Electrical stimulation (tetanic mode) was applied to each antler approximately 25 mm distal to the pedicle/antler junction before, and at intervals up to 1 hour after, application of treatments at a level required to produce a head/neck avoidance behavioural response.\n\nIn a third experiment, the two electrical stimulation protocols used above were directly compared by measuring the response of stags (n= 8) to one protocol on each pedicle/antler prior to, and at intervals for 1 hour Selleck Galardin after, application

of a rubber ring.\n\nAt the end of each treatment in all three experiments, analgesia of the antler was established as a nil behavioural response of the stag to a saw cut to the antler

(the ‘nick test’).\n\nRESULTS: For both methods of application of a ring the minimum electrical stimulation required distal to the ring to elicit a reflex response increased from around 16 to 55 mA by 60 minutes. In contrast, the electrical stimulation required proximal to the ring remained low (similar ATM inhibitor to 17.0 mA) throughout. No stag subjected to either of the methods of application responded to the nick test 60 minutes after application of the ring.\n\nThe electrical stimulation required to produce a behavioural response increased very rapidly in stags treated with local anaesthetic and at a slower rate in those treated with the selleck screening library cabletie method but showed no significant increase in control stags. After 4 and 30 minutes, for

local anaesthesia and the cable-tie method, respectively, 95% of stags were not responding to 80 mA. A significantly greater proportion of stags with antlers treated with local anaesthetic and the cable-tie method did not respond to the nick test than controls, and there was no significant difference in the frequency of the response between stags with treated antlers.\n\nThe minimum current required to produce a response proximal to a rubber ring was slightly higher on average for train-of-four electrical stimulus (mean 18.1 (SD 2.6) mA) than for the tetanic mode (mean 11.9 (SD 2.5) mA). The increase in minimum current required to produce the respective response to stimulation distal to the ring was similar for both methods, although the maximum predicted value (67.4 mA) was lower for train-of-four than for the tetanic mode (84.5 mA). No stag responded to the nick test >= 60 minutes after application of the ring.\n\nCONCLUSIONS: The cable-tie method was no different from the standard method as a procedure for producing analgesia in the antlers of yearling stags and should be accepted as an appropriate procedure for applying analgesic rings to yearling stags.

Analysis were done using Fisher Exact t test and Chi square test.\n\nMean gestational age was 34.87(3.86) wk and 33.7(3.29) wk in the test and control groups respectively, while mean BW was 2186.02(814.57) g and 1851.2(592.93) g in each respective group. In the test group 10 were symptomatic, 5 were on mechanical ventilation, 8 were on CPAP and one was

post-operation case. Difference in the incidence of significant RI in test and control group was not statistically significant. Incidence between various group of neonates in test group showed no statistical significance either. However, the incidence of grade IV reflux in test group was 8/24 and control 0/10 and this difference was statistically significant. Reflux did increase when period of gestation decreased and the difference was statistically significant.\n\nClinically significant grade IV GER was more in high risk (test) neonates than control.”
“Well-defined temperature-responsive 3-Methyladenine S3I-201 polymers were covalently conjugated to model proteins by two consecutive Michael addition thiol-ene reactions. Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) prepared by

reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization was aminolyzed to yield thiol-terminated chains that were subsequently reacted with excess 1,8-bis-maleimidodiethyleneglycol. The resulting maleimide-terminated polymer was reacted with bovine serum albumin and ovalbumin to yield polymer protein conjugates by a “grafting-to” approach. The thermoresponsive nature of PNIPAM was conferred to the conjugate, as demonstrated by dynamic light scattering analysis that indicated the formation of intermolecular aggregates at elevated temperatures.”
“Acute and chronic Entinostat toxicities of the water extract from calyces of Hibiscus sabdariffa were studied

in male and female rats. After 14 days of a single oral administration of test substance 5,000 mg/kg body weight, measurement of the body and organ weights, necropsy and health monitoring were performed. No signs and differences of the weights or behaviour compared to the control rats were observed. The results indicated that the single oral administration of H. sabdariffa extract in the amount of 5,000 mg/kg body weight does not produce acute toxicity. The chronic toxicity was determined by oral feeding both male and female rats daily with the extract at the doses of 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg body weight for 270 days. The examinations of signs, animal behaviour and health monitoring showed no defects in the test groups compared to the control groups. Both test and control groups (day 270th) and satellite group (day 298th) were analysed by measuring their final body and organ weights, taking necropsy, and examining haematology, blood clinical chemistry, and microanatomy. Results showed no differences from the control groups. Overall, our study demonstrated that an oral administration of H.

