Future Proteins: Sustainable Diets for Rearing Composed of Food By-Products.

Since the human population is continuously growing, sufficient food with low environmental impact is required. Especially, the challenge of providing proteins will deepen and insects can contribute to a more sustainable and efficient source of protein for human consumption. larvae are highly nutritious and rearing mealworms is more environmentally friendly compared to the production of traditional livestock meat.

Liking and Description of Pasta Sauces with Varying Mealworm Content.

Entomophagy is directly connected with culture, explaining why it is commonly rejected in Western countries. Due to increased meat consumption in recent years with its associated negative impacts on health and sustainability, the development of products based on alternative protein sources has become urgent. The larval form of (mealworm) has the potential to substitute meat as it requires less resources and produces less emissions compared to other forms of meat production.

(Linnaeus, 1758): Microbiological Screening of Feed for a Safe Food Choice.

As a result of the increasing focus on alternative protein sources which are ideally still sustainable, the yellow mealworm, , has come into focus. To verify its suitability as a food source in relation to human health, an analysis of the microbiome of larvae of is pertinent. Subsequently, the focus of this study was, on the one hand, to analyze the influence of the substrate on the microbial load of the larvae microbiome, and, on the other hand, to determine which processing methods ensure the risk-free consumption of mealworms.

Use Them for What They Are Good at: Mealworms in Circular Food Systems.

Future food systems must provide more food produced on less land with fewer greenhouse gas emissions if the goal is to keep planetary boundaries within safe zones. The valorisation of agricultural and industrial by-products by insects is an increasingly investigated strategy, because it can help to address resource scarcities and related environmental issues. Thus, insects for food and feed have gained increasing attention as a sustainable protein production strategy in circular food systems lately.

Surface modification of ultrafine-grained titanium: Influence on mechanical properties, cytocompatibility, and osseointegration potential.

Objective: The main objective of this study was to demonstrate that dental implants made from ultrafine-grain titanium (UFG-Ti) can be created that replicate state of the art surfaces of standard coarse-grain titanium (Ti), showing excellent cytocompatibility and osseointegration potential while also providing improved mechanical properties.

Material And Methods: UFG-Ti was prepared by continuous equal channel angular processing (ECAP), and surfaces were treated by sandblasting and acid etching. Mechanical properties (tensile and fatigue strength), wettability, and roughness parameters were evaluated.

Assessing the osteogenic potential of zirconia and titanium surfaces with an advanced in vitro model.

Objectives: In recent years, zirconia dental implants have gained increased attention especially for patients with thin gingival biotypes or patients seeking metal-free restoration. While physical and chemical material surface properties govern the blood-material interaction and subsequent osseointegration processes, the organizational principles underlying the interplay of biochemical and biophysical cues are still not well understood. Therefore, this study investigated how the interaction of a microstructured zirconia surface with blood influences its osseointegration potential compared to microstructured titanium with or without additional nanostructures.

Osteogenic response of human MSCs and osteoblasts to hydrophilic and hydrophobic nanostructured titanium implant surfaces.

Microstructured implant surfaces created by grit blasting and acid etching titanium (Ti) support osseointegration. This effect is further enhanced by storing in aqueous solution to retain hydrophilicity, but this also leads to surface nanostructure formation. The purpose of this study was to assess the contributions of nanostructures on the improved osteogenic response of osteoblast lineage cells to hydrophilic microstructured Ti.

Proliferation, behavior, and differentiation of osteoblasts on surfaces of different microroughness.

Objectives: Titanium surface roughness is recognized as an important parameter influencing osseointegration. However, studies concerning the effect of well-defined surface topographies of titanium surfaces on osteoblasts have been limited in scope. In the present study we have investigated how Ti surfaces of different micrometer-scale roughness influence proliferation, migration, and differentiation of osteoblasts in-vitro.

Chemically modified titanium-zirconium implants in comparison with commercially pure titanium controls stimulate the early molecular pathways of bone healing.

Objectives: Titanium-zirconium (TiZr) has been proposed as a mechanically stronger alternative to commercially pure titanium for oral and orthopaedic implants. However, not much is known on the osseointegration kinetics of TiZr surfaces. In this study, we aimed to identify the genetic response of bone around TiZr implants compared to pure Ti.

Comparable responses of osteoblast lineage cells to microstructured hydrophilic titanium-zirconium and microstructured hydrophilic titanium.

Objectives: Although titanium (Ti) is commonly used for dental implants, Ti alloy materials are being developed to improve their physical material properties. Studies indicate that osteoblast differentiation and maturation of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and normal human osteoblasts (NHOsts) respond to microstructured Ti and titanium-aluminum-vanadium (Ti6Al4V) surfaces in a similar manner. The goal of this study was to determine whether this is the case for osteoblast lineage cells grown on microstructured TiZr surfaces and whether their response is affected by surface nanotexture and hydrophilicity.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-15Zr alloy used as dental implant material.

Ti-Zr alloys have recently started to receive a considerable amount of attention as promising materials for dental applications. This work compares mechanical properties of a new Ti-15Zr alloy to those of commercially pure titanium Grade4 in two surface conditions - machined and modified by sand-blasting and etching (SLA). As a result of significantly smaller grain size in the initial condition (1-2µm), the strength of Ti-15Zr alloy was found to be 10-15% higher than that of Grade4 titanium without reduction in the tensile elongation or compromising the fracture toughness.

Biomechanical and Histomorphometrical Evaluation of TiZr Alloy Implants: An in vivo Study in the Rabbit.

