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The purpose of this retrospective cohort study was to evaluate the effect of tranexamic acid (TXA) on reducing perioperative blood loss and length of stay after transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF). Spine surgery is associated with the potential for significant blood loss, and adequate hemostasis is essential to visualizing crucial structures during the approach and procedure. Although TXA use has been extensively studied in the pediatric and adult spinal deformity literature, there is a dearth of literature on its efficacy in reducing blood loss for patients who undergo 1- to 3-level TLIF.All patients requiring 1- to 3-level TLIF who received a preoperative loading dose of TXA were grouped and compared with patients who didn't receive TXA. Demographic, surgical, and laboratory values were collected and analyzed. Continuous and categorical variables were analyzed with χPatients who received preoperative TXA had more comorbidities (P = 0.006), longer surgery length (P0.001), and longer length of stay (P = 0.004). TXA was independently associated with a decreased day 0, 1, 2, and total drain output (P0.001, P = 0.001, P = 0.007, P0.001, respectively), but was not associated with a change in EBL, total blood loss, or length of stay.The application of preoperative TXA for patients undergoing 1- to 3-level TLIF reduced drain output in the first 2 postoperative days, but it did not affect hospital length of stay, total blood loss, or EBL.

Rhabdoid tumors (RT) are rare and deadly pediatric cancers driven by loss of SMARCB1, which encodes the SNF5 component of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeler. Loss of SMARCB1 is associated with a complex set of phenotypic changes including vulnerability to inhibitors of protein synthesis and of the p53 ubiquitin-ligase HDM2. Recently, we discovered small molecule inhibitors of the ‘WIN’ site of WDR5, which in MLL-rearranged leukemia cells decrease the expression of a set of genes linked to protein synthesis, inducing a translational choke and causing p53-dependent inhibition of proliferation. Here, we characterize how WIN site inhibitors act in RT cells. As in leukemia cells, WIN site inhibition in RT cells causes the comprehensive displacement of WDR5 from chromatin, resulting in a decrease in protein synthesis gene expression. Unlike leukemia cells, however, the growth response of RT cells to WIN site blockade is independent of p53. Exploiting this observation, we demonstrate that WIN site inhibitor synergizes with an HDM2 antagonist to induce p53 and block RT cell proliferation in vitro. These data reveal a p53-independent action of WIN site inhibitors and forecast that future strategies to treat RT could be based on dual WDR5/HDM2 inhibition.

The article discusses the possibilities of using optical measurements for defining the geometric accuracy of gear wheels casts manufactured in the rapid prototyping process. The tested gear wheel prototype was cast using an aluminum alloy. The casting mould was made by means of the three-dimensional print method (3DP) with the use of a Z510 Spectrum device. The aim of the tests was to determine the geometric accuracy of the cast made by the ZCast technology in the rapid prototyping process. The tests were conducted with the use of the coordinate optical measuring method and a GOM measuring device. The prototype measurements were made in the scanning mode. The results of the measurements, saved in the STL format with the use of the scanning device software, were compared with the gear wheel 3D-CAD nominal model. The measurements enabled the determination of the real accuracy of prototypes manufactured in casting moulds by means of the ZCast technology. The selection of the measuring method was also analyzed in terms of measurement accuracy and the RP technology precision.

The article presents the scope of application of selected incremental Rapid Prototyping methods in the process of manufacturing casting models, casting moulds and casts. The Rapid Prototyping methods (SL, SLA, FDM, 3DP, JS) are predominantly used for the production of models and model sets for casting moulds. The Rapid Tooling methods, such as: ZCast-3DP, ProMetalRCT and VoxelJet, enable the fabrication of casting moulds in the incremental process. The application of the RP methods in cast production makes it possible to speed up the prototype preparation process. This is particularly vital to elements of complex shapes. The time required for the manufacture of the model, the mould and the cast proper may vary from a few to several dozen hours.

Porous silicon (pSi) is a prosperous biomaterial, biocompatible, and biodegradable. Obtaining regularly functionalized pSi surfaces is required in many biotechnology applications. Silane-PEG-NHS (triethoxysilane-polyethylene-glycol-N-hydroxysuccinimide) is useful for single-molecule studies due to its ability to attach to only one biomolecule. We investigate the functionalization of pSi with silane-PEG-NHS and compare it with two common grafting agents: APTMS (3-aminopropylotrimethoxysilane) as electrostatic linker, and APTMS modified with glutaraldehyde as covalent spacer. We show the arrangement of two proteins (collagen and bovine serum albumin) as a function of the functionalization and of the pore size. FTIR is used to demonstrate correct functionalization while fluorescence confocal microscopy reveals that silane-PEG-NHS results in a more uniform protein distribution. Reflection interference spectroscopy (RIfS) is used to estimate the attachment of linker and proteins. The results open a way to obtain homogenous chemical modified silicon supports with a great value in biosensing, drug delivery and cell biology. © 2015 Elsevier Inc.