Methods: We used 1994-2005 Epidemiologic Study of CF data to compare abnormal liver findings between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white patients with CF. Results: Of 30,727 patients with CF, 5015 had liver involvement. Of 1957 Hispanic patients, 20.8% had liver involvement compared with 16.0% of 28,770 non-Hispanic white patients (odds ratio [OR] 1.38, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.23-1.54). This higher prevalence of liver involvement persisted after adjusting for demographics and meconium ileus and was especially high in the first year of life (adjusted OR 3.14,95% CI 2.27-4.35). Ten percent of infants with only elevated liver enzymes progressed to more severe

liver disease. Conclusions: The Hispanic population with CF has more liver involvement (both elevated liver enzymes and clinical liver disease) than the non-Hispanic white population selleck chemicals with CF, especially during the first year of life.”
“Most humans become lifelong

carriers of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) by adulthood. Primary EBV infection in adolescents causes infectious mononucleosis. EBV infection is associated with various diseases, neoplasms and hematological disorders. Recently, we reported that EBV can infect rabbits by intravenous, intranasal check details and/or peroral inoculation, which caused primary EBV infection in rabbits with heterogeneous host reactions. Some rabbits showed chronic and lifelong EBV infection with hemophagocytosis. In this study, to reveal detailed mechanisms in rabbit EBV infection, an in vitro investigation was performed.

We elucidated that: (1) EBV can infect rabbit peripheral blood mononuclear cells and splenic lymphocytes in vitro, because EBV gene expressions were confirmed. (2) It is highly likely that the B cell is the main target cell of rabbit EBV Apoptosis inhibitor infection and is immortalized similar to humans. (3) CD8+ T cells increased in the rabbit in vivo model after EBV inoculation, whereas an increase of B cells occurred after their transient decrease. These data suggest that EBV-infected B cells were proliferated, while CD8+ T cells increased to recognize and kill them. This system may explain the paths of rabbit EBV infection and host reaction, simulating human EBV infection. In vitro studies will be helpful to reveal the pathogenesis of rabbit EBV infection and EBV-associated diseases. Copyright (c) 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel”
“The pathogenicity of two granuloviruses (GVs), Xestia c-nigrum GV (XecnGV) and Pseudaletia unipuncta GV (PsunGV), was examined in Mythimna separata. Partial sequencing of the genome of PsunGV indicated that it is related closely to XecnGV, but considered to be a different species. PsunGV and XecnGV showed similar pathogenicity in terms of dose-mortality response and pattern of host mass changes following infection. Both GVs killed infected larvae in 2-3 weeks.

This measure includes Wolpaw’s information transfer rate as a special case, but addresses the latter’s limitations including its restriction to item-selection tasks. To validate our approach and address challenge (III), we compared four healthy subjects’ performance using an EEG-based BCI, a ‘Direct Controller’ (a high-performance hardware input device), and a ‘Pseudo-BCI Controller’ (the same input device, but with control signals processed by the BCI signal processing pipeline). Main results. Our results confirm the repeatability

and validity of our measures, and indicate that our BCI signal processing pipeline reduced attainable performance by about selleck products 33% (21 bits min(-1)). Significance. Our approach provides a flexible basis for evaluating BCI performance and its limitations, across a wide range of tasks and task difficulties.”
“We present the first recorded case of a remote extradural haematoma following extended transsphenoidal surgery (eTSS) for craniopharyngioma. We believe that this is a unique complication related to rapid and excessive intracranial hypotension caused by acute overdrainage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) during the eTSS procedure.”
“Heterozygous missense mutations of transient receptor potential

vanilloid 4 channel (TRPV4) cause a spectrum of skeletal disorders, including brachyolmia, spondylometaphyseal dysplasia Kozlowski type, metatropic dysplasia, parastremmatic dysplasia, and spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia Maroteaux type. Similarly, heterozygous missense mutations https://www.selleckchem.com/products/BEZ235.html of TRPV4 cause a spectrum of

