Sharif Digital Repository

In the present study, bubble-driven magnesium-based micromotors were fabricated through a shading method, and the potential of magnetic guidance of magnesium-based Janus micro/nanomotors through functionalization with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) was investigated for the first time. SPIONs had physical electrostatic attraction with the positively charged magnesium spheres due to negative charges on their surfaces. It was also found that upon applying a field gradient, the micromotors’ velocity increased by 13% unlike other magnetically navigated spherical magnesium-based micromotors which only show a change in direction. In this work the cytotoxicity of the moving... 

Background & Objective: Aluminum (Al) is used in different industries to produce cosmetics, supplements, drugs, food packaging, toothpaste, kitchen utensils, and antiperspirants. Uterine fibroid (UF) is women's most prevalent benign tumor during the reproductive ages. Since Al can accumulate in the body's organs, it may play a role in the pathogenesis of UF. This study aimed to measure Al levels in serum and uterine samples (normal uterine tissue of control and UF patients, and leiomyoma of UF patients). Materials & Methods: In this descriptive study, we included ten women who underwent hysterectomy (five women due to UF and five women for a reason other than UF). Samples were obtained from... 

Background: Melittin, a peptide component of honey bee venom, is an appealing candidate for cancer therapy. In the current study, melittin, melittin-loaded niosome, and empty niosome had been optimized and the anticancer effect assessed in vitro on 4T1 and SKBR3 breast cell lines and in vivo on BALB/C inbred mice. "Thin-layer hydration method" was used for preparing the niosomes; different niosomal formulations of melittin were prepared and characterized in terms of morphology, size, polydispersity index, encapsulation efficiency, release kinetics, and stability. A niosome was formulated and loaded with melittin as a promising drug carrier system for chemotherapy of the breast cancer cells.... 

An efficient synthesis of pentacyclic indole derivatives is achieved via domino Knoevenagel-hetero-Diels-Alder reactions of indolin-2-thiones and O-propargylated salicylaldehyde derivatives in CH3CN in the presence of 10 mol % of ZnO as a heterogeneous catalyst. The products are formed in good to excellent yields  

Palladium nanoparticles immobilized on the magnetic nanoparticles@2-amino-N-(2-aminoethyl) benzamide (MNPs@A-N-AEB.Pd0) have been presented as an efficient, and reusable magnetically heterogeneous catalyst for the C-O coupling reaction, namely Ullmann condensation reactions in an aqueous medium. This heterogeneous catalyst shows superior reactivity for the C-O arylation of different aryl halide (chloride, bromide, and iodide) with phenol derivatives to afford the desired products in good to excellent yields within short reaction time. Moreover, the catalyst can be easily recovered and reused for seven runs without loss of catalytic activity. The catalyst was characterized by several... 

C15H10ClN3O3S, orthorhombic, Pbca (no. 61), a = 11.981(2) Å, b = 14.890(4) Å, c = 17.239(4) Å, V = 3075.4 Å3, Z = 8, Rgt(F) = 0.053, wRref(F2) = 0.123, T = 120 K. © by Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag  

A comprehensive study was carried out for the first time on the acidity of eleven different leaves. After functionalization of the leaves with –SO3H groups, the most acidic one was magnetized using nickel ferrite nanoparticles. This novel, inexpensive, green and biodegradable catalyst showed high activity in the synthesis of pyrazoline and 2-amino nicotinonitriles. Some compounds are new and have never been synthesized before and confirmed by FT-IR, 1H NMR and 13C NMR analysis. All of these compounds possess multiple biological activities. The heterogeneous magnetic catalyst (NiFe2O4-Alnus-SO3H) was characterized by various physicochemical techniques such as FT-IR spectroscopy, field... 

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) as therapeutic agents have attracted increasing interest in the past decade owing to their significant effectiveness in treating a wide array of ailments. These polymerases II-derived noncoding RNAs act through post-transcriptional controlling of different proteins and their allied pathways. Like other areas of medicine, researchers have utilized miRNAs for managing acute and chronic wounds. The increase in the number of patients suffering from either under-healing or over-healing wound demonstrates the limited efficacy of the current wound healing strategies and dictates the demands for simpler approaches with greater efficacy. Various miRNA can be designed to induce... 

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) as therapeutic agents have attracted increasing interest in the past decade owing to their significant effectiveness in treating a wide array of ailments. These polymerases II-derived noncoding RNAs act through post-transcriptional controlling of different proteins and their allied pathways. Like other areas of medicine, researchers have utilized miRNAs for managing acute and chronic wounds. The increase in the number of patients suffering from either under-healing or over-healing wound demonstrates the limited efficacy of the current wound healing strategies and dictates the demands for simpler approaches with greater efficacy. Various miRNA can be designed to induce... 

