Search results for "ARTICLES"

The Influence of Nanoparticle Shape on Protein Corona Formation

2020

Nanoparticles have become an important utility in many areas of medical treatment such as targeted drug and treatment delivery as well as imaging and diagnostics. These advances require a complete understanding of nanoparticles' fate once placed in the body. Upon exposure to blood, proteins adsorb onto the nanoparticles surface and form a protein corona, which determines the particles' biological fate. This study reports on the protein corona formation from blood serum and plasma on spherical and rod‐shaped nanoparticles. These two types of mesoporous silica nanoparticles have identical chemistry, porosity, surface potential, and size in the y ‐dimension, one being a sphere and the other a …

Action-oriented knowledge for sustainable management of organic soils in Finnish agriculture

2023

Agriculture is a contributing force to climate change due to unsustainable changes in land use with the usage of peatlands for food production in Finland. The use of organic soils in food production is a complex and politically driven issue, thus multistakeholder and participatory approaches to policy development, implementation and evaluation are essential. This study is integrating qualitative and quantitative methods in an iterative process to produce action-oriented knowledge for supporting actions to sustainably manage peatlands and reduce the enormous greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural peatlands. This study has engaged inter-disciplinary researchers and transdisciplinary actor…

Beta-decay studies for applied and basic nuclear physics

2020

In this review we will present the results of recent beta-decay studies using the total absorption technique that cover topics of interest for applications, nuclear structure and astrophysics. The decays studied were selected primarily because they have a large impact on the prediction of a) the decay heat in reactors, important for the safety of present and future reactors and b) the reactor electron antineutrino spectrum, of interest for particle/nuclear physics and reactor monitoring. For these studies the total absorption technique was chosen, since it is the only method that allows one to obtain beta decay probabilities free from a systematic error called the Pandemonium effect. The me…

Harnessing Molecular Fluorophores in the Carbon Dots Matrix: The Case of Safranin O

2022

The origin of fluorescence in carbon dots (C-dots) is still a puzzling phenomenon. The emission is, in most of the cases, due to molecular fluorophores formed in situ during the synthesis. The carbonization during C-dots processing does not allow, however, a fine control of the properties and makes finding the source of the fluorescence a challenging task. In this work, we present a strategy to embed a pre-formed fluorescent molecule, safranin O dye, into an amorphous carbonaceous dot obtained by citric acid carbonization. The dye is introduced in the melted solution of citric acid and after pyrolysis remains incorporated in a carbonaceous matrix to form red-emitting C-dots that are strongl…

Common variants at VRK2 and TCF4 conferring risk of schizophrenia

2011

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field. Common sequence variants have recently joined rare structural polymorphisms as genetic factors with strong evidence for association with schizophrenia. Here we extend our previous genome-wide association study and meta-analysis (totalling 7 946 cases and 19 036 controls) by examining an expanded set of variants using an enlarged follow-up sample (up to 10 260 cases and 23 500 controls). In addition to previously reported alleles in the major histocompatibility complex region, near neurogranin (NRGN) and in an intron of transcription factor 4 (TCF4), we find two novel variants show…

Design and Characterization of Effective Ag, Pt and AgPt Nanoparticles to H₂O₂ Electrosensing from Scrapped Printed Electrodes.

2019

The use of disposable screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) has extraordinarily grown in the last years. In this paper, conductive inks from scrapped SPEs were removed by acid leaching, providing high value feedstocks suitable for the electrochemical deposition of Ag, Pt and Ag core-Pt shell-like bimetallic (AgPt) nanoparticles, onto screen-printed carbon electrodes (ML@SPCEs, M = Ag, Pt or AgPt, L = metal nanoparticles from leaching solutions). ML@SPCEs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results were compared to those obtained when metal nanoparticles were synthesised using standard solutions of metal salts (MS@…

Toxicity of silver nanoparticles to Lumbriculus variegatus is a function of dissolved silver and promoted by low sediment pH

2018

Toxicity of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to benthic organisms is a major concern. The use of AgNPs in industry and consumer products leads to increasing release of AgNPs into the aquatic environment—sediments being the major sink. Effects of sediment pH on the toxicity of AgNPs to benthic oligochaeta Lumbriculus variegatus were studied in a 23‐d toxicity test. Artificially prepared sediments (pH 5 and 7) were spiked with varying concentrations of uncoated AgNP, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)‐coated AgNP, and silver nitrate (AgNO3) as dissolved Ag reference. Number of individuals and biomass change were used as endpoints for the toxicity. The toxic effects were related to the bioaccessible conce…

New hydroxyapatite- and selenium-based nanoformulations as potential antimicrobial tools for orthopedic implants

Contribution of Molecular Structure to Self-Assembling and Biological Properties of Bifunctional Lipid-Like 4-(

2019

The design of nanoparticle delivery materials possessing biological activities is an attractive strategy for the development of various therapies. In this study, 11 cationic amphiphilic 4-(N-alkylpyridinium)-1,4-dihydropyridine (1,4-DHP) derivatives differing in alkyl chain length and propargyl moiety/ties number and position were selected for the study of their self-assembling properties, evaluation of their cytotoxicity in vitro and toxicity on microorganisms, and the characterisation of their interaction with phospholipids. These lipid-like 1,4-DHPs have been earlier proposed as promising nanocarriers for DNA delivery. We have revealed that the mean diameter of freshly prepared nanoparti…

Sequential infection can decrease virulence in a fish-bacterium-fluke interaction: Implications for aquaculture disease management.

2018

Abstract Hosts are typically infected with multiple strains or genotypes of one or several parasite species. These infections can take place simultaneously, but also at different times, i.e. sequentially, when one of the parasites establishes first. Sequential parasite dynamics are common in nature, but also in intensive farming units such as aquaculture. However, knowledge of effects of previous exposures on virulence of current infections in intensive farming is very limited. This is critical as consecutive epidemics and infection history of a host could underlie failures in management practices and medical intervention of diseases. Here, we explored effects of timing of multiple infectio…