Postoperative decrease of regional volumetric bone mineral density measured by quantitative computed tomography after lumbar fusion surgery in adjacent vertebrae.

We investigated the effect of posterior lumbar fusion surgery on the regional volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) measured by quantitative computed tomography. Surgery negatively affected the regional vBMD in adjacent levels. Interbody fusion was independently associated with vBMD decline and preoperative epidural steroid injections (ESIs) were associated with less postoperative vBMD decline. INTRODUCTION: Few studies investigate postoperative BMD changes after lumbar fusion surgery utilizing quantitative computed tomography (QCT). Additionally, it remains unclear what preoperative and operative factors contribute to postoperative BMD changes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of lumbar fusion surgery on regional volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) in adjacent vertebrae and to identify potential modifiers for postoperative BMD change. METHODS: The data of patients undergoing posterior lumbar fusion with available pre- and postoperative CTs were reviewed. The postoperative changes in vBMD in the vertebrae one or two levels above the upper instrumented vertebra (UIV+1, UIV+2) and one level below the lower instrumented vertebra (LIV+1) were analyzed. As potential contributing factors, history of ESI, and the presence of interbody fusion, as well as various demographic/surgical factors, were included. RESULTS: A total of 90 patients were included in the study analysis. Mean age (±SD) was 62.1 ± 11.7. Volumetric BMD (±SD) in UIV+1 was 115.4 ± 36.9 mg/cm3 preoperatively. The percent vBMD change in UIV+1 was - 10.5 ± 12.9% (p < 0.001). UIV+2 and LIV+1 vBMD changes showed similar trends. After adjusting with the interval between surgery and the secondary CT, non-Caucasian race, ESI, and interbody fusion were independent contributors to postoperative BMD change in UIV+1. CONCLUSIONS: Posterior lumbar fusion surgery negatively affected the regional vBMDs in adjacent levels. Interbody fusion was independently associated with vBMD decline. Preoperative ESIs were associated with less postoperative vBMD decline, which was most likely a result of a preoperative decrease in vBMD due to ESIs.

Giant crystals inside mitochondria of equine chondrocytes.

The present study reports for the first time the presence of giant crystals in mitochondria of equine chondrocytes. These structures show dark contrast in TEM images as well as a granular substructure of regularly aligned 1-2 nm small units. Different zone axes of the crystalline structure were analysed by means of Fourier transformation of lattice-resolution TEM images proving the crystalline nature of the structure. Elemental analysis reveals a high content of nitrogen referring to protein. The outer shape of the crystals is geometrical with an up to hexagonal profile in cross sections. It is elongated, spanning a length of several micrometres through the whole cell. In some chondrocytes, several crystals were found, sometimes combined in a single mitochondrion. Crystals were preferentially aligned along the long axis of the cells, thus appearing in the same orientation as the chondrocytes in the tissue. Although no similar structures have been found in the cartilage of any other species investigated, they have been found in cartilage repair tissue formed within a mechanically stimulated equine chondrocyte construct. Crystals were mainly located in superficial regions of cartilage, especially in joint regions of well-developed superficial layers, more often in yearlings than in adult horses. These results indicate that intramitochondrial crystals are related to the high mechanical stress in the horse joint and potentially also to the increased metabolic activity of immature individuals.

Sessile dislocations by reactions in NiAl severely deformed at room temperature.

B2 ordered NiAl is known for its poor room temperature (RT) ductility; failure occurs in a brittle like manner even in ductile single crystals deforming by single slip. In the present study NiAl was severely deformed at RT using the method of high pressure torsion (HPT) enabling the hitherto impossible investigation of multiple slip deformation. Methods of transmission electron microscopy were used to analyze the dislocations formed by the plastic deformation showing that as expected dislocations with Burgers vector [Formula: see text] carry the plasticity during HPT deformation at RT. In addition, we observe that they often form [Formula: see text] dislocations by dislocation reactions; the [Formula: see text] dislocations are considered to be sessile based on calculations found in the literature. It is therefore concluded that the frequently encountered 3D dislocation networks containing sessile [Formula: see text] dislocations are pinned and lead to deformation-induced embrittlement. In spite of the severe deformation, the chemical order remains unchanged.

Structural modifications during heating of bulk nanocrystalline FeAl produced by high-pressure torsion.

