Search results for "SILK"
showing 10 items of 47 documents
Adhesion enhancement of cribellate capture threads by epicuticular waxes of the insect prey sheds new light on spider web evolution
2017
To survive, web-building spiders rely on their capture threads to restrain prey. Many species use special adhesives for this task, and again the majority of those species cover their threads with viscoelastic glue droplets. Cribellate spiders, by contrast, use a wool of nanofibres as adhesive. Previous studies hypothesized that prey is restrained by van der Waals' forces and entrapment in the nanofibres. A large discrepancy when comparing the adhesive force on artificial surfaces versus prey implied that the real mechanism was still elusive. We observed that insect prey's epicuticular waxes infiltrate the wool of nanofibres, probably induced by capillary forces. The fibre-reinforced composi…
RNA interference in Lepidoptera: an overview of successful and unsuccessful studies and implications for experimental design.
2011
International audience; Gene silencing through RNA interference (RNAi) has revolutionized the study of gene function, particularly in non-model insects. However, in Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) RNAi has many times proven to be difficult to achieve. Most of the negative results have been anecdotal and the positive experiments have not been collected in such a way that they are possible to analyze. In this review, we have collected detailed data from more than 150 experiments including all to date published and many unpublished experiments. Despite a large variation in the data, trends that are found are that RNAi is particularly successful in the family Saturniidae and in genes involv…
Water Structure in Proteins in Solid State Studied by Near Infrared Spectroscopy
2017
Water adsorption in proteins is the crucial process of protein folding and structure stabilizing. Adsorption of water on proteins can be evaluated by near-infrared spectroscopy, a useful technique for observing combination frequency of a water molecule. In this work, albumin, lysozyme, and silk, were used as models for α-helix and β-pleated sheet proteins. Their NIR spectra during water adsorption process were measured by using an NIR spectrometer equipped with a transflectance accessory. Moreover, the quantitative adsorption of water was determined by gravimetric technique. The results indicate that, there are five different NIR absorptions arise from the OH combination frequencies of wate…
Production performance and economic traits of silkworms (Bombyx mori L., 1758) fed with mulberry tree leaves (Morus alba, var. Ichinose) significantl…
2019
Abstract Production performance of silkworm (Bombyx mori L., 1758) play a pivotal role in sericulture industry and good quality cocoon represents the economic driver of farms. Silkworms are monophagus insects and differences between cocoon characteristics may depend both on mulberry tree leaves quality as well as on genetic selection of hybrid lines. While a huge work was carried out to identify the best feeding sources to optimize yields, genetic types of silkworms with desirable production and economic traits were studied to a limited extent to date. This experimental feeding trial was carried out using a commercial variety of mulberry tree leaves (Morus alba var. Ichinose) to feed a tota…
A new twist on sea silk : the peculiar protein ultrastructure of fan shell and pearl oyster byssus
2018
11 pages; International audience; Numerous mussel species produce byssal threads - tough proteinaceous fibers, which anchor mussels in aquatic habitats. Byssal threads from Mytilus species, which are comprised of modified collagen proteins - have become a veritable archetype for bio-inspired polymers due to their self-healing properties. However, threads from different species are comparatively much less understood. In particular, the byssus of Pinna nobilis comprises thousands of fine fibers utilized by humans for millennia to fashion lightweight golden fabrics known as sea silk. P. nobilis is very different from Mytilus from an ecological, morphological and evolutionary point of view and …
Kildare rebellion (1534-1535) in the Annals of the Four Masters
2020
Abstract One of the most important Irish historical sources, which are the Annals of the Four Masters, written in the modern period, provide us with unusually valuable information about the history of the Emerald Island. In addition to data from the ancient or medieval periods, it also contains material from the difficult 16th and 17th centuries for Ireland, when it came under the yoke of English Protestants, who were initially represented by the Tudors and then by the Stuart dynasty. The Annals of the Four Masters also witnesses the resistance of the Irish, both those from Hiberno Normans and Gaelic Irish, to the demands of new authorities, including the rejection of Catholicism and total …
Occurrence of silk stitch abscess after surgery in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma
2012
Objectives: To elucidate the predisposing factors and clinical characteristics related to the occurrence of stitch abscess after surgery in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Patients and Methods: The subjects were 232 patients who underwent excision and/or reconstruction and/or neck dissection for oral SCC using silk sutures for high ligation of the blood vessels. Detection rates and characteristics of patients with stitch abscess were retrospectively evaluated by comparing patients with and without stitch abscesses after surgery diagnosed by ultrasonography and findings of various modalities in 232 patients. Several echogenic dots with subtle acoustic shadows in a hypoechoi…
Towards the Preservation and Dissemination of Historical Silk Weaving Techniques in the Digital Era
2019
Historical weaving techniques have evolved in time and space giving as result more or less fabrics with different aesthetical characteristics. These techniques were transferred along the main silk production centers, thanks to the European Silk Road and creating a common European Frame on themes and techniques. These had made it complicated to determine whether a fabric corresponds to one century or another. Moreover, in order to understand their creation, it is necessary to determine the number of weaves and interlacements that each textile has, therefore, mathematical models can be extracted from these layers. In this sense, three dimensional (3D) virtual representations of the internal s…
From Historical Silk Fabrics to Their Interactive Virtual Representation and 3D Printing
2020
The documentation, dissemination, and enhancement of Cultural Heritage is of great relevance. To that end, technological tools and interactive solutions (e.g., 3D models) have become increasingly popular. Historical silk fabrics are nearly flat objects, very fragile and with complex internal geometries, related to different weaving techniques and types of yarns. These characteristics make it difficult to properly document them, at the yarn level, with current technologies. In this paper, we bring a new methodology to virtually represent such heritage and produce 3D printouts, also making it highly interactive through the tool Virtual Loom. Our work involves sustainability from different per…
Growth of human cells on a non-woven silk fibroin net: a potential for use in tissue engineering.
2003
We have examined a novel biomaterial consisting of a non-woven fibroin net produced from silk (Bombyx mori) cocoons for its ability to support the growth of human cells. Various human cells of different tissue and cell types (endothelial, epithelial, fibroblast, glial, keratinocyte, osteoblast) were examined for adherence and growth on the nets by confocal laser microscopy after staining of the cells with calcein-AM and by electron microscopy. All the cells readily adhered and spread over the individual fibers of the nets. Most of the cells were able to grow and survive on the nets for at least 7 weeks and growth not only covered the individual fibers of the net but generally bridged the ga…