peripheral neuropathy, including hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy type IIC, congenital spinal muscular atrophy, Selleck AG 14699 and scapuloperoneal spinal muscular atrophy. There are no apparent differences in the amino acid positions affected or type of change predicted by the TRPV4 mutations responsible for the two disease spectrums; nevertheless, no fundamental phenotypic overlap has been shown between the two spectrums. Here, we report on three patients who had both skeletal dysplasia and peripheral neuropathy caused by heterozygous TRPV4 missense mutations. The skeletal and neurologic phenotypes of these patients covered the wide spectrum of reported TRPV4-pathies (disease caused by TRPV4 mutations). The molecular data are complementary, proving that “neuropathic” mutations can cause skeletal dysplasia but also the “skeletopathic” mutations can lead to neuropathies. Our findings suggest that pathogenic mechanisms of TRPV4-pathies in skeletal and nervous systems are not always mutually exclusive and provide further evidence that there is no clear genotype-phenotype correlation for either spectrum.

“
“Cytosolic phospholipase A(2) (cPLA(2)) is activated by phosphorylation at serine-505 (S505) by extracenular regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2). However, rat brain calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase H (CaMKII) phosphorylates recombinant cPLA(2) at serine-515 (S515) and increases its activity in vitro. We have studied the sites of cPLA(2) phosphorylation and their significance in arachidonic acid (AA) release in response to norepinephrine (NE) in vivo in rabbit

vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) using specific anti-phospho-S515- and -S505 cPLA(2) antibodies and by mutagenesis of S515 and S505 to alanine. NE increased the phosphorylation of cPLA(2) at S515, followed by phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and consequently phosphorylation of cPLA(2) at S505. Sotrastaurin inhibitor The CaMKII inhibitor 2-[N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-N-(4-methoxybenzene-sulfonyl)]amino-N-(4-chlorocinnamyl)-methylbenzylamine attenuated cPLA(2) at S515 and S505, whereas the ERK1/2 inhibitor U0126 reduced phosphorylation at S505 but not at S515. NE in cells transduced with adenovirus carrying enhanced cyan fluorescent protein cPLA(2) wild type caused phosphorylation at S515 and S505 and increased AA release. Expression of the S515A

mutant LY2090314 PI3K/Akt/mTOR inhibitor in VSMCs reduced the phosphorylation of S505, ERK1/2, and AA release in response to NE. Transduction with a double mutant (S515A/S505A) blocked the phosphorylation of cPLA(2) and AA release. These data suggest that the NE-stimulated phosphorylation of cPLA(2) at S515 is required for the phosphorylation of S505 by ERK1/2 and that both sites of phosphorylation are important for AA release in VSMCs.”
“Purpose: The authors examine the nonstationary noise behavior of a cone-beam CT system with FDK reconstruction.\n\nMethods: To investigate the nonstationary noise behavior,

an analytical expression for the NPS of local volumes and an entire volume was derived and quantitatively compared to the NPS estimated from experimental air and water images.\n\nResults: selleckchem The NPS of local volumes at different locations along the z-axis showed radial symmetry in the f(x)-f(y) plane and different missing cone regions in the f(z) direction depending on the tilt angle of rays through the local volumes. For local volumes away from the z-axis, the NPS of air and water images showed sharp transitions in the f(x)-f(y) and f(y)-f(z) planes and lack of radial symmetry in the f(x)-f(y) plane. These effects are mainly caused by varying magnification and different noise levels from view to view. In the NPS of the entire volume, the f(x)-f(y) plane showed radial symmetry because the nonstationary noise behaviors of local volumes were averaged out. The nonstationary sharp transitions were manifested as a high-frequency roll-off.\n\nConclusions: The results from noise power analysis for local volumes and an entire volume demonstrate the spatially varying noise behavior in the reconstructed cone-beam CT images. (C) 2011 American Association of Physicists in Medicine. [DOI: 10.1118/1.

