Controlling Calcium Carbonate Particle Morphology, Size, and Molecular Order Using Silicate.

Calcium carbonate (CaCO) is one of the most abundant substances on earth and has a large array of industrial applications. Considerable research has been conducted in an effort to synthesize calcium carbonate microparticles with controllable and specific morphologies and sizes. CaCO produced by a precipitation reaction of calcium nitrate and sodium carbonate solution was found to have high polymorphism and batch to batch variability.

Cardiomyocytes facing fibrotic conditions re-express extracellular matrix transcripts.

Pathophysiological conditions, such as myocardial infarction and mechanical overload affect the mammalian heart integrity, leading to a stiffened fibrotic tissue. With respect to the pathophysiology of cardiac fibrosis but also in the limelight of upcoming approaches of cardiac cell therapy it is of interest to decipher the interaction of cardiomyocytes with fibrotic matrix. Therefore, we designed a hydrogel-based model to engineer fibrotic tissue in vitro as an approach to predict the behavior of cardiomyocytes facing increased matrix rigidity.

Near ultra-violet to mid-visible band gap tuning of mixed cation RbCsPbX (X = Cl or Br) perovskite nanoparticles.

One of the most attractive features of perovskite materials is their chemical flexibility. Due to innovative chemical compositions of perovskites, their optical and structural properties, and functionalities have become more advanced, enabling better solar performance in photovoltaics, as well as robustness and excellent properties in the nanoscale for optoelectronics. The quest for novel perovskite compositions in the nano-scale is significantly important.

Crystallite size--is it a new predictor for renal stone burden?

Objective: To evaluate the importance of stone composition and crystallite size in the formation of ultimate stone burden. Crystallite is the smallest building block, which is unique in size and architecture for each type of stone component. Currently, the knowledge about the clinical importance of crystallite size is very limited.

X-ray diffraction and SEM study of kidney stones in Israel: quantitative analysis, crystallite size determination, and statistical characterization.

Urinary calculi have been recognized as one of the most painful medical disorders. Tenable knowledge of the phase composition of the stones is very important to elucidate an underlying etiology of the stone disease. We report here the results of quantitative X-ray diffraction phase analysis performed on 278 kidney stones from the 275 patients treated at the Department of Urology of Hadassah Hebrew University Hospital (Jerusalem, Israel).

Coalescence of silver nanoparticles at room temperature: unusual crystal structure transformation and dendrite formation induced by self-assembly.

It was found that during the evaporation of water from a droplet of a silver nanoparticles dispersion a self-assembly process leads to the coalescence of the nanoparticles at room temperature and eventually results in a 3D, micrometer-sized dendrite. Direct in situ HR-TEM observation of coalescence events of individual nanoparticles revealed that during this process a transformation of the nanoparticles' crystal structure takes place, from the common fcc silver structure to the unusual hcp structure. It was found that even-though a majority of the nanoparticles in the dispersion have the fcc structure the obtained dendrites are characterized by the hcp structure, reflecting the crystal structure transformation due to the coalescence process.

Development and metrological characterization of quantitative X-ray diffraction phase analysis for the mixtures of clopidogrel bisulphate polymorphs.

Clopidogrel bisulphate (CLP) is a pharmaceutical compound with a novel mechanism of action for the reduction of atherosclerotic events. Only two crystalline forms (CLP I and CLP II) among the six known polymorphs of CLP have therapeutic activity. The structure of the CLP I polymorph is unknown and the structure of the CLP II polymorph is known only partially.

Crystallization of carbamazepine pseudopolymorphs from nonionic microemulsions.

Crystallization of carbamazepine (CBZ), an antiepileptic drug, precipitated from confined spaces of nonionic microemulsions was investigated. The study was aimed to correlate the structure of the microemulsion [water-in-oil (W/O), bicontinuous, and oil-in-water (O/W)] with the crystalline structure and morphology of solid CBZ. The precipitated CBZ was studied by DSC, TGA, powder XRD, single-crystal XRD, SEM, and optical microscopy.