Magnetic resonance arthrography of the hip: technique and spectrum of findings in younger patients

Magnetic resonance(MR) imaging is the reference imaging technique in the evaluation of hip abnormalities. However, in some pathological conditions—such as lesions of the labrum, cartilaginous lesions, femoroacetabular impingement, intra-articular foreign bodies, or in the pre-operative work-up of developmental dysplasia of the hip—intra-articular injection of a contrast medium is required to obtain a precise diagnosis. This article reviews the technical aspects, contraindications, normal appearance and potential pitfalls of MR arthrography, and illustrates the radiological appearance of commonly encountered conditions

Continuously Adjustable, Molecular-Sieving "Gate" on 5A Zeolite for Distinguishing Small Organic Molecules by Size

Zeolites/molecular sieves with uniform, molecular-sized pores are important for many adsorption-based separation processes. Pore size gaps, however, exist in the current zeolite family. This leads to a great challenge of separating molecules with size differences at ~0.01 nm level. Here, we report a novel concept, pore misalignment, to form a continuously adjustable, molecular-sieving “gate” at the 5A zeolite pore entrance without sacrificing the internal capacity. Misalignment of the micropores of the alumina coating with the 5A zeolite pores was related with and facilely adjusted by the coating thickness. For the first time, organic molecules with sub-0.01 nm size differences were effectively distinguished via appropriate misalignment. This novel concept may have great potential to fill the pore size gaps of the zeolite family and realize size-selective adsorption separation

Breast tumour angiogenesis

The central importance of tumour neovascularization has been emphasized by clinical trials using antiangiogenic therapy in breast cancer. This review gives a background to breast tumour neovascularization in in situ and invasive breast cancer, outlines the mechanisms by which this is achieved and discusses the influence of the microenvironment, focusing on hypoxia. The regulation of angiogenesis and the antivascular agents that are used in an antiangiogenic dosing schedule, both novel and conventional, are also summarized

Functionalizing hydrogen-bonded surface networks with self-assembled monolayers

One of the central challenges in nanotechnology is the development of flexible and efficient methods for creating ordered structures with nanometre precision over an extended length scale. Supramolecular self- assembly on surfaces offers attractive features in this regard: it is a 'bottom- up' approach and thus allows the simple and rapid creation of surface assemblies(1,2), which are readily tuned through the choice of molecular building blocks used and stabilized by hydrogen bonding(3-8), van der Waals interactions(9), pi-pi bonding(10,11) or metal coordination(12,13) between the blocks. Assemblies in the form of two- dimensional open networks(3,9,10,13-17) are of particular interest for possible applications because well- defined pores can be used for the precise localization and confinement of guest entities such as molecules or clusters, which can add functionality to the supramolecular network. Another widely used method for producing surface structures involves self- assembled monolayers (SAMs)(18), which have introduced unprecedented flexibility in our ability to tailor interfaces and generate patterned surfaces(19-22). But SAMs are part of a top-down technology that is limited in terms of the spatial resolution that can be achieved. We therefore rationalized that a particularly powerful fabrication platform might be realized by combining non- covalent self- assembly of porous networks and SAMs, with the former providing nanometre- scale precision and the latter allowing versatile functionalization. Here we show that the two strategies can indeed be combined to create integrated network SAM hybrid systems that are sufficiently robust for further processing. We show that the supramolecular network and the SAM can both be deposited from solution, which should enable the widespread and flexible use of this combined fabrication method.</p