Calcined Hydroxyapatite with Collagen I Foam Promotes Human MSC Osteogenic Differentiation

Collagen I-based foams were modified with calcined or noncalcined hydroxyapatite or calcium phosphates with various particle sizes and pores to monitor their effect on cell interactions. The resulting scaffolds thus differed in grain size, changing from nanoscale to microscopic, and possessed diverse morphological characteristics and resorbability. The materials’ biological action was shown on human bone marrow MSCs. Scaffold morphology was identified by SEM. Using viability test, qPCR, and immunohistochemical staining, we evaluated the biological activity of all of the materials. This study revealed that the most suitable scaffold composition for osteogenesis induction is collagen I foam with calcined hydroxyapatite with a pore size of 360 ± 130 µm and mean particle size of 0.130 µm. The expression of osteogenic markers RunX2 and ColI mRNA was promoted, and a strong synthesis of extracellular protein osteocalcin was observed. ColI/calcined HAP scaffold showed significant osteogenic potential, and can be easily manipulated and tailored to the defect size, which gives it great potential for bone tissue engineering applications.     

Effects of Applied Process on the In Vitro Digestibility and Resistant Starch Content of Pasta Products

Resistant starch (RS) included in pasta can have auspicious health benefits and functional properties. The resistance of starch, however, can be greatly influenced by the applied food preparation process. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of two different resistant starches on the digestibility of pasta and to predict the impact of the conventional pasta processing (extrusion under standard conditions, 120 bars, 40°C; drying in an air-drying room at 35–40°C and cooking until the optimum cooking time) on the quality of different resistant starch included in products by using an in vitro enzymatic hydrolysis method. Results showed that the applied, conventional pasta extrusion step had only a small effect on the liberated glucose level and did not influence the RS content significantly. The cooking in contrast caused an increased digestibility and the lost of resistance of all pasta products. The digestibility was significantly lower (p < 0.05) in the case of raw and dried samples compared to the cooked pastas. It can be concluded that the resistant starches used in the samples are heat sensitive and their properties change radically during the pasta preparation, mainly during cooking.     

Structural Study of the Partially Disordered Full‐Length δ Subunit of RNA Polymerase from Bacillus subtilis

The partially disordered δ subunit of RNA polymerase was studied by various NMR techniques. The structure of the well‐folded N‐terminal domain was determined based on inter‐proton distances in NOESY spectra. The obtained structural model was compared to the previously determined structure of a truncated construct (lacking the C‐terminal domain). Only marginal differences were identified, thus indicating that the first structural model was not significantly compromised by the absence of the C‐terminal domain. Various ¹⁵N relaxation experiments were employed to describe the flexibility of both domains. The relaxation data revealed that the C‐terminal domain is more flexible, but its flexibility is not uniform. By using paramagnetic labels, transient contacts of the C‐terminal tail with the N‐terminal domain and with itself were identified. A propensity of the C‐terminal domain to form β‐type structures was obtained by chemical shift analysis. Comparison with the paramagnetic relaxation enhancement indicated a well‐balanced interplay of repulsive and attractive electrostatic interactions governing the conformational behavior of the C‐terminal domain. The results showed that the δ subunit consists of a well‐ordered N‐terminal domain and a flexible C‐terminal domain that exhibits a complex hierarchy of partial ordering.     

Monooxime‐monocarbamoyl Bispyridinium Xylene‐Linked Reactivators of Acetylcholinesterase—Synthesis,In vitro and Toxicity Evaluation,and Docking Studies

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) reactivators are crucial antidotes to organophosphate intoxication. A new series of 26 monooxime‐monocarbamoyl xylene‐linked bispyridinium compounds was prepared and tested in vitro, along with known reactivators (pralidoxime, HI‐6, obidoxime, trimedoxime, methoxime, K107, K108 and K203), on a model of tabun‐ and paraoxon‐, methylparaoxon‐ and DFP‐inhibited human erythrocyte AChE. Although their ability to reactivate tabun‐inhibited AChE did not exceed that of the previously known compounds, some newly prepared compounds showed promising reactivation of pesticide‐inhibited AChE. The acute toxicity of the novel compounds was also determined. Docking studies using tabun‐inhibited AChE were performed for three compounds of interest. The structure–activity relationship (SAR) study confirmed the apparent influence of the xylene linkage and carbamoyl moiety on the reactivation ability and toxicity of the agents.     

