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Formation of bony fusion after arthrodesis depends on osteoinduction, osteoconduction, and osteogenesis. Traditionally, the patient's own bone, or autograft, has been used to provide biological material necessary for these steps. However, the amount of autograft obtainable is often inadequate. Modern spine surgery has adopted the use of many autograft extenders or replacements, such as demineralized bone matrix or fibers. The present article covers the history of bone grafting, the production and technical details of demineralized bone matrix, and the evidence supporting its use in spine fusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trichoptera (caddisflies) play an essential role in freshwater ecosystems; for instance, larvae process organic material from the water and are food for a variety of predators. Knowledge on the genomic diversity of caddisflies can facilitate comparative and phylogenetic studies thereby allowing scientists to better understand the evolutionary history of caddisflies. Although Trichoptera are the most diverse aquatic insect order, they remain poorly represented in terms of genomic resources. To date, all long-read based genomes have been sequenced from individuals in the retreat-making suborder, Annulipalpia, leaving ∼275 Ma of evolution without high-quality genomic resources. Here, we report the first long-read based de novo genome assemblies of two tube case-making Trichoptera from the suborder Integripalpia, Agrypnia vestita Walker and Hesperophylax magnus Banks. We find that these tube case-making caddisflies have genome sizes that are at least 3-fold larger than those of currently sequenced annulipalpian genomes and that this pattern is at least partly driven by major expansion of repetitive elements. In H. magnus , long interspersed nuclear elements alone exceed the entire genome size of some annulipalpian counterparts suggesting that caddisflies have high potential as a model for understanding genome size evolution in diverse insect lineages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caddisfly (Trichoptera) larvae assemble a variety of underwater structures using bioadhesive silk. The order is divided into two primary sub-orders distinguished by how the larvae deploy their silk. Foraging Integripalpia larvae construct portable tube cases. Annulipalpia larvae construct stationary retreats, some with suspended nets to capture food. To identify silk molecular adaptations that may have contributed to caddisfly diversification, we report initial characterization of silk from a net-spinner genus, Parapsyche, for comparison with the silk of a tube case-maker genus, Hesperophylax. Overall, general features of silk structure and processing are conserved across the sub-orders despite approximately 200 Ma of divergence: the H-fibroin proteins comprise repeating phosphoserine-rich motifs, naturally spun silk fibres contain approximately 1 : 1 molar ratios of divalent metal ions to phosphate, silk fibre precursors are stored as complex fluids of at least two types of complexes, and silk gland proteins contain only traces of divalent metal ions, suggesting metal ions that solidify the fibres are absorbed from the aqueous environment after silk extrusion. However, the number and arrangement of the repeating phosphoserine blocks differ between genera, suggesting molecular adaptation of H-fibroin through duplication and shuffling of conserved structural modules may correspond with the radiation of caddisflies into diverse environments. This article is part of the theme issue 'Transdisciplinary approaches to the study of adhesion and adhesives in biological systems'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]