Mineralization Potential of Polarized Dental Enamel

Background: Management of human teeth has moved from a surgical to a more conservative approach of inhibiting or preventing lesion progression. Increasing enamel mineralization is crucial in this regard. A potential difficulty is the preferential mineralization of the outermost portion of the enamel that can prevent overall mineralization. We describe a strategy for increasing the mineralization potential of dental enamel. Methodology/Principal Findings: Extracted human premolar teeth enamel (n = 5) were exposed to a high concentration of hydrogen peroxide with an energizing source. Samples were stored in artificial saliva at 37uC for 1 wk. A desktop X-ray micro-CT system was used to evaluate the mineral density of samples. Mineral distribution was polarized between the lower and the higher mineralized portion of enamel by charged oxygen free radicals due to activation of permeated hydrogen peroxide. The kinetics of energy absorption in the deeper enamel region demonstrated improvement of preferential mineralization into the region without restricting overall mineralization of the enamel. Subsequent increasing mineralization, even in the dense mineralized outer portion of enamel, was also achieved. Conclusions/Significance: This increased mineralization may promote resistance to acidic deterioration of the structure. The present study is one of the primary steps towards the development of novel application in reparative and restorativ

The runaway instability of thick discs around black holes. II. Non constant angular momentum discs

We present results from a comprehensive number of relativistic, time-dependent, axisymmetric simulations of the runaway instability of non-constant angular momentum thick discs around black holes. This second paper extends earlier results where only constant angular momentum discs were considered. All relevant aspects of the theory of stationary thick discs around rotating black holes, necessary to build the initial state in our simulations, are presented in great detail. The angular momentum of the discs is assumed to increase outwards with the radial distance according to a power law. The main simplifying assumptions of our approach are not to include magnetic fields and self-gravity in the discs. Furthermore, the dynamics of the spacetime is accounted for by computing the transfer of mass and angular momentum from the disc to the black hole through the event horizon : the evolution of the central black hole is assumed to follow a sequence of Kerr black holes of increasing mass and spin. In agreement with previous results based on stationary models we find that by allowing the mass and the spin of the black hole to grow, constant angular momentum discs rapidly become unstable on a dynamical timescale. The comparison with the results of paper I shows that the effect of the angular momentum transfer from the torus to the black hole is to make constant angular momentum discs less unstable, increasing the timescale of the instability. However, we find that non-constant angular momentum discs are dramatically stabilized for very small values of the angular momentum slope. Our time-dependent simulations confirm, thus, the predictions of stationary studies concerning the stabilizing effect of non-constant angular momentum distributions.Comment: 36 pages, 18 figures, submitted to MNRA

Towards a Realistic Neutron Star Binary Inspiral: Initial Data and Multiple Orbit Evolution in Full General Relativity

This paper reports on our effort in modeling realistic astrophysical neutron star binaries in general relativity. We analyze under what conditions the conformally flat quasiequilibrium (CFQE) approach can generate ``astrophysically relevant'' initial data, by developing an analysis that determines the violation of the CFQE approximation in the evolution of the binary described by the full Einstein theory. We show that the CFQE assumptions significantly violate the Einstein field equations for corotating neutron stars at orbital separations nearly double that of the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) separation, thus calling into question the astrophysical relevance of the ISCO determined in the CFQE approach. With the need to start numerical simulations at large orbital separation in mind, we push for stable and long term integrations of the full Einstein equations for the binary neutron star system. We demonstrate the stability of our numerical treatment and analyze the stringent requirements on resolution and size of the computational domain for an accurate simulation of the system.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures, accepted to Phys. Rev.

Titanium as an Instant Adhesive for Biological Soft Tissue

A variety of polymer‐ and ceramic‐based soft‐tissue adhesives have been developed as alternatives to surgical sutures, yet several disadvantages regarding the mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and handling hinder their further application particularly when applied for immobilization of implantable devices. Here, it is reported that a biocompatible and tough metal, titanium (Ti), shows instant and remarkable adhesion properties after acid treatment, demonstrated by ex vivo shear adhesion tests with mouse dermal tissues. Importantly, in vivo experiments demonstrate that the acid‐treated Ti can easily and stably immobilize a device implanted in the mouse subcutaneous tissue. Collectively, the acid‐treated Ti is shown as a solid‐state instant adhesive material for biological soft tissues, which can have diverse applications including immobilization of body‐implantable devices

Improved numerical stability of stationary black hole evolution calculations

We experiment with modifications of the BSSN form of the Einstein field equations (a reformulation of the ADM equations) and demonstrate how these modifications affect the stability of numerical black hole evolution calculations. We use excision to evolve both non-rotating and rotating Kerr-Schild black holes in octant and equatorial symmetry, and without any symmetry assumptions, and obtain accurate and stable simulations for specific angular momenta J/M of up to about 0.9M.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, 1 typo in Eq. (20) correcte

