Controlled release of chitosan/heparin nanoparticle-delivered VEGF enhances regeneration of decellularized tissue-engineered scaffolds

Regeneration deficiency is one of the main obstacles limiting the effectiveness of tissue-engineered scaffolds. To develop scaffolds that are capable of accelerating regeneration, we created a heparin/chitosan nanoparticle-immobilized decellularized bovine jugular vein scaffold to increase the loading capacity and allow for controlled release of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The vascularization of the scaffold was evaluated in vitro and in vivo. The functional nanoparticles were prepared by physical self-assembly with a diameter of 67–132 nm, positive charge, and a zeta potential of ∼30 mV and then the nanoparticles were successfully immobilized to the nanofibers of scaffolds by ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride/hydroxysulfosuccinimide modification. The scaffolds immobilized with heparin/chitosan nanoparticles exhibited highly effective localization and sustained release of VEGF for several weeks in vitro. This modified scaffold significantly stimulated endothelial cells’ proliferation in vitro. Importantly, utilization of heparin/chitosan nanoparticles to localize VEGF significantly increased fibroblast infiltration, extracellular matrix production, and accelerated vascularization in mouse subcutaneous implantation model in vivo. This study provided a novel and promising system for accelerated regeneration of tissue-engineering scaffolds

Novel OCT mosaicking pipeline with Feature- and Pixel-based registration

High-resolution Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) images are crucial for ophthalmology studies but are limited by their relatively narrow field of view (FoV). Image mosaicking is a technique for aligning multiple overlapping images to obtain a larger FoV. Current mosaicking pipelines often struggle with substantial noise and considerable displacement between the input sub-fields. In this paper, we propose a versatile pipeline for stitching multi-view OCT/OCTA \textit{en face} projection images. Our method combines the strengths of learning-based feature matching and robust pixel-based registration to align multiple images effectively. Furthermore, we advance the application of a trained foundational model, Segment Anything Model (SAM), to validate mosaicking results in an unsupervised manner. The efficacy of our pipeline is validated using an in-house dataset and a large public dataset, where our method shows superior performance in terms of both accuracy and computational efficiency. We also made our evaluation tool for image mosaicking and the corresponding pipeline publicly available at \url{https://github.com/MedICL-VU/OCT-mosaicking}

The Role of AM Symbiosis in Plant Adaptation to Drought Stress

Symposium paper Part 1: Function and management of soil microorganisms in agro-ecosystems with special reference to arbuscular mycorrhizal fung

C-Silicon-based metasurfaces for aperture-robust spectrometer/imaging with angle integration

Compared with conventional grating-based spectrometers, reconstructive spectrometers based on spectrally engineered filtering have the advantage of miniaturization because of the less demand for dispersive optics and free propagation space. However, available reconstructive spectrometers fail to balance the performance on operational bandwidth, spectral diversity and angular stability. In this work, we proposed a compact silicon metasurfaces based spectrometer/camera. After angle integration, the spectral response of the system is robust to angle/aperture within a wide working bandwidth from 400nm to 800nm. It is experimentally demonstrated that the proposed method could maintain the spectral consistency from F/1.8 to F/4 (The corresponding angle of incident light ranges from 7{\deg} to 16{\deg}) and the incident hyperspectral signal could be accurately reconstructed with a fidelity exceeding 99%. Additionally, a spectral imaging system with 400x400 pixels is also established in this work. The accurate reconstructed hyperspectral image indicates that the proposed aperture-robust spectrometer has the potential to be extended as a high-resolution broadband hyperspectral camera

Application of Virtual Simulation Technology in Theory and Experiment Teaching of Air Pollution Control Engineering

Virtual reality technology provides great convenience for humans to explore the macro and micro worlds due to its extremely realistic experience, and it will be seen in all walks of life in the future. This paper focuses on the analysis of the current situation of virtual simulation technology in the teaching application of air pollution control engineering theory teaching and experimental teaching, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of application. Furthermore, the development and prospect of virtual simulation technology in air pollution control engineering theory and experimental teaching are summarized. Keywords: virtual simulation technology, air pollution control engineering, theoretical teaching, experimental teaching DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-29-08 Publication date:October 31st 202

IMPLEMENTATION STATUS AND BARRIERS OF GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICE (GMP) FOR CHINESE PATENT MEDICINE

Background: Safety, quality and effectiveness of Chinese patent medicine (CPM) are highly relevant to the manufacturing process. However, the level of manufacturing practice (GMP) for CPM as implemented in China is less reported in literatures. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to reveal the implementation status of GMP for CPM in China, in terms of implementation principle, implementation content, industrial impacts, and implementation barriers from both macro and micro aspects. Methods: A comprehensive analysis was carried out with archival data and field work at CPM manufacturers. Results: Both implementation principle and content of GMP for CPM in China indicated a transformation from provision-oriented to human-oriented, leaving more flexible operation space to CPM manufacturers. However, poor manufacturing practices may still exist because the implementation of GMP in China is not strict enough to eliminate all the unqualified CPM manufacturers from market. Moreover, compared with international WHO GMP, there are barriers for implementing GMP for CPM, including main deficiencies in quality control management, cost of GMP renovation projects, lack of education and training, and lack of expertise. Conclusion: This paper found that the implementation of GMP for CPM still faced many barriers though GMP had generated some positive impacts on CPM manufacturing. Removal of implementation barriers could be considered, including strengthening personnel competence, improving the quality management system and enhancing the international communication with advanced GMP regulators

Changes in water and beverage intake and long-term weight changes: results from three prospective cohort studies

Objective: To examine the long-term relationship between changes in water and beverage intake and weight change. Subjects Prospective cohort studies of 50 013 women aged 40-64 in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS, 1986-2006), 52 987 women aged 27-44 in the NHS II (1991-2007), and 21 988 men aged 40-64 in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986-2006) without obesity and chronic diseases at baseline. Measures We assessed the association of weight change within each 4-year interval with changes in beverage intakes and other lifestyle behaviors during the same period. Multivariate linear regression with robust variance and accounting for within-person repeated measures were used to evaluate the association. Results across the three cohorts were pooled by an inverse-variance-weighted meta-analysis. Results: Participants gained an average of 1.45 kg (5th to 95th percentile, −1.87 to 5.46) within each 4-year period. After controlling for age, baseline body mass index, and changes in other lifestyle behaviors (diet, smoking habits, exercise, alcohol, sleep duration, TV watching), each 1-cup/d increment of water intake was inversely associated with weight gain within each 4-year period (−0.13 kg; 95% CI: −0.17, −0.08). The associations for other beverages were: SSBs (0.36 kg; 0.24, 0.48), fruit juice (0.22 kg; 0.15, 0.28), coffee (−0.14 kg; −0.19, −0.09), tea (−0.03 kg; −0.05, −0.01), diet beverages (−0.10 kg; −0.14, −0.06), low-fat milk (0.02 kg; −0.04, 0.09), and whole milk (0.02 kg; −0.06, 0.10). We estimated that replacement of 1 serving/d of SSBs by 1 cup/d of water was associated with 0.49 kg (95% CI: 0.32, 0.65) less weight gain over each 4-year period, and the replacement estimate of fruit juices by water was 0.35 kg (95% CI: 0.23, 0.46). Substitution of SSBs or fruit juices by other beverages (coffee, tea, diet beverages, low-fat and whole milk) were all significantly and inversely associated with weight gain. Conclusion: Our results suggest that increasing water intake in place of SSBs or fruit juices is associated with lower long-term weight gain