Lévy-like movement patterns of metastatic cancer cells revealed in microfabricated systems and implicated in vivo.

Metastatic cancer cells differ from their non-metastatic counterparts not only in terms of molecular composition and genetics, but also by the very strategy they employ for locomotion. Here, we analyzed large-scale statistics for cells migrating on linear microtracks to show that metastatic cancer cells follow a qualitatively different movement strategy than their non-invasive counterparts. The trajectories of metastatic cells display clusters of small steps that are interspersed with long "flights". Such movements are characterized by heavy-tailed, truncated power law distributions of persistence times and are consistent with the Lévy walks that are also often employed by animal predators searching for scarce prey or food sources. In contrast, non-metastatic cancerous cells perform simple diffusive movements. These findings are supported by preliminary experiments with cancer cells migrating away from primary tumors in vivo. The use of chemical inhibitors targeting actin-binding proteins allows for "reprogramming" the Lévy walks into either diffusive or ballistic movements.

Multilevel Morphology of Complex Nanoporous Materials.

This work exploits gas adsorption and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to determine the morphology of complex nanoporous materials. We resolve multiple classes of porosity including previously undetected large-scale texture that significantly compromises the canonical interpretation of gas adsorption. Specifically, a UVM-7 class mesoporous silica was synthesized that has morphological features on three length scales: macropores due to packing of 150 nm globules, 1.9 nm radius spherical mesopores inside the globules, and >7 nm pockets on and between the globules. The total and external surface areas, as well as the mesopore volume, were determined using gas adsorption (αs-plot) and SAXS. A new approach was applied to the SAXS data using multilevel fitting to determine the surface areas on multiple length scales. The SAXS analysis code is applicable to any two-phase system and is freely available to the public. The total surface area determined by SAXS was 12% greater than that obtained by gas adsorption. The macropore interfacial area, however, is only 30% of the external surface area determined by the αs-plot. The overestimation of the external surface area by the αs-plot method is attributed to capillary condensation in nanoscale surface irregularities. The discrepancy is resolved assuming that the macropore-globule interfaces harbor fractally distributed nooks and crannies, which lead to gas adsorption at pressures above the mesopore filling pressure.

A Priori Estimation of Organic Reaction Yields.

A thermodynamically guided calculation of free energies of substrate and product molecules allows for the estimation of the yields of organic reactions. The non-ideality of the system and the solvent effects are taken into account through the activity coefficients calculated at the molecular level by perturbed-chain statistical associating fluid theory (PC-SAFT). The model is iteratively trained using a diverse set of reactions with yields that have been reported previously. This trained model can then estimate a priori the yields of reactions not included in the training set with an accuracy of ca. ±15 %. This ability has the potential to translate into significant economic savings through the selection and then execution of only those reactions that can proceed in good yields.

On-line micro column preconcentration system based on amino bimodal mesoporous silica nanoparticles as a novel adsorbent for removal and speciation of chromium (III, VI) in environmental samples.

BACKGROUND: Chromium (VI) has toxic and carcinogenic effects. So, determination and speciation of chromium in environmental samples is very important in view of health hazards. In this study, solid phase extraction (SPE) based on bulky amine-functionalized bimodal mesoporous silica nanoparticles (NH2-UVM-7) as a novel nanoadsorbent was applied for preconcentration and speciation of chromium (III, VI) in water samples. METHODS: UVM-7 was synthesized via atrane route and subsequently functionalized with amino silane via grafting method. In SPE procedure, polymer tubing as a micro-column was filled with NH2-UVM-7 adsorbent. Preconcentration and speciation of Cr (III) and Cr (VI) ions with NH2-UVM-7 were obtained in water samples due to the fact that only Cr (VI) ions can be complexed with-NH2 groups at optimized pH. Finally, chromium concentration was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (F-AAS). RESULTS: TEM, XRD, and SEM results confirmed the beneficial properties of NH2-UVM-7 as the adsorbent for chromium extraction. Under the optimal conditions, linear calibration curve, detection limit and preconcentration factor were obtained 6-320 µg/ L, 1.2 µg/L and 66.7, respectively (RSD < 5 %). The efficiency of nanoadsorbent for preconcentration and extraction of Cr (VI) was 96 %, whereas it was less than 5 % for Cr (III). CONCLUSIONS: The developed NH2-UVM7-based SPE/F-AAS method has enough sensitively and simplicity for speciation and determination of Cr (VI) and Cr (III) ions in real water samples. Good recoveries, with low detection limits and good preconcentration factors are the main advantages of this procedure.

Synthesis of toroidal gold nanoparticles assisted by soft templates.

A three-component system comprising surfactant molecules and molecularly cross-linked metal centers assembles into nanoring structures. The thickness of the nanorings is determined by the dimensions of the surfactant bilayer while the dimensions of the ring opening depend on and can be regulated by the concentrations of the participating species. Once formed, these organic-inorganic hybrids can be transformed, by air plasma treatment, into all-metal nanorings exhibiting strong adsorption in the near IR.

In situ incorporation of nickel nanoparticles into the mesopores of MCM-41 by manipulation of solvent-solute interaction and its activity toward adsorptive desulfurization of gas oil.

In this contribution, different amounts of nickel were incorporated into the mesopores of MCM-41 via an in situ approach. A hydrophobic nickel precursor was incorporated into the nanochannels of mesoporous silica by manipulation of solvent-solute interaction. The synthesized material was characterized using X-ray diffraction, nitrogen physisorption, temperature programmed reduction, and transmission electron microscopy. The results implicate the formation of MCM-41 with well-ordered hexagonal structure and establish also the presence of nickel nanoparticles inside the nanochannels of mesoporous silica. Adsorptive desulfurization of gas oil was conducted using the nickel-incorporated MCM-41 samples. The effects of nickel concentration, temperature of process and feed flow rate on the desulfurization process were examined. The MCM-41 containing 6 wt.% of nickel had both the highest breakthrough sulfur adsorption capacity and total sulfur adsorption capacity, which were 0.69 and 1.67 mg sulfur/g adsorbent, respectively. The breakthrough sulfur adsorption capacity was almost regained after reductive regeneration of spent adsorbent. The obtained results suggest that the method applied for the synthesis of Niy/MCM resulted in formation of well-dispersed, accessible and small nickel nanoparticles incorporated into the pores of MCM-41 which might be an advantage for adsorption of refractory sulfur compounds from low sulfur gas oil.