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Investigating The Therapeutic Potential Of Salivary Proteins For Oral Diseases, Dusa Vukosavljevic

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

ABSTRACT

Saliva is responsible for the formation of the acquired enamel pellicle (AEP), a protein

integument formed as a result of selective adsorption of salivary proteins to the enamel

surface. The AEP demonstrates an important role for modulating dental erosion as a

result of its physical properties, along with its salivary and exogenous protein

composition (Chapter 2). In addition, individual proteins that comprise the AEP have

important physiological functions. Histatin 5 (H5) has potent antifungal effect against C.

albicans, the yeast responsible for the initiation of oral candidiasis. We designed an in

vitro model and found, for the first time, …

Calcium Phosphate-Based Resorbable Biomaterials For Bone Regeneration, Daniel O. Costa

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Bone defects are a prevalent problem in orthopedics and dentistry. Calcium phosphate-based coatings and nanocomposites offer unique solutions towards producing scaffolds with suitable physical, mechanical and biological properties for bone regeneration.

We developed a novel method to synthesize hydroxyapatite (HA) particles with high aspect ratio using sol-gel chemistry and hydrothermal treatment. We obtained tunable pure-phase carbonated-HA in the form of micro/nanorods and nanowires (diameters 25-800 nm). To mimic the structure of bone, HA nanowires were homogenously mixed within poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) to produce nanocomposites with improved mechanical properties as determined by uniaxial tensile testing.

Surface chemistry and topography of biomaterials play …

Design Of A User Interface To Investigate The Role Of 3d Spatial Reasoning In Surgical Training, Ladan Ashrafi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this thesis, a 3D interactive environment for measurement of spatial ability using Mental Rotation Test was designed and implemented. The spatial ability of two groups of participants (novices and experts) was evaluated using the implemented software and compared to the result from Embedded Figure Test. In Embedded Figure Test, only 15.63% of the experts’ responses were incorrect (with score of 6.75 ± 1.50 out of 8), compared to 57.00% for novices (with score of 3.44 ± 1.51). No significant difference was found between scores of the two group from Mental Rotation Test; however, experts responded significantly faster than novices …

Bacterial Cellulose Templates For Nano-Hydroxyapatite Fibre Synthesis, Jordan A. Demello

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Guided bone regeneration is a medical procedure which induces in vivo re-growth of bone using membranes and osteopromoting fillers. In this work, bacterial cellulose fibers were isolated and used as a basis for biomimetic hydroxyapatite growth, with the ultimate goal of producing GBR filler materials. Acetobacter xylinum generated BC using various carbon sources. Fibers were treated with phosphoric acid to phosphorylate functional groups and preconditioned with calcium to nucleate the HA. Simulated body fluid (SBF) furthered the growth. Over 14 days, the product was characterized via EDX, SEM, FTIR, and XRD. The effect of media composition, phosphorylation time, pretreatment, and …