Interactions between sub-10 nm iron and cerium oxide nanoparticles and 3T3 fibroblasts : the role of the coating and aggregation state

Recent nanotoxicity studies revealed that the physico-chemical characteristics of engineered nanomaterials play an important role in the interactions with living cells. Here, we report on the toxicity and uptake of the cerium and iron oxide sub-10 nm nanoparticles by NIH/3T3 mouse fibroblasts. Coating strategies include low-molecular weight ligands (citric acid) and polymers (poly(acrylic acid), MW = 2000 g mol-1). Electrostatically adsorbed on the surfaces, the organic moieties provide a negatively charged coating in physiological conditions. We find that most particles were biocompatible, as exposed cells remained 100% viable relative to controls. Only the bare and the citrate-coated nanoceria exhibit a slight decrease of the mitochondrial activity for cerium concentrations above 5 mM (equivalent to 0.8 g L-1). We also observe that the citrate-coated particles are internalized by the cells in large amounts, typically 250 pg per cell after a 24 h incubation for iron oxide. In contrast, the polymer-coated particles are taken up at much lower rates (< 30 pg per cell). The strong uptake shown by the citrate-coated particles is related to the destabilization of the dispersions in the cell culture medium and their sedimentation down to the cell membranes. In conclusion, we show that the uptake of nanomaterials by living cells depends on the coating of the particles and on its ability to preserve the colloidal nature of the dispersions.Comment: 9 figures, 2 table

Experimental Models of Liquid Biopsy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Reveal Clone-Dependent Release of Circulating Tumor DNA.

Liquid biopsy, the molecular analysis of tumor components released into the bloodstream, has emerged as a noninvasive and resourceful means to access genomic information from cancers. Most data derived from translational studies showcase its numerous potential clinical applications. However, data from experimental models are scarce, and little is known about the underlying mechanisms and factors controlling the release of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and cells (CTCs). This study aimed to model liquid biopsy in hepatocellular carcinoma xenografts and to study the dynamics of release of ctDNA and CTCs; this included models of intratumoral heterogeneity (ITH) and metastatic disease. We quantified ctDNA by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting human long interspersed nuclear element group 1; targeted mutation analysis was performed with digital droplet PCR. CTCs were traced by flow cytometry. Results demonstrated the feasibility of detecting ctDNA, including clone-specific mutations, as well as CTCs in blood samples of mice. In addition, the concentration of ctDNA and presence of tumor-specific mutations reflected tumor progression, and detection of CTCs was associated with metastases. Our ITH model suggested differences in the release of DNA fragments impacted by the cell-clone origin and the treatment. Conclusion: These data present new models to study liquid biopsy and its underlying mechanisms and highlighted a clone-dependent release of ctDNA into the bloodstream

The Hilbertian Tensor Norm and Entangled Two-Prover Games

We study tensor norms over Banach spaces and their relations to quantum information theory, in particular their connection with two-prover games. We consider a version of the Hilbertian tensor norm $\gamma_2$ and its dual $\gamma_2^*$ that allow us to consider games with arbitrary output alphabet sizes. We establish direct-product theorems and prove a generalized Grothendieck inequality for these tensor norms. Furthermore, we investigate the connection between the Hilbertian tensor norm and the set of quantum probability distributions, and show two applications to quantum information theory: firstly, we give an alternative proof of the perfect parallel repetition theorem for entangled XOR games; and secondly, we prove a new upper bound on the ratio between the entangled and the classical value of two-prover games.Comment: 33 pages, some of the results have been obtained independently in arXiv:1007.3043v2, v2: an error in Theorem 4 has been corrected; Section 6 rewritten, v3: completely rewritten in order to improve readability; title changed; references added; published versio

The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) of Three Spectrometers for the ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter

