And did those feet? Getting medieval England “on-message”

This paper aims to gain an understanding of the nature and extent of the practice of “public relations” in history. The paper uses an analysis of popular narratives (in particular rumour, legend and myth) to inform a detailed case study of Glastonbury abbey in the medieval period

Biocompatibility of poly(2-alkyl-2-oxazoline) brush surfaces for adherent lung cell lines

Development of synthetic surfaces that are highly reproducible and biocompatible for in vitro cell culture offers potential for development of improved models for studies of cellular physiology and pathology. They may also be useful in tissue engineering by removal of the need for biologically-derived components such as extracellular matrix proteins. We synthesised four types of 2-alkyl-2-oxazoline polymers ranging from the hydrophilic poly(2- methyl-2-oxazoline) to the hydrophobic poly(2-n-butyl-2-oxazoline). The polymers were terminated using amine-functionalised glass coverslips, enabling the synthetic procedure to be reproducible and scaleable. The polymer-coated glass slides were tested for biocompatibility using human epithelial (16HBE 14o-) and fibroblastic (MRC5) cell lines. Differences in adhesion and motility of the two cell types was observed, with the poly(2- isopropyl-2-oxazoline) polymer equally supporting the growth of both cell types, whereas poly(2-n-butyl-2-oxazoline) showed selectivity for fibroblast growth. In summary, 2-alkyl-2- oxazoline polymers may be a useful tool for building in vitro model cell culture models with preferential adhesion of specific cell types

Gold Nanorods: From Synthesis and Properties to Biological and Biomedical Applications

Noble metal nanoparticles are capable of confining resonant photons in such a manner as to induce coherent surface plasmon oscillation of their conduction band electrons, a phenomenon leading to two important properties. Firstly, the confinement of the photon to the nanoparticle\u27s dimensions leads to a large increase in its electromagnetic field and consequently great enhancement of all the nanoparticle\u27s radiative properties, such as absorption and scattering. Moreover, by confining the photon\u27s wavelength to the nanoparticle\u27s small dimensions, there exists enhanced imaging resolving powers, which extend well below the diffraction limit, a property of considerable importance in potential device applications. Secondly, the strongly absorbed light by the nanoparticles is followed by a rapid dephasing of the coherent electron motion in tandem with an equally rapid energy transfer to the lattice, a process integral to the technologically relevant photothermal properties of plasmonic nanoparticles. Of all the possible nanoparticle shapes, gold nanorods are especially intriguing as they offer strong plasmonic fields while exhibiting excellent tunability and biocompatibility. We begin this review of gold nanorods by summarizing their radiative and nonradiative properties. Their various synthetic methods are then outlined with an emphasis on the seed-mediated chemical growth. In particular, we describe nanorod spontaneous self-assembly, chemically driven assembly, and polymer-based alignment The final section details current studies aimed at applications in the biological and biomedical fields. © 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA