Insight into halloysite nanotubes-loaded gellan gum hydrogels for soft tissue engineering applications

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Polycaprolactone Scaffolds Fabricated via Bioextrusion for Tissue Engineering Applications

The most promising approach in Tissue Engineering involves the seeding of porous, biocompatible/biodegradable scaffolds, with donor cells to promote tissue regeneration. Additive biomanufacturing processes are increasingly recognized as ideal techniques to produce 3D structures with optimal pore size and spatial distribution, providing an adequate mechanical support for tissue regeneration while shaping in-growing tissues. This paper presents a novel extrusion-based system to produce 3D scaffolds with controlled internal/external geometry for TE applications.The BioExtruder is a low-cost system that uses a proper fabrication code based on the ISO programming language enabling the fabrication of multimaterial scaffolds. Poly(ε-caprolactone) was the material chosen to produce porous scaffolds, made by layers of directionally aligned microfilaments. Chemical, morphological, and in vitro biological evaluation performed on the polymeric constructs revealed a high potential of the BioExtruder to produce 3D scaffolds with regular and reproducible macropore architecture, without inducing relevant chemical and biocompatibility alterations of the material

Cell-based medicinal products approved in the European Union: current evidence and perspectives

Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) are innovative clinical treatments exploiting the pharmacological, immunological, or metabolic properties of cells and/or gene(s) with the aim to restore, correct, or modify a biological function in the recipient. ATMPs are heterogeneous medicinal products, developed mainly as individualized and patient-specific treatments, and represent new opportunities for diseases characterized by a high-unmet medical need, including rare, genetic and neurodegenerative disorders, haematological malignancies, cancer, autoimmune, inflammatory and orthopaedic conditions. Into the European Union (EU) market, the first ATMP has been launched in 2009 and, to date, a total of 24 ATMPs have been approved. This review aims at reporting on current evidence of cell-based therapies authorized in the EU, including Somatic Cell Therapies, Tissue Engineering Products, and Cell-based Gene Therapy Products as Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cells, focusing on the evaluation of efficacy and safety in clinical trials and real-world settings. Despite cell-based therapy representing a substantial promise for patients with very limited treatment options, some limitations for its widespread use in the clinical setting remain, including restricted indications, highly complex manufacturing processes, elevated production costs, the lability of cellular products over time, and the potential safety concerns related to the intrinsic characteristics of living cells, including the risk of severe or life-threatening toxicities, such as CAR-T induced neurotoxicity and cytokine release syndrome (CRS). Although encouraging findings support the clinical use of ATMPs, additional data, comparative studies with a long-term follow-up, and wider real-world evidences are needed to provide further insights into their efficacy and safety profiles

Preliminary survey on the occurrence of microplastics in bivalve mollusks marketed in Apulian fish markets

Microplastics (MPs) are a relevant threat to food safety because they are ingested by humans through various foods. Bivalves are at high risk of microplastic contamination due to their filter-feeding mechanism and pose a risk to consumers as they are ingested whole. In this work, microplastics were detected, quantified, identified, and classified in samples of mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and oysters (Crassostrea gigas) marketed in the Apulia region. The total number of plastic debris was 789 particles in the mussel samples and 270 particles in the oyster samples, with size ranging from 10 to 7350 µm. Fragments with size within the category of 5-500 µm were the predominant findings in both species, with blue as the predominant color in mussels and transparent in oysters; most of the debris was polyamide and nylon polymers in the mussels and chlorinated polypropylene in the oysters. These results show that mussel and oyster samples purchased at fish markets are contaminated with microplastics. The sources may be diverse and further studies are needed to assess the impact of the marketing stage on microplastic contamination in bivalves to better define the human risk assessment associated with microplastic exposure from bivalves consumption

Asociación entre posición socioeconómica en infancia-adolescencia y calidad de vida en adultos con hipertensión arterial de tres ciudades colombianas en 2015

