Preclinical Development of Magnetic Nanoparticles for Hyperthermia Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a very challenging disease with a very poor prognosis. It is characterized by a dense desmoplastic stroma that hampers drug penetration and limits the effectiveness of conventional chemotherapy (CT). As an alternative, the combination of CT with hyperthermia (HT) has been proposed as an innovative treatment modality for PDAC.

Thermoresponsive gel embedding extracellular vesicles from adipose stromal cells improves the healing of colonic anastomoses following irradiation in rats.

Anastomotic leak occurrence is a severe complication after colorectal surgery. Considering the difficulty of treating these leaks and their impact on patient care, there is a strong need for an efficient prevention strategy. We evaluated a combination of extracellular vesicles (EVs) from rat adipose-derived stromal cells with a thermoresponsive gel, Pluronic® F127 (PF-127) to prevent anastomotic leaks.

Role of cardiolipin in proton transmembrane flux and localization.

In eukaryotic cells, the phospholipid cardiolipin (CL) is a crucial component that influences the function and organization of the mitochondrial inner membrane. In this study, we examined its potential role in passive proton transmembrane flux using unilamellar vesicles composed of natural egg phosphatidylcholine (PC) alone or with the inclusion of 18 or 34 mol % CL. A membrane potential was induced by a potassium gradient, and oxonol VI dye was used to monitor membrane potential dissipation resulting from proton transmembrane efflux.

Smooth Muscle Mechanosensitivity Generates and Maintains Pressure Gradients Across the Intestine.

Background: The gut, the ureter, or the Fallopian tube all transport biological fluids by generating trains of propagating smooth muscle constrictions collectively known as peristalsis. These tubes connect body compartments at different pressures. We extend here Poiseuille's experiments on liquid flow in inert tubes to an active, mechanosensitive tube: the intestine.

Magnetic levitation in the field of a rotating dipole.

It is well known that two permanent magnets of fixed orientation will either always repel or attract one another regardless of the distance between them. However, if one magnet is rotated at sufficient speed, a stable position at a given equilibrium distance can exist for a second free magnet. The equilibrium is produced by magnetic forces alone, which are strong enough to maintain a levitating state under gravity.

Linking local microstructure to fracture location in a two-dimensional amorphous solid under isotropic strain.

Brittle fracturing of materials is common in natural and industrial processes over a variety of length scales. Knowledge of individual particle dynamics is vital to obtain deeper insight into the atomistic processes governing crack propagation in such materials, yet it is challenging to obtain these details in experiments. We propose an experimental approach where isotropic dilational strain is applied to a densely packed monolayer of attractive colloidal microspheres, resulting in fracture.

MOF-Enhanced Phototherapeutic Wound Dressings Against Drug-Resistant Bacteria.

Phototherapy is a low-risk alternative to traditional antibiotics against drug-resistant bacterial infections. However, optimizing phototherapy agents, refining treatment conditions, and addressing misuse of agents, remain a formidable challenge. This study introduces a novel concept leveraging the unique customizability of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to house size-matched dye molecules in "single rooms".

Condition states in anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) and sardine (Sardina pilchardus) revealed by energy and proximate composition relationships.

Energy content has long been proposed as a fundamental, integrated, and reliable indicator of the condition of individuals as it reflects past bioenergetics and influences future life-history traits. There is a direct biochemical link between energy density and body composition described by four main compounds in fish (protein, lipid, ash, and water), with proteins and lipids being the sources of energy. If relationships between water content, or lipid content, and energy density have been well described in relative terms, the absolute mass variations in the proximate composition have been overlooked and thus their interpretation is often equivocal.

Irreversible Boltzmann samplers in dense liquids: Weak-coupling approximation and mode-coupling theory.

Exerting a nonequilibrium drive on an otherwise equilibrium Langevin process brings the dynamics out of equilibrium but can also speed up the approach to the Boltzmann steady state. Transverse forces are a minimal framework to achieve dynamical acceleration of the Boltzmann sampling. We consider a simple liquid in three space dimensions subjected to additional transverse pairwise forces, and quantify the extent to which transverse forces accelerate the dynamics.

Calcium wave dynamics in the embryonic mouse gut mesenchyme: impact on smooth muscle differentiation.

Intestinal smooth muscle differentiation is a complex physico-biological process involving several different pathways. Here, we investigate the properties of Ca waves in the developing intestinal mesenchyme using GCamp6f expressing mouse embryos and investigate their relationship with smooth muscle differentiation. We find that Ca waves are absent in the pre-differentiation mesenchyme and start propagating immediately following α-SMA expression.

A polarized FGF8 source specifies frontotemporal signatures in spatially oriented cell populations of cortical assembloids.

Organoids generating major cortical cell types in distinct compartments are used to study cortical development, evolution and disorders. However, the lack of morphogen gradients imparting cortical positional information and topography in current systems hinders the investigation of complex phenotypes. Here, we engineer human cortical assembloids by fusing an organizer-like structure expressing fibroblast growth factor 8 (FGF8) with an elongated organoid to enable the controlled modulation of FGF8 signaling along the longitudinal organoid axis.

Monte Carlo simulations of glass-forming liquids beyond Metropolis.

