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Now showing 1 - 10 of 53
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    Quantification of osseointegration of plasma-polymer coated titanium alloyed implants by means of microcomputed tomography versus histomorphometry
    (New York [u.a.] : Hindawi, 2015) Gabler, Carolin; Zietz, Carmen; Bieck, Richard; Göhler, Rebecca; Lindner, Tobias; Haenle, Maximilian; Finke, Birgit; Meichsner, Jürgen; Testrich, Holger; Nowottnick, Mathias; Frerich, Bernhard; Bader, Rainer
    A common method to derive both qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate osseointegration of implants is histomorphometry. The present study describes a new image reconstruction algorithm comparing the results of bone-to-implant contact (BIC) evaluated by means of µCT with histomorphometry data. Custom-made conical titanium alloyed (Ti6Al4V) implants were inserted in the distal tibial bone of female Sprague-Dawley rats. Different surface configurations were examined: Ti6Al4V implants with plasma-polymerized allylamine (PPAAm) coating and plasma-polymerized ethylenediamine (PPEDA) coating as well as implants without surface coating. After six weeks postoperatively, tibiae were explanted and BIC was determined by µCT (3D) and afterwards by histomorphometry (2D). In comparison to uncoated Ti6Al4V implants demonstrating low BIC of 32.4% (histomorphometry) and 51.3% (µCT), PPAAm and PPEDA coated implants showed a nonsignificant increase in BIC (histomorphometry: 45.7% and 53.5% and µCT: 51.8% and 62.0%, resp.). Mean BIC calculated by µCT was higher for all surface configurations compared to BIC detected by histomorphometry. Overall, a high correlation coefficient of 0.70 () was found between 3D and 2D quantification of BIC. The μCT analysis seems to be suitable as a nondestructive and accurate 3D imaging method for the evaluation of the bone-implant interface.
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    Artificial micro-cinderella based on self-propelled micromagnets for the active separation of paramagnetic particles
    (Cambridge : RSC, 2013) Zhao, G.; Wang, H.; Sanchez, S.; Schmidt, O.G.; Pumera, M.
    In this work, we will show that ferromagnetic microjets can pick-up paramagnetic beads while not showing any interaction with diamagnetic silica microparticles for the active separation of microparticles in solution.
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    Hydrophilic non-precious metal nitrogen-doped carbon electrocatalysts for enhanced efficiency in oxygen reduction reaction
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2015) Hao, Guang-Ping; Sahraie, Nastaran Ranjbar; Zhang, Qiang; Krause, Simon; Oschatz, Martin; Bachmatiuk, Alicja; Strasser, Peter; Kaskel, Stefan
    Exploring the role of surface hydrophilicity of non-precious metal N-doped carbon electrocatalysts in electrocatalysis is challenging. Herein we discover an ultra-hydrophilic non-precious carbon electrocatalyst, showing enhanced catalysis efficiency on both gravimetric and areal basis for oxygen reduction reaction due to a high dispersion of active centres.
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    Impact of the precursor chemistry and process conditions on the cell-to-cell variability in 1T-1R based HfO2 RRAM devices
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2018) Grossi, A.; Perez, E.; Zambelli, C.; Olivo, P.; Miranda, E.; Roelofs, R.; Woodruff, J.; Raisanen, P.; Li, W.; Givens, M.; Costina, I.; Schubert, M.A.; Wenger, C.
    The Resistive RAM (RRAM) technology is currently in a level of maturity that calls for its integration into CMOS compatible memory arrays. This CMOS integration requires a perfect understanding of the cells performance and reliability in relation to the deposition processes used for their manufacturing. In this paper, the impact of the precursor chemistries and process conditions on the performance of HfO2 based memristive cells is studied. An extensive characterization of HfO2 based 1T1R cells, a comparison of the cell-to-cell variability, and reliability study is performed. The cells’ behaviors during forming, set, and reset operations are monitored in order to relate their features to conductive filament properties and process-induced variability of the switching parameters. The modeling of the high resistance state (HRS) is performed by applying the Quantum-Point Contact model to assess the link between the deposition condition and the precursor chemistry with the resulting physical cells characteristics.
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    Liquid-phase electron microscopy of molecular drug response in breast cancer cells reveals irresponsive cell subpopulations related to lack of HER2 homodimers
    (Bethesda, Md. : American Society for Cell Biology, 2017) Peckys, Diana B.; Korf, Ulrike; Wiemann, Stefan; de Jonge, Niels
    The development of drug resistance in cancer poses a major clinical problem. An example is human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpressing breast cancer often treated with anti-HER2 antibody therapies, such as trastuzumab. Because drug resistance is rooted mainly in tumor cell heterogeneity, we examined the drug effect in different subpopulations of SKBR3 breast cancer cells and compared the results with those of a drugresistant cell line, HCC1954. Correlative light microscopy and liquid-phase scanning transmission electron microscopy were used to quantitatively analyze HER2 responses upon drug binding, whereby many tens of whole cells were imaged. Trastuzumab was found to selectively cross-link and down-regulate HER2 homodimers from the plasma membranes of bulk cancer cells. In contrast, HER2 resided mainly as monomers in rare subpopulations of resting and cancer stem cells (CSCs), and these monomers were not internalized after drug binding. The HER2 distribution was hardly influenced by trastuzumab for the HCC1954 cells. These findings show that resting cells and CSCs are irresponsive to the drug and thus point toward a molecular explanation behind the origin of drug resistance. This analytical method is broadly applicable to study membrane protein interactions in the intact plasma membrane, while accounting for cell heterogeneity.
