We report a new theranostic device based on lead sulfide quantum dots (PbS QDs) with optical emission in the near infrared wavelength range decorated with affibodies (small 6.5 kDa protein-based antibody replacements) specific to the cancer biomarker human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and zinc(II) protoporphyrin IX (ZnPP) to combine imaging, targeting and therapy within one nanostructure. Colloidal PbS QDs were synthesized in aqueous solution with a nanocrystal diameter of ∼5 nm and photoluminescence emission in the near infrared wavelength range. The ZHER2:432 affibody, mutated through the introduction of two cysteine residues at the C-terminus (Afb2C), was used as capping ligand to form Afb2C-PbS QDs that have a high binding affinity for HER2, which is overexpressed in several types of cancer including breast cancer. Afb2C-PbS QDs were further modified by conjugation with ZnPP, which acts as an anticancer agent. The biological activity of these QDs was tested against SKBR3 (HER2-positive) and MDA-MB-231 (HER2-normal) breast cancer cells, with results showing that ZnPP-Afb2C-functionalized PbS QDs were successfully targeted to the HER2-overexpressing cancer cells and induced cell apoptosis thanks to the conjugation with ZnPP. These results expand the use of the QD nanoplatform with the formulation of novel nanomaterials for targeted delivery and combined imaging and therapy via direct surface-protein interaction.
Porosity is important because it reflects the presence of oil reserves. Hence, the number of underground reserves and a direct influence on the essential petrophysical parameters, such as permeability and saturation, are related to connected pores. Also, the selection of perforation interval and recommended drilling additional infill wells. For the estimation two distinct methods are used to obtain the results: the first method is based on conventional equations that utilize porosity logs. In contrast, the second approach relies on statistical methods based on making matrices dependent on rock and fluid composition and solving the equations (matrices) instantaneously. In which records have entered as equations, and the matrix is sol
... Show More<p>Vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANET) suffer from dynamic network environment and topological instability that caused by high mobility feature and varying vehicles density. Emerging 5G mobile technologies offer new opportunities to design improved VANET architecture for future intelligent transportation system. However, current software defined networking (SDN) based handover schemes face poor handover performance in VANET environment with notable issues in connection establishment and ongoing communication sessions. These poor connectivity and inflexibility challenges appear at high vehicles speed and high data rate services. Therefore, this paper proposes a flexible handover solution for VANET networks by integrating SDN and
... Show MoreBackground: Frovatriptan succinate (FVT) is an effective medication used to treat migraines; however, available oral formulations suffer from low permeability; accordingly, several formulations of FVT were prepared. Objective: Prepare, optimize, and evaluate FVT-BE formulation to develop enhanced intranasal binary nano-ethosome gel. Methods: Binary ethosomes were prepared using different concentrations of phospholipid PLH90, ethanol, propylene glycol, and cholesterol by thin film hydration and characterized by particle size, zeta potential, and entrapment efficiency. Furthermore, in-vitro, in-vivo, ex-vivo, pharmacokinetics, and histopathological studies were done. Results: Regarding FVT-loaded BE, formula (F9) demonstrated the best paramet
... Show MoreFeature selection (FS) constitutes a series of processes used to decide which relevant features/attributes to include and which irrelevant features to exclude for predictive modeling. It is a crucial task that aids machine learning classifiers in reducing error rates, computation time, overfitting, and improving classification accuracy. It has demonstrated its efficacy in myriads of domains, ranging from its use for text classification (TC), text mining, and image recognition. While there are many traditional FS methods, recent research efforts have been devoted to applying metaheuristic algorithms as FS techniques for the TC task. However, there are few literature reviews concerning TC. Therefore, a comprehensive overview was systematicall
... Show MoreThe current work is focused on the rock typing and flow unit classification for reservoir characterization in carbonate reservoir, a Yamama Reservoir in south of Iraq (Ratawi Field) has been selected, and the study is depending on the logs and cores data from five wells which penetrate Yamama formation. Yamama Reservoir was divided into twenty flow units and rock types, depending on the Microfacies and Electrofacies Character, the well logs pattern, Porosity–Water saturation relationship, flow zone indicator (FZI) method, capillary pressure analysis, and Porosity–Permeability relationship (R35) and cluster analysis method. Four rock types and groups have been identified in the Yamama formation de
Microbial fuel cell is a device that uses the microorganism metabolism for the production of electricity under specific operating conditions. Double chamber microbial fuel cell was tested for the use of two cheap electrode materials copper and aluminum for the production of electricity under different operating conditions. The investigated conditions were concentration of microorganism (yeast) (0.5- 2 g/l), solutions temperature (33-45 oC) and concentration of glucose as a substrate (1.5- 6 g/l). The results demonstrated that copper electrode exhibit good performance while the performance of aluminum is poor. The electricity is generated with and without the addition of substrate. Addition of glucose substrate
... Show MoreThe ability to inhibit corrosion of low carbon steel in a salt solution (3.5%NaCl) has been checked with three real expired drugs (Cloxacillin, Amoxicillin, Ceflaxin) with variable concentrations (0, 250, 500, 750) mg/L were examined in the weight loss. The inhibition efficiency of the Cloxacillin 750 mg/L showed the highest value (82.8125 %) and the best inhibitor of the rest of the antibiotics. The different concentrations of Cloxacillin drug (0, 250, 500, 750) mg/L and temperature (25, 35, 45, 55) oC were studied as variables with potentiodynamic polarization, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) for surface morphology and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) depending on current values and the resistance of charge to
... Show MoreWireless sensor networks (WSNs) are emerging in various application like military, area monitoring, health monitoring, industry monitoring and many more. The challenges of the successful WSN application are the energy consumption problem. since the small, portable batteries integrated into the sensor chips cannot be re-charged easily from an economical point of view. This work focusses on prolonging the network lifetime of WSNs by reducing and balancing energy consumption during routing process from hop number point of view. In this paper, performance simulation was done between two types of protocols LEACH that uses single hop path and MODLEACH that uses multi hop path by using Intel Care i3 CPU (2.13GHz) laptop with MATLAB (R2014a). Th
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