Amphiphilic polymer coatings were prepared by first generating surface-anchored polymer layers of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) on top of flat solid substrates followed by postpolymerization reaction on the hydroxyl terminus of HEMA's pendent group using three classes of fluorinating agents, including organosilanes, acylchlorides, and trifluoroacetic anhydride (TFAA). The distributi...

Figure 1: Optical image of 30 nm PS membrane on TEM grid. Patterning of polymer films has been an area of great interest due to the broad range of applications including bio-related and medicinal research. Consequently, the nature of patterned polymer brushes as removable thin films was explored. Both an etching and polyvinyl alcohol dissolution process has enabled us to lift off very thin memb...

AIMS To determine the accuracy of a novel endoluminal brush method for the diagnosis of catheter related sepsis (CRS), which is performed in situ and hence does not require line sacrifice. METHODS 230 central venous catheters in 216 patients were examined prospectively for evidence of CRS or colonisation using an endoluminal brush method in conjunction with peripheral blood cultures. The resu...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this investigation was to assess the comparative gingivitis and plaque reduction efficacy of a leading oscillating-rotating power toothbrush and a recently introduced sonic toothbrush in adults with gingivitis. METHODS This was a 12-week, randomized and controlled, parallel group, examiner-blind, single-center clinical study of 130 adults with pre-existing gingivitis and ...

In this study we investigated the influence of an organic polystyrene brush on the deposition of ZnO thin films under moderate conditions. On a non-modified SiO x surface, island growth is observed, whereas the polymer brush induces homogeneous film growth. A chemical modification of the polystyrene brushes during the mineralization process occurs, which enables stronger interaction between the...

Using molecular simulations, we study the properties of a polymer brush in contact with an explicit solvent under Couette and Poiseuille flow. The solvent is comprised of chemically identical chains. We present evidence that individual, unentangled chains in the dense brush exhibit cyclic, tumbling motion and non-Gaussian fluctuations of the molecular orientations similar to the behaviour of is...

Basolateral and brush-border membranes were prepared from the intestines and kidneys of spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and normotensive (WKY) rats fed on a calcium-adequate diet and assayed for their enzyme activities. In intestinal basolateral membranes the activities of Na+ K(+)-ATPase (EC 3.6.1.37) Ca2(+)-ATPase (EC 3.6.1.38) and alkaline phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.1) were lower in SHR rats whe...

We have developed a new stochastic image rendering method for the compression, description and segmentation of images. This paintbrush-like image transformation is based on a random searching to insert brush-strokes into a generated image at decreasing scale of brush-sizes, without predefined models or interaction. We introduced a sequential multiscale image decomposition method, based on simul...

We report here a way for improving the stability of ultramicroelectrodes (UME) based on hexacyanoferrate-modified metals for the detection of hydrogen peroxide. The most stable sensors were obtained by electrochemical deposition of six layers of hexacyanoferrates (HCF), more specifically, an alternating pattern of three layers of Prussian Blue and three layers of Ni-HCF. The microelectrodes mod...