Double cross-linked interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) hydrogels of sodium alginate and gelatin (SA/G) reinforced with 50 wt % cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) have been prepared via the ...freeze-drying process. The IPNs were designed to incorporate CNC with carboxyl surface groups as a part of the network contribute to the structural integrity and mechanical stability of the hydrogel. Structural morphology studies of the hydrogels showed a three-dimensional (3D) network of interconnected pores with diameters in the range of 10–192 μm and hierarchical pores with a nanostructured pore wall roughness, which has potential benefits for cell adhesion. Significant improvements in the tensile strength and strain were achieved in 98% RH at 37 °C for CNC cross-linked IPNs. The high porosity of the scaffolds (>93%), high phosphate buffered saline (PBS) uptake, and cytocompatibility toward mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are confirmed and considered beneficial for use as a substitute for cartilage.
Biodegradable nanocomposite films were prepared by incorporation of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) into alginate biopolymer using the solution casting method. The effects of CNF content (2.5, 5, 7.5, 10 ...and 15 wt %) on mechanical, biodegradability and swelling behavior of the nanocomposite films were determined. The results showed that the tensile modulus value of the nanocomposite films increased from 308 to 1403 MPa with increasing CNF content from 0% to 10%; however, it decreased with further increase of the filler content. Incorporation of CNF also significantly reduced the swelling percentage and water solubility of alginate-based films, with the lower values found for 10 wt % in CNF. Biodegradation studies of the films in soil confirmed that the biodegradation time of alginate/CNF films greatly depends on the CNF content. The results evidence that the stronger intermolecular interaction and molecular compatibility between alginate and CNF components was at 10 wt % in CNF alginate films.
In this work, cellulose nanofibers were extracted from banana fibers via a steam explosion technique. The chemical composition, morphology and thermal properties of the nanofibers were characterized ...to investigate their suitability for use in bio-based composite material applications. Chemical characterization of the banana fibers confirmed that the cellulose content was increased from 64% to 95% due to the application of alkali and acid treatments. Assessment of fiber chemical composition before and after chemical treatment showed evidence for the removal of non-cellulosic constituents such as hemicelluloses and lignin that occurred during steam explosion, bleaching and acid treatments. Surface morphological studies using SEM and AFM revealed that there was a reduction in fiber diameter during steam explosion followed by acid treatments. Percentage yield and aspect ratio of the nanofiber obtained by this technique is found to be very high in comparison with other conventional methods. TGA and DSC results showed that the developed nanofibers exhibit enhanced thermal properties over the untreated fibers.
Manganese (Mn), an essential metal and nutrient, is toxic in excess. Toxicity classically results from inhalational exposures in individuals who work in industrial settings. The first known disease ...of inherited Mn excess, identified in 2012, is caused by mutations in the metal exporter SLC30A10 and is characterized by Mn excess, dystonia, cirrhosis, and polycythemia. To investigate the role of SLC30A10 in Mn homeostasis, we first generated whole-body Slc30a10-deficient mice, which developed severe Mn excess and impaired systemic and biliary Mn excretion. Slc30a10 localized to canalicular membranes of hepatocytes, but mice with liver Slc30a10 deficiency developed minimal Mn excess despite impaired biliary Mn excretion. Slc30a10 also localized to the apical membrane of enterocytes, but mice with Slc30a10 deficiency in small intestines developed minimal Mn excess despite impaired Mn export into the lumen of the small intestines. Finally, mice with Slc30a10 deficiency in liver and small intestines developed Mn excess that was less severe than that observed in mice with whole-body Slc30a10 deficiency, suggesting that additional sites of Slc30a10 expression contribute to Mn homeostasis. Overall, these results indicated that Slc30a10 is essential for Mn excretion by hepatocytes and enterocytes and could be an effective target for pharmacological intervention to treat Mn toxicity.
Redox active electrolyte supercapacitors differ significantly from the conventional electrolytes based storage devices but face a long term stability issue which requires a different approach while ...designing the systems. Here, we show the change in layered double hydroxides (LDHs) systems with rare earth elements (lanthanum) can drastically influence the stability of two dimensional LDH systems in redox electrolyte. We find that the choice of rare earth element (lanthanum) having magnetic properties and higher thermal and chemical stability has a profound effect on the stability of La-Co LDHs electrode in redox electrolyte. The fabricated hybrid device with rare earth based positive electrode and carbon as negative electrode having redox electrolyte leads to long stable high volumetric/gravimetric capacity at high discharge rate, demonstrates the importance of considering the rare earth elements while designing the LDH systems for redox active supercapacitor development.
Nucleation and growth of chemical conversion coating on Mg–4Zn alloy prepared by immersion in saturated NaHCO3 at ambient temperature and its corrosion behaviour in simulated body fluid (SBF) is ...investigated in this paper. Compact dense coating obtained up on 24 h of immersion at ambient temperature is found to provide complete coverage of the surface and a high initial corrosion resistance in SBF. With sustained exposure to SBF, the coating dissolves and slowly cracks to expose the substrate to the corrosion medium. The 24 h coated sample shows high levels of bio mineralisation, with flower shaped crystals of phosphates of Ca and Mg on the surface. The combined effects of slow first hydrogen evolution rate and precipitation of phosphates, and similarities to the carbonate coating developed in vivo makes the conversion coating discussed in this paper a suitable choice for Mg alloys for temporary bio implant applications.
