Effectiveness Assessment of a Modified Preservation Solution Containing Thyrotropin or Follitropin Based on Biochemical Analysis in Perfundates and Homogenates of Isolated Porcine Kidneys after Static Cold Storage

In this paper, we assess the nephroprotective effects of thyrotropin and follitropin during ischaemia. The studies were performed in vitro in a model of isolated porcine kidneys stored in Biolasol (FZNP, Biochefa, Sosnowiec, Poland) and modified Biolasol (TSH: 1 µg/L; FSH 1 µg/L). We used the static cold storage method. The study was carried out based on 30 kidneys. The kidneys were placed in 500 mL of preservation solution chilled to 4 °C. The samples for biochemical tests were collected during the first kidney perfusion (after 2 h of storage) and during the second perfusion (after 48 h of storage). The results of ALT, AST, and LDH activities confirm the effectiveness of Biolasol + p-TSH in maintaining the structural integrity of renal cell membranes. Significantly reduced biochemical parameters of kidney function, i.e., creatinine and protein concentrations were also observed after 48 h storage. The protective effect of Biasol + p-TSH is most pronounced after 2 h of storage, suggesting a mild course of damage thereafter. A mild deterioration of renal function was observed after 48 h. The results of our analyses did not show any protective effect of Biolasol + p-FSH on the kidneys during ischaemia.     

Analysis of the Potential Genetic Links between Psoriasis and Cardiovascular Risk Factors

Cardiovascular risk factors are one of the most common comorbidities in psoriasis. A higher prevalence of hypertension, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, obesity, metabolic syndrome, depression, as well as cardiovascular disease was confirmed in psoriatic patients in comparison to the general population. Data suggest that psoriasis and systemic inflammatory disorders may originate from the pleiotropic interactions with many genetic pathways. In this review, the authors present the current state of knowledge on the potential genetic links between psoriasis and cardiovascular risk factors. The understanding of the processes linking psoriasis with cardiovascular risk factors can lead to improvement of psoriasis management in the future.     

Comparative study of phenolic content and antioxidant activity of strawberry puree,clear, and cloudy juices

The aim of this study was to determine the concentrations of phenolic compounds and their antioxidant activity in different kinds of juice: clear, cloudy, and puree which were made from three different strawberry cultivars (Elkat, Kent, and Senga Sengana). The anthocyanins, p-coumaric acid, ellagic acid, quercetin, keampferol derivatives, (+)-catechin, proanthocyanidins content and degree of proanthocyanidin polymerization, were determined both in the fresh and after 6 months of storage at 4 and 30 °C. Freshly produced juices contained higher amounts of phenolics, especially of anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins, than those stored for 6 months at 4 and 30 °C. The processing of the clear juice showed the higher loss of all phenolic compounds. The antioxidant capacity was the smallest for clear, and the highest for the puree juices. This was assessed by measurements made with different antioxidant activity assays: ABTS and FRAP. The puree of strawberry juice had significantly higher levels of the phenolic compounds and showed more antioxidant activity than the clear and cloudy juices, before and after storage in all strawberry cultivars.     

The Effectiveness of the ZDDP Tribofilms in Lubrication of Sol–Gel Titania in Technical Dry Friction Conditions

The objective of this study was the investigation of the tribological properties of the sol–gel derived titania modified by physically deposited zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) films. Titania coatings were prepared on silicon wafers Si(100) using sol–gel dip-coating method. Amorphous, anatase, and rutile titania were obtained in the post-preparation annealing process conducted at 100, 500, and 1000 °C, respectively. Deposition of ZDDP having butyl- (C4) or dodecyl- (C12) alkyl chain was performed by means of dip-coating (DC), self-assembly (SA), and Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) methods. The effectiveness of the modification was monitored by the wetting contact angle measurement. An increase of the surface hydrophobicity was observed upon modification. The surface topography, imaged with the use of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), revealed the presence of island-like agglomerates having different size of ZDDP films deposited using DC and SA method. Smooth and compact C12ZDDP films were observed when LB deposition was applied. The tribological performance of the ZDDP films on titania coatings was tested with the use of microtribometer operating in the normal loads range of 30–100 mN in the technical dry friction conditions. It was found that ZDDP tribofilms effectively decrease the coefficient of friction and effectively reduce the wear of titania coatings.     

Sensory and rheological properties of Polish commercial mayonnaise

Sensory and rheological analyses were performed to compare seven commercial mayonnaises having various fat contents and containing, or not, thickening and stabilizing agents. It was found that mayonnaise samples differed in their sensory and rheological properties. The samples with a higher fat content scored higher in sensory analysis than the low-fat ones. The mayonnaises studied showed non-Newtonian, pseudoplastic flow with yield stress and thixotropy. All mayonnaises, although to a different degree, exhibited a decrease in the apparent viscosity at constant shear. The mayonnaise samples which contained thickeners and stabilizers had a greater rheological stability.     

