Multifractal analysis of chest CT images of patients with the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The present study was done to evaluate chest computed tomography (CT) images of patients with 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by multifractal technique as a new method to find a way for comparing lung infection quantitatively and identifying progression pattern of the disease. The multifractal spectra extracted from analysis of CT images showed that these spectra were correlated with lung infection amount and disease progression so that, multifractal parameters (αmin, αmax, ∆α, f(αmin), f(αmax), ∆f(α), α(q = 0), and f(α) max) were strongly dependent on amount of lung infection. The results demonstrated that multifractality of chest CT images was increased with the increase in lung infection in patients. The interesting and promising result was that capacity dimension (D0) as a new diagnostic parameter varied linearly with progression and reduction of lung infection. A critical value was found for D0, according to which patients with D0 lower than 1.4 can be healed by treatment. Therefore, herein, a way was found for quantitative assessment of lung infection of patients with COVID-19 by analyzing chest CT images using the multifractal method. This method can be very effective for physicians in diagnosis and treatment of pneumonia caused by COVID-19 and timely identification of therapeutic effects.

Investigating the magnetic, thermoelectric, and thermodynamic properties of the GeCH3 single-layer considering external magnetic field, doping, and strain.

Extensive research is ongoing to improve the performance of thermoelectric and thermodynamic properties of the material because preventing energy waste is vital in modern society. Herein, we study the thermoelectric and thermodynamic properties of the GeCH3 single-layer (SL) under the influence of an external magnetic field, electron doping, and tensile and compressive biaxial strain by using the tight-binding and equilibrium Green's function method. We found that the electronic heat capacity, magnetic susceptibility, and electronic thermal and electrical conductivity increase by employing an external magnetic field, electron doping, and tensile biaxial strain. However, compressive biaxial strain yields a decrease in thermoelectric and thermodynamic properties. The results of our study show that the GeCH3 SL is paramagnetic. The results presented here that the GeCH3 SL is a suitable alternative for use in thermoelectric, spintronic, and valleytronics devices.

Optical properties of methyl-substituted germanane monolayer in the presence of the external magnetic field, strain and spin-orbit coupling.

In this research, we use the tight-binding model, which includes spin-orbit coupling and an external magnetic field, to describe the optical properties of the methyl-substituted germanane (GeCH3) monolayer. We have applied the Kubo formula, linear response theory, and Green's function approach to calculate the optical absorption coefficient of the GeCH3monolayer. Here, the effects of an external magnetic field, strain, spin-orbit coupling, temperature, and electron/hole doping on the frequency dependence behavior of the optical conductivity have been investigated in detail. Our numerical results show that with increasing the external magnetic field, strain, and electron doping, the weight of the Drude increases. The optical absorption peak decreases and shifts to higher frequencies by applying an external magnetic field, strain, and electron doping. Controlling the optical and electronic properties of GeCH3is leading to use this structure it in the electronic and optoelectronic industries.

Surface characterization of NiO thin films deposited by RF-magnetron sputtering at different thickness: Statistical and multifractal approach.

Fractal and multifractal are the most important processes and concepts in describing and examining surface morphology, and for this reason, these concepts are an important approach for analyzing the properties and surface geometry of thin films. In this article, multifractal analysis was performed on images, prepared using atomic force microscopy (AFM), of the surface morphology of nickel oxide thin films deposited by RF-Magnetron sputtering at different thicknesses on the glass substrate. The effect of thickness on the surface properties of the layers was studied by applying multifractal and statistical methods on AFM images. The results obtained from the multifractal spectrum show that the surface of the nickel oxide thin films deposited at different thicknesses are multifractal. The multifractal analysis demonstrated that multifractality and complexity of the surface of nickel oxide thin films changes and decrease with thicknesses. We also used statistical parameters to better examine AFM images to study the effects of layers thickness on the deposited NiO thin films. The results indicated that the statistical parameters are a function of the layer's thickness of NiO thin films. Hence, the isotropic properties and functional parameters changed with changing surface thickness. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Multifractal analysis was applied to the AFM images to study the surface morphology of NiO thin films. The multifractal nature of the surface of NiO thin films is observed. The layers have become more isotropic with increasing thickness. The results illustrated that deposition masses occurred more at the highest sites on the surface. Multifractality of the surface of the sample decreased with increasing layer thickness.

