Impact of Fluid Flow Shear Stress on Osteoblast Differentiation and Cross-Talk with Articular Chondrocytes

Bone cells, in particular osteoblasts, are capable of communication with each other during bone growth and homeostasis. More recently it has become clear that they also communicate with other cell-types; including chondrocytes in articular cartilage. One way that this process is facilitated is by interstitial fluid movement within the pericellular and extracellular matrices. This stimulus is also an important mechanical signal in skeletal tissues, and is known to generate shear stresses at the micron-scale (known as fluid flow shear stresses (FFSS)). The primary aim of this study was to develop and characterize an in vitro bone–cartilage crosstalk system, to examine the effect of FFSS on these cell types. Specifically, we evaluated the response of osteoblasts and chondrocytes to FFSS and the effect of FFSS-induced soluble factors from the former, on the latter. This system will ultimately be used to help us understand the role of subchondral bone damage in articular cartilage degeneration. We also carried out a comparison of responses between cell lines and primary murine cells in this work. Our findings demonstrate that primary cells produce a more reliable and reproducible response to FFSS. Furthermore we found that at lower magnitudes , direct FFSS produces anabolic responses in both chondrocytes and osteoblasts, whereas higher levels produce more catabolic responses. Finally we show that exposure to osteoblast-derived factors in conditioned media experiments produced similarly catabolic changes in primary chondrocytes.     

Differential Plasma Metabolites between High- and Low-Grade Meningioma Cases

Meningiomas (MGMs) are currently classified into grades I, II, and III. High-grade tumors are correlated with decreased survival rates and increased recurrence rates. The current grading classification is based on histological criteria and determined only after surgical tumor sampling. This study aimed to identify plasma metabolic alterations in meningiomas of different grades, which would aid surgeons in predefining the ideal surgical strategy. Plasma samples were collected from 51 patients with meningioma and classified into low-grade (LG) (grade I; n = 43), and high-grade (HG) samples (grade II, n = 5; grade III, n = 3). An untargeted metabolomic approach was used to analyze plasma metabolites. Statistical analyses were performed to select differential biomarkers among HG and LG groups. Metabolites were identified using tandem mass spectrometry along with database verification. Five and four differential biomarkers were identified for HG and LG meningiomas, respectively. To evaluate the potential of HG MGM metabolites to differentiate between HG and LG tumors, a receiving operating characteristic curve was constructed, which revealed an area under the curve of 95.7%. This indicates that the five HG MGM metabolites represent metabolic alterations that can differentiate between LG and HG meningiomas. These metabolites may indicate tumor grade even before the appearance of histological features.     

Relative Contribution of Blood Pressure and Renal Sympathetic Nerve Activity to Proximal Tubular Sodium Reabsorption via NHE3 Activity

We examined the effects of an acute increase in blood pressure (BP) and renal sympathetic nerve activity (rSNA) induced by bicuculline (Bic) injection in the paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus (PVN) or the effects of a selective increase in rSNA induced by renal nerve stimulation (RNS) on the renal excretion of sodium and water and its effect on sodium-hydrogen exchanger 3 (NHE3) activity. Uninephrectomized anesthetized male Wistar rats were divided into three groups: (1) Sham; (2) Bic PVN: (3) RNS + Bic injection into the PVN. BP and rSNA were recorded, and urine was collected prior and after the interventions in all groups. RNS decreased sodium (58%) and water excretion (53%) independently of BP changes (p < 0.05). However, after Bic injection in the PVN during RNS stimulation, the BP and rSNA increased by 30% and 60% (p < 0.05), respectively, diuresis (5-fold) and natriuresis (2.3-fold) were increased (p < 0.05), and NHE3 activity was significantly reduced, independently of glomerular filtration rate changes. Thus, an acute increase in the BP overcomes RNS, leading to diuresis, natriuresis, and NHE3 activity inhibition.     

Large-scale phase retrieval

The coherent interaction between an electromagnetic field and a 3D weakly scattering medium results in a simple Fourier transform relationship between the objec...     

Shear analysis of rice husk ash (RHA) reinforced tin-0.7-copper composite solders on electroless nickel/immersion silver (ENIAg) surfaces

In this study, the mechanical performance of the rice husk ash-reinforced tin-0.7 copper composite solder was investigated. 0.01 wt.%, 0.05 wt.% and 0.1 wt.% of rice husk ash (RHA) were added to the solder matrix to prepare the composite solders. In order, to replace the costly electroless nickel immersion gold surface finish on the copper substrate, the effect of electroless nickel immersion silver (ENIAg) as the surface finish was studied. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis showed that the composite solder exhibited lower melting temperature relative to the plain solder owing to the inclusion of rice husk ash. Shear strength analysis was carried out to investigate the influence of rice husk ash and electroless nickel immersion silver surface finish on the shear strength of the developed composite solders. The results proved that the rice husk ash failed to enhance the shear strength of tin-0.7 copper lead-free solder with the plain solder exhibiting the highest shear strength.     

Aspects of Topological Superconductivity in 2D Systems: Noncollinear Magnetism,Skyrmions, and Higher-order Topology

Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism - The review is aimed at highlighting the aspects of topological superconductivity in the absence of spin–orbit interaction in two-dimensional...     

Peculiarities of Short Fatigue Cracks Growth from a Blind Hole in Specimens Made of Steel 45. Part 1. Experimental Results

Strength of Materials - Results of in situ measurements of short fatigue cracks growth from a blind hole of diameter 0.6 and 1.6 mm in specimens from steel 45 during cyclic loading at different...     

Corrosion Protection of Carbon Steel by a Composition Based on Natural Polysaccharide

Materials Science - It is shown that xanthan gum inhibits corrosion processes in carbon steel placed in chloride-containing media by the mechanism of adsorption. Potassium-sodium tartrate improves...