Role of autologous bone marrow derived stem cells and platelet rich plasma for endometrial regeneration and repair and ovarian rejuvenation

Background: Stem cells are undifferentiated cells with a potential for self- renewal and differentiation into multiple mature cell types. PRP is blood plasma that has been enriched with platelets and multiple growth factors that can stimulate cellular processes and activate multi-potent stem cells to generate new, younger tissue and new blood vessels relevant to ovarian rejuvenation and endometrial regeneration.Methods: This study was to evaluate the effectiveness of ABMDSC and PRP application in patients with thin endometrium refractory to treatment, premature ovarian failure, infertility and menopause. 37 symptomatic women between age group 18 years to 56 years were selected for ABMDSC and PRP instillation in endometrium and/ or ovaries. PRP was instilled in endometrium in 8 patients, in ovaries in 5 patients and in both endometrium and ovaries in 24 patients.Results: There was significant improvement in endometrial thickness, along with improved blood flow to both endometrium and ovaries. FSH levels decreased and ovarian volume increased. There were three confirmed pregnancies with one delivery.  Menopausal symptoms decreased in 2 patients and spontaneous resumption of menses was seen in 1 patient of POF.Conclusions: Stem cell therapy serves as a game changer with their unique properties, offering solutions for scores of women suffering from POF, poor oocyte quality, endometrial degeneration/ damage or menopausal symptoms.

Comparative study of operative management of humeral shaft fractures by dynamic compression plating versus locked intra-medullary nailing

Background: Operative management of humeral shaft fractures is mostly accomplished by surface plating or intra-medullary nail osteosynthesis. Both the treatment options have been variably reported to give good rates of union and functional outcome. We compared both the options to know the better one in multitude of variables.Methods: Thirty patients with fracture shaft of humerus were followed up for a period of 12 to18 months. 15 patients each underwent open reduction and internal fixation with dynamic compression plate and closed antegrade locked intra-medullary nailing. All patients were clinically and radiologically assessed till fracture union.Results: Diaphyseal humeral fractures in all the patients treated with nailing united and had a tendency to unite early compared to plating. Shoulder pain was initially complained by 2 patients from the nailing group and got subsided later on. The incidence of complications was more in the plate osteosynthesis group. Conclusions: In our study Intra-medullary nailing turned out to be superior to plating for amenable diaphyseal fractures of humerus in terms of higher rate of union, early union and lesser complications

Designing Durable Vapor-Deposited Surfaces for Reduced Hydrate Adhesion

The formation and accumulation of clathrate hydrates inside oil and gas pipelines cause severe problems in deep-sea oil/gas operations. In the present work, durable and mechanically robust bilayer poly-divinyl benzene/poly(perfluorodecylacrylate) coatings are developed using initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) to reduce the adhesion strength of hydrates to underlying substrates (silicon and steel). Tetrahydrofuran (THF) dissolved in water with a wt% concentration of 0–70 is used to study the formation of hydrates and their adhesion strength. Goniometric measurements of the THF–water droplets on the substrates exhibit a reduction in advancing and receding contact angles with an increase in the THF concentration. The strength of hydrate adhesion experiences a tenfold reduction when substrates are coated with these iCVD polymers: from 1050 ± 250 kPa on bare silicon to 128 ± 100 kPa on coated silicon and from 1130 ± 185 kPa on bare steel to 153 ± 86 kPa on coated steel. The impact of subcooling temperature and time on the adhesion strength of hydrate on substrates is also studied. The results of this work suggest that the THF–water mixture repellency of a given substrate can be utilized to assess its hydrate-phobic behavior; hence, it opens a pathway for studying hydrate-phobicity.Chevron Corporation (MIT-Chevron University Partnership Program

An accurate perception method for low contrast bright field microscopy in heterogeneous microenvironments

Automated optical tweezers-based robotic manipulation of microscale objects requires real-time visual perception for estimating the states, i.e., positions and orientations, of the objects. Such visual perception is particularly challenging in heterogeneous environments comprising mixtures of biological and colloidal objects, such as cells and microspheres, when the popular imaging modality of low contrast bright field microscopy is used. In this paper, we present an accurate method to address this challenge. Our method combines many well-established image processing techniques such as blob detection, histogram equalization, erosion, and dilation with a convolutional neural network in a novel manner. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our processing pipeline in perceiving objects of both regular and irregular shapes in heterogeneous microenvironments of varying compositions. The neural network, in particular, helps in distinguishing the individual microspheres present in dense clusters.by Keshav Rajasekaran, Ekta Samani, Manasa Bollavaram, John Stewartand Ashis G. Banerje