Conventional batch syntheses of polymer-based nanoparticles show considerable shortcomings in terms of scarce control over nanomaterials morphology and limited lot-to-lot reproducibility. Droplet-based microfluidics represents a valuable strategy to overcome these constraints, exploiting the formation of nanoparticles within discrete microdroplets. In this work, we synthesized nanogels (NGs) composed of hyaluronic acid and polyethyleneimine using a microfluidic flow-focusing device endowed with a pressure-driven micro-actuator. The actuator achieves real-time modulation of the junction orifice width, thereby regulating the microdroplet diameter and, as a result, the NG size. Acting on process parameters, NG hydrodynamic diameter could be tuned in the range 92–190 nm while preserving an extremely low polydispersity (0.015); those values are hardly achievable in batch syntheses and underline the strength of our toolbox for the continuous in-flow synthesis of nanocarriers. Furthermore, NGs were validated in vitro as a drug delivery system in a representative case study still lacking an effective therapeutic treatment: ovarian cancer. Using doxorubicin as a chemotherapeutic agent, we show that NG-mediated release of the drug results in an enhanced antiblastic effect vs. the non-encapsulated administration route even at sublethal dosages, highlighting the wide applicability of our microfluidics-enabled nanomaterials in healthcare scenarios.

Using the FitzHugh-Nagumo equations to represent the oscillatory electrical behavior of $\beta$-cells, we develop a coupled oscillator network model with cubic lattice topology, showing that the emergence of pacemakers or hubs in the system can be viewed as a natural consequence of oscillator population diversity. The optimal hub to nonhub ratio is determined by the position of the diversity-induced resonance maximum for a given set of FitzHugh-Nagumo equation parameters and is predicted by the model to be in a range that is fully consistent with experimental observations. The model also suggests that hubs in a $\beta$-cell network should have the ability to “switch on” and “off” their pacemaker function. As a consequence, their relative amount in the population can vary in order to ensure an optimal oscillatory performance of the network in response to environmental changes, such as variations of an external stimulus.

We report quantal calculations of elastic differential and momentum transfer cross sections for the scattering of electrons by H₂O at low and intermediate collision energies, i.e., from 2 to 20 eV. The fixed‐nuclei approximation (FNA) was employed and a single‐center expanded (SCE) wave function was used to represent the molecular target. The well‐known divergence in the forward direction was corrected via Born closure formulas (see the text) and a parameter‐free model, previously tested for methane targets, was used to describe exchange and polarization effects. The present results can be used to adequately describe angular distributions even at very small angles and can be extended beyond the largest angles that have been experimentally measured. The behavior of momentum‐transfer cross sections as a function of energy, and the comparison of our results with other static‐exchange (SE) calculations, which use an entirely different approach, are presented and discussed.

Total elastic cross sections have been computed for electron-${\mathrm{SiH}}_4$ collisions in the range of energy between 0.1 and 20 eV. All contributions to the full interaction have been included by means of functional dependences on the total electron density of the bound orbitals and no parameters have been employed to generate the final potential. The experimental suggestions of a low-energy, Ramsauer-type minimum at approximately 0.4 eV and of a marked resonance between 2 and 4 eV are fully confirmed by the present calculations. Possible reasons for the differences found in previous calculations are discussed.