Multifractal analysis of Mg-doped ZnO thin films deposited by sol-gel spin coating method.

A multifractal analysis has been performed on the 3D (three-dimensional) surface microtexture of magnesium-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Mg) thin films with doping concentration of 0, 2, 4, and 5%. Thin films were deposited onto the glass substrates via the sol-gel spin coating method. The effect of magnesium doping, on the crystal structure, morphology, and band gap for ZnO:Mg thin films has been analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and UV-Vis spectroscopy. It has been observed that the surface of ZnO thin films is multifractal in nature. However, multifractality and complexity observed to decrease with increasing content of Mg in ZnO thin films due to formation of islands on the surface in accordance with Volmer-Weber growth mechanism. The investigations revealed that crystallinity, microtexture, morphology, and optical properties of the thin films can be tuned by controlling the Mg content within the ZnO lattice. In particular, their optical band gap energies were 3.27, 3.31, 3.34, and 3.33 eV at 0, 2, 4, and 5%, respectively. The prepared thin films of ZnO:Mg with tuned characteristics would have promising applications in optoelectronic devices.

Multifractal investigation of Ag/DLC nanocomposite thin films.

The objective of this study is the experimental investigation of the silver in diamond-like carbon (Ag/DLC) nanocomposite prepared by the co-deposition of radio frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) and RF-sputtering. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction analyses, ultraviolet-visible (UV-visible) spectroscopy measurements were applied to describe the three-dimensional surface texture data in connection with the statistical, and multifractal analyses. Additional information about structure-property relationships in prepared Ag/DLC nanocomposite was studied in detail to allow a better understanding of the surface micromorphology. The performed analysis revealed the studied samples have multifractal properties and can be included in novel algorithms for graphical representation of complex geometrical shapes and implemented in computer simulation algorithms.

A pH-responsive citric-acid/α-cyclodextrin-functionalized Fe3O4 nanoparticles as a nanocarrier for quercetin: An experimental and DFT study.

Developing new nanocarriers and understanding the interactions between the drug and host molecules in the nanocarrier at the molecular level is of importance for future of nanomedicine. In this work, we synthesized and characterized a series of iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) functionalized with different organic molecules (citric acid, α-cyclodextrin, and citric acid/α-cyclodextrin composite). It was found that incorporation of citric acid into the α-cyclodextrin had negligible effect on the adsorption efficiency (<5%) of citric acid/α-cyclodextrin functionalized IONPs, while the isotherm adsorption data were well described by the Langmuir isotherm model (qmax = 2.92 mg/g at T = 25 °C and pH = 7). In addition, the developed nanocarrier showed pH-responsive behavior for releasing the quercetin molecules as drug model, where the Korsmeyer-Peppas model could describe the release profile with Fickian diffusion (n < 0.45 for at all pH and temperatures). Then, Density functional theory was applied to calculate the absolute binding energies (ΔEb) of the complexation of quercetin with different host molecules in the developed nanocarriers. The calculated energies are as follow: 1) quercetin and citric acid: ΔEb = -16.58 kcal/mol, 2) quercetin and α-cyclodextrin: ΔEb = -46.98 kcal/mol, and 3) quercetin and citric acid/α-cyclodextrin composite: ΔEb = -40.15 kcal/mol. It was found that quercetin tends to interact with all hosts via formation of hydrogen bonds and van der Waals interactions. Finally, the cytotoxicity of the as-developed nanocarriers was evaluated using MTT assay and both normal NIH-3T3 and cancereous HeLa cells. The cell viability results showed that the quercetin could be delivered effectively to the HeLa cells due to the acidic environment inside the cells with minimum effect on the viability of NIH-3T3 cells. These results might open a new window to design of stimuli-responsive nanocarriers for drug delivery applications.

Label-free attomolar detection of lactate based on radio frequency sputtered of nickel oxide thin film field effect transistor.

