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Herein, we describe a facile method to produce nickel oxalate nanostructures by chemical reaction of oxalic acid and a nickel foil in various organic solvents and water. Grass-like structures consisting of nickel oxalate are produced by the chemical reaction within 30 min for all solvents. Interestingly, nickel oxalate nanowires can be produced by the addition of a small amount of water in certain solvents. Annealing of nickel oxalate structures leads to formation of nickel oxide structures with a slight morphological change. Compositions of the nanostructures are investigated by TEM and FT-IR analyses. In addition, the supercapacitance of the nickel oxalate nanostructures is characterized, and the results show that they are superior to that of nickel oxide nanostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the development of an enzyme-amplified sandwich-type immunosensor based on a thin gold film sputtered on an anodic nanoporous niobium oxide (Au@Nb2O5) electrode. The electrocatalytic activity of enzymatically amplified electroactive species and a stable electrode consisting of Au@Nb2O5 were used to obtain a powerful signal amplification of the electrochemical immunobiosensor. The method using this electrochemical biosensor based on an Au@Nb2O5 electrode provides a much better performance than those based on conventional bulk gold or niobium oxide electrodes. Our novel approach does not require any time-consuming cleaning steps to yield reproducible electrochemical signals. In addition, the strong adhesion of gold films on the niobium oxide electrodes offers a very stable substrate during electrochemical biosensing. Cyclic voltammetry measurements indicate that non-specific binding of proteins to the modified Au@Nb2O5 surface is sufficiently low to be ignored in the case of our novel system. Finally, we demonstrated the ability of the biosensor based on an Au@Nb2O5 offering the enhanced performance with a high resolution and sensitivity. Therefore, it is expected that the biosensor based on an Au@Nb2O5 has great potential for highly efficient biological devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel approach to the fabrication of porous scaffolds with surface-immobilized nano-hydroxyapatite (N-HAp) is developed for effective bone tissue engineering. The discrete nano-level anchoring of N-HAp on the pore surface of chitosan scaffolds is achieved using surface-repellent stable colloidal N-HAp with surface phosphate functionality. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirm pronounced exposure of N-HAp on the surfaces of chitosan scaffolds at the nano-level, which can not be accomplished with the conventional polymer/N-HAp composite scaffolds. This rational surface engineering enables surface-anchored N-HAp to express its overall intrinsic bioactivity, since N-HAp is not phase-mixed with the polymers. The porous chitosan scaffolds with surface-immobilized N-HAp provide more favorable environments than conventional bulk phase-mixed chitosan/N-HAp scaffolds in terms of cellular interaction and growth. In vitro biological evaluation using alkaline phosphatase activity assay supports that immobilized N-HAp on pore surfaces of chitosan scaffolds contributed to the more enhanced in vitro osteogenic potential. In addition, scaffolds with surface-exposed N-HAp provide favorable environments for enhanced in vivo bone tissue growth, estimated by characteristic biomarkers of bone formation such as collagen. The results suggest that the newly developed hybrid scaffolds with surface-immobilized N-HAp may serve as useful 3D substrates with pore surfaces featuring excellent bone tissue-regenerative properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work demonstrates the synthesis and characterization of novel nanoporous silicified phospholipid bilayers assembled inorganic powders. The materials are obtained by silicification process with silica precursor at the hydrophilic region of phospholipid bilayers. This process involves the co-assembly of a chemically active phospholipids bilayer within the ordered porosity of a silica matrix and holds promise as a novel application for controlled drug release or drug containers with a high level of specificity and throughput. The controlled release application of the synthesized materials was achieved to glycolic acid, and obtained a zero-order release pattern due to the nanoporosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Telomerase reverse transcriptase ( hTERT) is the rate-limiting determinant of telomerase, which is critical for carcinogenesis. Dysplastic nodules (DNs) appear to be preneoplastic lesions of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). In this study, in order to characterize DNs, hTERT mRNA, hTERT gene dosage, and mRNA for c-myc, a transcriptional activator of hTERT were studied in human multi-step hepatocarcinogenesis. METHODS: Fifty four hepatic nodules including 5 large regenerative nodules, 14 low-grade DNs, 7 high-grade DNs, 11 DNs with HCC foci and 17 HCCs, 23 livers with chronic hepatitis/cirrhosis, and 6 normal livers were examined. Transcript levels were measured by real-time quantitative RT-PCR and gene dosages by real-time PCR and Southern blotting. RESULTS: The hTERT mRNA levels increased with the progression of hepatocarcinogenesis, and a significant induction in the transition between low- and high-grade DNs was seen. Most high-grade DNs strongly expressed hTERT mRNA at levels similar to those of HCCs. Twenty-one percent of low-grade DNs had high levels of hTERT mRNA, up to those of high-grade DNs and there was no difference in the pathological features between low-grade DNs with and without increased hTERT mRNA levels. No correlation was found between hTERT mRNA levels, hTERT gene dosage, and c-myc mRNA levels. