Publications by authors named "A Lazaro Almarza"

A state-of-the-art scaffold capable of efficiently reconstructing the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disc after discectomy remains elusive. The major challenge has been to identify a degradable scaffold that remodels into TMJ disc-like tissue, and prevents increased joint pathology, among other significant complications. Tissue engineering research provides a foundation for promising approaches towards the creation of successful implants/scaffolds that aim to restore the disc.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Long bone and craniofacial bone fractures amount to an overwhelming expenditure for patients and health care systems each year. Overall, 5-10% of all bone fractures result in some form of delayed or nonunion fractures. Nonunions occur from insufficient mechanical stabilization or a compromised wound environment lacking in vasculature and progenitor cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Chronic lower back pain is the top cause of disability globally and costs the U.S. over $100 billion each year, with degenerative disk disease (DDD) being a major contributor.
  • Research has identified various factors that may cause pain in DDD, such as tissue breakdown and inflammation, but the specific role of low pH (hyperacidity) in provoking pain is still largely misunderstood.
  • This review focuses on how acidity affects intervertebral disks, leading to cell damage and inflammation, while also aiming to highlight research gaps and suggest future studies to enhance our understanding and treatment of DDD pain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Peripheral nerve injuries (PNI) represent the most common type of nervous system injuries, resulting in 5 million injuries per year. Current gold standard, autografts, still carry several limitations, including the inappropriate type, size, and function matches in grafted nerves, lack of autologous donor sites, neuroma formation, and secondary surgery incisions. Polymeric nerve conduits, also known as nerve guides, can help overcome the aforementioned issues that limit nerve recovery and regeneration by reducing tissue fibrosis, misdirection of regenerating axons, and the inability to maintain long- distance axonal growth.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The Restoring Joint Health and Function to Reduce Pain (RE-JOIN) Consortium is part of the Helping to End Addiction Long-term® (HEAL) Initiative. HEAL is an ambitious, NIH-wide initiative to speed scientific solutions to stem the national opioid public health crisis. The RE-JOIN consortium's over-arching goal is to define how chronic joint pain-mediating neurons innervate different articular and -articular tissues, with a focus on the knee and temporomandibular joints (TMJ) across species employing the latest neuroscience approaches.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF