Hypoxic Culture Conditions as a Solution for Mesenchymal Stem Cell Based Regenerative Therapy

Cell-based regenerative therapies, based on in vitro propagation of stem cells, offer tremendous hope to many individuals suffering from degenerative diseases that were previously deemed untreatable. Due to the self-renewal capacity, multilineage potential, and immunosuppressive property, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are considered as an attractive source of stem cells for regenerative therapies. However, poor growth kinetics, early senescence, and genetic instability during in vitro expansion and poor engraftment after transplantation are considered to be among the major disadvantages of MSC-based regenerative therapies. A number of complex inter-and intracellular interactive signaling systems control growth, multiplication, and differentiation of MSCs in their niche. Common laboratory conditions for stem cell culture involve ambient O-2 concentration (20%) in contrast to their niche where they usually reside in 2-9% O-2. Notably, O-2 plays an important role in maintaining stem cell fate in terms of proliferation and differentiation, by regulating hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) mediated expression of different genes. This paper aims to describe and compare the role of normoxia (20% O-2) and hypoxia (2-9% O-2) on the biology of MSCs. Finally it is concluded that a hypoxic environment can greatly improve growth kinetics, genetic stability, and expression of chemokine receptors during in vitro expansion and eventually can increase efficiency of MSC-based regenerative therapies.Article Link: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/632972

Learning to become evidence based social workers: student views on research education and implementation in practice

Professional guidelines for social workers in relation to research use in practice, present social workers as consumers, rather than producers of research evidence. This approach aligns with a growing emphasis on the use of evidence-based practice within social work. This paper reports on a small mixed methods study with a cohort of BA social work students (N = 38) with two aims: 1) to understand the experiences of students learning research at undergraduate level and 2) to explore how their learning and placement experiences interact and influence their development as ‘research-minded’ practitioners of the future. Descriptive statistics of the quantitative data and thematic analysis of focus groups are presented. Our findings support the existing literature relating to social work students attitudes to research, including feelings of anxiety and perceptions of difficulty, while also viewing it as important to their careers. We also found that within placement settings, students encounter negative, often dismissive views of research and experience little in the way of role-modelling of evidence-based practice. We consider these findings in light of the promotion of EBP in UK social work, and how this may influence our teaching of research and evidence use to future student cohorts

From local laboratory data to public domain database in search of indirect association of diseases: AJAX based gene data search engine.

This paper presents an extensible schema for capturing laboratory gene variance data with its meta-data properties in a semi-structured environment. This paper also focuses on the issues of creating a local and task specific component database which is a subset of global data resources. An XML based genetic disorder component database schema is developed with adequate flexibilities to facilitate searching of gene mutation data. A web based search engine is developed that allows researchers to query a set of gene parameters obtained from local XML schema and subsequently allow them to automatically establish a link with the public domain gene databases. The application applies AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML), a cutting-edge web technology, to carry out the gene data searching function

Metal-Coated Defect-Core Photonic Crystal Fiber for THz Propagation

Modal solutions for metal-coated defect-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a central air-hole have been obtained by using a full-vectorial finite element method to model the guidance of THz waves. It has been shown that the surface plasmon modes can couple with the defect-core PCF mode to form supermodes, with potential for sensing applications

An Improved Slant Path Attenuation Prediction Method in Tropical Climates

An improved method for predicting slant path attenuation in tropical climates is presented in this paper. The proposed approach is based on rain intensity data R_0.01 (mm/h) from 37 tropical and equatorial stations; and is validated by using the measurement data from a few localities in tropical climates. The new method seems to accurately predict the slant path attenuation in tropical localities, and the comparative tests seem to show significant improvement in terms of the RMS of the relative error variable compared to the RMS obtained with the SAM, Crane, and ITU-R prediction models

Optimal capacitor sizing and placement based on real time analysis using PSO for energy efficiency improvement

In this paper, optimal capacitor sizing and placement method was used to improve energyefficiency. It involves the placement of capacitors in a specific location with suitable sizingbased on the current load of the electrical system. The optimization is done in real timescenario where the sizing and placement of the capacitors are made dynamic and vary basedon the present load of the system. PSO AI technique have been implemented for real-timeanalysis. The optimization technique reduce the power losses and energy consumption bydetermining the location and size of the capacitors. MATLAB and SIMULINK develop theoptimization program and electrical distribution model. The three-phase electrical distributionsystem model have been used for testing the effectiveness of the optimization technique isdeployed at the UiTM Science and Technology Tower (Block 4).Keywords: energy efficiency; PSO; optimal; capacitor sizing; capacitor placement