Our data consist of a set of spectroscopic parameters (equilibrium geometries, harmonic vibrational frequencies, rotational constants, spin-orbit, and spin-spin constants), adiabatic ionization energies, and electron affinities. For the low laying electronic states, our calculations IAP inhibitor are consistent with previous works whereas the high excited states

present rather different shapes. Based on these new computations, the earlier ultraviolet bands of PS and PS+ were reassigned. For PS- and in addition to the already known anionic three bound electronic states (i.e., X-3 Sigma(-), (1)Delta, and 1(1)Sigma(+)), our calculations show that the (1)Sigma(-), (3)Sigma(+), and the (3)Delta states are energetically below their quartet parent neutral state (a(4)Pi). The depletion of the J = 3 component of PS-((3)Delta) will mainly occur via weak interactions with the electron continuum wave. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4730303]“
“Angiogenesis is essential for invasive tumor growth and metastasis. Bevacizumab has been widely used for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Various studies clearly demonstrate the relevance of Id-1 and VEGF in angiogenesis. The aim of this study was to establish the role of Id-1 expression in tumor progression and angiogenesis in relation to VEGF in NSCLC. Seventy five patients underwent surgery for lung cancers.

The expressions of Id-1 and VEGF in NSCLC samples were determined by immunohistochemistry. Expression of Id-1 and VEGF showed a close correlation in NSCLC (p smaller Angiogenesis inhibitor than 0.001). In addition, Id-1 strong expression group showed high incidence of metastasis

in multivariate analysis (p = 0.028). Id-1 strong expression group had short metastasis-free survival (p = 0.008) and short recurrence-free survival (p = 0.027). Strong Id-1 expression in NSCLC had a poor prognosis in association with VEGF expression. Id-1 may function in tumor growth and progression via angiogenesis. Therefore, Id-1 is considered to be a candidate for new therapeutic target and a prognostic factor in NSCLC.”
“Background: Ultrasound images are usually affected by speckle noise, which is a type of random multiplicative noise. Thus, reducing speckle and improving image visual quality are vital to obtaining better diagnosis. Method: In this paper, a novel noise reduction Epoxomicin purchase method for medical ultrasound images, called multiresolution generalized N dimension PCA (MR-GND-PCA), is presented. In this method, the Gaussian pyramid and multiscale image stacks on each level are built first. GND-PCA as a multilinear subspace learning method is used for denoising. Each level is combined to achieve the final denoised image based on Laplacian pyramids. Results: The proposed method is tested with synthetically speckled and real ultrasound images, and quality evaluation metrics, including MSE, SNR and PSNR, are used to evaluate its performance.

Here, we found that

active TB patients exhibited increases in numbers of Tim-3-expressing CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells, which preferentially displayed polarized effector memory phenotypes. Consistent with effector phenotypes, Tim-3(+)CD4(+) and Tim-3(+)CD8(+) T-cell subsets showed greater effector functions for producing Th1/Th22 cytokines and CTL effector molecules than Tim-3(-) counterparts, and Tim-3-expressing T cells more apparently limited intracellular Mtb replication in macrophages. The increased effector functions for Tim-3-expressing T cells VX-809 nmr consisted with cellular activation signaling as Tim-3(+)CD4(+) and Tim-3(+)CD8(+) T-cell subsets expressed much higher levels of phosphorylated signaling molecules p38, stat3, stat5, and Erk1/2 than Tim-3-controls. Mechanistic experiments showed that siRNA silencing of Tim-3 or soluble Tim-3 treatment interfering with membrane Tim-3-ligand interaction reduced de novo production

of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha by Tim-3-expressing T cells. Furthermore, stimulation of Tim-3 signaling pathways by antibody cross-linking of membrane Tim-3 P5091 in vivo augmented effector function of IFN-gamma production by CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells, suggesting that Tim-3 signaling helped to drive stronger effector functions in active TB patients. This study therefore uncovered a previously unknown mechanism for T-cell immune responses regulated by Tim-3, and findings may have implications for potential immune intervention in TB.”
“Young seedlings of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Soland in At.) were grown in rhizoboxes using intact spodosol soil samples from the southwest of France, in Landes of Gascogne, presenting a large variation of phosphorus (P) availability. Soils were collected from a 93-year-old unfertilized

