Do Synovial Inflammation and Meniscal Degeneration Impact Clinical Outcomes of Patients Undergoing Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy? A Histological Study

The menisci exert a prominent role in joint stabilization and in the distribution of mechanical loading. Meniscal damage is associated with increased risk of knee OA. The aim of this study was to characterize the synovial membrane and meniscal tissues in patients undergoing arthroscopic partial meniscectomy for meniscal tear and to evaluate association with clinical outcomes. A total of 109 patients were recruited. Demographic and clinical data were collected. Visual Analogic Scale (VAS) measuring pain and Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) were recorded at baseline and at 2-years follow-up. Histological and immunohistochemical characterizations were performed on synovial membranes and meniscal tissues. More than half of the patients demonstrated synovial mononuclear cell infiltration and hyperplasia. Synovial fibrosis was present in most of the patients; marked vascularity and CD68 positivity were observed. Inflammation had an impact on both pain and knee symptoms. Patients with synovial inflammation had higher values of pre-operative VAS and inflammation. Higher pre-operative pain was observed in patients with meniscal MMP-13 production. In conclusion, multivariate analysis showed that synovial inflammation was associated with pre-operative total KOOS scores, knee symptoms, and pain. Moreover, meniscal MMP-13 expression was found to be associated with pre-operative pain in multivariate analysis. Thus, targeting inflammation of the synovial membrane and meniscus might reduce clinical symptoms and dysfunction at the time of surgery.     

Simplified Approach Based on Polynomial Equations to Predict the Permeability of Micro‐perforated Polymeric Films

A simplified approach to predict the mass transport properties of micro‐perforated films was presented in this work. In particular, the proposed mathematical model was based on a second‐degree polynomial function. Different types of micro‐perforated films with two thicknesses (35 and 25 µm) were tested for gas and water vapour permeability, under proper conditions. The films differed in both number of holes per unit area and hole diameter. Corresponding non‐perforated films were also tested. The experimental data obtained were used to validate the model. Moreover, the surface response plot of the interactions between hole diameter and number of holes per area relative to oxygen, water vapour and carbon dioxide permeability were determined. Results of the mean relative deviation modulus (E%) between the experimental and predicted data confirmed the ability of the proposed model to predict the permeability of micro‐perforated films. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrogen isotope effects on the structural phase transition of NH3BH3

A systematic study of the structural phase transition of NH₃BH₃ and of its fully deuterated analogue was performed combining DSC and anelastic spectroscopy measurements. The transition is accompanied by a latent heat, and therefore is of the 1st order. On the deuterated sample the enthalpy variation is reduced of more than 20%, from 1.29 to 1.01 kJ/mol and the transition is shifted by ∼1.5 K toward higher temperatures. Both NH₃BH₃ and ND₃BD₃ display a temperature hysteresis between cooling and heating, thus denoting that the phase transition is of first-order. In addition, this hysteresis is extremely small (∼0.5 K) indicating that the coexistence region between the two phases is very narrow. During isothermal ageing, the transformation of the low-temperature orthorhombic phase into the high-temperature tetragonal one occurs with a time constant of ∼16 min in NH₃BH₃ and ∼64 min in ND₃BD₃, evidencing a drastic slowing down of kinetics in the deuterated compound.     

Wine extracts from Sardinian grape varieties attenuate membrane oxidative damage in Caco-2 cell monolayers

One of the most important sites of polyphenol action seems to be in the gastrointestinal system before absorption. We investigated the ability of three wine phenolic extracts, obtained from grape varieties grown in Sardinia, Cannonau (red), Vermentino and Malvasia (white), to exert an antioxidant action against tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBH)-induced oxidative damage to Caco-2 cell monolayers as a model system of the human intestine. TBH treatment caused the disruption of epithelial integrity, measured as transepithelial electrical resistance, and markers of the peroxidation process of membrane lipids, MDA, fatty acid hydroperoxides and 7-ketocholesterol. All wine extracts were able to counteract the oxidising action of TBH and, in spite of the differences in phenolic composition, exerted a comparable activity. Our findings point out a direct antioxidant action of the wine extracts on enterocytes exposed to oxidising species and further support the opinion that total phenolic content is not essential for antioxidant activity.     

NUMERICAL STUDY OF NATURAL CONVECTION IN VERTICAL CHANNELS WITH ADIABATIC EXTENSIONS DOWNSTREAM

ABSTRACT

Recent trends in natural-convection research are the finding of new configurations to improve heat transfer parameters or the analysis of standard configurations to determine optimal geometric parameters in order to achieve a better heat transfer rate. In this article a numerical simulation of natural convection in air in a channel–chimney system heated symmetrically at uniform heat flux is carried out. The regime analyzed is two-dimensional, laminar, and steady-state. Wall temperature profiles, air velocity and temperature profiles, and centerline pressure profiles are presented. A comparison with experimental data given in [4 A. Auletta , O. Manca , B. Morrone , and V. Naso , Heat Transfer Enhancement by the Chimney Effect in a Vertical Isoflux Channel , Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer , vol. 44 , pp. 4345 – 4357 , 2001 . [CROSSREF] [CSA] [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]] is accomplished and some differences are observed, but thermal and dynamic behavior for different expansion ratios are the same. Results analysis explains how and why the “chimney effect” worsens. The effect is connected to the cold inflow at the outlet section, and this effect is more marked at higher Rayleigh number, Ra. Consequently, optimal thermal configuration for assigned extension ratio presents a larger value of expansion ratio at the lower Ra. values.     

Chemical and antifungal investigations of six Lippia species (Verbenaceae) from Brazil

The Lippia genus is used in ethnobotany as food, beverages, seasoning and antiseptic remedies, among others. The chemical compositions of fifteen extracts of six Lippia species were investigated comparatively by HPLC-PDA. To avoid data replication of previous works on this genus, Lippia lupulina Cham. root ethanol extract was selected for isolation procedures based on Principal Component Analyses (PCA) of such data. Seven compounds previously unreported in this genus were isolated from this extract (a triterpene, two furanonaphtoquinones, a furanochromone, an isoflavone, a stilbene and an iridoid). The activities of extracts, fractions and pure compounds towards Candida albicans, Candida krusei, Candida parapsilosis and Cryptococcus neoformans were investigated. Two fractions from the extract of Lippia salviaefolia leaves showed marked inhibition of fungal growth, in addition to verbascoside and asebogenin, which showed MICs lower than 15.6μg/ml and may be promising leads for the development of new antifungal agents, especially against C. neoformans.