This American Suburb: Fossil Fuels, Personal Misconceptions, and Loss of Community

How did we come to live this way? The modern suburb has become synonymous with the American dream and yet its inception is still rather new. This work examines the creation of this way of life thanks to the ready availability of cheap fuels and questionable modes of thinking. In light of the energy crisis these vast expanses of homes may not be able to sustain themselves after the peak consumption of oil. In light of this possibility, the author questions what these people will be missing since the sense of community has all but been lost in these areas and personal isolation continues to increase

Preventive effects of different protective agents on dentin erosion: an in vitro investigation

The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the preventive effects of different protective agents on dentine erosion, measuring mean percentage weight loss. Dissolution of dentine under erosive challenges caused by soft drinks was analyzed: specimens were weighed following each immersion period, with mean percent weight losses calculated. Extracted teeth were sectioned into uniform slabs. Seventy permanent enamel specimens were randomly distributed to seven groups. Initial weights of all dentin specimens were performed. The fluoride pastes Remin Pro, MI Paste Plus, Tooth Mousse, Biorepair, Biorepair Plus and Regenerate were used in this study. A control group was treated just with tap water. The specimens then were immersed in Coca-Cola for a total of 32 min at room temperature. Finally each specimen was dry and weighed. The mass loss was calculated as a percentage of that observed prior the fluoride pastes application. Weight loss data were subjected to Analysis of Variance (One-way ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni’s post hoc tests. Percent weight loss of specimens exposed to early stages in Coca-Cola showed linear progression with time. Specimen’s application of fluoridated varnishes such as Biorepair or Regenerate, prior immersion in Coca-Cola, significantly protect dentin from demineralization. Otherwise, application of Tooth Mousse or Biorepair Plus increased dentin demineralization starting from 24 min of immersion in Coca-Cola. Despite the limitations of this study, the protective pastes that showed the less weight loss due to the acidic challenge are Biorepair and Regenerate

Collection and composition of autologous peripheral blood stem cells graft in patients with acute myeloid leukemia: influence on hematopoietic recovery and outcome [Skupljanje i sastav transplantata autolognih krvotvornih matičnih stanica periferne krvi u bolesnika s akutnom mijeloičnom leukemijom: utjecaj na hematološki oporavak i ishod]

Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation is a standard approach in the treatment of hematological malignant diseases. For the last 15 years the main source of cells for trasplantation have been peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC). With the availability of hematopoietic growth factors and understanding the advantages of treatment with PBSC, the application of bone marrow (BM) was supplanted. The aim of this survey was to explore the success of PBSC collection, the factors which influence the success of PBSC collection, the composition and the quality of graft and their infuence on hematopoietic recovery and outcome after transplantation in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). PBSC were collected by the method of leukapheresis after applying a combination of chemotherapy and growth factors or only growth factors. The quality of graft was determined with the clonogenic progenitor cell assay and with the flow citometry analysis. Of the total 134 patients with AML, who were submitted to HSC mobilization, the collection was successful in 78 (58.2%) patients. The collection was more successful after the first than after the second attempt of HSC mobilization (49% vs. 11%). The criteria for effective mobilization were the number of leukocytes >3´109/L and the concentration of CD34+ cells >20´103/mL in the peripheral blood on the first day of leukapheresis. The number of CD34+ cells infused had the strongest impact on hematopoietic recovery. We noted significantly faster hematological recovery of neutrophils and platelets, fewer number of transfused units of red blood cells and platelets, shorter duration of the tranfusion support, shorter treatment with intravenous antibiotic therapy and shorter hospitalization after PBSC compared to BM transplantation. These advantages could provide their standard application in the treatment of patients with AML

Protective effect of zinc-hydroxyapatite toothpastes on enamel erosion: an in vitro study

The aim of the present study was to test the impact of different toothpastes with Zinc-Hydroxyapatite (Zn-HAP) on preventing and repairing enamel erosion compared to toothpastes with and without fluoride. The following four toothpastes were tested: two toothpastes with Zn-HAP, one toothpaste with fluoride and one toothpaste without fluoride. An additional control group was used in which enamel specimens were not treated with toothpaste. Repeated erosive challenges were provided by immersing bovine enamel specimens (10 per group) in a soft drink for 2 min (6mL, room temperature) at 0, 8, 24 and 32 h. After each erosive challenge, the toothpastes were applied neat onto the surface of specimens for 3 min without brushing and removed with distilled water. Between treatments the specimens were kept in artificial saliva. Enamel hardness, after the erosive challenge and toothpaste treatment was monitored using surface micro-hardness measurements. As expected, repeated erosive challenge by a soft drink for total of 8 min significantly reduced enamel surface hardness (ANOVA, p < 0.05). No re-hardening of the surface softened enamel was observed in the group treated with fluoride-free toothpaste. Surface hardness of the softened enamel increased when the specimens were treated with the fluoride toothpaste and the two toothpastes with Zn-HAP (p < 0.05). Toothpaste with Zn-HAP resulted in significant enamel remineralisation of erosively challenged enamel, indicating that these toothpastes could provide enamel health benefits relevant to enamel erosion

Remineralizing effect of a zinc-hydroxyapatite toothpaste on enamel erosion caused by soft drinks : ultrastructural analysis

