radiofrequency echographic multi spectrometry for the prediction of incident fragility fractures a 5 year follow up study

Abstract Purpose To investigate the effectiveness of the T-score values provided by Radiofrequency Echographic Multi Spectrometry (REMS) in the identification of patients at risk for incident osteoporotic fractures. Methods A population of Caucasian women (30–90 years), enrolled from 2013 to 2016, underwent dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and REMS scans at axial sites. The incidence of fragility fractures was assessed during a follow-up period up to 5 years. Afterwards, patients with and without incident fractures were stratified in two age-matched groups with a 1: 2 proportion (Group F' and Group NF', respectively). The performance of REMS T-score in discriminating between the two groups was quantitatively assessed and compared with DXA. Results 1516 patients were enrolled and 1370 completed the follow-up (mean ± SD: 3.7 ± 0.8 years; range: 1.9–5.0 years). Fracture incidence was 14.0%. Age-matched groups included 175 fractured patients and 350 non-fractured ones, respectively (median age 70.2 [interquartile range: 61.0–73.3] and 67.3 [65.4–69.8] years, p-value ns). The groups resulted also balanced for height, weight and BMI (p-values ns). As expected, the differences in REMS T-score (for vertebral site, −2.9 [−3.6 to −1.9] in Group F', −2.2 [−2.9 to −1.2] in Group NF') and DXA T-score (−2.8 [−3.3 to −1.9] in Group F', −2.2 [−2.9 to −1.4] in Group NF') were statistically significant (p-value Conclusions REMS T-score resulted an effective predictor for the risk of incident fragility fractures in a population-based sample of female subjects, representing a promising parameter to enhance osteoporosis diagnosis in the clinical routine

Behind resveratrol stabilization by carboxymethylated (1,3/1,6)-beta-D-glucan: does the polyphenol play a role in polymer structural organization?

Resveratrol stability in solution can be improved by combining the polyphenol with carboxymethylated (1,3/1,6)-β-d-glucan (CM-glucan), a carbohydrate polymer widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. The present work was undertaken to elucidate the mechanism behind this stabilizing effect. The supramolecular structural, physico-chemical and morphological features of the CM-glucan/resveratrol complex have been studied under different physical and chemical stimuli by means of spectroscopic techniques, microscopy and physical methods such as UV-Visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), spectrofluorimetry, Circular Dichroism (CD), Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Our experimental data indicate that CM-glucan conformational organized architecture in aqueous solution is enhanced in the presence of resveratrol, suggesting that the polyphenol is able to confer a high degree of order to the polymer by a probable cooperative structural organization that results in a long term stabilization for the polyphenol

Effect of titanium carbide coating by ion plating plasma assisted deposition on osteoblast response:A chemical,morphological and gene expression investigation.

Titanium is among the most used materials for the production of medical and dental prostheses because of its specific weight, mechanical performances, cost and biocompatibility. Unfortunately the implant may release titanium particles, thus reducing, in the long term, the integrative properties of a titanium prosthesis, producing inflammation, osteolysis and mobilization. To overcome this problem, several coating procedures of titanium implants have been proposed. To improve osteoblast proliferation and implant integration, we have optimized a protocol to treat any kind of implant, based on the Ion Plated Plasma Assisted (IPPA) deposition of a well-controlled TiOx–TiCy–C nanostructured layer. Our approach consisted in a two-level analysis: the surface structure and chemistry of the substrates have been characterized by AFM, SEM and XPS at every step of the preparation, and the effects of the coating on the osteoblast morphology and genetic response (PCR) have been evaluated. These analyses show that osteoblasts grown on the treated titanium samples have a higher proliferation rate, formation of more filopodia and have positively improved mRNA synthesis of proteins involved in bone formation, when compared to those grown on uncoated ones. In conclusion, the combined effects of the composition and morphology of the nanostructured layer deposited with the IPPA technique, is a definite increase of osteoblast growth rate and differentiation, and indicate a better and stronger anchorage of the cells to the coated substrate, when compared to the untreated samples. Due to its relative low costs and adaptability to industrial production, this technique represents a very promising tool to improve the quality of any kind of prosthesis

Antibiotic-induced modifications of the stiffness of bacterial membranes.

In the latest years the importance of high resolution analysis of the microbial cell surface has been increasingly recognized. Indeed, in order to better understand bacterial physiology and achieve rapid diagnostic and treatment techniques, a thorough investigation of the surface modifications induced on bacteria by different environmental conditions or drugs is essential. Several instruments are nowadays available to observe at high resolution specific properties of microscopic samples. Among these, AFM can routinely study single cells in physiological conditions, measuring the mechanical properties of their membrane at a nanometric scale (force volume). Such analyses, coupled with high resolution investigation of their morphological properties, are increasingly used to characterize the state of single cells. In this work we exploit such technique to characterize bacterial systems. We have performed an analysis of the mechanical properties of bacteria (Escherichia coli) exposed to different conditions. Such measurements were performed on living bacteria, by changing in real-time the liquid environment: standard phosphate buffered saline, antibiotic (ampicillin) in PBS and growth medium. In particular we have focused on the determination of the membrane stiffness modifications induced by these solutions, in particular between stationary and replicating phases and what is the effect of the antibiotic on the bacterial structure