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Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a multifaceted neurodegenerative disease predominantly defined by the extracellular accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide. In light of this, in the past decade, several clinical approaches have been used aiming at developing peptides for therapeutic use in AD. The use of cationic arginine-rich peptides (CARPs) in targeting protein aggregations has been on the rise. Also, the process of peptide development employing computational approaches has attracted a lot of attention recently. Using a structure database containing pentapeptides made from 20 L-α amino acids, we employed molecular docking to sort pentapeptides that can bind to Aβ42, then performed molecular dynamics (MD) analyses, including analysis of the binding stability, interaction energy, and binding free energy to screen ligands. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), circular dichroism (CD), thioflavin T (ThT) fluorescence detection of Aβ42 polymerization, MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay, and the flow cytometry of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were carried out to evaluate the influence of pentapeptides on the aggregation and cell toxicity of Aβ42. Two pentapeptides (TRRRR and ARRGR) were found to have strong effects on inhibiting the aggregation of Aβ42 and reducing the toxicity of Aβ42 secreted by SH-SY5Y cells, including cell death, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and apoptosis.

A poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-mediated nanotransfer printing method is described, which has created arbitrary purpose-directed nanostructures with various nanoscale building blocks. The nanoscale bricklaying method has paved the way to generate purpose-directed nanostructured with homo- or heterogeneous building blocks.

The controllable interconnection of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT's) under alternating current (AC) electric field is demonstrated. The results reveal that these carbon nanotubes were found to be parallel with the electric flux and increase abruptly with deposition time following a self-accelerating process.

A novel electric field-enhanced chemical assembly approach for fabricating highly aligned single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) arrays on a solid surface with remarkably improved efficiency and packing density is reported. The molecular dynamics simulation results clarified the alignment of SWNTs with their long axes along the electric flux in solution, leading to the increase of packing density and efficiency through overcoming the steric hindrance of the 'giant' carbon nanotubes.

By using the specifically designed multigap nanoelectrodes, we demonstrated an effective approach for the simultaneous dielectrophoretic separation and assembly of metallic and semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). An approximate metallic—semiconductingߞmetallic multiarray structure was created by an inward-propagative sequential assembly of SWNTs under ac electric field. Such kinds of SWNT multiarray structures exhibited ultra-low-power consumption and excellent thermal sensing performances with the sensitivity being dependent on the number of gaps: the more gaps, the higher sensitivity. The effective separation of metallic and semiconducting tubes in different gaps is believed to be responsible for the improved sensitivity to temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By fabricating a PMMA control strip at the SWNTs-electrode contact area to screen off the water gate effect, metallic and semiconducting SWNTs were easily identified during the conventional electropolymerization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrated a prototype of nanoelectromechanical switch which was fabricated with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). An alternating current electric field was utilized to assemble interconnected SWCNTs suspended over the focused ion beam lithography fabricated trenches on the electrode surface. By controlling the electromechanical coupling between the electrostatic and elastostatic forces acting on the SWCNTs, we realized the on and off states of the SWCNT switches. Both two-terminal and three-terminal measurements have been conducted and indicated repeatable switch effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A facile and green method was employed to prepare large-scale free-standing TiO2 nanotube (TNT) arrays, in which as-anodized TiO2 nanotube films prepared in organic electrolytes with thickness ranging from seven to tens of micrometers were then ultrasonicated in a mix solution of ethanol and water. By controlling the ratio of ethanol to water, the time and the power of ultrasonication, large-scale free-standing TiO2 nanotube arrays without any crack could be detached from the Ti substrates. Hydrogen sensing results demonstrated that the free-standing TNT film is more sensitive than a film with Ti substrates when exposed to 1000 ppm hydrogen ambient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]