Compound 3-benzyl-2H-pyrano[3,2-c]chromene-2,5(6H)-dione(3), was prepared and fully characterized. The vibrational modes (FT-IR) and NMR data ( 1H and 13C chemical shifts) were compared with the results of Density Functional Theory (DFT) method at the B3LYP/cc-PVTZ level. The calculated vibrational frequencies and NMR chemical shifts are in good agreement with the experimental results. The electronic (UV-Vis) spectrum was calculated using the TD-DFT method in CH2Cl2 with the Polarizable Continuum Model using the integral equation formalism variant (IEFPCM) and was correlated to the experimental spectra. The assignment and analysis of the frontier HOMO and LUMO orbitals indicate that... 

This study aims to develop a low computational cost framework to optimize the seismic performance of the steel moment-resisting frames (SMRFs) equipped with friction dampers at different performance levels. To achieve the optimal design of dampers in a structure, a novel approach called adaptive optimisation technique (AOT) is adopted. The basis of this method is to achieve a uniform distribution of damage (UDD) in the structure to exploit the maximum energy dissipation capacity of the dampers. The optimisation objective is to obtain the best position of friction dampers and minimize their slip-threshold force to satisfy a predefined inter-story drift (i.e. selected performance target). The... 

N-benzyl-DABCO tribromide, a stable, crystalline organic ammonium tribromide (OATB), have been used as an alternative electrophilic bromine source for the efficient oxidative cyclization of thiobenzanilides to the corresponding benzothiazoles under mild conditions. © Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart  

Dracocephalum kotschyi essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation (HD), microwave-assisted hydrodistillation (MAHD), and solvent-free microwave extraction (SFME) were investigated by GC-FID (Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector) and GC-MS (Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry). The percentage of oxygenated compounds was significantly increased from 62.52% in HD to 76.47% in MAHD, and 84.52% in SFME. Conversely, the monoterpene hydrocarbons were decreased from 30.84% in HD to 13.71% in MAHD, and 5.85% in SFME. The main compound in the essential oil obtained by HD is limonene, which accounted for more than 30% of the oil, while the percentage of this compound was reduced to 9.52% in... 

In this paper, the effect of various arrangements of displacement, velocity and acceleration related weighting matrices on the performance of active control systems on nonlinear frames has been studied. Different arrangements of weighting matrices and feedback combinations of the response have been considered to design the active controllers using a single actuator for reducing the response of an eight-storey bilinear hysteretic frame under white noise excitations. The nonlinear Newmark-based instantaneous optimal control algorithm has been used, where the distributed genetic algorithm (DGA) is employed to determine the proper set of weighting matrices. For each set of feedback and weighting... 

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell performance is directly related to the bipolar plate design and their channels pattern. Power enhancements can be achieved by optimal design of the type, size, or patterns of the channels. It has been realized that the bipolar plate design has significant role on reactant transport as well as water management in a PEM Fuel cell. Present work concentrates on improvements in the fuel cell performance by optimization of flow-field design and channels configurations. A three-dimensional, multi-component numerical model of flow distribution based on Navier-Stokes equations using individual computer code is presented. The simulation results showed excellent... 

This study proposes a computer modeling approach to find the optimal damping coefficients of the viscoelastic ankle-foot prostheses for each specific amputee. A two-dimensional locomotion model was developed for a transtibial amputee and personalized using his body measures and the reference gait pattern of an equivalent able-bodied subject. By employing the forward dynamic simulation, the amputee’s locomotion was synthesized for different prosthetic settings to find the optimal damping coefficients, based on a kinematics and a total work cost function. Results indicated a good agreement between the model predictions and the experimental observations. © 2018, © 2018 RESNA  

This study proposes a computer modeling approach to find the optimal damping coefficients of the viscoelastic ankle-foot prostheses for each specific amputee. A two-dimensional locomotion model was developed for a transtibial amputee and personalized using his body measures and the reference gait pattern of an equivalent able-bodied subject. By employing the forward dynamic simulation, the amputee’s locomotion was synthesized for different prosthetic settings to find the optimal damping coefficients, based on a kinematics and a total work cost function. Results indicated a good agreement between the model predictions and the experimental observations. © 2018, © 2018 RESNA  

The first diastereoselective synthesis of spirothiooxindoles is reported via the Michael reaction between thiooxindoles and dibenzalacetones. The reaction was conducted without any catalyst or additive under green conditions, i.e., ethanol as the solvent and at room temperature. In addition, the described robust method benefits from scalability, simple work-up, and column chromatography-free purification. This work demonstrates the art of governing regio- and stereoselectivity, which has been discussed in the light of Density Functional Theory calculations. Our method represents the first synthesis of spiro[cyclohexanone-thiooxindoles] with the relative configuration of the aryl moieties at...