Sharif Digital Repository

An efficient method for the synthesis of 4-amino-5-pyrimidinecarbonitriles by the three-component reaction of malononitrile, aldehydes, and N-unsubstituted amidines under aqueous conditions using CuO microspheres as catalyst is reported. The catalyst exhibited remarkable reusable activity. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]  

Objective: a convenient numerical model has been developed to predict release profile of different types of agents from bulk biodegrading polymer microspheres, including magnitude methods are less accurate than analytical methods. Usually, this study used analytical solutions for the model and compared the analytical results with numerical solution and experimental data. Methods: The objective drug controlled release profiles were modeled based on a four-phase pattern. Then, a specific formulation was considered based on Fick’s second law. After calculating various parameters, the equations were solved using an analytical method. Results: Comparison results showed that analytical solution... 

Optical tweezers (OT) are widely used for pico (and femto)-Newton range force measurements. The appropriate choice of the bead size is not well understood for biopolymer stretching applications of OT. We have shown, both by theory and experiment, that wrong choice of the bead size could cause errors as large as 295% in the measured force. We provide a simple map for correct choice of the bead size and the direction of pulling for such applications. There is a good agreement between our theoretical and experimental results  

Polymeric microspheres which can load biomolecules, cells and active agents play an important role in tissue engineering and drug delivery systems. The conventional double emulsion method has been frequently used to fabricate polymeric microspheres. However, this method has two major shortcomings: the complicated fabrication process which makes it difficult to predict the characteristics of the final microspheres while the size distribution of the microspheres has a wide range. In this study, we eliminate the shortcomings of the conventional double emulsion method and increase its performance without decreasing its high production rate. This can make the proposed modified method a promising... 

Human cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is a specific biomarker for diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). In this paper, a composite sensing system of an optical microsphere resonator and silver nanoparticles based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) techniques towards a point of care diagnostic system for AMI using the cTnI biomarker in HEPES buffered solution (HBS) is proposed. Pump and Raman signals enter the optical fiber coupling into the microsphere, and then SRS occurs in the microsphere. The presence of silver nanoparticles on the microsphere surface provides a tremendous enhancement of the resulting Raman signal through an... 

Salicylic acid-beeswax microspheres were prepared by melt dispersion technique. The effects of formulation parameters on the microscopic characteristic, drug loading and cumulative amount of released drug were investigated by experimental design. Results showed that all of the microparticles were spherical with porous surfaces. The average size of microspheres was 2448 m, the drug content was in the range of 2245 and the encapsulation efficiency was 4693. Drug loading was influenced by emulsification speed as a main factor. All the microspheres had a burst release initially. The emulsifier concentration did not have a significant effect on drug release. The release behaviour of microspheres... 

Higher reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in cancer cells than normal cells have long been recognized, which makes cancer cells more susceptible to excess ROS. Thus oxidation (also called pro-oxidant) therapy has been explored as new cancer therapy regimens. To produce additional ROS, e.g. H2O2 in situ within tumor, we encapsulated glucose oxidase in chitosan-coated alginate-calcium microspheres (GOX-MS) for locoregional treatment and demonstrated its efficacy against cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Owing to the complex biological functions of ROS, the production rate and amount of H2O2 are critical to achieve therapeutic benefits without causing normal tissue toxicity. This work was... 

This paper presents for the first time a mathematical model for a mechanism of controlled drug release involving both ion exchange and transient counter diffusion of a drug and counterions. Numerical analysis was conducted to study the effect of different factors on drug release kinetics including environmental condition, material properties, and design parameters. The concentration profiles of counterions and drug species, the moving front of ion exchange, and three distinct regions inside a microsphere, namely unextracted region, ion-exchange region and drug diffusion region, were revealed by model prediction. The numerical results indicated that the rate of drug release increased with an... 

A new mathematical model was developed and an exact analytical solution without approximations of previous work was derived for the description of the kinetics and equilibrium characteristics of drug loading from a finite external solution onto ion-exchange microspheres. The influence of important parameters pertinent to material properties and loading conditions on the kinetics, efficiency, and equilibrium of drug loading was analyzed using the developed model and equations. The numerical results showed that the rate of drug loading increased with increasing initial drug concentration in the solution or with the relative volume of the external solution and the microsphere. The maximum... 

