Silk fibroin (SF) is a typical fibrous protein that is secreted by silkworms and spiders. It has been used in a variety of areas, and especially for tissue-engineering scaffolds, due to its sound processability, mechanical properties, biodegradability, and biocompatibility. With respect to gelation, the SF gelation time is long in aqueous solutions, so a novel approach is needed to shorten this...

To adapt the physical properties of living materials to their biological function, nature developed various types of polymers with outstanding physical behavior. One example is the vitreous body, which is important intraocular elements not only because of its optical and mechanical performances, but also due to its important role in the pathogenesis and treatment of conditions affecting adjacen...

Ehrlich ascites tumor cell extracts form a gel when warmed to 25 degrees C at pH 7.0 in sucrose solution, and the gel rapidly becomes a sol when cooled to 0 degrees C. This gel-sol transformation was studied quantitatively by determining the volume or the total protein of pellets of gel obtained by low-speed centrifugation. The gelation depended on nucleotide triphosphates, Mg2+, KCl, and a red...

Mechanical strength of the red cell membrane is dependent on ternary interactions among the skeletal proteins, spectrin, actin, and protein 4.1. Protein 4.1's spectrin-actin-binding (SAB) domain is specified by an alternatively spliced exon encoding 21 amino acid (aa) and a constitutive exon encoding 59 aa. A series of truncated SAB peptides were engineered to define the sequences involved in s...

In situ cross linkable polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based polymers play an increasing role in surgical practice as sealants that provide a barrier to fluid/gas leakage and adhesion formation. This study investigated the gelation behavior and physical properties of hydrogels formed from homogeneous and blended solutions of two acrylated poloxamines (Tetronics® T1107 and T904) of various molecular w...

the aim of this study was to develop an extended-release tablet formulation using a new in situ cross-linking method. the effects of polyvalent cations on theophylline release from tablets made with the polyanionic polymers sodium alginate and sodium carboxymethylcellulose, were investigated. different miliequivalents of the di and tri-valent cation, ca2+ and al3+, were added to tablet formulat...

this paper introduces an innovative partially destructive method, called “twist-off”, for the assessment of in situ concrete strength. in this method a 40mm diameter metal probe is bonded to a concrete surface by means of a high strength epoxy resin adhesive. to measure the concrete compressive strength, a torque is applied using an ordinary torque-meter and the maximum shear stress at failure ...

abstract with increasing population, mine activities for metal proceeding are also increasing, so environment will be influenced by contaminant especially heavy metals. in situ immobilization of heavy metals using inexpensive amendments is considered as a simple and cost-effective approach for reducing heavy metal contamination. in this research we used sequential extraction for assessing reduc...