The early development of solid tumours has been extensively studied, both experimentally via the multicellular spheroid assay, and theoretically using mathematical modelling. The vast majority of previous models apply specifically to multicell spheroids, which have a characteristic structure of a proliferating rim and a necrotic core, separated by a band of quiescent cells. Many previous models...

AIM To determine the effect of pH, osmolality, and buffering system on the oxygen permeability (Dk) of soft contact lenses. METHODS Two hydrogel lenses (nelfilcon A and etafilcon A) and 2 silicone hydrogel lenses (lotrafilcon A and balafilcon A) were used in the study. These lenses were incubated in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and borate-buffered saline (BBS) solutions adjusted by 0.8 pH ...

As the first line of defence, skin is regularly exposed to a variety of biological, physical and chemical insults. Therefore, determining the skin sensitization potential of new chemicals is of paramount importance from the safety assessment and regulatory point of view. Given the questionable biological relevance of animal models to human as well as ethical and regulatory pressure to limit or ...

Climbing fibers (CFs) originating in the inferior olive (IO) constitute one of the main inputs to the cerebellum. In the mammalian cerebellar cortex each of them climbs into the dendritic tree of up to 10 Purkinje cells (PCs) where they make hundreds of synaptic contacts and elicit the so-called all-or-none complex spikes controlling the output. While it has been proven that CFs contact molecul...

We reveal the rather complex interplay of contact-induced re-orientation and interfacial electronic structure - in the presence of Fermi-level pinning - at prototypical molecular heterojunctions comprising copper phthalocyanine (H16CuPc) and its perfluorinated analogue (F16CuPc), by employing ultraviolet photoelectron and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. For both layer sequences, we find that Fer...

Self-assembled multilayers of lignosulfonates (LS) were built up on both quartz slides and cellulose fibers using a Cu-mediated layer-by-layer (LBL) technique. The growth of LS multilayers on quartz slides was monitored by UV-Vis spectroscopy, and the absorbance at 205 nm as well as at 280 nm was found to linearly increase with the number of layers. The formation of LS multilayers on fibers sur...

A mixture of graphene oxide (GO) and TiO2 nanocomposites was reduced photocatalytically by UV-irradiation and applied as interfacial layer between a fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) layer and a nanocrystalline TiO2 film. Impedance spectra implied a decreased back-transport reaction of electrons. The graphene–TiO2 interfacial layer effectively reduced the contact between I 3 ions in the electrolyt...

We investigate experimentally the behavior of a thin sheet of polytetrafluoroethylene between a steel plate and a cylindrical steel indenter under combined action of high normal force and torsion. Under these actions, the polytetrafluoroethylene layer is partially squeezed out of the contact area. The thickness of the remaining layer is studied as function of the applied normal force, the torsi...

We present a study of the ordering temperature of an ultrathin antiferromagnetic film in the proximity of a ferromagnetic layer. The Néel temperature of a single-crystalline antiferromagnetic FexMn1-x film on Cu(001) in contact with a ferromagnetic Ni layer was monitored by the discontinuity in the coercivity as a function of temperature by magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements. It decreases...