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Use of several lipids as an alternative to cholesterol to prepare stable liposomes was tried. Liposome prepared at 1/0.25 lecithin/stearic acid ratio exhibited better (55%) encapsulation efficiency (EE) of bovine serum albumin (BSA) than that (41%) prepared at 1/0.25 lecithin/cholesterol ratio. Liposomes showed the minimal released percentage of encapsulated BSA at pH 6. Storage at -20°C caused serious damage to liposomes.Addition of a-tocopherol was effective in stabilizing liposomes. Liposomes, incorporated with a-amylase, prepared at 1/0.25 lecithin/cholesterol or stearic acid ratio were effective in protecting enzyme against acid (pH 2.8) and pepsin (15 mg/mL). Use of stearic acid, instead of cholesterol, would be feasible in preparing stable liposomes.

Single-phase Fe4N and (Fe1−xNix)4N compounds have been synthesized in a continuous form by heat treating iron and iron-nickel alloy sheets at various temperatures under NH3/H2 atmospheres. The Fe4N sheet has a high room-temperature magnetization value of 179 emu/g (2.14 μB/Fe), which is only slightly less than 218 emu/g (2.19 μB/Fe) observed in pure iron. The magnetic moments of the Fe-Ni alloy nitrides decreased monotonically as x was increased, in contrast to those for the starting alloys Fe1−xNix which exhibited a peak value around x=0.05. The decrease in magnetic moment with nickel content in the alloy nitrides was close to the value anticipated by magnetic dilution from nickel. The coercive force is about 5 Oe and is slightly decreased by the Ni substitution. The Fe-nitride offers a significantly improved corrosion resistance over pure iron. Even further improvement is obtained in the (Fe1−xNix)4N system with only slight sacrifice in magnetic moment. The addition of nickel has been found to noticeably improve the mechanical ductility of the normally brittle Fe4N compound. Theses nitrides also exhibit significantly increased electrical resistivity and wear resistance, and may be useful for a variety of technological applications.

Parenteral nutrition was a significant and independent risk of late-onset neonatal sepsis. This risk should be considered when implementing early parenteral nutrition in NICUs.

A new bottom-up strategy based on aromatic peptide amphiphile is developed for a high-contrast visualization of 3D live cell-material imaging-something that has been difficult to achieve previously because of the problems associated with the diffraction of light by the nanosized peptide materials and the aggregation-caused quenching of aggregated π-conjugated fluorophores in the nanostructures. This study reports an example of a novel supramolecular hydrogelator, naphthaleneimide-phenylalanine (NI-Phe), which forms a self-supporting hydrogel displaying a unique microfibrous network and promising aggregation-induced emission characteristics at pH 7.4. The storage modulus of the NI-Phe gel supports the mass of a cell for 3D cell culturing. This work illustrates a new dopant-free supramolecular approach, complementary to well-established doping procedures that should facilitate the development of live cell imaging in 3D scaffolding materials.

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a b s t r a c tA Lego ® -like swappable fluidic module (SFM) is proposed in this research. We designed and fabricated selected modular fluidic components, including functional and auxiliary types that can be effortlessly swapped and integrated into a variety of modular devices to rapidly assemble a fully-portable, disposable fluidic system. In practice, an integrated SFM uses finger-operated, electricity-free pumps to deliver fluids. Using a swirling mechanism, the vortex mixer can rapidly mix two liquids in a one-shot mixing event. We demonstrate the successful application of this SFM in several microfluidic applications, such as the synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) from chloroauric acid (HAuCl 4 ), and nucleic acid amplification from the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) with a capillary convective polymerase chain reaction (ccPCR).