Suchergebnisse

Jin-Hong Yan,1,* Chun-Hui Wang,2,* Ke-Wen Li,1,3,* Qi Zhang,1 Min Yang,1 Wei-Long Di-Wu,1 Ming Yan,1 Yue Song,1 Jing-Jing Ba,4 Long Bi,1 Yi-Sheng Han1 1Department of Orthopedics, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 2Department of Army Military Medical Frontier Medical Service Brigade, Urumqi Ethnic Cadre College, Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur, 3Department of Orthopedics, Qinghai University Affiliated Hospital, Xining, Qinghai, 4Shandong Weigao Orthopedic Mechanics Laboratory, Weihai, Shandong, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background and objective: The modulus of carbon fiber-reinforced polyether ether ketone (CFR-PEEK), a composite containing layers of carbon fiber sheets, can be precisely controlled to match bone. However, CFR-PEEK is biologically inert and cannot promote bone apposition. The objective of this study was to investigate whether graphene modification could enhance the bioactivity of CFR-PEEK.Methods and results: In vitro, the proliferation and differentiation of rat bone marrow stromal cells on scaffolds were quantified via cell-counting kit-8 assay and Western blotting analysis of osteoblast-specific proteins. Graphene modification significantly promoted bone marrow stromal cell proliferation and accelerated induced differentiation into osteogenic lineages compared to cells seeded onto nongraphene-coated CFR-PEEK. An in vivo rabbit extraarticular graft-to-bone healing model was established. At 4, 8, and 12 weeks after surgery, microcomputed tomography analyses and histological observations revealed significantly better microstructural parameters and higher average mineral apposition rates for graphene-modified CFR-PEEK implants than CFR-PEEK implants (P<0.05). van Gieson staining indicated more new bone was formed around graphene-modified CFR-PEEK implants than CFR-PEEK implants.Conclusion: Graphene may have considerable potential to enhance the bioactivity and osseointegration of CFR-PEEK implants for clinical applications. Keywords: graphene, carbon fiber-reinforced polyether ether ketone, surface modification, bioactivity, osseointegration

Organophosphorus (OP) nerve agents are deadly chemical weapons that pose an alarming threat to military and civilian populations. The irreversible inhibition of the critical cholinergic degradative enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) by OP nerve agents leads to cholinergic crisis. Resulting excessive synaptic acetylcholine levels leads to status epilepticus that, in turn, results in brain damage. Current countermeasures are only modestly effective in protecting against OP-induced brain damage, supporting interest for evaluation of new ones. (-)-Phenserine is a reversible AChE inhibitor possessing neuroprotective and amyloid precursor protein lowering actions that reached Phase III clinical trials for Alzheimer's Disease where it exhibited a wide safety margin. This compound preferentially enters the CNS and has potential to impede soman binding to the active site of AChE to, thereby, serve in a protective capacity. Herein, we demonstrate that (-)-phenserine protects neurons against soman-induced neuronal cell death in rats when administered either as a pretreatment or post-treatment paradigm, improves motoric movement in soman-exposed animals and reduces mortality when given as a pretreatment. Gene expression analysis, undertaken to elucidate mechanism, showed that (-)-phenserine pretreatment increased select neuroprotective genes and reversed a Homer1expression elevation induced by soman exposure. These studies suggest that (-)-phenserine warrants further evaluation as an OP nerve agent protective strategy.

IPIN 2019 Competition, sixth in a series of IPIN competitions, was held at the CNR Research Area of Pisa (IT), integrated into the program of the IPIN 2019 Conference. It included two on-site real-time Tracks and three off-site Tracks. The four Tracks presented in this paper were set in the same environment, made of two buildings close together for a total usable area of 1000 m2 outdoors and and 6000 m2 indoors over three floors, with a total path length exceeding 500 m. IPIN competitions, based on the EvAAL framework, have aimed at comparing the accuracy performance of personal positioning systems in fair and realistic conditions: past editions of the competition were carried in big conference settings, university campuses and a shopping mall. Positioning accuracy is computed while the person carrying the system under test walks at normal walking speed, uses lifts and goes up and down stairs or briefly stops at given points. Results presented here are a showcase of state-of-the-art systems tested side by side in real-world settings as part of the on-site real-time competition Tracks. Results for off-site Tracks allow a detailed and reproducible comparison of the most recent positioning and tracking algorithms in the same environment as the on-site Tracks. ; Fundación para la Ciencia y Tecnología; 10.13039/100007225-Ministry of Science and Technology; Institute for Information and communications Technology Promotion IITP grant funded by the Korea government MSIT; Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea NRF funded by the Ministry of Science; MSIT Ministry of Science and ICT Korea under the ITRC; Slovak Research and Development Agency; Strategic Priority Research Program; Korea government NFA; ICT R and D Program of MSIPIITP; 10.13039/501100004837-Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; JSPS KAKENHI; ICT R and D Program of MSIPIITP. ; Peer reviewed