Immunohistochemical Evaluation of Fibronectin and Tenascin Following Direct Pulp Capping with Mineral Trioxide Aggregate, Platelet-Rich Plasma and Propolis in Dogs’ Teeth

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the expression of fibronectin (FN) and tenascin (TN) after direct pulp capping (DPC) in dogs’ teeth with either mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA), Propolis or Platelet-rich plasma (PRP), by means of immunohistochemistry. Methods and Materials: A total of 48 sound molars and premolars with mature apices from four dogs, were included. The teeth were randomly divided into 4 groups according to the material used for DPC: PRP, Propolis, MTA, and glass-ionomer (as the negative control group). Each group was divided into two 7-day and 30-day subgroups. The teeth were restored at the same session. The animals were sacrificed at the mentioned time intervals and the expression of FN and TN in each test group and between each time intervals was assessed with Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney U tests, respectively. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare FN and TN staining among the test groups. The significance level was set at 0.05. Results: The amount of FN in the MTA group in the 30-day interval was significantly higher than the 7-day interval; however, there were no significant differences among the other groups. The amount of TN in the MTA and Propolis groups in the 30-day interval was significantly higher than that in the 7-day interval; no recognizable difference was observed in the other groups. Moreover, the difference in expression of FN and TN in the 7-day interval was not significant in the experimental groups. Nevertheless, the difference was significant in the 30-day interval, with the highest and lowest expressions belonging to the MTA and glass-ionomer groups, respectively. Conclusion: Based on the results of the present animal study, MTA is still a better choice for direct pulp capping.Keywords: Fibronectin; Immunohistochemistry; Propolis; Pulp Capping; Tenasci

High-Efficiency Multi-Junction Space Solar Development Utilizing Lattice Grading

Progress towards achieving a high one-sun air mass 0 (AM0) efficiency in a monolithic dual junction solar cell comprised of a 1.62 eV InGaP top cell and a 1.1 eV InGaAs bottom cell grown on buffered GaAs is reported. The performance of stand-alone 1.62 eV InGaP and 1.1 eV InGaAs cells is compared to that of the dual junction cell. Projected AM0 efficiencies of 15.7% and 16.5% are expected for the 1.62 eV InGaP and 1.1 eV InGaAs cells grown on buffered GaAs. The dual junction cell has a projected one-sun AM0 conversion efficiency of 17%. The projected efficiencies are based upon the application of an optimized anti-reflective coating (ARC) to the as-grown cells. Quantum efficiency (QE) data obtained from the dual junction cell indicate that is is bottom cell current limited with the top cell generating 50% more current than the bottom cell. A comparison of the QE data for the stand-alone 1.1 eV InGaAs cell to that of the 1.1 eV InGaAs bottom cell in the tandem configuration indicates a degradation of the bottom cell conversion efficiency in the tandem configuration. The origin of this performance degradation is at present unknown. If the present limitation can be overcome, then a one-sun AM0 efficiency of 26% is achievable with the 1.62 eV/1.1 eV dual junction cell grown lattice-mismatched to GaAs