This paper provides an overview of how the surface properties of ferromagnetic nanoparticles dispersed in fluids is modified by natural and biocompatible polymers. Among common magnetic nanoparticles, magnetite (Fe3O4) and maghemite (g-Fe203) are popular candidates because of their biocompatibility. Natural polymeric coating materials are the most commonly used biocompatible magnetic nanopartic...

BACKGROUND A multicenter, multi-country randomized controlled trial (the balANZ study) recently reported that peritonitis rates significantly improved with the use of neutral-pH peritoneal dialysis (PD) solutions low in glucose degradation products ("biocompatible") compared with standard solutions. The present paper reports a secondary outcome analysis of the balANZ trial with respect to perit...

Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is one of the most widely used laboratory disease diagnosis methods. However, performing ELISA in low-resource settings is limited by long incubation time, large volumes of precious reagents, and well-equipped laboratories. Herein, we developed a simple, miniaturized paper/PMMA (poly(methyl methacrylate)) hybrid microfluidic microplate for low-cost, hig...

The ability to control the deposition and location of adherent and non-adherent cells within microfluidic devices is beneficial for the development of micro-scale bioanalytical tools and high-throughput screening systems. Here, we introduce a simple technique to fabricate poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG) microstructures within microfluidic channels that can be used to dock cells within pre-defined lo...

Here, a colloidal templating procedure for generating high-density arrays of gold macroporous microwells, which act as discrete sites for surfaceenhanced Raman scattering (SERS), is reported. Development of such a novel array with discrete macroporous sites requires multiple fabrication steps. First, selective wet-chemical etching of the distal face of a coherent optical fiber bundle produces a...

A successively signal-amplified electrochemical immunoassay has been reported on the basis of the biocatalytic deposition of silver nanoparticles with their subsequent enlargement by nanoparticle-promoted catalytic precipitation of silver from the silver-enhancer solution. The immunoassay was carried out based on a heterogeneous sandwich procedure using polystyrene microwells to immobilize anti...

Allogeneic islet transplantation into the liver has the potential to restore normoglycemia in patients with type 1 diabetes. However, the suboptimal microenvironment for islets in the liver is likely to be involved in the progressive islet dysfunction that is often observed post-transplantation. This study validates a novel microwell scaffold platform to be used for the extrahepatic transplanta...

Mannan-binding lectin (MBL) and C1q activate the complement cascade via attached serine proteases. The proteases C1r and C1s were initially discovered in a complex with C1q, whereas the MBL-associated serine proteases 1 and 2 (MASP-1 and -2) were discovered in a complex with MBL. There is controversy as to whether MBL can utilize C1r and C1s or, inversely, whether C1q can utilize MASP-1 and 2. ...

UNLABELLED We investigated the effect of anticancer drug-loaded functional polymeric nanoparticles on drug resistance of three-dimensional (3D) breast tumor spheroids. 3D tumor models were built using concave microwells with different diameters (300-700μm) and nanoparticles were prepared using thermo-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM)-co-acrylic acid (AA). Upon culturing with doxor...