Background: Clinically, there is a demand for mechanically stronger alloyed implants; however, not much evidence exists with regard to these materials.

Purpose: To test the osseointegration property of TiZr1317 implants in a rabbit model.

Materials And Methods: Hydrophilic titanium-zirconium alloy (TiZr1317) implants with sand-blasted and acid-etched surface (test) and hydrophilic cpTi implants with the same treatment (control) were placed pairwise in the hind limbs (two in each tibia and one in each femur) of 36 Swedish lop-eared rabbits.

Enhanced differentiation of human osteoblasts on Ti surfaces pre-treated with human whole blood.

Early and effective integration of a metal implant into bone tissue is of crucial importance for its long-term stability. While different material properties including surface roughness and wettability but also initial blood-implant surface interaction are known to influence this osseointegration, implications of the latter process are still poorly understood. In this study, early interaction between blood and the implant surface and how this affects the mechanism of osseointegration were investigated.

The role of nanostructures and hydrophilicity in osseointegration: In-vitro protein-adsorption and blood-interaction studies.

Protein adsorption and blood coagulation play important roles in the early stages of osseointegration and are strongly influenced by surface properties. We present a systematic investigation of the influence of different surface properties on the adsorption of the blood proteins fibrinogen and fibronectin and the degree of early blood coagulation. Experiments on custom-made and commercially available, microroughened hydrophobic titanium (Ti) surfaces (Ti SLA-Hphob ), hydrophilic (Hphil ) microroughened Ti surfaces with nanostructures (Ti SLActive-Hphil NS), and on bimetallic Ti zirconium alloy (TiZr, Roxolid®) samples were performed, to study the biological response in relation to the surface wettability and the presence of nanostructures (NS).

The angiogenic behaviors of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) in co-culture with osteoblast-like cells (MG-63) on different titanium surfaces.

Objectives: Interaction between osteogenesis and angiogenesis plays an important role in implant osseointegration. In the present study we investigated the influence of titanium surface properties on the angiogenic behaviors of endothelial cells grown in direct contact co-culture with osteoblasts.

Methods: Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and osteoblast-like cells (MG-63 cells) were grown in direct co-culture on the following titanium surfaces: acid-etched (A), hydrophilic A (modA), coarse-gritblasted and acid-etched (SLA) and hydrophilic SLA (SLActive).

Nanostructures and hydrophilicity influence osseointegration: a biomechanical study in the rabbit tibia.

Objective: Implant surface properties have long been identified as an important factor to promote osseointegration. The importance of nanostructures and hydrophilicity has recently been discussed. The aim of this study was to investigate how nanostructures and wettability influence osseointegration and to identify whether the wettability, the nanostructure or both in combination play the key role in improved osseointegration.

Chiral distortion of confined ice oligomers (N = 5,6).

Ice nuclei have been studied on the hexagonal boron nitride nanomesh (h-BN/Rh(111)), a template with 2 nm wide molecule traps. Scanning tunneling microscopy shows confined clusters, where oligomers with three protrusions are particularly abundant. Together with local barrier height dI/dz maps, it is found that the dipoles of the water molecules arrange in a homodrome, which is consistent with density functional theory calculations.

Spontaneously formed nanostructures on titanium surfaces.

Objectives: The aim was to investigate the evolution of nanostructures on the SLActive surface, as a function of time, storage conditions, material dependence and to identify the step in which the reorganization of the outermost titanium oxide layer into well defined nanostructures takes place.

Material And Methods: Titanium grade 2 discs were surface modified in seven different modes; (1) SLA (sand blasted, large grit, acid etched) protocol. (2) SLActive protocol (SLA stored in 0.

The effects of combined micron-/submicron-scale surface roughness and nanoscale features on cell proliferation and differentiation.

Titanium (Ti) osseointegration is critical for the success of dental and orthopedic implants. Previous studies have shown that surface roughness at the micro- and submicro-scales promotes osseointegration by enhancing osteoblast differentiation and local factor production. Only relatively recently have the effects of nanoscale roughness on cell response been considered.

Osteogenic properties of hydrophilic and hydrophobic titanium surfaces evaluated with osteoblast-like cells (MG63) in coculture with human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC).

Objectives: Osteogenesis on titanium (Ti) surfaces is a complex process involving cell-substrate and cell-cell interaction of osteoblasts and endothelial cells. The aim of this study was to investigate the osteogenic properties of Ti surfaces on osteoblasts in the presence of endothelial cells (ECs).

Methods: Osteoblast-like cells (MG63 cells) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were grown in cocultures on four kinds of Ti surfaces: acid-etched (A), coarse-grit-blasted and acid-etched (SLA), hydrophilic A (modA) and hydrophilic SLA (modSLA) surfaces.

Nano-ice on boron nitride nanomesh: accessing proton disorder.

Water was investigated on a h-BN/Rh(111) nanomesh template using variable temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Below 52 K, two distinct phases self-assemble within the 3.2 nm unit cell of the nanomesh that consists of "holes" and "wires".

Surface trapping of atoms and molecules with dipole rings.

The trapping of single molecules on surfaces without the formation of strong covalent bonds is a prerequisite for molecular recognition and the exploitation of molecular function. On nanopatterned surfaces, molecules may be selectively trapped and addressed. In a boron nitride nanomesh formed on Rh(111), the pattern consisted of holes 2 nanometers in diameter on a hexagonal superlattice, separated by about 3 nanometers.