Genetic evidence for the vital function of osterix in cementogenesis

To date, attempts to regenerate a complete tooth, including the critical periodontal tissues associated with the tooth root, have not been successful. Controversy still exists regarding the origin of the cell source for cellular cementum (epithelial or mesenchymal). This disagreement may be partially due to a lack of understanding of the events leading to the initiation and development of the tooth roots and supportive tissues, such as the cementum. Osterix (OSX) is a transcriptional factor essential for osteogenesis, but its role in cementogenesis has not been addressed. In the present study, we first documented a close relationship between the temporal- and spatial-expression pattern of OSX and the formation of cellular cementum. We then generated 3.6 Col 1-OSX transgenic mice, which displayed accelerated cementum formation vs. WT controls. Importantly, the conditional deletion of OSX in the mesenchymal cells with two different Cre systems (the 2.3 kb Col 1 and an inducible CAG-CreER) led to a sharp reduction in cellular cementum formation (including the cementum mass and mineral deposition rate) and gene expression of dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1) by cementocytes. However, the deletion of the OSX gene after cellular cementum formed did not alter the properties of the mature cementum as evaluated by backscattered SEM and resin-cast SEM. Transient transfection of Osx in the cementoblasts in vitro significantly inhibited cell proliferation and increased cell differentiation and mineralization. Taken together, these data support 1) the mesenchymal origin of cellular cementum (from PDL progenitor cells); 2) the vital role of OSX in controlling the formation of cellular cementum; and 3) the limited remodeling of cellular cementum in adult mice.

Assessment of function and clinical utility of alcohol and other drug web sites : an observational, qualitative study

Background The increasing popularity and use of the internet makes it an attractive option for providing health information and treatment, including alcohol/other drug use. There is limited research examining how people identify and access information about alcohol or other drug (AOD) use online, or how they assess the usefulness of the information presented. This study examined the strategies that individuals used to identify and navigate a range of AOD websites, along with the attitudes concerning presentation and content. Methods Members of the general community in Brisbane and Roma (Queensland, Australia) were invited to participate in a 30-minute search of the internet for sites related to AOD use, followed by a focus group discussion. Fifty one subjects participated in the study across nine focus groups. Results Participants spent a maximum of 6.5 minutes on any one website, and less if the user was under 25 years of age. Time spent was as little as 2 minutes if the website was not the first accessed. Participants recommended that AOD-related websites should have an engaging home or index page, which quickly and accurately portrayed the site’s objectives, and provided clear site navigation options. Website content should clearly match the title and description of the site that is used by internet search engines. Participants supported the development of a portal for AOD websites, suggesting that it would greatly facilitate access and navigation. Treatment programs delivered online were initially viewed with caution. This appeared to be due to limited understanding of what constituted online treatment, including its potential efficacy. Conclusions A range of recommendations arise from this study regarding the design and development of websites, particularly those related to AOD use. These include prudent use of text and information on any one webpage, the use of graphics and colours, and clear, uncluttered navigation options. Implications for future website development are discussed.

Particle wave

“Particle Wave” is comprised of six lenticular panels hung in an even, horizontal sequence. Each panel alternates between two solid colour fields as you move past it. There are six colours in total, with each colour represented twice in the spectrum. From left to right, the panels move through yellow, orange, magenta, violet, blue, green and back to yellow. The work’s title refers to the two competing theories of light, which can be understood as either paradoxical or complementary. Like these theories, the experience of viewing the work catches us in a double bind. While we can orient ourselves to see solid colour fields one by one, we are never able to fully capture them all at once. In fact, it is only through our continual movement, and the subsequent transitioning of visible colours that we register the complete spectrum. Through this viewing experience, “Particle Wave” actively engages with our peripheral vision and the transitory nature of perception. It plays with the fundamental pleasures of colour and vision, and the uneasy seduction of being unable to grasp multiple phenomena simultaneously.

In search of the Korean digital wave

This article sets the context for this special themed issue on the 'Korean digital wave' by considering the symbiotic relationship between digital technologies, their techniques and practices, their uses and the affordances they provide, and Korea's 'compressed modernity' and swift industrialisation. It underscores the importance of interrogating a range of groundbreaking developments and innovations within Korea's digital mediascapes, and its creative and cultural industries, in order to gain a complex understanding of one of Australia's most significant export markets and trading partners. Given the financial and political commitment in Australia to a high-speed broadband network that aims to stimulate economic and cultural activity, recent technological developments in Korea, and the double-edged role played by government policy in shaping the 'Korean digital wave', merit close attention from media and communications scholars.

