Silica nanoparticles with controlled diameter (approximately 70-300 nm) and with uniform pores of 20 nm are prepared by a low temperature (10 degrees C) synthetic method in the presence of a dual surfactant system. While a triblock copolymer (Pluronic F127) acts as supramolecular template and coassembles with hydrolyzed silica species to develop a partially ordered mesophase with face-centered cubic symmetry, a fluorocarbon surfactant with high surface activity (FC-4) surrounds the silica particles through S+X-I+ interactions, thereby limiting their growth. The final textural properties of this material are achieved by means of a subsequent hydrothermal treatment to yield high pore volume mesoporous silica nanoparticles with the largest pore entrance size (17 nm) and cavity diameter (20 nm) reported up to now. After surface modification with aminopropyl groups, the nanoparticles are able to encapsulate inside the pores molecules of the firefly luciferase plasmid DNA (pGL3-Control, 5256 pb), leading to stable conjugates with up to 0.07 microg DNA m(-2), which is the highest content achieved with silica-based materials. Furthermore, plasmid DNA becomes protected from enzymatic degradation when conjugated with the mesostructured nanoparticles.

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The physical microenvironment of tumours is characterized by heterotypic cell interactions and physiological gradients of nutrients, waste products and oxygen. This tumour microenvironment has a major impact on the biology of cancer cells and their response to chemotherapeutic agents. Despite this, most in vitro cancer research still relies primarily on cells grown in 2D and in isolation in nutrient- and oxygen-rich conditions. Here, a microfluidic device is presented that is easy to use and enables modelling and study of the tumour microenvironment in real-time. The versatility of this microfluidic platform allows for different aspects of the microenvironment to be monitored and dissected. This is exemplified here by real-time profiling of oxygen and glucose concentrations inside the device as well as effects on cell proliferation and growth, ROS generation and apoptosis. Heterotypic cell interactions were also studied. The device provides a live ‘window’ into the microenvironment and could be used to study cancer cells for which it is difficult to generate tumour spheroids. Another major application of the device is the study of effects of the microenvironment on cellular drug responses. Some data is presented for this indicating the device’s potential to enable more physiological in vitro drug screening.

A pressure-induced phase transition, associated with an increase of the coordination number of In and Ta, is detected beyond 13 GPa in InTaO 4 by combining synchrotron x-ray diffraction and Raman measurements in a diamond-anvil cell with ab initio calculations. High-pressure optical-absorption measurements were also carried out. The high-pressure phase has a monoclinic structure that shares the same space group with the low-pressure phase (P 2/c). The structure of the high-pressure phase can be considered as a slight distortion of an orthorhombic structure described by space group Pcna. The phase transition occurs together with a unit-cell volume collapse and an electronic band-gap collapse observed by experiments and calculations. Additionally, a band crossing is found to occur in the low-pressure phase near 7 GPa. The pressure dependence of all the Raman-active modes is reported for both phases as well as the pressure dependence of unit-cell parameters and the equations of state. Calculations also provide information on infrared-active phonons and bond distances. These findings provide insights into the effects of pressure on the physical properties of InTaO 4 .

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Mo-V-Te-Nb metal oxide catalysts prepared by hydrothermal synthesis and heat-treated in N 2 at high temperatures (600-700 °C) show high activity and selectivity for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethene. Yields of ethene of 75% have been obtained at 400 °C on the best catalysts.

Monodispersed, uniform, gold encapsulated-mesoporous silica nanocomposites of 100-350 nm diameter with a centered metal core at about 15 or 30 nm and high gold occupancy are prepared by pseudomorphic transformation of preformed gold-silica nanospheres. The characterization by X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, 29 Si and 13 C magic angle spinning NMR, and N 2 adsorption isotherms indicates that these materials present the same morphology and particle size distribution of the parent amorphous silica but with an ordered mesoporous shell of complex wormholelike pore structure and specific surface area of about 1000 m 2 g -1 . This method is particularly advantageous for both stabilizing gold nanoparticles and tailoring structural and textural parameters of the outer shell, thus, offering an exceptional support for particle functionalization.

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