1,328 research outputs found
Chitosan particles agglomerated scaffolds for cartilage and osteochondral tissue engineering approaches with adipose tissue derived stem cells
It is well accepted that natural tissue regeneration is unlikely to occur if the cells are not supplied with an extracellular matrix (ECM) substitute. With this goal, several different methodologies have been used to produce a variety of 3D scaffolds as artificial ECM substitutes suitable for bone and cartilage tissue engineering. Furthermore, osteochondral tissue engineering presents new challenges since the combination of scaffolding and co-culture requirements from both bone and cartilage applications is required in order to achieve a successful osteochondral construct.
In this paper, an innovative processing route based on a chitosan particles aggregation
methodology for the production of cartilage and osteochondral tissue engineering
scaffolds is reported. An extensive characterization is presented including a morphological evaluation using Micro-Computed Tomography (ÎŒCT) and 3D virtual models built with an image processing software. Mechanical and water uptake characterizations were also carried out, evidencing the potential of the developed scaffolds for the proposed applications. Cytotoxicity tests show that the developed chitosan particles agglomerated scaffolds do not exert toxic effects on cells. Furthermore, osteochondral bilayered scaffolds could also be developed. Preliminary seeding of mesenchymal stem cells isolated from
human adipose tissue was performed aiming at developing solutions for chondrogenic and
osteogenic differentiation for osteochondral tissue engineering applications.Fundação para a CiĂȘncia e a Tecnologia (FCT)European NoE EXPERTISSUES
(NMP3-CT-2004-500283)European STREP Project HIPPOCRATES
(NMP3-CT-2003-505758
Questioning policy, youth participation and lifestyle sports
Young people have been identified as a key target group for whom participation in sport and physical activity could have important benefits to health and wellbeing and consequently have been the focus of several government policies to increase participation in the UK. Lifestyle sports represent one such strategy for encouraging and sustaining new engagements in sport and physical activity in youth groups, however, there is at present a lack of understanding of the use of these activities within policy contexts. This paper presents findings from a government initiative which sought to increase participation in sport for young people through provision of facilities for mountain biking in a forest in south-east England. Findings from qualitative research with 40 young people who participated in mountain biking at the case study location highlight the importance of non-traditional sports as a means to experience the natural environments through forms of consumption which are healthy, active and appeal to their identities. In addition, however, the paper raises questions over the accessibility of schemes for some individuals and social groups, and the ability to incorporate sports which are inherently participant-led into state-managed schemes. Lifestyle sports such as mountain biking involve distinct forms of participation which present a challenge for policy-makers who seek to create and maintain sustainable communities of youth participants
Spin states of zigzag-edged Mobius graphene nanoribbons from first principles
Mobius graphene nanoribbons have only one edge topologically. How the
magnetic structures, previously associated with the two edges of zigzag-edged
flat nanoribbons or cyclic nanorings, would change for their Mobius
counterparts is an intriguing question. Using spin-polarized density functional
theory, we shed light on this question. We examine spin states of zigzag-edged
Mobius graphene nanoribbons (ZMGNRs) with different widths and lengths. We find
a triplet ground state for a Mobius cyclacene, while the corresponding
two-edged cyclacene has an open-shell singlet ground state. For wider ZMGNRs,
the total magnetization of the ground state is found to increase with the
ribbon length. For example, a quintet ground state is found for a ZMGNR. Local
magnetic moments on the edge carbon atoms form domains of majority and minor
spins along the edge. Spins at the domain boundaries are found to be
frustrated. Our findings show that the Mobius topology (i.e., only one edge)
causes ZMGNRs to favor one spin over the other, leading to a ground state with
non-zero total magnetization.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure
Practitioner accounts and knowledge production: an analysis of three marketing discourses
Responding to repeated calls for marketing academicians to connect with marketing actors, we offer an empirically-sourced discourse analysis of the ways in which managers portray their practices. Focusing on the micro-discourses and narratives that marketing actors draw upon to represent their work we argue that dominant representations of marketing knowledge production present a number of critical concerns for marketing theory and marketing education. We also evidence that the often promoted idea of a need to close the gap between theory - as a dominant discourse - and practice, as a way of doing marketing, is problematic to pursue. We suggest that a more fruitful agenda resides in the development of a range of polyphonic and creative micro-discourses of management, promoting context, difference and individual meaning in marketing knowledge production