The deformation-induced nanostructure developed during high-pressure torsion of B2 long-range ordered FeAl is shown to be unstable upon heating. The structural changes were analyzed using transmission electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and microhardness measurements. Heating up to 220 °C leads to the recurrence of the chemical long-range order that is destroyed during deformation. It is shown that the transition to the long-range-ordered phase evolves in the form of small ordered domains homogeneously distributed inside the nanosized grains. At temperatures between 220 and 370 °C recovery of dislocations and antiphase boundary faults cause a reduction in the grain size from 77 to 35 nm. Grain growth occurs at temperatures above 370 °C. The evolution of the strength monitored by microhardness is discussed in the framework of grain-size hardening and hardening by defect recovery.

In-situ aerosol nanoparticle characterization by small angle X-ray scattering at ultra-low volume fraction.

State-of-the-art aerosol nanoparticle techniques all have one feature in common: for analysis they remove the nanoparticles from their original environment. Therefore, physical and chemical properties of the particles might be changed or cannot be measured correctly. To overcome these shortcomings, we apply synchrotron based small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) as an in-situ measurement technique. Contrasting other aerosol studies using SAXS, we focus on particle concentrations which allow direct comparison to common aerosol nanoparticle analyzers. To this end, we analyze aerosol nanoparticles at ambient pressure and concentrations of slightly above ~106 cm-3. A differential mobility particle sizer (DMPS) is operated in parallel. We find that SAXS enables measurement of the primary particles and the aggregates, whereas the DMPS detects only aggregates. We conclude that in-situ nanoparticle characterization with ultra-low volume fractions of ~10-10 is feasible with SAXS. Our technique opens up a doorway to the in-situ analysis of aerosol nanoparticles under atmospheric conditions.

Influence of the Ag concentration on the medium-range order in a CuZrAlAg bulk metallic glass.

Fluctuation electron microscopy of bulk metallic glasses of CuZrAl(Ag) demonstrates that medium-range order is sensitive to minor compositional changes. By analyzing nanodiffraction patterns medium-range order is detected with crystal-like motifs based on the B2 CuZr structure and its distorted structures resembling the martensitic ones. This result demonstrates some structural homology between the metallic glass and its high temperature crystalline phase. The amount of medium-range order seems slightly affected with increasing Ag concentration (0, 2, 5 at.%) but the structural motifs of the medium-range ordered clusters become more diverse at the highest Ag concentration. The decrease of dominant clusters is consistent with the destabilization of the B2 structure measured by calorimetry and accounts for the increased glass-forming ability.

Local, atomic-level elastic strain measurements of metallic glass thin films by electron diffraction.

A novel technique is used to measure the atomic-level elastic strain tensor of amorphous materials by tracking geometric changes of the first diffuse ring of selected area electron diffraction patterns (SAD). An automatic procedure, which includes locating the centre and fitting an ellipse to the diffuse ring with sub-pixel precision is developed for extracting the 2-dimensional strain tensor from the SAD patterns. Using this technique, atomic-level principal strains from micrometre-sized regions of freestanding amorphous Ti0.45Al0.55 thin films were measured during in-situ TEM tensile deformation. The thin films were deformed using MEMS based testing stages that allow simultaneous measurement of the macroscopic stress and strain. The calculated atomic-level principal strains show a linear dependence on the applied stress, and good correspondence with the measured macroscopic strains. The calculated Poisson's ratio of 0.23 is reasonable for brittle metallic glasses. The technique yields a strain accuracy of about 1×10(-4) and shows the potential to obtain localized strain profiles/maps of amorphous thin film samples.

Direct determination of three-phase contact line properties on nearly molecular scale.

Wetting phenomena in multi-phase systems govern the shape of the contact line which separates the different phases. For liquids in contact with solid surfaces wetting is typically described in terms of contact angle. While in macroscopic systems the contact angle can be determined experimentally, on the molecular scale contact angles are hardly accessible. Here we report the first direct experimental determination of contact angles as well as contact line curvature on a scale of the order of 1nm. For water nucleating heterogeneously on Ag nanoparticles we find contact angles around 15 degrees compared to 90 degrees for the corresponding macroscopically measured equilibrium angle. The obtained microscopic contact angles can be attributed to negative line tension in the order of -10(-10) J/m that becomes increasingly dominant with increasing curvature of the contact line. These results enable a consistent theoretical description of heterogeneous nucleation and provide firm insight to the wetting of nanosized objects.