A study of histological responses from Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy dental implants with and without plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite coating in dogs.

Titanium alloys are hoped to be used much more for applications as implant materials in the medical and dental fields because of their basic properties, such as biocompatibility, corrosion resistance and specific strength compared with other metallic implant materials. Thus, the Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy that has recently been developed for biomedical use, that is, primarily developed for orthopaedic use, is to be studied in this paper, for application in dental implants. The biocompatibility test in vivo was carried out in dogs and the osseointegration was verified through histological analysis of the samples of the Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy with and without hydroxyapatite coating that were inserted in the alveoli.

Effect of bile components on the surface properties of bifidobacteria.

The action of bile on bifidobacteria was studied by measuring changes in zeta potential. hydrophobicity and adherence to enterocyte-like cells in vitro. Highly hydrophobic strains shocked with bile displayed more negative zeta potential values and a decrease in adherence.

Enzyme-based most probable number method for the enumeration of Bifidobacterium in dairy products.

An enzyme-based assay in combination with the most probable number (MPN) technique was developed for the enumeration of bifidobacteria. The assay employs the detection of fructose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase (F6PPK) activity as an indicator of the presence of bifidobacteria. The method was validated against viable counts and optimized with respect to selective media in order to quantitatively assess bifidobacteria in dairy products and other probiotic preparations.