A porous fibrous hyperelastic damage model for human periodontal ligament: Application of a microcomputerized tomography finite element model

The periodontal ligament (PDL) is a soft biological tissue that connects the tooth with the trabecular bone of the mandible. It plays a key role in load transmission and is primarily responsible for bone resorption and most common periodontal diseases. Although several numerical studies have analysed the biomechanical response of the PDL, most did not consider its porous fibrous structure, and only a few analysed damage to the PDL. This study presents an innovative numerical formulation of a porous fibrous hyperelastic damage material model for the PDL. The model considers two separate softening phenomena: fibre alignment during loading and fibre rupture. The parameters for the material model characterization were fitted using experimental data from the literature. Furthermore, the experimental tests used for characterization were computationally modelled to verify the material parameters. A finite element model of a portion of a human mandible, obtained by microcomputerized tomography, was developed, and the proposed constitutive model was implemented for the PDL. Our results confirm that damage to the PDL may occur mainly because of overpressure of the interstitial fluid, while large forces must be applied to damage the PDL fibrous network. Moreover, this study clarifies some aspects of the relationship between PDL damage and the bone remodelling process

Serum macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) levels after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72178/1/j.1751-553X.2007.01016.x.pd

Severe brain atrophy after long-term survival seen in siblings with familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and a mutation in the optineurin gene: a case series

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Previous studies have shown widespread multisystem degeneration in patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis who develop a total locked-in state and survive under mechanical ventilation for a prolonged period of time. However, the disease progressions reported in these studies were several years after disease onset. There have been no reports of long-term follow-up with brain imaging of patients with familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at an advanced stage of the disease. We report the cases of siblings with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with homozygous deletions of the exon 5 mutation of the gene encoding optineurin, in whom brain computed tomography scans were followed up for more than 20 years.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>The patients were a Japanese brother and sister. The elder sister was 33 years of age at the onset of disease, which began with muscle weakness of her left lower limb. Two years later she required mechanical ventilation. She became bedridden at the age of 34, and died at the age of 57. A computed tomography scan of her brain at the age of 36 revealed no abnormality. Atrophy of her brain gradually progressed. Ten years after the onset of mechanical ventilation, atrophy of her whole brain, including the cerebral cortex, brain stem and cerebellum, markedly progressed. Her younger brother was 36 years of age at the onset of disease, which presented as muscle weakness of his left upper limb. One year later, he showed dysphagia and dysarthria, and tracheostomy ventilation was performed. He became bedridden at the age of 37 and died at the age of 55. There were no abnormal intracranial findings on brain computed tomography scans obtained at the age of 37 years. At the age of 48 years, computed tomography scans showed marked brain atrophy with ventricular dilatation. Subsequently, atrophy of the whole brain rapidly progressed as in his elder sister.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We conclude that a homozygous deletion-type mutation in the optineurin gene may be associated with widespread multisystem degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.</p

RESVERATROL INCLUSION COMPLEX WITH β-CYCLODEXTRIN (RCD): CHARACTERIZATION AND EVALUATION OF TOXICITY IN WISTAR RATS

Objective: The aim of this study was to characterise the resveratrol inclusion complex with β-cyclodextrin (RCD) and evaluate their toxicity in wistar rats.Methods: The RCD were prepared in ultra-turrax. For characterization of the RCD were used: Fourier transform infra-red Spectroscopy, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray powder diffraction. The RCD and others 4 treatments were performed by the chronic oral administration in 35 rats during 60 ds. After the treatments they were euthanized and the serum blood were collected to analyzed some hemogram and biochemical parameters including aspartyl aminotransferase (AST); alanine aminotransferase (AST); phosphatase alkaline (ALP); total bilirubin (TB); direct bilirubin (DB); total protein (TP); total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerol (TAG), very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), calcium, iron and phosphate using fully automated biochemistry analyzer.Results: The characterization results indicated a successful formation of the RCD. All hematological parameters analysed were within the normal values in all the groups. Furthermore, the hemogram and biochemical parameters were significantly (P&gt;0.05) similar to the control group.Conclusion: The daily oral administration during 60 d of RCD are not harmful on blood parameters of Wistar rats. Thus, RCD can be used safely for treatment of some metabolic diseases

