TEM analysis of apatite surface layers observed on zinc based glass polyalkenoate cements

peer-reviewedGlass polyalkenoate cements (GPCs) are acid base cements formed by the reaction of an aqueous solution of polyalkenoic acid, usually polyacrylic acid (PAA) with an acid degradable aluminosilicate glass. The result of the reaction is cement consisting of reacted and unreacted glass particles embedded in a polysalt matrix. In addition to these conventional GPCs, aluminium free glass polyalkenoate cements based on zinc silicate glasses (Zn-GPCs) exhibit significant potential as bone cements for several reasons. Primarily, they are formulated without the inclusion of aluminium (Al) [1] in the glass phase and thus eliminate clinical complications arising from the release of the Al3+ ion from the cement in vivo. Such complications have, in the past, included aluminium induced encephalopathy [2-5] and defective mineralisation of cancellous bone [6]. Secondly, Zn-GPCs set without a significant evolution of heat, when compared with commercial bone cements such as Spineplex ® (Stryker, Limerick, Ireland). Finally, these materials can be tailored to release clinically beneficial ions into surrounding tissues [7]. In addition to Zn, these cements have been synthesized to contain strontium (Sr) [8, 9]. Both Sr and Zn inhibit osteoclastic turnover and promote osteoblastic turnover, resulting in increased bone strength and decreased fracture risk [10-14].Acceptedpeer-reviewe

Early to Late Holocene Surface Exposure Ages From Two Marine-Terminating Outlet Glaciers in Northwest Greenland

Terrestrial chronologies from southern Greenland provide a detailed deglacial history of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS). The northern GIS margin history, however, is less established. Here we present surface exposure ages from moraines associated with two large outlet glaciers, Petermann and Humboldt, in the northwestern sector of the GIS. These moraine chronologies indicate a Little Ice Age advance of the ice sheet margin before similar to 0.3 ka and a possible equivalent advance of similar magnitude prior to similar to 2.8 ka. An early Holocene moraine at Humboldt Glacier was abandoned by 8.3 +/- 1.7 ka and is contemporaneous with other moraines deposited along the entire western GIS margin. This widespread ice margin stability between similar to 9 and 8 ka indicates that while this margin was influenced by warming atmospheric temperatures during the early Holocene, the warming was likely overprinted with the effect of the abrupt climate cooling at 9.3 and 8.2 ka. Plain Language Summary The global climate is warming, and the Greenland Ice Sheet is responding. A more complete understanding of this process is needed to better predict its future response to climate change. We determine how the ice sheet changed following the last ice age in northwest Greenland. The northwest sector of the ice sheet retreated to the coast by similar to 10,000 years ago during a period of warming atmospheric temperatures. About 8,300 years ago the ice stopped retreating despite relatively high atmospheric temperatures. A similar standstill occurred in areas along western Greenland between similar to 9,000 and 8,000 years ago. This suggests that despite the long-term warming, well-known abrupt cooling events that occurred in the region at this time influenced the ice sheet margin and temporarily stopped the long-term pattern of ice retreat. The ice sheet retreated after 8,300 years ago and then advanced during the latest cold period, the Little Ice Age (similar to 350-1850 CE), in a fashion similar to elsewhere in Greenland. Our study finds that the Greenland Ice Sheet margins are sensitive to both long-term (>1,000 years) and short-term (<100 years) atmospheric temperature changes. This sensitivity of the ice margin has important implications when assessing ongoing and future ice loss today

Silencing of Vlaro2 for chorismate synthase revealed that the phytopathogen Verticillium longisporum induces the cross-pathway control in the xylem

The first leaky auxotrophic mutant for aromatic amino acids of the near-diploid fungal plant pathogen Verticillium longisporum (VL) has been generated. VL enters its host Brassica napus through the roots and colonizes the xylem vessels. The xylem contains little nutrients including low concentrations of amino acids. We isolated the gene Vlaro2 encoding chorismate synthase by complementation of the corresponding yeast mutant strain. Chorismate synthase produces the first branch point intermediate of aromatic amino acid biosynthesis. A novel RNA-mediated gene silencing method reduced gene expression of both isogenes by 80% and resulted in a bradytrophic mutant, which is a leaky auxotroph due to impaired expression of chorismate synthase. In contrast to the wild type, silencing resulted in increased expression of the cross-pathway regulatory gene VlcpcA (similar to cpcA/GCN4) during saprotrophic life. The mutant fungus is still able to infect the host plant B. napus and the model Arabidopsis thaliana with reduced efficiency. VlcpcA expression is increased in planta in the mutant and the wild-type fungus. We assume that xylem colonization requires induction of the cross-pathway control, presumably because the fungus has to overcome imbalanced amino acid supply in the xylem

Silver diagnosis in neuropathology: principles, practice and revised interpretation