Homogeneous and fairly monosized microspherical structures of polyaniline has been synthesized using a simple soft template method with β-naphthalene sulfonic acid (β-NSA) as both the surfactant and dopant, and ammonium persulfate (APS) as the oxidant at 2-5 C. The morphology of PANI-NSA was successfully controlled from nanotubes to microsphere, by changing the synthesis conditions (i.e. pH, the concentration of surfactant and monomer, and temperature). Some mechanistic aspects of the formation of nanotubes and hollow spheres have been discussed precisely based on SEM, TEM, DLS, FTIR and UV-visible results. Moreover, synthesis was performed under acidic environment to obtain further... 

Herein, the fracture toughness of ternary epoxy systems containing nanosilica and hollow glass microspheres (HGMS) is investigated. The experimental measurements reveal synergistic fracture toughness in some hybrid compositions: The incorporation of 10 phr of HGMS and nanosilica alone modify the fracture toughness of epoxy by 39% and 91%, respectively. However, use of 10 phr hybrid modifier can enhance the fracture toughness of the resin up to 120%. Observations reveal different toughening mechanisms for the blends i.e., plastic deformation for silica nanoparticles and crack bifurcation for HGMS. Both of these toughening mechanisms additively contribute to the synergism in ternary epoxies  

A drug delivery system based on poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels containing ibuprofen-loaded poly (lactic acid) (PLA) microspheres was developed to improve the release kinetics of this model drug. Gamma-irradiation and freeze-thawing were applied to prepare poly (vinyl alcohol) hydrogels. Properties and morphology of these composite hydrogels were investigated using FTIR, DSC, and SEM. In vitro release indicated that entrapment of the microspheres into the PVA hydrogels causes a reduction in both the release rate and the initial burst effect. PLA microspheres entrapped into the PVA hydrogels showed more suitable controlled release kinetics for drug delivery  

We proposed a new method for Non-invasive measuring of blood glucose levels by using micro sphere Stimulated Raman scattering. We show that this method can be used to measure biological glucose levels with low power lasers. The field enhancement due to the resonance condition of high quality factor microsphere causes to reduce stimulated Raman scattering thresholds of its surrounding media (glucose) and hence observing stimulated Raman scattering with low power. The results from theoretical studies indicate that the stimulated Raman signal amplitude levels produced from the very low Glucose concentrations. By measuring the changes of the signal intensity in output of fiber, we can determine... 

Toughening of epoxy with different types of modifiers produces a bimodal blend that might show better fracture resistance in comparison with single-modified ones. In this research, bimodal epoxy formulations including mixtures of glass microsphere and silica nanoparticles are explored for possible synergistic toughening. The influence of composition on the glass transition temperature (Tg), tensile characteristics, and fracture toughness (KIC) is investigated. Interestingly, a synergism in fracture toughness is observed when mixtures of modifiers were incorporated. For the fixed overall modifier content, KIC is higher when the volume fraction of glass microsphere is lesser than the volume... 

High-performance supercapacitors that merit superior power and energy densities, as well as long-term cycle durability are always of great significance as a building block of energy storage devices. Herein, an innovative strategy is developed to design hierarchical and unique porous structures of ternary metal sulfide nano-flake decorated porous hydrothermal carbon microspheres. Hierarchical microspheres of ternary zinc-cobalt sulfide nanosheet (NS) decorated biomass derived hydrothermal carbon spheres (HTCSs) are directly employed as the positive supercapacitor electrodes. In addition, composites of pyrolyzed polyaniline nanotubes (PPNTs) and iron oxide, receiving advantages from highly... 

Droplet generation is very important in biochemical processes such as cell encapsulation, digital PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), and drug delivery. In the present paper, a density-based method called “fluidic barrier” is introduced to produce multiple emulsions on a centrifugal microfluidic platform or Lab-on-a-CD (LOCD). We show that the density and the viscosity of the fluids involved are important parameters for predicting the characteristics of the droplets generated with this method. Moreover, we broadened this concept by using the fluidic barriers to separate reactive chemicals. As a proof of concept, alginate and CaCl2 solutions are separated by an oil barrier to control the...