Avrami behavior of magnetite nanoparticles formation in co-precipitation process

In this work, magnetite nanoparticles (mean particle size about 20 nm) were synthesized via coprecipitation method. In order to investigate the kinetics of nanoparticle formation, variation in the amount of reactants within the process was measured using pH-meter and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) instruments. Results show that nanoparticle formation behavior can be described by Avrami equations. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were performed to study the chemical and morphological characterization of nanoparticles. Some simplifying assumptions were employed for estimating the nucleation and growth rate of magnetite nanoparticles

The effect of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles surface engineering on relaxivity of magnetoliposome

The purpose of this work is evaluating the effect of ultra small superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (USPIONs) coatings on encapsulation efficiency in liposomes and cellular cytotoxicity assay. Moreover, we assessed the effects of surface engineering on the relaxivity of magnetoliposome nanoparticles in order to create a targeted reagent for the intelligent diagnosis of cancers by MRI. For estimating the effect of nanoparticle coatings on encapsulation, several kinds of USPIONs coated by dextran, PEG5000 and citrate were used. All kinds of samples are monodispersed and below 100 ± 10 nm and the coatings of USPIONs have no significant effect on magnetoliposome diameter. The coating of USPIONs could have effect on percentage of encapsulation. The dextran coated USPIONs have more stability and quality accordingly the encapsulation increased up to 92, then the magnetoliposome nano particles have been targeted by Herceptin and anti-HER2 VHH, separately. Over storage period of four weeks the resulting particles were stable and physico-chemical properties such as size and zetapotential did not show any significant changes. The relaxivity of contrast agents was measured using a 1.5 T MRI. The r2/r1 ratio was more than two for all samples which demonstrate the negative contrast enhancing of all SPION embedded specimens. The high ratio of r2/r1 as well as high r2 is the best combination of a negative contrast agent as it is obtained for pure magnetite. The value of r2/r1 for all other samples including Herceptin targeted magnetoliposome, anti-HER2 VHH targeted magnetoliposome and non-targeted magnetoliposome were between ~21 to ~28, which show the magnetite embedded samples have enough negative contrast to be detectable by MRI. Therefore the HER2 targeted magnetoliposomes are a good and stable candidate as contrast agents in clinical radiology and biomedical research with minimal cytotoxicity and biocompatibility effects. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

A new approach for calculation of relaxation time and magnetic anisotropy of ferrofluids containing superparmagnetic nanoparticles

In this work, a new approach is described for the calculation of the relaxation time and magnetic anisotropy energy of magnetic nanoparticles. Ferrofluids containing monodispersed magnetite nanoparticles were synthesized via hydrothermal method and then heated using the 10 kA/m external AC magnetic fields in three different frequencies: 10, 50 and 100 kHz. By measuring the temperature variations during the application of the magnetic field, the total magnetic time constant including both Brownian and Neel relaxation times can be calculated. By measuring the magnetic core size and hydrodynamic size of particles, the magnetic anisotropy can be calculated too. Synthesized ferrofluids were characterized via TEM, XRD, VSM and PCS techniques and the results were used for the mentioned calculations

A novel pathway to produce biodegradable and bioactive PLGA/TiO2 nanocomposite scaffolds for tissue engineering: Air�liquid foaming

Poly (lactate-co-glycolate) (PLGA) is a typical biocompatible and biodegradable synthetic polymer. The addition of TiO2 nanoparticles has shown to improve compressive modulus of PLGA scaffolds and reduced fast degradation. A novel method has been applied to fabricate PLGA/TiO2 scaffolds without using any inorganic solvent, with aim of improving the biocompatibility, macroscale morphology, and well inter-connected pores efficacy: Air�Liquid Foaming. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) revealed an increase in interconnected porosity of up to 98. As well the compressive testing showed enhancement in modulus. Bioactivity and in vitro degradation were studied with immersion of scaffolds in Simulated Body Fluid (SBF) and incubation in Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS), respectively. Formation of apatite layer corroborated the bioactivity after soaking in SBF. Degradation rate of scaffolds was increased with excessive addition of TiO2 contents withal. The in vitro cultured human-like MG63 ostoblast cells showed attachment, proliferation, and nontoxcitiy in contact, using MTT assay 3-(4, 5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide. According to the results, the novel method utilized in this study generated porous viable tissue without using any inorganic solvent or porogen can be a promising candidate in further treatment of orthopedic patients effectively. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Los cuentos de García Márquez Análisis Tentativo de sus Significados Simbólicos

García Márquez, a pesar de sus salidas en falso como político, y de sus desplantes frente a quienes coronan sus méritos como escritor sigue siendo impacto en la Literatura y expectativa para el Continen­te por su producción, a partir de "100 Años de Soledad". Sus cuentos son una palestra de entrenamiento para sus grandes obras. Allí muestra de qué es capaz este Blacamán, cuya obra es un prodigio que se renueva en cada creación. Las rosas, símbolo de su concepto estético, imposibles en el desierto salitroso, perfuman y flo- recen con la ironía de su propia belleza. Son esperanza para el Rosal del Virrey o el Promontorio de las Rosas, frente al mar estéril y en una tierra yerma, donde por contraste florecerán las mujeres más hermosas dé la tierra