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the induction of hTERT mRNA is an important early event and that its measurement by real-time quantitative RT-PCR is a useful tool to detect premalignant/malignant tendencies in hepatic nodules. However, hTERT gene dosage and c-myc expression are not the main mechanisms regulating hTERT expression in hepatocarcinogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Titanium oxide (TiO2) nanowires were prepared for an electrolytic capacitor application by the automatic dipping technique using a porous alumina template. The automatic dipping technique allows us to exactly control the dipping rate so that we can obtain homogenous infiltration of nanowires in the porous alumina membrane, even though the solution is very acidic. From the TEM, SEM and XRD measurements, we confirmed that anatase phase TiO2 nanowires are highly infiltrated into the porous alumina template. In addition, the electrostatic capacitance of nanowires was measured and compared with a theoretical calculation using an effective thickness (δe). We found that the effective thickness corresponds to the mean radius of nanowires and the experimental measurements were in good agreement with the calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a novel procedure to fabricate WO3@surface-mounted metal–organic framework (SURMOF) hybrid materials by electrodeposition of WO3 nanoparticles into HKUST-1, also termed Cu3(BTC)2 SURMOFs. These materials have been characterized using x-ray diffraction, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy as well as linear sweep voltammetry. The WO3 semiconductor/SURMOF heterostructures were further tested as hybrid electrodes in their performance for hydrogen evolution reaction from water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel route to organic-inorganic composites was described based on biomineralization of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based hydrogels. The 3-dimensional hydrogels were synthesized by radical crosslinking polymerization of poly(ethylene glycol fumarate) (PEGF) in the presence of ethylene glycol methacrylate phosphate (EGMP) as an apatite-nuclating monomer, acrylamide (AAm) as a composition-modulating comonomer, and potassium persulfate (PPS) as a radical initiator. We used the urea-mediated solution precipitation technique for biomineralization of hydrogels. The apatite grown on the surface and interior of the hydrogel was similar to biological apatites in the composition and crystalline structure. Powder x-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that the calcium phosphate crystalline platelets on hydrogels are preferentially aligned along the crystallographic c-axis direction. Inductively-coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) analysis showed that the Ca/P molar ratio of apatites grown on the hydrogel template was found to be 1.60, which is identical to that of natural bones. In vitro cell experiments showed that the cell adhesion/proliferation on the mineralized hydrogel was more pronounced than on the pure polymer hydrogel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Without using any additives, cuprous oxide (Cu2O) nanoparticles with a size of less than 20 nm that are hexagonally arrayed on a substrate are prepared by electrochemical methods based on the preferential nucleation of seeds on a nanostructured substrate. The nanosized Cu2O particles develop to become uniform microparticles of Cu2O. We found that the nanostructured substrate leads to the lowering of the overpotential for the nucleation of Cu2O particles and narrows the size distribution of the particles, compared to a polished substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The simultaneous doping of RuO2 and IrO2 catalysts into anodic TiO2 nanotubes (NTs) was successfully achieved by single-step anodization. KRuO4 was used as the precursor for the RuO2 dopant. However, for IrO2 doping, IrOx nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized from IrCl3 as an intermediate species to avoid damage to the NTs by chloride ions during doping. −IrO4 generated from the IrOx NPs through selective dissolution in the electrolyte was simultaneously doped into the positively biased TiO2 NTs along with RuO2. The structural features, NT length, and amount of catalyst doping were controlled by the concentration of HF in the electrolyte and the anodizing time. The binary-catalyst-doped TiO2 NTs exhibited an outstanding onset potential of 0.84 V for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In addition, the amount of O2 gas evolved during the OER at 2.0 V was measured to be 230 μmol cm−2 min−1 by gas chromatography, which corresponds to a faradaic efficiency of 99%. The major oxidation states of the metals in the catalysts were found to be Ru4+ and Ir4+ by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy selected area electron diffraction analysis, indicating the presence of RuO2 and IrO2 in the TiO2 NTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]