Verfahren zur Verl?ngerung der Haltbarkeit von Konsummilch und ihre stofflichen Ver?nderungen: ESL-Milch

Die ESL-Technologie stellt nach der H-Milch eine weitere Entwicklung mit hohem Zusatznutzen in Bezug auf Haltbarkeit und Vorratshaltung dar, wovon sowohl Handel als auch Verbraucher gleicherma?en profitieren k?nnen. Im Vergleich zum herk?mmlich pasteurisierten Produkt bringt das ESL-Konzept entscheidende Vorteile hinsichtlich der Haltbarkeit der Milch mit sich, wirkt sich dabei aber kaum oder nur geringfügig auf die für den Verbraucher entscheidenden bzw. wertrelevanten Produkteigenschaften aus. ESL-Produkte sind in diesem Sinne also nicht nur „l?nger haltbar”, sondern unserer Einsch?tzung nach auch „l?nger frisch”. Dass gerade die Produktcharakteristika der ESL-Milch den Wünschen der Verbraucher entgegenkommen, zeigt sich an der stetig steigenden Nachfrage nach diesen Produkten und dem damit einhergehenden Absatzrückgang von herk?mmlich pasteurisierter Frischmilch. Die Verbraucher haben also durch ihr Kaufverhalten in den letzten Jahren bereits deutlich gemacht, dass sie der ESL-Milch durchaus positiv gegenüberstehen und sich mit diesem Produktkonzept keineswegs „get?uscht” fühlen, was die hier zusammengefassten Fakten eindeutig untermauern.     

Oberflächenschutzschichten für metallische Hochtemperatur-Werkstoffe. Teil 2: Schutzschichten auf Superlegierungen und hochschmelzenden Metallen

Protection of High Temperature Metallic Materials against Oxidation , part 2; Protective Layers on Superalloys and High Temperature Materials. The structures of typical protective coatings of superalloys and Nb-alloys are briefly described and possible reasons for their failure are given. The importance of self-healing properties and of the reliability of such protective layers in any technical application is stressed. An order of magnitude of the duration of protection for different alloys is indicated for several coating types.     

Practical and ethical assessment issues in rural, impoverished, and managed care settings.

The rising costs of new psychological tests, increased frequency of test revisions, and difficulty receiving authorization and reimbursement from managed care companies make it increasingly difficult for practitioners to provide the best standard of care to clients when conducting psychological and neuropsychological assessments. Practitioners, especially those in low-income and rural areas, may struggle with handling these practical realities while maintaining ethical standards in conducting psychological assessment. Suggestions for how to manage practical challenges faced by practitioners who provide psychological assessments, such as selecting tests when authorization or reimbursement by a third-party payer is restricted or denied, purchasing psychological tests on a budget, and providing assessments with a limited number of qualified staff are discussed. The authors also provide recommendations for the future prevention of these challenges through work with test developers, test publishing corporations, third-party payers, political action groups, and the psychology profession itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Optimized Hash Tree for Authentication in Sensor Networks

Authentication based on the Merkle tree has been proposed as an energy efficient approach in a resource constrained sensor network environment. It replaces complicated certificate verification with more power efficient hash computations. While previous works assumed complete binary Merkle tree structures, which can be used efficiently only in sensor networks with a specific number of sensor nodes, we investigate incomplete Merkle trees to support any number of sensors. For the incomplete Merkle tree, we demonstrate that an optimal structure can be found through mathematical analysis and simulation. A novel tree indexing scheme is also proposed to reduce communication overhead and save sensors resources during authentication     

Native, denatured and reduced BSA: Enhancement of chronopotentiometric peak H by guanidinium chloride

In proteomics and biomedicine fast techniques applicable for preliminary tests of the protein properties and structural changes are sought. Methods of electrochemical analysis have been little utilized in these fields. We show that using constant current chronopotentiometric stripping peak H, minute amounts of denatured and reduced bovine serum albumin (BSA) can be easily discriminated from native BSA. Peak H, which is due to catalytic hydrogen evolution, is greatly enhanced in the presence of non-denaturing concentrations of guanidinium chloride. The course of BSA reduction and denaturation can be followed and traces of the damaged protein can be detected in native BSA samples.