Cyclooctatetraenes Tetrakis-Annelated with α-Dithio- or α-Diselenocarbonyl Groups: Diradicals Predicted To Have Ground States with 10 Ï Electrons in the Eight-Membered Ring and Two-Center, Three-Electron, Ï Bonds between Two Pairs of Chalcogen Atoms
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Improved Method for Laser Damage Testing Coated Optics
The damage test procedure for qualifying a coating run of anti-reflection coated optics consists of scanning a pulsed 1064 nm laser over a 1 cm x 1 cm area on a test sample to illuminate approximately 2400 sites. Scans are repeated at 3 J/cm{sup 2} increments until the fluence specification for the optic is reached. In the past, initiation of 1 or more damage sites was classified as a failed coating run, requiring the production optics in the corresponding coating lot be reworked and recoated. Recent laser damage growth tests of 300 repetitive pulses performed on numerous damage sites revealed that all were stable up to 20 J/cm{sup 2}. Therefore the acceptance criteria has been modified to allow a moderate number of damage sites, as long as they are smaller than the allowed dig size and are stable (do not grow). Consequently many coating runs that previously would have been rejected are now accepted, resulting in higher yield, lower cost, and improved delivery schedule. The new test also provides assurance that initiated damage sites are stable during long term operation
R-parity violation and uses of the rare decay sneutrino-->gamma+gamma in hadron and photon colliders
We consider implications of the loop process sneutrino -> gamma gamma in the
MSSM with R-parity violation for future experiments, where the sneutrino is
produced as the only supersymmetric particle. We present a scenario for the
R-parity violating couplings, where this clean decay, although rare with
Br(sneutrino -> gamma gamma) ~ 10^{-6}, may be useful for sneutrino detection
over a range of sneutrino masses at the LHC. Furthermore, the new
sneutrino-gamma-gamma effective coupling may induce detectable sneutrino
resonant production in gamma gamma collisions, over a considerably wide mass
range. We compare sneutrino -> gamma gamma, gg throughout the paper with the
analogous yet quantitatively very different, Higgs -> gamma gamma, gg decays
and comment on the loop processes sneutrino -> WW, ZZ.Comment: 19 pages using REVTEX, 3 figures embadded in the text using epsfi
ÎŽ-Aminolevulinic acid transport in murine mammary adenocarcinoma cells is mediated by beta transporters
ÎŽ-aminolevulinic acid, the precursor of porphyrin biosynthesis has been used to induce the endogenous synthesis of the photosensitiser protoporphyrin IX for photodynamic therapy in the treatment of various tumours. The aim of this work was to characterise the ÎŽ-aminolevulinic acid transport system in the murine mammary adenocarcinoma cell line LM3 using 14C-ÎŽ-aminolevulinic acid, to finally improve ÎŽ-aminolevulinic acid incorporation in mammalian cells. Our results showed that ÎŽ-aminolevulinic acid is incorporated into these cells by two different mechanisms, passive diffusion which is important at the beginning of the incubation, and active transport. Specificity assays suggested that the transporter involved in ÎŽ-aminolevulinic acid incorporation is a BETA transporter, probably GAT-2
CP--violating Chargino Contributions to the Higgs Coupling to Photon Pairs in the Decoupling Regime of Higgs Sector
In most supersymmetric theories, charginos belong to
the class of the lightest supersymmetric particles and the couplings of Higgs
bosons to charginos are in general complex so that the CP--violating chargino
contributions to the loop--induced coupling of the lightest Higgs boson to
photon pairs can be sizable even in the decoupling limit of large pseudoscalar
mass with only the lightest Higgs boson kinematically accessible at
future high energy colliders. We introduce a specific benchmark scenario of CP
violation consistent with the electric dipole moment constraints and with a
commonly accepted baryogenesis mechanism in the minimal supersymmetric Standard
Model. Based on the benchmark scenario of CP violation, we demonstrate that the
fusion of the lightest Higgs boson in linearly polarized photon--photon
collisions can allow us to confirm the existence of the CP--violating chargino
contributions {\it even in the decoupling regime of the Higgs sector} for
nearly degenerate SU(2) gaugino and higgsino mass parameters of about the
electroweak scale.Comment: 1+13 pages, 3 eps figure
The Search for Higgs particles at high-energy colliders: Past, Present and Future
I briefly review the Higgs sector in the Standard Model and its minimal
Supersymmetric extension, the MSSM. After summarizing the properties of the
Higgs bosons and the present experimental constraints, I will discuss the
prospects for discovering these particle at the upgraded Tevatron, the LHC and
a high-energy linear collider. The possibility of studying the
properties of the Higgs particles will be then summarized.Comment: 28 pages, latex, 15 figures, talk at WHEPP VII, Allahabad, Indi
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