Titanium as an Instant Adhesive for Biological Soft Tissue

A variety of polymer- and ceramic-based soft-tissue adhesives have been developed as alternatives to surgical sutures, yet several disadvantages regarding the mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and handling hinder their further application particularly when applied for immobilization of implantable devices. Here, it is reported that a biocompatible and tough metal, titanium (Ti), shows instant and remarkable adhesion properties after acid treatment, demonstrated by ex vivo shear adhesion tests with mouse dermal tissues. Importantly, in vivo experiments demonstrate that the acid-treated Ti can easily and stably immobilize a device implanted in the mouse subcutaneous tissue. Collectively, the acid-treated Ti is shown as a solid-state instant adhesive material for biological soft tissues, which can have diverse applications including immobilization of body-implantable devices.Okada M., Hara E.S., Yabe A., et al. Titanium as an Instant Adhesive for Biological Soft Tissue. Advanced Materials Interfaces, 7, 9, 1902089. https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.201902089

Relativistic Hydrodynamic Evolutions with Black Hole Excision

We present a numerical code designed to study astrophysical phenomena involving dynamical spacetimes containing black holes in the presence of relativistic hydrodynamic matter. We present evolutions of the collapse of a fluid star from the onset of collapse to the settling of the resulting black hole to a final stationary state. In order to evolve stably after the black hole forms, we excise a region inside the hole before a singularity is encountered. This excision region is introduced after the appearance of an apparent horizon, but while a significant amount of matter remains outside the hole. We test our code by evolving accurately a vacuum Schwarzschild black hole, a relativistic Bondi accretion flow onto a black hole, Oppenheimer-Snyder dust collapse, and the collapse of nonrotating and rotating stars. These systems are tracked reliably for hundreds of M following excision, where M is the mass of the black hole. We perform these tests both in axisymmetry and in full 3+1 dimensions. We then apply our code to study the effect of the stellar spin parameter J/M^2 on the final outcome of gravitational collapse of rapidly rotating n = 1 polytropes. We find that a black hole forms only if J/M^2<1, in agreement with previous simulations. When J/M^2>1, the collapsing star forms a torus which fragments into nonaxisymmetric clumps, capable of generating appreciable ``splash'' gravitational radiation.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, submitted to PR

Toward stable 3D numerical evolutions of black-hole spacetimes

Three dimensional (3D) numerical evolutions of static black holes with excision are presented. These evolutions extend to about 8000M, where M is the mass of the black hole. This degree of stability is achieved by using growth-rate estimates to guide the fine tuning of the parameters in a multi-parameter family of symmetric hyperbolic representations of the Einstein evolution equations. These evolutions were performed using a fixed gauge in order to separate the intrinsic stability of the evolution equations from the effects of stability-enhancing gauge choices.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. D. Minor additions to text for clarification. Added short paragraph about inner boundary dependenc

Advantages of modified ADM formulation: constraint propagation analysis of Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura system

Several numerical relativity groups are using a modified ADM formulation for their simulations, which was developed by Nakamura et al (and widely cited as Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura system). This so-called BSSN formulation is shown to be more stable than the standard ADM formulation in many cases, and there have been many attempts to explain why this re-formulation has such an advantage. We try to explain the background mechanism of the BSSN equations by using eigenvalue analysis of constraint propagation equations. This analysis has been applied and has succeeded in explaining other systems in our series of works. We derive the full set of the constraint propagation equations, and study it in the flat background space-time. We carefully examine how the replacements and adjustments in the equations change the propagation structure of the constraints, i.e. whether violation of constraints (if it exists) will decay or propagate away. We conclude that the better stability of the BSSN system is obtained by their adjustments in the equations, and that the combination of the adjustments is in a good balance, i.e. a lack of their adjustments might fail to obtain the present stability. We further propose other adjustments to the equations, which may offer more stable features than the current BSSN equations.Comment: 10 pages, RevTeX4, added related discussion to gr-qc/0209106, the version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Impact of densitized lapse slicings on evolutions of a wobbling black hole

We present long-term stable and second-order convergent evolutions of an excised wobbling black hole. Our results clearly demonstrate that the use of a densitized lapse function extends the lifetime of simulations dramatically. We also show the improvement in the stability of single static black holes when an algebraic densitized lapse condition is applied. In addition, we introduce a computationally inexpensive approach for tracking the location of the singularity suitable for mildly distorted black holes. The method is based on investigating the fall-off behavior and asymmetry of appropriate grid variables. This simple tracking method allows one to adjust the location of the excision region to follow the coordinate motion of the singularity.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure