Chemically induced twist-bend nematic liquid crystals, liquid crystal dimers, and negative elastic constants.

Here we report the chemical induction of the twist-bend nematic phase in a nematic mixture of ether-linked liquid crystal dimers by the addition of a dimer with methylene links; all dimers have an odd number of groups in the spacer connecting the two mesogenic groups. The twist-bend phase has been identified from its optical texture and x-ray scattering pattern as well as NMR spectroscopy, which demonstrates the phase chirality. Theory predicts that the key macroscopic property required for the stability of this chiral phase formed from achiral molecules is for the bend elastic constant to tend to be negative; in addition the twist elastic constant should be smaller than half the splay elastic constant. To test these important aspects of the prediction we have measured the bend and splay elastic constants in the nematic phase preceding the twist-bend nematic using the classic Frederiks methodology and all three elastic constants employing the dynamic light scattering approach. Our results show that, unlike the splay, the bend elastic constant is small and decreases significantly as the transition to the induced twist-bend nematic phase is approached, but then exhibits unexpected behavior prior to the phase transition.

The effect of inner tube placement on resistance and work of breathing through tracheostomy tubes: a bench test.

To reduce the risk of tracheostomy tube blockage, a removable inner tube can be used. However, this will reduce the size of the lumen and will increase airflow resistance and work of breathing. The magnitude of this increase in workload is unknown. We undertook a bench test to measure the effect. A lung model was developed to 'breathe' through the tracheostomy tube. We created pressure-volume curves from which we calculated work of breathing with and without an inner tube using 6-10 mm tracheostomy tubes over a range of respiratory rates and tidal volumes. The inner tube increased the resistive work of breathing by an average factor of 2.2. The extra work of breathing imposed easily exceeded the normal total work of breathing. Our results will aid a risk-benefit analysis when deciding whether to use inner tubes. Selecting a larger tracheostomy tube is likely to aid weaning from mechanical ventilation.

Microfabricated glucose biosensor for culture well operation.

A water-based carbon screen-printing ink formulation, containing the redox mediator cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPC) and the enzyme glucose oxidase (GOx), was investigated for its suitability to fabricate glucose microbiosensors in a 96-well microplate format: (1) the biosensor ink was dip-coated onto a platinum (Pt) wire electrode, leading to satisfactory amperometric performance; (2) the ink was deposited onto the surface of a series of Pt microelectrodes (10-500 µm diameter) fabricated on a silicon substrate using MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) microfabrication techniques: capillary deposition proved to be successful; a Pt microdisc electrode of ≥100 µm was required for optimum biosensor performance; (3) MEMS processing was used to fabricate suitably sized metal (Pt) tracks and pads onto a silicon 96 well format base chip, and the glucose biosensor ink was screen-printed onto these pads to create glucose microbiosensors. When formed into microwells, using a 340 µl volume of buffer, the microbiosensors produced steady-state amperometric responses which showed linearity up to 5 mM glucose (CV=6% for n=5 biosensors). When coated, using an optimised protocol, with collagen in order to aid cell adhesion, the biosensors continued to show satisfactory performance in culture medium (linear range to 2 mM, dynamic range to 7 mM, CV=5.7% for n=4 biosensors). Finally, the operation of these collagen-coated microbiosensors, in 5-well 96-well format microwells, was tested using a 5-channel multipotentiostat. A relationship between amperometric response due to glucose, and cell number in the microwells, was observed. These results indicate that microphotolithography and screen-printing techniques can be combined successfully to produce microbiosensors capable of monitoring glucose metabolism in 96 well format cell cultures. The potential application areas for these microbiosensors are discussed.