Fostering Broad Oral Language Skills in Preschoolers from Low SES Background

Socioeconomic disparities increase the probability that children will enter school behind their more advantaged peers. Early intervention on language skills may enhance language and literacy outcomes, reduce the gap and, eventually, promote school readiness of low-SES (Socioeconomic Status) children. This study aimed to analyze the feasibility and eectiveness of a brief narrative-based intervention (treatment vs. control group) aimed to foster broad oral language skills in preschoolers (N = 69; Mean age = 5.5, SD = 4 months) coming from low-SES families. Moreover, it was analyzed whether children’s initial vocabulary mediates the intervention’s responsiveness. Results have shown that children in treatment group obtained greater gains than children in control group in almost all intervention-based measures. There is also some evidence for the generalizability of the intervention to other skills not directly trained during the intervention. Moreover, it was found that children’s initial vocabulary mediates the intervention’s responsiveness showing that children with high vocabulary made greater gains in higher-level components of language comprehension, whereas children with low vocabulary made higher gains in vocabulary. Taken together, our findings suggest that a relatively brief, but quite intensive narrative-based intervention, may produce improvements on broad oral language skills in preschoolers from low-SES backgrounds

Fostering Broad Oral Language Skills in Preschoolers from Low SES Background

Socioeconomic disparities increase the probability that children will enter school behind their more advantaged peers. Early intervention on language skills may enhance language and literacy outcomes, reduce the gap and, eventually, promote school readiness of low-SES (Socioeconomic Status) children. This study aimed to analyze the feasibility and effectiveness of a brief narrative-based intervention (treatment vs. control group) aimed to foster broad oral language skills in preschoolers (N = 69; Mean age = 5.5, SD = 4 months) coming from low-SES families. Moreover, it was analyzed whether children's initial vocabulary mediates the intervention's responsiveness. Results have shown that children in treatment group obtained greater gains than children in control group in almost all intervention-based measures. There is also some evidence for the generalizability of the intervention to other skills not directly trained during the intervention. Moreover, it was found that children's initial vocabulary mediates the intervention's responsiveness showing that children with high vocabulary made greater gains in higher-level components of language comprehension, whereas children with low vocabulary made higher gains in vocabulary. Taken together, our findings suggest that a relatively brief, but quite intensive narrative-based intervention, may produce improvements on broad oral language skills in preschoolers from low-SES backgrounds

Étude biosystématique d'Anthyllis hystrix de Minoerque et d'A. hermanniae de la Méditerranée orientale et centrale

The morphological, cuyological, ecologicai, phytosociological, biogeographical and nomenclatural survey camed out by the authors on Anthyllis hystrix (Willk. ex Barc.) Cardona, Contandriopoulos et Sierra, endemic of Minorca, and A. hermanniae L., distributed in the Mediterranean from Asia Minor to Sardinia and Corsica, shows the differences as well as the narrowness of the phylogenetical and paleogeographical relations between these two taxa. A. hystrix (2n = 84) is a dodecaploid and an apoendemical of A. hermanniae (2n = 14) issued from this species a long time ago. The genotypical modification has caused some distinct and constant phenotypical changes which have allowed us to confer specific status to the Anthyllis of Minorca and, at the same time, elucidate the numerous nomenclature confusions related with this taxon.Les auteurs ont effectué I'étude morphologique, caryologique, écologique, phytosociologique, biogéographique et nomenclaturale d'AnthylIis hystrix (Willk. ex Barc.) Cardona, Contandriopoulos et Sierra, endémique de Minorque, et d'A. hermanniae L. a distribution méditerranéenne disjointe: Méditerranée orientale, Corse, Sardaigne. Cette étude montre les différences et les étroites relations phylogénétiques et paléogéographiques existants entre ces deux taxons. A. hystrix (2n = 84) est un dodécapldide fortement apparenté a A. hermanniae (2n = 14). I1 peut itre considéré comme un apoendémique de ce demier et la différenciation apparait comme fort ancienne. Cette forte modification génotypique est accompagnée de changements phénotypiques apparents et constants qui nous ont permis d'élever au rang d'espkce I'endémique minorcaine et d'interpreter les nombreuses confusions nomenclaturales liées a ce taxon

Platelet-derived extracellular vesicles promote tenogenic differentiation of stem cells on bioengineered living fibers

