598 research outputs found
Synthesis of a novel electrospun polycaprolactone scaffold functionalized with ibuprofen for periodontal regeneration: An in vitro and in vivo study
Ibuprofen (IBU) has been shown to improve periodontal treatment outcomes. The aimof this study was to develop a new anti-inflammatory scaffold by functionalizing an electrospun nanofibrous poly-e-caprolactone membrane with IBU (IBU-PCL) and to evaluate its impact on periodontal inflammation, wound healing and regeneration in vitro and in vivo. IBU-PCL was synthesized through electrospinning. The effects of IBU-PCL on the proliferation and migration of epithelial cells (EC) and fibroblasts (FB) exposed to Porphyromonas gingivlais lipopolysaccharide (Pg-LPS) were evaluated through the AlamarBlue test and scratch assay, respectively. Anti-inflammatory and remodeling properties were investigated through Real time qPCR. Finally, the in vivo efficacy of the IBU-PCL membrane was assessed in an experimental periodontitis mouse model through histomorphometric analysis. The results showed that the anti-inflammatory effects of IBU on gingival cells were effectively amplified using the functionalizedmembrane. IBU-PCL reduced the proliferation and migration of cells challenged by Pg-LPS, as well as the expression of fibronectin-1, collagen-IV, integrin a3Ă1 and laminin-5. In vivo, the membranes significantly improved the clinical attachment and IBU-PCL also reduced inflammation-induced bone destruction. These data showed that the IBU-PCL membrane could efficiently and differentially control inflammatory and migratory gingival cell responses and potentially promote periodontal regeneration
Traffic-related pollution and asthma prevalence in children. Quantification of associations with nitrogen dioxide.
Ambient nitrogen dioxide is a widely available measure of traffic-related air pollution and is inconsistently associated with the prevalence of asthma symptoms in children. The use of this relationship to evaluate the health impact of policies affecting traffic management and traffic emissions is limited by the lack of a concentration-response function based on systematic review and meta-analysis of relevant studies. Using systematic methods, we identified papers containing quantitative estimates for nitrogen dioxide and the 12Â month period prevalence of asthma symptoms in children in which the exposure contrast was within-community and dominated by traffic pollution. One estimate was selected from each study according to an a priori algorithm. Odds ratios were standardised to 10Â ÎŒg/m(3) and summary estimates were obtained using random- and fixed-effects estimates. Eighteen studies were identified. Concentrations of nitrogen dioxide were estimated for the home address (12) and/or school (8) using a range of methods; land use regression (6), study monitors (6), dispersion modelling (4) and interpolation (2). Fourteen studies showed positive associations but only two associations were statistically significant at the 5Â % level. There was moderate heterogeneity (I(2)â=â32.8Â %) and the random-effects estimate for the odds ratio was 1.06 (95Â % CI 1.00 to 1.11). There was no evidence of small study bias. Individual studies tended to have only weak positive associations between nitrogen dioxide and asthma prevalence but the summary estimate bordered on statistical significance at the 5Â % level. Although small, the potential impact on asthma prevalence could be considerable because of the high level of baseline prevalence in many cities. Whether the association is causal or indicates the effects of a correlated pollutant or other confounders, the estimate obtained by the meta-analysis would be appropriate for estimating impacts of traffic pollution on asthma prevalence
Search for pentaquark in high statistics measurement of at CLAS
The exclusive reaction was studied in the
photon energy range between 1.6-3.8 GeV searching for evidence of the exotic
baryon . The decay to requires the assignment of
strangeness to any observed resonance. Data were collected with the CLAS
detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility corresponding to
an integrated luminosity of 70 . No evidence for the
pentaquark was found. Upper limits were set on the production cross section as
function of center-of-mass angle and mass. The 95% CL upper limit on the
total cross section for a narrow resonance at 1540 MeV was found to be 0.8 nb.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review Letter
Measurement of the Polarized Structure Function for in the Resonance Region
The polarized longitudinal-transverse structure function
has been measured using the reaction in the
resonance region at and 0.65 GeV. No previous
data exist for this reaction channel. The kinematically
complete experiment was performed at Jefferson Lab with the CEBAF Large
Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) using longitudinally polarized electrons at an
energy of 1.515 GeV. A partial wave analysis of the data shows generally better
agreement with recent phenomenological models of pion electroproduction
