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Nm Size (nm + size)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Polymers and Materials Science75%

Selected Abstracts

Combined Optical and MR Bioimaging Using Rare Earth Ion Doped NaYF4 Nanocrystals

ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 6 2009
Rajiv Kumar
Abstract Here, novel nanoprobes for combined optical and magnetic resonance (MR) bioimaging are reported. Fluoride (NaYF4) nanocrystals (20,30,nm size) co-doped with the rare earth ions Gd3+ and Er3+/Yb3+/Eu3+ are synthesized and dispersed in water. An efficient up- and downconverted photoluminescence from the rare-earth ions (Er3+ and Yb3+ or Eu3+) doped into fluoride nanomatrix allows optical imaging modality for the nanoprobes. Upconversion nanophosphors (UCNPs) show nearly quadratic dependence of the photoluminescence intensity on the excitation light power, confirming a two-photon induced process and allowing two-photon imaging with UCNPs with low power continuous wave laser diodes due to the sequential nature of the two-photon process. Furthermore, both UCNPs and downconversion nanophosphors (DCNPs) are modified with biorecognition biomolecules such as anti-claudin-4 and anti-mesothelin, and show in vitro targeted delivery to cancer cells using confocal microscopy. The possibility of using nanoprobes for optical imaging in vivo is also demonstrated. It is also shown that Gd3+ co-doped within the nanophosphors imparts strong T1 (Spin-lattice relaxation time) and T2 (spin-spin relaxation time) for high contrast MR imaging. Thus, nanoprobes based on fluoride nanophosphors doped with rare earth ions are shown to provide the dual modality of optical and magnetic resonance imaging. [source]

Damascene Process for Controlled Positioning of Magnetic Colloidal Nanocrystals

ADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 12 2010
Gang Chen
Nanocrystals, deposited on Si wafers, are maneuvered into sub-100-nm-sized pits or grooves by a Damascene process, that is, dropcasting and subsequent mechanical polishing. Single occupation is demonstrated for magnetic nanocrystals with diameter down to 18,nm. The figure show scanning electron microscopy and magnetic force microscopy images for a set of pits occupied by single Fe3O4 magnetic nanocrystals with 50-nm size. [source]

Electrical Conductivity of Submicrometer Gadolinia-Doped Ceria Sintered at 1000°C Using Precipitation-Synthesized Nanocrystalline Powders

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 10 2008
Pandurangan Muralidharan
A simple synthetic strategy has been implemented to obtain low-temperature sintered fine grain size gadolinia-doped ceria, Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95, (CGO) electrolyte pellets with a high density using weakly agglomerated particles of calcined nanopowders synthesized by a homogeneous precipitation process. The precipitants used were diethylamine (DEA process) and ammonium hydroxide in neutral precipitation (NP process). X-ray diffraction patterns revealed the single-phase crystalline CGO of a fluorite-type structure. The crystalline powder was directly synthesized from solution by the DEA process at room temperature, whereas the NP process powder was crystallized upon hydrothermal treatment at an elevated temperature. Transmission electron microscopy images showed homogeneously dispersed spherical-shaped particles of ,5 nm size for nanopowders calcined at 300°C for 4 h. A high densification range from ,96% to 99% of the theoretical was achieved for the nonconventionally low-temperature sintered pellets at 1000°C from weakly bonded particles of CGO nanopowders calcined at 300°C for 4 h without any sintering aid. The dense CGO pellets sintered at 1000°C for 4 h with an average grain size of ,150,300 nm exhibited a promising high electrical conductivity of 2.03 × 10,2 S/cm (DEA process) and 2.17 × 10,2 S/cm (NP process), measured at 650°C, and low activation energy Ea. The electrical conductivities of fine grain size low-temperature sintered CGO pellets are comparable with the literature reports of sintered pellets using sintering aids, and high-temperature sintered CGO pellets above 1300°C with a larger grain size. [source]

Emergence of protein kinase CK2 as a key target in cancer therapy

BIOFACTORS, Issue 3 2010
Janeen H. Trembley
Abstract Protein kinase CK2, a protein serine/threonine kinase, plays a global role in activities related to cell growth, cell death, and cell survival. CK2 has a large number of potential substrates localized in diverse locations in the cell including, for example, NF-,B as an important downstream target of the kinase. In addition to its involvement in cell growth and proliferation it is also a potent suppressor of apoptosis, raising its key importance in cancer cell phenotype. CK2 interacts with diverse pathways which illustrates the breadth of its impact on the cellular machinery of both cell growth and cell death giving it the status of a "master regulator" in the cell. With respect to cancer, CK2 has been found to be dysregulated in all cancers examined demonstrating increased protein expression levels and nuclear localization in cancer cells compared with their normal counterparts. We originally proposed CK2 as a potentially important target for cancer therapy. Given the ubiquitous and essential for cell survival nature of the kinase, an important consideration would be to target it specifically in cancer cells while sparing normal cells. Towards that end, our design of a tenascin based sub-50 nm (i.e., less than 50 nm size) nanocapsule in which an anti-CK2 therapeutic agent can be packaged is highly promising because this formulation can specifically deliver the cargo intracellularly to the cancer cells in vivo. Thus, appropriate strategies to target CK2 especially by molecular approaches may lead to a highly feasible and effective approach to eradication of a given cancer. [source]