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Uskoković V. Natural sciences and chess: A romantic relationship missing from higher education curricula. Heliyon 2023; 9:e15015. [PMID: 37095996 PMCID: PMC10121402 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2022] [Revised: 03/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/24/2023] [Indexed: 04/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Chess is a game that delicately weaves analytical thinking around artistic experience, yet recent conversions of STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) to STEAM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Art-Mathematics) have omitted adding chess as an elementary coursework to K-12 and higher education curricula. Chess, as per arguments presented in this essay, can be considered as a language and a tool for furthering the development of artistic skills among scientists and analytical, pattern-recognition skills among artists. It can also serve as a missing link between science and art in STEAM curricula thanks to its finding itself halfway between the two. A handful of analogies are drawn here from chess, illustrated sporadically with positions from real-life chess games and converted to lessons in creativity for students in natural sciences. The discussion centered around these analogies is reinforced by a literature review of studies conducted over the past 80 years to assess the effect of exposing students to lessons in chess on their learning in distant domains. Overall, great benefits can emerge from complementing science education with chess and it is hoped that chess will become an integral part of basic education in primary schools and universities worldwide in the near future.
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Uskoković V. Toward functionalization without functional agents: An X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2022.129676] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Uskoković V, Wu VM. Altering Microbiomes with Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles: A Metagenomic Analysis. MATERIALS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 15:5824. [PMID: 36079205 PMCID: PMC9456825 DOI: 10.3390/ma15175824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Revised: 08/18/2022] [Accepted: 08/19/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Hydroxyapatite (HAp), the most abundant biological material among mammals, has been recently demonstrated to possess moderate antibacterial properties. Metagenomics provides a series of tools for analyzing the simultaneous interaction of materials with larger communities of microbes, which may aid in optimizing the antibacterial activity of a material such as HAp. Here, a microbiome intrinsic to the sample of sandy soil collected from the base of an African Natal plum (Carissa macrocarpa) shrub surrounding the children's sandbox at the Arrowhead Park in Irvine, California was challenged with HAp nanoparticles and analyzed with next-generation sequencing for hypervariable 16S ribosomal DNA base pair homologies. HAp nanoparticles overwhelmingly reduced the presence of Gram-negative phyla, classes, orders, families, genera and species, and consequently elevated the relative presence of their Gram-positive counterparts. Thermodynamic, electrostatic and chemical bonding arguments were combined in a model proposed to explain this selective affinity. The ability of amphiphilic surface protrusions of lipoteichoic acid in Gram-positive bacteria and mycolic acid in mycobacteria to increase the dispersibility of the bacterial cells and assist in their resistance to capture by the solid phase is highlighted. Within the Gram-negative group, the variability of the distal, O-antigen portion of the membrane lipopolysaccharide was shown to be excessive and the variability of its proximal, lipid A portion insufficient to explain the selectivity based on chemical sequence arguments. Instead, flagella-driven motility proves to be a factor favoring the evasion of binding to HAp. HAp displayed a preference toward binding to less pathogenic bacteria than those causative of disease in humans, while taxa having a positive agricultural effect were largely captured by HAp, indicating an evolutionary advantage this may have given it as a biological material. The capacity to selectively sequester Gram-negative microorganisms and correspondingly alter the composition of the microbiome may open up a new avenue in environmental and biomedical applications of HAp.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vuk Uskoković
- TardigradeNano LLC, Irvine, CA 92604, USA;
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA
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Uskoković V. The Samsonov Configurational Model: Instructive Historical Remarks and the Extension of Its Application to Substituted Hydroxyapatite. COMMENT INORG CHEM 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/02603594.2022.2106977] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/15/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Vuk Uskoković
- TardigradeNano LLC, Irvine, California, USA
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA
