A new 3D concentration gradient maker and its application in building hydrogels with a 3D stiffness gradient

For a deeper knowledge of phenomena at cell and tissue level, for understanding the role on bimolecular signalling and for the development of new drugs it is important to recreate in vitro environments that mimic the physiological one. Spatial gradients of soluble species guide the cells' morphogenesis, and they range in a three-dimensional (3D) environment. Gradients of mechanical properties, which have a 3D pattern, could lead cell migration and differentiation. In this work, a new 3D Concentration Gradient Maker able to generate 3D concentration gradients of soluble species was developed, which could be used for differential perfusion of scaffolds. The same device can be applied to build hydrogel matrixes with a 3D gradient of mechanical properties. Computational dynamic fluid analysis was used to develop the gradient generator; the validation of the 3D gradient of stiffness was carried out using finite elements analysis and experimental studies. The device and its application could bring improvements in studying phenomena related to cell chemotaxis and mechanotaxis, but also to differentiation in the simultaneous presence of gradients in both soluble chemical species and substrate stiffnes

Health-related internet use among adolescents with uncontrolled persistent asthma

Objectives To describe internet use for health information among adolescents with uncontrolled persistent asthma, and to examine whether health-related internet use is associated with responsibility for home asthma management. Methods We analyzed baseline data from the School-Based Asthma Care for Teens (SB-ACT) Trial, which included adolescents (12–16 years) in an urban school district who had uncontrolled persistent asthma per caregiver report. We asked adolescents whether they had ever used the Internet to look for health or medical information (Y/N). Teens then described family responsibility for 9 asthma management tasks (e.g. full caregiver responsibility, shared responsibility, or full teen responsibility). We examined responsibility sum scores in addition to responsibility for individual management tasks. We used bivariate and multivariate analyses to compare health-related internet use with participant characteristics, teen-reported asthma symptoms, and management responsibility. Results We examined data for 425 adolescents (mean age 13.4 years). Almost half (45%) reported seeking health information on the Internet. In adjusted analyses, health-related internet use was strongly associated with teen responsibility (sum score and tasks relating to carrying and using medications); internet use was also more likely among teens who were older, female, or reported uncontrolled disease. Conclusions Adolescents with persistent asthma who share responsibility for home management or report uncontrolled disease are more likely to seek health information online. Future interventions to support teens who co-manage asthma should work to engage patients in both clinical and digital spaces, and ensure that all patients can access accurate, patient-centered asthma information when needed

Durum Wheat in Conventional and Organic Farming: Yield Amount and Pasta Quality in Southern Italy

Five durum wheat cultivars were grown in a Mediterranean area (Southern Italy) under conventional and organic farming with the aim to evaluate agronomic, technological, sensory, and sanitary quality of grains and pasta. The cultivar Matt produced the best pasta quality under conventional cropping system, while the quality parameters evaluated were unsatisfactory under organic farming. The cultivar Saragolla showed the best yield amount and pasta quality in all the experimental conditions, thus proving to be the cultivar more adapt to organic farming. In all the tested experimental conditions, nivalenol (NIV) and deoxynivalenol (DON) occurrence was very low and the other mycotoxins evaluated were completely absent. These data confirm the low risk of mycotoxin contamination in the Mediterranean climate conditions. Finally, it has been possible to produce high-quality pasta in Southern Italy from durum wheat grown both in conventional and organic farming

Development of a Novel Hierarchically Biofabricated Blood Vessel Mimic Decorated with Three Vascular Cell Populations for the Reconstruction of Small-Diameter Arteries

The availability of grafts to replace small-diameter arteries remains an unmet clinical need. Here, the validated methodology is reported for a novel hybrid tissue-engineered vascular graft that aims to match the natural structure of small-size arteries. The blood vessel mimic (BVM) comprises an internal conduit of co-electrospun gelatin and polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers (corresponding to the tunica intima of an artery), reinforced by an additional layer of PCL aligned fibers (the internal elastic membrane). Endothelial cells are deposited onto the luminal surface using a rotative bioreactor. A bioprinting system extrudes two concentric cell-laden hydrogel layers containing respectively vascular smooth muscle cells and pericytes to create the tunica media and adventitia. The semi-automated cellularization process reduces the production and maturation time to 6 days. After the evaluation of mechanical properties, cellular viability, hemocompatibility, and suturability, the BVM is successfully implanted in the left pulmonary artery of swine. Here, the BVM showed good hemostatic properties, capability to withstand blood pressure, and patency at 5 weeks post-implantation. These promising data open a new avenue to developing an artery-like product for reconstructing small-diameter blood vessels

