Bone Tissue Engineering in Rat Calvarial Defects Using Induced Bone-like Tissue by rhBMPs from Immature Muscular Tissues In Vitro

This study aimed to induce bone-like tissue from immature muscular tissue (IMT) in vitro using commercially available recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein (rhBMP)-2, rhBMP-4, and rhBMP-7, and then implanting this tissue into a calvarial defect in rats to assess healing. IMTs were extracted from 20-day-old Sprague-Dawley (SD) fetal rats, placed on expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) with 10 ng/μL each of rhBMP-2, BMP-4, and BMP-7, and cultured for two weeks. The specimens were implanted into calvarial defects in 3-week-old SD rats for up to three weeks. Relatively strong radiopacity was observed on micro-CT two weeks after culture, and bone-like tissue, comprising osteoblastic cells and osteoids, was partially observed by H&E staining. Calcium, phosphorus, and oxygen were detected in the extracellular matrix using an electron probe micro analyzer, and X-ray diffraction patterns and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectra of the specimen were found to have typical apatite crystal peaks and spectra, respectively. Furthermore, partial strong radiopacity and ossification were confirmed one week after implantation, and a dominant novel bone was observed after two weeks in the defect site. Thus, rhBMP-2, BMP-4, and BMP-7 differentiated IMT into bone-like tissue in vitro, and this induced bone-like tissue has ossification potential and promotes the healing of calvarial defects. Our results suggest that IMT is an effective tissue source for bone tissue engineering.     

Bile Acid–Drug Interaction via Organic Anion-Transporting Polypeptide 4C1 Is a Potential Mechanism of Altered Pharmacokinetics of Renally Excreted Drugs

Patients with liver diseases not only experience the adverse effects of liver-metabolized drugs, but also the unexpected adverse effects of renally excreted drugs. Bile acids alter the expression of renal drug transporters, however, the direct effects of bile acids on drug transport remain unknown. Renal drug transporter organic anion-transporting polypeptide 4C1 (OATP4C1) was reported to be inhibited by chenodeoxycholic acid. Therefore, we predicted that the inhibition of OATP4C1-mediated transport by bile acids might be a potential mechanism for the altered pharmacokinetics of renally excreted drugs. We screened 45 types of bile acids and calculated the IC₅₀, K_i values, and bile acid–drug interaction (BDI) indices of bile acids whose inhibitory effect on OATP4C1 was >50%. From the screening results, lithocholic acid (LCA), glycine-conjugated lithocholic acid (GLCA), and taurine-conjugated lithocholic acid (TLCA) were newly identified as inhibitors of OATP4C1. Since the BDI index of LCA was 0.278, LCA is likely to inhibit OATP4C1-mediated transport in clinical settings. Our findings suggest that dose adjustment of renally excreted drugs may be required in patients with renal failure as well as in patients with hepatic failure. We believe that our findings provide essential information for drug development and safe drug treatment in clinics.     

Super-vector coding features extracted from both depth buffer and view-normal-angle images for part-based 3D shape retrieval

We have witnessed 3D shape models abundant in many application fields including 3D CAD/CAM, augmented/mixed reality (AR/MR), and entertainment. Creating 3D shape models from scratch is still very expensive. Efficient and accurate methods for shape retrieval is essential for 3D shape models to be reused. To retrieve similar 3D shape models, one must provide an arbitrary 3D shape as a query. Most of the research on 3D shape retrieval has been conducted with a “whole” shape as a query (aka whole-to-whole shape retrieval), while a “part” shape (aka part-to-whole shape retrieval) is more practically requested as a query especially by mechanical engineering with 3D CAD/CAM applications. A “part” shape is naturally constructed by a 3D range scanner as an input device. In this paper, we focus on the efficient method for part-to-whole shape retrieval where the “part” shape is assumed to be given by a 3D range scanner. Specifically, we propose a Super-Vector coding feature with SURF local features extracted from the View-Normal-Angle image, or the image synthesized by taking account of the angle between the view vector and the surface normal vector, together with the depth-buffered image, for part-to-whole shape retrieval. In addition, we propose a weighted whole-to-whole re-ranking method taking advantage of global information based on the result of part-to-whole shape retrieval. Through experiments we demonstrate that our proposed method outperforms the previous methods with or without re-ranking.     

