Synergic Effects of Surfactant and Chelating Agent on Stubborn Keratin Grime for Easy Cleaning.

We report on the synergic effect of surfactants and chelating agents on the mechanism to remove stubborn keratin grime (keratin-Ca), which is bound with calcium ions and one of the most difficult grimes to remove, in order to make it easier to clean bathtubs in less time and with less scrubbing. Our approach was to focus on keratin swelling, which we achieved by applying aqueous solutions with chelating agents and anionic surfactants, the combination of which greatly improved the swelling ratio, resulting in quick, easy removal of keratin-Ca with water rinsing and little scrubbing. For the swelling process, we added chelating agents and anionic surfactants to swell the keratin-Ca by both capturing calcium ions and improving solution permeation.

Structural Viscosity Induced by Depletion Effect in Stable Vesicle Dispersion.

Producing structural viscosity in colloidal dispersions, such as vesicles and capsules, prevents separation of dispersed particles by increasing the viscosity between them, which is advantageous in terms of usability. So far, the separation behavior of various particles has been studied; however, there are very few examples wherein a stable dispersion state was constructed and controlled. In this study, we produced stable dispersions induced by the depletion effect in mixtures of vesicles of cationic surfactant derived from triethanolamine-based esterquat (TEQ) and a specific dextrin derivative (SDD) as a non-adsorptive polymer.

The nanostructure of murine alveolar bone and its changes due to type 2 diabetes.

Alveolar bone - the bony ridge containing the tooth sockets - stands out by its remodeling activity where bone is being formed and resorbed at a much higher rate than in any other bony tissue. Teeth that are anchored in the jaw through the periodontal ligament exert very large localized loads during mastication that could lead to a unique adaptation of the collagen/mineral structure in the bone. Our aim was to characterize the nanostructure of alveolar bone and to determine the influence of diabetes on structural characteristics of the mineralized matrix.

Scattering and Spectroscopic Study on the Hydration and Phase Behavior of Aqueous Alcohol Ethoxylate and Methyl Ester Ethoxylate: Effects of Terminal Groups in Hydrophilic Chains.

Using dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and viscometry, we have investigated the hydration behavior, static structures, Brownian dynamics, and mechanical properties of aqueous solutions of alcohol ethoxylate (C12E15) and methyl ester ethoxylate (C12MEE), hereafter abbreviated as AE and MEE, respectively, in which we especially focus on the effects of the endcaps of these nonionic surfactants. We find that AE and MEE exhibit fairly different phase behaviors in water: AE produces liquid crystalline phases at w (surfactant weight fraction) > 0.35, whereas MEE retains a liquid phase in an extremely wide concentration range (w < 0.

Structural analysis and adsorbability onto the corneal epithelial cells-model interface of vitamin nano-emulsions.

O/W nano-emulsions can be used as effective drug carriers of hydrophobic active ingredients in an aqueous solution, because nano-emulsions are comparatively stable and their structure can be controlled by changing the compositions and the preparation methods. In this paper, we focused on vitamin A and its derivatives (VA), which are among the widely-used lipophilic active ingredients, and tried to develop the nano-emulsions, which can bring out the efficiency of VA for the healing of injured corneas, with the detailed structural analysis of them using the small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) method. As a result, we elucidated that the nano-emulsions bearing the hydrophobic oil/water interface can be prepared by decreasing the surfactant concentration against vitamins.

Location of cholesterol in liposomes by using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) data and the generalized indirect Fourier transformation (GIFT) method.

We investigated the location of cholesterol (Chol) in liposomes and its interaction with phospholipids using small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) data and applying the generalized indirect Fourier transformation (GIFT) method. The GIFT method has been applied to lamellar liquid crystal systems and it gives quantitative data on bilayer thickness, electron density profile, and membrane flexibility (Caillé parameter). When the GIFT method is applied to the SAXS data of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) alone (Chol [-]) or a DPPC/Chol = 7/3 mixed system (Chol [+], molar ratio), change in the bilayer thickness was insignificant in both systems.