Current advances concerning the most cited metal ions doped bioceramics and silicate-based bioactive glasses for bone tissue engineering

Studies related to biomaterials that stimulate the repair of living tissue have increased considerably, improving the quality of many people's lives that require surgery due to traumatic accidents, bone diseases, bone defects, and reconstructions. Among these biomaterials, bioceramics and bioactive glasses (BGs) have proved to be suitable for coating materials, cement, scaffolds, and nanoparticles, once they present good biocompatibility and degradability, able to generate osteoconduction on the surrounding tissue. However, the role of biomaterials in hard tissue engineering is not restricted to a structural replacement or for guiding tissue regeneration. Nowadays, it is expected that biomaterials develop a multifunctional role when implanted, orchestrating the process of tissue regeneration and providing to the body the capacity to heal itself. In this way, the incorporation of specific metal ions in bioceramics and BGs structure, including magnesium, silver, strontium, lithium, copper, iron, zinc, cobalt, and manganese are currently receiving enhanced interest as biomaterials for biomedical applications. When an ion is incorporated into the bioceramic structure, a new category of material is created, which has several unique properties that overcome the disadvantages of primitive material and favors its use in different biomedical applications. The doping can enhance handling properties, angiogenic and osteogenic performance, and antimicrobial activity. Therefore, this review aims to summarize the effect of selected metal ion dopants into bioceramics and silicate-based BGs in bone tissue engineering. Furthermore, new applications for doped bioceramics and BGs are highlighted, including cancer treatment and drug delivery.     

Piperacillin/tazobactam‐induced neurotoxicity in a hemodialysis patient: A case report

Antibiotics are potentially a cause of neurotoxicity in dialysis patients, the most common are the beta‐lactams as ceftazidime and cefepime, and few cases have been reported after piperacillin/tazobactam use. This report presents a case of a hypertensive and diabetic 67‐year‐old woman in regular hemodialysis, which previously had a stroke. She was hospitalized presenting pneumonia, which was initially treated with cefepime. Two days after treatment, she presented dysarthria, left hemiparesis, ataxia, and IX and X cranial nerves paresis. Computed tomography showed no acute lesions and cefepime neurotoxicity was hypothesized, and the antibiotic was replaced by piperacillin/tazobactam. The neurologic signs disappeared; however, 4 days after with piperacillin/tazobactam treatment, the neurological manifestations returned. A new computed tomography showed no new lesions, and the second antibiotic regimen withdrawn. After two hemodialysis sessions, the patient completely recovered from neurological manifestations. The patient presented sequentially neurotoxicity caused by two beta‐lactams antibiotics. This report meant to alert clinicians that these antibiotics have dangerous neurological effects in chronic kidney disease patients.     

Direct synthesis of copper faujasite

Copper containing faujasite has been successfully prepared for the first time using a direct synthesis method. Faujasite type zeolite can be prepared in the presence of copper species by tuning the synthesis conditions. Ammonium hydroxide was used to form a copper complex that was later mixed with the reacting gel. Sodium is required to obtain copper faujasite. The complete elimination of sodium ions from the starting gel produces amorphous material. Crystallization took place at 358 K for 11 days. Crystallization temperature of 373 K produces ANA type zeolite as an impurity. Increasing by two times the amount of copper complex added to the reacting gel increases the crystallization time of Cu-FAU from 11 to 20 days (the crystallization rate decreases). The copper containing faujasite obtained was characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDX, EPR, FT-IR, TPR, and BET. According to the XRD pattern only FAU type zeolite was obtained. According to TPR experiments, the reduction temperature for Cu²⁺ ions present in Cu-FAU prepared by direct synthesis was 70 K more than for Cu-FAU prepared by ion-exchange. This difference can be due to the different location of the copper ions in the supercages or in the sodalite cages of the faujasite.     

Continuous assay of proteases using a microtiter plate fluorescence reader

The present study was designed to determine if spinal calcium channels, calmodulin, and calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II were involved in the production of antinociception induced by cold water swimming stress (CWSS). The effects of intrathecal (i.t.) injection of nimodipine, omega-conotoxin GVIA, calmidazolium, or (S)-5-isoquinolinesulfonic acid, 4-[2-[(5-isoquinolinyl-sulfonyl)methylamino]-3-oxo-3-(4-phenyl-1-piperaz inyl)-propyl]phenyl ester (KN-62) on CWSS-induced antinociception were studied in ICR mice. The antinociception was assessed by the tail-flick test. CWSS produced inhibition of the tail-flick response. Various doses of nimodipine (10-40 ng), omega-conotoxin GVIA (5-40 ng), calmidazolium (10-40 ng), or KN-62 (5-40 ng) injected i.t. alone did not show any antinociceptive effect in the tail-flick test. I.t. pretreatment with omega-conotoxin GVIA, calmidazolium, or KN-62 dose dependently attenuated the CWSS-induced inhibition of the tail-flick response. However, i.t. pretreatment with nimodipine did not affect the inhibition of the tail-flick response induced by CWSS. Our results suggest that spinal N-type calcium channel, calmodulin and calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II may be involved in the production of antinociception induced by CWSS. On the other hand, CWSS-induced antinociception appears not to be mediated via the spinal L-type calcium channel.     

Microstructural Modelling of Nb Microalloyed Steels during Thin Slab Direct Rolling Processing

The microstructural evolution during the hot rolling of coarse grain sized austenite has been modeled considering all the microstructural mechanisms (dynamic, static and metadynamic recrystallization, strain induced precipitation) that can take place during an industrial TSDR production of three Nb microalloyed steels. Based on the results obtained from the model, processing maps have been drawn for 0.02%, 0.035% and 0.05% Nb microalloyed steels. Optimum processing conditions to exploit all the benefits of the Nb microalloying have been defined considering a final gauge thickness range between 1.5 and 12.65 mm. In addition, and facing the difficulties present in the production of thick hot strip, several alternative thermomechanical schedules are proposed, which would originate microstructures with a suitable combination of homogeneity and retained strain prior to transformation.     

Sorption of copper ions by granulated chitosan

The features of sorption of Cu²⁺ ions from aqueous solutions of CuSO₄ by granulated chitosan sorbent in static conditions and the different contribution of surface and bulk amino groups in the sorbent to complexation are discussed. Sorption with freshly formed swollen and maximally amorphized granules with accessible bulk amino groups can be described by Langmuir’s equation; it attains 5.6 mmole/g of dry sorbent, which is close to the sorption calculated from the equimolar composition of the amino-copper complex. Sorption of initially dry granules with less accessible bulk amino groups does not obey Langmuir’s equation due to precipitation of copper hydroxide and hydrosulfate on the surface of the sorbent. __________ Translated from Khimicheskie Volokna, No. 2, pp. 11–14, March–April, 2006.     

A Tale of Two Dams: The Impact of Reservoir Management on Rural Depopulation in Central Spain

In rural areas, depopulation is mainly due to a lack of economic and employment opportunities. In this context, the reservoirs already built can be a source of socioeconomic development based on tourism and outdoor leisure activities. The condition for this development to materialize is that reservoir management considers these activities. In Central Spain, a process of rural depopulation has been generated in the municipalities around the reservoirs at the Upper Tagus River, as water management allows water transfers from the Tagus to the Segura River without taking into account regulations that prioritize and protect donor basin users. Through the comparison of reservoir water management and demographic data of two rural areas close to the reservoirs, this article reveals the direct relationship between reservoir management that enables recreational uses with its consequent socioeconomic development and the maintenance of the population in the territory. Consequently, reservoir water management based on the socioeconomic development of reservoir banks is necessary and a priority over transfers to another basin.