materials science

Structure determination and prediction pose a major challenge to computational material science, demanding efficient global structure search techniques tailored to identify promising and relevant candidates. A major bottleneck is the fact that, due to the many combinatorial possibilities, there are too many possible geometries to be sampled exhaustively. Here, an innovative computational approach to overcome this problem is presented, that explores the potential energy landscape of commensurate organic/inorganic interfaces where the orientation and conformation of the molecules in the tightly packed layer is close to a favorable geometry adopted by isolated molecules on the surface...

The fabrication of functional molecular devices constitutes one of the most important current challenges for chemical sciences. The complex processes accomplished by living systems continuously demand the assistance of non-covalent interactions between molecular building blocks. Additionally, these building blocks (proteins, membranes, nucleotides) are also constituted by self-assembled structures. Therefore, supramolecular chemistry is the discipline required to understand the properties of the minimal self-assembled building blocks of living systems and to develop new functional smart materials...

BACKGROUND Hypermethylation of CpG islands in gene promoter regions is an important mechanism of gene inactivation in cancers. Promoter hypermethylation of human mutL homolog 1 (hMLH1) has been implicated in a subset of colorectal cancers that show microsatellite instability (MSI), while the connection of the epigenetic inactivation of hMLH1 in colorectal cancers remains unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the promoter hypermethylation of hMLH1 and colorectal cancers by performing a meta-analysis...

BACKGROUND: Many nursing homes appear as multicultural workplaces where the majority of healthcare providers have an ethnic minority background. This environment creates challenges linked to communication, interaction and cultural differences. Furthermore, the healthcare providers have varied experiences and understanding of what quality care of patients with dementia involves. PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to illuminate multi-ethnic healthcare providers' lived experiences of their own working relationship, and its importance to quality care for people with dementia...

Biotechnology has revolutionized therapeutics for the treatment of a wide range of diseases. Recent advances in protein engineering and material science have made the targeted delivery of enzyme therapeutics using nanocarriers (NCs) a new model of treatment. Several NCs have been approved for clinical use in drug delivery. Despite their advantages, few NCs have been approved to deliver enzyme cargo in a targeted manner. This review details the current arsenal of platforms developed to deliver enzyme therapeutics as well as the advantages and challenges of using enzymes as drugs, with examples from the literature, and discusses the benefits and liabilities of a given approach...

The wonderful chemical structures and characteristics of low-dimensional carbon materials have exciting applications in life sciences. In the present study, we developed a facile strategy to conjugate C60 with graphene via host-guest chemistry for targeted phototherapy. A versatile carrier based on folic acid-functionalized graphene (GO-FA) and comprising γ-cyclodextrin (γ-CD) at its surface was assembled via π-π interaction, creating hybrid structures with drug storage and tumor targeting properties. This γ-CD-modified graphene (GO-FA/Py-γ-CD) is capable of hosting pristine C60 molecules for the fabrication of a GO-FA/Py-γ-CD/C60 nanohybrid...

Inspired by the advances in both materials and computer science, we describe efforts to design "materials that compute" where the material and the computer are the same entity. Using theory and simulation, we devise systems that integrate the behavior of self-oscillating gels and fundamental concepts from oscillator-based computing. We specifically focus on gels that undergo the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction and thus exhibit self-sustained oscillations. In our models, we couple the BZ gel to an overlaying piezoelectric (PZ) cantilever to create a BZ-PZ unit...

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have considerably expanded the field of materials science in the past decade. Even more recently, various 2D materials have been assembled into vertical van der Waals heterostacks, and it has been proposed to combine them with other low-dimensional structures to create new materials with hybridized properties. We demonstrate the first direct images of a suspended 0D/2D heterostructure that incorporates C60 molecules between two graphene layers in a buckyball sandwich structure...

The understanding of fracture phenomena of a material at extremely high strain rates is a key issue for a wide variety of scientific research ranging from applied science and technological developments to fundamental science such as laser-matter interaction and geology. Despite its interest, its study relies on a fine multiscale description, in between the atomic scale and macroscopic processes, so far only achievable by large-scale atomic simulations. Direct ultrafast real-time monitoring of dynamic fracture (spallation) at the atomic lattice scale with picosecond time resolution was beyond the reach of experimental techniques...

Green graphene materials prepared by photoreduction of graphite oxide were first time blended with aqueous-based silk fibroin proteins to improve the mechanical and thermal properties of silk biomaterials, and their nanocomposite interaction mechanism was illustrated. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the complete exfoliation of graphite oxide to graphene in presence of focused pulses of solar radiation. By varying the concentration of graphene (0.1wt% to 10wt%), a series of free standing graphene-silk films were prepared and were systematically characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and nanoindentation measurements...