Tendon mimetic scaffolds that recreate the tendon hierarchical structure and niche have increasing potential to fully restore tendon functionality. However, most scaffolds lack biofunctionality to boost the tenogenic differentiation of stem cells. In this study, we assessed the role of platelet-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) in stem cellsâ tenogenic commitment using a 3D bioengineered in vitro tendon model. First, we relied on fibrous scaffolds coated with collagen hydrogels encapsulating human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) to bioengineer our composite living fibers. We found that the hASCs in our fibers showed high elongation and cytoskeleton anisotropic organization, typical of tenocytes. Moreover, acting as biological cues, platelet-derived EVs boosted the hASCsâ tenogenic commitment, prevented phenotypic drift, enhanced the deposition of the tendon-like extracellular matrix, and induced lower collagen matrix contraction. In conclusion, our living fibers provided an in vitro system for tendon tissue engineering, allowing us to study not only the tendon microenvironment but also the influence of biochemical cues on stem cell behavior. More importantly, we showed that platelet-derived EVs are a promising biochemical tool for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications that are worthy of further exploration, as paracrine signaling might potentiate tendon repair and regeneration

Therapeutic effects of platelet-derived extracellular vesicles in a bioengineered tendon disease model

Tendon injuries represent over 30–50% of musculoskeletal disorders worldwide, yet the available therapies do not provide complete tendon repair/regeneration and full functionality restor-ing. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), membrane-enclosed nanoparticles, have emerged as the next breakthrough in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine to promote endogenous tissue regen-eration. Here, we developed a 3D human in vitro model mimicking the signature of pathological tendon and used it to evaluate the influence that different platelet-derived EVs might have in tendon tissue repair mechanisms. For this, different EV populations isolated from platelets, small EVs (sEVs) and medium EVs (mEVs), were added to the culture media of human tendon-derived cells (hTDCs) cultured on isotropic nanofibrous scaffolds. The platelet-derived EVs increased the expression of tenogenic markers, promoted a healthy extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling, and the synthesis of anti-inflammatory mediators. These findings suggest that platelet EVs provided relevant biochemical cues that potentiated a recovery of hTDCs phenotype from a diseased to a healthy state. Thus, this study opens new perspectives for the translation of platelet-derived EVs as therapeutics.This research was funded by the ERC CoG MagTendon grant agreement 772817; EC Twinning project Achilles 810850; Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) for PhD grant PD/59/2013 and PD/BD/135255/2017, individual contracts CEECIND/01375/2017 (M.G.-F.) and 2020.03410.CEECIND (R.M.A.D), and project PTDC/NAN-MAT/30595/2017

Grain boundary corrosion in TiO2 bone scaffolds doped with group II cations

A pH drop during the inflammatory phase during bone regeneration can cause corrosion in TiO2 bone scaffolds and the loss of compressive strength. Corrosion as ion leaching and dissolution is confined to grain boundaries. Cationic doping of TiO2 showed to increase the compressive strength but increased the amount of impurities in grain boundaries as well. Therefore, this study showed the different grain boundary formation for Ca, Sr and Mg doped scaffolds and their corrosion behavior. After corrosion, the amorphous phase in grain boundaries was dissolved in all doped scaffolds. Differences occurred due to the formation of an additional crystalline phase in Sr doped scaffolds. The presence of an amorphous and crystalline phase led to an inhomogeneous dissolution in grain boundaries and a significant decrease in compressive strength already after 4 h in contact with an acidic environment. Released ions did not show any cytotoxic effect on hASCs. Mg doped TiO2 scaffolds led to sig- nificant increased osteogenic differentiation.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

3D bioprinting of miniaturized tissues embedded in self-assembled nanoparticle-based fibrillar platforms

