium, and bis(2‐hydroxyethyl)lauryl(vinylbenzyl)‐ammonium chlorides, respectively, were prepared by dispersing the organoclays in VER, and subsequent crosslinking at finally 120°C. X‐ray diffraction studies and morphological studies using transmission electron microscopy revealed that exfoliation occurs for the VER/ODA‐M and BHL‐M composites, intercalation occurs for the VER/BHLV‐M composite, and neither intercalation nor exfoliation occur for the VER/DEM‐M and unmodified montmorillonite composites. On the whole, although the enhancement in flexural modulus was observed for the exfoliated ODA‐M and BHL‐M composites, the flexural strength was rather lowered. Dynamic viscoelastic measurement revealed that the ODA‐M, BHL‐M, and BHLV‐M nanocomposites have significantly higher storage modulus at the rubbery state than the other composites. Polym. Eng. Sci. 44:2041–2046, 2004. © 2004 Society of Plastics Engineers.     

Uterine Deletion of Bmal1 Impairs Placental Vascularization and Induces Intrauterine Fetal Death in Mice

Recently, it was demonstrated that the expression of BMAL1 was decreased in the endometrium of women suffering from recurrent spontaneous abortion. To investigate the pathological roles of uterine clock genes during pregnancy, we produced conditional deletion of uterine Bmal1 (cKO) mice and found that cKO mice could receive embryo implantation but not sustain pregnancy. Gene ontology analysis of microarray suggested that uterine NK (uNK) cell function was suppressed in cKO mice. Histological examination revealed the poor formation of maternal vascular spaces in the placenta. In contrast to WT mice, uNK cells in the spongiotrophoblast layer, where maternal uNK cells are directly in contact with fetal trophoblast, hardly expressed an immunosuppressive NK marker, CD161, in cKO mice. By progesterone supplementation, pregnancy could be sustained until the end of pregnancy in some cKO mice. Although this treatment did not improve the structural abnormalities of the placenta, it recruited CD161-positive NK cells into the spongiotrophoblast layer in cKO mice. These findings indicate that the uterine clock system may be critical for pregnancy maintenance after embryo implantation.     

Fabrication and flow-sensor application of flexible thermal MEMS device based on Cu on polyimide substrate

A Cu on polyimide (COP) substrate was proposed as a MEMS material, and the fabrication process for a flexible thermal MEMS sensor was developed. The COP substrate application to MEMS devices has the advantage that typical MEMS structures fabricated in a SOI wafer in the past—such as a diaphragm, a beam, a heater formed on a diaphragm—can also be easily produced in the COP substrate in the flexible fashion. These structures can be used as the sensing element in various physical sensors, such as flow, acceleration, and shear stress sensors. A flexible thermal MEMS sensor was produced by using a lift-off process and sacrificial etching of a copper layer on the COP substrate. A metal film working as a flow sensing element was formed on a thin polyimide membrane produced by the sacrificial etching. The fabricated flexible thermal MEMS sensor was used as a flow sensor, and its characteristics were evaluated. The obtained sensor output versus the flow rate curve closely matched the approximate curve derived using King’s law. The rising and falling response times obtained were 0.50 and 0.67 s, respectively.

     

Filter-based energy-resolved X-ray computed tomography with a clinical imager

Filter-based energy-resolved X-ray computed tomography (CT) is an approach for implementing energy-resolved CT imaging using a flat-panel-detector-based cone-beam system. In this study, we performed experiments with a 20-cm-diameter phantom on a clinical X-ray imager. The material density results showed good agreement with the ideal values. We also propose an improved method for obtaining the detector response function and the X-ray spectrum, which requires fewer measurements and will be practical for future clinical use. Issues such as scatter and image noise remain to be addressed.     

Decoupling properties of singular LQ regulation problem

Some properties of a limiting solution derived from a standard LQ regulator problem are discussed in the case where the input weighting matrix tends to zero, for a discrete time system. The explicit limiting solution is given in some literature. It is shown that the limiting solution is closely connected with a disturbance decoupling problem. Moreover it is pointed out that the limiting feedback gain with the help of feedforward gain constructs the decoupled system with the maximum number of blocks.