<p>Background: Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory skin condition. The economic burden of psoriasis is approximately $35.2 billion in the United States per year, and treatment costs are increasing at a higher rate than general inflation. Light emitting diode (LED) phototherapy may represent a cost-effective, efficacious, safe, and portable treatment modality for psoriasis.</p> <p>Objective: The goal of our manuscript is to review the published literature and provide evidence-based recommendations on LED phototherapy for the treatment of psoriasis...

Recent work in the history of science has questioned the Eurocentric nature of the field and sought to include a more global approach that would serve to displace center-periphery models in favor of approaches that take seriously local knowledge production. Historians of Iberian colonial science have taken up this approach, which involves reliance on indigenous knowledge traditions of the Americas. These traditions present a number of challenges to modern researchers, including availability and reliability of source material, issues of translation and identification, and lack of systematization...

Optical microresonators confine light to a particular microscale trajectory, are exquisitely sensitive to their microenvironment, and offer convenient readout of their optical properties. Taken together, this is an immensely attractive combination that makes optical microresonators highly effective as sensors and transducers. Meanwhile, advances in material science, fabrication techniques, and photonic sensing strategies endow optical microresonators with new functionalities, unique transduction mechanisms, and in some cases, unparalleled sensitivities...

The main goal of this review is to summarize practical approaches concerning the application of microfluidic systems for the analysis of various biomarkers and pollutants, as well as microbes, in water and wastewater matrixes. This problem involves multidisciplinary expertise combining research knowledge from various areas, including wet chemistry, biochemistry, physical chemistry, molecular biology, genetics, signal processing, microelectronics material science, and separation science. It has been documented that fairly primitive but fast and inexpensive screening methods involving paper-based analytical devices (PADs) and micro total analytical systems (μTAS) can be considered as serious alternatives to their more advanced counterparts such as GC, HPLC, and capillary electrophoresis coupled to various sophisticated detectors (e...

Complex structures and devices, both natural and manmade, are often constructed sequentially. From crystallization to embryogenesis, a nucleus or seed is formed and built upon. Sequential assembly allows for initiation, signaling, and logical programming, which are necessary for making enclosed, hierarchical structures. Although biology relies on such schemes, they have not been available in materials science. Here, we demonstrate programmed sequential self-assembly of DNA functionalized emulsions. The droplets are initially inert because the grafted DNA strands are pre-hybridized in pairs...

AIM AND OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is to analyze and compare the variation of lumen size and thickness of the elastomeric colored modules when immersed in four selected dietary media. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sample size of 40 modules on each color - such as red, blue, green, and black - was taken and immersed in four dietary media (artificial saliva, coke mixed with artificial saliva, turmeric mixed with artificial saliva, and coffee mixed with artificial saliva)...

Low density macroporous sponges with densities less than 100 mg cm-3 are a challenge and an opportunity in advanced chemistry and material science. The challenge lies in the precise preparation of the sponges with property combinations that lead to novel applications. Bottom-up and top-down chemi-cal and engineering methods for preparation are a major focus of this review, with an emphasis on carbon and polymer materi-als. Light weight, sustainability, breathability, special wetting characteristics, large mass transfer, mechanical stability, and large pore volume are typical characteristics of sponges made of advanced materials and could lead to novel applications...

Bottom-up fabrication of nanoscale materials has been a significant focus in materials science for expanding our technological frontiers. This assembly concept, however, is old news to biology - all living organisms fabricate themselves using bottom-up principles through a vast self-organizing system of incredibly complex biomolecules, a marvelous dynamic that we are still attempting to unravel. Can we use what we have gleaned from biology thus far to illuminate alternative strategies for designer nanomaterial manufacturing? In the present review article, new synthetic biology efforts toward using bacterial biofilms as platforms for the synthesis and secretion of programmable nanomaterials are described...

OBJECTIVES: To describe the public's understanding of hypnosis and openness to hypnotherapy. METHODS: A comprehensive search of English language peer reviewed journal articles from 1st January 1996-11th March 2016 was performed over 9 databases (Medline, PubMed, PsycARTICLES, CINAHL, Embase (excerpta medica), PsychInfo, Cochrane, Science citation index-expanded, Conference citation index) and a title-only search of Google scholar. 39 keyword combinations were employed: hypnosis, hypnotherapy, hypnotic, perception, beliefs, knowledge, view, opinion and understanding, in singular and plural where appropriate...

Levitation and manipulation of objects by sound waves have a wide range of applications in chemistry, biology, material sciences, and engineering. However, the current acoustic levitation techniques are mainly restricted to particles that are much smaller than the acoustic wavelength. In this work, it is shown that acoustic standing waves can be employed to stably levitate an object much larger than the acoustic wavelength in air. The levitation of a large slightly curved object weighting 2.3 g is demonstrated by using a device formed by two 25 kHz ultrasonic Langevin transducers connected to an aluminum plate...