Evaluation of hydroxyapatite and β-tri calcium phosphate microplasma spray coated pin intra-medullary for bone repair in a rabbit model

Here we report a comparative study of the healing kinetics of surgically created artificial defects in the tibia of New Zealand white rabbits. Comparison of the healing kinetics was made for uncoated conventional SS316L intramedullary pins, and the same pins with microplasma sprayed (MIPS) pure hydroxyapatite (HAp) and beta-tri calcium phosphate (β-TCP) coatings. After thorough material characterizations including XRD, FTIR, SEM, etc., MIPS coated pins were implanted to such animals. Serum biochemistry, radiology and fluorochrome labelling were used to evaluate the comparative healing kinetics of these implants in vivo. In comparison to those of the uncoated pins, the pins coated with both MIPS HAp and β-TCP showed significant increment of alkaline phosphatase up to 15th postoperative day, insignificant changes in serum phosphorus and calcium with uneventful healing of bone defect. There was development of Havarsian canals and well-defined peripherally placed osteoblasts along with evidence of angiogenesis and comparatively more new bone formation in the defect site. On a comparative scale, the performance of the β-TCP coated intramedullary pins was much better than that of the pure HAp coated pins than the uncoated intramedullary pins.     

DeepRan: Attention-based BiLSTM and CRF for Ransomware Early Detection and Classification

Information Systems Frontiers - Ransomware is a self-propagating malware encrypting file systems of the compromised computers to extort victims for financial gains. Hundreds of schools, hospitals,...     

Verification of cardiac tissue electrophysiology simulators using an N-version benchmark

Ongoing developments in cardiac modelling have resulted, in particular, in the development of advanced and increasingly complex computational frameworks for simulating cardiac tissue electrophysiology. The goal of these simulations is often to represent the detailed physiology and pathologies of the heart using codes that exploit the computational potential of high-performance computing architectures. These developments have rapidly progressed the simulation capacity of cardiac virtual physiological human style models; however, they have also made it increasingly challenging to verify that a given code provides a faithful representation of the purported governing equations and corresponding solution techniques. This study provides the first cardiac tissue electrophysiology simulation benchmark to allow these codes to be verified. The benchmark was successfully evaluated on 11 simulation platforms to generate a consensus gold-standard converged solution. The benchmark definition in combination with the gold-standard solution can now be used to verify new simulation codes and numerical methods in the future.     

Supercritical CO2 extraction of essential oils and cuticular waxes from peppermint leaves

Essential oils and cuticular waxes were extracted from peppermint leaves with supercritical carbon dioxide in a semicontinuous-flow extractor. The effects of CO₂ flow rate and pressure on the extraction rate were studied within the flow rate range of (4·1–9·8) × 10⁻⁵ kg s⁻¹ and the pressure range of 10–30 MPa. Flow rate effect indicated that the intraparticle diffusion resistance was not dominant in this process. The extraction rate of cuticular waxes increased remarkably with the pressure, whereas that of essential oils was almost constant as compared with cuticular waxes. The concentration of cuticular waxes at the exit of the extractor was close to the solubility of triacontane while that of essential oils was much lower than the solubility of 1-menthol.     

Metabolomic Evidence for Peroxisomal Dysfunction in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a chronic and debilitating disease characterized by unexplained physical fatigue, cognitive and sensory dysfunction, sleeping disturbances, orthostatic intolerance, and gastrointestinal problems. People with ME/CFS often report a prodrome consistent with infections. Using regression, Bayesian and enrichment analyses, we conducted targeted and untargeted metabolomic analysis of plasma from 106 ME/CFS cases and 91 frequency-matched healthy controls. Subjects in the ME/CFS group had significantly decreased levels of plasmalogens and phospholipid ethers (p < 0.001), phosphatidylcholines (p < 0.001) and sphingomyelins (p < 0.001), and elevated levels of dicarboxylic acids (p = 0.013). Using machine learning algorithms, we were able to differentiate ME/CFS or subgroups of ME/CFS from controls with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) values up to 0.873. Our findings provide the first metabolomic evidence of peroxisomal dysfunction, and are consistent with dysregulation of lipid remodeling and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. These findings, if validated in other cohorts, could provide new insights into the pathogenesis of ME/CFS and highlight the potential use of the plasma metabolome as a source of biomarkers for the disease.     

Online monitoring of the thermal degradation of POM during melt extrusion

Because of its high stiffness, chemical resistance, and low viscosity, Poly (oxymethylene) (POM) is of high relevance for technical applications. The thermal degradation of POM during processing affects its final properties and decreases the long‐term stability. The degradation is indicated by the emission of formaldehyde (FA) gas. The aim of this study is to monitor the thermal degradation of POM online, during the melt extrusion in a co‐rotating twin screw extruder (TSE). The effect of the processing conditions on the thermal stabilisation of the POM is observed by FA emission and online viscosity measurements. The effect of processing conditions on the compounding of POM with two different FA scavengers is also studied. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is used for the online measurement of FA gas and acetyl acetone colour measurement for the offline characterisation. The online viscosity is measured by passing the melt through a slit die at constant volume flow rate. An enhanced thermal degradation is found with decreasing throughput and increasing screw speed. A good correlation between the online viscosity and offline FA measurement is observed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Using electrophoretic deposition to identify protein charge in biological medium

Protein adsorption is the first step involved in establishing a suitable integration between a biomaterial and host tissue. It is therefore of highest interest to know the electric charge of proteins present in the relevant medium to be able to predict the behaviour of cells on given surfaces. In this study, electrophoretic deposition (EPD) was used as a simple method to identify the charge of proteins present in biological medium. In the model experiment carried out here, EPD was conducted using a biological medium containing 10% fetal calf serum (FCS) and the charge of the protein was determined by examining the migration of the protein in the EPD cell under a certain applied voltage. In addition, the suitability of EPD of proteins to deliver tailored surfaces for enhanced bioactivity or for controlled deposition of protein films on metallic surfaces was explored.     

The Communication of Meaning Across Generations

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of differences in age on the communication of meaning in dyads. In addition, the investigation probed the effects on communication of perceived versus actual similarity and dissimilarity of age and past experience. The results support the hypothesis that dyads of the same generation communicate meaning more effectively than dyads of different generations. The results did not support the hypothesis that people who perceive each other as similar communicate more effectively than those who perceive themselves as dissimilar to each other.