Understanding the compatibility between spider silk and conducting materials is essential to advance the use of spider silk in electronic applications. Spider silk is tough, but becomes soft when exposed to water. Here we report a strong affinity of amine-functionalised multi-walled carbon nanotubes for spider silk, with coating assisted by a water and mechanical shear method. The nanotubes adhere uniformly and bond to the silk fibre surface to produce tough, custom-shaped, flexible and electrically conducting fibres after drying and contraction. The conductivity of coated silk fibres is reversibly sensitive to strain and humidity, leading to proof-of-concept sensor and actuator demonstrations.

Background: All diseases concerning bone destruction such as osteoporosis and periodontal diseases share common pattern in which the osteoclast cells are absolutely responsible for bone resorption that occurred when osteoclast activity exceeds osteoblast activity. Osteoprotegrin (OPG) considered as novel soluble decoy receptor known as “bone protector” since it prevents extreme bone resorption through inhibition of differentiation and activity of osteoclast by competing for binding site. It binds to receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) and prevent its interaction with receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B (RANK), thus inhibits osteoclast formation. TNF-α is a pro-inflammatory cytokines having

Dam and powerhouse operation sustainability is a major concern from the hydraulic engineering perspective. Powerhouse operation is one of the main sources of vibrations in the dam structure and hydropower plant; thus, the evaluation of turbine performance at different water pressures is important for determining the sustainability of the dam body. Draft tube turbines run under high pressure and suffer from connection problems, such as vibrations and pressure fluctuation. Reducing the pressure fluctuation and minimizing the principal stress caused by undesired components of water in the draft tube turbine are ongoing problems that must be resolved. Here, we conducted a comprehensive review of studies performed on dams, powerhouses, a

This study aimed to know the impact of the capital structure measured by the ratio of financing to short-term capital and the ratio of financing to long-term capital on the profitability of companies, as measured by the rate of return on assets and the rate of return on equity. The study was applied to industrial sector companies listed in the Iraq Stock Exchange. The financial number of (14) companies, and (4) companies were selected that met the conditions for selecting the study sample. The study methodology relies on the analytical method as it is more appropriate to the nature, scope and objectives of the study, and the ready-made statistical program "SPSS" will be used to analyze the relationships and influence between the

Background: Eucalyptus extracts and derivatives are natural substances with potent antimicrobial properties. This study investigated the in- vitro effects of non-nutritive sweeteners on the antifungal activity of alcoholic and aqueous Eucalyptus extracts against Candida albicans, a common oral pathogen. Materials and Method: Ten isolates of Candida albicans were isolated from dental students’ salivary samples. The alcoholic and aqueous extracts were prepared from fresh Eucalyptus leaves using maceration. The sensitivity of Candida albicans isolates to various concentrations of Eucalyptus extracts ranging from 50 to 250 (mg/mL) was evaluated via agar well diffusion method, while the agar streaking method  was used to assess the minimum

Background Cadmium (Cd), one of the most abundant heavy metals, is extremely toxic to both humans and animals. hIt is well known that zinc (Zn) administration reduces Cd-induced toxicity and that metallothioneins can have a protective effect in biological systems to mitigate Cd toxicity. Objective The aim of the current study to determine if Zn administration affected the induction of MT-1 and MT-2 in the liver tissue in mice exposed to Cd. Materials and methods Metallothionein protein (MT) level in the tissue of male mice were detected using the anion -exchang high-performance liquid chromatography coupled (HPLC)assay and immunohistochemical staining. Results Single treatment to zinc or cadmium increase the level of MT in the liver, but zi

The present study was conducted as atrial to treat secondary hydatidosis in white mice of species Mus musculus. (Balb/c strain), experimentally infected with secondary hydatid cysts of sheep origin. The immunization process was carried by using CF/PS antigen which consist hydatid cyst fluid (CF) antigen, and protoscolices (PS) antigen mixed together and by using two concentrations 7.5, 15 mg/ml. Then derivatives of Benzimidazole, Mebendazole (M) and drugs Albendazole (A) were used 10 and 40 μm/gm body weight respectively. The mixture of drugs was used one week after challenged dose. Criteria taken into consideration to define the activity of the immunization and chemotherapy in this study were reduction in the numeral of cysts, the coeffic

      The detection of diseases affecting plant is very important as it relates to the issue of food security, which is a very serious threat to human life. The system of diagnosis of diseases involves a series of steps starting with the acquisition of images through the pre-processing, segmentation and then features extraction that is our subject finally the process of classification. Features extraction is a very important process in any diagnostic system where we can compare this stage to the spine in this type of system. It is known that the reason behind this great importance of this stage is that the process of extracting features greatly affects the work and accuracy of classification. Proper selection of

B3LYP/6-31G, DFT method was applied to hypothetical study the design of six carbon nanotube materials based on [8]circulene, through the use of cyclic polymerization of two and three molecules of [8]circulene. Optimized structures of [8]circulene have saddle-shaped. Design of six carbon nanotubes reactions were done by thermodynamically calculating (Δ S, Δ G and Δ H) and the stability of these hypothetical nanotubes depending on the value of HOMO energy level. Nanotubes obtained have the most efficient gap energy, making them potentially useful for solar cell applications.