Inflammatory Response to Wear Particles: Comparisons Between Zirconia and Titanium In Vitro.

Purpose: To compare the inflammatory responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) subjected to titanium (Ti) and/or zirconia (Zr) particles while growing on Ti or Zr discs.

Materials And Methods: In total, 240 discs were fabricated at a size of 2 mm in height and 5 mm in diameter. Of the 240 discs, 120 discs were made of Ti (commercially pure [CP] grade 4), and 120 discs were made of Zr (3 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia polycrystals [3Y-TZP]).

Inflammatory Gene Profile and Particle Presence in Peri-Implant Mucosa: a Pilot Study on 9 Patients.

Objectives: The purpose of this pilot study is to compare gene expression in mucosa around dental implants with zirconia abutment to titanium and investigate presence of particles in mucosa samples and on implant heads.

Material And Methods: Ten patients with a single implant supported prosthesis connected to zirconia or titanium abutments were invited at the five-year control. A clinical examination and a survey on experience of function and appearance were conducted.

Implant-Supported Single Crowns with Titanium or Zirconia Abutments: A Retrospective Up-to-5-year Follow-up Study.

Purpose: To compare the clinical outcomes of single implants with titanium (Ti) or zirconia (Zr) abutments after up to 5 years in function.

Materials And Methods: This study was a retrospective analysis on single implants with screw-retained abutments (Zr or Ti) covered with porcelain veneer placed between 2011 and 2013 at one referral specialist clinic. Clinical data from patient records were collected from 132 patients and 174 implants.

Wear particle release at the interface of dental implant components: Effects of different material combinations. An in vitro study.

Objectives: Particle generation from implant components caused by frictional wear affect the surrounding peri-implant tissues. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of combining implant and abutment materials on wear and particle release in a dynamical loading setup.

Methods: A customized dynamical loading machine was used to subject two implant materials (Titanium and Titanium- Zirconium alloy) paired with two different abutment materials (Titanium and Zirconia) to a cyclic loading set of 240.

Dissuasive exit signage for building fire evacuation.

This work presents the result of a questionnaire study which investigates the design of dissuasive emergency signage, i.e. signage conveying a message of not utilizing a specific exit door.

Precipitation of Calcium Phosphates in the Presence of Collagen Type I on Four Different Bioactive Titanium Surfaces: an in Vitro Study.

Objectives: To compare the properties of calcium phosphate precipitation on four different bioactive surface preparations and one control surface in the simulated body fluid model with added collagen type I.

Material And Methods: Blasted titanium discs were treated with four different surface modifications, alkali and heat, sodium fluoride, anodic oxidation and hydroxyapatite coating. The discs were divided into five groups where one group, the blasted, served as control.

Ring waves as a mass transport mechanism in air-driven core-annular flows.

Air-driven core-annular fluid flows occur in many situations, from lung airways to engineering applications. Here we study, experimentally and theoretically, flows where a viscous liquid film lining the inside of a tube is forced upwards against gravity by turbulent airflow up the center of the tube. We present results on the thickness and mean speed of the film and properties of the interfacial waves that develop from an instability of the air-liquid interface.

A phenomenological mixture model for biosynthesis and linking of cartilage extracellular matrix in scaffolds seeded with chondrocytes.

A phenomenological mixture model is presented for interactions between biosynthesis of extracellular matrix (ECM) constituents and ECM linking in a scaffold seeded with chondrocytes. A system of three ordinary differential equations for average apparent densities of unlinked ECM, linked ECM and scaffold is developed along with associated initial conditions for scaffold material properties. Equations for unlinked ECM synthesis and ECM linking include an inhibitory mechanism where associated rates decrease as unlinked ECM concentration in the interstitial fluid increases.

The brain injury biomarker VLP-1 is increased in the cerebrospinal fluid of Alzheimer disease patients.

Background: Definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer disease (AD) can be made only by histopathological examination of brain tissue, prompting the search for premortem disease biomarkers. We sought to determine if the novel brain injury biomarker, visinin-like protein 1 (VLP-1), is altered in the CSF of AD patients compared with controls, and to compare its values to the other well-studied CSF biomarkers 42-amino acid amyloid-beta peptide (Abeta(1-42)), total Tau (tTau), and hyperphosphorylated Tau (pTau).

Methods: Using ELISA, we measured concentrations of Abeta(1-42), tTau, pTau, and VLP-1 in CSF samples from 33 AD patients and 24 controls.

Identification of novel brain biomarkers.

Background: The diagnosis of diseases leading to brain injury, such as stroke, Alzheimer disease, and Parkinson disease, can often be problematic. In this study, we pursued the discovery of biomarkers that might be specific and sensitive to brain injury.

Methods: We performed gene array analyses on a mouse model to look for biomarkers that are both preferentially and abundantly produced in the brain.

Understanding and managing leakage in forest-based greenhouse-gas-mitigation projects.

A major concern about land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is the potential for leakage. Leakage refers to a net increase of greenhouse-gas emissions in an area outside the project resulting from the CDM activity. This paper provides an overview of leakage, its definitions and its causes.

Development, characterization, and use of monoclonal antibodies made to antigens expressed on the surface of fetal nucleated red blood cells.

Background: Current methods for obtaining fetal cells for prenatal diagnosis are invasive and carry a small (0.5-1.0%) but definite risk of miscarriage.