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Uskoković V, Wu VM. When Nothing Turns Itself Inside out and Becomes Something: Coating Poly (Lactic-Co-Glycolic Acid) Spheres with Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles vs. the Other Way Around. J Funct Biomater 2022; 13:jfb13030102. [PMID: 35893470 PMCID: PMC9332181 DOI: 10.3390/jfb13030102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2022] [Revised: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 07/22/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
To stabilize drugs physisorbed on the surface of hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanoparticles and prevent burst release, these nanoparticles are commonly coated with polymers. Bioactive HAp, however, becomes shielded from the surface of such core/shell entities, which partially defeats the purpose of using it. The goal of this study was to assess the biological and pharmacokinetic effects of inverting this classical core/shell structure by coating poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) spheres with HAp nanoparticles. The HAp shell did not hinder the release of vancomycin; rather, it increased the release rate to a minor degree, compared to that from undecorated PLGA spheres. The decoration of PLGA spheres with HAp induced lesser mineral deposition and lesser upregulation of osteogenic markers compared to those induced by the composite particles where HAp nanoparticles were embedded inside the PLGA spheres. This was explained by homeostatic mechanisms governing the cell metabolism, which ensure than the sensation of a product of this metabolism in the cell interior or exterior is met with the reduction in the metabolic activity. The antagonistic relationship between proliferation and bone production was demonstrated by the higher proliferation rate of cells challenged with HAp-coated PLGA spheres than of those treated with PLGA-coated HAp. It is concluded that the overwhelmingly positive response of tissues to HAp-coated biomaterials for bone replacement is unlikely to be due to the direct induction of new bone growth in osteoblasts adhering to the HAp coating. Rather, these positive effects are consequential to more elementary aspects of cell attachment, mechanotransduction, and growth at the site of contact between the HAp-coated material and the tissue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vuk Uskoković
- TardigradeNano LLC., 7 Park Vista, Irvine, CA 92604, USA;
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr., San Diego, CA 92182, USA
- Correspondence: or ; Tel.: +1-(415)-412-0233
| | - Victoria M. Wu
- TardigradeNano LLC., 7 Park Vista, Irvine, CA 92604, USA;
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Uskoković V. Nanomedicine for the poor: a lost cause or an idea whose time has yet to come? Nanomedicine (Lond) 2021; 16:1203-1218. [PMID: 33988035 PMCID: PMC8120867 DOI: 10.2217/nnm-2021-0024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The most effective COVID-19 vaccines, to date, utilize nanotechnology to deliver immunostimulatory mRNA. However, their high cost equates to low affordability. Total nano-vaccine purchases per capita and their proportion within the total vaccine lots have increased directly with the GDP per capita of countries. While three out of four COVID-19 vaccines procured by wealthy countries by the end of 2020 were nano-vaccines, this amounted to only one in ten for middle-income countries and nil for the low-income countries. Meanwhile, economic gains of saving lives with nano-vaccines in USA translate to large costs in middle-/low-income countries. It is discussed how nanomedicine can contribute to shrinking this gap between rich and poor instead of becoming an exquisite technology for the privileged. Two basic routes are outlined: (1) the use of qualitative contextual analyses to endorse R&D that positively affects the sociocultural climate; (2) challenging the commercial, competitive realities wherein scientific innovation of the day operates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vuk Uskoković
- Advanced Materials & Nanobiotechnology Laboratory, TardigradeNano LLC, Irvine, CA 92604, USA
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Wu VM, Huynh E, Tang S, Uskoković V. Calcium phosphate nanoparticles as intrinsic inorganic antimicrobials: mechanism of action. Biomed Mater 2020; 16:015018. [DOI: 10.1088/1748-605x/aba281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
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Ghiasi B, Sefidbakht Y, Mozaffari-Jovin S, Gharehcheloo B, Mehrarya M, Khodadadi A, Rezaei M, Ranaei Siadat SO, Uskoković V. Hydroxyapatite as a biomaterial - a gift that keeps on giving. Drug Dev Ind Pharm 2020; 46:1035-1062. [PMID: 32476496 DOI: 10.1080/03639045.2020.1776321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The synthetic analogue to biogenic apatite, hydroxyapatite (HA) has a number of physicochemical properties that make it an attractive candidate for diagnosis, treatment of disease and augmentation of biological tissues. Here we describe some of the recent studies on HA, which may provide bases for a number of new medical applications. The content of this review is divided to different medical application modes utilizing HA, including tissue engineering, medical implants, controlled drug delivery, gene therapies, cancer therapies and