Ferromagnetism without flat bands in thin armchair nanoribbons

Describing by a Hubbard type of model a thin armchair graphene ribbon in the armchair hexagon chain limit, one shows in exact terms, that even if the system does not have flat bands at all, at low concentration a mesoscopic sample can have ferromagnetic ground state, being metallic in the same time. The mechanism is connected to a common effect of correlations and confinement.Comment: 37 pages, 12 figures, in press at Eur. Phys. Jour.

A history of post-communist remembrance: from memory politics to the emergence of a field of anticommunism

This article invites the view that the Europeanization of an antitotalitarian “collective memory” of communism reveals the emergence of a field of anticommunism. This transnational field is inextricably tied to the proliferation of state-sponsored and anticommunist memory institutes across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), but cannot be treated as epiphenomenal to their propagation. The diffusion of bodies tasked with establishing the “true” history of communism reflects, first and foremost, a shift in the region’s approach to its past, one driven by the right’s frustration over an allegedly pervasive influence of former communist cliques. Memory institutes spread as the CEE right progressively perceives their emphasis on research and public education as a safer alternative to botched lustration processes. However, the field of anticommunism extends beyond diffusion by seeking to leverage the European Union institutional apparatus to generate previously unavailable forms of symbolic capital for anticommunist narratives. This results in an entirely different challenge, which requires reconciling of disparate ideological and national interests. In this article, I illustrate some of these nationally diverse, but internationally converging, trajectories of communist extrication from the vantage point of its main exponents: the anticommunist memory entrepreneurs, who are invariably found at the helm of memory institutes. Inhabiting the space around the political, historiographic, and Eurocratic fields, anticommunist entrepreneurs weave a complex web of alliances that ultimately help produce an autonomous field of anticommunism

Silica@zirconia@poly(malic acid) nanoparticles: promising nanocarriers for theranostic applications

Silica@zirconia@poly(malic acid) nanocarriers of 130 nm mean diameter were designed, synthesized and characterized for the targeted delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic 99mTc isotope to folate-overexpressing tumors. An important achievement was that a multifunctional L-(−)-malic-acid-based copolymer was formed in situ at the surface of the inorganic cores in a single synthetic step incorporating L-(-)-malic acid, β-cyclodextrin rings, folic acid moieties, and polyethylene glycol chains. Morphological and in-depth structural analysis of the particles proved their core@shell structure. Stability experiments in aqueous media evidenced that stable suspensions can be obtained from the lyophilized powder in 10 mM phosphate buffer at pH 7.4. During 14-day degradation experiments, the nanoparticles were found to be slowly dissolving (including inorganic core) in saline and also in total cell medium. In vitro toxicity assay on hepatocytes showed a concentration-dependent decrease of cell viability down to 63±1% at the highest applied concentration (0.5 mg/ml). Proof of concept experiments of technetium-99m radiolabelling and in vivo labelling stability are presented

Boosting bismuth(III) complexation for targeted α-therapy (TAT) applications with the mesocyclic chelating agent AAZTA

Targeted α therapy (TAT) is a promising tool in the therapy of cancer. The radionuclide 213 BiIII shows favourable physical properties for this application, but the fast and stable chelation of this metal ion remains challenging. Herein, we demonstrate that the mesocyclic chelator AAZTA quickly coordinates BiIII at room temperature, leading to a robust complex. A comprehensive study of the structural, thermodynamic and kinetic properties of [Bi(AAZTA)]- is reported, along with bifunctional [Bi(AAZTA-C4-COO- )]2- and the targeted agent [Bi(AAZTA-C4-TATE)]- , which incorporates the SSR agonist Tyr3 -octreotate. An unexpected increase in the stability and kinetic inertness of the metal chelate was observed for the bifunctional derivative and was maintained for the peptide conjugate. A cyclotron-produced 205/206 Bi mixture was used as a model of 213 Bi in labelling, stability, and biodistribution experiments, allowing the efficiency of [213 Bi(AAZTA-C4-TATE)]- to be estimated. High accumulation in AR42J tumours and reduced kidney uptake were observed with respect to the macrocyclic chelate [213 Bi(DOTA-TATE)]-