New resource for the computation of cartilage biphasic material properties with the interpolant response surface method

Cartilage material properties are important for understanding joint function and diseases, but can be challenging to obtain. Three biphasic material properties (aggregate modulus, Poisson's ratio and permeability) can be determined using an analytical or finite element model combined with optimisation to find the material properties values that best reproduce an experimental creep curve. The purpose of this study was to develop an easy-to-use resource to determine biphasic cartilage material properties. A Cartilage Interpolant Response Surface was generated from interpolation of finite element simulations of creep indentation tests. Creep indentation tests were performed on five sites across a tibial plateau. A least-squares residual search of the Cartilage Interpolant Response Surface resulted in a best-fit curve for each experimental condition with corresponding material properties. These sites provided a representative range of aggregate moduli (0.48–1.58 MPa), Poisson's ratio (0.00–0.05) and permeability (1.7 × 10^? 15–5.4 × 10^? 15 m⁴/N s) values found in human cartilage. The resource is freely available from https://simtk.org/home/va-squish.     

1,3,5-Tri-O-acetyl-2-deoxy- α, β-D-ERYTHRO-Pentofuranose from 2-Deoxy-D-ERYTHRO-Pentose

Abstract

A convenient, high-yield synthesis of 1,3,5-tri-O-acetyl-2-deoxy-α. β-D-erythro-pentofuranose from 2-deoxy-D-erythro-pentose is described.     

The changing criteria of social networks in a Cajun Community

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El Monte. Igbo Finda, Ewe Orisha, Vititinfinda. Notas sobre la religión, la magía, las supersticiones y el folklore de los negros criollos y del pueblo de Cuba. Lydia Cabrera. Ediciones C. R., Habana 1954. 564 pp., 25 pls.

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Das doppelte Geschlecht. Ethnologische Studien zur Bisexualität in Ritus und Mythos. Hermann Baumann. Berlin 1955. 420 pp., 5 maps.

Von Fremden Völkern und Kulturen. Beiträge zur Völkerkunde. Hans Plischke zum 65. Geburtstage gewidmet von seinen Kollegen und Freunden, Schülern und Mitarbeitern. Herausgegeben von W. Lang, W. Nippold und G. Spannaus. Droste‐Verlag, Düsseldorf, 1955. 284 pp., 30 figs., 2 maps.

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Benzyloxybenzylammonium chlorides: Simple amine salts that display anticonvulsant activity

Several antiepileptic drugs exert their activities by inhibiting Na⁺ currents. Recent studies demonstrated that compounds containing a biaryl-linked motif (Ar-X-Ar′) modulate Na⁺ currents. We, and others, have reported that compounds with an embedded benzyloxyphenyl unit (ArOCH₂Ar′, OCH₂ = X) exhibit potent anticonvulsant activities. Here, we show that benzyloxybenzylammonium chlorides (⁺H₃NCH₂C₆H₄OCH₂Ar′ Cl^?) displayed notable activities in animal seizure models. Electrophysiological studies of 4-(2′-trifluoromethoxybenzyloxy)benzylammonium chloride (9) using embryonic cortical neurons demonstrated that 9 promoted both fast and slow inactivation of Na⁺ channels. These findings suggest that the potent anticonvulsant activities of the earlier compounds were due, in part, to the benzyloxyphenyl motif and provide support for the use of the biaryl-linked pharmacophore in future drug design efforts.     

Stem cell dynamics in Cnidaria: are there unifying principles?

The study of stem cells in cnidarians has a history spanning hundreds of years, but it has primarily focused on the hydrozoan genus Hydra. While Hydra has a number of self-renewing cell types that act much like stem cells—in particular the interstitial cell line—finding cellular homologues outside of the Hydrozoa has been complicated by the morphological simplicity of stem cells and inconclusive gene expression data. In non-hydrozoan cnidarians, an enigmatic cell type known as the amoebocyte might play a similar role to interstitial cells, but there is little evidence that I-cells and amoebocytes are homologous. Instead, self-renewal and transdifferentiation of epithelial cells was probably more important to ancestral cnidarian development than any undifferentiated cell lineage, and only later in evolution did one or more cell types come under the regulation of a “stem” cell line. Ultimately, this hypothesis and competing ones will need to be tested by expanding genetic and developmental studies on a variety of cnidarian model systems.