Analytical methods for determination of terbinafine hydrochloride in pharmaceuticals and biological materials

Terbinafine is a new powerful antifungal agent indicated for both oral and topical treatment of myco- sessince. It is highly effective in the treatment of determatomycoses. The chemical and pharmaceutical analysis of the drug requires effective analytical methods for quality control and pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic studies. Ever since it was introduced as an effective antifungal agent, many methods have been developed and validated for its assay in pharmaceuticals and biological materials. This article reviews the various methods reported during the last 25 years.

Making Biological Materials

1 Chemistry and synthesis 1.1 Production and control of materials These days there can be few people who do not know that proteins are defined by DNA. DNA is made of two strands, each of which has along it, like a string of fairy lights, side branches that meet between the strands and hold them together. It is the sequence of these paired side branches （bases） that stores the information needed to define a protein. Three of the bases in sequence provide the information which, translated by the cell＇ s machinery, codes for a particular amino acid. Amino acids polymerise to make up specific proteins and, eventually, us. In defining an organism, that can weigh several tons, in its sequence of bases, the minute amount of DNA necessary for this task is an amazing example of data compression. When I was at school in Cambridge, shortly after Crick and Watson had worked out the basic structure of DNA for their Nobel prize, an enterprising breakfast cereal company had a cardboard cut-out DNA double spiral on the back of their packets. No doubt if you ate enough breakfasts you could save up for a whole gene. I don＇ t know what bit of protein the DNA coded for - I suspect no one did at the time. I remember another of the big names in genetics, Sydney Brenner （whose son went to our school and who later also got a Nobel prize）,

Biologically Enabled Syntheses of Nanostructured 3-D Sensor Materials:the Potential for 3-D Genetically Engineered Microdevices (3-D GEMs)

Three-dimensional (3-D)self-assembly of nanos- tructures and nanodevices on a large scale remains a grand quest for mankind.Freestanding nanostructured assemblies with controlled 3-D shapes can exhibit attractive properties for sensor and other applications. Protocols for 3-D self-assembly that can be scaled up for mass production on a large up to tonnage)scale, while preserving morphological features on a small (down to nanometer)scale,are needed to allow for widespread use of 3-D nanostructures in advanced devices.However,these often conflicting requirements of scalability and precision pose a difficult challenge for synthetic (man-made)processing routes.

Local buckling analysis of biological nanocomposites based on a beam-spring model

Biological materials such as bone, tooth, and nacre are load-bearing nanocomposites composed of mineral and protein. Since the mineral crystals often have slender geometry, the nanocomposites are susceptible to buckle under the compressive load. In this paper, we analyze the local buckling behaviors of the nanocomposite structure of the biological materials using a beam-spring model by which we can consider plenty of mineral crystals and their interaction in our analysis compared with existing studies. We show that there is a transition of the buckling behaviors from a local buckling mode to a global one when we continuously increase the aspect ratio of mineral, leading to an increase of the buckling strength which levels off to the strength of the composites reinforced with continuous crystals. We find that the contact condition at the mineral tips has a striking effect on the local buckling mode at small aspect ratio, but the effect diminishes when the aspect ratio is large. Our analyses also show that the staggered arrangement of mineral plays a central role in the stability of the biological nanocomposites.

Current status and prospects of insect industrialization in China

Insects are a valuable biological resource on Earth,known for their high biodiversity,ease of cultivation,and large populations.In China,the utilization of insects has a long history and has produced significant economic and social benefits.Insect products such as silkworms,silk,and bees are already familiar to the public and have continuously promoted the global economy.Recently,in some ethnic minority areas of China,insect industries have become the main source of fiscal revenue and an essential industrial support for rural revitalization.This has laid a strong foundation for research and development in the insect industry throughout China.It is urgent to utilize national resources to focus on strategic issues related to the high effective development of the insect industry.By gathering related resources for insect research,breakthroughs are expected in the discovery and development of innovative materials,drugs,and proteins based on insect resources.Such advancements will create significant value for human society.

A living foundry for Synthetic Biological Materials:A synthetic biology roadmap to new advanced materials

Society is on the cusp of harnessing recent advances in synthetic biology to discover new bio-based products and routes to their affordable and sustainable manufacture.This is no more evident than in the discovery and manufacture of Synthetic Biological Materials,where synthetic biology has the capacity to usher in a new Materials from Biology era that will revolutionise the discovery and manufacture of innovative synthetic biological materials.These will encompass novel,smart,functionalised and hybrid materials for diverse applications whose discovery and routes to bio-production will be stimulated by the fusion of new technologies positioned across physical,digital and biological spheres.This article,which developed from an international workshop held in Manchester,United Kingdom,in 2017[1],sets out to identify opportunities in the new materials from biology era.It considers requirements,early understanding and foresight of the challenges faced in delivering a Discovery to Manufacturing Pipeline for synthetic biological materials using synthetic biology approaches.This challenge spans the complete production cycle from intelligent and predictive design,fabrication,evaluation and production of synthetic biological materials to new ways of bringing these products to market.Pathway opportunities are identified that will help foster expertise sharing and infrastructure development to accelerate the delivery of a new generation of synthetic biological materials and the leveraging of existing investments in synthetic biology and advanced materials research to achieve this goal.