Mechanical modeling of silk fibroin/TiO2 and silk fibroin/fluoridated TiO2 nanocomposite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

Biocompatible and biodegradable three-dimensional scaffolds are commonly porous which serve to provide suitable microenvironments for mechanical supporting and optimal cell growth. Silk fibroin (SF) is a natural and biomedical polymer with appropriate and improvable mechanical properties. Making a composite with a bioceramicas reinforcement is a general strategy to prepare a scaffold for hard tissue engineering applications. In the present study, SF was separately combined with titanium dioxide (TiO2) and fluoridated titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-F) as bioceramic reinforcements for bone tissue engineering purposes. At the first step, SF was extracted from Bombyx mori cocoons. Then, TiO2 nanoparticles were fluoridated by hydrofluoric acid. Afterward, SF/TiO2 and SF/TiO2-F nanocomposite scaffolds were prepared by freeze-drying method to obtain a porous microstructure. Both SF/TiO2 and SF/TiO2-F scaffolds contained 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 wt nanoparticles. To evaluate the efficacy of nanoparticles addition on the mechanical properties of the prepared scaffolds, their compressive properties were assayed. Likewise, the pores morphology and microstructure of the scaffolds were investigated using scanning electron microscopy. In addition, the porosity and density of the scaffolds were measured according to the Archimedes� principle. Afterward, compressive modulus and microstructure of the prepared scaffolds were evaluated and modeled by Gibson�Ashby�s mechanical models. The results revealed that the compressive modulus predicted by the mechanical model exactly corresponds to the experimental one. The modeling approved the honeycomb structure of the prepared scaffolds which possess interconnected pores. © 2020, Iran Polymer and Petrochemical Institute

Evaluation of Bioactivity and Biocompatibility of Silk Fibroin/TiO2 Nanocomposite

Biodegradable polymer/bioceramic nanocomposites are osteoconductive and can accelerate healing of bone tissue. In this research, silk fibroin (SF)/titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanocomposites were synthesized using different concentrations of TiO2 nanoparticles (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 wt). The SF/TiO2 nanocomposites were studied in terms of bioactivity and biocompatibility. The in vitro assessment of osteoblasts compatibility indicated that SF inclusion rendered nanocomposite biocompatible whereas presence of TiO2 nanoparticles allowed the cells to adhere and grow on nanocomposite surface and enhanced the bioactivity of the composite. © 2017, Taiwanese Society of Biomedical Engineering

Evaluation of Bioactivity and Biocompatibility of Silk Fibroin/TiO2 Nanocomposite

Biodegradable polymer/bioceramic nanocomposites are osteoconductive and can accelerate healing of bone tissue. In this research, silk fibroin (SF)/titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanocomposites were synthesized using different concentrations of TiO2 nanoparticles (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 wt). The SF/TiO2 nanocomposites were studied in terms of bioactivity and biocompatibility. The in vitro assessment of osteoblasts compatibility indicated that SF inclusion rendered nanocomposite biocompatible whereas presence of TiO2 nanoparticles allowed the cells to adhere and grow on nanocomposite surface and enhanced the bioactivity of the composite. © 2017, Taiwanese Society of Biomedical Engineering

Controlled temperature-mediated curcumin release from magneto-thermal nanocarriers to kill bone tumors

Systemic chemotherapy has lost its position to treat cancer over the past years mainly due to drug resistance, side effects, and limited survival ratio. Among a plethora of local drug delivery systems to solve this issue, the combinatorial strategy of chemo-hyperthermia has recently received attention. Herein we developed a magneto-thermal nanocarrier consisted of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) coated by a blend formulation of a three-block copolymer Pluronic F127 and F68 on the oleic acid (OA) in which Curcumin as a natural and chemical anti-cancer agent was loaded. The subsequent nanocarrier SPION@OA-F127/F68-Cur was designed with a controlled gelation temperature of the shell, which could consequently control the release of curcumin. The release was systematically studied as a function of temperature and pH, via response surface methodology (RSM). The bone tumor killing efficacy of the released curcumin from the carrier in combination with the hyperthermia was studied on MG-63 osteosarcoma cells through Alamar blue assay, live-dead staining and apoptosis caspase 3/7 activation kit. It was found that the shrinkage of the F127/F68 layer stimulated by elevated temperature in an alternative magnetic field caused the curcumin release. Although the maximum release concentration and cell death took place at 45 °C, treatment at 41 °C was chosen as the optimum condition due to considerable cell apoptosis and lower side effects of mild hyperthermia. The cell metabolic activity results confirmed the synergistic effects of curcumin and hyperthermia in killing MG-63 osteosarcoma cells