Temporomandibular joint prosthesis in cancer reconstruction preceding radiation therapy

Total joint prostheses are a viable treatment option after removal of malignancies invading the temporomandibular joint, even when adjuvant radiation therapy is required.publishedVersio

Liquid crystals for luminescent concentrators: a review

Luminescent optical concentrators are thin films containing fluorescent dyes that enable light collection over a wide field of view without the need to track the path of the Sun. However, a disadvantage when using luminescent concentrators is that the performance is often impeded by surface losses through these films. Liquid-crystal (LC) hosts are attractive for luminescent concentrators, as they impart, at the very least, an orientational ordering to the transition dipole moment of the dyes dispersed within these films. This enables the directivity of both the absorption and emission and can reduce surface losses by, for example, adopting the homeotropic alignment of the LC director. This article reviews the developments and applications of LCs to luminescent optical concentrators and describes the strategies that have been introduced to further combat losses by decoupling the absorption and emission processes through Förster energy transfer, the approaches employed to enhance the chemical structures of the dyes, and the methods of using alternative LC phases and external configurations. The review presents a comprehensive summary of the material combinations and the techniques that have been considered in the development of LC-based concentrator films and concludes with a discussion about the future perspectives for these exciting optical concentrators

Intracellular sodium elevation reprograms cardiac metabolism

Intracellular Na elevation in the heart is a hallmark of pathologies where both acute and chronic metabolic remodelling occurs. Here, we assess whether acute (75 μM ouabain 100 nM blebbistatin) or chronic myocardial Nai load (PLM3SA mouse) are causally linked to metabolic remodelling and whether the failing heart shares a common Na-mediated metabolic ‘fingerprint’. Control (PLMWT), transgenic (PLM3SA), ouabain-treated and hypertrophied Langendorff-perfused mouse hearts are studied by 23Na, 31P, 13C NMR followed by 1H-NMR metabolomic profiling. Elevated Nai leads to common adaptive metabolic alterations preceding energetic impairment: a switch from fatty acid to carbohydrate metabolism and changes in steady-state metabolite concentrations (glycolytic, anaplerotic, Krebs cycle intermediates). Inhibition of mitochondrial Na/Ca exchanger by CGP37157 ameliorates the metabolic changes. In silico modelling indicates altered metabolic fluxes (Krebs cycle, fatty acid, carbohydrate, amino acid metabolism). Prevention of Nai overload or inhibition of Na/Camito may be a new approach to ameliorate metabolic dysregulation in heart failure

Garden varieties: how attractive are recommended garden plants to butterflies?

One way the public can engage in insect conservation is through wildlife gardening, including the growing of insect-friendly flowers as sources of nectar. However, plant varieties differ in the types of insects they attract. To determine which garden plants attracted which butterflies, we counted butterflies nectaring on 11 varieties of summer-flowering garden plants in a rural garden in East Sussex, UK. These plants were all from a list of 100 varieties considered attractive to British butterflies, and included the five varieties specifically listed by the UK charity Butterfly Conservation as best for summer nectar. A total of 2659 flower visits from 14 butterfly and one moth species were observed. We performed a principal components analysis which showed contrasting patterns between the species attracted to Origanum vulgare and Buddleia davidii. The “butterfly bush” Buddleia attracted many nymphalines, such as the peacock, Inachis io, but very few satyrines such as the gatekeeper, Pyronia tithonus, which mostly visited Origanum. Eupatorium cannibinum had the highest Simpson’s Diversity score of 0.75, while Buddleia and Origanum were lower, scoring 0.66 and 0.50 respectively. No one plant was good at attracting all observed butterfly species, as each attracted only a subset of the butterfly community. We conclude that to create a butterfly-friendly garden, a variety of plant species are required as nectar sources for butterflies. Furthermore, garden plant recommendations can probably benefit from being more precise as to the species of butterfly they attract

Isolation and purification of an enzyme hydrolyzing ochratoxin A from aspergillus niger

Ochratoxin A is a mycotoxin produced by several Aspergillus and some Penicillium species which may be present in food and feed products. It can be enzymatically hydrolyzed into ochratoxin α and l-β-phenylalanine, thereby decreasing its toxicity. The ochratoxin A degradation capacity of Aspergillus niger is well known and here we report the isolation and purification of a novel enzyme from A. niger that hydrolyzes this mycotoxin. A wheat germ medium supplemented with ochratoxin A was used to produce the enzyme, which was purified from culture filtrate by acetone precipitation and anion exchange chromatography. An overall purification of 2.5-fold with a recovery of 68% and a final specific activity of 36 U/mg was obtained. The enzyme is a metalloenzyme as it was inhibited at 10 mM EDTA, whereas PMSF had no effect. The ochratoxin A hydrolytic enzyme presented a V max of 0.44 μM/min and a K m of 0.5 mM when the reaction was carried out at pH 7.5 and 37°C.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

High-definition endoscopy with digital chromoendoscopy for histologic prediction of distal colorectal polyps