bioimaging. A number of advantages of HA over other biomaterials emerge from this discourse, including (i) biocompatibility, (ii) bioactivity, (iii) relatively simple synthesis protocols for the fabrication of nanoparticles with specific sizes and shapes, (iv) smart response to environmental stimuli, (v) facile functionalization and surface modification through noncovalent interactions, and (vi) the capacity for being simultaneously loaded with a wide range of therapeutic agents and switched to bioimaging modalities for uses in theranostics. A special section is dedicated to analysis of the safety of particulate HA as a component of parenterally administrable medications. It is concluded that despite the fact that many benefits come with the usage of HA, its deficiencies and potential side effects must be addressed before the translation to the clinical domain is pursued. Although HA has been known in the biomaterials world as the exemplar of safety, this safety proves to be the function of size, morphology, surface ligands and other structural and compositional parameters defining the particles. For this reason, each HA, especially when it comes in a novel structural form, must be treated anew from the safety research angle before being allowed to enter the clinical stage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Behrad Ghiasi
- Protein Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Yahya Sefidbakht
- Protein Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.,Nanobiotechnology Laboratory, The Faculty of New Technologies Engineering (NTE), Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Sina Mozaffari-Jovin
- Medical Genetics Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.,Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
| | | | | | - Arash Khodadadi
- Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kerman University of Medical Science, Kerman, Iran
| | - Maryam Rezaei
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics (IBB), Tehran University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Seyed Omid Ranaei Siadat
- Protein Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.,Nanobiotechnology Laboratory, The Faculty of New Technologies Engineering (NTE), Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Vuk Uskoković
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
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Uskoković V. X-ray photoelectron and ion scattering spectroscopic surface analyses of amorphous and crystalline calcium phosphate nanoparticles with different chemical histories. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2020; 22:5531-5547. [PMID: 32123882 DOI: 10.1039/c9cp06529f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
The surface of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles is enriched in the topmost atomic layer with calcium and depleted of it elsewhere, alongside being dependent on the history of formation of hydroxyapatite from the amorphous precursor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vuk Uskoković
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
- University of California Irvine
- Irvine
- USA
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Rau JV, Fadeeva IV, Fomin AS, Barbaro K, Galvano E, Ryzhov AP, Murzakhanov F, Gafurov M, Orlinskii S, Antoniac I, Uskoković V. Sic Parvis Magna: Manganese-Substituted Tricalcium Phosphate and Its Biophysical Properties. ACS Biomater Sci Eng 2019; 5:6632-6644. [PMID: 33423482 DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.9b01528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Succeeding in the substitution of pharmaceutical compounds with ions deliverable with the use of resorbable biomaterials could have far-reaching benefits for medicine and economy. Calcium phosphates are known as excellent accommodators of foreign ions. Manganese, the fifth most abundant metal on Earth was studied here as an ionic dopant in β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) ceramics. β-TCP containing different amounts of Mn2+ ions per MnxCa3-x(PO4)2 formula (x = 0, 0.001, 0.01, and 0.1) was investigated for a range of physicochemical and biological properties. The results suggested the role of Mn2+ as a structure booster, not breaker. Mn2+ ions increased the size of coherent X-ray scattering regions averaged across all crystallographic directions and also lowered the temperature of transformation of the hydroxyapatite precursor to β-TCP. The particle size increased fivefold, from 20 to 100 nm, in the 650-750 °C region, indicating that the reaction of formation of β-TCP was accompanied by a considerable degree of grain growth. The splitting of the antisymmetric stretching mode of the phosphate tetrahedron occurred proportionally to the Mn2+ content in the material, while electron paramagnetic resonance spectra suggested that Mn2+ might substitute for three out of five possible calcium ion positions in the unit cell of β-TCP. The biological effects of Mn-free β-TCP and Mn-doped β-TCP were selective: moderately proliferative to mammalian cells, moderately inhibitory to bacteria, and insignificant to fungi. Unlike pure β-TCP, β-TCP doped with the highest concentration of Mn2+ ions significantly inhibited the growth of all bacterial species