Survey of Current Institutional Practices in the Use of High-Flow Nasal Cannula for Pediatric Patients.

Objectives: High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) is an oxygen delivery device that provides heated humidified air with higher flow rates. The purpose of this survey is to look at institutional practice patterns of HFNC initiation, weaning, and disposition for pediatric patients across the United States.

Methods: Survey was sent via electronic listservs to pediatric physicians in emergency medicine, hospital medicine, critical care, and urgent care.

Engineering the matrix microenvironment for cell delivery and engraftment for tissue repair.

Cell-based therapies represent promising strategies for tissue repair, particularly in cases in which host cells, due to disease, age, or excessive trauma, are unable to repair the defect or deficiency alone, even with additional delivered therapeutics. Current cell therapies fail to address long-term engraftment or delivery timing and location and result in modest improvements with long term engraftment rates of less than 1%. In many cell therapy applications, an appropriate carrier must be used to deliver transplanted cells and promote cell engraftment and function for a successful outcome by providing the appropriate microenvironment for the interactions between transplanted and host cells.

Well-defined Poly(lactic acid)s Containing Poly(ethylene glycol) Side-chains.

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) side-chain functionalized lactide analogues have been synthesized in four steps from commercially available L-lactide. The key step in the synthesis is the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition between PEG-azides and a highly strained spirolactide-heptene monomer, which proceeds in high conversions. The PEG-grafted lactides analogues were polymerized via ring-opening polymerization using triazacyclodecene as organocatalyst to give well-defined tri- and hepta-(ethylene glycol)-poly(lactide)s (PLA) with molecular weights above 10 kDa and polydispersity indices between 1.