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    Excited-state relaxation of hydrated thymine and thymidine measured by liquid-jet photoelectron spectroscopy: experiment and simulation
    (Washington, DC : ACS Publications, 2015) Buchner, Franziska; Nakayama, Akira; Yamazaki, Shohei; Ritze, Hans-Hermann; Lübcke, Andrea
    Time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy is performed on thymine and thymidine in aqueous solution to study the excited-state relaxation dynamics of these molecules. We find two contributions with sub-ps lifetimes in line with recent excited-state QM/MM molecular dynamics simulations (J. Chem. Phys.2013, 139, 214304). The temporal evolution of ionization energies for the excited ππ* state along the QM/MM molecular dynamics trajectories were calculated and are compatible with experimental results, where the two contributions correspond to the relaxation paths in the ππ* state involving different conical intersections with the ground state. Theoretical calculations also show that ionization from the nπ* state is possible at the given photon energies, but we have not found any experimental indication for signal from the nπ* state. In contrast to currently accepted relaxation mechanisms, we suggest that the nπ* state is not involved in the relaxation process of thymine in aqueous solution.
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    Femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy of the cyclobutane thymine dimer repair mechanism: A computational study
    (Washington, DC : American Chemical Society, 2014) Ando, H.; Fingerhut, B.P.; Dorfman, K.E.; Biggs, J.D.; Mukamel, S.
    Cyclobutane thymine dimer, one of the major lesions in DNA formed by exposure to UV sunlight, is repaired in a photoreactivation process, which is essential to maintain life. The molecular mechanism of the central step, i.e., intradimer C-C bond splitting, still remains an open question. In a simulation study, we demonstrate how the time evolution of characteristic marker bands (C=O and C=C/C-C stretch vibrations) of cyclobutane thymine dimer and thymine dinucleotide radical anion, thymidylyl(3′→5′)-thymidine, can be directly probed with femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy (FSRS). We construct a DFT(M05-2X) potential energy surface with two minor barriers for the intradimer C5-C′5 splitting and a main barrier for the C6-C′6 splitting, and identify the appearance of two C5=C6 stretch vibrations due to the C6-C′6 splitting as a spectroscopic signature of the underlying bond splitting mechanism. The sequential mechanism shows only absorptive features in the simulated FSRS signals, whereas the fast concerted mechanism shows characteristic dispersive line shapes. (Figure Presented).
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    Defect-free Naphthalene Diimide Bithiophene Copolymers with Controlled Molar Mass and High Performance via Direct Arylation Polycondensation
    (Washington, DC : ACS Publications, 2015) Matsidik, Rukiya; Komber, Hartmut; Luzio, Alessandro; Caironi, Mario; Sommer, Michael
    A highly efficient, simple, and environmentally friendly protocol for the synthesis of an alternating naphthalene diimide bithiophene copolymer (PNDIT2) via direct arylation polycondensation (DAP) is presented. High molecular weight (MW) PNDIT2 can be obtained in quantitative yield using aromatic solvents. Most critical is the suppression of two major termination reactions of NDIBr end groups: nucleophilic substitution and solvent end-capping by aromatic solvents via C–H activation. In situ solvent end-capping can be used to control MW by varying monomer concentration, whereby end-capping is efficient and MW is low for low concentration and vice versa. Reducing C–H reactivity of the solvent at optimized conditions further increases MW. Chain perfection of PNDIT2 is demonstrated in detail by NMR spectroscopy, which reveals PNDIT2 chains to be fully linear and alternating. This is further confirmed by investigating the optical and thermal properties as a function of MW, which saturate at Mn ≈ 20 kDa, in agreement with controls made by Stille coupling. Field-effect transistor (FET) electron mobilities μsat up to 3 cm2/(V·s) are measured using off-center spin-coating, with FET devices made from DAP PNDIT2 exhibiting better reproducibility compared to Stille controls.
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    Real-time image processing for label-free enrichment of Actinobacteria cultivated in picolitre droplets
    (London [u.a.] : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2013) Zang, E.; Brandes, S.; Tovar, M.; Martin, K.; Mech, F.; Horbert, P.; Henkel, T.; Figge, M.T.; Roth, M.
    The majority of today's antimicrobial therapeutics is derived from secondary metabolites produced by Actinobacteria. While it is generally assumed that less than 1% of Actinobacteria species from soil habitats have been cultivated so far, classic screening approaches fail to supply new substances, often due to limited throughput and frequent rediscovery of already known strains. To overcome these restrictions, we implement high-throughput cultivation of soil-derived Actinobacteria in microfluidic pL-droplets by generating more than 600000 pure cultures per hour from a spore suspension that can subsequently be incubated for days to weeks. Moreover, we introduce triggered imaging with real-time image-based droplet classification as a novel universal method for pL-droplet sorting. Growth-dependent droplet sorting at frequencies above 100 Hz is performed for label-free enrichment and extraction of microcultures. The combination of both cultivation of Actinobacteria in pL-droplets and real-time detection of growing Actinobacteria has great potential in screening for yet unknown species as well as their undiscovered natural products.
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    Thermal activation of catalytic microjets in blood samples using microfluidic chips
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2013) Restrepo-Pérez, Laura; Soler, Lluís; Martínez-Cisneros, Cynthia S.; Sanchez, Samuel; Schmidt, Oliver G.
    We demonstrate that catalytic microjet engines can out-swim high complex media composed of red blood cells and serum. Despite the challenge presented by the high viscosity of the solution at room temperature, the catalytic microjets can be activated at physiological temperature and, consequently, self-propel in diluted solutions of blood samples. We prove that these microjets self-propel in 10× diluted blood samples using microfluidic chips.