A one-step treatment for chondral and osteochondral knee defects: clinical results of a biomimetic scaffold implantation at 2 years of follow-up

The increasing interest in the role of subchondral bone with regard to articular surface disease led to the development of new bioengineered strategies. Aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical and MRI outcome after the implantation of a nanostructured biomimetic three-phasic collagen–hydroxyapatite construct for the treatment of chondral and osteochondral defects of the knee in a large cohort of patients. Seventy-nine patients (63 M, 16 W), affected by grade III–IV femoral condyle or trochlea chondral lesions or osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) were consecutively treated. Mean age was 31.0 ± 11.3 years, mean lesion size was 3.2 ± 2.0 cm². Fifty patients underwent previous surgeries, concurrent procedures were necessary in 39 cases. The clinical outcome was evaluated using the IKDC and Tegner scores at 12 and 24 months of follow-up. At follow-up times an MRI was performed and evaluated with the MOCART score. All the scores improved significantly from the baseline. IKDC subjective score showed a further increase between 12 and 24 months of follow-up, and 82.2 % of the patients improved their symptoms at the final evaluation. Patients affected by OCDs had better results than those with degenerative lesions. Some abnormal MRI findings were present, even though no correlation was found with the clinical outcome. This one-step biomimetic approach developed to favor osteochondral tissue regeneration is effective in treating knees affected by damages of the articular surface, leading to a significant clinical improvement. However, abnormal MRI findings were present, even if not correlated with the clinical outcome.     

Enhanced adhesion of osteoblastic cells on polystyrene films by independent control of surface topography and wettability

We independently controlled surface topography and wettability of polystyrene (PS) films by CF₄ and oxygen plasma treatments, respectively, to evaluate the adhesion and proliferation of human fetal osteoblastic (hFOB) cells on the films. Among the CF₄ plasma-treated PS films with the average surface roughness ranging from 0.9 to 70 nm, the highest adhesion of hFOB cells was observed on a PS film with roughness of ~ 11 nm. When this film was additionally treated by oxygen plasma to provide a hydrophilic surface with a contact angle less than 10°, the proliferation of bone-forming cell was further enhanced. Thus, the plasma-based independent modification of PS film into an optimum nanotexture for human osteoblast cells could be appplied to materials used in bone tissue engineering.     

Closed-loop phase behaviour in block copolymers

Closed-loop phase diagrams are known in systems with specific intermolecular interactions. In weakly interacting systems, however, such behaviour has never been observed. Here, diblock copolymers formed from polystyrene covalently linked to poly (n-pentylmethacrylate), P(S-b-nPMA), which have only weak segmental interactions, are shown to exhibit a closed-loop phase behaviour over a narrow range of molecular weight. The endothermic transitions from the disordered to ordered and back to the disordered state, as a function of increasing temperature, are dominantly entropic in origin. The morphology and rheological properties of P(S-b-nPMA) undergo characteristic changes at the transitions. Whereas the disorder-to-order transition temperature increases with decreasing molecular weight, the order-to-disorder transition temperature decreases. At a limiting molecular weight, the closed-loop vanishes and no ordering occurs. These findings provide quantitative insight into an elusive transition in weakly interacting multicomponent systems.     

Polarity orientation of microtubules utilizing a dynein-based gliding assay

The motor protein dynein was introduced into a nanotransport system. We oriented microtubules by their polarity, and immobilized them based on a dynein-microtubule gliding assay system. This system achieved unidirectional transport of kinesin-coated microbeads. In contrast to conventional kinesin-based orientation systems, the dynein-based system allowed the reverse motion of microtubules, resulting in an inversion of the orientation of microtubule polarity and thus reverse transport of kinesin-coated microbeads. This combined kinesin-?and dynein-based system constitutes a new means to facilitate the bidirectional orientation of microtubules and transport of cargos in a nanofluidic system.     

A Silicon UCN Detector With Large Area and With Analysis of UCN Polarization

A silicon ultracold neutron (UCN) detector with an area of 45 cm² and with a ⁶LiF converter is developed at St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (PNPI). The spectral efficiency of the silicon UCN detector was measured by means of a gravitational spectrometer at Institut Max von Laue – Paul Langevin (ILL). The sandwich-type detector from two silicon plates with a ⁶LiF converter placed between them was also studied. Using this type of technology the UCN detector with analysis of polarization was developed and tested. The analyzing power of this detector assembly reaches up 75 % for the main part of UCN spectrum. This UCN detector with analysis of UCN polarization can be used in the new electric dipole moment (EDM) spectrometer.     

