Three-dimensional models demonstrate differences in correction depending on femoral derotational osteotomy site and may enhance the planning and precision in femoral derotational osteotomy - An observational study in eight femora and two surgeons.

Background: Increased femoral anteversion (FAV) is crucial in the genesis of anterior knee pain (AKP) and a femoral derotational osteotomy (FDO) has demonstrated good clinical results. It remains unclear at what level of the femur the osteotomy should be performed. Resulting degrees of FAV measured by Murphy's method do not always correspond to the degrees that had been planned after an FDO.

Increased femoral anteversion in females with anterior knee pain relates to both the neck and the shaft of the femur.

Introduction: Increased femoral anteversion (FAV) can have many clinical manifestations, including anterior knee pain (AKP). To our knowledge, no studies have measured the location of FAV in a cohort of female AKP patients. The objective of this research is to determine whether the increased FAV in AKP females originates above the lesser trochanter, below the lesser trochanter or at both levels.

[Translated article] Pilot study to determine the association between gut microbiota and fragility hip fracture.

Introduction: Hip fractures are the most common cause of hospital admission to orthopaedic departments in Europe and they generate a major health problem. Therefore, it is of great interest to identify additional risk factors that will help us to better understand the pathophysiology of these fractures and improve our preventive capacity. There is sufficient data to support the theory of modulation of bone mass by gut microbiota (osteomicrobiology); however, there is a lack of human clinical studies directly linking microbiota to hip fracture risk.

Three-Dimensional Preoperative Virtual Planning in Derotational Proximal Femoral Osteotomy.

Anterior knee pain (AKP) is a common pathology among adolescents and adults. Increased femoral anteversion (FAV) has many clinical manifestations, including AKP. There is growing evidence that increased FAV plays a major role in the genesis of AKP.

Pilot study to determine the association between gut microbiota and fragility hip fracture.

Introduction: Hip fractures are the most common cause of hospital admission to orthopaedic departments in Europe and they generate a major health problem. Therefore, it is of great interest to identify additional risk factors that will help us to better understand the pathophysiology of these fractures and improve our preventive capacity. There is sufficient data to support the theory of modulation of bone mass by gut microbiota (osteomicrobiology); however, there is a lack of human clinical studies directly linking microbiota to hip fracture risk.

Improved carbon dioxide absorption in double-charged ionic liquids.

Four divalent ionic liquids based on imidazolium cations with alkyl or ether functionalized side-chains were synthesised and characterized: 3,3'-(tetraethyleneglycol-1,11-diyl)bis(1-methyl-1-imidazolium)bromide, [tetraEG(mim)][Br], 3,3'-(tetraethyleneglycol-1,11-diyl)bis(1-methyl-1-imidazolium)acetate, [tetraEG(mim)][OAc], 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium malonate, [Cmim][Mal], and 3-butyl-1-methylimidazolium glutarate, [Cmim][Glut]. Their densities vary between 1.1 and 1.

Influence of the Use of an Ionic Liquid as Pre-Hydrodistillation Maceration Medium on the Composition and Yield of L. Essential Oil.

L. is a multi-purpose crop, whose resilience, adaptability and soil-enriching properties make it a low-impact production. In the last years, the cultivation of the "industrial" hemp varieties (THC < 0.

Publisher Correction: Fe-functionalized paramagnetic sporopollenin from pollen grains: one-pot synthesis using ionic liquids.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Fe-functionalized paramagnetic sporopollenin from pollen grains: one-pot synthesis using ionic liquids.

The preparation of Fe-decorated sporopollenins was achieved using pollen grains and an ionic liquid as solvent and functionalizing agent. The integrity of the organic capsules was ascertained through scanning electron microscopy studies. The presence of Fe in the capsule was investigated using FT-IR, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.

Synthetic mycomelanin thin films as emergent bio-inspired interfaces controlling the fate of embryonic stem cells.

The fungal pathways of melanin synthesis have so far been little considered as a source of bio-inspiration in the field of functional materials, despite the interesting properties exhibited by Ascomycetes melanins from 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene (1,8-DHN), including the ability to shield organisms from ionizing radiation. Herein, the processing techniques and characterizations of mycomelanin thin films obtained from the solid state polymerization of 1,8-DHN is reported for the first time. Overall, the results highlighted the role of synthetic mycomelanin thin films as a prototype of next generation bioinspired interfaces featuring high structural regularity and ultrasmooth morphology, high robustness against peroxidative bleaching and adhesion under water conditions, good biocompatibility and unprecedented effects in inducing the spontaneous differentiation of embryonic stem cells prevalently towards the endodermal lineages in the absence of added factors.

