Magnesium Modified β-Tricalcium Phosphate Induces Cell Osteogenic Differentiation In Vitro and Bone Regeneration In Vivo

In vitro, in vivo, and clinical studies have shown how the physicochemical and biological properties of β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) work in bone regeneration. This study aimed to improve the properties of β-TCP by achieving optimum surface and bulk β-TCP chemical/physical properties through the hydrothermal addition of magnesium (Mg) and to later establish the biocompatibility of β-TCP/Mg for bone grafting and tissue engineering treatments. Multiple in vitro and in vivo analyses were used to complete β-TCP/Mg physicochemical and biological characterization. The addition of MgO brought about a modest rise in the number of β-TCP surface particles, indicating improvements in alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity on day 21 (p < 0.05) and in the WST-1assay on all days (p < 0.05), with a corresponding increase in the upregulation of ALP and bone sialoprotein. SEM analyses stated that the surfaces of the β-TCP particles were not altered after the addition of Mg. Micro-CT and histomorphometric analysis from rabbit calvaria critical defects resulted in β-TCP/Mg managing to reform more new bone than the control defects and β-TCP control at 2, 6, and 8 weeks (* p ≤ 0.05, ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.001, and **** p ≤ 0.0001). The hydrothermal addition of MgO to the β-TCP surfaces ameliorated its biocompatibility without altering its surface roughness resulting from the elemental composition while enhancing cell viability and proliferation, inducing more bone regeneration by osteoconduction in vivo and osteoblastic differentiation in vitro.     

The skin cancer classification using deep convolutional neural network

Multimedia Tools and Applications - This paper addresses the demand for an intelligent and rapid classification system of skin cancer using contemporary highly-efficient deep convolutional neural...     

Magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy and spin polarization of Fe3Si in bulk and on Si(001) and Si(111) substrates

In order to achieve highly efficient spin polarized transport, first of all magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy, which determines the magnetic easy axis, must be understood. The highly precise full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave method is employed to investigate the magnetism and magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy of a ferromagnetic Heusler alloy Fe₃Si on Si(001) and Si(111) substrates. The calculated magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy of bulk D0₃ Fe₃Si was found to depend sensitively on a tetragonal distortion: The magnetization is along the z-axis at c/a < 1 and on the xy plane at c/a > 1. The out-of-plane magnetic easy axis of both Fe₃Si/Si(001) and (111) was calculated to be quite stable with enhanced magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy compared with bulk value. The magnetic easy axis of Fe₃Si/Si(001) and (111) is discussed in detail with single particle energy spectra. The degree of spin polarization is also presented at the interfaces between Fe₃Si and Si. The calculated spin polarizations of Fe₃Si/Si(111) tend to retain the spin polarization of the bulk, whereas they are reduced for the (001) interfaces.     

Functionalization of poly(caprolactone) scaffolds by the surface mineralization for use in bone regeneration

The surface of a synthetic biopolymer scaffold was tailored by a mineralization with calcium phosphate for use as a functional bone tissue engineering matrix. Poly(ε-caprolactone) scaffold with a defined pore configuration constructed by a robocasting method was treated in a series of solutions involving steps of surface activation and calcium phosphate induction. The scaffold surface was completely covered with calcium phosphate nanocrystallites that had typical characteristics of bone mineral-like carbonate apatite. The scaffold with mineralized-surface demonstrated to support more favorable bone cell responses, including initial cell adhesion and proliferation and to allow higher loading of protein than the untreated-scaffold. The results suggest the developed scaffold has the potential for use as a bone regenerative matrix.