Novel Calcium Phosphate Promotes Interbody Bony Fusion in a Porcine Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion Model.

Study Design: Experimental porcine anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) model: a proof-of-concept study.

Objective: The effect of monetite synthetic bone graft (SBG) containing calcium pyrophosphate and β-tricalcium phosphate on cervical spinal fusion in a noninstrumented two-level large animal model.

Summary Of Background Data: ACDF is the gold standard surgical technique for the treatment of degenerative cervical spinal diseases.

Bone formation beyond the skeletal envelope using calcium phosphate granules packed into a collagen pouch-a pilot study.

In this proof-of-concept, bone neoformation beyond the skeletal envelope is explored by using a collagen pouch (= 6) packed with calcium phosphate (CaP) granules placed over the frontal bone in sheep (= 3). At 13 weeks, macroscopic examination showed specimens covered by an adherent fibrinous envelope with slight vascularization. Histology revealed colonization of the implant by newly formed woven bone and fibrous connective tissue.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Metadynamics Simulations Reveal the Atomistic Binding of l-Serine and -Phospho-l-Serine at Disordered Calcium Phosphate Surfaces of Biocements.

Interactions between biomolecules and structurally disordered calcium phosphate (CaP) surfaces are crucial for the regulation of bone mineralization by noncollagenous proteins, the organization of complexes of casein and amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) in milk, as well as for structure-function relationships of hybrid organic/inorganic interfaces in biomaterials. By a combination of advanced solid-state NMR experiments and metadynamics simulations, we examine the detailed binding of -phospho-l-serine (Pser) and l-serine (Ser) with ACP in bone-adhesive CaP cements, whose capacity of gluing fractured bone together stems from the close integration of the organic molecules with ACP over a subnanometer scale. The proximity of each carboxy, aliphatic, and amino group of Pser/Ser to the Ca and phosphate species of ACP observed from the metadynamics-derived models agreed well with results from heteronuclear solid-state NMR experiments that are sensitive to the C-P and N-P distances.

Bioactive Silicon Nitride Implant Surfaces with Maintained Antibacterial Properties.

Silicon nitride (SiN) is a promising biomaterial, currently used in spinal fusion implants. Such implants should result in high vertebral union rates without major complications. However, pseudarthrosis remains an important complication that could lead to a need for implant replacement.

Pan-cancer analysis of genomic and transcriptomic data reveals the prognostic relevance of human proteasome genes in different cancer types.

Background: The human proteasome gene family (PSM) consists of 49 genes that play a crucial role in cancer proteostasis. However, little is known about the effect of PSM gene expression and genetic alterations on clinical outcome in different cancer forms.

Methods: Here, we performed a comprehensive pan-cancer analysis of genetic alterations in PSM genes and the subsequent prognostic value of PSM expression using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) containing over 10,000 samples representing up to 33 different cancer types.