The results suggest that the bone formation is increased in the first trimester, whereas the bone resorption is increased in the second trimester of normal pregnancy. Furthermore, the results suggest that the bone turnover is increased in patients with preeclampsia when compared to healthy normotensive pregnant women.
Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a seronegative arthropathy with many clinical manifestations, and it may affect nearly a half of patients with psoriasis. PsA should be diagnosed as early as possible to slow down joint damage and progression of disability. To improve the diagnosis of PsA, physicians should look for peripheral inflammatory pain, axial inflammatory pain, dactylitis, and buttock and sciatic pain. In most patients with PsA, pharmacologic treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, and biologic agents is effective. However, when pharmacological treatment fails, patients with PsA may benefit from orthopedic surgery, which can improve both joint function and quality of life. Total hip arthroplasty, total knee arthroplasty, and arthroscopic synovectomy of the knee are the most common surgical procedures offered to patients with PsA. The management of PsA requires the care of a multidisciplinary team, which should include dermatologists, rheumatologists, physiotherapists, and orthopedic surgeons.
Apatites are one of the most intensively studied materials for possible biomedical applications. New perspectives of possible application of apatites correspond with the development of nanomaterials and nanocompounds. Here, an effort to systematize different kinds of human bioapatites forming bones, dentin, and enamel was undertaken. The precursors of bioapatites and hydroxyapatite were also considered. The rigorous consideration of compositions and stoichiometry of bioapatites allowed us to establish an order in their mutual sequence. The chemical reactions describing potential transformations of biomaterials from octacalcium phosphate into hydroxyapatite via all intermediate stages were postulated. Regardless of whether the reactions occur in reality, all apatite biomaterials behave as if they participate in them. To conserve the charge, additional free charges were introduced, with an assumed meaning to be joined with the defects. The distribution of defects was coupled with the values of crystallographic parameters “a” and “c”. The energetic balances of bioapatite transformations were calculated. The apatite biomaterials are surprisingly regular structures with non-integer stoichiometric coefficients. The results presented here will be helpful for the further design and development of nanomaterials.
The introduction of the notion of energy change resulting from the ion exchange in apatites leads to the question: how can some simple isomorphic series be described using the mentioned idea? We concentrated on the simple isomorphic series of compounds: apatite, bioapatite, calcite, aragonite, celestine, K-, Zn- and Cu-Tutton’s salts. It was demonstrated in all the series, except Tutton’s salts, that the change in energy and the change in the crystal cell volume are, in a simple way, dependent on the change in the ionic radii of the introduced ions. The linear relationships between the variations in energy and in the universal crystallographic dimension d were derived from the earlier equations and proven based on available data. In many cases, except the Tutton’s salts, linear dependence was discovered between the change in energy and the sinus of universal angle Θ, corresponding to the change in momentum transfer. In the same cases, linear dependencies were observed between the energy changes and the changes in the volumes of crystallographic cells, and mutually between changes in the crystallographic cell volume V, crystallographic dimension d, and diffraction angle Θ.
The chemical composition and structure of bamboo octocoral Keratoisis spp. skeletons were investigated by using: Scanning Electron Microscopy SEM, Raman Microscopy, X-ray Diffraction XRD, Laser Ablation–Inductively Coupled Plasma LA-ICP, and amino acid analyzers. Elements discovered in the nodes (mainly organic parts of the skeleton) of bamboo corals showed a very interesting arrangement in the growth ring areas, most probably enabling the application of bamboo corals as palaeochronometers and palaeothermometers. LA-ICP results showed that these gorgonian corals had an unusually large content of bromine, larger than any other organism yet studied. The local concentration of bromine in the organic part of the growth rings of one of the studied corals grew up to 29,000 ppm of bromine. That is over 440 times more than is contained in marine water and 35 times more than Murex contains, the species which was used to make Tyrian purple in ancient times. The organic matter of corals is called gorgonin, the specific substance that both from the XRD and Raman studies seem to be very similar to the reptile and bird keratins and less similar to the mammalian keratins. The missing cross-linking by S-S bridges, absence of aromatic rings, and significant participation of β-turn organization of peptides differs gorgonin from keratins. Perhaps, the gorgonin belongs to the affined but still different substances concerning reptile and bird keratin and in relation to the more advanced version—the mammalian one. Chemical components of bamboo corals seem to have great medical potential, with the internodes as material substituting the hard tissues and the nodes as the components of medicines.
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