Background Distal diminutive colorectal polyps are common and accurate endoscopic prediction of hyperplastic or adenomatous polyp histology could reduce procedural time, costs and potential risks associated with the resection. Within this study we assessed whether digital chromoendoscopy can accurately predict the histology of distal diminutive colorectal polyps according to the ASGE PIVI statement. Methods In this prospective cohort study, 224 consecutive patients undergoing screening or surveillance colonoscopy were included. Real time histology of 121 diminutive distal colorectal polyps was evaluated using high-definition endoscopy with digital chromoendoscopy and the accuracy of predicting histology with digital chromoendoscopy was assessed. Results The overall accuracy of digital chromoendoscopy for prediction of adenomatous polyp histology was 90.1 %. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 93.3, 88.7, 88.7, and 93.2 %, respectively. In high-confidence predictions, the accuracy increased to 96.3 % while sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were calculated as 98.1, 94.4, 94.5, and 98.1 %, respectively. Surveillance intervals with digital chromoendoscopy were correctly predicted with >90 % accuracy. Conclusions High-definition endoscopy in combination with digital chromoendoscopy allowed real-time in vivo prediction of distal colorectal polyp histology and is accurate enough to leave distal colorectal polyps in place without resection or to resect and discard them without pathologic assessment. This approach has the potential to reduce costs and risks associated with the redundant removal of diminutive colorectal polyps

An experimental and theoretical study of the enantioselective deprotonation of cyclohexene oxide with isopinocampheyl-based chiral lithium amides

The mechanism of the enantioselective deprotonation of cyclohexene oxide with isopinocampheyl-based chiral lithium amide was studied by quantum chemical calculations. The transition states of eight molecules were fully optimized at the ab initio HF/3-21G and density functional B3LYP/3-21G levels with Gaussian 98. The activation energies were calculated at the B3LYP/6-31+G(3df,2p)//B3LYP/3-21G level. We found the theoretical evaluation to be consistent with the experimental data. At the best case, an enantiomeric excess of up to 95% for (R)-2-scyclohexen-1-ol was achieved with (−)-N, N-diisopinocampheyl lithium amide

Carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios of urine and faeces as novel nutritional biomarkers of meat and fish intake

Purpose Meat and fish consumption are associated with changes in the risk of chronic diseases. Intake is mainly assessed using self-reporting, as no true quantitative nutritional biomarker is available. The measurement of plasma fatty acids, often used as an alternative, is expensive and time-consuming. As meat and fish differ in their stable isotope ratios, δ13C and δ15N have been proposed as biomarkers. However, they have never been investigated in controlled human dietary intervention studies. Objective In a short-term feeding study, we investigated the suitability of δ13C and δ15N in blood, urine and faeces as biomarkers of meat and fish intake. Methods The dietary intervention study (n = 14) followed a randomised cross-over design with three eight-day dietary periods (meat, fish and half-meat–half-fish). In addition, 4 participants completed a vegetarian control period. At the end of each period, 24-h urine, fasting venous blood and faeces were collected and their δ13C and δ15N analysed. Results There was a significant difference between diets in isotope ratios in faeces and urine samples, but not in blood samples (Kruskal–Wallis test, p < 0.0001). In pairwise comparisons, δ13C and δ15N were significantly higher in urine and faecal samples following a fish diet when compared with all other diets, and significantly lower following a vegetarian diet. There was no significant difference in isotope ratio between meat and half-meat–half-fish diets for blood, urine or faecal samples. Conclusions The results of this study show that urinary and faecal δ13C and δ15N are suitable candidate biomarkers for short-term meat and fish intake

Altering crystal growth and annealing in ice-templated scaffolds.

The potential applications of ice-templating porous materials are constantly expanding, especially as scaffolds for tissue engineering. Ice-templating, a process utilizing ice nucleation and growth within an aqueous solution, consists of a cooling stage (before ice nucleation) and a freezing stage (during ice formation). While heat release during cooling can change scaffold isotropy, the freezing stage, where ice crystals grow and anneal, determines the final size of scaffold features. To investigate the path of heat flow within collagen slurries during solidification, a series of ice-templating molds were designed with varying the contact area with the heat sink, in the form of the freeze drier shelf. Contact with the heat sink was found to be critical in determining the efficiency of the release of latent heat within the perspex molds. Isotropic collagen scaffolds were produced with pores which ranged from 90 μm up to 180 μm as the contact area decreased. In addition, low-temperature ice annealing was observed within the structures. After 20 h at -30 °C, conditions which mimic storage prior to lyophilization, scaffold architecture was observed to coarsen significantly. In future, ice-templating molds should consider not only heat conduction during the cooling phase of solidification, but the effects of heat flow during ice growth and annealing.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Gates Cambridge Trust, the Newton Trust, and ERC Advanced Grant 320598 3D-E. A.H. held a Daphne Jackson Fellowship funded by the University of Cambridge.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-9343-