Robocast zirconia-toughened alumina scaffolds: Processing,structural characterisation and interaction with human primary osteoblasts

Zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA) is the gold-standard ceramic in hip arthroplasty, but still lacks direct osseointegration and a metal shell, often coated with a bioactive layer, is currently required. The latter could potentially be replaced by a thinner, architectured ZTA layer, thereby allowing for larger acetabular components, with larger range of motion and lower dislocation risk. Robocasting may be an adequate technique to fabricate the architectured layer. Therefore, as a first step, this study aimed to produce ZTA scaffolds (3D-ZTA) by robocasting and assess their in vitro response. Shape retention was achieved by using a stable, well-dispersed, high solid loading ink injected in acid pH waterbath. 3D-ZTA exhibit regularly spaced microporous, rough struts and fully interconnected macroporosity. Human primary osteoblasts were homogenously distributed inside 3D-ZTA and showed increased osteogenic marker expression compared to 2D-ZTA control. Further work will focus on optimizing scaffold design to improve cell retention and extracellular matrix maturation.     

A New Validation of Relevant Substances for the Evaluation of Beer Aging Depending on the Employed Boiling System

During the last years changes in aging indicators have been observed, supposedly resulting from modern brewing technology. The Research Brewery Weihenstephan (Forschungsbrauerei Weihenstephan) offers excellent opportunities for comparing different modern wort boiling systems under semi‐industrial conditions. Employing three different boiling systems, nine brews were produced. The resulting worts were compared regarding the most common wort parameters. Furthermore the influence of the different boiling systems on aging indicators in the resulting beers was analyzed using a newly developed mass spectrometry‐based method. The decrease in the total amount of aging indicators in industrial beers over the last years is very likely the result of lower thermal intake in modern brewhouse equipment. The total amount of aging indicators is sufficient to describe the differences in modern boiling systems. In summary, 2‐furfural dominates all other indicators in terms of thermal influence. 2‐Furfuryl ethyl ether can be suggested as good indicator of aging as postulated by Eichhorn, whereas β‐damascenone is questionable as an aging indicator. Supplementary experiments were carried out to investigate the role of the aging indicators as stale flavour components. Because of synergistic effects, many stale flavour compounds act as aroma compounds and not only as indicators.     

Impact of oxidoreduction potential and of gas bubbling on rheological properties of non-fat yoghurt

The aim of this work was to study the effect of different gaseous conditions on the physico-chemical properties of yoghurt. Four conditions of oxidoreduction potential (Eh₇), +433 mV (milk gassed with air), +405 mV (ungassed milk), +283 mV (milk gassed with N2) and ?349 mV (milk gassed with N₂–H₂) were applied to milk. The rheological properties and microstructure of these yoghurts were determined by measuring apparent viscosity, whey separation (WS) and using confocal laser scanning microscopy. Exopolysaccharide (EPS) production by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) was also studied, and production was increased for extreme Eh₇ values: the highest values were obtained for air (oxidizing condition) and for N₂–H₂ (reducing condition). Yoghurts made under bubbled N₂–H₂ clearly led to low WS with higher gel aggregation and a lower proportion of pores.     

Volumetric analysis of MRI data monitoring the treatment of polycystic kidney disease in a mouse model

Object  

The human condition autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is characterized by the growth of cysts in the kidneys that increase renal volume and lead to kidney failure. Mice studies are performed for treatment development monitored with imaging. The analysis of the imaging data is typically manual, which is costly and potentially biased. This paper presents a reliable and reproducible method for the automated segmentation of polycystic mouse kidneys.     

Improved compressed sensing reconstruction for $$^{19}$$ F magnetic resonance imaging

Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine - In magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), compressed sensing (CS) enables the reconstruction of undersampled sparse data sets. Thus,...     

Quantification and localization of contrast agents using delta relaxation enhanced magnetic resonance at 1.5?T

Object

Delta relaxation enhanced magnetic resonance (dreMR) is a new imaging technique based on the idea of cycling the magnetic field B ₀ during an imaging sequence. The method determines the field dependency of the relaxation rate (relaxation dispersion dR ₁/dB). This quantity is of particular interest in contrast agent imaging because the parameter can be used to determine contrast agent concentrations and increases the ability to localize the contrast agent.

Materials and methods

In this paper dreMR imaging was implemented on a clinical 1.5?T MR scanner combining conventional MR imaging with fast field-cycling. Two improvements to dreMR theory are presented describing the quantification of contrast agent concentrations from dreMR data and a correction for field-cycling with finite ramp times.

Results

Experiments demonstrate the use of the extended theory and show the measurement of contrast agent concentrations with the dreMR method. A second experiment performs localization of a contrast agent with a significant improvement in comparison to conventional imaging.

Conclusion

dreMR imaging has been extended by a method to quantify contrast agent concentrations and improved for field-cycling with finite ramp times. Robust localization of contrast agents using dreMR imaging has been performed in a sample where conventional imaging delivers inconclusive results.     

Toward faster inference of micron-scale axon diameters using Monte Carlo simulations

Object

Recent advances have allowed oscillating gradient (OG) diffusion MRI to infer the sizes of micron-scale axon diameters. Here the effects on the precision of the inferred diameters are studied when reducing the number of images collected to reduce imaging time for clinical feasibility.

Materials and methods

Monte Carlo simulations of cosine OG sequences (50–1000 Hz) using a two-compartment model on a parallel cylinder (diameters 1–5 μm) geometry were conducted. Temporal diffusion spectroscopy was used to infer axon diameters. Three different gradient sets were simulated with different combinations of gradient strengths.

Results

Five frequencies were adequate for d = 3–5 μm with single-sized cylinders and for effective mean axon diameters greater than 2 μm for cylinders with a distributions of diameters. There was some improvement in precision for d = 1–2 μm with 10 frequencies. It is better to repeat measurements at higher gradient strengths than to use a range of gradient strengths. The improvement tended to be greatest when using fewer frequencies and was especially noticeable at very high gradient strengths.

Conclusion

Images can be collected with fewer gradient strengths and frequencies without sacrificing the precision of the measurements. This could be useful in reducing imaging time so that OG techniques can be used in clinical settings.

     

Anticipation of digital patterns

A memristive device is a novel passive device, which is essentially a resistor with memory. This device can be used for novel technical applications like neuromorphic computation. In this paper, we focus on anticipation—a capability of a system to decide how to react in an environment by predicting future states. Especially, we have designed an elementary memristive circuit for the anticipation of digital patterns, where this circuit is based on the capability of an amoeba to anticipate periodically occurring unipolar pulses. The resulting circuit has been verified by digital simulations and has been realized in hardware as well. For the practical realization, we have used an Ag‐doped TiO_2?x‐based memristive device, which has been fabricated in planar capacitor structures on a silicon wafer. The functionality of the circuit is shown by simulations and measurements. Finally, the anticipation of information is demonstrated by using images, where the robustness of this anticipatory circuit against noise and faulty intermediate information is visualized.     

Robust adaptive MPC for constrained uncertain nonlinear systems

In this paper, we consider the problem of adaptive model predictive control subject to exogenous disturbances. Using a novel set‐based adaptive estimation, the problem of robust adaptive MPC is proposed and solved for a class of linearly parameterized uncertain nonlinear systems subject to state and input constraints. Two formulations of the adaptive MPC routine are proposed. A general minmax approach is considered. A Lipschitz‐based formulation is also proposed. The closed‐loop robust stability of both approaches is demonstrated. The Lipschitz‐based approach avoids the need for a minmax optimization problem and is amenable to real‐time computation. A simple chemical reactor simulation example is presented that demonstrates the effectiveness of the technique. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.