Múltiples características de la posición socioeconómica se han asociado a la presencia de hipertensión arterial y a la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud. El objetivo de este estudio fue examinar la magnitud de la asociación entre posición socioeconómica en la vida temprana y calidad de vida en la población adulta con hipertensión arterial en Colombia. Se realizó un estudio de fuente secundaria de tipo corte transversal en el año 2015 en adultos de 45 a 70 años, con hipertensión diagnosticada, participantes del programa de Determinantes Sociales e Inequidades en el Control de la Hipertensión (ProDSICHA) que se desarrolló en tres ciudades Colombianas. La muestra final para este estudio fue de 258 personas de las ciudades Bogotá (32.56%), Medellín (37.21%) y Quibdó (30.23%). Se encontró para nuestra muestra una edad promedio de 59.11 años, con un mayor porcentaje de mujeres (62.40%), donde el 20.09% de las madres de los participantes del estudio cursó secundaria o más, de manera similar el 23.15% de los padres y el 58.14% de los participantes del estudio. El puntaje global para calidad de vida fue de 29.56. No se encontró asociación significativa entre el puntaje global de calidad de vida y la posición socioeconómica en la edad adulta, sin embargo, los hallazgos podrían indicar que van en la dirección esperada. Nuestros hallazgos son relevantes, ya que resaltan la importancia de la necesidad de realizar estudios adicionales en ésta área, con muestras más grandes y representativas, con el fin determinar la influencia y posible causalidad de las características de la PSE en la infancia-adolescencia y la calidad de vida en la edad adulta.Magíster en Salud PúblicaMaestrí

Simulating bacteria-materials interactions via agent-based modeling

This work reports the outcomes of in silico simulations of the interactions between S. aureus bacteria and an antibacterial polymeric coating developed onto titanium substrates. The aim of the theoretical analysis is to develop a computational approach suitable of predicting the effective amount of antibacterial agents to load onto the polymeric coating in order to prevent titanium implants infections and at the same time to minimize cytotoxicity. The simulations results will be contrasted with experimental data

Multiblock Polyurethanes Based on Biodegradable Amphiphilic Poly(ε-caprolactone)/Poly(ethylene glycol) Segments as Candidates for Tissue Engineering Applications

Biodegradable amphiphilic multiblock poly(ether-ester-urethane)s were prepared by one-step bulk polycondensation of PEG and PCL macrodiols and HMDI with good yields and high molecular weights. The copolymers were characterized by 1H-NMR, FT-IR, SEC, TGA and DSC analysis. Different ratios of PEG/PCL, PEG macromonomer length and copolymer molecular weights allowed for tuning their hydrophilicity. Thanks to their tunable characteristics, the prepared multiblock copolymers can be exploited in the fabrication of biodegradable scaffolds for tissue engineering by means of the electrospinning technique

Cortico-muscular connectivity is modulated by passive and active Lokomat-assisted Gait

The effects of robotic-assisted gait (RAG) training, besides conventional therapy, on neuroplasticity mechanisms and cortical integration in locomotion are still uncertain. To advance our knowledge on the matter, we determined the involvement of motor cortical areas in the control of muscle activity in healthy subjects, during RAG with Lokomat, both with maximal guidance force (100 GF—passive RAG) and without guidance force (0 GF—active RAG) as customary in rehabilitation treatments. We applied a novel cortico-muscular connectivity estimation procedure, based on Partial Directed Coherence, to jointly study source localized EEG and EMG activity during rest (standing) and active/passive RAG. We found greater cortico-cortical connectivity, with higher path length and tendency toward segregation during rest than in both RAG conditions, for all frequency bands except for delta. We also found higher cortico-muscular connectivity in distal muscles during swing (0 GF), and stance (100 GF), highlighting the importance of direct supraspinal control to maintain balance, even when gait is supported by a robotic exoskeleton. Source-localized connectivity shows that this control is driven mainly by the parietal and frontal lobes. The involvement of many cortical areas also in passive RAG (100 GF) justifies the use of the 100 GF RAG training for neurorehabilitation, with the aim of enhancing cortical-muscle connections and driving neural plasticity in neurological patients

Surface Characterization of Electro-Assisted Titanium Implants: A Multi-Technique Approach

The understanding of chemical–physical, morphological, and mechanical properties of polymer coatings is a crucial preliminary step for further biological evaluation of the processes occurring on the coatings’ surface. Several studies have demonstrated how surface properties play a key role in the interactions between biomolecules (e.g., proteins, cells, extracellular matrix, and biological fluids) and titanium, such as chemical composition (investigated by means of XPS, TOF-SIMS, and ATR-FTIR), morphology (SEM–EDX), roughness (AFM), thickness (Ellipsometry), wettability (CA), solution–surface interactions (QCM-D), and mechanical features (hardness, elastic modulus, adhesion, and fatigue strength). In this review, we report an overview of the main analytical and mechanical methods commonly used to characterize polymer-based coatings deposited on titanium implants by electro-assisted techniques. A description of the relevance and shortcomings of each technique is described, in order to provide suitable information for the design and characterization of advanced coatings or for the optimization of the existing ones