Dental Pulp Polyps Contain Stem Cells Comparable to the Normal Dental Pulps

Objectives: Few studies investigated the isolation of stem cells from pathologically injured dental tissues. The aim of this study was to assess the possibility of isolation of stem cells from pulp polyps (chronic hyperplastic pulpitis), a pathological tissue produced in an inflammatory proliferative response within a tooth. Study design: Pulp polyp tissues were enzymatically digested and the harvested single cells were cultured. Cultured cells underwent differentiation to adipocytes and osteoblasts as well as flowcytometric analysis for markers such as: CD90, CD73, CD105, CD45, and CD14. In addition we tried to compare other characteristics (including colonigenic efficacy, population doubling time and the cell surface antigen panels) of these cells to that of healthy dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs). Results: Cells isolated from pulp polyps displayed spindle shape morphology and differentiated into adipocytes and osteoblasts successfully. These cells expressed CD90, CD73, and CD105 while were negative for CD45, CD14. Number of colonies among 104 tissue cells was higher in the normal pulp tissue derived cells than the pulp polyps (P=0.016); but as polyp tissues are larger and contain more cells (P=0.004), the total number of the stem cell in a sample tissue was higher in polyps but not significantly (P=0.073). Conclusions: The cells isolated from pulp polyps fulfill minimal criteria needed for MSC definition; hence, it can be concluded that pulp polyps contain stem cells. Although pulp polyps are rare tissues in daily practice but when they are present, may serve as a possible new non-invasively acquired tissue resource of stem cells for affected patients. List of abbreviations: APC = allophycocyanin, BM = Bone Marrow, CFU-F = Colony Forming Unit Fibroblast, DPSC = Dental Pulp Stem Cell, FITC = fluorescein isothiocyanate, MNC = mononuclear cells, MSC = Multipotent Mesenchymal Stromal Cell, PE = Phycoerythrin, PerCP = Peridinin chlorophyll protein, PPSC = Pulp Polyp Stem Cell

Statistical Study of Ground Motion Amplification in the Mississippi Embayment

Three important topics have been studied in this dissertation. First, the effects of deep soil deposits of the Mississippi embayment in ground motion amplification have been studied. Using the results of one-dimensional analyses, a parametric model is developed for the region to estimate the ground motion amplification. The averaged shear-wave velocity in the upper 30 meter, Vs30, ranging from 220 to 800 m/s and deposit thickness varying from 70 to 750m, are considered in the estimation of the ground motion amplification with respect to a generic bedrock profile of the Mississippi embayment. Results indicate that site factors suggested by seismic codes cannot capture the site properties of the Mississippi embayment and are not appropriate for the region. In the second part, a new step-by-step method is developed to select a set of ground motions which takes into account a site-specific Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA) and the associated uncertainties through the defined logic tree. In the proposed method, after capturing the variability of the Uniform Hazard Response Spectrum (UHRS), I used a Monte Carlo procedure to produce a set of response spectra that has mean equals to the target and variability close to the variability of the target at all the spectral periods. Each member of the generated set is called individual target response spectra, and ground motions from the database of real data and also synthetic ground motions are selected based on their similarity with the individual target response spectra. The method’s procedure is defined through studying a sample site in North of the Mississippi embayment.In the last part of the study I developed a model for the ratio of Vertical to Horizontal component of earthquakes (V/H ratio) for the Mississippi embayment. This model can be used in developing the site-specific vertical design spectrum for the region by scaling the horizontal design spectrum resulting from a PSHA. The input parameters of the applied functional form are magnitude, distance, and Vs30. The proposed model has the advantage of including site response of the study area

Ground motion site amplification factors for sites located within the Mississippi embayment with consideration of deep soil deposits

In this study, site amplification factors for the deep soil deposits of the Mississippi embayment are computed using a nonlinear site response analysis program first to develop a model for nonlinear soil response for possible use by ground motion developers and second to address site amplification estimation. The effects of geology, sediment depth, and average shear wave velocity at the upper 30 m of soil ranging 180-800m/s, as well as the effect of peak ground acceleration at the bedrock on nonlinear ground motion amplification for the upper embayment, are investigated. The site response computations cover various site conditions, sediment depth of 70-750 m, and peak acceleration of input rock motions of 0.01-0.90 g. The amplification (or de-amplification) at various frequencies implied by the sediment depth is greater than that implied just by site classification of the top 30 m of soil

A study of vertical-to-horizontal ratio of earthquake components in the Gulf Coast Region

A new ground-motion prediction model is developed for the response spectral ratio of vertical-to-horizontal (V/H) components of earthquakes for the Gulf Coast region. The proposed V/H response spectral ratio model has the advantage of considering the earthquake magnitude, source-to-site distance, and the shear-wave velocity of soil deposits in the upper 30 m of the site (VS30) for the peak ground acceleration, and a wide range of spectral periods (0.01–10.0 s). The model is based on a comprehensive set of regression analyses of the newly compiled Next Generation Attenuation-East database of available central and eastern North America recordings with the moment magnitudes M ≥3:4 and the rupture distances RRup \u3c 1000 km. The 50th percentile (or median) pseudospectral acceleration values computed from the orthogonal horizontal components of ground motions rotated through all possible nonredundant rotation angles, known as the RotD50 (Boore, 2010), is used along with the vertical component to perform regression using a nonlinear mixed-effects regression algorithm. The predicted V/H ratios from the proposed model are compared with the recently published V/H spectral ratio models for different regions. The derived V/H ratios can be used to develop the vertical response spectra for the sites located within the Gulf Coast region, which include the Mississippi embayment