compared to the previously measured channel. A fit to both
and channels using a unitary isobar model suggests the unitarized
Born terms provide a consistent description of the non-resonant background. The
-channel pion pole term is important in the channel through a
rescattering correction, which could be model-dependent.Comment: 6 pages, LaTex, 5 eps figures: Submitted to PRC/Brief Reports v2:
Updated referenc
Deeply virtual and exclusive electroproduction of omega mesons
The exclusive omega electroproduction off the proton was studied in a large
kinematical domain above the nucleon resonance region and for the highest
possible photon virtuality (Q2) with the 5.75 GeV beam at CEBAF and the CLAS
spectrometer. Cross sections were measured up to large values of the
four-momentum transfer (-t < 2.7 GeV2) to the proton. The contributions of the
interference terms sigma_TT and sigma_TL to the cross sections, as well as an
analysis of the omega spin density matrix, indicate that helicity is not
conserved in this process. The t-channel pi0 exchange, or more generally the
exchange of the associated Regge trajectory, seems to dominate the reaction
gamma* p -> omega p, even for Q2 as large as 5 GeV2. Contributions of handbag
diagrams, related to Generalized Parton Distributions in the nucleon, are
therefore difficult to extract for this process. Remarkably, the high-t
behaviour of the cross sections is nearly Q2-independent, which may be
interpreted as a coupling of the photon to a point-like object in this
kinematical limit.Comment: 15 pages,19 figure
Measurement of Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering with a Polarized Proton Target
The longitudinal target-spin asymmetry A_UL for the exclusive
electroproduction of high energy photons was measured for the first time in
p(e,e'p\gamma). The data have been accumulated at Jefferson Lab with the CLAS
spectrometer using 5.7 GeV electrons and a longitudinally polarized NH_3
target. A significant azimuthal angular dependence was observed, resulting from
the interference of the Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering and Bethe-Heitler
processes. The amplitude of the sin(phi) moment is 0.252 +/- 0.042(stat) +/-
0.020(sys). Theoretical calculations are in good agreement with the magnitude
and the kinematic dependence of the target-spin asymmetry, which is sensitive
to the generalized parton distributions H and H-tilde.Comment: Modified text slightly, added reference
Electroproduction of mesons at GeV measured with the CLAS spectrometer
Electroproduction of exclusive vector mesons has been studied with the
CLAS detector in the kinematical range GeV,
GeV, and GeV. The
scaling exponent for the total cross section as was
determined to be . The slope of the four-momentum transfer
distribution is GeV. Under the assumption of
s-channel helicity conservation (SCHC), we determine the ratio of longitudinal
to transverse cross sections to be . A 2-gluon exchange model
is able to reproduce the main features of the data.Comment: Phys Rev C, 15 pages, 18 figure
Observation of an Exotic Baryon in Exclusive Photoproduction from the Deuteron
In an exclusive measurement of the reaction , a
narrow peak that can be attributed to an exotic baryon with strangeness
is seen in the invariant mass spectrum. The peak is at
GeV/c with a measured width of 0.021 GeV/c FWHM, which is largely
determined by experimental mass resolution. The statistical significance of the
peak is . The mass and width of the observed peak are
consistent with recent reports of a narrow baryon by other experimental
groups.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Measurement of Beam-Spin Asymmetries for Deep Inelastic Electroproduction
We report the first evidence for a non-zero beam-spin azimuthal asymmetry in
the electroproduction of positive pions in the deep-inelastic region. Data have
been obtained using a polarized electron beam of 4.3 GeV with the CLAS detector
at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab). The amplitude of
the modulation increases with the momentum of the pion relative to
the virtual photon, , with an average amplitude of for range.Comment: 5 pages, RevTEX4, 3 figures, 2 table
Measurement of the Polarized Structure Function for in the Resonance Region
The polarized longitudinal-transverse structure function
has been measured in the resonance region at and 0.65
GeV. Data for the reaction were taken at Jefferson Lab
with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) using longitudinally
polarized electrons at an energy of 1.515 GeV. For the first time a complete
angular distribution was measured, permitting the separation of different
non-resonant amplitudes using a partial wave analysis. Comparison with previous
beam asymmetry measurements at MAMI indicate a deviation from the predicted
dependence of using recent phenomenological
models.Comment: 5 pages, LaTex, 4 eps figures: to be published in PRC/Rapid
Communications. Version 2 has revised Q^2 analysi
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