Helical Fiber Pull-out in Biological Materials

Many biological materials, such as wood and bone, possess helicoid microstructures at microscale, which can serve as reinforcing elements to transfer stress between crack surfaces and improve the fracture toughness of their composites. Failure processes, such as fiber/matrix inter- face debonding and sliding associated with pull-out of helical fibers, are responsible mainly for the high energy dissipation needed for the fracture toughness enhancement. Here we present systemic analyses of the pull-out behavior of a helical fiber from an elastic matrix via the finite element method （FEM） simulation, with implications regarding the underlying toughening mechanism of helicoid microstructures. We find that, through their uniform curvature and torsion, helical fibers can provide high pull-out force and large interface areas, resulting in high energy dissipation that accounts, to a large extent, for the high toughness of biological materials. The helicity of fiber shape in terms of the helical angle has significant effects on the force-displacement relationships as well as the corresponding energy dissipation during fiber pull-out.

Biological and bioinspired materials: Structure leading to functional and mechanical performance

Nature has achieved materials with properties and mechanisms that go far beyond the current know-how of the engineering-materials industry.The remarkable efficiency of biological materials,such as their exceptional properties that rely on weak constituents,high performance per unit mass,and diverse functionalities in addition to mechanical properties,has been mostly attributed to their hierarchical structure.Key strategies for bioinspired materials include formulating the fundamental understanding of biological materials that act as inspiration,correlating this fundamental understanding to engineering needs/problems,and fabricating hierarchically structured materials with enhanced properties accordingly.The vast,existing literature on biological and bioinspired materials can be discussed in terms of functional and mechanical aspects.Through essential representative properties and materials,the development of bioinspired materials utilizes the design strategies from biological systems to innovatively augment material performance for various practical applications,such as marine,aerospace,medical,and civil engineering.Despite the current challenges,bioinspired materials have become an important part in promoting innovations and breakthroughs in the modern materials industry.

MULTISCALE MECHANICS OF BIOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES

The world of natural materials and structures provides an abundance of applications in which mechanics is a critical issue for our understanding of functional material properties. In particular, the mechanical properties of biological materials and structures play an important role in virtually all physiological processes and at all scales, from the molecular and nanoscale to the macroscale, linking research fields as diverse as genetics to structural mechanics in an approach referred to as materiomics. Example cases that illustrate the importance of mechanics in biology include mechanical support provided by materials like bone, the facilitation of locomotion capabilities by muscle and tendon, or the protection against environmental impact by materials as the skin or armors. In this article we review recent progress and case studies, relevant for a variety of applications that range from medicine to civil engineering. We demonstrate the importance of fundamental mechanistic insight at multiple time- and length-scales to arrive at a systematic understanding of materials and structures in biology, in the context of both physiological and disease states and for the development of de novo biomaterials. Three particularly intriguing issues that will be discussed here include： First, the capacity of biological systems to turn weakness to strength through the utilization of multiple structural levels within the universality-diversity paradigm. Second, material breakdown in extreme and disease conditions. And third, we review an example where the hierarchical design paradigm found in natural protein materials has been applied in the development of a novel hiomaterial based on amyloid protein.

Crack deflection occurs by constrained microcracking in nacre

For decades, nacre has inspired researchers because of its sophisticated hierarchical structure and remarkable mechanical properties, especially its extreme fracture toughness compared with that of its predominant constituent,CaCO3, in the form of aragonite. Crack deflection has been extensively reported and regarded as the principal toughening mechanism for nacre. In this paper, our attention is focused on crack evolution in nacre under a quasi-static state. We use the notched three-point bending test of dehydrated nacre in situ in a scanning electron microscope(SEM) to monitor the evolution of damage mechanisms ahead of the crack tip. The observations show that the crack deflection actually occurs by constrained microcracking. On the basis of our findings, a crack propagation model is proposed, which will contribute to uncovering the underlying mechanisms of nacre’s fracture toughness and its damage evolution. These investigations would be of great value to the design and synthesis of novel biomimetic materials.

