Reliability of the transverse acetabular ligament as a landmark for functional cup anteversion in total hip arthroplasty.

BACKGROUND: The transverse acetabular ligament (TAL) can be a useful and reproducible landmark in the orientation of the acetabular cup in total hip arthroplasty (THA). Its role in guiding cup orientation when aiming to implant in a functional anteversion orientation is unclear. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between the TAL and the planned acetabular cup anteversion when implanted in a function orientation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In a retrospective study the anteversion of the TAL in the contralateral un-replaced hip was measured in CT scans of patients undergoing THA and compared to the functional cup anteversion using the patient-specific spinopelvic parameters. Comparative measurements of the native acetabular version were made from the superior rim to the inferior rim and at 10 mm intervals between the 2, all in reference to the anterior pelvic plane. RESULTS: 96 hips were measured. The mean TAL anteversion angle was 17.2° ± 4.5°. The mean planned acetabular cup anteversion angle was 26.3° ± 4.7°. Pearson's correlation coefficient of this measurement with the TAL was -0.03 (p = 0.769). There was a significant difference between the planned acetabular cup anteversion and the measurement of the TAL (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: If cups are implanted parallel to the TAL, almost 80% will be >5° different to targeted functional cup version. It should be aimed to implant cups with more anteversion than the TAL indicates.

Accelerated and scarless wound repair by a multicomponent hydrogel through simultaneous activation of multiple pathways.

Scarless healing of injury remains a clinical challenge because of its complicated and overlapping phases of inflammation, clearing, and regeneration. Curcumin has been already established as a potential wound healing agent for normal and diabetic-impaired wounds. Herein, the question has been addressed whether a well-known antioxidant cerium oxide nanoparticle (CNP) can potentiate the activity of curcumin to promote a cellular program for scarless healing. In this study, we have developed a biocompatible poly (acrylamide) hydrogel (PAGE)-based dressing material comprising of CNP and curcumin (ACC) and tested its wound healing activity in an animal model of acute wound. Characterization of the CNP- and curcumin-entrapped hydrogel dressing (ACC) demonstrated high loading efficiency and sustained release of curcumin. In a full-thickness acute wound healing model of rat, a single application of ACC dressing demonstrated higher wound healing efficacy (78%) and negligible scarring compared to dressings containing only curcumin or CNP in 7 days. Enhanced cell proliferation, higher collagen content, advanced wound maturity, re-epithelialization, and granulation tissue formation were observed using the combination of curcumin and CNP (ACC). Study of cellular mechanisms identified MCP-1 and TGF-ß as the key drivers of differential and accelerated healing observed in the ACC group. These, coupled with the upregulation of growth-related signaling pathways (HER2/ErbB2, TGF-ß-Smad2/3, MAPK/ERK, AKT, and VEGF), promoted almost scarless healing in animals treated with ACC. The optimized combination of curcumin and CNP used in our study shows distinct advantage and can be a better agent for complete wound healing.

Nitrogen donor ligand for capping ZnS quantum dots: a quantum chemical and toxicological insight.

Nanoparticles having strong optical and electronic properties are the most widely used materials in sensor development. Since the target analyte interacts directly with the surface of the material, the choice of ligand for functionalizing the surface of the material is the key for its further applications. The functionalized surface of the material makes it suitable for required applications as it controls the size of the particle during its growth from the solution phase. Biomolecule capped nanomaterials are favourable for various applications in bio-sensing. In the present work, an attempt has been made to explore the biologically active molecule imidazole as capping agent for ZnS semiconductor nanoparticles or quantum dots (QDs). This work explores the possibility of replacing conventional thiol-zinc bonding and hence paves new pathways for biomolecules having the possibility of being efficient capping agents. Computational chemistry has been used to study the mechanism of bonding between one of the nitrogen atoms of imidazole and the zinc ion of the ZnS QDs. The quantum chemical insight not only explores the most spontaneous interaction of zinc ion and imidazole molecule so as to act as an efficient capping agent but also explains the probable bonding site for nitrogen-zinc chemistry. The tailormade Mn doped ZnS QDs are one of the most promising materials for probe and sensor development. The ZnS core having non-toxicity and the emission in longer wavelength due to manganese makes this material highly useful biologically. The aqueous route of synthesis has been employed to obtain a highly homogeneous and pure material which was further characterized by UV (Ultra Violet spectroscopy), Spectrofluorometer, Transmission Electron Microscope and X-ray Diffraction. The toxicity at the cellular and genetic levels was also investigated to prove the potential of the imidazole capped Mn doped ZnS QD as a biocompatible material.

Sol-gel approach for extracting highly versatile aspirin and its metabolites using MISPE followed by GC-MS/MS analysis.