Identification of cross-reactive antibodies with low opsonophagocytic activity for Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Opsonophagocytic capacity and concentrations of antibodies to the capsular polysaccharide (PS) of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes 6A, 6B, 19F, and 19A were determined for sera from adults immunized with 14- and 23-valent S. pneumoniae capsular PS vaccines. The concentration of anticapsular PS antibodies strongly correlated (r = .

The repertoire of human antibodies to the carbohydrate capsule of Streptococcus pneumoniae 6B.

Antibodies to Streptococcus pneumoniae 6B capsular polysaccharide (PS) induced with a 23-valent PS vaccine among 25 adults were examined. The magnitude of antibody responses among different subjects was highly correlated with the amount of anti-6B antibodies expressing IgG (r = 0.98) and lambda (r = 0.

A modified Farr assay is more specific than ELISA for measuring antibodies to Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular polysaccharides.

In an attempt to develop an assay specific for antibody to capsular polysaccharide (PS) of Streptococcus pneumoniae, the ability of ELISA and Farr (radioactive antigen-binding) assay for antibodies to 6B and 19A PS to be affected by antibodies to C-polysaccharide (C-PS) was compared. Preabsorption with C-PS reduced values obtained by ELISA for anti-6B antibody by > 3-fold in 5 of 10 preimmune and 7 of 26 postimmune sera. In contrast, absorption reduced values by > 3-fold in 0 of 36 samples studied with the Farr assay.

Specific binding of vascular permeability factor to endothelial cells.

Vascular permeability factor (VPF), also known as vascular endothelial cell growth factor, has recently been purified from guinea pig, human, and bovine sources. We show that various fetal or adult endothelial cell strains originating from either capillary or large vessels possess specific high affinity and saturable binding sites for guinea pig tumor-derived [125I]VPF. Two classes of sites with KDs of approximately 10 pM and 1 nM were detected for all endothelial cell types examined.

Vascular permeability factor: a tumor-derived polypeptide that induces endothelial cell and monocyte procoagulant activity, and promotes monocyte migration.

Systemic infusion of low concentrations of tumor necrosis factor/cachectin (TNF) into mice that bear TNF-sensitive tumors leads to activation of coagulation, fibrin formation, and occlusive thrombosis exclusively within the tumor vascular bed. To identify mechanisms underlying the localization of this vascular procoagulant response, a tumor-derived polypeptide has been purified to homogeneity from supernatants of murine methylcholanthrene A-induced fibrosarcomas that induces endothelial tissue factor synthesis and expression (half-maximal response at approximately 300 pM), and augments the procoagulant response to TNF in a synergistic fashion. This tumor-derived polypeptide was identified as the murine homologue of vascular permeability factor (VPF) based on similar mobility on SDS-PAGE, an homologous NH2-terminal amino acid sequence, and recognition by a monospecific antibody to guinea pig VPF.

Human vascular permeability factor. Isolation from U937 cells.

Human vascular permeability factor (hVPF) is a glycoprotein that promotes fluid and protein leakage from blood vessels. The function of hVPF is at present unknown, but the potent bioactivities of this protein suggest that it could act during inflammation, wound healing, and tumor angiogenesis. hVPF was purified from serum-free conditioned medium of the human histiocytic lymphoma cell line U937 as a disulfide-linked dimeric 40-kDa protein that promoted dermal blood vessel leakage in guinea pigs at a dose of 20 ng (3 x 10(-9) M) and promoted in vitro endothelial cell growth at concentrations as low as 50 PM.

Tumor vascular permeability factor stimulates endothelial cell growth and angiogenesis.

Vascular permeability factor (VPF) is an Mr 40-kD protein that has been purified from the conditioned medium of guinea pig line 10 tumor cells grown in vitro, and increases fluid permeability from blood vessels when injected intradermally. Addition of VPF to cultures of vascular endothelial cells in vitro unexpectedly stimulated cellular proliferation. VPF promoted the growth of new blood vessels when administered into healing rabbit bone grafts or rat corneas.

Fibrin-enhanced endothelial cell organization.

The formation of cloned bovine endothelial cells into capillary-like tubes is accelerated from 3-7 days to 2-18 h in the presence of fibrin. Indirect immunofluorescence showed the presence of both fibrin and fibronectin in the strands along which the cells organized. Electronmicroscopy revealed the same type of cell structures as form in the absence of fibrin; it also revealed a gradual decrease with time of the fibrin within the putative lumen.

The formation of capillary-like tubes by calf aortic endothelial cells grown in vitro.

Cloned, large vessel endothelial cells derived from fetal bovine and bovine calf aortas formed three-dimensional structures in vitro without tumor-conditioned medium or special substrata. Transmission electron microscopy showed the structures to be hollow tubes composed of typical endothelial cells with overlapping and interdigitating cytoplasmic processes typical of those seen in in vivo capillaries. The putative lumen of these tubes generally contained abundant electron-dense fibrous material, which by ruthenium red and indirect immunofluorescent staining appeared to be extracellular matrix.

An assay measuring the stimulation of several types of bovine endothelial cells by growth factor(s) derived from cultured human tumor cells.

Endothelial cell growth factor(s) from several previously untested human tumor cell lines (i.e., SK-HEP-1, MG63, A375, TE671-C1, RD) were detected using a low cell inoculum growth assay.