Pheno-Morphological Screening and Acoustic Sorting of 3D Multicellular Aggregates Using Drop Millifluidics.

Three-dimensional multicellular aggregates (MCAs) like organoids and spheroids have become essential tools to study the biological mechanisms involved in the progression of diseases. In cancer research, they are now widely used as in vitro models for drug testing. However, their analysis still relies on tedious manual procedures, which hinders their routine use in large-scale biological assays.

Toxicity assessment of DMSO extracts of environmental aged beached plastics using human cell lines.

Plastic products contain complex mixtures of chemical compounds that are incorporated into polymers to improve material properties. Besides the intentional chemical additives, other compounds including residual monomers and non-intentionnaly added substances (NIAS) as well as sorbed pollutants are usually also present in aged plastic. Since most of these substances are only loosely bound to the polymer via non-covalently interactions, i.

Taxonomic revision of the SK 15 mandible based on bone and tooth structural organization.

The hominin mandible SK 15 was discovered in April 1949 in Swartkrans Member 2, dated to ∼1.4 Ma. Albeit distorted on the right side, the left and right corpus of SK 15 are relatively low and thick, even compared to most Early to Middle Pleistocene Homo specimens.

Impact of Harsh Grinding on the Structure and Color of LiCoPO and LiNiPO Pigments.

LiCoPO and LiNiPO phosphate pigments have colorations very close to the primary colors of the subtractive system: magenta and yellow, respectively. These two pigments are therefore of great interest in a variety of applications, including e-reader devices. However, the need to reduce their crystallite size in order to formulate stable electrophoretic inks has revealed that aggressive milling results in significant color changes, particularly for cobalt-based pigments.

The Grotte du Bison Neandertals (Arcy-sur-Cure, France).

The Grotte du Bison, in Arcy-sur-Cure (Yonne, France), yielded a large assemblage of 49 Neandertal remains from late Mousterian layers, offering critical insights for the study of Middle to Upper Paleolithic populations of Western Europe. Previous studies described the external morphology of 13 isolated teeth and a partial maxilla. Building on this previous work, the current study provides further descriptions and analyses of the remains, including one postcranial fragment, six cranial fragments, two maxillary fragments, and 40 isolated teeth.

The Quest for Contrast in Digital Images of Micro/Nano Structured Polymer Blends Before and After CO Foaming: Impact of Block Copolymer Content and Size Upon Acrylic Cellular Structures.

This work addresses the structural quantification of multiphase materials, here nanostructured polymer solid precursors and their micro/nano sized foamed counterparts. It is based on a strategy of contrast/edge enhancement, locally adaptive to image data in digital images of materials. The method allows to binarize straightforwardly the structures (the phases) in TEM and SEM images after edge identification, edge choice, and image virtual reconstruction.

Self-diffusion in isotropic and liquid crystalline phases of fd virus colloidal rods: a combined single particle tracking and differential dynamic microscopy study.

In this article, we investigate the dynamics of self-organised suspensions formed by rod-like fd virus colloids. Two methods have been employed for analysing fluorescence microscopy movies: single particle tracking (SPT) in direct space and differential dynamic microscopy (DDM) in reciprocal space. We perform a quantitative analysis on this anisotropic system with complex diffusion across different self-assembled states, ranging from dilute and semi-dilute liquids to nematic and smectic organisations.

Three-Dimensional Laser Creation of a Near-IR Laser-Gain Medium Based on Hydride Donor/Acceptor Complexes Made of Coupled Laser-Induced Silver Nanoclusters with Ytterbium Ions.

Femtosecond laser inscription in a ytterbium-doped silver-containing phosphate glass is demonstrated by achieving 3D highly localized laser-induced silver photochemistry. The produced fluorescent silver nanoclusters lead to high optical contrast in the visible range, showing that the coinsertion of Yb ions is not detrimental to the silver-based photochemistry. We demonstrate efficient energy transfer from these silver nanoclusters to the rare-earth Yb ions, leading to near-IR background-free fluorescence emission.

Intra-tooth stable isotope analysis reveals seasonal dietary variability and niche partitioning among bushpigs/red river hogs and warthogs.

How animals respond to seasonal resource availability has profound implications for their dietary flexibility and realized ecological niches. We sought to understand seasonal dietary niche partitioning in extant African suids using intra-tooth stable isotope analysis of enamel. We collected enamel samples from canines of red river hogs/bushpigs ( spp.

Synthesis of New Enantiopure Aminoalcohol Fluorenes as Promising Antimalarial Compounds.

Herein, we report the design, synthesis, and characterisation of a new library of enantiopure aminoalcohol fluorenes, as well as their in vitro evaluation for biological properties, including activity against two strains of P. falciparum (3D7 and W2) and cytotoxicity on the HepG2 cell line. All tested compounds exhibited good to excellent antimalarial potency with IC values ranging from 0.

