Department of Bioscience & Bioengineering

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A momentary velocity perturbation at an edge of a granular chain with the grains barely touching one another and held between fixed walls propagates as a solitary wave whereas a long lived perturbation, even if it is noisy, ends up as a solitary wave train. Here, we extend our earlier work but with a force instead of a velocity perturbation. Such a perturbation can propagate an extended compression front into the system. We find that a snapshot of the distribution of grain compressions in the solitary wave train shows parabolic as opposed to an approximate exponential decay with the leading edge at the front of the traveling pulse and the trailing edge following it. The system’s time evolution depends on three independent parameters-the material properties, duration of perturbation and the characteristic amplitude of the perturbation. Hence, the coefficients used to describe the parabolic decay of the grain compressions in the solitary wave train depend on these three parameters. When a random finite duration force perturbation is applied we find that the randomness is smoothed out by the system, which in turn suggests that long granular chains (or equivalent systems, such as circuits) can be potentially useful in converting random noisy signals to organized solitary wave trains and hence to potentially usable energy. © 2018, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

World University root node

Granular Matter

Possibility of useful mechanical energy from noise: the solitary wave train problem in the granular chain revisited

The present study describes a way to control the dispersion of an impulse in a two-dimensional square granular crystal with tapered beads. The control is through the redirection of the characteristic load transfer path by controlling the shape of the scattering of wavefront. The main goal is to contribute to the development of appropriately designed granular media to mitigate impacts. The crystal is constituted of spherical granules with a wide range of radii. Interstitial particles are strategically positioned to allow a large number of collisions per unit area. The waves are produced by a striker that collides against the crystal. We analyze how material combinations, number of layers, tapering parameter, and disorder affect the decay of the wave amplitude. Our studies suggest that ∼90% impulse attenuation can be accomplished using a system thickness of 5 grains. © 2018 American Physical Society.

Physical Review E

Controlled energy dispersion in two-dimensional decorated granular crystals

We develop new analytic descriptions for solitary waves (SWs) and SW-like objects in the non-integrable and strongly nonlinear β-Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou (β-FPUT) system for various strengths of the harmonic term in the potential. We then show that that the collision of identical solitary waves in the decorated β-FPUT chain can lead to the formation of one or more long-lived localized nonlinear excitations (LNEs), thereby suggesting that these systems allow engineering of preferential energy distribution over extended times. © CopyrightEPLA, 2018.

Solitary waves and localized nonlinear excitations in the strongly nonlinear β-Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou chain

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Haematologica

Cytogenetic aberrations in multiple myeloma are associated with shifts in serum immunoglobulin isotypes distribution and levels

Rare-earth-doped upconversion nano-phosphor shows new possibilities in the field of bioimaging because of its unique properties like higher penetration depth, low signal to noise ratio (SNR), good photo stability, and zero auto fluorescence. The oxyfluoride glass system is the combination of both fluoride and oxide where fluoride host offers high optical transparency due to low phonon energy and oxide network offers high physical stability. Thus, in the present work, an attempt has been made to synthesize 1 mol% Er3+ doped SiO2-CaF2 glass ceramic nano-particles through sol-gel route. The synthesized glass ceramic particles were heat treated at 4 different temperatures starting from 600°C to 900°C.The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis confirmed the formation of CaF2 nano-crystals in the matrix which is 20-30 nm in size. The vibrational spectroscopic analysis of the glass ceramics sample has been investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The UV-Visible-NIR spectroscopy analysis was carried out to analyze the absorption intensity in the near infrared region. Upon 980 nm excitation, the sample shows red emission corresponds to 4F9/2→4I15/2 energy level transition. The prepared nano-particles showed excellent biocompatibility when tasted on MG-63 osteoblast cells. © 2017 The American Ceramic Society

International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology

Rare-earth-doped SiO2-CaF2 glass ceramic nano-particle with upconversion properties

The synthesis of ethoxido-bridged dinuclear oxidovanadium(IV) complexes of the general formula (HNEt3)[(VOL1-3)2(μ-OEt)] (1-3) with the azo dyes 2-(2′-carboxy-5′-X-phenylazo)-4-methylphenol (H2L1, X = H; H2L2, X = NO2) and 2-(2′-carboxy-5′-Br-phenylazo)-2-naphthol (H2L3) as ligands is reported. The ligands differ in the substituents at the phenyl ring to probe their influence on the redox behavior, biological activity, and magnetochemistry of the complexes, for which the results are presented and discussed. All synthesized ligands and vanadium(IV) complexes have been characterized by various physicochemical techniques, namely, elemental analysis, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, spectroscopic methods (UV/vis and IR), and cyclic voltammetry. X-ray crystallography of 1 and 3 revealed the presence of a twisted arrangement of the edged-shared bridging core unit. In agreement with the distorted nature of the twisted core, antiferromagnetic exchange interactions were observed between the vanadium(IV) centers of the dinuclear complexes with a superexchange mechanism operative. These results have been verified by DFT calculations. The complexes were also screened for their in vitro cytotoxicity against HeLa and HT-29 cancer cell lines. The results indicated that all the synthesized vanadium(IV) complexes (1-3) were cytotoxic in nature and were specific to a particular cell type. Complex 1 was found to be the most potent against HeLa cells (IC50 value 1.92 μM). © 2018 American Chemical Society.

