Mathematical modelling and numerical simulation of ordered porosity metal materials formation

Ordered porosity metal materials belong to a relatively new class of porous materials named gasars. This paper presents a mathematical model of the complex physical phenomena in the production of gasars. Analyses for heat transfer, solidification kinetics and gas diffusion were coupled to describe the formation of unique gasar structure. Several criterial functions were introduced to provide significant quantitative information about the relationship between the operating technological parameters and the final structure. The computational outcomes of the numerical simulation were compared with the characteristics of real gasar ingots. The model was applied to determine the boundary conditions that would provide approximately constant physical conditions on the solidification front. The structure sensitiveness of gasars with respect to the different technological parameters is discussed.     

Poly(chitosan-ester-ether-urethane) Hydrogels as Highly Controlled Genistein Release Systems

Polymeric hydrogels play an increasingly important role in medicine, pharmacy and cosmetology. They appear to be one of the most promising groups of biomaterials due to their favorable physicochemical properties and biocompatibility. The objective of the presented study was to synthesize new poly(chitosan-ester-ether-urethane) hydrogels and to study the kinetic release of genistein (GEN) from these biomaterials. In view of the above, six non-toxic hydrogels were synthesized via the Ring-Opening Polymerization (ROP) and polyaddition processes. The poly(ester-ether) components of the hydrogels have been produced in the presence of the enzyme as a biocatalyst. In some cases, the in vitro release rate of GEN from the obtained hydrogels was characterized by near-zero-order kinetics, without “burst release” and with non-Fickian transport. It is important to note that developed hydrogels have been shown to possess the desired safety profile due to lack of cytotoxicity to skin cells (keratinocytes and fibroblasts). Taking into account the non-toxicity of hydrogels and the relatively highly controlled release profile of GEN, these results may provide fresh insight into polymeric hydrogels as an effective dermatological and/or cosmetological tool.     

The Co-Culture of Staphylococcal Biofilm and Fibroblast Cell Line: The Correlation of Biological Phenomena with Metabolic NMR1 Footprint

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most prevalent pathogens associated with several types of biofilm-based infections, including infections of chronic wounds. Mature staphylococcal biofilm is extremely hard to eradicate from a wound and displays a high tendency to induce recurring infections. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to investigate in vitro the interaction between S. aureus biofilm and fibroblast cells searching for metabolites that could be considered as potential biomarkers of critical colonization and infection. Utilizing advanced microscopy and microbiological methods to examine biofilm formation and the staphylococcal infection process, we were able to distinguish 4 phases of biofilm development. The analysis of staphylococcal biofilm influence on the viability of fibroblasts allowed us to pinpoint the moment of critical colonization—12 h post contamination. Based on the obtained model we performed a metabolomics analysis by ¹H NMR spectroscopy to provide new insights into the pathophysiology of infection. We identified a set of metabolites related to the switch to anaerobic metabolism that was characteristic for staphylococcal biofilm co-cultured with fibroblast cells. The data presented in this study may be thus considered a noteworthy but preliminary step in the direction of developing a new, NMR-based tool for rapid diagnosing of infection in a chronic wound.     

Gold supported on ceria and ceria–alumina promoted by molybdena for complete benzene oxidation

New gold–molybdena catalysts supported on ceria and ceria–alumina in reaction of complete benzene oxidation were studied. The catalysts were characterized by means of XRD, TPR, XPS and Raman spectroscopy. High and stable catalytic activity was established in the temperature region 200–240 °C. The presence of gold causes a modification in ceria structure leading to an increase of Ce³⁺ and oxygen vacancies formation. The loading of Al³⁺ increases additionally the oxygen vacancies, while a tendency of decrease of Ce³⁺ amount was observed. The presence of alumina results also in a larger share of active oxygen species proved by analysis of O 1s XPS spectra. The differences in the activities within the starting temperature range (150–180 °C) and in the region of 100% conversion (200–240 °C) could be explained by supposing that in the LT region the electron transfer between nanosized gold and ceria particles via oxygen vacancies has a crucial role. In the HT region the oxygen mobility, provoked by the defective structure of ceria due to the presence of Al³⁺, becomes of prevailing importance. It was also concluded that alumina prevents the gold and ceria agglomeration, which is the main factor to avoid deactivation under extreme reaction conditions.     

Deciding k-Colorability of P 5-Free Graphs in Polynomial Time

The problem of computing the chromatic number of a P ₅-free graph (a graph which contains no path on 5 vertices as an induced subgraph) is known to be NP-hard. However, we show that for every fixed integer k, there exists a polynomial-time algorithm determining whether or not a P ₅-free graph admits a k-coloring, and finding one, if it does.