10.1016/j.colsurfb.2014.07.027 Nanoporous anodic alumina (NAA) is a material with great interest in nanotechnology and with promising applications to biotechnology. Obtaining specific and regularly functionalized NAA surfaces is essential to obtain meaningful results and applications. Silane-PEG-NHS (triethoxysilane-polyethylene-glycol-N-hydroxysuccinimide) is a covalent linker commonly used for single-molecule studies. We investigate the functionalization of NAA with silane-PEG-NHS and compared with two common, but not single-molecule, grafting agents, APTMS (3-aminopropylotrimethoxysilane) as an electrostatic linker, and APTMS-GTA (3-aminopropylotrimethoxysilane-glutaraldehyde) as covalent. Another outcome of this study is to show how two proteins (collagen and bovine serum albumin, BSA) with different properties differentially arrange for different functionalizations and NAA pore sizes. FTIR is used to demonstrate the surface modification steps and fluorescence confocal microscopy reveals that silane-PEG-NHS results in a more homogeneous protein distribution in comparison to the other linkers. Reflection interference Fourier transform spectroscopy confirms the confocal fluorescence microscopy results and permits to estimate the amounts of linker and linked proteins within the pores. These results permit to obtain uniformly chemical modified NAA supports with a great value in biosensing, drug delivery and cell biology.

Twelve research groups participated in the ISOBM TD-3 Workshop in which the reactivity and specificity of 83 antibodies against prostate-specific antigen (PSA) were investigated. Using a variety of techniques including cross-inhibition assays, Western blotting, BIAcore, immunoradiometric assays and immunohistochemistry, the antibodies were categorized into six major groups which formed the basis for mapping onto two- and three-dimensional (2-D and 3-D) models of PSA. The overall findings of the TD-3 Workshop are summarized in this report. In agreement with all participating groups, three main antigenic domains were identified: free PSA-specific epitopes located in or close to amino acids 86-91; discontinuous epitopes specific for PSA without human kallikrein (hK2) cross-reactivity located at or close to amino acids 158-163; and continuous or linear epitopes shared between PSA and hK2 located close to amino acids 3-11. In addition, several minor and partly overlapping domains were also identified. Clearly, the characterization of antibodies from this workshop and the location of their epitopes on the 3-D model of PSA illustrate the importance of selecting appropriate antibody pairs for use in immunoassays. It is hoped that these findings and the epitope nomenclature described in this TD-3 Workshop are used as a standard for future evaluation of anti-PSA antibodies.

An empirical study to determine the quantitative relationships between changes in the dimensions of wool fabrics during finishing and the resultant changes in extensibility, relaxation shrinkage, a...

We reported previously that supplemental vitamin E enhances disease resistance and antibody titers and depresses bursal prostaglandin (PG) E2 in chicks. In order to determine if dietary fat composition alters PG response and interacted with vitamin E, tallow or vegetable oil high in n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids were added to a cornsoybean meal chick diet. Comparisons were made among control cockerels and those fed diets containing safflower or corn oils or beef tallow at 3, 6 or 9% with each of these diets supplemented with 0 or 300 mg of all-rac-a-tocopheryl acetate (dla-tocophery1 acetate). In the first experiment chick antibody titers to sheep red blood cells were markedly stimulated by 6% tallow without added vitamin E. Unexpectedly, supplemental vitamin E depressed antibody titers only in the 6% tallow group. Dietary fat and supplemental vitamin E altered bursal but not splenic PGE2 values independent of inoculation. Overall, the combination of tallow and vitamin E supplementation vitamin E suppre...

The Calaveras skull, first reported in 1866, represents the earliest purported fossil human discovery in California and one of the earliest in the New World. The specimen is in the possession of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University. The validity of the original "Tertiary" age assignment was rejected by the first generation of professional American archaeologists early in the twentieth century. Radiocarbon analyses using both conventional decay counting and accelerator mass spectrometry indicate a late Holocene age for the Calaveras skull.

