Measurement of cartilage sub-component distributions through the surface by Raman spectroscopy-based multivariate analysis

Articular cartilage posesses unique material properties due to a complex depth-dependent composition of sub-components. Raman spectroscopy has proven valuable in quantifying this composition through cartilage cross-sections. However, cross-sectioning requires tissue destruction and is not practical in situ. In this work, Raman spectroscopy-based multivariate curve resolution (MCR) was employed in porcine cartilage samples (n = 12) to measure collagen, glycosaminoglycan, and water distributions through the surface for the first time; these were compared against cross-section standards. Through the surface Raman measurements proved reliable in predicting composition distribution up to a depth of approximately 0.5 mm. A fructose-based optical clearing agent (OCA) was also used in an attempt to further improve depth of resolution of this measurement method. However, it did not; mainly due to a high-spectral overlap with the Raman spectra of main cartilage sub-components. This measurement technique potentially could be used in situ, to better understand the etiology of joint diseases such as osteoarthritis (OA).     

Possible congenital hemolytic anemia in prehistoric coastal inhabitants of Israel.

The spread of thalassemia among prehistoric populations of the Mediterranean Basin has been linked to the increased risk to early agriculturalists posed by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. The diagnosis of the disease in human skeletal remains, however, has usually been based on a single pathological criterion, porotic hyperostosis. This paper reports on what we believe to be the earliest case of thalassemia yet identified in the prehistoric record. Our diagnosis of the disease in an individual from the submerged Prepottery Neolithic B village of Atlit-Yam off the Israeli coast is based on a pathological humerus demonstrating a pattern of deformation characteristic of clinical thalassemia. The implications of these findings for our understanding of human societies undergoing the transition from foraging to agriculture in the Near East are discussed.     

Virus inactivation by grapes and wines.

Infusions and extracts of different grapes inactivated poliovirus; agents responsible for this property resided in the skin of the grape. Commercial grape juice at both natural and neutral pH inactivate various enteric viruses and herpes simplex virus; a 1,000-fold reduction in poliovirus infectivity occurred after incubation with grape juice, pH 7.0, for 24 h at 4 degrees C. A variety of wines were antiviral but to a lesser extent than grape juice; red wines were more antiviral than white. Antiviral activity was demonstrable in fractions of grape juice varying in molecular weight from less than 1,000 to greater than 30,000 as determined by membrane filtration. Some restoration of poliovirus infectivity from virus-grape juice complexes was achieved with 1% gelatin, 0.1% Tween 80, 0.5% polyvinyl pyrrolidone, and 0.5% polyethylene glycol.     

Advances in the development of improved animal-free models for use in breast cancer biomedical research

Through translational research, the outcomes for women (and men) diagnosed with breast cancer have improved significantly, with now over 80% of women surviving for at least 5 years post-diagnosis. Much of this success has been translated from the bench to the bedside using laboratory models. Here, we outline the types of laboratory models that have helped achieve this and discuss new approaches as we move towards animal-free disease modelling.     

Long-term demographic balance in the Broadstone stream insect community

1. Population models based on Lotka–Volterra-type differential equations with logistic prey were made for a simple stream community including two stonefly prey Leuctra nigra Olivier and Nemurella pictetii Klàpalek, and two predators, the caddisfly Plectrocnemia conspersa (Curtis) and the alderfly Sialis fuliginosa Pictet. In order to assess the importance of predation in this system, we constructed both an explicit four-species model and a simplified model with two functional groups which was more amenable to analytical treatment.
2. The models were parameterized using new data on adult emergence and recruitment combined with previously published data on larval densities and prey uptake. The models were falsified if parameterizations led either to negative prey carrying capacities or to unstable dynamics.
3. Both the functional group and four-species models predict asymptotically stable interactions, with feasible carrying capacities. The models are consistent in predicting that the observed prey are in excess of 70% of their carrying capacities. The four-species model indicates that predation impact is not evenly shared between the two prey, with L. nigra being depressed further from its carrying capacity than N. pictetii .
4. Sensitivity analysis shows that the results of the full four-species model remain very robust to realistic levels of stochastic variation in the input data.
5. The four-species model is used to predict the outcome of an ongoing large-scale field experiment involving the transfer of all S. fuliginosa eggs from one stretch of the stream to another. Although the equilibrial prey populations are barely affected by the manipulation, the model predicts marked transient prey-release and prey-depression of L. nigra in the predator addition and removal areas, respectively.     

Hemopoietic colony studies. VI. Increased eosinophil-containing colonies obtained by antigen pre-treatment of irradiated mice reconstituted with bone marrow cells

The cellular response to an intraperitoneal injection of antigen (tetanus toxoid) was studied in reconstituted animals in order to determine the mechanism of control of eosinophil granulocytopoiesis. Antigen treatment of the marrow cell donors did not consistently increase the number of spleen and bone marrow colonies in recipient animals or change the percentage of eosinophil or other hemopoietic colony types. Antigen pre-treatment of the irradiated recipients increased the percentage of eosinophil-containing colonies in the spleen and femoral bone marrow without significantly changing the total number of either spleen or marrow colonies. Antigen treatment of both the bone marrow cell donor and recipient produced a further increase in the percentage of eosinophil-containing colonies in the marrow cavity, but not in the spleen. Antigen treatment of the irradiated recipient increased the number of eosinophilic cells (but not the total number of cells) in both the peritoneal cavity and the bone marrow. Antigen treatment of both the marrow donor and recipient produced a further increase in the number of eosinophilic cells in the peritoneal cavity, but not in a single femur. Since antigen treatment of the marrow recipient, or recipient and donor, but not of the marrow donor alone, results in increased eosinophilic cell and colony numbers, the effect of antigen appears to be mediated through some host factor(s), perhaps the eosinophilic hemopoietic inducing microenvironment (HIM), rather than directly on the hemopoietic stem cells.