DEVELOPMENT OF NANOEMULSION CONTAINING PELARGONIUM GRAVEOLENS OIL: CHARACTERIZATION AND STABILITY STUDY

Objective: To develop, characterize and evaluate the stability of nanoemulsions containing geranium oil (NEG) at different temperatures (4 °C, 25 °C and 45 °C) for 90 d.Methods: The quantification of oil in the nanostructure was performed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The NEG was prepared in Ultra-Turrex and characterized by determining the particle size, polydispersity indices and pH. The thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to evaluate the thermal stability of the compounds, the thermal events and morphological analyses of NEG, respectively.Results: The results allow us to suggest that the use the ultra-turrax method is a strategy good to NEG preparation. The stability of the NEG was strongly influenced by storage temperature, with droplet size increasing rapidly at higher temperatures (45 °C), which was attributed to coalescence near the phase inversion temperature. The NEG submitted the low temperatures (4±2 °C) remained with the same particle size value (164 nm). However, the citronellol and geraniol showed a significant reduction throughout the test even in these conditions of temperature. Thermogram of NEG shows the crystallization peak at the cooling cycle in-20.1 °C and a melting was observed at 1.5 °C. TEM images indicated that NEG was spherical and nanometric.Conclusion: The proposed Ultra-Turrax method is simple which prevents volatilization of GO for the production of NEG. The formulations presented good physicochemical characteristics and stability for 90 d was only achieved in 4 °C

Lack of association between polymorphisms of the IL18R1 and IL18RAP genes and cardiovascular risk: the MORGAM Project

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Interleukin-18 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine suspected to be associated with atherosclerosis and its complications. We had previously shown that one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the <it>IL18 </it>gene was associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) through an interaction with smoking. As a further step for elucidating the contribution of the IL-18 pathway to the etiology of CVD, we here investigated the association between the genetic variability of two IL-18 receptor genes, <it>IL18R1 </it>and <it>IL18RAP</it>, with the risk of developing CVD.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eleven tagging SNPs, 5 in <it>IL18R1 </it>and 6 in <it>IL18RAP</it>, characterizing the haplotypic variability of the corresponding genes; were genotyped in 5 European prospective CVD cohorts including 1416 cases and 1772 non-cases, as part of the MORGAM project. Both single-locus and haplotypes analyses were carried out to investigate the association of these SNPs with CVD.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We did not find any significant differences in allele, genotype and haplotype frequencies between cases and non-cases for either of the two genes. Moreover, the search for interactions between SNPs located in different genes, including 5 <it>IL18 </it>SNPs previously studied in the MORGAM project, and between SNPs and environmental factors remained unfruitful.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our analysis suggests that the variability of <it>IL18R1 </it>and <it>IL18RAP </it>genes are unlikely to contribute to modulate the risk of CVD.</p

Clinicopathological characteristics of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis resulting in a totally locked-in state (communication Stage V)

In the present study, we performed a comprehensive analysis to clarify the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that had progressed to result in a totally locked-in state (communication Stage V), in which all voluntary movements are lost and communication is impossible. In 11 patients, six had phosphorylated TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (pTDP-43)-immunoreactive (ir) neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions (NCI), two had fused in sarcoma (FUS)-ir NCI, and three had copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1)-ir NCI. The time from ALS onset to the need for tracheostomy invasive ventilation was less than 24 months in ten patients. Regardless of accumulated protein, all the patients showed common lesions in the pallido–nigro–luysian system, brainstem reticular formation, and cerebellar efferent system, in addition to motor neurons. In patients with pTDP-43-ir NCI, patients with NCI in the hippocampal dentate granule neurons (DG) showed a neuronal loss in the cerebral cortex, and patients without NCI in DG showed a preserved cerebral cortex. By contrast, in patients with FUS-ir NCI, patients with NCI in DG showed a preserved cerebral cortex and patients without NCI in DG showed marked cerebral degeneration. The cerebral cortex of patients with SOD1-ir NCI was preserved. Together, these findings suggest that lesions of the cerebrum are probably not necessary for progression to Stage V. In conclusion, patients with ALS that had progressed to result in communication Stage V showed rapidly-progressed symptoms, and their common lesions could cause the manifestations of communication Stage V

Inflammation and cancer: macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF)—the potential missing link

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) was the original cytokine, described almost 50 years ago and has since been revealed to be an important player in pro-inflammatory diseases. Recent work using MIF mouse models has revealed new roles for MIF. In this review, we present an increasing body of evidence implicating the key pro-inflammatory cytokine MIF in specific biological activities related directly to cancer growth or contributing towards a microenvironment favouring cancer progression