Osteocalcin, a non-collagen bone-matrix protein, has been examined as a possible source of autochthonous14C data in fossil bones where collagen has been seriously degraded. Extraction procedures for osteocalcin yield a well-characterized product that can be clearly distinguished from collagen. The Gla content indicates that osteocalcin is present in the fossil bones at levels similar to the range present in modern bone. However, it appears to be extracted primarily as proteolytic polypeptide fragments rather than as an intact protein. Concordant14C determinations are obtained on osteocalcin and gelatin extracts from the same bone when the collagen is relatively well preserved. However, increasing discordances in the14C values of the osteocalcin and gelatin fractions are associated with reduced concentrations of the gelatin extract in the bone.

In sheet metal forming operations the mechanical properties of the sheet metal (stress-strain curve, flow stress) greatly influence metal flow and product quality. Accurate determination of the stress-strain relationship is important in process simulation by finite element method. In this paper the sheet thickness gradation in different points of the hemisphere formed in the bulge test is analysed, both theoretically and experimentally. A precise determination of sheet thickness at the pole is very important in the precise determination of stress-strain relationship. The use of the hydraulic bulge test for estimation of flow stress under biaxial stress-strain state is discussed., U oblikovanju trake mehanička svojstva trake (σ–ε dijagram, naprezanje tečenjem) značajno utječu na tečenje i kakvoću proizvoda. Točno određivanje odnosa naprezanje-istezanje je važno u procesu simulacije metodom konačnih elemenata. Na pokusu dobivenim dubokim izvlačenjem analiziralo se i teoretski i eksperimentalno, po debljini trake i polukugli. Precizno određivanje po debljini trake je važno za odnos naprezanje-istezanje. Raspravljeno je rabljenje hidrauličkog pokusa dubokog izvlačenja za procjenu naprezanja tečenja za dvoosno stanje naprezanje-istezanje.

The origin of five iron cannons recovered in 1981 from a beach near Goleta on the southern California coast has been investigated by evaluating stylistic, archival, historical, metallurgical, and radiocarbon (14C) data. Particular attention has been focused on these cannons due to the suggestion advanced by previous writers that they were brought ashore by Sir Francis Drake in 1579. This proposed origin for the cannons would add another locality as the proposed site of Drake’s Nova Albion. The authors conclude that the weight of the evidence assigns a post-16th-century age to the Goleta cannons although the current physical evidence including the 14C data does not indicate whether they are 17th-, 18th- or 19th-century artifacts.

Microtiter immunoassays were used to determine whether a panel of 53 monoclonal antibodies submitted to the ISOBM TD-3 PSA Workshop could form assay combinations with free prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and the PSA complex with alpha1-antichymotrypsin. A panel of 6 known anti-PSA antibodies (H117, H50, H179, H164, 2E9 and 5A10) was used as labelled tracers. Epitope groups were proposed based on the ability of the Workshop antibodies to form good assay combinations with these 6 known anti-PSA antibodies. Nine of the TD-3 Workshop antibodies were found to react only with free PSA. Two additional epitope clusters were identified with 8 antibodies showing similar reactivity to antibody H117, while 11 antibodies formed a different cluster showing similar reactivity to antibody H50. Defining the nature of these immunodominant regions will be valuable in the development of more appropriate immunoassays for PSA.

The AxSYM Free PSA assay was demonstrated to have good analytical sensitivity and reproducibility. The F/T ratio determinations for 385 men tested during the Prostate Awareness Week who had biopsies due to an elevated total PSA value and/or a suspicious DRE demonstrated that the percentage of free PSA was lower in patients found to have prostate cancer than those that were biopsy negative for the overall group and for all patient categories examined. The optimal strategy for combining PSA values, F/T ratios, DRE and other clinical and diagnostic parameters to improve the early detection of prostate cancer requires additional clinical studies.

Radiocarbon analyses by accelerator mass spectrometric (AMS) techniques on organic fractions of human bone from various North American localities previously assigned ages ranging from about 70,000 to 15,000 years B.P. now suggest that none of these skeletons is older than 11,000 C-14 years B.P.

Graphite in various forms has become the standard target for accelerator 14C dating. Graphite has been made by catalytic graphitization of charcoals (Lowe, 1984). Thin films of graphite have also been produced by thermal cracking (Beukens & Lee, 1981), electric discharge (Andrée et al, 1984; Wand, Gillespie & Hedges, 1984). Vogel et al (1984) pointed out the ease of graphite formation on iron from CO2 and H2 mixtures at ca 600°C. The deposition reactions of carbon from the CO, H2, and CO2 equilibria are well known (Wagman et al, 1945) and well studied. Formation of graphite from CO2 was discussed extensively by Boudouard (1902) and Schenck and Zimmerman (1903), and was known to chemists in France in 1851. We have used a related method, where graphite forms away from the iron, by using a higher temperature, and reduction of CO2 to CO over Zn in the presence of H2 (Jull et al, 1986) as an alternative to the use of Fe alone. The object of this paper is to point out an even simpler graphite preparation system, which eliminates hydrogen. The decomposition reaction of CO (Boudouard, 1902) takes place according to reaction (1).

