A newly developed snack effective for enhancing bone volume

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The incidence of primary osteoporosis is higher in Japan than in USA and European countries. Recently, the importance of preventive medicine has been gradually recognized in the field of orthopaedic surgery with a concept that peak bone mass should be increased in childhood as much as possible for the prevention of osteoporosis. Under such background, we have developed a new bean snack with an aim to improve bone volume loss. In this study, we examined the effects of a newly developed snack on bone volume and density in osteoporosis model mice.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Orchiectomy (ORX) and ovariectomy (OVX) were performed for C57BL/6J mice of twelve-week-old (Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbar, ME, USA) were used in this experiment. We prepared and given three types of powder diet <it>e.g.</it>: normal calcium diet (NCD, Ca: 0.9%, Clea Japan Co., Tokyo, Japan), low calcium diet (LCD, Ca: 0.63%, Clea Japan Co.,) and special diet (SCD, Ca: 0.9%). Eighteen weeks after surgery, all the animals were sacrified and prepared for histomorphometric analysis to quantify bone density and bone mineral content.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>As a result of histomorphometric examination, SCD was revealed to enhance bone volume irrespective of age and sex. The bone density was increased significantly in osteoporosis model mice fed the newly developmental snack as compared with the control mice. The bone mineral content was also enhanced significantly. These phenomena were revealed in both sexes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It is shown that the newly developed bean snack is highly effective for the improvement of bone volume loss irrespective of sex. We demonstrated that newly developmental snack supplements may be a useful preventive measure for Japanese whose bone mineral density values are less than the ideal condition.</p

Growth of Boron Nitride Nanohorn Structures

Boron nitride (BN) nanohorns were fabricated, and their structures were investigated by transmission electron microscopy and molecular mechanics calculation. The multi-walled BN nanohorns would be stabilized by stacking of nanohorn structures. Growth of the BN nanohorn was observed at elevated temperatures, and the activation energy for the nanohorn growth was estimated to be 2.3 eV. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.MB200806

ビニルトリエトキシシランから作製した無機-有機ハイブリッド厚膜の微細パターニング

Inorganic-organic hybrid films with a maximum thickness of about 40 μm were prepared from vinyltriethoxysilane (VTES) through a sol-gel process. UV light from a high-pressure mercury lamp was irradiated through a photomask on the hybrid films from VTES. IR and 29Si NMR spectra of the coating films showed that C=C bonds in VTES were polymerized by UV irradiation. Micropatterns with a maximum height of about 40 μm were formed by the etching of unirradiated area of the films

Effects of long-term occlusal hypofunction and its recovery on the morphogenesis of molar roots and the periodontium in rats

Objectives: To investigate the effects of long-term, artificially created, hypofunctional occlusion and its recovery on the morphology of rat molar roots.\ud \ud Material and Methods: Eighteen 5-week-old Wistar-strain male rats were randomly divided according to their periodontal conditions into normal, hypofunctional, and recovery groups (n  =  6 in each). In the experimental hypofunctional and recovery groups, a bite-raising appliance was set to produce hypofunction at the molar region. All groups were analyzed at 16 weeks of age using three-dimensional micro-computed tomography. Root length, width, and area as well as the thickness and the area of the periodontal ligament (PDL) space of the maxillary first molar were calculated.\ud \ud Results: Roots were longer and narrower in the hypofunctional group than in the control group. The mesial root in particular showed a dramatic change. Root area also decreased significantly in the hypofunctional group compared to the other groups. Moreover, the PDL thickness and area decreased significantly in the hypofunctional group compared to the control group, but increased in the recovery group compared to the hypofunctional group.\ud \ud Conclusions: These findings suggest that root size and PDL structure may be reduced due to disuse atrophy resulting from a defect in occlusal function, but may be recovered following a gain of occlusal stimuli.\u