Nano-Aptamer for Breast Cancer Imaging: Initial Considerations.

The application of aptamers especially in the use of drug delivery systems (DDSs) has the potential to develop in vivo nanoparticles for theranosis (therapy+diagnosis). With the advent of medical imaging and radiotherapeutics, this area of research developing the next era of radiopharmaceuticals is both attractive and promising. Overall, nano-radiopharmaceuticals have the potential to solve several problems regarding the in vivo stability of aptamers. This paper discusses a study in the development and proof-of-concept of nano-aptamers and supporting its use as a nano-radiopharmaceutical for the treatment of breast cancer and other potentially related disease states

Towards a consistent mechanism of emulsion polymerization—new experimental details

The application of atypical experimental methods such as conductivity measurements, optical microscopy, and nonstirred polymerizations to investigations of the ‘classical’ batch ab initio emulsion polymerization of styrene revealed astonishing facts. The most important result is the discovery of spontaneous emulsification leading to monomer droplets even in the quiescent styrene in water system. These monomer droplets with a size between a few and some hundreds of nanometers, which are formed by spontaneous emulsification as soon as styrene and water are brought into contact, have a strong influence on the particle nucleation, the particle morphology, and the swelling of the particles. Experimental results confirm that micelles of low-molecular-weight surfactants are not a major locus of particle nucleation. Brownian dynamics simulations show that the capture of matter by the particles strongly depends on the polymer volume fraction and the size of the captured species (primary free radicals, oligomers, single monomer molecules, or clusters)