Effects of Compound Microbial Inoculants on Fermentation Bed of Swine

[Objective] The aim was to study the effects of compound microbial inoculants on fermentation bed.[Method] With fermentation simulated in lab,analysis was conducted on changes of temperature,pH,nitrate nitrogen,ammonium nitrogen,urease activity and protease activity in fermentation by microorganism and natural fermentation respectively,to explore effects of compound microbial inoculants on fermentation bed of swine.[Result] Compared with control group,the added microbial inoculants in test group promoted temperature rising during fermentation and prolonged lasting period of high temperature,for example,high temperature at 60 ℃ maintained 10 d in the test.Furthermore,the inoculants reduced pH of packaging material environment,for example,pH finally was 7.05,lower than that of control group.Microbial inoculants accelerated transformation of ammonium nitrogen into nitrate nitrogen and reduced nitrogen loss.In addition,activities of urease and protease enhanced in packaging materials and excrements degraded rapidly.[Conclusion] The research provides technical references for strain development,selection and evaluation of fermentation bed of swine.

Ferroelectricity in biological building blocks:Slipping on a banana peel?

Ferroelectricity in biological system has been anticipated both theoretically and experimentally over the past few decades.Claims of ferroelectricity in biological systems have given rise to confusion and methodological controversy.Over the years,a“loop”of induced polarization in response to a varying applied electrical field and a consequent polarization reversal has prompted many researchers to claim ferroelectricity in biological structures and their building blocks.Other observers were skeptical about the methodology adopted in generating the data and questioned the validity of the claimed ferroelectricity as such,“loop”can also be obtained from linear capacitors.In a paper with somewhat tongue-in-cheek title,Jim Scott showed that ordinary banana peels could exhibit closed loops of electrical charge which closely resemble and thus could be misinterpreted as ferroelectric hysteresis loops in barium sodium niobate,BNN paraphrasing it as“banana”.In this paper,we critically review ferroelectricity in biological system and argue that knowing the molecular and crystalline structure of biological building blocks and experimenting on such building blocks may be the way forward in revealing the“true”nature of ferroelectricity in biological systems.

A novel natural surface-enhanced fluorescence system based on reed leaf as substrate for crystal violet trace detection

The preparation of surface-enhanced fluorescence(SEF) substrates is often influenced by experimental strategies and factors such as the morphology and size of the nanostructures. In this study, using the natural reed leaves(RLs) without any special pretreatment as the substrate, metal silver is modified by magnetron sputtering technology to prepare a stable and efficient SEF system. The abundant “hedgehog-like” protrusions on the RL substrate surface can generate high-density“hot spots”, thus enhancement factor(EF) is enhanced up to 3345 times. The stability and reproducibility are verified in many measurements. The contribution of the intervention of silver nanostructure to the radiation attenuation process of fluorescent molecules is analyzed with the aid of Jablonski diagrams. Three-dimensional(3D) finite difference time domain(FDTD) simulates the spatial electric field and “hot spots” distribution of the substrate. The “hedgehog-like” protrusion structure generates multiple “hot spots”, which produce an excellent local surface plasmon resonance(LSPR) effect and provide higher fluorescence signal. Finally, RL/Ag-35 substrate is used to detect crystal violet(CV), and the detection limit is as low as 10^(-13) M. This “hedgehog-like” SEF substrate provides a new strategy for the trace detection of CV, which has a good practical application value.

Research Progress and Cosmetic Application of Fibronectin

Fibronectin(FN)is a widely existed glycoprotein in human body fluid and plays an important role in the process of wound repair in human tissue.With the in-depth study on the molecular mechanism of fibronectin for wound repair,its applications in emerging biomedical fields are becoming more extensive,such as the field of skin wound repair and the field of tissue engineering materials,which are gradually extended to the field of beauty and skin care.In this paper,the domestic and foreign academic research and application of fibronectin were briefly reviewed.

The Micromechanics of Biological and Biomimetic Staggered Composites

Natural materials such as bone, tooth and nacre achieve attractive properties through the ＂staggered structure＂, which consists of stiff, parallel inclusions of large aspect ratio bonded together by a more ductile and tougher matrix. This seemingly simple structure displays sophisticated micromechanics which lead to unique combinations of stiffness, strength and toughness. In this article we modeled the staggered structure using finite elements and small Representative Volume Elements （RVEs） in order to explore microstructure-property relationships. Larger aspect ratio of inclusions results in greater stiffiless and strength, and also significant amounts of energy dissipation provided the inclusions do not fracture in a brittle fashion. Interestingly the ends of the inclusions （the junctions） behave as crack-like features, generating theoretically infinite stresses in the adjacent inclusions. A fracture mechanics criterion was therefore used to predict the failure of the inclusions, which led to new insights into how the interfaces act as a ＂＇soft wrap＂ for the inclusions, completely shielding them from excessive stresses. The effect of statistics on the mechanics of the staggered structure was also assessed using larger scale RVEs. Variations in the microstructure did not change the modulus of the material, but slightly decreased the strength and significantly decreased the failure strain. This is explained by strain localization, which can in turn be delayed by incorporating waviness to the inclusions. In addition, we show that the columnar and random arrangements, displaying different deformation mechanisms, lead to similar overall prop- erties. The guidelines presented in this study can be used to optimize the design of staggered synthetic composites to achieve mechanical performances comparable to natural materials.