Silver-staining methods are helpful for histological identification of pathological deposits. In spite of some ambiguities regarding their mechanism and interpretation, they are widely used for histopathological diagnosis. In this review, four major silver-staining methods, modified Bielschowsky, Bodian, Gallyas (GAL) and Campbell–Switzer (CS) methods, are outlined with respect to their principles, basic protocols and interpretations, thereby providing neuropathologists, technicians and neuroscientists with a common basis for comparing findings and identifying the issues that still need to be clarified. Some consider “argyrophilia” to be a homogeneous phenomenon irrespective of the lesion and the method. Thus, they seek to explain the differences among the methods by pointing to their different sensitivities in detecting lesions (quantitative difference). Comparative studies, however, have demonstrated that argyrophilia is heterogeneous and dependent not only on the method but also on the lesion (qualitative difference). Each staining method has its own lesion-dependent specificity and, within this specificity, its own sensitivity. This “method- and lesion-dependent” nature of argyrophilia enables operational sorting of disease-specific lesions based on their silver-staining profiles, which may potentially represent some disease-specific aspects. Furthermore, comparisons between immunohistochemical and biochemical data have revealed an empirical correlation between GAL+/CS-deposits and 4-repeat (4R) tau (corticobasal degeneration, progressive supranuclear palsy and argyrophilic grains) and its complementary reversal between GAL-/CS+deposits and 3-repeat (3R) tau (Pick bodies). Deposits containing both 3R and 4R tau (neurofibrillary tangles of Alzheimer type) are GAL+/CS+. Although no molecular explanations, other than these empiric correlations, are currently available, these distinctive features, especially when combined with immunohistochemistry, are useful because silver-staining methods and immunoreactions are complementary to each other

10Be surface exposure ages on the late-Pleistocene and Holocene history of Linnébreen on Svalbard

Arctic glaciers were sensitive to past changes in high-latitude winter precipitation and summer temperature. Here we develop a late-Pleistocene to Holocene history for Linnébreen (Linné Glacier) in western Svalbard using 10Be surface exposure ages on isolated erratic and moraine boulders. We show that Linnébreen had separated from the larger ice sheet over Svalbard and was retreating up valley around the start of the Younger Dryas cold period. We attribute this retreat during a cold period on Svalbard to moisture starvation of Linnébreen from advanced sea ice and/or elevated shortwave boreal summer insolation that overwhelmed any reduction in sensible heat. After an ice-free period during the early to middle Holocene, Linnébreen reformed sometime after 4.6 ± 0.2 ka, and was at a position roughly equivalent to its Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum extent before it began to retreat at 1.6 ± 0.2 ka. Comparison with calibrated 14C dates from three other glaciers could suggest that this period of ice retreat at ∼1.6 ka could be regional in extent. Linnébreen occupied the pre-LIA moraine when there was an increased ratio of cold Arctic-sourced relative to warm Atlantic-sourced waters around Svalbard and advanced sea ice. The retreat of Linnébreen at ∼1.6 ka was concurrent with the increased presence of warm Atlantic waters around Svalbard and attendant sea-ice retreat. These coincident changes in ocean temperatures, sea-ice extent, and Linnébreen moraine age could imply a climatic forcing of the pre-LIA advance and retreat of Linnébreen. Summer temperatures, rather than changes in precipitation, would then be dominant in driving ice retreat, although the possibility of stochastic glacier-margin variability cannot be excluded. Our data therefore suggest that Linnébreen may have responded differently to past changes in sea-ice extent that could depend on the background climate state (deglacial climate vs. late-Holocene climate), which highlights the complexity in climatic controls on Arctic glaciers

Imaging of brain and brain tumor specimens by time-resolved multiphoton excitation microscopy ex vivo1

Multiphoton excitation fluorescent microscopy is a laser-based technology that allows subcellular resolution of native tissues in situ. We have recently applied this technology to the structural and photochemical imaging of cultured glioma cells and experimental gliomas ex vivo. We demonstrated that high microanatomical definition of the tumor, invasion zone, and normal adjacent brain can be obtained down to single-cell resolution in unprocessed tissue blocks. In this study, we used multiphoton excitation and four-dimensional microscopy to generate fluorescence lifetime maps of the murine brain anatomy, experimental glioma tissue, and biopsy specimens of human glial tumors. In murine brain, cellular and non-cellular elements of the normal anatomy were identified. Distinct excitation profiles and lifetimes of endogenous fluorophores were identified for specific brain regions. Intracranial grafts of human glioma cell lines in mouse brain were used to study the excitation profiles and fluorescence lifetimes of tumor cells and adjacent host brain. These studies demonstrated that normal brain and tumor could be distinguished on the basis of fluorescence intensity and fluorescence lifetime profiles. Human brain specimens and brain tumor biopsies were also analyzed by multiphoton microscopy, which demonstrated distinct excitation and lifetime profiles in glioma specimens and tumor-adjacent brain. This study demonstrates that multiphoton excitation of autofluorescence can distinguish tumor tissue and normal brain based on the intensity and lifetime of fluorescence. Further technical developments in this technology may provide a means for in situ tissue analysis, which might be used to detect residual tumor at the resection edge