Oxidation-Resistant Cu-Based Nanowire Transparent Electrodes Activated by an Exothermic Reduction Reaction.

This article describes an approach to making highly stable copper nanowire networks on any type of substrates. These nanostructured materials are highly sought after for, among other applications, the development of next-generation flexible electronics. Their high susceptibility to oxidation in air currently limits their use in the real world.

Dynamic pre-structuration of lipid nanodomain-segregating remorin proteins.

Remorins are multifunctional proteins, regulating immunity, development and symbiosis in plants. When associating to the membrane, remorins sequester specific lipids into functional membrane nanodomains. The multigenic protein family contains six groups, classified upon their protein-domain composition.

Porphyrin J-aggregates as a probe for chiral impurities as demonstrated by their symmetry breaking by confinement in montmorillonite clay.

In this paper, we demonstrate that chiral J-aggregates of porphyrins are able to detect minute chiral impurities, in this case, the presence of right-handed quartz in acid-activated K10 montmorillonite clay. Aggregation and symmetry breaking of 5,10,15,20-(tetra-4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin (TCPP) and 5,10,15,20-(tetra-4-sulfonatophenyl) porphyrin (TPPS) were observed upon interaction with acid-activated montmorillonite clay (MMT-K10). A panel of characterization techniques, including UV-visible, electronic circular dichroism, IR, and vibrational circular dichroism spectroscopies, as well as X-ray scattering, were employed to investigate the aggregation of the confined TPPS and TCPP.

Probing the Intramolecular Folding of Nucleic Acids with Native Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry: Strategies and Caveats.

The goal of native mass spectrometry is to obtain information on noncovalent interactions in solution through mass spectrometry measurements in the gas phase. Characterizing intramolecular folding requires using structural probing techniques such as ion mobility spectrometry. However, inferring solution structures of nucleic acids is difficult because the low-charge state ions produced from aqueous solutions at physiological ionic strength get compacted during electrospray.

Molecular interactions driving the complexation of rose bengal by triazine-carbosilane dendrons.

Amphiphilic dendrons or Janus dendrimers self-assembling into nanoscale vesicles offer promising avenues for drug delivery. Triazine-carbosilane dendrons have shown great potential for the intracellular delivery of rose bengal, additionally enhancing its phototoxic activity through non-covalent interactions. Thus, understanding the complexation dynamics between dendrons and photosensitizers is crucial for the development of efficient drug carriers.

Unveiling the Potential of Redox Chemistry to Form Size-Tunable, High-Index Silicon Particles.

Silicon particles of intermediate sizes (75-200 nm) scatter visible wavelengths, making them promising candidates for optical devices. The solution synthesis of silicon particles in this size range, however, has proved challenging for chemists over the past few decades. Here, a solution-phase synthesis provides a pathway toward reaching size tunability between 45 and 230 nm via changing the reactant ratio in the reaction between a silicon Zintl phase (NaSi) with an amidinate-stabilized Si(IV) coordination complex.

Bioactive hydrogels based on lysine dendrigrafts as crosslinkers: tailoring elastic properties to influence hMSC osteogenic differentiation.

Dendrigrafts are multivalent macromolecules with less ordered topology and higher branching than dendrimers. Exhibiting a high density of terminal amines, poly-L-lysine dendrigrafts of the fifth generation (DGL G5) allow hydrogel formation with tailorable crosslinking density and surface modification. This work presents DGL G5 as multifunctional crosslinkers in biomimetic PEG hydrogels to favour the osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs).

Tripolar Bolalipids as Key Components of Sustained-Release Drug Delivery Systems.

Controlling passive diffusion through an amphiphilic membrane is a key factor for the development of future smart generations of drug delivery systems. It also plays a crucial role in understanding fundamental biological systems through the design of new artificial cell models. We report herein a new concept of bolalipids designed as key components for the control of the membrane's permeability.

Microfluidics for studying the deep underground biosphere: from applications to fundamentals.

In this review, selected examples are presented to demonstrate how microfluidic approaches can be utilized for investigating microbial life from deep geological environments, both from practical and fundamental perspectives. Beginning with the definition of the deep underground biosphere and the conventional experimental techniques employed for these studies, the use of microfluidic systems for accessing critical parameters of deep life in geological environments at the microscale is subsequently addressed (high pressure, high temperature, low volume). Microfluidics can simulate a range of environmental conditions on a chip, enabling rapid and comprehensive studies of microbial behavior and interactions in subsurface ecosystems, such as simulations of porous systems, interactions among microbes/microbes/minerals, and gradient cultivation.

Drastic enhancement of electronic correlations induced by hydrogen insertion in the cerium intermetallic compound CeFeSi.

We report a comparative study of two cerium-based intermetallic compounds: CeFeSi with an anti-PbFCl type structure, and CeFeSiH with a ZrCuSiAs type structure. The latter is obtained from CeFeSi through hydrogen insertion. Our results are based on x-rays, transport, thermodynamic and magnetic measurements.