Monte Carlo simulations are widely employed to measure the physical properties of glass-forming liquids in thermal equilibrium. Combined with local Monte Carlo moves, the Metropolis algorithm can also be used to simulate the relaxation dynamics, thus offering an efficient alternative to molecular dynamics. Monte Carlo simulations are, however, more versatile because carefully designed Monte Carlo algorithms can more efficiently sample the rugged free energy landscape characteristic of glassy systems.

Rheology of Suspensions of Non-Brownian Soft Spheres across the Jamming and Viscous-to-Inertial Transitions.

The rheology of suspensions of non-Brownian soft spheres is studied across jamming but also across the viscous and inertial regimes using a custom pressure- and volume-imposed rheometer. The study shows that the granular rheology found for suspensions of hard spheres can be extended to a soft granular rheology (SGranR) by renormalizing the critical volume fraction and friction coefficient to pressure-dependent values and using the addition of the viscous and inertial stress scales. This SGranR encompasses rheological behaviors on both sides of the jamming transition, resulting in an approximate collapse of the rheological data into two branches when scaled with the distance to jamming, as observed for soft colloids.

Force generation by a cylindrical cell under stationary osmolyte synthesis.

Turgor is the driving force of plant growth, making it possible for roots to overcome soil resistance or for stems to counteract gravity. Maintaining a constant growth rate while avoiding cell content dilution, which would progressively stop the inward water flux, imposes the production or import of osmolytes in proportion to the increase of volume. We coin this phenomenon stationary osmoregulation.

Testosterone Nanoemulsion Prevents Prostate Cancer: PC-3 and LNCaP Cell Viability In Vitro.

Unlabelled: For many years, it has been speculated that elevated testosterone levels may be critically involved in the genesis and proliferation of prostate cancer.

Methods: The effect of testosterone on the metabolic activity of hormone-independent [PC-3] and hormone-dependent [LNCAP] cancer cells was investigated in vitro. Additionally, the impact of testosterone nanoemulsion [nanocare] on cell viability was accessed by flow cytometry.

Transverse forces and glassy liquids in infinite dimensions.

We explore the dynamics of a simple liquid whose particles, in addition to standard potential-based interactions, are also subjected to transverse forces preserving the Boltzmann distribution. We derive the effective dynamics of one and two tracer particles in the infinite-dimensional limit. We determine the amount of acceleration of the dynamics caused by the transverse forces, in particular in the vicinity of the glass transition.

Freely Decaying Saffman Turbulence Experimentally Generated by Magnetic Stirrers.

We investigate experimentally the decay of three-dimensional hydrodynamic turbulence, initially generated by the erratic motions of centimeter-size magnetic stirrers in a closed container. Such zero-mean-flow homogeneous isotropic turbulence is well suited to test Saffman's model and Batchelor's model of freely decaying turbulence. Here, we report a consistent set of experimental measurements (temporal decay of the turbulent kinetic energy, of the energy dissipation rate, and growth of the integral scale) strongly supporting the Saffman model.

Deformation under flow and morphological recovery of cancer cells.

The metastatic cascade includes a blood circulation step for cells detached from the primary tumor. This stage involves significant shear stress as well as large and fast deformation as the cells circulate through the microvasculature. These mechanical stimuli are well reproduced in microfluidic devices.

Breakthrough-induced loop formation in evolving transport networks.

Transport networks, such as vasculature or river networks, provide key functions in organisms and the environment. They usually contain loops whose significance for the stability and robustness of the network is well documented. However, the dynamics of their formation is usually not considered.

Tetrodotoxin-resistant mechanosensitivity and L-type calcium channel-mediated spontaneous calcium activity in enteric neurons.

Gut motility undergoes a switch from myogenic to neurogenic control in late embryonic development. Here, we report on the electrical events that underlie this transition in the enteric nervous system, using the GCaMP6f reporter in neural crest cell derivatives. We found that spontaneous calcium activity is tetrodotoxin (TTX) resistant at stage E11.

Effects of nonlinearity on Anderson localization of surface gravity waves.

Anderson localization is a multiple-scattering phenomenon of linear waves propagating within a disordered medium. Discovered in the late 50s for electrons, it has since been observed experimentally with cold atoms and with classical waves (optics, microwaves, and acoustics), but whether wave localization is enhanced or weakened for nonlinear waves is a long-standing debate. Here, we show that the nonlinearity strengthens the localization of surface-gravity waves propagating in a canal with a random bottom.

Tuning Reprocessing Temperature of Aliphatic Polyurethane Networks by Alkoxyamine Selection.

Recent studies have shown that the largest employed thermoset family, polyurethanes (PUs), has great potential to be reprocessed due to the dynamic behavior of carbamate linkage. However, it requires high temperatures, especially in the case of aliphatic PUs, which causes side reactions besides the desired exchange reaction. To facilitate the reprocessing of aliphatic PUs, in this work, we have explored the dynamic potential of alkoxyamine bonds in PU networks to facilitate the reprocessing under mild conditions considering their fast recombination ability.

Granular aqueous suspensions with controlled interparticular friction and adhesion.

We present a simple route to obtain large quantities of suspensions of non-Brownian particles with -responsive surface properties to study the relation between their flow and interparticle interactions. We perform an alkaline hydrolysis reaction on poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) particles to obtain poly(sodium methacrylate) (PMAA-Na) particles. We characterize the quasi-static macroscopic frictional response of their aqueous suspensions using a rotating drum.