Current Nanoscience - Volume 5, Issue 1, 2009

Controlled drug delivery systems and polymeric carriers have undergone significant development in recent years. Polymers like polylactides (PLA), polyglycolides (PGA), poly(lactide-co-glycolides) (PLGA), are approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as materials that can be used in medicine and pharmacy. Owing to their biodegradable nature, polymer materials, such as copoly Read More

Brain is a delicate organ, isolated from general circulation and characterized by the presence of relatively impermeable endothelial cells with tight junctions, enzymatic activity and the presence of active efflux transporter mechanisms. These formidable obstacles often block drug delivery to the brain across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Although several promising molecules have the potential in the in vitro settings but lack of in Read More

Ferulic acid (FA), a phenolic compound with a significant antioxidant activity in Alzheimer's disease, was entrapped into several solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN and NLC) by using the microemulsion technique. Stable SLN and NLC formulations having mean size ranging between 94-140 nm and high zeta potential were obtained. The SLN sample obtained by using as lipid matrix Compritol 888 ATO was chosen for further c Read More

Whereas several biomedical applications of carbon nanotubes have been proposed, the use of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) in this field has been largely unexplored despite their unique and potentially useful properties. Our group has recently initiated an experimental program aimed at the exploration of the interactions between BNNTs and living cells. In the present paper, we report on the magnetic properties of BNNTs Read More

The prospect of improved cancer therapy using Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLNs) as drug delivery system is promising. Several obstacles frequently encountered with anticancer compounds, such as poor drug solubility, are overcome by delivering them using SLN. Moreover, the intravenous administration of drugs into SLNs can potentially enhance drug blood circulation time and improve drug performance by inducing accu Read More

This is a summary of the Third Annual Cancer Nanobiology Think Tank hosted by the Nanobiology Program at the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute-Frederick, National Institutes of Health. The Third Annual Nanobiology Think Tank was held in May of 2008 and was entitled “Understanding the Design Principles of Living Systems at the Nanoscale.”

The Padmakar-Ivan (PI) index of a graph G is defined as PI(G) = Σ[mu(e)+ mv(e)], where mu(e) is the number of edges of G lying closer to u than to v, mv(e) is the number of edges of G lying closer to v than to u and summation goes over all edges of G. The edge Szeged index is a new molecular structure descriptor equal to the sum of products mu(e)mv(e) over all edges e = uv of the molecular graph G. In this paper, the PI and e Read More

In this paper, we report a significant improvement of electron field emission property in patterned carbon nanotubes films by using a high temperature (650 °C) hydrogen plasma treatment. This treatment was found to greatly increase the emission current, emission uniformity and stability. The mechanism study showed that these enhanced properties are attributed to the lowering of the potential barrier and the cre Read More

It is widely accepted that the self-assembling nanostructure of metals, semiconductors and organic molecules with a welldefined spatial order is one of the promising ways of engineering new materials. Recent years have revealed substantial progress in fabricating metal nanoparticles on ultrathin oxide films due to their ordered surface and novel electronic structures. In this article, we first briefly introduce the preparation Read More

Geometrical compatibility is a very important factor for molecular self-assembly. In the self-assembling systems of peptide detergents and bolaamphiphilic peptides, the effect of the geometrical shape of hydrophobic section on the self-assembling behavior has been investigated by nanostructure characterization. It is shown that in aqueous solutions of both peptide detergent and bolaamphiphilic peptide systems, pe Read More

Because of the dense chemical varieties and the vast chemical scales, it is feasible to produce complex nanoscale architectures with well-defined structural motifs organized over large areas in two dimensions or volumes in three dimensions. Various methods based on electrostatic interaction and hydrophobic interaction, in situ mineralization, covalent bond and inorganic scaffold, and protein- protein interaction and DNA hybri Read More

In cardiology and oncology, early disease detection produces better patient outcomes. Imaging approaches, particularly Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), are attractive for screening large, mostly disease-free populations because they are noninvasive and produce high-resolution anatomical/morphological images from disease sites. Biochemically targeted nanoparticulate contrast agents (ultrasmall superparamag Read More

Nanofluids are fluids containing suspended solid nanoparticles. It is expected that the nanofluids will be the next generation of heat transfer fluids due to their unique thermal properties. At present, the study on nanofluids is still in its infancy. Some issues became the barriers to the development and application of the emerging nanofluid technology. In this paper, the critical issues in nanofluids preparation, characteri Read More

In this study, nanostructured mesoporous TiO2 was prepared by sol-gel process, and the synthesis was accomplished by using block copolymer as the structure-directing agent and TiCl4 as the inorganic precursor. TGA, XRD, SAXS, TEM and N2 adsorptiondesorption isotherms were used to characterize the microstructure, pore size, and pore structure after calcination. The powders were found to have a wormhole-like pore s Read More

Development of biologically inspired experimental processes for the synthesis of nanoparticles is evolving into an important branch of nanotechnology. The present study deals with the synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Gliricidia sepium. On challenging, leaf broth of Gliricidia sepium and aqueous AgNO3 (1mM) solution changed from yellowish green to brown, the final color appeared gradually with time. The e Read More