Opposing actions of BMP3 and TGF beta 1 in human bone marrow stromal cell growth and differentiation

BMP3 and TGF beta 1 were found to induce opposite effects on human bone marrow stromal cells both in cell proliferation and cell differentiation and on calcium deposition onto the extracellular matrix. Moreover, BMP3 may exert, in part, the inhibitory effect of TGF beta 1 through decreasing the affinity of TGF-beta for its receptors which are now identified in these human bone cells.     

Catalytic Epoxidation and Sulfoxidation Activity of a Dioxomolybdenum(VI) Complex Bearing a Chiral Tetradentate Oxazoline Ligand

A dioxomolybdenum(vi) complex bearing a tetradentate anionic N,O oxazoline ligand with four stereocenters has been studied as a catalyst in the liquid-phase epoxidation of 17 different aliphatic and aromatic olefins (including prochiral, racemate or pure enantiomers) using tert-butyl hydroperoxide as the oxidant. Epoxide selectivities of up to 100% and variable epoxide yields (3–100% within 24 h) were obtained. Although the complex generally exhibited low or no chiral induction ability, diastereoselectivity was significant in some cases (in the reaction of limonene, for example). Kinetic studies and recycling tests with the substrates cis-cyclooctene and trans-β-methylstyrene showed that the catalyst is stable and reusable, and recycling is facilitated by immobilization of the complex in a room temperature ionic liquid. Preliminary results show that the complex may have a broad substrate scope, not only for olefin epoxidation, but also for the dehydrogenation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds and the sulfoxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides.     

Formation of metal agglomerates during carbonisation of chromated copper arsenate (CCA) treated wood waste: Comparison between a lab scale and an industrial plant

This paper compares the results obtained by scanning electron microscopy coupled to X-ray analysis (SEM-EDXA) of the solid product after carbonisation of treated wood waste in a lab scale and in an industrial installation. These setups (lab scale and industrial) are characterized by different operating conditions of the carbonisation process. Moreover, the wood waste input to the processes differs significantly. From this study, it is clear that some similarities but also some differences exist between the lab scale study and the study with the industrial Chartherm plant. In both reactors, a metal (and mineral) agglomeration process takes place, even in the case of untreated wood. The agglomerates initially present in the wood input may serve as a seed for the metal agglomeration process during "chartherisation". The industrial setup leads to a broader range of agglomerates' size (0.1-50 microm) and composition (all possible combinations of Cu, Cr, As and wood minerals). Some agglomerates contain the three metals but the major part is a combination of wood minerals and one or two of the three preservative metals, while all agglomerates analysed in the lab scale product contain the three metals. The separate influence of wood input characteristics and process conditions cannot be derived from these experiments, but the observations suggest that the higher the CCA retention in the wood input is, the easier is the metal agglomeration process during chartherisation of CCA treated wood waste. From the analyses performed in this study it seems that copper behaves differently in the sense that it agglomerates easily, but the resulting particles are small (<1 microm).     

Nanocomposite powders of hydroxyapatite-graphene oxide for biological applications

The repair of bone fractures is a clinical challenge for patients with impaired healing, such as osteoporosis. Currently, different strategies have been developed to design new biomaterials, enhancing their interactions with biological systems and conducting the cellular behavior in the desired direction to help fracture healing. In the present work, hydroxyapatite-graphene oxide (HA-GO) nanocomposites were produced and the morphological and physicochemical influences of the addition of 0.5 wt%, 1.0 wt% and 1.5 wt% of GO to HA were observed. FEG-SEM and TEM analyses of HA-GO nanocomposites showed HA nanoparticles adhered to the surface of the GO sheets, suggesting an effective method to form nanostructured graphene-based biomaterials. As confirmation, physicochemical analyses by Raman, FTIR and TGA demonstrated a strong affinity between HA and GO, according to the increase of concentration from 0.5 wt% to 1.5 wt% GO in the HA-GO nanocomposites. Also, in order to evaluate the HA-GO nanocomposites behavior under biological microenvironment, in vitro bioactivity and indirect cytotoxicity tests were performed. FEG-SEM analyses confirmed the positive results for the bioactivity properties of HA-GO nanocomposite and indirect cytotoxicity demonstrated that even with a decrease in the hDPSCs viability and proliferation, when increasing to 1.5 wt% of GO concentration, high level of cell viability was exhibited by HA-GO nanocomposites. These biological results suggested the 0.5 wt% HA-GO nanocomposite as a potential bioactive bone graft and a promising biomaterial for bone tissue regeneration, when compared to the pure HA.     

Reducing Early Retirement in Europe: Do Working Conditions Matter?

The paper argues that the existing literature, based on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) data, on how working conditions impact on early retirement preferences/plans is hampered by the fact that the approach adopted to capture individuals’ early retirement plans fails to acknowledge that these preferences/plans are defined by reference to the rules that regulate the entitlement to pension benefits. In doing so, these studies risk overestimating the impact of working conditions on early retirement plans. We put forward a more accurate way of capturing individuals’ early retirement preferences/plans, which consists in using information on the age at which respondents plan to start collecting the basic pension benefits, and then computing whether the respondent plans to retire before the official age of retirement in his country of residence. Using SHARE microdata, wave 4, we show that individuals exposed to an imbalance between effort and rewards at work (Siegriest Journal Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 1(1), 27–41, 1996 ) are more likely to plan to take-up early retirement. We also show that the effect of poor working conditions is smaller than one would find using the previous approach to the measurement of early retirement preferences/plans.     

SkaSim – Skalierbare HPC‐Software für molekulare Simulationen in der chemischen Industrie

This article outlines advances in molecular modeling and simulation using massively parallel high‐performance computers (HPC). In the SkaSim project, partners from the HPC community collaborated with users from science and industry. The aim was to optimize the prediction of thermodynamic property data in terms of efficiency, quality and reliability using HPC methods. In this context, various topics were dealt with: atomistic simulation of homogeneous gas bubble formation, surface tension of classical fluids and ionic liquids, multicriteria optimization of molecular models, the development of the molecular simulation codes ls1 mardyn and ms2, atomistic simulation of gas separation processes, molecular membrane structure generators, transport resistors and the evaluation of predictive property data models based on specific mixture types.