Bridge enhanced ACL repair

The mainstay of treatment for injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is with a tendon graft harvested from elsewhere in the knee. This procedure, known as ACL reconstruction (ACLR), has excellent reported outcomes in terms of restoring the gross stability of the knee. However there are reported rates of graft failure in the pediatric population.1 ACL reconstruction also does not provide full protection from developing premature osteoarthritis, which is often seen in patients after ACL injury. A new method must be found in order to find a solution to these adverse outcomes from the current standard treatment of ACL injuries. The Bridge-enhanced anterior cruciate ligament repair (BEAR) technique is a new innovation on primary repair of a torn ACL. It avoids the requirement for autograft harvesting and use of an allograft by combining a primary suture repair with an extraceullular matrix scaffold (the BEAR scaffold). This scaffold is placed between the two torn ends of the ACL to help facilitate natural healing of the ligament in order to restore the intrinsic functions of the ACL to protect the knee from trauma and instability. This ability to repair the native ACL maintains the proper anatomy of its insertion points, avoids donor site morbidity, and helps to prevent early osteoarthritis by maintaining innate proprioceptive functions of the ACL. Our study will prove the BRIDGE repair to be a promising step in the direction of preserving the native ACL

David Hume et les trois guerres anglo-hollandaises

Dans une description de l’esprit des Anglais du dix-huitième siècle, Paul Hazard écrit : Et comme ils étaient orgueilleux de leur victoire, ces Anglais arrivés au premier rang ! Ils se retournaient pour voir le chemin parcouru, et disaient que d’une situation quasi désespérée, menacés dans leur liberté, leur religion, leur sol même, par le plus puissant des rois, en peu de temps les affaires de l’Europe avaient pris une face si nouvelle, que grâce au ciel, les méchants avaient été abattus et ..

Study of a formulation contend bio-polymer chitosan on the caucasian hair fiber

Há um número crescente de indústrias no ramo de cosméticos atualmente, devido ao fato das pessoas se preocuparem mais com suas aparências e ansiarem por produtos de qualidade. Em decorrência desse fato as indústrias vêem investindo cada vez mais nas áreas de pesquisas e desenvolvendo tecnologia neste segmento. Este trabalho visa o estudo das fibras capilares e a interação das mesmas com uma formulação comercial contendo como ativo principal o biopolímero quitosana. Utilizou-se para tanto técnicas como microscopia eletrônica de varredura, microscopia ótica, microscopia de força atômica, análises térmicas (TG/DSC) e análise de espectroscopia de absorção na região do infravermelho. O estudo foi feito com cabelos caucasianos virgens (sem tratamento químico) e em cabelos caucasianos descoloridos. Os resultados evidenciaram melhorias na estrutura da fibra capilar. Pode-se também levantar dados como a rugosidade e a área cuticular da fibra, através desses dados verificou-se que a rugosidade na fibra capilar diminui e a área cuticular aumentou com o uso do produto. Foi observado também através da análise de infravermelho a presença da quitosana na fibra capilar.Currently exists an increasing number of companies on the cosmetic market, due to the fact that people worry more about appearance and (to) desire (for) quality products. As a result the companies are investing more in this area and developing new technologies. The purpose of this work is to study hair fibers and their interaction with a commercial product containing chitosan which is the main ingredient in the formula of Kit Bio Film® Tânagra and techniques were used, such as MEV, optic microscopy, AFM, thermal analysis (TG/DSC) and infrared absorption spectroscopy. This study was realized with caucasian virgin hair (without any chemical process) and with caucasian uncolored hair. In all analyses improvement of the hair fiber structure was observed. Also observed data such as roughness and cuticle size showed an increase in roughness and a decrease of cuticle size.The presence of chitosan in the hair fiber was also observed by infrared analysis

Design, fabrication, and testing of the pulse coils for the Large Coil Test Facility

The Large Coil Test Facility (LCTF) will be able to test up to six large superconducting coils similar to those required for a tokamak reactor. In order to simulate the transient vertical field that will be part of the magnetic environment of an operating tokamak reactor, a set of pulse coils will be used in the facility. This set of two coils can be positioned in the bore of any of the test coils to provide a transient magnetic field to that particular coil. This paper describes the final design of the pulse coils and discusses the fabrication techniques used to build these coils. An extensive testing program has been carried out during fabrication to ensure that the coils will function satisfactorily

Degradation of human hair caused by the use of contemporary hair smoothers and other chemical processes