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•Nucleation and growth of nesquehonite layer on Mg–4Zn alloy by 24 h treatment with saturated NaHCO3.•Complete surface coating leads to low H2 evolution of 1.099mlcm−2day−1 in simulated body fluid.•Coated sample shows lower corrosion and better bio mineralisation than bare substrate.•Partially coating leads to larger initial hydrogen evolution than bare substrate.
Nanocellulose was successfully extracted from five different lignocellulosic biomass sources viz. banana rachis, sisal, kapok, pineapple leaf and coir using a combination of chemical treatments such ...as alkaline treatment, bleaching and acid hydrolysis. The shape, size and surface properties of the nanocellulose generally depend on the source and hydrolysis conditions. A comparative study of the fundamental properties of raw material, bleached and nanocellulose was carried out by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, birefringence, X-ray diffraction, inverse gas chromatography and thermogravimetric analysis. Through the characterization of the nanocellulose obtained from different sources, the isolated nanocellulose showed an average diameter in the range of 10–25 nm, high crystallinity, high thermal stability and a great potential to be used with acid coupling agents due to a predominantly basic surface. This work provides an insight into the effective utilization of a variety of plant biomass as a potential source for nanocellulose extraction.
Recent studies from our group and many others have shown the ability of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors for retarding the growth of carcinomas of cervix, colon and rectum in vitro. A search for ...naturally occurring HDAC inhibitors continues due to the adverse effects associated with known HDAC inhibitors like SAHA and TSA. Therefore in the current study, naturally occurring cinnamic acids derivatives were screened for HDAC inhibitory effect using in silico docking method which identified cinnamic acids as potential candidates. Cinnamic acids (CA) are naturally occurring phenolic compounds known to exhibit anticancer properties. However, it is not clearly known whether the anticancer properties of CA derivatives are due to the inhibition of oncogenic HDACs, if so how the efficacy varies among various CA derivatives. Hence, the HDAC inhibitory potential of CA derivatives containing increasing number of hydroxylic groups or methoxy moieties was determined using Discovery Studio software and the most potent CA derivatives tested ex vivo (biochemical assay) as well as in vitro (using cell based assay). Among CA derivatives tested, dihydroxy cinnamic acid (DHCA, commonly known as caffeic acid) exhibited better interactions with HDAC2 (compared to other isoforms) in silico and inhibited its activity ex vivo as well as in vitro. Targeted reduction of HDAC activity using DHCA induced death of cancer cells by (a) generating reactive oxygen species, (b) arresting cells in S and G2/M phases; and (c) induction of caspase-3 mediated apoptosis. In conclusion, we demonstrated that DHCA inhibited cancer cell growth by binding to HDAC followed by the induction of apoptosis.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
► The work suggests a simple and low cost method for the extraction of cellulose from various lignocellulosic fibres and preparation of nanocellulose fibrils from this extracted cellulose. ► ...Mercerization of the fibre will dissolve the non-crystalline particles from the lignocellulosic fibres. ► Steam explosion after mercerization of the fibre causes defibrillation and depolymerisation along with isolation of the crystalline cellulose particles. ► The crystallinity of the fibre increases during each of these processing steps. ► By adopting this process nanocellulose from various lignocellulosic fibres can be easily isolated. ► The prepared nanocellulose fibrils will be a good reinforcement in the polymeric matrices where a large surface area and specific properties of nanotechnology are required.
The objective of this work was to develop a simple process to obtain an aqueous stable colloid suspension of cellulose nano fibrils from various lignocellulosic fibres. For the preliminary analysis we have studied three different fibres: banana (pseudo stem), jute (stem) and pineapple leaf fibre (PALF). To study the feasibility of extracting cellulose from these raw fibres we have adopted steam explosion technique along with mild chemical treatment. These processes included usual chemical procedures such as alkaline extraction, bleaching, and acid hydrolysis but with a very mild concentration of the chemicals. The chemical constituents of the fibre in each processing step were determined by ASTM standard procedures. Morphological, spectroscopic and thermal analyses of the fibres were carried out and found that the isolation of cellulose nanofibres occurs in the final step of the processing stage and they possess improved thermal stability for various advanced nanotechnological applications.
Breast Cancer (BC) is the common type of cancer found in women which is caused due to the abnormal growth of cells in the breast. Over 80% of the BC type detected till date is the invasive ductal ...carcinoma (IDC). In this work, a deep learning-based IDC prediction model is proposed based on the convolutional neural network (CNN). The developed deep learning method used a sequential Keras model like conv2D, Maxpooling2D, Dropout, Flatten and Dense. The proposed model is compared with multiple classifiers like logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), k-nearest neighbor (K-NN), support vector machine (SVM), linear SVM, gaussian naïve bayesian (GNB) and decision tree (DT). The CNN model is generated by using SkLearn, Keras and Tensor flow libraries, and results are organized by MatPlot libraries. After evaluations, the proposed CNN based IDC framework provided 80%–86% of accuracy, 92%–94% of precision, 91%–96% of recall and 94%–96% of F1-score in prediction over the IDC dataset and 91%-94% of accuracy, 91%–95% of precision, 93%–96% of recall and 95%–98% of F1-score over the BreakHis dataset.
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