Macrophages use an extracellular, hydrolytic compartment formed by local actin polymerization to digest aggregated LDL (agLDL). Catabolism of agLDL promotes foam cell formation and creates an environment rich in LDL catabolites, including cholesterol and ceramide. Increased ceramide levels are present in lesional LDL, but the effect of ceramide on macrophage proatherogenic processes remains unk...

Free radical polymerization is one of the most widely employed polymerization techniques. This technique is applied to prepare latexes to be used in paints, high molecular weight poly (methyl methacrylate) for safety glass (Plexiglas), or foamed poly (styrene) to be applied in coffee cups. Some advantages of radical polymerizations, with respect to other techniques, are the relative insensitivi...

Well-controlled anionic polymerization of an initiator-functionalized monomer, p-(2,2'-diphenylethyl)styrene (DPES), was achieved for the first time. The polymerization was performed in a mixed solvent of cyclohexane and tetrahydrofuran (THF) at 40 °C with n-BuLi as initiator. When the volume ratio of cyclohexane to THF was 20, the anionic polymerization of DPES showed living polymerization cha...

The intimate marginal adaptation of composite resins is considered to be the most important requisite, and this is strongly influenced by polymerization shrinkage, thermal expansion or mechanical properties of the resins. The highly loaded composite resins, developed recently have yielded good results on thermal expansion and mechanical properties. Consequently, little attention has been paid t...

Due to the changes in the composition and processing of acrylic resins, it seems appropriate to evaluate the influence of polymerization methods about the alteration of occlusal vertical dimension and the horizontal positioning of artificial teeth of total dentures. For this, 64 specimens were made, simulating a maxillary total denture waxed from a standard maxillary denture. The experimental s...

Olefin metathesis polymerization, in particularly ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP), has been a popular topic of modern research. Two other types are acyclic diene metathesis polymerization (ADMET) and cyclopolymerization of diynes. To date, there has been no report on a metathesis polymerization utilizing more than one metathesis process. Herein, the concept of multiple olefin meta...

background: when provisional restorations are worn for long term period, the adhesion of bacteria becomes a primary factor in the development of periodontal diseases. the aims of this study were to evaluate the surface roughness and bacterial adhesion of four different provisional fixed prosthodontic materials. methods: ten cylindrical specimens were prepared from bis-acrylic composites (previs...

Interactions of tubulin with a number of guanine nucleotides modified at the 2' and 3' ribose hydroxyls were examined. Deoxy analogs of GTP were equal or superior to GTP in supporting tubulin polymerization, but analogs bearing either methyl or phosphate groups on the hydroxyls had significantly reduced ability to support polymerization. These substituted GTP analogs were hydrolyzed at the 5'-g...

Gag, as the major structural protein of HIV-1, is necessary for the assembly of the HIV-1 sphere shell. An in-depth understanding of its trafficking and polymerization is important for gaining further insights into the mechanisms of HIV-1 replication and the design of antiviral drugs. We developed a mathematical model to simulate two biophysical processes, specifically Gag monomer and dimer tra...

In order to fertilize the oocyte, sperm must undergo a series of biochemical changes in the female reproductive tract, known as capacitation. Once capacitated, spermatozoon can bind to the zona pellucida of the egg and undergo the acrosome reaction (AR), a process that enables its penetration and fertilization of the oocyte. Important processes that characterize sperm capacitation are actin pol...