Editorial: The Vascular Niche in Tissue Repair: A Therapeutic Target for Regeneration.

Editorial on the Research Topic The Vascular Niche in Tissue Repair: A Therapeutic Target for Regeneration In mammals, although regeneration is quite restricted to a number of tissues and organs, this particular healing process is possible through the existence of tissue-resident stem/progenitor cells. Upon injury, these cells are activated, they proliferate, migrate, and differentiate into tissue-specific cells and functionally replace the damaged or lost cells. Besides this, angiogenesis and neovascularization play crucial roles in tissue repair. Blood vessels (BV) together with the resident surrounding cells create a vascular niche which is central to local and distant signaling thereby shaping the regenerative response. The Frontiers Research Topic “The Vascular Niche in Tissue Repair: A Therapeutic Target for Regeneration” encompasses 14 articles highlighting various aspects of the vascular niche (VN) in health and disease. This research topic first describes ex vivo methodological aspects to study the role of the VN in regeneration, second addresses the VN cellular composition and roles during regeneration, third described local as well as distant signaling mechanisms regulating the VN in regeneration and, finally addresses the VN responses in pathology

Die Wahrheits- und Versöhnungskommission

Die vorliegende Arbeit setzt sich mit dem Prozess der südafrikanischen Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung im Rahmen der Wahrheits- und Versöhnungskommission (TRC) auseinander. Bis zur demokratischen Wende 1994 herrschte in Südafrika vierzig Jahre lang Rassentrennung (Apartheid), die sich in systematischer und gewaltvoller Unterdrückung der schwarzen Bevölkerungsmehrheit ausdrückte und der Begünstigung der weißen Minderheit diente. Mit dem Ende der Repression verordnete sich das Land von 1995 bis 2001 einen kollektiven Bewältigungsprozess, der zu einem tieferen Verständnis über die konfliktbeladene Vergangenheit und einer friedlichen demokratischen Zukunft führen sollte. Statt eine Aufarbeitung in Form von Strafprozessen zu wählen, diente Wahrheit als Mittel, um eine gemeinsame Erinnerung an die Vergangenheit zu produzieren. Durch das Anhören der Opfer wurde diesen die lange verwehrte öffentliche Anerkennung ihres Leids zuteil. Das Besondere am Modell der südafrikanischen Wahrheitskommission lag darin, die Täter durch Gewährung von Amnestie zur Mitarbeit am Aufarbeitungsprozess zu bewegen. Diese Arbeit unterzieht die Wahrheitskommission einer Untersuchung, um die Versprechungen und Ergebnisse des Wahrheitsfindungsprozesses miteinander zu vergleichen und die Langzeitwirkung der südafrikanischen Kommission abzuschätzen. Am Beginn steht ein Vergleich der verschiedenen Instrumente der Vergangenheitspolitik und Überlegungen zum Konzept von Versöhnung. In weiterer Folge werden die Grundzüge von Wahrheitskommissionen erläutert. Im Hauptteil werden die südafrikanische Wahrheitskommission und das Amnestiemodell einer kritischen Beurteilung unterzogen. Zum Schluss folgt ein Ausblick auf die verschiedenen Formen der Erinnerung und auf die Lebenssituation im Südafrika der Gegenwart

Endomarketing para apoio a comunicação interna em uma indústria de nutrição animal de médio porte da Região Metropolitana de Curitba

Orientador: Sergio BulgacovMonografia (Especialização) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas, Curso de Especialização em Estratégia e Gestão Empresaria

The human side of animal experimentation: A qualitative, exploratory study into workrelated stress and coping in animal experimenters

Besides the pervasive controversy of animal experimentation in society, ethics and science, the human experimenter side of laboratory animal studies is a relatively underrepresented topic in human-animal interaction research. Few studies have addressed scientists’ stress responses to animal experiments. The main aim of this study was to assess work-related stress by means of salivary cortisol secretion, coping strategies, self-esteem, pet attitude and personality traits in academic researchers who regularly perform invasive animal experiments. Invitation to participate in the study resulted in a response rate of 15.4% of 65 invited scientists, of which only four (6.15%) completed data collection. Study participants carried out saliva sampling on working days with and without animal experiments, completed a semi-structured qualitative interview and psychological questionnaires. Salivary cortisol (SC) was measured via enzyme immunoassay. The results indicate that animal experimenters used problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies. Three participants reached above average values in self-esteem. Pet attitudes scores were moderately positive. Three out of four animal experimenters reached high scores on the personality dimensions "openness to experience", "agreeableness" and "conscientiousness". In the absence of an acute increase in SC related to animal experimentation, two out of four participants exhibited an altered circadian pattern of SC secretion only on working days with animal experiments. Although and as a matter of fact because only four of 65 invited scientists volunteered to participate, we discussed the seemingly low willingness of researchers to participate in such a study based on a theoretical analysis, particularly highlighting the concept of deindividuation and provide suggestions for future research

Mesenchymal Stem Cells Promote Oligodendroglial Differentiation in Hippocampal Slice Cultures

We have previously shown that soluble factors derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) induce oligodendrogenic fate and differentiation in adult rat neural progenitors (NPCs) in vitro. Here, we investigated if this pro-oligodendrogenic effect is maintained after cells have been transplanted onto rat hippocampal slice cultures, a CNS-organotypic environment. We first tested whether NPCs, that were pre-differentiated in vitro by MSC-derived conditioned medium, would generate oligodendrocytes after transplantation. This approach resulted in the loss of grafted NPCs, suggesting that oligodendroglial pre-differentiated cells could not integrate in the tissue and therefore did not survive grafting. However, when NPCs together with MSCs were transplanted in situ into hippocampal slice cultures, the grafted NPCs survived and the majority of them differentiated into oligodendrocytes. In contrast to the prevalent oligodendroglial differentiation in case of the NPC/MSC co-transplantation, naive NPCs transplanted in the absence of MSCs differentiated predominantly into astrocytes. In summary, the pro-oligodendrogenic activity of MSCs was maintained only after co-transplantation into hippocampal slice cultures. Therefore, in the otherwise astrogenic milieu, MSCs established an oligodendrogenic niche for transplanted NPCs, and thus, co-transplantation of MSCs with NPCs might provide an attractive approach to re-myelinate the various regions of the diseased CNS. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Base

CT-Based Risk Stratification for Intensive Care Need and Survival in COVID-19 Patients—A Simple Solution

We evaluated a simple semi-quantitative (SSQ) method for determining pulmonary involvement in computed tomography (CT) scans of COVID-19 patients. The extent of lung involvement in the first available CT was assessed with the SSQ method and subjectively. We identified risk factors for the need of invasive ventilation, intensive care unit (ICU) admission and for time to death after infection. Additionally, the diagnostic performance of both methods was evaluated. With the SSQ method, a 10% increase in the affected lung area was found to significantly increase the risk for need of ICU treatment with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.68 and for invasive ventilation with an OR of 1.35. Male sex, age, and pre-existing chronic lung disease were also associated with higher risks. A larger affected lung area was associated with a higher instantaneous risk of dying (hazard ratio (HR) of 1.11) independently of other risk factors. SSQ measurement was slightly superior to the subjective approach with an AUC of 73.5% for need of ICU treatment and 72.7% for invasive ventilation. SSQ assessment of the affected lung in the first available CT scans of COVID-19 patients may support early identification of those with higher risks for need of ICU treatment, invasive ventilation, or death