Investigation of the Er: YAG laser and diamond bur cavity preparation on the marginal microleakage of Class V cavities restored with different flowable composites

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the Er:YAG laser and diamond bur cavity preparation on the marginal microleakage of Class V cavities. Group 1: bur preparation (bp) + Vertise Flow (VF); Group 2: laser preparation (lp) + VF; Group 3: bp + Adper Easy One (AEO) + Filtek Ultimate Flowable Composite (FUFC); Group 4: lp + AEO + FUFC; Group 5: bp + Clearfil S3 Bond (CSB) + Clearfil Majesty Flow (CMF); Group 6: lp + CSB + CMF. Data were analyzed by Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney U tests (p < .05). More microleakage was observed in cervical regions compared to occlusal regions in all groups (p < .05). No significant difference was observed among all groups in terms of occlusal and cervical surfaces, respectively (p > .05). The use of the Er:YAG laser for cavity preparation with different adhesive systems and flowable composites did not influence microleakage.     

Properties and applications of nanoclay reinforced open‐porous polymer composites

Open‐porous nanoclay reinforced polymer composites were prepared via high internal phase emulsion templating using 1,3‐butanediol dimethacrylate and surface modified montmorillonite (SM‐MMT). Organophilic clay was obtained by using a reactive intercalant—quaternary cocoamine salt having a styryl group—for surface modification of MMT. The clay modification resulted in not only intercalated silicate layers but also nanoclay particles compatible with the continuous phase of the emulsions. It was found that increasing clay amount leads to formation of hierarchical porous structure accompanied with larger cavities and interconnected pores. In this respect, cavity size of the resulting composites was found to be altered between 6.78 and 8.82 μm. On the other hand, as compared to bare composites, addition of clay particles increased compressive modulus of the resulting materials from 26.4 to 72.5 MPa. The adsorption capacities of the porous composites for methyl violet 2B were investigated by batch experiments and discussed as a function of their SM‐MMT loading. It was determined that, the dye adsorption of the composites increased with increasing nanoclay amount in the polymer matrix. Thus, the adsorption percentage of the composite loaded with 7 wt % nanoclay was found to be as high as 88%. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 45522.     

Optimization of aeromedical base locations in New Mexico using a model that considers crash nodes and paths

In a recent paper, Tokar Erdemir et al. (2008) introduce models for service systems with service requests originating from both nodes and paths. We demonstrate how to apply and extend their approach to an aeromedical base location application, with specific focus on the state of New Mexico (NM). The current aeromedical base locations of NM are selected without considering motor vehicle crash paths. Crash paths are the roads on which crashes occur, where each road segment has a weight signifying relative crash occurrence. We analyze the loss in accident coverage and location error for current aeromedical base locations. We also provide insights on the relevance of considering crash paths when selecting aeromedical base locations. Additionally, we look briefly at some of the tradeoff issues in locating additional trauma centers vs. additional aeromedical bases in the current aeromedical system of NM. Not surprisingly, tradeoff analysis shows that by locating additional aeromedical bases, we always attain the required coverage level with a lower cost than with locating additional trauma centers.     

Effects of probiotic bacteria and oils on fatty acid profiles of cultured cream

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of using various probiotic bacteria and plant oils in cultured cream on the fatty acid profiles including conjugated linoleic acids (CLA). L. acidophilus, B. bifidum, S. thermophilus and L. bulgaricus, P. thoenii (jensenii) P126, and P. jensenii B1264 and a mixed culture (blend of L. acidophilus, B. bifidum, S. thermophilus and L. bulgaricus) were used in the fermentation of cream samples at a level of 2%. Cream samples were fortified with sunflower oil, soybean oil and hazelnut oil at a level of 2%. Microbial counts and fatty acid profile analysis were performed. The microbial results demonstrated that fermented cream could be a superior product for the presence of probiotics. Even though the cream samples contained 52% milk fat, in the majority of the samples growth of probiotic bacteria was higher than 10⁶ cfu/g. Concentrations of short‐chain fatty acids such as butyric, caproic and capric acids in cultured cream samples differed depending on the cultures used, while long‐chain unsaturated fatty acids were significantly affected by the plant oil fortification. The highest CLA content was obtained in the sample produced with B. bifidum, containing 0.73 mg of CLA/g fat. The effect of different plant oils on CLA concentration was significant (p >0.05) for HO + YC, SFO + LBYC and SO + LBYC. Results of the study are important for the dairy industry since it is the first publication on fermented cream with improved functional properties. The development of functional cultured cream with plant oils and probiotic bacteria would provide an important alternative dairy product.     

Analysis of human PPG,ECG and EEG signals by eigenvector methods

This paper presents eigenvector methods for analysis of the photoplethysmogram (PPG), electrocardiogram (ECG), electroencephalogram (EEG) signals recorded in order to examine the effects of pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) at extremely low frequency (ELF) upon the human electrophysiological signal behavior. The features representing the PPG, ECG, EEG signals were obtained by using the eigenvector methods. In addition to this, the problem of selecting relevant features among the features available for the purpose of discrimination of the signals was dealt with. Some conclusions were drawn concerning the efficiency of the eigenvector methods as a feature extraction method used for representing the signals under study.     