The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) package is an element of the Russian contribution to the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mission. ACS consists of three separate infrared spectrometers, sharing common mechanical, electrical, and thermal interfaces. This ensemble of spectrometers has been designed and developed in response to the Trace Gas Orbiter mission objectives that specifically address the requirement of high sensitivity instruments to enable the unambiguous detection of trace gases of potential geophysical or biological interest. For this reason, ACS embarks a set of instruments achieving simultaneously very high accuracy (ppt level), very high resolving power (>10,000) and large spectral coverage (0.7 to 17 μm—the visible to thermal infrared range). The near-infrared (NIR) channel is a versatile spectrometer covering the 0.7–1.6 μm spectral range with a resolving power of ∼20,000. NIR employs the combination of an echelle grating with an AOTF (Acousto-Optical Tunable Filter) as diffraction order selector. This channel will be mainly operated in solar occultation and nadir, and can also perform limb observations. The scientific goals of NIR are the measurements of water vapor, aerosols, and dayside or night side airglows. The mid-infrared (MIR) channel is a cross-dispersion echelle instrument dedicated to solar occultation measurements in the 2.2–4.4 μm range. MIR achieves a resolving power of >50,000. It has been designed to accomplish the most sensitive measurements ever of the trace gases present in the Martian atmosphere. The thermal-infrared channel (TIRVIM) is a 2-inch double pendulum Fourier-transform spectrometer encompassing the spectral range of 1.7–17 μm with apodized resolution varying from 0.2 to 1.3 cm−1. TIRVIM is primarily dedicated to profiling temperature from the surface up to ∼60 km and to monitor aerosol abundance in nadir. TIRVIM also has a limb and solar occultation capability. The technical concept of the instrument, its accommodation on the spacecraft, the optical designs as well as some of the calibrations, and the expected performances for its three channels are described

Investigation of dosimetry in four human head models for planar monopole antenna with a coupling feed for LTE/WWAN/WLAN internal mobile phone

The objective of the present study is to evaluate the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) within the human head model exposed to the radiation of planar monopole antenna with T-shaped coupling feed and an inductive shorting strip. The presented design has a compact structure, a planar configuration and occupying a small size of 36×20mm2. Two wide bands can be generated by the proposed antenna 546 MHz (734-1280 MHz) and 1066 MHz (1934-3000 MHz) for the LTE/WWAN/WLAN internal mobile phone. The antenna performance parameters comprising return loss, radiation patterns, and gain are discussed. In this research work four different human head models have been implemented: homogenous spherical head, spherical seven layer model, Specific Anthropomorphic Mannequin (SAM) phantom and HUGO human head model. On the other hand the effects of operating frequency and gap distance between the mobile phone antenna and the human head model on distributions of the SAR inside the human head are investigated. All the simulations are done for three different distances between the antenna and the head model (5 mm, 10 mm and 20 mm). Moreover, the SAR levels for the head tissues are calculated in accordance to the two currently accepted standards: Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP)

Publisher Correction: Hydro-climatic changes of wetlandscapes across the world (Scientific Reports, (2021), 11, 1, (2754), 10.1038/s41598-021-81137-3)

In the original version of this Article, V. H. Rivera-Monroy was incorrectly affiliated with ‘Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute, Calle 28 A No. 15-09, Bogotá, DC, 70803, Colombia’. The correct affiliation is listed below. Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, College of the Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA As a result, Affiliations 22–27 were incorrectly listed as Affiliations 21–26 respectively. The original Article has been corrected

Hydro-climatic changes of wetlandscapes across the world

Assessments of ecosystem service and function losses of wetlandscapes (i.e., wetlands and their hydrological catchments) suffer from knowledge gaps regarding impacts of ongoing hydro-climatic change. This study investigates hydro-climatic changes during 1976–2015 in 25 wetlandscapes distributed across the world’s tropical, arid, temperate and cold climate zones. Results show that the wetlandscapes were subject to precipitation (P) and temperature (T) changes consistent with mean changes over the world’s land area. However, arid and cold wetlandscapes experienced higher T increases than their respective climate zone. Also, average P decreased in arid and cold wetlandscapes, contrarily to P of arid and cold climate zones, suggesting that these wetlandscapes are located in regions of elevated climate pressures. For most wetlandscapes with available runoff (R) data, the decreases were larger in R than in P, which was attributed to aggravation of climate change impacts by enhanced evapotranspiration losses, e.g. caused by land-use changes

The T2K Side Muon Range Detector

The T2K experiment is a long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment aiming to observe the appearance of {\nu} e in a {\nu}{\mu} beam. The {\nu}{\mu} beam is produced at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), observed with the 295 km distant Super- Kamiokande Detector and monitored by a suite of near detectors at 280m from the proton target. The near detectors include a magnetized off-axis detector (ND280) which measures the un-oscillated neutrino flux and neutrino cross sections. The present paper describes the outermost component of ND280 which is a side muon range detector (SMRD) composed of scintillation counters with embedded wavelength shifting fibers and Multi-Pixel Photon Counter read-out. The components, performance and response of the SMRD are presented.Comment: 13 pages, 19 figures v2: fixed several typos; fixed reference