A Robust Fungal Allomelanin Mimic: An Antioxidant and Potent π-Electron Donor with Free-Radical Properties that can be Tuned by Ionic Liquids.

Developing effective strategies to increase the chemical stability and to fine-tune the physico-chemical properties of melanin biopolymers by rational control of π-electron conjugation is an important goal in materials science for biomedical and technological applications. Herein we report that poly-1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene (pDHN), a non-nitrogenous, catechol-free fungal melanin mimic, displays a high degree of structural integrity (from MALDI-MS and CP/MAS C NMR analysis), a strong radical scavenging capacity (DPPH and FRAP assays), and an unusually intense EPR signal (g=2.0030).

Combined Use of Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Imaging Coupled with Principal Component Analysis in the Study of Ancient Egyptian Papyri.

This paper reports the results of a spectroscopic study on the chemistry of some small papyrus fragments arising from three Egyptian excavation sites. The aim of this investigation was to verify the possibility to identify significant differences in ancient Egyptian papyri using noninvasive analytical methods, that is, ATR (attenuated total reflection)-FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectroscopic imaging and scanning electron microscopy-energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Differences in both lignin and cellulose compositions, which are difficult to detect with traditional FTIR and FTIR imaging spectral analysis, were revealed by the multivariate approach, and the second derivative spectroscopy was applied to enhance the spectrum resolution.

Unexpected Intrinsic Lability of Thiol-Functionalized Carboxylate Imidazolium Ionic Liquids.

New thiol-functionalized carboxylate ionic liquids (ILs), varying both for the cation and for the anion structures, have been prepared as new potential redox switching systems by reacting either 3-mercapto propionic acid (3-MPA) or -acetyl-cysteine (NAC) with commercially available methyl carbonate ILs. Different ratios of thiol/disulfide ILs were obtained depending both on the acid employed in the neutralization reaction and on the reaction conditions used. Surprisingly, the imidazolium ILs displayed limited thermal stability which resulted in the formation of an imidazole 2-thione and a new sulfide ionic liquid.

An insight into the intermolecular vibrational modes of dicationic ionic liquids through far-infrared spectroscopy and DFT calculations.

Dicationic ionic liquids (DILs) are a subclass of the ionic liquid (IL) family and are characterized by two cationic head groups linked by means of a spacer. While DILs are increasingly attracting interest due to their peculiar physico-chemical properties, there is still a lack of understanding of their intermolecular interactions. Herein, we report our investigations on the intermolecular vibrational modes of two bromide DILs and of a bistriflimide DIL.

Comparative evaluation of antimicrobial activity of different types of ionic liquids.

In order to identify most suitable ionic liquids (ILs) for potential applications in infection prevention and control, in the present study we comparatively evaluated the antimicrobial potency and hemolytic activity of 15 ILs, including 11 previously described and four newly synthesized ILs, using standard microbiological procedures against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. ILs showing the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) were tested for their hemolytic activity. Three ILs characterized by low MIC values and low hemolytic activity, namely 1-methyl-3-dodecylimidazolium bromide, 1-dodecyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium bromide, and 1-dodecyl-1-methylpiperidinium bromide were further investigated to determine their minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), and their ability to inhibit biofilm formation by Staphylococcus aureus or Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Remarkable Effect of [Li(G4)]TFSI Solvate Ionic Liquid (SIL) on the Regio- and Stereoselective Ring Opening of α-Gluco Carbasugar 1,2-Epoxides.

Carba analogues of biologically relevant natural carbohydrates are promising structures for the development of future drugs endowed with enhanced hydrolytic stability. An open synthetic challenge in this field is the optimization of new methodologies for the stereo- and regioselective opening of α-gluco carbasugar 1,2-epoxides that allow for the preparation of pseudo mono- and disaccharides of great interest. Therefore, we investigated the effect of Lewis acids and solvate ionic liquids (SILs) on the epoxide ring opening of a model substrate.

Nanoscale PDA disassembly in ionic liquids: structure-property relationships underpinning redox tuning.

Nanoscale disassembly of mussel-inspired polydopamine (PDA) in ionic liquids (ILs) was recently shown to induce an electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR)-detectable reorganization of free radical centers in the resulting nanoparticles (NPs) in an IL-controlled manner. Herein, we report electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) data showing that PDA NPs produced by suspending samples obtained in Tris and bicarbonate buffer (PDA-T and PDA-C) in different ILs display different redox activity as a result of structural control combined with IL-surface interactions. In particular, susceptibility to oxidation was found to correlate closely with the spin density in an ion pair-tunable fashion in ILs.