Functionalized Peptide Fibrils as a Scaffold for Active Substances in Wound Healing

Technological developments in the field of biologically active peptide applications in medicine have increased the need for new methods for peptide delivery. The disadvantage of peptides as drugs is their low biological stability. Recently, great attention has been paid to self-assembling peptides that can form fibrils. Such a formulation makes bioactive peptides more resistant to enzymatic degradation and druggable. Peptide fibrils can be carriers for peptides with interesting biological activities. These features open up prospects for using the peptide fibrils as long-acting drugs and are a valid alternative to conventional peptidic therapies. In our study, we designed new peptide scaffolds that are a hybrid of three interconnected amino acid sequences and are: pro-regenerative, cleavable by neutrophilic elastase, and fibril-forming. We intended to obtain peptides that are stable in the wound environment and that, when applied, would release a biologically active sequence. Our studies showed that the designed hybrid peptides show a high tendency toward regular fibril formation and are able to release the pro-regenerative sequence. Cytotoxicity studies showed that all the designed peptides were safe, did not cause cytotoxic effects and revealed a pro-regenerative potential in human fibroblast and keratinocyte cell lines. In vivo experiments in a dorsal skin injury model in mice indicated that two tested peptides moderately promote tissue repair in their free form. Our research proves that peptide fibrils can be a druggable form and a scaffold for active peptides.     

Metamaterials based on polymer dispersions of nanoparticles and particles of copper obtained by cathodic current pulse electrolysis

In the present paper a novel group of electromagnetic metamaterials as well as the method of their fabrication is presented. The studied metamaterials are polymer composites and nanocomposites made of polymer matrix/host (ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), polyethylene, polypropylene etc.) filled with copper flakes, of micrometer and/or nanometer size, as the conducting inclusions. The copper filler flakes were obtained by cathodic current pulse electrolysis from copper sulfate electrolytes at the stainless steel electrodes. SEM analysis showed that the morphology and structure of the copper deposit can be precisely controlled by applying different kind of current pulse and reversed current pulsed electrolysis. The polymer composite metamaterials formed by extrusion of small beads of polymer mixed with the copper flakes consisted of polymer matrix and copper flakes, ranging in length from 1 to 500 micrometers, and ranging in thickness from 80 nm to 2000 nm. The concentration of the copper flakes ranged from 0.5 wt% to 40 wt%, depending on the applications and required electromagnetic and mechanical properties. The studied materials were found to exhibit effective magnetic permeability that was smaller than unity, which is indicative of the typical properties of metamaterials. Present development solves technological and economical problems related to modern microelectronics methods which are currently mainly used for metamaterial fabrication.     

Vascular active contour for vessel tree segmentation

In this paper, a novel active contour model is proposed for vessel tree segmentation. First, we introduce a region competition-based active contour model exploiting the gaussian mixture model, which mainly segments thick vessels. Second, we define a vascular vector field to evolve the active contour along its center line into the thin and weak vessels. The vector field is derived from the eigenanalysis of the Hessian matrix of the image intensity in a multiscale framework. Finally, a dual curvature strategy, which uses a vesselness measure-dependent function selecting between a minimal principal curvature and a mean curvature criterion, is added to smoothen the surface of the vessel without changing its shape. The developed model is used to extract the liver and lung vessel tree as well as the coronary artery from high-resolution volumetric computed tomography images. Comparisons are made with several classical active contour models and manual extraction. The experiments show that our model is more accurate and robust than these classical models and is, therefore, more suited for automatic vessel tree extraction.     

Stahlleichtbau mit Verbundelementen

Der folgende Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über den Stahlleichtbau mit Verbundelementen. Im Vordergrund stehen hierbei Bauteile mit Blechdicken < 3 mm, die im Verbund mit OSB‐ oder Gipskartonplatten wirken. Durch die Verbundwirkung ergeben sich nennenswerte Verbesserungen der Tragfähigkeit und der Gebrauchstauglichkeit sowie der bauphysikalischen Eigenschaften. Weiterhin werden Sandwichelemente behandelt. Lightweight steel construction with composite elements. This paper contains an overview of lightweight steel structures acting compositely with other materials. Primarily members with wall thicknesses below 3 mm are covered. They act together with OSB‐ or gypsum‐boards. This leads to a significant improvement of the ultimate load as well as of the serviceability and building physics aspects. Furthermore sandwich panels are discussed.