The aim of the present in vitro study was to evaluate the protective effects of a zinc-hydroxyapatite toothpaste on repairing enamel erosion produced by a soft drink (Coca-Cola) compared to toothpastes with and without fluoride using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Fifty specimens were assigned to 5 groups of 10 specimens each. (Group 1: no erosive challenge, no toothpaste treatment, group 2: erosive challenge, no toothpaste treatment, 3: erosive challenge, toothpaste without fluoride, group 4: erosive challenge, fluoride toothpaste treatment, group 5: erosive challenge, zinc-hydroxyapatite toothpaste treatment). Repeated erosive challenges were provided by immersing bovine enamel specimens (10 per group) in a soft drink for 2 min (6mL, room temperature) at 0, 8, 24 and 32 h. After each erosive challenge, the toothpastes were applied neat onto the surface of specimens for 3 min without brushing and removed with distilled water. Between treatments the specimens were kept in artificial saliva. The surface of each specimen was imaged by SEM. Statistically significant differences were found between the samples used as control and those immersed in Coca-Cola (group 1 and 2): indeed among all groups the highest grade of damage was found in group 2. Instead the lowest grade was recorded in the samples of group 5 (Zinc hydroxyapatite toothpaste). The results of this study confirmed the potential benefit the Zn-HAP technology could provide in protecting enamel from erosive acid challenges. The treatment of erosively challenged enamel with Zn-Hap toothpaste showed a clear protective effect

The use of silicon-germanium superlattices for thermoelectric devices and microfabricated generators

Low dimensional structures such as superlattices have the potential to improve the thermoelectric properties of materials by engineering the scattering of phonons to reduce the thermal conductivity and therefore improve the thermeoelectric performance. Here we demonstrate the reduction in thermal conductivity in Ge/SiGe superlattices using multiple barrier engineering to scatter acoustic phonons at the key wavelengths for thermal transport. The approach allows ZT to be increased in wide quantum well superlattices through the reduction of heterointerfaces which scatter both electrons and phonons

Osgoode Digital Commons: One Million Downloads and Still Counting!

Osgoode Digital Commons, the institutional repository and digital archive of Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, offering world-wide access to the research and publications of the School’s scholarly community, achieved a significant milestone when it reached one million downloads in the early morning of Monday, November 21, 2016, less than three years since its inception

NOTCH signaling in skeletal progenitors is critical for fracture repair

Fracture nonunions develop in 10%–20% of patients with fractures, resulting in prolonged disability. Current data suggest that bone union during fracture repair is achieved via proliferation and differentiation of skeletal progenitors within periosteal and soft tissues surrounding bone, while bone marrow stromal/stem cells (BMSCs) and other skeletal progenitors may also contribute. The NOTCH signaling pathway is a critical maintenance factor for BMSCs during skeletal development, although the precise role for NOTCH and the requisite nature of BMSCs following fracture is unknown. Here, we evaluated whether NOTCH and/or BMSCs are required for fracture repair by performing nonstabilized and stabilized fractures on NOTCH-deficient mice with targeted deletion of RBPjk in skeletal progenitors, maturing osteoblasts, and committed chondrocytes. We determined that removal of NOTCH signaling in BMSCs and subsequent depletion of this population result in fracture nonunion, as the fracture repair process was normal in animals harboring either osteoblast- or chondrocyte-specific deletion of RBPjk. Together, this work provides a genetic model of a fracture nonunion and demonstrates the requirement for NOTCH and BMSCs in fracture repair, irrespective of fracture stability and vascularity

Genomics Symposium: Translational genomics to improve fertility of animals

In 2010, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) launched the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Food Security Challenge Area program. The goal of this program was to support integrated research, extension, and education projects directed at increasing the agricultural production of plants and animals (Mirando et al., 2012) needed to feed a burgeoning global population that is expected to be almost 9.8 billion people by the year 2050 (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2017). One program area in the 2010 AFRI Food Security Challenge Area request for applications (RFA) focused on increasing production efficiency in livestock through funding of integrated research, extension, and education project grants that fostered collaboration of scientists and educators working in the field of genetics and genomics with those in other disciplines, including animal nutrition, health, and reproduction. Animal-focused AFRI programs to be offered over the next 2 yr were also described. In 2012, the AFRI Food Security Challenge Area RFA solicited grant applications for the “Translational Genomics for Improved Fertility of Animals” program, and NIFA subsequently awarded 4 grants totaling US$10,125,583 to project directors originally located at the University of Nebraska (D. C. Ciobanu), the University of Missouri (J. F. Taylor), Texas A&M University (P. J. Pinedo), and Washington State University (T. E. Spencer)

Collection and Composition of Autologous Peripheral Blood Stem Cells Graft in Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Influence on Hematopoietic Recovery and Outcome

Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation is a standard approach in the treatment of hematological malignant diseases. For the last 15 years the main source of cells for trasplantation have been peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC). With the availability of hematopoietic growth factors and understanding the advantages of treatment with PBSC, the application of bone marrow (BM) was supplanted. The aim of this survey was to explore the success of PBSC collection, the factors which influence the success of PBSC collection, the composition and the quality of graft and their infuence on hematopoietic recovery and outcome after transplantation in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). PBSC were collected by the method of leukapheresis after applying a combination of chemotherapy and growth factors or only growth factors. The quality of graft was determined with the clonogenic progenitor cell assay and with the flow citometry analysis. Of the total 134 patients with AML, who were submitted to HSC mobilization, the collection was successful in 78 (58.2%) patients. The collection was more successful after the first than after the second attempt of HSC mobilization (49% vs. 11%). The criteria for effective mobilization were the number of leukocytes >3´109/L and the concentration of CD34+ cells >20´103/mL in the peripheral blood on the first day of leukapheresis. The number of CD34+ cells infused had the strongest impact on hematopoietic recovery. We noted significantly faster hematological recovery of neutrophils and platelets, fewer number of transfused units of red blood cells and platelets, shorter duration of the tranfusion support, shorter treatment with intravenous antibiotic therapy and shorter hospitalization after PBSC compared to BM transplantation. These advantages could provide their standard application in the treatment of patients with AML