AIM: Aspirin is known to be a salicylate drug widely used as an analgesic, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory drug. METHODOLOGY: Sol-gel based nanosized molecularly imprinted polymer (nMIP) has been synthesized for extraction of aspirin and its metabolites in urine followed by GC-MS/MS analysis. RESULTS: Binding affinity of nMIP and nonimprinted polymer was found to be in the range of 70-95% and 29-45%, respectively. LOD and LOQ of aspirin and its metabolites were found to be in the range of 0.63-2.4 ng/ml and 2.07-7.68 ng/ml, respectively. CONCLUSION: The developed method was found to be applicable for routine analysis of aspirin and its metabolites in biological samples.

Selective solid-phase extraction using molecularly imprinted polymer as a sorbent for the analysis of fenarimol in food samples.

In the present communication, a non-covalent fenarimol-imprinted polymer was synthesized by precipitation polymerization technique using methacrylic acid (MAA) as a functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as a cross-linker, and azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator in different porogenic solvent. Binding study of molecularly imprinted and non-imprinted polymer (MIP and NIP) showed that MIP possesses a higher affinity towards this analyte compared to NIP. The binding affinity of MIP was calculated by static and kinetic adsorption study. Further, a MIP based cartridge was designed to use in extraction process, necessary for specific determination and quantification of the fungicide in food matrices. Under the optimum conditions, developed method was found to be linear (R(2)=0.9999-0.9994). Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) in samples were 0.03-0.06 and 0.12-0.21 µg mL(-1), respectively. The rate of recovery of fenarimol was 91.16-99.52% on MIPs. The validated method of molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) cartridge was successfully applied to the food matrices and compared with commercial sorbent (RP18 and Oasis HLB). However we feel, this method has promising applications in the routine analysis of food samples in industry.

Imprinted nanospheres based on precipitation polymerization for the simultaneous extraction of six urinary benzene metabolites from urine followed by injector port silylation and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric analysis.

In the present communication, uniformly sized molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) as nanospheres were synthesized based on precipitation polymerization using dual-template imprinting approach and used it as sorbent for solid phase extraction of six urinary benzene metabolites (UBMs). This approach in combination with injector port silylation (IPS) has been used for the quantitative determination of these UBMs by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The MIP was synthesized by using t,t-muconic acid (t,t-MA) and 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene (THB) as templates, methacrylic acid (MAA) as a monomer, ethyleneglycoldimethacrylate (EGDMA) as crosslinker, acetonitrile and dimethylsulphoxide as a porogen and azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator. The factors affecting the performance of polymer and IPS were investigated and optimized for the simultaneous determination of UBMs in urine. Binding study of imprinted and non-imprinted polymer (NIP) shows that, MIP possesses higher affinity in comparison to NIP for these analytes. Under the optimum conditions, the method developed was found to be linear with regression coefficients falls in the range of 0.9721-0.9988 for all the analyzed metabolites. The percent recovery of the metabolites analyzed in urine was found to be in the range of 76-89%, while the limit of detection and limit of quantification were found to be in the range of 0.9-9.1ngmL(-1) and 2.8-27ngmL(-1) respectively. The validated method was successfully applied to the real urine samples collected from different groups (kitchen workers, smokers and petroleum workers) and found that the developed method has been promising applications in the routine analysis of urine samples of benzene exposed population.

Application of nano-sized multi-template imprinted polymer for simultaneous extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites in urine samples followed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatographic analysis.

Nano-sized molecularly imprinted polymer (nMIP) was synthesized through precipitation polymerization method and used it as solid phase extraction (SPE) sorbent for the selective and simultaneous extraction of hydroxylated metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from urine followed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) analysis coupled with the fluorescent detector (FLD). Multi-template imprinting approach was used in the synthesis of nMIP by taking 1-naphthol, 9-phenanthrol and 9-hydroxyfluorene as templates, methacrylic acid (MAA) as a monomer, ethyleneglycoldimethacrylate (EGDMA) as a crosslinker and AIBN as an initiator. The synthesized nMIP exhibit the highest degree of binding affinity in comparison to non-imprinted polymer (NIP), and its binding affinity found to be in the range of 50-90% for all five metabolites tested. Method exhibits good linearity over a range of concentrations of metabolites with a R(2) value ranges from 0.9789 to 0.9921. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) in urine samples were found to be in the range of 0.33-2.6 and 0.99-8ngmL(-1), respectively. Precision study shows that intra and inter-day precision was found to be less than 10%. The application of nMIP as SPE sorbent offers an effective and selective affinity towards the PAH metabolite's and found to be an alternative to the conventional sorbent for PAH metabolite's extraction from the biological samples. The developed nMIP offers wide advantages like simultaneous determination of PAH metabolites with improved sensitivity and found to be cost-effective for the routine analysis.