Fiber-dominated Soft Actuators Inspired by Plant Cell Walls and Skeletal Muscles

Morphing botanical tissues and animal muscles are all fiber-mediated composites, in which fibers play a passive and active role, respectively. Herein, inspired by the mechanism of fibers functioning in morphing botanical tissues and animal muscles, we propose two sorts of fiber-dominated composite actuators. First, inspired by the deformation of awned seeds in response to humidity change, we fabricate passive fiber-dominated actuators using non-active aligned carbon fibers via 4D printing method. The effects of process parameters, structural parameters, and fiber angles on the deformation of the printed actuators are examined. The experimental results show that the orientation degree is enhanced, resulting in a better swelling effect as the printing speed increases. Then, motivated by the actuation mechanism of skeletal muscle, we prepare active fiber-dominated actuators using active polyurethane fibers via 4D printing and pre-stretching method. The effect of fiber angle and loading on the actuation mode is experimentally analyzed. The experimental results show that the rotation angle of the actuator gradually decreases with the angle from 45° to 60°. When the fiber angle is 0° and 90°, the driver basically stops rotating while shrinking along the loading direction. Based on the above actuation mechanisms, identical contraction behaviors are realized both in passive and active fiber-dominated soft actuators. This work provides a validation method for biologically actuation mechanisms via 4D printing technique and smart materials and adds further insights to the design of bioinspired soft actuators.

PERSPECTIVES IN MECHANICS OF HETEROGENEOUS SOLIDS

The Micro- and Nano-mechanics Working Group of the Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics organized a forum to discuss the perspectives, trends, and directions in mechanics of heterogeneous materials in January 2010. The international journal, Acta Mechanica Solida Sinica, is de- voted to all fields of solid mechanics and relevant disciplines in science, technology, and engineering, with a balanced coverage on analytical, experimental, numerical and applied investigations. On the occasion of the 30TM anniversary of Acta Mechanica Solida Sinica, its editor-in-chief, Professor Q.S. Zheng invited some of the forum participants to review the state-of-the-art of mechanics of heterogeneous solids, with a particular emphasis on the recent research development results of Chinese scientists. Their reviews are organized into five research areas as reported in different sections of this paper. ~I firstly brings in fo- cus on micro- and nano-mechanics, with regards to several selective topics, including multiscale coupled models and computational methods, nanocrystal superlattices, surface effects, micromechanical damage mechanics, and microstructural evolution of metals and shape memory alloys. ~II shows discussions on multifield coupled mechanical phenomena, e.g., multi-fields actuations of liquid crystal polymer networks, mechanical behavior of materials under radiations, and micromechanics of heterogeneous materials. In ~III, we mainly address the multiscale mechanics of biological nanocomposites, biological adhesive surface mechanics, wetting and dewetting phenomena on microstructured solid surfaces. The phononic crystals and manipulation of elastic waves were elaborated in ~IV. Finally, we conclude with a series of perspectives on solid mechanics. This review will set a primary goal of future science research and engineering application on solid mechanics with the effort of social and economic development.

Unique Structure and Mechanical Property of Dabryanus Scale

The structure and mechanical property of Dabryanus scale were investigated. Environmental Scanning Electron Micros- copy （ESEM） and Transmission Electron Microscopy （TEM） were used to observe the scale structure. The scale has a discrete osseous layer which is composed of boat-like unit （due to the shape）. The osseous layer is embedded into fibrillary layer, and the largest thickness ratio of osseous layer to fibrillary layer is about 7, much higher than those of other reported fish scales. Nanoindentation test was used to investigate mechanical property of the scale. Elastic modulus （E,） and hardness （H） of Dabryanus scale are much lower than those of other reported fish scales. Scale models were proposed and the principles of materials mechanics were used to analyze the mechanical properties of the Dabryanus scale. The boat-like unit in osseous layer makes the scale flexible while keeping a high thickness ratio of osseous layer to fibrillary layer, which increases the flexibility and protection capacity of the scale This study may provide new strategy for the design of flexible armor or flexible devices.