stand and a 13-year-old P. pinaster stand with regular annual fertilization of either only P or P and nitrogen (N). After 6months of culture in controlled conditions, different morphotypes selleck chemical of ectomycorrhiza (ECM) were used for the measurements of acid phosphatase activity and molecular identification of fungal species using amplification of the ITS region. Total biomass, N and P contents were measured in roots and shoots of plants. Bicarbonate- and NaOH-available inorganic P (Pi), organic P (Po) and ergosterol concentrations were measured in bulk and rhizosphere soil. The results showed that bulk soil from the 93-year-old forest stand presented the highest Po levels, but relatively higher bicarbonate-extractable Pi levels compared to 13-year-old unfertilized stand. Fertilizers significantly increased the concentrations of inorganic P fractions in bulk soil. Ergosterol contents in rhizosphere soil were increased by fertilizer application. The dominant fungal species was Rhizopogon luteolus forming 66.6% of analysed ECM tips.

53, p smaller than .01) predicted intentions to plan (adj.

R-2 = 0.66). Intentions to plan (beta = 0.16, p smaller than .05) and intentions to be active (beta = 0.25, p smaller than .05) predicted change in planning behaviour (R-change(2) = 0.03). Planning behaviour (beta = 0.27, p smaller than .05) predicted change in physical activity (R-change(2) = 0.07). Planning behaviour appears to have its own motivations distinct from those of physical activity. Future interventions should target planning behaviour along with its motivations and control beliefs to increase rates of planning. The theoretical underpinnings of the TPB are of value for understanding both planning SRT1720 in vivo behaviour and physical activity. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“We have previously shown that in patients with peripheral ischemia serum concentration of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) differs depending on the disease severity being the highest in subjects with critical leg ischemia (CLI), although no apparent neoangiogenic effect like collateral circulation was observed in their ischemic tissues. Therefore, the aim of present study was to assess the effective proangiogenic

activity of sera from patients with peripheral ischemia. It was demonstrated that endothelial cells (HUVEC) incubated in medium enriched with 5% of sera from critical leg ischemia patients demonstrated greater proliferative activity than cells PF-562271 incubated with serum from healthy controls (p < 0.001). Also, their ability to form new sprouts Cilengitide in vitro was significantly greater when cultured in medium enriched with serum from patients with CLI (1025.85 +/- 316.56) in comparison to serum of moderate leg ischemia (MOD) (371.96 +/- 47.07) (p < 0.001) or controls. Thus, in patients with severe ischemia, VEGF is not only present in serum in considerably higher concentration than in healthy controls, but also is biologically

active, able to evoke appropriate responses in tissues.”
“We have synthesized and investigated a new bipheny1-4,4′-bis(nitronyl nitroxide) radical with intermediately strong antiferromagnetic interactions. This organic biradical belongs to a family of materials that can be used as a building block for the design of new quantum magnets. For quantum magnetism, special attention has been paid to coupled S = 1/2 dimer compounds, which when placed in a magnetic field, can be used as model systems for interacting boson gases. Short contacts between the oxygen atoms of the nitronyl nitroxide units and the hydrogen atoms of the benzene rings stabilize a surprisingly planar geometry of the biphenyl spacer and are responsible for a small magnetic interdimer coupling. The strength of the antiferromagnetic intradimer coupling constant J/k(B) = 14.0 +/- 0.9 K, fitting the experimental SQUID-data using an isolated-dimer model.

Following an abortion or

delivery, the data about birth complications and neonatal health were collected. All laboratory results (blood count, thyroid hormones, electrolyte values and biochemical parameters) were gathered from the laboratory information system used in the hospital. It was found that in the case group, mean postpartum weight, serum hemoglobin, hematocrit and thyroid stimulant hormone levels were lower than control group (p smaller than 0.01). Conversely, case group selleck screening library women have higher T3 and T4 levels than control group (p smaller than 0.01). There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of intrauterine growth retardation, low birth weight and abortion but it was observed that women with HG had often delivered prematurely. The mean scores of BDI and SAI in the case group were higher than those of control group. These results suggested that HG may have adverse effects on both mother and baby’s Citarinostat Epigenetics inhibitor health. Pregnant women with HG should be provided with training and