The radio frequency sputtered nickel oxide thin film nanostrtablucture deposited on glass substrate was used as a potential matrix for the realization of highly sensitive and selective field effect transistor-type lactate biosensor. Firstly, NiO-FET was tested for NADH detection showing a linear concentration range 1aM to 1nM and a low detection limit of 0.2aM. Then, NiO surface modified with chitosan and functionalized with glutaraldehyde and lactate dehydrogenase enzyme was immobilized on the aldehyde terminal. The biosensor is found to exhibit highly efficient sensing response characteristics with good linearity of 1aM to 1pM and low limit of detection of 0.5aM. The biosensor shows high stability without interferences from commonly interfering compounds in biological fluids, including uric acid, ascorbic acid, glucose and acetaminophen. Furthermore, the application of the proposed biosensor for analysis of lactate in artificial serum samples was evaluated with good satisfactory results. This protocol can be used to develop of disposable, low cost, and portable various types of dehydrogenase based biosensor devices using metal oxide nanomaterials.

Preparation and in vitro characterization of retinoic acid-loaded poly(ε-caprolactone)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(ε-caprolactone) micelles.

In order to achieve the controlled release of all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), poly(ε-caprolactone)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL-PEG-PCL) copolymer with average molecular weight of 5.34 kDa was synthesized. The nanosized micelles were prepared from copolymer by nano-precipitation method. Critical association concentration (CAC) of micelles was measured by fluorimetry and results indicated low CAC value of micelles (1.9 × 10-3 g/L). ATRA was encapsulated in the core of micelles using different ratios of drug to copolymer. In the case of 10% drug to polymer ratio, more than 80% of the drug was released within 3 days, whereas for ratio of 2% more than 90% of the drug was released within 3 h. The cytotoxic study performed by MTT assay showed that H1299 survival percent decreased significantly (P ≤ 0.05) after exposure to drug-loaded micelles, while no proliferation inhibition effect was observed by either free ATRA or blank PCL-PEG-PCL micelles.

Cobalt oxide nanoparticles as a novel high-efficiency fiber coating for solid phase microextraction of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene from aqueous solutions.

In this work cobalt oxide nanoparticles were introduced for preparation of a novel solid phase microextraction (SPME) fiber coating. Chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique was used in order for synthesis and immobilization of the Co3O4 nanomaterials on a Pt wire for fabrication of SPME fiber. The prepared cobalt oxide coating was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The fiber was evaluated for the extraction of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) in combination with GC-MS. A simplex optimization method was used to optimize the factors affecting the extraction efficiency. Under optimized conditions, the proposed fiber showed extraction efficiencies comparable to those of a commercial polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) fiber toward the BTEX compounds. The repeatability of the fiber and its reproducibility, expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD), were lower than about 11%. No significant change was observed in the extraction efficiency of the new SPME fiber after over 50 extractions. The fiber was successfully applied to the determination of BTEX compounds in real samples. The proposed nanostructure cobalt oxide fiber is a promising alternative to the commercial fibers as it is robust, inexpensive and easily prepared.

Binding studies of pyriproxyfen to DNA by multispectroscopic atomic force microscopy and molecular modeling methods.

In this work, multispectroscopic atomic force microscopy and molecular modeling [ONIOM 2(B3LYP/6-31++G(d,p): Universal Force Field (UFF)) level] techniques were used to study the interaction between Calf-Thymus-DNA (CT-DNA) and pyriproxyfen (PYR) insecticide. The binding constant of PYR with double-strand deoxyribonucleic acid (ds-DNA) was obtained by ultraviolet-visible absorbance spectroscopy as 2.8×10(4) at 20°C. Thermodynamic parameters, that is, ΔH, ΔS°, and ΔG, were -53.82 kJ mol(-1), 96.11 J mol(-1), and -82.46 KJ mol(-1), respectively. Thermal denaturation study of DNA with PYR revealed the ΔT(m) of 3.0 and 6.0°C at r(i)=0.5 and 1.0, respectively. The Fourier transform infrared study showed a major interaction of PYR with G-C and A-T base pairs and a minor perturbation of the backbone PO(2) group. Further, PYR induces detectable changes in the circular dichroism spectrum of CT-DNA. In fluorimetric studies, the dynamic enhancement constants (k(D)) and bimolecular enhancement constant (k(B)) were calculated, which showed that the fluorescence enhancement was initiated by a static process in the ground state. The hybrid of quantum mechanical/molecular mechanics theoretical calculations revealed that the interaction is base sequence dependent, and PYR interacts more with DNA via the AT base sequence. From the data we concluded that PYR may interact with ds-DNA via two modes: intercalating and outside groove binding.