Determinations of rare earth element abundance and U-Pb age of zircons using multispot laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

We have developed a new calibration technique for multielement determination and U-Pb dating of zircon samples using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) coupled with galvanometric optics. With the galvanometric optics, laser ablation of two or more sample materials could be achieved in very short time intervals (~10 ms). The resulting sample aerosols released from different ablation pits or different solid samples were mixed and homogenized within the sample cell and then transported into the ICP ion source. Multiple spot laser ablation enables spiking of analytes or internal standard elements directly into the solid samples, and therefore the standard addition calibration method can be applied for the determination of trace elements in solid samples. In this study, we have measured the rare earth element (REE) abundances of two zircon samples (Nancy 91500 and Pre?ovice) based on the standard addition technique, using a direct spiking of analytes through a multispot laser ablation of the glass standard material (NIST SRM612). The resulting REE abundance data show good agreement with previously reported values within analytical uncertainties achieved in this study (10% for most elements). Our experiments demonstrated that nonspectroscopic interferences on 14 REEs could be significantly reduced by the standard addition technique employed here. Another advantage of galvanometric devices is the accumulation of sample aerosol released from multiple spots. In this study we have measured the U-Pb age of a zircon sample (LMR) using an accumulation of sample aerosols released from 10 separate ablation pits of low diameters (~8 μm). The resulting (238)U-(206)Pb age data for the LMR zircons was 369 ± 64 Ma, which is in good agreement with previously reported age data (367.6 ± 1.5 Ma). (1) The data obtained here clearly demonstrate that the multiple spot laser ablation-ICPMS technique can become a powerful approach for elemental and isotopic ratio measurements in solid materials.     

Water-soluble binder with high flexural modulus for powder injection molding

A new binder system, containing ternary polymer blends of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) and polyethylene glycol (PEG), was introduced for the powder injection molding of stainless steel powders. The weight fraction of PEG in the binder was maintained to be 0.65. When the weight fraction of PMMA in the binder was 0.1–0.25 (thus the weight fraction of CAB was 0.1–0.25), the feedstocks with 56 vol% of steel powders were successfully injection molded without showing any jetting. Furthermore, the feedstocks have much higher flexural modulus compared with those prepared by a binder consisting only 35/65 (wt/wt) CAB/PEG blend. Three binary blends, PMMA/CAB, PMMA/PEG, and CAB/PEG, were completely miscible at an injection molding temperature of 130^°C. The extraction process employed in this study becomes environmentally favorable due to the major component (PEG) of the binder which is easily extracted by a solvent of water or ethanol. Also, the shape maintenance during the solvent extraction was excellent, and final sintered parts had excellent dimensional stability. Due to high flexural modulus of feedstocks, this binder system can be employed for preparing large sized injection-mold articles.     

UN-MUSIC and UN-CLE: an application of generalized correlationanalysis to the estimation of the direction of arrival of signals inunknown correlated noise

A new approach is proposed for the consistent estimation of the directions of arrival (DOA) of signals in an unknown spatially-correlated noise environment. The signal and noise model used is based on the assumption that the data are received by two arrays well separated so that their noise outputs are uncorrelated. The generalized correlation decomposition of the cross-correlation matrix between the two arrays is then introduced. Of particular interest is the canonical correlation decomposition. The analysis of the generalized correlation leads to various interesting geometric and asymptotic properties of the eigenspace structure. Two algorithms, UN-MUSIC and UN-CLE, are developed to estimate the DOA of signals in unknown spatially correlated noise based on the utilization of these properties. Computer simulations show that these methods are superior in performance compared to conventional methods. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the new methods are equally effective even when only one sensor array is employed     

Identification of novel transmembrane gene sequence and its use for cell-surface targeting of beta subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin

We identified a 685-nucleotide gene fragment that codes for the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains of glycoprotein of the LEP strain rabies virus and carried out experiments designed to express a novel fusion protein on the cell surface. The cDNA encoding the membrane anchor sequence was fused in the correct reading frame to the 3' end of the cDNA encoding the beta subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (beta(h)CG), a secretory glycoprotein that is used as an antigen for a contraceptive vaccine being developed in our laboratory. The fusion gene cassette was placed under the control of a vaccinia virus early promoter and cloned in a host-restricted fowlpox viral vector. The recombinants, when used to infect mammalian cells that do not allow the replication of fowlpox virus, expressed the N-terminal 135 amino acid residues of beta(h)CG anchored in the cell membrane by the 75-amino acid C-terminal sequence derived from rabies virus glycoprotein. This hybrid protein is correctly processed post-translationally and transported efficiently to the plasma membrane of non-permissive cells such that the anchored beta(h)CG molecule retains the correctly folded native antigenic epitope(s).