consultancy services and be closely monitored in terms of anemia and thyroid hormones.”
“Here, we report the cloning and characterization of growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGF-II from naked carp (Gymnocypris przewalskii), a native teleost fish of Lake Qinghai in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China. The GH of naked carp encodes for a predicted amino acid sequence showing identities of 63%, 63%, 91% and 94% with cherry salmon, rainbow trout, zebrafish and grass carp, respectively, Compared to common carp and goldfish, evolutionary analysis showed that genome duplication has had less influence

on the relaxation of Akt phosphorylation purifying selection in the evolution of naked carp GH. Sequence analysis of naked carp IGF-I (ncIGF-I) and ncIGF-II showed a high degree of homology with known fish IGF-I and IGF-II. To investigate effects of salinity and ionic composition of the aquatic environment on the GH-IGF axis in naked carp, male fish held in river water were assigned randomly to 4 groups: RW (river-water), RW + Na (NaCl in RW), RW + Mg (MgCl(2) in RW) and LW (lake-water) groups. The concentrations of Na(+) in RW + Na and Mg(2+) in RW + Mg were equal to the concentrations of these ions in lake-water. After 2 days of exposure, the plasma IGF-I levels in the RW + Na and LW groups were significantly higher than the control group (RW), and the plasma GH levels of the LW group were also significantly higher than the RW group. The somatostatin (SS) levels in the hypothalamus significantly increased in the RW + Na group. After 5 days of exposure, these hormone levels did not differ significantly among groups. These results indicate that while the plasma GH and IGF-I levels are osmosensitive, the absence of a change in GH secretion in RW + Na might be partly due to a transiently increased release of hypothalamic SS induced by the stress of neutral-saline water.

To increase the therapeutic effect of PH-427 against the MiaPaCa-2 pancreatic cancer model with mutant K-ras, we encapsulated PH-427 into poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles (PNP) to form drug-loaded PH-427-PNP. PH-427 showed a biphasic release from PH-427-PNP over 30 days during studies in sodium phosphate buffer, and in vitro studies revealed that the PNP was rapidly internalized

into MiaPaCa-2 tumor cells, suggesting that PNP can improve PH-427 delivery into cells harboring mutant K-ras. In vivo studies of an orthotopic MiaPaCa-2 pancreatic cancer model Alisertib cell line showed reduced tumor load with PH-427-PNP as compared with treatment using PH-427 alone or with no treatment. Ex vivo studies confirmed the in vivo results, suggesting that PNP can improve drug delivery to pancreatic cancer harboring mutant K-ras.”
“This study evaluated the effect of ageing time (45 min, 24 h, 96 h and 168 h) on desmin degradation pattern, meat quality and muscle fibre traits in longissimus lumborum (LL) and adductor (AD) muscles of 28 Polish

Landrace fatteners slaughtered at 105 kg body weight. The results indicate that the rate of desmin degradation depends on pH and type of muscle, and A-1331852 supplier thus on muscle fibre composition. In AD muscle, characterized by significantly higher pH(45), pH(24) and shear force values, lower drip loss, significantly higher percentage of type I and IIA oxidative fibres, and lower percentage of type IIB glycolytic fibres, desmin degradation is slower than in LBH589 LL muscle. The rate of desmin degradation is also associated with its localization in muscle fibre. Regardless of muscle type, in all muscle fibres desmin was degraded more rapidly within, rather than at the periphery of the fibres. Additionally, levels of intact desmin and drip loss during postmortem meat storage contribute significantly to a reduction in the diameter of three fibre types analysed

in AD and LL muscles 24 h postmortem and of type IIB fibres in AD muscle 96 h postmortem. Furthermore, the decrease in the level of intact desmin is paralleled by a cumulative increase in drip loss and a decrease in shear force at 45 min, 24 h and 96 h postmortem.”
“We report herein the encapsulation of a water-soluble phthalocyanine (Pc) into virus-like particles (VLPs) of two different sizes, depending on the conditions. At neutral pH, the cooperative encapsulation/templated assembly of the particles induces the formation of Pc stacks instead of Pc dimers, due to an increased confinement concentration. The Pc-containing VLPs may potentially be used as photosensitizer/vehicle systems for biomedical applications such as photodynamic therapy.