Adhesion of osteoblasts to a nanorough titanium implant surface.

This work considers the adhesion of cells to a nanorough titanium implant surface with sharp edges. The basic assumption was that the attraction between the negatively charged titanium surface and a negatively charged osteoblast is mediated by charged proteins with a distinctive quadrupolar internal charge distribution. Similarly, cation-mediated attraction between fibronectin molecules and the titanium surface is expected to be more efficient for a high surface charge density, resulting in facilitated integrin mediated osteoblast adhesion.

Acetabular loading in active abduction.

Operative fixation of fragments in acetabular fracture treatment is not strong enough to allow weight bearing before the bone is healed. In some patients, even passive or active nonweight-bearing exercises could lead to dislocation of fragments and posttraumatic osteoarthritis. Therefore, early rehabilitation should avoid loading the acetabulum in the regions of fracture lines.

Possible role of flexible red blood cell membrane nanodomains in the growth and stability of membrane nanotubes.

Tubular budding of the erythrocyte membrane may be induced by exogenously added substances. It is shown that tubular budding may be explained by self-assembly of anisotropic membrane nanodomains into larger domains forming nanotubular membrane protrusions. In contrast to some previously reported theories, no direct external mechanical force is needed to explain the observed tubular budding of the bilayer membrane.

Sequential finite element model of tissue electropermeabilisation.

Sequential model of liver tissue electropermeabilisation around two needle electrodes was designed by computing electric field (E) distribution by means of the finite element (FE) method. Sequential model consists of a sequence of static FE models which represent E distribution during tissue permeabilisation. In the model an S-shaped dependency between specific conductivity and E was assumed.

Elastic properties of biological membranes influenced by attached proteins.

Positively charged proteins can attach themselves to the negatively charged outer surface of biological cell membranes and liposomes. In this work, the influence of the intrinsic shape of the membrane-attached proteins on the elastic properties of the membrane is considered theoretically. It is shown that attachment of anisotropic proteins to the outer surface of biological membranes may induce tubulation of the membrane.