Inorganic Chemistry

Anionic Dinuclear Oxidovanadium(IV) Complexes with Azo Functionalized Tridentate Ligands and μ-Ethoxido Bridge Leading to an Unsymmetric Twisted Arrangement: Synthesis, X-ray Structure, Magnetic Properties, and Cytotoxicity

The present study reports the in-depth analysis of the gelatin–carboxymethyl chitosan hydrogels. The composite system formed phase-separated hydrogels, which is confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. The swelling of the carboxymethyl chitosan-containing hydrogels was lower than the gelatin hydrogel. Macroscale deformation study using a static mechanical tester indicated a viscoelastic nature of the hydrogels. A decrease in the impedance of the hydrogels was observed with an increase in the carboxymethyl chitosan content. The drug release from the hydrogels was predominantly Fickian diffusion mediated and was released in its active form. The results suggested the potential use of the hydrogels as drug delivery matrices. © 2018 Taylor & Francis.

Polymer - Plastics Technology and Engineering

An Insight on the Swelling, Viscoelastic, Electrical, and Drug Release Properties of Gelatin–Carboxymethyl Chitosan Hydrogels

Introduction: Celiac disease (CeD) is an autoimmune enteropathy which affects approximately 0.7% of the global population. While first-degree relatives (FDR) of patients with CeD have a 7.5% risk of developing enteropathy, many remain protected. Therefore, intestinal mucosa of FDR might have protective compensatory mechanisms against immunological injury. We have explored the protective mechanisms that may be active in intestinal mucosa of FDR. Methods: Intestinal mucosal biopsies (4–5 pieces) from treatment naïve patients with CeD (n = 12), FDR (n = 12) (anti-tTG negative) and controls (n = 12) (anti-tTG negative) were obtained from each individual and subjected to microarray analysis using HT-12-v4 Human Expression BeadChips (Illumina). Differential gene expression analysis was carried out among CeD, FDR and controls; and resulting gene lists were analyzed using gene ontology and pathway enrichment tools. Results: Patients with CeD, FDR and control groups displayed significant differential gene expression. Thirty seven genes were upregulated and 372 were downregulated in the intestinal mucosa of FDR in comparison to CeD and controls. Pseudogenes constituted about 18% (315/1751) of FDR differentially expressed genes, and formed “clusters” that associated uniquely with individual study groups. The three study groups segregated into distinct clusters in unsupervised (PCA) and supervised (random forests) modelling approaches. Pathways analysis revealed an emphasis on crypt-villous maintenance and immune regulation in the intestinal mucosa of FDR. Conclusions: Our analysis suggests that the intestinal mucosa of celiac FDR consist of a unique molecular phenotype that is distinct from CeD and controls. The transcriptomic landscape of FDR promotes maintenance of crypt-villous axis and modulation of immune mechanisms. These differences clearly demonstrate the existence of compensatory protective mechanisms in the FDR intestinal mucosa. © 2018, The Author(s).

Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology

First Degree Relatives of Patients with Celiac Disease Harbour an Intestinal Transcriptomic Signature that Might Protect them from Enterocyte Damage

Design and development of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor has tremendous implications in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we have adopted a computational approach for the design of a peptide based AChE inhibitor from its active site. We identified an octapeptide, which interacts with the catalytic anionic site (CAS) of AChE enzyme and inhibits its activity. Interestingly, this peptide also inhibits amyloid aggregation through its interaction at the 17-21 region of amyloid-beta (Aβ) and stabilizes microtubules by interacting with tubulin as well. Eventually, in the PC12 derived neurons, it shows noncytotoxicity, promotes neurite out-growth, stabilizes intracellular microtubules, and confers significant neuroprotection even upon withdrawal of nerve growth factor (NGF). Further, results reveal that this peptide possesses good serum stability, crosses the blood-brain barrier (BBB), and maintains the healthy architecture of the primary cortical neurons. This work shows discovery of an excellent peptide-based AChE inhibitor with additional potential as a microtubule stabilizer, which will pave the way for the development of potential anti-AD therapeutics in the near future. Copyright © 2018 American Chemical Society.

ACS Chemical Neuroscience

Peptide-Based Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitor Crosses the Blood-Brain Barrier and Promotes Neuroprotection

A matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) targeted tetrapeptide vesicle has been designed and developed, which strongly binds at a MMP9 enzymatic site. Interestingly, it has a propensity to encapsulate and deliver the doxorubicin drug specifically to the cancer cell, induces superior apoptotic death, and inhibits the metastatic cancer cell migration and growth of multicellular 3D spheroids. © The Royal Society of Chemistry.