Experiencing emotional and psychosocial support during preparation for re-integration: a study of street children under the care of Retrak Uganda

This thesis investigates children’s experience of psychosocial and emotional support of (non-parental) caregivers in residential facilities in preparation for their re-integration into family based care. The thesis urges that successful preparation of ‘street children’ for re-integration into family based care requires professional psychosocial and emotional support.The author uses Bowlby’s attachment theory as well as Rogers’ humanistic theory of a therapeutic relationship to articulate children’s needs for emotional care on account of their varied experiences from the street life and/ or life before the street – some of which are traumatic in nature. Key concepts in Rogers’ humanistic approach including congruence, empathy and unconditional positive regard are identified to be central in a caregiver-client relationship in order to achieve positive effects. In order to study this preparation phase for children’s re-integration, interviews with (former) street children, caregivers, management personnel at the Uganda-based institution "Retrak" (which focuses on the work with highly vulnerable children) as well as administrative personnel of Uganda's Gender, Labour and Social Development Ministry have been conducted. The analysis of the interviews showed that the aspects of time, trust and therapeutic relationship are seen by the caregivers as well as by the former street children as relevant factor for preparation of successful re-integration. Only by sufficient inclusion of these aspects, children are enabled to overcome traumatic experiences and build a strong and open relationship with the caregivers. This again is the basis for the children's self-actualization and empowerment to overcome potential barriers, which hinder re-integration. However, the interviews have shown that several factors inhibit the full inclusion of the relevant factors time, trust and therapeutic relationship in the work with the children (e.g. lack of expert personnel to work with highly traumatized children, understaffing, underfinancing, problems in creating trust relationships with children who do not open up towards the social workers). Therefore, the thesis concludes with recommendations, how these obstacles could be overcome, providing for better re-integration results

Mesenchymal Stem Cells as a Potent Cell Source for Bone Regeneration

While small bone defects heal spontaneously, large bone defects need surgical intervention for bone transplantation. Autologous bone grafts are the best and safest strategy for bone repair. An alternative method is to use allogenic bone graft. Both methods have limitations, particularly when bone defects are of a critical size. In these cases, bone constructs created by tissue engineering technologies are of utmost importance. Cells are one main component in the manufacture of bone construct. A few cell types, including embryonic stem cells (ESCs), adult osteoblast, and adult stem cells, can be used for this purpose. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), as adult stem cells, possess characteristics that make them good candidate for bone repair. This paper discusses different aspects of MSCs that render them an appropriate cell type for clinical use to promote bone regeneration

Fungal Pathogens Associated With Roselle (Hibiscus Sabdariffa) In Penang, And Controls

The main objective of this study was to identify and characterize fungal pathogens associated with Roselle diseases in Penang, and to study their control. A total of 200 fungal isolates were obtained from 90 samples of symptomatic Roselle tissues. The isolates were identified based on cultural and morphological characteristics, as well as their pathogenicity. The fungal pathogen most frequently isolated was Phoma exigua (present in 45 % of the samples collected), followed by Fusarium nygamai (25 %), Rhizoctonia solani (19 %) and F. camptoceras (11 %)

Development of PLGA-coated β-TCP scaffolds containing VEGF for bone tissue engineering

Bone tissue engineering is sought to apply strategies for bone defects healing without limitations and short-comings of using either bone autografts or allografts and xenografts. The aim of this study was to fabricate a thin layer poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) coated beta-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) scaffold with sustained release of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). PLGA coating increased compressive strength of the β-TCP scaffolds significantly. For in vitro evaluations, canine mesenchymal stem cells (cMSCs) and canine endothelial progenitor cells (cEPCs) were isolated and characterized. Cell proliferation and attachment were demonstrated and the rate of cells proliferation on the VEGF released scaffold was significantly more than compared to the scaffolds with no VEGF loading. A significant increase in expression of COL1 and RUNX2 was indicated in the scaffolds loaded with VEGF and MSCs compared to the other groups. Consequently, PLGA coated β-TCP scaffold with sustained and localized release of VEGF showed favourable results for bone regeneration in vitro, and this scaffold has the potential to use as a drug delivery device in the future

