Effects of welding pulse energy and fluoride ion on the cracking susceptibility and fatigue behavior of Nd:YAG laser-welded cast titanium joints.

In this study, the cracking susceptibility and fatigue behavior of Nd:YAG laser-welded cast Ti joints (welding pulse energy: 11, 15, and 18 J) in fluoride-containing (0 and 0.5% NaF) artificial saliva were evaluated using constant elongation rate test (CERT) and fatigue test (FT), respectively. Both CERT and FT were also carried out in open air as controls. Results showed that increasing the welding energy increased the elongation and fatigue life, but decreased the tensile strength, of cast Ti joints in open-air environment. With a welding energy of 11 J, the fluoride ions in the artificial saliva increased the cracking susceptibility and decreased the fatigue life of Ti joints. When the welding energy exceeded 15 J, the presence of fluoride ions still increased the cracking susceptibility, but did not reduce the fatigue life of Ti joints. Rupture of Ti joints--if it occurred--occurred only at the welded metal (versus the non-welded part).

Effects of CAPE-like compounds on HIV replication in vitro and modulation of cytokines in vivo.

OBJECTIVES: Five CAPE-like compounds, namely caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), methyl caffeate (MC), ethyl 3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)acrylate (EC), phenethyl dimethyl caffeate (PEDMC) and phenethyl 3-(4-bromophenyl)acrylic (BrCAPE) were tested for their anti-HIV replication in vitro and immune modulation effects in vivo. METHODS: Short-term cytotoxicity was assessed by Trypan Blue stain and MTT assay. For antiviral assays, M-tropic (strain JRCSF), T-tropic (strain NL-4-3) and dual tropic (strain 89.6) HIV isolates were used in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) culture. RESULTS: None of these CAPE-like compounds showed significant cytotoxicity in the treatment of PBMCs. By P24 EIA tests, CAPE, MC and EC significantly inhibited HIV replication in PBMC cells, but PEDMC and BrCAPE showed only slightly inhibitory effects. The in vivo modulatory effects on six cytokines [interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, IL-6, interferon (IFN)-gamma, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and soluble Fas] were analysed. BALB/c mice treated with different doses or not treated with these CAPE-like chemicals showed that cytokines were increased to different extents by the different treatments. However, the concentrations of IL-6 and GM-CSF were not significantly affected by administration of any of these compounds (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The different effects of treatments on anti-HIV replication and cytokine modulation suggested that these compounds affect virological and immunological response via different mechanisms. The virological and immunological mechanisms and response to these treatments need to be elaborated in further studies in order to derive the structural features of more effective compounds. Since neither death nor pathological change in the mice were observed in this study, these CAPE-like compounds are worth studying further as potential chemotherapy agents for anti-HIV infection and cytokine modulation.

Effect of surface roughness of ground titanium on initial cell adhesion.

The effect of surface roughness of ground Ti on the initial adhesion of osteoblast-like U-2 OS cells was investigated in this study. Different numbers (#120, #600, and #1500) of SiC sandpaper and two Al2O3 polishing powder (0.3 and 1 microm) were used to prepare the metal specimens with varying degrees of surface roughness. Surface roughness (Ra) was measured by profilometry. Surface topography was observed using an atomic force microscope. MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay was used to measure the optical density (OD) of specimens after 2 h of cell incubation. The OD value was analyzed by one-way ANOVA for analyzing the factor of surface roughness. Crystal violet staining technique was used to characterize the cell spreading. Results showed that the specimen of #1500 Ti (Ra: 0.15 microm) had the highest OD value. The specimens polished with 0.3 and 1 microm Al2O3 powder (Ra: 0.05 and 0.07 microm) exhibited the worst cell adhesion behavior. Contact guidance of cells could be observed on the rougher #600 and #120 specimens (Ra: 0.33 and 1.20 microm). This study concludes that the surface roughness (Ra: 0.05-1.20 microm) of ground Ti has a highly significant influence on the initial adhesion of osteoblast-like U-2 OS cells. The ground Ti with an Ra of 0.15 microm shows the optimal cell adhesion behavior with respect to either the rougher or smoother specimens.