In the XXI century, there has been an increasing research on cosmetic agents including chemical changes. Consequently, new smoothers have come up, such as: carbocisteine, glyoxylic acid and the forbidden formaldehyde. Ammonium thioglycolate is classified as a classic smoother and the smoothing products such as glyoxylic acid, carbocisteine and formaldehyde are considered as contemporary smoothers. Scientific studies that address the mechanism, action of the contemporary smoothers are scarce, and few of them approach the impact of those substances on the hair fiber. Those smoothers have been generating a capillary structure with different chemical, physical and structural characteristics. These changed molecular / atomic characteristics are still largely unknown. Thus, this study analyses the effects of the smoothers containing glyoxylic acid, carbocisteine, formaldehyde and ammonium thioglycolate in cases of one application and successive applications, and concomitantly with other chemical processes such as staining and discoloration of the hair fiber. Mechanisms of the glyoxylic acid, carbocisteine and formaldehyde were presented. Techniques such as fluorescence spectroscopy, electron microscopy of field emission and mechanical resistance have been applied. The aim was a better understanding of the diverse types of damages on the hair fibers caused by the studied smoothers. In addition to it, the staining and discoloration processes were analysed together the action of the smoothers from the macro and microscopic standpoints.Não recebi financiamentoO século XXI observa uma crescente pesquisa por agentes cosméticos e as transformações químicas fazem parte dessa pesquisa. Desta forma, surgiram novos alisantes no mercado, tais como: a carbocisteína, o ácido glioxílico e o proibido formol. O tioglicolato de amônio é classificado como alisante clássico e os alisantes como o ácido glioxílico, a carbocisteína e o formol são considerados como alisantes contemporâneos. As pesquisas científicas que abordam o mecanismo e ação dos alisantes contemporâneos são bastante escassas e com poucos artigos científicos que evidenciem os impactos causados na fibra capilar por uso dessas substâncias. Estes alisantes estão gerando uma estrutura capilar com diferentes características químicas, físicas e estruturais. Essas características finais a nível molecular/atômico, ainda, são pouco conhecidas. Assim, este estudo analisa os efeitos do uso de alisantes contendo carbocisteína, ácido glioxílico, formol e tioglicolato de amônio com uma aplicação e com sucessivas aplicações, além do uso destes alisantes concomitantemente a outros processos químicos tais como coloração e a descoloração na fibra capilar. Foram expostos mecanismos de ação do ácido glioxílico, da carbocisteína e do formol. Neste estudo foram empregadas técnicas como espectroscopia de fluorescência, microscopia eletrônica de emissão de campo e resistência mecânica. Desta forma, objetivou-se um melhor entendimento dos diversos tipos de danos causados nas fibras capilares pelo uso do alisantes estudados. Complementarmente também foram analisados de forma conjunta aos alisantes os processos de coloração e descoloração à nível macro e microscópico

All-trans-Retinoic Acid Inhibition of Proα1(I) Collagen Gene Expression in Fetal Rat Skin Fibroblasts: Identification of a Retinoic Acid Response Element in the Proα1(I) Collagen Gene

The current study was undertaken to determine the mechanism by which the retinoid all-trans-retinoic acid regulates proα1(I) collagen gene expression in fetal rat skin fibroblasts. FRS fibroblasts were stably transfected with the ColCat3.6 plasmid, which contains a portion of the 5′ flanking region of the rat proα1(I) collagen gene linked to a reporter gene, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase. The effect of t-RA on CAT activity was determined as a function of concentration and incubation time. Maximal inhibition of CAT activity by t-RA occurred at 10−8 M after 48h of treatment. Transforming growth factor-β1; did not block the inhibitory effect of t-RA on CAT activity. Computer sequence analysis of the 3.6-kb DNA fragment that contains the promoter for the rat proα1(I) collagen gene identified a direct repeat RARE sequence composed of one diverse (5′-AG-TAGA-3′) and one idealized (5′-GGGTCA-3′) half site located at positions −1345 and −1335, respectively. Two nuclear retinoid receptors that were expressed in bacteria, retinoic acid receptor-γ and retinoid X receptor-α, were found to bind specifically to a double-stranded oligonucleotide containing the RARE in gel mobility shift assays. Mutation of the idealized half-site eliminated the binding of receptor proteins to the oligonucleotide. Gel mobility shift assays using nuclear protein extracts prepared from t-RA-treated FRS fibroblasts showed that binding to the oligonucleotide containing the RARE was decreased from control values. The same assays performed with the mutated oligonucleotide resulted in only slight bindbig. These studies indicate that t-RA downregulates the promoter activity of the rat proα1(I) collagen gene by decreasing the binding of nuclear protein to the RARE sequence in the 5′ flanking region of the gene