Shear response of nanoconfined water on muscovite mica: role of cations

By monitoring the thermal noise of a vertically oriented micromechanical force sensor, we detect the viscoelastic response to shear for water in a subnanometer confinement. Measurements in pure water as well as under acidic and high-ionic-strength conditions relate this response to the effect of surface-adsorbed cations, which, because of their hydration, act as pinning centers restricting the mobility of the confined water molecules

Feeling the squeeze: shear viscoelasticity of nanoconfined water

How water molecules confined in nanometer gaps respond to shear: as a viscoelastic solid, viscous fluid or something in between? This important question relevanti in biology, geochemistry, mineralogy, colloidal science and engineering continues to be debated with experimental evidence provided for conflicting point of view. Here we show clear results obtained using innovative technique based on vertically oriented micromechanical force sensors investigating viscoelastic response of water on muscovite mica

Genome-scale analyses of health-promoting bacteria: probiogenomics.

The human body is colonized by an enormous population of bacteria (microbiota) that provides the host with coding capacity and metabolic activities. Among the human gut microbiota are health-promoting indigenous species (probiotic bacteria) that are commonly consumed as live dietary supplements. Recent genomics-based studies (probiogenomics) are starting to provide insights into how probiotic bacteria sense and adapt to the gastrointestinal tract environment. In this Review, we discuss the application of probiogenomics in the elucidation of the molecular basis of probiosis using the well-recognized model probiotic bacteria genera Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus as examples