tested: Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterococcus faecalis. The overall effect against the Gram-positive bacteria was more intense than against the Gram-negative microorganisms. Meanwhile, β-TCP alone had an augmentative effect of the viability of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) and the addition of Mn2+ tended to reduce the extent of this augmentative effect, but without imparting any toxicity. For all Mn-doped β-TCP concentrations except the highest, the cell viability after 72 h incubation was significantly higher than that of the negative control. Assays evaluating the effect of Mn2+-containing β-TCP formulations on the differentiation of ADMSCs into three different lineages-osteogenic, adipogenic, and chondrogenic-demonstrated no inhibitory or adverse effects compared to pure β-TCP and powder-free positive controls. Still, β-TCP delivering the lowest amount of Mn2+ seemed most effective in sustaining the differentiation process toward all three phenotypes, indicating that the dose of Mn2+ in β-TCP need not be excessive to be effective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julietta V Rau
- Istituto di Struttura della Materia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ISM-CNR), Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, Italy
| | - Inna V Fadeeva
- AA Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky prospect 49, 119334 Moscow, Russia
| | - Alexander S Fomin
- AA Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky prospect 49, 119334 Moscow, Russia
| | - Katia Barbaro
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale Lazio e Toscana "M. Aleandri", Via Appia Nuova 1411, 00178 Rome, Italy
| | - Ettore Galvano
- Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale Lazio e Toscana "M. Aleandri", Via Appia Nuova 1411, 00178 Rome, Italy
| | - Alexander P Ryzhov
- AA Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky prospect 49, 119334 Moscow, Russia
| | | | - Marat Gafurov
- Kazan Federal University, Kremlevskaya 18, 420008 Kazan, Russia
| | | | - Iulian Antoniac
- University Politehnica of Bucharest, Splaiul Independentei 313, Sector 6, 77206 Bucharest, Romania
| | - Vuk Uskoković
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Irvine, Engineering Gateway 4200, Irvine, California 92697, United States
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Uskoković V. Mechanism of formation governs the mechanism of release of antibiotics from calcium phosphate nanopowders and cements in a drug-dependent manner. J Mater Chem B 2019; 7:3982-3992. [PMID: 31681475 PMCID: PMC6824273 DOI: 10.1039/c9tb00444k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The kinetics of drug release from hydroxyapatite (HAp) cements could be tuned by controlling the kinetics of crystallization of their HAp precursor powders during synthesis. Here it is shown that this history of formation affects not only the kinetics, but also the mechanism of release. Cements composed of two HAp powders precipitated under different conditions, one (HAp2) taking twice longer to transform from the amorphous to the crystalline state than the other (HAp1), were mixed at different ratios to tune their drug release kinetics and tested for the release mechanism in conjunction with compositional and microstructural analyses. While the cement component converting to the amorphous phase during gelation (HAp2) exhibited a faster, but also more anomalous, non-Fickian mechanism of release of vancomycin, the cement component retaining its crystalline state all throughout gelation, setting and hardening (HAp1) stabilized at the ideal, Fickian diffusion case corresponding to the Korsmeyer-Peppas exponent value of 0.45 ± 0.02. This effect got reversed for the other antibiotic studied as a drug, ciprofloxacin, in which case HAp2 exhibited the ideal, Fickian diffusion with n = 0.45 ± 0.02 and the increase in the content of the cement component retaining its crystallinity during gelation, setting and hardening (HAp1) steadily shifted the mechanism of release to more anomalous, non-Fickian types. This has indicated that the molecular structure of the drug is an essential determinant of the mechanism of release and that the design of a carrier for a universally tunable release of drugs based on the passive transport is likely impossible. Preliminary assays involving the addition of chitosan or gelatin as polymeric components to HAp led to the inclusion of swelling and erosion as additional effects by which the drug escapes the carrier and shifted the release toward less diffusional and more multimodal mechanisms. With regard to the microstructural and compositional effects governing the release mechanism and kinetics, the retention of a finite concentration of slit-like pores of the amorphous precursor in HAp2 and its lower surface energy and lesser drug binding potential in the gelled, amorphous state, but also its possibly less stable and more diffusive particle surface and higher structural water content were elaborated as potential reasons explaining the distinct rates and mechanisms of release from the two HAp powders with different histories of formation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vuk Uskoković
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA
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