Longitudinal proteomic profiling of dialysis patients with COVID-19 reveals markers of severity and predictors of death

Funder: The Sidharth Burman endowmentEnd-stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients are at high risk of severe COVID-19. We measured 436 circulating proteins in serial blood samples from hospitalised and non-hospitalised ESKD patients with COVID-19 (n = 256 samples from 55 patients). Comparison to 51 non-infected patients revealed 221 differentially expressed proteins, with consistent results in a separate subcohort of 46 COVID-19 patients. Two hundred and three proteins were associated with clinical severity, including IL6, markers of monocyte recruitment (e.g. CCL2, CCL7), neutrophil activation (e.g. proteinase-3), and epithelial injury (e.g. KRT19). Machine-learning identified predictors of severity including IL18BP, CTSD, GDF15, and KRT19. Survival analysis with joint models revealed 69 predictors of death. Longitudinal modelling with linear mixed models uncovered 32 proteins displaying different temporal profiles in severe versus non-severe disease, including integrins and adhesion molecules. These data implicate epithelial damage, innate immune activation, and leucocyte–endothelial interactions in the pathology of severe COVID-19 and provide a resource for identifying drug targets

Analisi del contenuto di alcuni Unguentari Pompeiani

Una ricerca svolta sul contenuto di un gruppo di balsamari di Pompei ha portato ad evidenziare una serie di composti organici di varia natura. Mediante tecniche di spettroscopia infrarossa, microRaman e di gascromatografia applicata alla spettrometria di massa si sono identificati vari componenti noti e alcuni finora incogniti. I composti inorganici identificati possono fornire indicazioni sulla provenienza di materiali o preferenze locali per prodotti disponibili, le sostanze organiche, le tecnologie di preparazione del cosmetico. In generale, dall'esame dei dati qui riportati, risulta una cosmesi di tipo economico, rispetto a siti contemporanei posti in zone limitrofe. Non mancano per\uf2 alcune singolarit\ue0, come l'impiego dell' huntite e della jarosite, materiali di probabile provenienza egiziana

Disfluencies signal theee, um, new information

Speakers are often disfluent, for example, saying “theee uh candle ” instead of “the candle. ” Production data show that disfluencies occur more often during references to things that are discoursenew, rather than given. An eyetracking experiment shows that this correlation between disfluency and discourse status affects speech comprehension. Subjects viewed scenes containing four objects, including two cohort competitors (e.g., camel, candle), and followed spoken instructions to move the objects. The first instruction established one cohort as discourse-given; the other was discoursenew. The second instruction was either fluent or disfluent, and referred to either the given or new cohort. Fluent instructions led to more initial fixations on the given cohort object (replicating Dahan et al., 2002). By contrast, disfluent instructions resulted in more fixations on the new cohort. This shows that discourse-new information can be accessible under some circumstances. More generally, it suggests that disfluency affects core language comprehension processes. KEY WORDS: reference comprehension; disfluency; language processing; information status

A new 3D concentration gradient maker and its application in building hydrogels with a 3D stiffness gradient

For a deeper knowledge of phenomena at cell and tissue level, for understanding the role on bimolecular signalling and for the development of new drugs it is important to recreate in vitro environments that mimic the physiological one. Spatial gradients of soluble species guide the cells' morphogenesis, and they range in a three-dimensional (3D) environment. Gradients of mechanical properties, which have a 3D pattern, could lead cell migration and differentiation. In this work, a new 3D Concentration Gradient Maker able to generate 3D concentration gradients of soluble species was developed, which could be used for differential perfusion of scaffolds. The same device can be applied to build hydrogel matrixes with a 3D gradient of mechanical properties. Computational dynamic fluid analysis was used to develop the gradient generator; the validation of the 3D gradient of stiffness was carried out using finite elements analysis and experimental studies. The device and its application could bring improvements in studying phenomena related to cell chemotaxis and mechanotaxis, but also to differentiation in the simultaneous presence of gradients in both soluble chemical species and substrate stiffness. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd