Coral micro- and macro-morphological skeletal properties in response to life-long acclimatization at CO vents in Papua New Guinea.

This study investigates the effects of long-term exposure to OA on skeletal parameters of four tropical zooxanthellate corals naturally living at CO seeps and adjacent control sites from two locations (Dobu and Upa Upasina) in the Papua New Guinea underwater volcanic vent system. The seeps are characterized by seawater pH values ranging from 8.0 to about 7.

Characterization of Structural Bone Properties through Portable Single-Sided NMR Devices: State of the Art and Future Perspectives.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is a well-suited methodology to study bone composition and structural properties. This is because the NMR parameters, such as the T2 relaxation time, are sensitive to the chemical and physical environment of the H nuclei. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows bone structure assessment in vivo, its cost limits the suitability of conventional MRI for routine bone screening.

Single-sided NMR to estimate morphological parameters of the trabecular bone structure.

Purpose: Single-sided H-NMR is proposed for the estimation of morphological parameters of trabecular bone, and potentially the detection of pathophysiological alterations of bone structure. In this study, a new methodology was used to estimate such parameters without using an external reference signal, and to study intratrabecular and intertrabecular porosities, with a view to eventually scanning patients.

Methods: Animal trabecular bone samples were analyzed by a single-sided device.

Along-tract analysis of the arcuate fasciculus using the Laplacian operator to evaluate different tractography methods.

Purpose: We propose a new along-tract algorithm to compare different tractography algorithms in tract curvature mapping and along-tract analysis of the arcuate fasciculus (AF). In particular, we quantified along-tract diffusion parameters and AF spatial distribution evaluating hemispheric asymmetries in a group of healthy subjects.

Methods: The AF was bilaterally reconstructed in a group of 29 healthy subjects using the probabilistic ball-and-sticks model, and both deterministic and probabilistic constrained spherical deconvolution.

An Environmental Friendly Fluorinated Oligoamide for Producing Nonwetting Coatings with High Performance on Porous Surfaces.

The changes in the surface wettability of many materials are receiving increased attention in recent years. It is not too hard to fabricate resistant hydrophobic surfaces through products bearing both hydrophobic and reactive hydrophilic end groups. More challenging is obtaining resistant nonwetting surfaces through noncovalent reversible bonds.