Implementing Systemic Innovation Strategies for a More Sustainable Future: The Case of Three Overseas Countries and Territories.

Addressing sustainability issues requires a radical systemic change across multiple dimensions, including policy, culture, and civil society. This also implies that no blueprints for governing critical sustainability issues both at the local and global levels exist. As a result, rather than imposing decisions, policymakers should engage in a learning process.

Fast T2 mapping of the patellar articular cartilage with gradient and spin-echo magnetic resonance imaging at 1.5 T: validation and initial clinical experience in patients with osteoarthritis.

Objective: To evaluate the T2 mapping of patellar articular cartilage in patients with osteoarthritis using gradient and spin-echo (GRASE) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging.

Materials And Methods: After the imaging of a phantom consisting of two sealed 50-ml test objects with different concentrations (30% and 90% weight/volume) of copper sulphate, the T2 mapping of patellar articular cartilage was performed in 35 patients (21 male and 14 female; mean age +/- SD 42+/-17 years) with moderate degree of patellar osteoarthritis. Turbo-spin-echo (TSE) (TR milliseconds/ minimum-maximum TE milliseconds 3,000/15-120; total acquisition time 5 min 52 s) and GRASE (TR milliseconds/ minimum-maximum TE milliseconds 3,000/15-120; total acquisition time 1 min 51 s) were employed.

Chondrocyte-alginate bioconstructs: a nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation study.

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxometry can give informations about hydrogel scaffold properties. As these properties can be modified with culture time and conditions according to scaffold biodegradability and new tissue biosynthesis, the aim of this research was to test the efficiency of this noninvasive NMR technique in the follow-up of 3D cultures for tissue engineering. The distributions of proton relaxation times T1 and T2 have been measured on cylindrical gel samples of different types of alginate, in the presence or absence of hyaluronate, in gels or bioconstructs with encapsulated chondrocytes cultured for 30 days in normal or reduced weight conditions.

Structure of the exopolysaccharide produced by Enterobacter amnigenus.

The bacterial species Enterobacter amnigenus was isolated from sugar beets harvested in Finland. It produced an exopolysaccharide rich in l-fucose, which gave viscous water solutions. Its primary structure was determined mainly by NMR spectroscopy and ESIMS of oligosaccharides and a polysaccharide with decreased molecular weight, obtained by Smith degradation of the O-deacetylated native polymer [carbohydrate structure: see text]

Degenerative changes of porcine intervertebral disc induced by vertebral endplate injuries.

Study Design: Graded endplate injuries were performed in porcine lumbar discs. The effects of such injuries were compared to control animals in which a sham operation was performed.

Objectives: To investigate the effects of endplate injuries on disc tissue.

Magnetic resonance microscopy for the quantitative analysis of trabecular bone architecture.

A major concern for long-term spaceflight is the effect of microgravity on bone structure and mass as a loss of cortical and trabecular bone volume and density, both of which can lead to decreased bone strength and an increased risk of bone fracture. Detailed analysis of the three-dimensional structure of trabecular bone, and its relation to bone strength has become feasible only recently using high-resolution 3D imaging techniques. In particular, magnetic resonance microscopy (MRM) has proved to be particularly useful for the ex vivo evaluation of the complex architecture of trabecular bone.

Ex vivo assessment of trabecular bone structure from three-dimensional projection reconstruction MR micro-images.

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has recently been proposed for assessing osteoporosis and predicting fracture risks. However, accurate acquisition techniques and image analysis protocols for the determination of the trabecular bone structure are yet to be defined. The aim of this study was to assess the potential of projection reconstruction (PR) MR microscopy in the analysis of the three-dimensional (3-D) architecture of trabecular bone and in the prediction of its biomechanical properties.

MR microscopy of hyaline cartilage: current status.

Cartilage degenerative diseases, such as osteoarthritis, affect million of people. Magnetic resonance imaging is presently the most accurate imaging modality in evaluating the state of hyaline cartilage; however, clinical MRI does not accurately reveal early degenerative alterations in cartilage, due mainly to low spatial resolution. Magnetic resonance microscopy (MRM, or microMRI) appears exceptionally well suited to the in vitro or ex vivo study of this heterogeneous tissue, due to its high spatial resolution; however, despite this, further studies are necessary to evaluate the potential of MRM in the detection of early cartilage damage.

Structural investigations of cross-linked hyaluronan.

Structural properties of several cross-linked hyaluronan derivatives, obtained by scanning electron microscopy, monodimensional NMR microscopy and small angle X-ray scattering of synchrotron radiation, are presented and compared with those observed for non-modified hyaluronic acid, used as a reference material. The experimental results, obtained in different media, showed a consistent picture of the synthesized matrices. In particular, the presence of zones of denser polymeric material observed by electron microscopy resulted in a higher transversal relaxation rate of the bulk water protons as well as in a decrease of the diffusion coefficient obtained by NMR microscopy.