The creation of microphysiological systems like tissue and organ-on-chip for in vitro modeling of human physiology and diseases is gathering increasing interest. However, the platforms used to build these systems have limitations concerning implementation, automation, and cost-effectiveness. Moreover, their typical plastic-based housing materials are poor recreations of native tissue extracellular matrix (ECM) and barriers. Here, the controlled self-assembly of plant-derived cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) is combined with the concept of 3D bioprinting in suspension baths for the direct biofabrication of microphysiological systems embedded within an ECM mimetic fibrillar support material. The developed support CNC fluid gel allows exceptionally high-resolution bioprinting of 3D constructs with arbitrary geometries and low restrictions of bioink choice. The further induction of CNC self-assembly with biocompatible calcium ions results in a transparent biomimetic nanoscaled fibrillar matrix that allows hosting different compartmentalized cell types and perfusable channels, has tailored permeability for biomacromolecules diffusion and cellular crosstalk, and holds structural stability to support long-term in vitro cell maturation. In summary, this xeno-free nanoscale CNC fibrillar matrix allows the biofabrication of hierarchical living constructs, opening new opportunities not only for developing physiologically relevant 3D in vitro models but also for a wide range of applications in regenerative medicine.The authors thank Hospital da Prelada (Porto, Portugal) for providing adipose tissue samples and Hospital Sao Joao (Porto, Portugal) for providing platelet concentrates. The authors acknowledge the financial support from project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000021 supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Program (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); the European Union Framework Program for Research and Innovation HORIZON 2020, under the Twinning grant agreement no. 810850-Achilles, European Research Council grant agreement no. 772817, Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia for the PhD grant for S.M.B PD/BD/129403/2017 financed through doctoral program in Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells (TERM&SC), and project PTDC/NAN-MAT/30595/2017. Schematics in Figures 1, 2, and 6 were created with BioRender.com. The authors thank Milan Sixt and Barbara B. Mendes for preliminary tests with CNC fluid gel. The authors thank David Caballero, Catarina Abreu, and Mandana Mombeinipour for providing endothelial cells and Virginia Brancato for breast cancer cells

Blood derivatives awaken in regenerative medicine strategies to modulate wound healing

Blood components play key roles in the modulation of the wound healing process and, together with the provisional fibrin matrix ability to selectively bind bioactive molecules and control its spatial-temporal presentation, define the complex microenvironment that characterize this biological process. As a biomimetic approach, the use of blood derivatives in regenerative strategies has awakened as a source of multiple therapeutic biomolecules. Nevertheless, and despite their clinical relevance, blood derivatives have been showing inconsistent therapeutic results due to several factors, including proper control over their delivery mechanisms. Herein, we highlight recent trends on the use biomaterials to protect, sequester and deliver these pools of biomolecules in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine approaches. Particular emphasis is given to strategies that enable to control their spatiotemporal delivery and improve the selectivity of presentation profiles of the biomolecules derived from blood derivatives rich in platelets. Finally, we discussed possible directions for biomaterials design to potentiate the aimed regenerative effects of blood derivatives and achieve efficient therapies.BBM acknowledges the financial support from FCT/MCTES (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, e Ensino Superior) and the Fundo Social Europeu através do Programa Operacional do Capital Humano (FSE/POCH), PD/59/2013 for PD/BD/113807/2015. MGF acknowledges European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 706996 (PrinTendon). PB acknowledges RECOGNIZE and NORTE2020 (UTAP-ICDT/CTM-BIO/0023/2014). RMD acknowledges SFRH/BPD/112459/2015.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Natural materials

The use of naturally occurring materials as scaffolds to support cell growth and proliferation significantly impacted the origin and progress of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However, the majority of these materials failed to provide adequate cues to guide cell differentiation toward the formation of new tissues. Over the past decade, a new generation of multifunctional and smart natural-based materials has been developed to provide biophysical and biochemical cues intended to specifically guide cell behavior. In this chapter, the use of extracellular matrix proteins and blood-derivatives intrinsic capacity to mimic the biophysical and biological characteristics of native tissues is reviewed. Furthermore, the design of a variety of nanostructures using the well-explored characteristics of nucleic acids is summarized. In the second section, the exploitation of supramolecular chemistry to create new dynamic functional hydrogels that mimic the extracellular matrix structure and/or composition is surveyed. Then, the incorporation of nanoelements in polymeric networks for the design of smart nanocomposite materials with tailored functionalities to guide cell behavior is introduced. Finally, the future perspectives in the development of new biomaterials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine are presented.Te authors acknowledge the fnancial support of the European Union Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020, under the TEAMING grant agreement No 739572 – Te Discoveries CTR, Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 706996 and European Research Council grant agreement No 726178; FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) and the Fundo Social Europeu através do Programa Operacional do Capital Humano (FSE/POCH) in the framework of Ph.D. grants PD/BD/113807/2015 (BBM) and PD/BD/129403/2017 (SMB), Post-Doc grant SFRH/ BPD/112459/2015 (RMD) and project SmarTendon (PTDC/NAN-MAT/30595/2017); Project NORTE01-0145-FEDER-000021 supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF