Toward Smart Biomimetic Apatite-Based Bone Scaffolds with Spatially Controlled Ion Substitutions.

Biomimetic apatites exhibit a high reactivity allowing ion substitutions to modulate their in vivo response. We developed a novel approach combining several bioactive ions in a spatially controlled way in view of subsequent releases to address the sequence of events occurring after implantation, including potential microorganisms' colonization. Innovative micron-sized core-shell particles were designed with an external shell enriched with an antibacterial ion and an internal core substituted with a pro-angiogenic or osteogenic ion.

PET plastics as a Trojan horse for radionuclides.

Mismanaged plastic waste interacts with secondary environmental pollutants, potentially aggravating their impact on ecosystems and human health. Here we characterized the natural and artificial radionuclides in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles collected from the industrial littoral discharge of a phosphate fertilizer plant. The activity concentrations in littered bottles ranged from 0.

Influence of process parameters on energetic properties of sputter-deposited Al/CuO reactive multilayers.

In this study, we demonstrate the effect of change of the sputtering power and the deposition pressure on the ignition and the combustion properties of Al/CuO reactive thin films. A reduced sputtering power of Al along with the deposition carried out at a higher-pressure result in a high-quality thin film showing a 200% improvement in the burn rate and a 50% drop in the ignition energy. This highlights the direct implication of the change of the process parameters on the responsivity and the reactivity of the reactive film while maintaining the Al and CuO thin-film integrity both crystallographically and chemically.

Structural evidence for a new elaborate 3D-organization of the cardiomyocyte lateral membrane in adult mammalian cardiac tissues.

Aims: This study explored the lateral crest structures of adult cardiomyocytes (CMs) within healthy and diseased cardiac tissue.

Methods And Results: Using high-resolution electron and atomic force microscopy, we performed an exhaustive quantitative analysis of the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the CM lateral surface in different cardiac compartments from various mammalian species (mouse, rat, cow, and human) and determined the technical pitfalls that limit its observation. Although crests were observed in nearly all CMs from all heart compartments in all species, we showed that their heights, dictated by the subsarcolemmal mitochondria number, substantially differ between compartments from one species to another and tightly correlate with the sarcomere length.

Characterization of phosphate rock and phosphogypsum from Gabes phosphate fertilizer factories (SE Tunisia): high mining potential and implications for environmental protection.

Since the establishment of the coastal industrial complex in Gabes city (Gulf of Gabes, SE Tunisia), hundred million tons of untreated phosphogypsum have been discharged in the open sea causing serious environmental problems. To better understand the dynamic and behavior of phosphate/phosphogypsum contaminants from raw ores to marine environment, a chemical, organic, mineralogical, and morphological characterization of phosphate rock and phosphogypsum was conducted using several sophisticated techniques. The chemical analysis showed that phosphate and phosphogypsum contain high loads of trace elements and that the transfer factors of pollutants varied from 5.