In the present paper, the possibility of producing new-type cementless building materials is discussed when water glass as an activating agent is used. The experimental data are presented for a set of raw materials which normally do not show any binding ability. However, if they undergo some physico-chemical treatment and water glass is used, a solid structure of the material is formed. According to the method described here, lots of different mineral waste by-products could be activated, thus gaining binding properties.

The ability of AMS facilities to obtain direct 14C determinations on milligram amounts of organic extracts of bone has significantly advanced efforts to reexamine the validity of the dating evidence for a number of allegedly Pleistocene Homo sapiens skeletons from the Western Hemisphere previously assigned ages of from about 20000 to 70000 years. AMS 14C analysis has indicated that four of these skeletons are actually of Holocene age, i.e., less than 10000 years old. Holocene ages have previously been documented on the basis of conventional 14C analysis for six other purported Pleistocene human skeletons from the New World. These data point to the danger of accepting pre-Holocene age assignments for such skeletal materials in the absence of direct 14C evidence.

The number-average molecular weights of beryllium 4-biphenyl(phenyl)phosphinate, di-n-pentylphosphinate, di-n-heptylphosphinate, and trifluoromethyl(phenyl)phosphinate are degraded by the presence of water in toluene. It is proposed that easily hydrolyzable POP bonds contribute, in part, to the bonding of these polymers.

The preparation, properties, infrared, DTA, and TGA data are given for beryllium dimethyl-, tetramethylene-, di-n-butyl-, di-n-pentyl-, di-n-heptyl-, methylphenyl-, diphenyl-, and bispentafluorophenylphosphinates. Synthesis of dimeric beryllium acetylacetonyl phenyl-[o-methylcarboranyl (B10)] phosphinate is reported. The beryllium phosphinates were prepared by the reaction of beryllium acetylacetonate with the appropriate phosphinic acid.

The utility of circul ating mucins as breast cancer markers was first proposed by Ceriani, et al. (1) and was rapidly confirmed and expanded by many other laboratories, including those of Chu, Taylor-Papadimitriou, Hilgers and Kufe (2–5). The antibodies used in mucin assays measure epitopes expressed on or cross-reactive with the human milk-fat globule membrane (HMFG) antigens. Assays using antibodies developed in many of the above mentioned laboratories are now commercially available, and have been used with some success in moni tori ng breast cancer patients.

An experimental programme was undertaken to determine whether Canadian fly ash, and in particular Western-Canadian fly ash, can be used to replace clay as the main ingredient in brick-masonry units.These preliminary examinations show that Western-Canadian fly ash as the solid material, combined with an adequate binder, can be used to produce a superior ceramic material. Strengths are very much higher than that revuired for load-bearing masonry elements, densities are approximately 800 kg/m3 less than a normal clay brick and the material is durable to freezing and thawing. X-ray analysis and scanning electron microscopy clearly show chemical and physical changes which occur to the material due to firing. These chemical changes appear to be closely related to the subsequent strength which is developed.Bricks manufactured from Alberta fly ash appear to be a viable alternative to standard clay brick. A substantially stronger and more economical brick may be possible; fly-ash bricks can be manufactured with lower firing temperatures of shorter duration. This, in itself, could lead to the realization of significant energy savings. Also, if large quantities of fly ash can be used in the brick industry, then significant gains will be made toward the elimination of this waste product from the environment and conservation of natural resources.

The growth characteristics of LT-2 cells, an epithelial squamous cell carcinoma, clearly separate the phenotypes of anchorage-independent growth in soft agar and tumor formation in vivo. LT-2 readily grows and forms tumor nodules in the nude mouse but does not proliferate anchorage independently in soft agar. This distinction is confirmed by the observation that cells explanted from nude mouse tumor nodules and cultured in vitro still do not clone in soft agar. The human origin of tumor nodule cells was confirmed by karyotyping. LT-2 cells have an aneuploid karyotype which has persisted for 4.5 years in culture with considerable variation in chromosomal number. Passage through the nude mouse did not select for any "tumor" clone since marked chromosomal variation was still noted by cells explanted from tumor nodules. Tumor cells formed a well-differentiated skin with keratin formation in the nude mouse despite wide karotypic variations of cells and years of in vitro culture. Strict monolayer growth was noted by LT-2 cells when grown in culture flasks and also by cells explanted from tumor nodules, indicating that monolayer growth and nude mouse tumorigenicity are also separate phenotypes.