Gilliamhorner5521
We present the trapping and manipulation of a single nano-object in an aqueous medium by optically induced temporally varying temperature gradients. By real-time object tracking and control of the position of the heating laser focus, we can precisely employ thermophoretic drift to oppose the random diffusive motion. As a result, a nano-object is confined in a micrometer-sized trap. Numerical modeling gives a quantitative prediction of the effect. Traps can be dynamically created and relocated, which we demonstrate by the controlled independent manipulation of two nanoparticles.The control over contagious diseases caused by pathogenic organisms has become a serious health issue. The extensive usage of antibiotics has led to the development of multidrug-resistant bacterial strains. In this regard, metal-oxide-based antibacterial nanomaterials have received potential research interest due to the efficient prevention of microorganism growth. In this study, splat-shaped Ag-TiO2 nanocomposites (NCs) were synthesized on the gram scale and the enhanced antibacterial properties of TiO2 in the presence of silver were examined. The formation of Ag-TiO2 NCs was analyzed through various characterization techniques. The cell viability experimental results demonstrated that the Ag-TiO2 NCs have good biocompatibility. The antibacterial activity of the prepared Ag-TiO2 NCs was tested against the Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacterial strains. The Ag-TiO2 NCs exhibited promising and superior antibacterial properties compared to TiO2 nanospheres as confirmed by the bacterial growth and inhibition zone. The improvement in the antibacterial activity was attributed to the synergistic effect of the hybrid nature of TiO2 nanoparticles in the presence of Ag.A small water-soluble phosphorus-containing dendrimer was engineered for the complexation of gold(I) and for its reduction under mild conditions. Gold nanoparticles were obtained as colloidal suspensions simply and only when the powdered form of this dendrimer was dissolved in water, as shown by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analyses. The dendrimers acted simultaneously as mild reducers and as nanoreactors, favoring the self-assembly of gold atoms and promoting the growth and stabilization of isolated gold nanoparticles. Thus, an unprecedented method for the synthesis of colloidal suspensions of water-soluble gold nanoparticles was proposed in this work.Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) have unique properties with regard to biological and medical applications. SPIONs have been used in clinical settings although their safety of use remains unclear due to the great differences in their structure and in intra- and inter-patient absorption and response. This review addresses potential applications of SPIONs in vitro (formulations), ex vivo (in biological cells and tissues) and in vivo (preclinical animal models), as well as potential biomedical applications in the context of drug targeting, disease treatment and therapeutic efficacy, and safety studies.Recently, it is widely recognized that microinflammation plays important roles in the pathophysiology of metabolic diseases, especially obesity-related disorders, diabetes and their complications. Lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP) is a liver-derived acute-phase protein responsive to lipopolysaccharides (LPS) produced by gram-negative bacteria, thus reflects the systemic inflammation caused by the infection of those bacteria including gut dysbiosis. In this study, we evaluated the plasma LBP levels and investigated its clinical significance in 67 Japanese patients with type 1 diabetes. Univariable analysis showed that LBP levels were significantly associated with body mass index (BMI; r = 0.43, p less then 0.01) and serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP; r = 0.64, p less then 0.001) levels. However, there was no significant association between plasma LBP levels and diabetic complications. selleck products Mediation analysis revealed that LBP had significant mediation effects on the association between hs-CRP and BMI (0.27 [95% confidence interval 0.10-0.48]). These results suggest that the systemic condition where the LBP level increases, such as gut dysbiosis, at least partly, impacts on chronic microinflammation in patients with type 1 diabetes.
Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is the most common complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). The Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI) is a simple, brief, and useful screening tool that was designed to assess DPN. The aim of this study was to develop a Turkish version of the MNSI and assess its reliability and validity.
Eighty-three patients with DM who were divided into two groups according the results of nerve conduction studies (NCS) as having DPN or without DPN were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. The Toronto clinical scoring system, pain detect questionnaire, and NCS were assessed along with the MNSI.
Each section of the MNSI was internally consistent (Cronbach's alpha > 0.70), and the scores of both sections were positively correlated with total MNSI score (
= 0.938;
= 0.908, respectively,
< 0.001). The test-retest reliability of the Turkish version of the MNSI was determined as 0.99 for the total score (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.996). Using the agreement between MNSI scores and DPN diagnosis by NCS as a gold standard, receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve values for section A and section B were estimated as 0.973 and 1.00, respectively. When a cut-off value ≥ 3.0 in section A and a cut-off value ≥ 2.0 in section B were used, we obtained a sensitivity of 97.6% and 100%; a specificity of 63.4% and 97.6%; a positive predictive value of 72.7% and 97.6%; and a negative predictive value of 96.3% and 100%, respectively.
The Turkish version of MNSI is a reliable and valid tool for screening DPN in Turkish patients.
The Turkish version of MNSI is a reliable and valid tool for screening DPN in Turkish patients.