A new tip area function for instrumented nanoindentation at extremely small contact depths

The accuracy of measurement of mechanical properties of a material using instrumented nanoindentation at extremely small penetration depths heavily relies on the determination of the contact area of the indenter. Our experiments have demonstrated that the conventional area function could lead to a significant error when the contact depth was below 40. nm, due to the singularity in the first derivation of the function in this region and thus, the resultant unreasonable sharp peak on the function curve. In this paper, we proposed a new area function that was used to calculate the contact area for the indentations where the contact depths varied from 10 to 40. nm. The experimental results have shown that the new area function has produced better results than the conventional function. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.

Regulation of proteasome structure and function

Proteasomes are cylindrical particles made up of a stack of four heptameric rings. In animal cells the outer rings are made up of 7 different types of alpha subunits and the inner rings are composed of 7 out of 10 possible different beta subunits. Regulatory complexes can bind to the ends of the cylinder.We have investigated aspects of the assembly, activity and subunit composition of core proteasome particles and 26S proteasomes, the localization of proteasome subpopulations, and the possible role of phosphorylation in determining proteasome localization, activities and association with regulatory components.

Analytical solutions of the multi-term modified power law wave equations in a finite domain

Fractional partial differential equations with more than one fractional derivative term in time, such as the Szabo wave equation, or the power law wave equation, describe important physical phenomena. However, studies of these multi-term time-space or time fractional wave equations are still under development. In this paper, multi-term modified power law wave equations in a finite domain are considered. The multi-term time fractional derivatives are defined in the Caputo sense, whose orders belong to the intervals (1, 2], [2, 3), [2, 4) or (0, n) (n > 2), respectively. Analytical solutions of the multi-term modified power law wave equations are derived. These new techniques are based on Luchko’s Theorem, a spectral representation of the Laplacian operator, a method of separating variables and fractional derivative techniques. Then these general methods are applied to the special cases of the Szabo wave equation and the power law wave equation. These methods and techniques can also be extended to other kinds of the multi term time-space fractional models including fractional Laplacian.

Numerical methods for solving the multi-term time-fractional wave-diffusion equations

In this paper, the multi-term time-fractional wave diffusion equations are considered. The multiterm time fractional derivatives are defined in the Caputo sense, whose orders belong to the intervals [0,1], [1,2), [0,2), [0,3), [2,3) and [2,4), respectively. Some computationally effective numerical methods are proposed for simulating the multi-term time-fractional wave-diffusion equations. The numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of theoretical analysis. These methods and techniques can also be extended to other kinds of the multi-term fractional time-space models with fractional Laplacian.

Analytical solutions for the multi-term time-space Caputo-Riesz fractional advection-diffusion equations on a finite domain

Generalized fractional partial differential equations have now found wide application for describing important physical phenomena, such as subdiffusive and superdiffusive processes. However, studies of generalized multi-term time and space fractional partial differential equations are still under development. In this paper, the multi-term time-space Caputo-Riesz fractional advection diffusion equations (MT-TSCR-FADE) with Dirichlet nonhomogeneous boundary conditions are considered. The multi-term time-fractional derivatives are defined in the Caputo sense, whose orders belong to the intervals [0, 1], [1, 2] and [0, 2], respectively. These are called respectively the multi-term time-fractional diffusion terms, the multi-term time-fractional wave terms and the multi-term time-fractional mixed diffusion-wave terms. The space fractional derivatives are defined as Riesz fractional derivatives. Analytical solutions of three types of the MT-TSCR-FADE are derived with Dirichlet boundary conditions. By using Luchko's Theorem (Acta Math. Vietnam., 1999), we proposed some new techniques, such as a spectral representation of the fractional Laplacian operator and the equivalent relationship between fractional Laplacian operator and Riesz fractional derivative, that enabled the derivation of the analytical solutions for the multi-term time-space Caputo-Riesz fractional advection-diffusion equations. © 2012.