Calcified Algae for Tissue Engineering.

This book presents the latest advances in marine structures and related biomaterials for applications in both soft- and hard-tissue engineering, as well as controlled drug delivery

the prevention of chronic diseases through ehealth a practical overview

Disease prevention is an umbrella term embracing individual-based or population-based interventions aimed at preventing the manifestation of diseases (primary prevention), reducing the impact of a disease that has arisen (secondary prevention), or mitigating the impact of an ongoing illness (tertiary prevention). Digital health has the potential to improve prevention of chronic diseases. Its application ranges from effective mHealth weight-loss intervention to prevent or delay the onset of diabetes in overweight adults to the cost-effective intervention on the provision of mental-health care via mobile-based or Internet-based programs to reduce the incidence or the severity of anxiety. The present contribution focuses on the effectiveness of eHealth preventive interventions and on the role of digital health in improving health promotion and disease prevention. We also give a practical overview on how eHealth interventions have been effectively implemented, developed, and delivered for the primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of chronic diseases

European and multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of atopic dermatitis highlights importance of systemic immune regulation.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin condition and prior genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 71 associated loci. In the current study we conducted the largest AD GWAS to date (discovery N = 1,086,394, replication N = 3,604,027), combining previously reported cohorts with additional available data. We identified 81 loci (29 novel) in the European-only analysis (which all replicated in a separate European analysis) and 10 additional loci in the multi-ancestry analysis (3 novel). Eight variants from the multi-ancestry analysis replicated in at least one of the populations tested (European, Latino or African), while two may be specific to individuals of Japanese ancestry. AD loci showed enrichment for DNAse I hypersensitivity and eQTL associations in blood. At each locus we prioritised candidate genes by integrating multi-omic data. The implicated genes are predominantly in immune pathways of relevance to atopic inflammation and some offer drug repurposing opportunities

Gentrification on the Planetary Urban Frontier : The Evolution of Turner’s Noösphere

As capitalist urbanization evolves, so too does gentrification. Theories and experiences that have anchored the reference points of gentrification in the Global North for half a century are now rapidly evolving into more cosmopolitan, dynamic world urban systems of variegated gentrifications. These trends seem to promise a long-overdue postcolonial provincialization of the entrenched Global North bias of urban theory. Yet there is a jarring paradox between the material realities of some of the largest non-military urban displacements in human history in the Global South, alongside a growing reluctance to ‘impose’ Northern languages, theories, and politics of gentrification to understand these processes. In this paper, I negotiate this paradox through an engagement of several seemingly unrelated empirical trends and theoretical debates in urban studies and gentrification. My central argument is that interdependent yet partially autonomous developments in urban entrepreneurialism and transnational markets in labor, real estate, and education are transcending the dichotomy between gentrification in cities (the traditional focus of so much place-based research) versus gentrification as a dimension of planetary urbanization. Amidst the planetary technological transformations now celebrated as “cognitive capitalism” and a communications-consciousness “noösphere,” these developments are coalescing into a global, cosmopolitan, and multicultural tapestry of explicitly evolutionary class transformations of urban space that adapt to multiply-scaled contingencies of urban history, socio-cultural difference, state power, and terrains of resistance. The argument proceeds in three steps. First, I explain how social Darwinism was deeply embedded within conventional urban theory in the decades before Ruth Glass gave us a language for the discussion of gentrification, thus perpetuating debates over narrow empirical issues at the expense of deeper critical scrutiny of the evolutionary logics of socio-spatial classifications. Second, I examine the recent movement for a “cosmopolitan decolonization” of gentrification theory that has emerged at the precise moment when powerful alliances are consolidating the networked infrastructures of gentrification on an unprecedented scale. Third, I analyze the contemporary evolution of gentrification as a recombinant blend of old and new, as the means of class transformation of urban space are accelerated through intensified competition in work, education, and housing. The built environments of planetary urbanization provide ample opportunities not only for diverse cosmopolitan descendants of old-fashioned urban renewal in the style of Haussmann’s Paris or Moses’ New York, but also for new generations of ‘capitalists with conscience’ -- entrepreneurial coalitions closing ‘moral rent gaps’ by integrating the economic profits of gentrification with the discourses and practices of environmental sustainability, socially responsible development, and global fields of educational opportunity. All of these escalating competitions are legitimated as inclusive multicultural meritocracies. Yet the relentless optimism of competitive innovation in the cognitive-capitalist noösphere is creating dangerous new frontiers of human ecology that reproduce the social-Darwinist “form of society” that Frederick Jackson Turner envisioned in his theorization of the “recurrence of the process of evolution” in America’s colonial-settler waves of violent dispossession.Arts, Faculty ofGeography, Department ofReviewedFacult

Pedicle screw fixation in spinal disorders: a European view

Continuing controversy over the use of pedicular fixation in the United States is promoted by the lack of governmental approval for the marketing of these devices due to safety and efficacy concerns. These implants have meanwhile become an invaluable part of spinal instrumentation in Europe. With regard to the North American view, there is a lack of comprehensive reviews that consider the historical evolution of pedicle screw systems, the rationales for their application, and the clinical outcome from a European perspective. This literature review suggests that pedicular fixation is a relatively safe procedure and is not associated with a significantly higher complication risk than non-pedicular instrumentation. Pedicle screw fixation provides short, rigid segmental stabilization that allows preservation of motion segments and stabilization of the spine in the absence of intact posterior elements, which is not possible with non-pedicular instrumentation. Fusion rates and clinical outcome in the treatment of thoracolumbar fractures appear to be superior to that achieved using other forms of treatment. For the correction of spinal deformity (i.e., scoliosis, kyphosis, spondylolisthesis, tumor), pedicular fixation provides the theoretical benefit of rigid segmental fixation and of facilitated deformity correction by a posterior approach, but the clinical relevance so far remains unknown. In low-back pain disorders, a literature analysis of 5,600 cases of lumbar fusion with different techniques reveals a trend that pedicle screw fixation enhances the fusion rate but not clinical outcome. The most striking finding in the literature is the large range in the radiological and clinical results. For every single fusion technique poor and excellent results have been described. This review argues that European spine surgeons should begin to back up the evident benefits of pedicle screw systems for specific spinal disorders by controlled prospective clinical trials. This may prevent forthcoming medical licensing authorities from restricting the use of pedicle screw devices and dictating the practice of spinal surgery in Europe in the near futur