Investigation of the electro-oxidation of artificial Black Sea water using cyclic voltammetry on metal sulfide electrodes (I)

Black Seawater is an alternative hydrogen source because it has hydrogen sulfide content. Seawater electrolysis is a promising method to produce hydrogen. The anodic oxidation of hydrogen sulfide is a novel approach for directly generating electricity via fuel cells. Therefore, four materials (Cu, Stainless Steel 304 (SS), V₂O₅ and Ni) were examined in artificial seawater containing hydrogen sulfide (HS⁻). We developed active metal sulfide electrodes for oxidizing HS⁻. Alongside the corrosion potentials, the progression of the oxidation and reduction reactions was obtained by the cyclic voltammetry method. The active behaviors of the metal sulfide (MS_x) layers were determined by applying Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). Although the Cu₂S electrode acts as the active catalyst during HS⁻ ion oxidation, NiS is the most suitable metal sulfide because it exhibits a higher corrosion resistance than Cu₂S. While V₂O₅ demonstrates catalytic activity at high temperatures (≥30 °C), FeS layers corrode easily in the artificial seawater environment.     

The effects of beeswax coating on quality of Kashar cheese during ripening

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the application of beeswax coating on the microbiological, physicochemical and sensory properties of Kashar cheese during ripening (120 day). Kashar cheeses were coated with two different thickness of beeswax (single‐layer coating, BW1, and double‐layer coating, BW2). For comparison, vacuum packaged (VP) and without packaging material (control) were also studied. Generally, no differences were found in total aerobic mesophilic bacteria, LAB on M‐17 agar, coliform bacteria and S. aureus counts among cheeses. Microbiological analyses also showed the beeswax‐coated cheeses presented a decrease of 2.5 logarithmic units on mould counts compared to control at 120th day. The control cheese had significantly (P < 0.05) higher dry matter, fat and protein contents, followed by BW1. However, the coating reduced formation of a thick crust layer by delaying moisture loss. At the end of 120‐day storage period, no significant differences in pH and acidity values were observed among the cheeses studied. Compared to other cheeses, control and BW1 cheeses had higher levels of WSN and ripening index in the end of storage. In the result of sensory analysis, while cheese BW1 and control were more preferred by the panellists, cheese VP received the lowest scores.     

Alpha‐Lipoic Acid Protects against Indomethacin‐Induced Gastric Oxidative Toxicity by Modulating Antioxidant System

Abstract: Gastroprotective effects of α‐lipoic acid (ALA) against oxidative gastric damage induced by indomethacin (IND) have been investigated. All doses (50, 75, 100, 150, 200, and 300 mg/kg body weight) of ALA reduced the ulcer index with 88.2% to 96.1% inhibition ratio. In biochemical analyses of stomach tissues, ALA administration decreased the level of lipid peroxidation (LPO) and activities of myeloperoxidase (MPO) and catalase (CAT) in gastric tissues, which were increased after IND application. ALA also increased the level of glutathione (GSH) and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione S‐transferase (GST) that were decreased in gastric damaged stomach tissues. In conclusion, the gastroprotective effect of ALA could be attributed to its ameliorating effect on the antioxidant defense systems.     

Characterization of binding interactions between green tea flavanoids and milk proteins

Flavanoids are known to interact with proteins to form complexes whose properties depend on the structure of both the flavanoids and the protein. In this study, the fluorescent probe binding method (fluorimetry analysis) and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) analysis were used to characterize binding interactions of green tea (GT) flavanoids and milk proteins. The hydrophobicity of the surface sites of milk proteins was estimated using the reconstituted milk–green tea and casein–green tea systems. Reconstituted milk–green tea and casein–green tea samples were prepared with different solid-non-fat (SNF) and casein (Cn) concentrations, respectively. It was observed that the number of surface hydrophobic sites decreased in the presence of GT flavanoids for all SNF and Cn concentrations. The decrease in protein surface hydrophobicity was explained by the hydrophobic binding between milk proteins and GT flavanoids. The binding enthalpies obtained from ITC analysis implied that interaction was non-covalent between catechin and β-casein.     

Determination of CaCO<Subscript>3</Subscript> and SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> content in the binders of historic lime mortars

The binders of historic mortars composed of small grain sized silica (SiO₂) and carbonated lime (CaCO₃) are considered as the main part that give hydraulic character and high strength to the mortar. In this study, FTIR, SEM–EDS, LIBS and XRD spectroscopy were used to find out the weight ratios of CaCO₃ to SiO₂ in the binders of historic lime mortars. For this purpose, a series of pure calcium carbonate and silica mixture were prepared in ten combinations in varying ratios from 0.5 to 5. Calibration curve was prepared for each analysis by plotting the peak area or intensity ratios of CaCO₃ to SiO₂ versus the weight ratios of CaCO₃ to SiO₂. A good linear correlation coefficient was obtained for each analysis respectively. The analyses were then tested on the binder of the Roman mortar samples. The results indicated that FTIR, SEM–EDS and LIBS spectroscopy are convenient tools to determine the weight ratios of CaCO₃ to SiO₂ in the binders of mortars. But XRD spectroscopy is not convenient for quantitative analysis of binders due to the presence of varied amounts of amorphous or poor crystalline silica in their compositions.