Tumour cell labelling by magnetic nanoparticles with determination of intracellular iron content and spatial distribution of the intracellular iron

Abstract: Magnetically labelled cells are used for in vivo cell tracking by MRI, used for the clinical translation of cell-base therapies. Studies involving magnetic labelled cells may include separation of labelled cells, targeted delivery and controlled release of drugs, contrast enhanced MRI and magnetic hyperthermia for the in situ ablation of tumours. Dextran-coated super-paramagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) ferumoxides are used clinically as an MR contrast agents primarily for hepatic imaging. The material is also widely used for in vitro cell labelling, as are other SPIO-based particles. Our results on the uptake by human cancer cell lines of ferumoxides indicate that electroporation in the presence of protamine sulphate (PS) results in rapid high uptake of SPIO nanoparticles (SPIONs) by parenchymal tumour cells without significant impairment of cell viability. Quantitative determination of cellular iron uptake performed by colorimetric assay is in agreement with data from the literature. These results on intracellular iron content together with the intracellular distribution of SPIONs by magnetic force microscopy (MFM) following in vitro uptake by parenchymal tumour cells confirm the potential of this technique for clinical tumour cell detection and destruction

Imaging the symmetry breaking of molecular orbitals in carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes have attracted considerable interest for their unique electronic properties. They are fascinating candidates for fundamental studies of one dimensional materials as well as for future molecular electronics applications. The molecular orbitals of nanotubes are of particular importance as they govern the transport properties and the chemical reactivity of the system. Here we show for the first time a complete experimental investigation of molecular orbitals of single wall carbon nanotubes using atomically resolved scanning tunneling spectroscopy. Local conductance measurements show spectacular carbon-carbon bond asymmetry at the Van Hove singularities for both semiconducting and metallic tubes, demonstrating the symmetry breaking of molecular orbitals in nanotubes. Whatever the tube, only two types of complementary orbitals are alternatively observed. An analytical tight-binding model describing the interference patterns of ? orbitals confirmed by ab initio calculations, perfectly reproduces the experimental results

Area topology for road extraction and topographic data validation

CISRG discussion paper ; 1

Tectonic denudation and topographic development in the Spanish Sierra Nevada

The denudation history of the rapidly uplifting western part of the Spanish Sierra Nevada was assessed using apatite fission track (AFT) ages and 10Be analyses of bedrock and fluvial sediments. Major contrasts in the denudation history are recorded within the 27 km2 Río Torrente catchment. Upland areas are characterized by low-relief, low slope angles, and locally the preservation of shallow marine sediments, which have experienced <200 m of erosion in the last 9 Myr. However, AFT age determinations from samples collected close to the marine sediments imply >2 km of denudation since circa 4 Ma. The minimum denudation rates of 0.4 mm yr−1 derived from AFT also contrast with the slow medium-term (104 years) erosion rates (0.044 ± 0.015 mm yr−1) estimated from 10Be measurements at high elevations. The local medium-long-term contrasts in denudation rates within the high Sierra Nevada indicate that much of the unroofing occurs by tectonic denudation on flat-lying detachments. In lower elevation parts of the catchment, rapid river incision coupled to rock uplift has produced ∼1.6 km of relief, implying that the rivers and adjacent hillslopes close to the edge of the orogen are sensitive to normal-fault-driven changes in base level. However, these changes are not transmitted into the low-relief slowly eroding upland areas. Thus the core of the mountain range continues to increase in elevation until the limits of crustal strength are reached and denudation is initiated along planes of structural weakness. We propose that this form of tectonic denudation provides an effective limit to relief in young orogens

Spatially resolved electronic structure of an isovalent nitrogen center in GaAs

Small numbers of nitrogen dopants dramatically modify the electronic properties of GaAs, generating very large shifts in the conduction-band energies with nonlinear concentration dependence, and impurity-associated spatially-localized resonant states within the conduction band. Cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy provides the local electronic structure of single nitrogen dopants at the (110) GaAs surface, yielding highly anisotropic spatial shapes when the empty states are imaged. Measurements of the resonant states relative to the GaAs surface states and their spatial extent allow an unambiguous assignment of specific features to nitrogen atoms at different depths below the cleaved (110) surface. Multiband tight binding calculations around the resonance energy of nitrogen in the conduction band match the imaged features. The spatial anisotropy is attributed to the tetrahedral symmetry of the bulk lattice. Additionally, the voltage dependence of the electronic contrast for two features in the filled state imaging suggest these features could be related to a locally modified surface state