Experimental examination of the characteristics of bright-field scanning confocal electron microscopy images

We experimentally examined the characteristics of bright-field (BF) scanning confocal electron microscopy (SCEM) images by changing the observation conditions and comparing the images with those obtained by BF transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and BF scanning TEM (STEM) modes. The observation of 5-nm-diameter Au nanoparticles demonstrated that BF-SCEM produces object elongation of more than 2000?nm along the optical axis, as do BF-TEM and BF-STEM. We demonstrated the relationship between elongation length and geometric effects such as convergence and collection angles of a probe and the lateral size of an object; the relationship is consistent with previous theoretical prediction. Further, we observed interesting features that are seen only in the BF-SCEM images; the film contrast was strongly enhanced, compared with that of BF-STEM. In addition, a bright contrast appeared around the object position in the elongated images. Using this characteristic, we could determine the object position and structure.     

Te concentration dependent photoemission and inverse-photoemission study of FeSe1?xTex

We have characterized the electronic structure of FeSe_1−xTe_x for various x values using soft x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (SXPES), high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy (HRPES) and inverse photoemission spectroscopy (IPES). The SXPES valence band spectral shape shows that the 2 eV feature in FeSe, which was ascribed to the lower Hubbard band in previous theoretical studies, becomes less prominent with increasing x. HRPES exhibits systematic x dependence of the structure near the Fermi level (E_F): its splitting near E_F and filling of the pseudogap in FeSe. IPES shows two features, near E_F and approximately 6 eV above E_F; the former may be related to the Fe 3d states hybridized with chalcogenide p states, while the latter may consist of plane-wave-like and Se d components. In the incident electron energy dependence of IPES, the density of states near E_F for FeSe and FeTe has the Fano lineshape characteristic of resonant behavior. These compounds exhibit different resonance profiles, which may reflect the differences in their electronic structures. By combining the PES and IPES data the on-site Coulomb energy was estimated at 3.5 eV for FeSe.     

Nanowrinkled and Nanoporous Polyethylene Membranes Via Entanglement Arrangement Control

Crystalline homopolymers, including polyethylene (PE), which has the simplest architecture, form a nanometer‐sized combination of crystalline and amorphous components, but their arrangement control, similar to self‐assembled phase‐separation of block‐copolymers, is usually difficult. However, molecular entanglements trapped between crystalline and amorphous components of homopolymers coincide with the segmental linking points on the interfaces of the microphase separation for block copolymers. Nanowrinkled PE membranes are prepared with a network of 30 nm‐thick homogeneous lamellae using a novel entanglement control technique composed of biaxial melt‐drawing and melt‐shrinking procedures, which are limited for highly entangled ultrahigh molecular weight materials. Such a network arrangement of nanowrinkling lamellae spreading on membrane surface and also across the membrane thickness improves the mechanical properties of both tensile strength and tearing strength. Subsequent cold‐drawing causes delamination of the lamellar interfaces, leading to the resultant nanoporous morphology composed of passing‐through channels that are several tens of nanometers in diameter, without any solvent processing.     

Supramolecular morphology of two-step melt-spun poly(dioxanone) fibers

Structure of poly(dioxanone) (PPDX) fibers produced through a two-step melt-spinning process with an additional short-period annealing above the melting temperature of PPDX was investigated and the effect of annealing on the degradation behavior was discussed. The morphological study carried out by etching the fibers using a phosphate or permanganate solution suggested that the fibers take a skin–core structure, and both the skin layer and the core region consist of a bundle of microfibrils. The micro-beam X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the short-period annealing in the production process only slightly promotes the crystallization in the skin layer but contributes to increasing the packing of amorphous chains near the skin, which seems to be the controlling factor of the hydrolytic degradation behavior of the fibers.     

Detection of Buckminsterfullerene in Usual Soots and Commercial Charcoals

Abstract

It was confirmed that soot produced by free burning of small hydrocarbons like benzene and cyclohexane generally contains less than 0.1 ppm of C₆₀. Small, but measurable amounts of C₆₀ were found in two samples of charcoal, providing the first indication of fullerene formation in the solid state.