Systematic Synthesis and Properties Evaluation of Dicationic Ionic Liquids, and a Glance Into a Potential New Field.

Dicationic ionic liquids (DILs), a subset of the ionic liquid (IL) family, have attracted growing interest in recent years, and the range of applications within which they are investigated is constantly expanding. However, data which allows structure to property correlation of a DIL is still limited, and thus selecting an appropriate salt to address a specific challenge can be problematic. In comparison to traditional ILs, DILs physico-chemical properties can be tuned by changing the length and type of spacer which connects the cationic heads as well as the type of cation.

Chiral ionic liquids supported on natural sporopollenin microcapsules.

Supported chiral ionic liquids (SILs) were prepared choosing the starting material for the ionic liquid part from the enantiopure stock of the chiral pool (monoterpenoids and an amino acid) and the sporopollenin as an environmentally friendly support. Sporopollenins are microcapsules with naturally well-defined sizes and shapes that can be obtained from pollen grains after removal of the internal cytoplasm and the second shell layer. As thermally stable organic biocompatible structures, sporopollenins have attracted increasing interest in recent years for several applications.

Divergent Syntheses of ( Z)-3-Alkylideneisobenzofuran-1(3 H)-ones and 1 H-Isochromen-1-ones by Copper-Catalyzed Cycloisomerization of 2-Alkynylbenzoic Acids in Ionic Liquids.

The cycloisomerization of readily available 2-alkynylbenzoic acids 1 in ionic liquids (ILs) as recyclable reaction media has been studied under the catalytic action of CuCl. With substrates bearing an aryl group on the triple bond, a mixture of ( Z)-3-alkylideneisobenzofuran-1(3 H)-ones (from 5- exo- dig cyclization) and 1 H-isochromen-1-ones (from 6- endo- dig cyclization) was observed in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate (EmimEtSO), while the reaction turned out to be selective toward the formation of the isobenzofuranone only using N-ethyl- N-methylmorpholinium dicyanamide [MorN(CN)] as the solvent. The 5-membered product was also obtained selectively when the substrate bearing a terminal triple bond was employed, either in EmimEtSO or MorN(CN).

Modifying bis(triflimide) ionic liquids by dissolving early transition metal carbamates.

The authors report the first modification of ionic liquids with metal carbamates. A selection of homoleptic N,N-dialkylcarbamates of group 4 and 5 metals, M(OCNR), were dissolved in bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide-based ionic liquids, i.e.

Divergent syntheses of iodinated isobenzofuranones and isochromenones by iodolactonization of 2-alkynylbenzoic acids in ionic liquids.

The regiochemical outcome of the iodolactonization of 2-alkynylbenzoic acids, carried out at 100 °C in ionic liquids (ILs) as unconventional solvents and with molecular iodine as the iodine source, in the absence of external bases, was found to be strongly dependent on the nature of the IL medium. In particular, while the use of N-ethyl-N-methylmorpholinium dicyanamide (MorN(CN)) promoted the stereoselective formation of (E)-3-(iodomethylene)isobenzofuran-1(3H)-ones, through an anti-5-exo-dig cyclization route, the use of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate (EmimEtSO) tended to favor the 6-endo-dig cyclization mode, with preferential or selective formation of 4-iodo-1H-isochromen-1-ones. In any case, the IL solvent could be easily recycled after extraction of the product from the reaction mixture with diethyl ether.

Hydrogen Sulfide and Ionic Liquids: Absorption, Separation, and Oxidation.

Economical and environmental concerns are the main motivations for development of energy-efficient processes and new eco-friendly materials for the capture of greenhouse gases. Currently, HS capture is dominated by physical and/or chemical absorption technologies, which are, however, energy intensive and often problematic from an environmental point of view due to emission of volatile solvent components. Ionic liquids have been proposed as a promising alternative to conventional solvents because of their low volatility and other interesting properties.

Temperature effects on the viscosity and the wavelength-dependent refractive index of imidazolium-based ionic liquids with a phosphorus-containing anion.

A systematic study on the viscosity and refractive index of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium based ionic liquids (alkyl = methyl, butyl and hexyl) combined with three phosphorus containing anions, i.e. dimethylphosphate, methyl methylphosphonate and methylphosphonate, is reported.