The current laboratory study is evaluating the effect of hydrofluoric acid etching duration on the surface characteristics of five silica-based glass ceramics. Changes in the pore pattern, crystal structure, roughness, and wettability were compared and evaluated. Seventy-five rectangularly shaped specimens were cut from each material (IPS e-max™, Dentsply Celtra™, Vita Suprinity™, Vita mark II™...

Background. Morphological characterization of hemodialysis membranes is necessary to improve pore design. Aim. To delineate membrane pore structure of a high flux filter, Polyflux 210H. Methods. We used a Joel JSM-6010LV scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a SU6600 Hitachi field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) to characterize the pore and fiber morphology. The maximal diameters...

A porous structure comprises pores and pore throats with a complex three-dimensional (3D) network structure, and many investigators have described the relationship between average pore size and the amount of bone ingrowth. However, the influence of network structure or pore throats for tissue ingrowth has rarely been discussed. Four types of bioactive porous titanium implants with different por...

Pneumolysin is a cholesterol-dependent cytolysin (CDC) and virulence factor of Streptococcus pneumoniae. It kills cells by forming pores assembled from oligomeric rings in cholesterol-containing membranes. Cryo-EM has revealed the structures of the membrane-surface bound pre-pore and inserted-pore oligomers, however the molecular contacts that mediate these oligomers are unknown because high-re...