Aggregated single-walled carbon nanotubes attenuate the behavioural and neurochemical effects of methamphetamine in mice.

Methamphetamine (METH) abuse is a serious social and health problem worldwide. At present, there are no effective medications to treat METH addiction. Here, we report that aggregated single-walled carbon nanotubes (aSWNTs) significantly inhibited METH self-administration, METH-induced conditioned place preference and METH- or cue-induced relapse to drug-seeking behaviour in mice.

[Detection of Plasmodium falciparum by using magnetic nanoparticles separation-based quantitative real-time PCR assay].

Objective: To establish a magnetic nanoparticles separation-based quantitative real-time PCR (RT-PCR) assay for fast and accurate detection of Plasmodium falciparum and providing a technical support for improving the control and prevention of imported malaria.

Methods: According to the conserved sequences of the P. falciparum genome 18SrRNA, the species-specific primers and probe were designed and synthetized.

Structure-dependent mitochondrial dysfunction and hypoxia induced with single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Cytotoxicity of nanomaterials on living systems is known to be affected by their size, shape, surface chemistry, and other physicochemical properties. Exposure to a well-characterized subpopulation of specific nanomaterials is therefore desired to reveal more detailed mechanisms. This study develops scalable density gradient ultracentrifugation sorting of highly dispersed single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) into four distinct bands based on diameter, aggregation, and structural integrity, with greatly improved efficiency, yield, and reproducibility.

Modulated self-assembly of 4,4'-diphenyltetrathiafulvalene molecules on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite by n-tetradecane solvent.

We report the formation of a binary-component self-assembled monolayer (SAM) comprising 4,4'-diphenyltetrathiafulvalene (DP-TTF) and n-tetradecane (n-C(14)H(30)) molecules with periodic strip-like phase separation structures on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) imaging reveals that ordered DP-TTF single- and double-lamella are periodically tuned by ordered n- C(14)H(30) single- and double-lamella, respectively. This finding can be qualitatively understood in terms of a phase field model, in which the interplay of three ingredients, including free energy of the binary-component solution monolayer, phase boundary energy and surface stress, determines the final equilibrium sizes of the ordered DP-TTF and n- C(14)H(30) phases in the binary-component SAM.

Poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP)-capped dendritic gold nanoparticles by a one-step hydrothermal route and their high SERS effect.

Dendritic gold (Au) nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized by the one-step hydrothermal reduction of HAuCl4.4H2O using ammonium formate (AF) as a reducing agent in the presence of PVP. Effects of different reactant concentrations on the morphologies of obtained products have been systematically investigated.