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell and vein conduit on sciatic nerve repair in rats

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the vein conduit technique, with and without the addition of mesenchymal stem cells in gap-less nerve injury repair in rats. Materials and Methods: In this study, 36 Wistar rats were randomly allocated to three groups: In the first group, nerve repair was performed with simple neurorrhaphy (control group), in the second group, nerve repair was done with vein conduit over site (vein conduit group) and in the third group, bone marrow stem cells were instilled into the vein conduit (stem cell group) after nerve repair with vein conduit over site. Six weeks after the intervention, the sciatic function index, electrophysiological study and histological examination were performed. Results: All animals tolerated the surgical procedures and survived well. The sciatic function index and latency were significantly improved in the vein conduit (P = 0.04 and 0.03, respectively) and stem cell group (P = 0.02 and 0.03, respectively) compared with the control group. No significant difference was observed in sciatic function and latency between the vein conduit and stem-cell groups. Moreover, histological analysis showed no significant difference in regenerative density between these two groups. Conclusions: The results of this study showed that the meticulous microsurgical nerve repair, which was performed using the vein tubulization induced significantly better sciatic nerve regeneration. However, the addition of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell to vein conduit failed to promote any significant changes in regeneration outcome. Background: Peripheral nerve repair with sufficient functional recovery is an important issue in reconstructive surgery. Stem cells have attracted extensive research interest in recent years. Copyright © 2015, Trauma Monthly

Ex vivo Expansion and Differentiation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Goat Bone Marrow

Objective(s)Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from large animals as goat which is genetically more closely related tohuman have rarely been gained attentions. The present study tried to isolate and characterize MSCs fromgoat bone marrow.Materials and MethodsFibroblastic cells appeared in goat marrow cell culture were expanded through several subcultures.Passaged-3 cells were then differentiated among the osteogenic, adipogenic and chondrogenic cell lineagesto determine their MSC nature. Differentiations were determined by RT-PCR analysis of related geneexpression. To identify the best culture conditions for propagation, passage-3 cells were plated either atvarying cell densities or different fetal bovine serum (FBS) concentrations for a week, at the end of whichthe cultures were statistically compared with respect to the cell proliferation. In this study, we alsodetermined goat MSC population doubling time (PDT) as the index of their in vitro expansion rate.ResultsPassage-3 fibroblastic cells tended to differentiate into skeletal cell lineages. This was evident in bothspecific staining as well as the specific gene expression profile. Moreover, there appeared to be moreexpansion when the cultures were initiated at 100 cells/cm2 in a medium supplemented with 15% FBS. Arelatively short PDT (24.94±2.67 hr) was a reflection of the goat MSC rapid rate of expansion.ConclusionTaken together, fibroblastic cells developed at goat marrow cell culture are able to differentiate into skeletalcell lineages. They undergo extensive proliferation when being plated at low cell density in 15% FBSconcentration.Keywords: Adipogenesis, Bovine serum, Cell seeding density, Chondrogenesis, Goat mesenchymal stemcells, Osteogenesi

Effect of chitosan grafted polyethylenimine nanoparticles as a gene carrier on mesenchymal stem cells viability

      This study discusses the effect of complexes of chitosan grafted polyethylenimine(Ch-PEI) with plasmid DNA on viability of mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs) derived from human marrow. Ch-PEI/pDNA nanoparticles were synthesized through the complex coacervation method using pIRES plasmid containing Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) gene. To confirm the complexation, samples were run through an agarose gel. Human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells were studied for the cytotoxicity of the nanoparticles by MTT assay. MTT results indicated Ch-PEI does not have any significant cytotoxicity compared with PEI and Lipofectamine2000 leading to 40% cytotoxicity. According to the results it seems that grafting chitosan with PEI improves the MSCs viability