Advances in Elastomers

Advances in Targeted Drug Delivery

Advances in Targeted Drug Delivery

Spontaneous shears in smectic elastomers.

We model the spontaneous elastic shear deformations of smectic elastomers as they make the thermal transition between the A and C phases. Tilt of the director is accompanied by shear. Unlike nematic elastomers where spontaneous elongation is associated with changes in the magnitude of order, spontaneous distortion in smectics is instead shear and is associated with rotation of the director of t...

Soft elasticity in smectic elastomers.

We investigate the soft elastic modes of smectic elastomers, that is shape change without energy cost. We use a microscopic model for their nonlinear elasticity, similar to those used for nematic elastomers. We consider two different phases of smectic elastomer; the biaxial smectic A for a simple illustration, and smectic C phases which are of great practical significance. We show that only one...

Recent Advances in Hemophilia Gene Therapy

Heterogeneous loss of function mutations at F8 and F9 genes causes X-linked recessive bleeding disorders, hemophilia A (HA) and hemophilia B (HB), respectively. HA is clinically indistinguishable from HB and accounts for more than 80% of hemophilia cases; the former affects 1/5000 and the latter 1/25000 male births worldwide. In Iran, it is estimated that around 4300 HA and 900 HB patients are ...