Modelling of mass transport and distribution of aptamer in blood-brain barrier for tumour therapy and cancer treatment.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a strong barrier against the entrance of drugs, which has made brain cancer treatment a major challenge. We have previously shown that targeting transferrin receptors using aptamers increased brain drug delivery. To get a better understanding of this phenomenon, in the present article, a mathematical model based on the finite element method was developed accounting for the fluid flow and mass transport of the aptamer molecule inside an 8 µm capillary vessel across a 14 µm blood-brain barrier domain.

N95 respirator mask breathing leads to excessive carbon dioxide inhalation and reduced heat transfer in a human nasal cavity.

Face masks and respirators are used to filter inhaled air, which may contain airborne droplets and high particulate matter (PM) concentrations. The respirators act as a barrier to the inhaled and exhaled air, which may change the nasal airflow characteristics and air-conditioning function of the nose. This study aims to investigate the nasal airflow dynamics during respiration with and without an N95 respirator driven by airflow through the nasal cavity to assess the effect of the respirator on breathing conditions during respiration.

Scrutinizing calcium flux oscillations in T lymphocytes to deduce the strength of stimulus.

The capture and activation of individual T cells on functionalised surfaces enables real-time analyses of the magnitude and rhythm of intracellular calcium release. Application of Haarlet transformations generate a calcium flux 'threshold', with the frequency of the 'threshold crossings' correlating with the strength of the original T cell stimulus. These findings represent a new method to evaluate graduations in T cell activation in real time, and at a single-cell level.