Characterization of Granulations of Calcium and Apatite in Serum as Pleomorphic Mineralo-Protein Complexes and as Precursors of Putative Nanobacteria

Calcium and apatite granulations are demonstrated here to form in both human and fetal bovine serum in response to the simple addition of either calcium or phosphate, or a combination of both. These granulations are shown to represent precipitating complexes of protein and hydroxyapatite (HAP) that display marked pleomorphism, appearing as round, laminated particles, spindles, and films. These same complexes can be found in normal untreated serum, albeit at much lower amounts, and appear to result from the progressive binding of serum proteins with apatite until reaching saturation, upon which the mineralo-protein complexes precipitate. Chemically and morphologically, these complexes are virtually identical to the so-called nanobacteria (NB) implicated in numerous diseases and considered unusual for their small size, pleomorphism, and the presence of HAP. Like NB, serum granulations can seed particles upon transfer to serum-free medium, and their main protein constituents include albumin, complement components 3 and 4A, fetuin-A, and apolipoproteins A1 and B100, as well as other calcium and apatite binding proteins found in the serum. However, these serum mineralo-protein complexes are formed from the direct chemical binding of inorganic and organic phases, bypassing the need for any biological processes, including the long cultivation in cell culture conditions deemed necessary for the demonstration of NB. Thus, these serum granulations may result from physiologically inherent processes that become amplified with calcium phosphate loading or when subjected to culturing in medium. They may be viewed as simple mineralo-protein complexes formed from the deployment of calcification-inhibitory pathways used by the body to cope with excess calcium phosphate so as to prevent unwarranted calcification. Rather than representing novel pathophysiological mechanisms or exotic lifeforms, these results indicate that the entities described earlier as NB most likely originate from calcium and apatite binding factors in the serum, presumably calcification inhibitors, that upon saturation, form seeds for HAP deposition and growth. These calcium granulations are similar to those found in organisms throughout nature and may represent the products of more general calcium regulation pathways involved in the control of calcium storage, retrieval, tissue deposition, and disposal

Preparation and microstuructural development of nanocrystalline titania and alumina

Proceedings of the 8th Conference and Exhibition of the European Ceramic Society; Istanbul; Turkey; 29 June 2003 through 3 July 2003The preparation of nanocrystalline titania and alumina was investigated by sol-gel methods using titanium isopropoxide, boehmite and aluminum isopropoxide. Various drying control chemical additives like oxalic acid, acetic acid and polyacrylic acid were used for modifying the drying behaviour and shrinkage of the gels. The sintered densities of the ceramics prepared by sol-gel processing and the dried gels were in the 79-99% of theoretical density for rutile. The green and sintered densities of the pellets prepared by uniaxial pressing of powders derived from sols, gels and precipitation techniques for titania were in the 40-52% and 55-83% respectively. The titania ceramics were observed to experience anatase-rutile phase transformation upon heat treatment at 650oC. The grain size of the sintered ceramics at 650oC was determined to be about 26 nm. Grain size of titania increased to 213 nm. at 850oC. The mechanical properties of these nanocrystalline ceramics were investigated by using microhardness testing

Posaconazole prophylaxis in patients with acute myeloid leukemia: A real life experience from a prospective multicenter observational study

<div><p>Vaginal candidiasis is a common disorder in women of childbearing age, caused primarily by the dimorphic fungus <i>Candida albicans</i>. Since <i>C</i>. <i>albicans</i> is a normal commensal of the vaginal mucosa, a long-standing question is how the fungus switches from being a harmless commensal to a virulent pathogen. Work with human subjects and in mouse disease models suggests that host inflammatory processes drive the onset of symptomatic infection. Fungal cell wall molecules can induce inflammation through activation of epithelial and immune receptors that trigger pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, but pathogenic fungi can evade recognition by masking these molecules. Knowledge about which cell wall epitopes are available for immune recognition during human infection could implicate specific ligands and receptors in the symptoms of vaginal candidiasis. To address this important gap, we directly probed the surface of fungi present in fresh vaginal samples obtained both from women with symptomatic <i>Candida</i> vaginitis and from women that are colonized but asymptomatic. We find that the pro-inflammatory cell wall polysaccharide β-glucan is largely masked from immune recognition, especially on yeast. It is only exposed on a small percentage of hyphal cells, where it tends to co-localize with enhanced levels of chitin. Enhanced β-glucan availability is only found in symptomatic patients with strong neutrophil infiltration, implicating neutrophils as a possible driver of these cell wall changes. This is especially interesting because neutrophils were recently shown to be necessary and sufficient to provoke enhanced β-glucan exposure in <i>C</i>. <i>albicans</i>, accompanied by elevated immune responses. Taken together, our data suggest that the architecture of <i>C</i>. <i>albicans</i> cell wall can be altered by environmental stress during vaginal candidiasis.</p></div

The Effects of Sb Substitution on Structural Properties in YBa2Cu3O7 Superconductors

In this study, the effects of partial Sb 3+ ion substitutions for the Y sites and the Cu sites on the superconducting properties of YBa 2Cu 3O y (Y123) ceramic superconductors were investigated. The samples were prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction method and the properties of the samples were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction, AC magnetic susceptibility measurements, scanning electron microscope, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The critical temperatures were determined to be in the range of 80-92 K for both Systems I and II. It was found that Sb-addition leads to the formation of the non-superconducting YBa 2SbO 6 phase, which has a negative effect on the critical temperature, since the highest critical temperature was measured for pure Y123. However, the increasing substitution level has a negligible effect on the X-ray diffraction analysis peak intensities of the superconducting phases. In addition, SEM images showed that Sb substitution decreases the grain size and modifies the microstructure development, which makes the samples denser