Automated analysis of radar imagery of Venus: handling lack of ground truth

Lack of verifiable ground truth is a common problem in remote sensing image analysis. For example, consider the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image data of Venus obtained by the Magellan spacecraft. Planetary scientists are interested in automatically cataloging the locations of all the small volcanoes in this data set; however, the problem is very difficult and cannot be performed with perfect reliability even by human experts. Thus, training and evaluating the performance of an automatic algorithm on this data set must be handled carefully. We discuss the use of weighted free-response receiver-operating characteristics (wFROCs) for evaluating detection performance when the “ground truth” is subjective. In particular, we evaluate the relative detection performance of humans and automatic algorithms. Our experimental results indicate that proper assessment of the uncertainty in “ground truth” is essential in applications of this nature

STM Spectroscopy of ultra-flat graphene on hexagonal boron nitride

Graphene has demonstrated great promise for future electronics technology as well as fundamental physics applications because of its linear energy-momentum dispersion relations which cross at the Dirac point. However, accessing the physics of the low density region at the Dirac point has been difficult because of the presence of disorder which leaves the graphene with local microscopic electron and hole puddles, resulting in a finite density of carriers even at the charge neutrality point. Efforts have been made to reduce the disorder by suspending graphene, leading to fabrication challenges and delicate devices which make local spectroscopic measurements difficult. Recently, it has been shown that placing graphene on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) yields improved device performance. In this letter, we use scanning tunneling microscopy to show that graphene conforms to hBN, as evidenced by the presence of Moire patterns in the topographic images. However, contrary to recent predictions, this conformation does not lead to a sizable band gap due to the misalignment of the lattices. Moreover, local spectroscopy measurements demonstrate that the electron-hole charge fluctuations are reduced by two orders of magnitude as compared to those on silicon oxide. This leads to charge fluctuations which are as small as in suspended graphene, opening up Dirac point physics to more diverse experiments than are possible on freestanding devices.Comment: Nature Materials advance online publication 13/02/201

Effects of drainage ditches and stone bunds on topographical thresholds for gully head development in North Ethiopia

Gully erosion is an extreme process of land degradation operating in different regions of the world. A common way to quantify the susceptibility of land to gully incision is the use of topographical thresholds for different land use types. However, the impact of various management practices in cropland on these thresholds has not been studied to date, although land management may significantly affect runoff production, erosion processes and rates. Here, the impact of different land management practices on gully head development in cropland is studied based on a standardized procedure for topographical threshold analysis: s > kA− b, where s represents the slope gradient of the soil surface, A the drainage area at the gully head, b an exponent and k a coefficient reflecting the resistance of the land to gully head development. A case study area was chosen around Wanzaye, North Ethiopia, where three different cropland management practices were studied in 75 catchments: (i) the catchment-wide use of stone bunds on the contour, (ii) the use of slightly sloping drainage ditches (feses), and (iii) the combined use of stone bunds and feses. The lowest k-values (0.078–0.090) are found for catchments treated with feses, the highest k-values (0.198–0.205) are observed for stone bund catchments, and medium k-values (0.092–0.099) are found for mixed catchments. This finding implies that catchments with the exclusive use of drainage ditches are the most vulnerable to gully head development compared with mixed catchments and stone bund catchments. However, on-site sheet and rill erosion rates are reduced by feses as they lower the gradient of the overland flow lines. Three trends in cropland management around Wanzaye and the wider region are observed: (i) feses are exclusively made on rather steep slopes where small drainage areas lead to the rapid development of gully heads; (ii) stone bunds are constructed on both steeper and gentle sloping cropland; and (iii) larger and gently sloping catchments seem to be most suitable for the combined use of drainage ditches and stone bunds