Ruiz Keating (spyjute7)

This research work is focused on the investigation of newly developed titania sol-gel coatings containing silver, calcium and phosphate with appropriate abilities to be implanted into the human body. These abilities include adhesion, bioactivity, antibacterial property and cytocompatibility of prepared coatings. Four types of coatings were applied on a titanium substrate by dip-coating technique under different conditions (TCP1, TCP2, TCPA1 and TCPA2). Surfaces of coatings after the firing without silver featured different distribution of circular areas containing Ca. The coatings TCPA1 and TCPA2 were made up of unhomogeneously situated silver. Adhesion of the coatings to the substrates was measured by a tape test. All types of the coatings demonstrated very good adhesion. Isolated cracks that appeared during the firing did not have a negative influence on the adhesion properties. Bioactivity of the coatings was tested in vitro using a simulated body fluid. Three of the four types demonstrated bioactive properties (TCP1, TCP2 and TCPA2), that is, precipitation of crystalline hydroxyapatite as was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The antibacterial effect (against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis) and cytotoxicity (toward L929 and U-2 OS cell lines, direct and indirect test) were then tested. All the coatings demonstrated very good antibacterial effect against both bacteria after 4- and 24-hr interaction. All the coating types were evaluated as cytocompatible in the indirect test. Cells were able to grow even directly on the coatings.Single-phase perovskite oxides that contain nonprecious metals have long been pursued as candidates for catalyzing the oxygen evolution reaction, but their catalytic activity cannot meet the requirements for practical electrochemical energy conversion technologies. Here a cation deficiency-promoted phase separation strategy to design perovskite-based composites with significantly enhanced water oxidation kinetics compared to single-phase counterparts is reported. These composites, self-assembled from perovskite precursors, comprise strongly interacting perovskite and related phases, whose structure, composition, and concentration can be accurately controlled by tailoring the stoichiometry of the precursors. The composite catalyst with optimized phase composition and concentration outperforms known perovskite oxide systems and state-of-the-art catalysts by 1-3 orders of magnitude. It is further demonstrated that the strong interfacial interaction of the composite catalysts plays a key role in promoting oxygen ionic transport to boost the lattice-oxygen participated water oxidation. read more These results suggest a simple and viable approach to developing high-performance, perovskite-based composite catalysts for electrochemical energy conversion.Knowledge regarding the relationship between the molecular mechanisms underlying atherosclerosis (AS) and transfer RNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) is limited. This study illustrated the expression profile of tsRNAs, thus exploring its roles in AS pathogenesis. Small RNA sequencing was performed with four atherosclerotic arterial and four healthy subject samples. Using bioinformatics, the protein-protein interaction network and cellular experiments were constructed to predict the enriched signalling pathways and regulatory roles of tsRNAs in AS. Of the total 315 tsRNAs identified to be dysregulated in the AS group, 131 and 184 were up-regulated and down-regulated, respectively. Interestingly, the pathway of the differentiated expression of tsRNAs in cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) was implicated to be closely associated with AS. Particularly, tRF-Gly-GCC might participate in AS pathogenesis via regulating cell adhesion, proliferation, migration and phenotypic transformation in HUVECs and VSMCs. In conclusion, tsRNAs might help understand the molecular mechanisms of AS better. tRF-Gly-GCC may be a promising target for suppressing abnormal vess