Exploiting Saturation Regimes and Surface Effects to Tune Composite Design: Single Platelet Nanocomposites of Peptoid Nanosheets and CaCO.

Mineral-polymer composites found in nature exhibit exceptional structural properties essential to their function, and transferring these attributes to the synthetic design of functional materials holds promise across various sectors. Biomimetic fabrication of nanocomposites introduces new pathways for advanced material design and explores biomineralization strategies. This study presents a novel approach for producing single platelet nanocomposites composed of CaCO and biomimetic peptoid (N-substituted glycines) polymers, akin to the bricks found in the brick-and-mortar structure of nacre, the inner layer of certain mollusc shells.

Preoperative Prognostic Index for Patients with Brain Metastases-A Population-Based Multi-Centre Study.

Background: Brain metastases (BM) are common in cancer patients and are associated with high morbidity and mortality. Surgery is an option, but the optimal selection of patients for surgery is challenging and controversial. Current prognostication tools are not ideal for preoperative prognostication.

Is there a weekend effect on mortality rate and outcome for moderate and severe traumatic brain injury? A population-based, observational cohort study.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to analyse patient and injury characteristics and the effects of weekend admissions on mortality rate and outcome after moderate and severe traumatic brain injuries.

Methods: This is an observational cohort study based on data from a prospectively maintained regional trauma registry in South Western Norway. Patients with moderate and severe traumatic brain injury admitted between January 1st, 2004 and December 31st, 2019 were included in this study.

Incidence, Mechanisms of Injury and Mortality of Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: An Observational Population-Based Cohort Study from New Zealand and Norway.

Background: Comparing trauma registry data from different countries can help to identify possible differences in epidemiology, which may help to improve the care of trauma patients.

Methods: This study directly compares the incidence, mechanisms of injuries and mortality of severe TBI based on population-based data from the two national trauma registries from New Zealand and Norway. All patients prospectively registered with severe TBI in either of the national registries for the 4-year study period were included.

Characteristics, image findings and clinical outcome of moderate and severe traumatic brain injury among severely injured children: a population-based cohort study.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore patient and injury characteristics, image findings, short-term clinical outcome and time trends of moderate and severe traumatic brain injury in severely injured children.

Methods: This study is an observational cohort study based on prospectively collected data from an institutional trauma registry database covering all trauma patients in South West Norway. All paediatric patients registered in the database between 01.

Taylor Spatial Frame or Reamed Intramedullary Nailing for Closed Fractures of the Tibial Shaft: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objectives: To compare a modern ring fixator [Taylor Spatial Frame (TSF)] and reamed intramedullary nailing (IMN) for the treatment of closed tibial shaft fractures.

Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Two university hospitals.

Crystallization kinetics and growth of struvite crystals by seawater versus magnesium chloride as magnesium source: towards enhancing sustainability and economics of struvite crystallization.

The recycling of nutrients from wastewater and their recovery in the form of valuable products is an effective strategy to accelerate the circular economy concept. Phosphorus recovery from wastewater by struvite crystallization (MgNHPO·6HO) is one of the most applied techniques to compensate for the increasing demand and to slow down the depletion rate of phosphate rocks. Using low-cost magnesium sources, such as seawater, improves the financial sustainability of struvite production.

Tuning and tracking the growth of gold nanoparticles synthesized using binary surfactant mixtures.

Synthesis of gold nanorods (Au NRs) using surfactant-mediated seeded growth involves the interplay of parameters such as pH, reducing agent, and surfactant among others. The use of binary surfactant mixtures of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and oleic acid (OA) has been reported by our group previously to obtain other anisotropic shapes. However, there are no reports investigating the growth kinetics and mechanisms of such shapes.

Struvite crystallization by using raw seawater: Improving economics and environmental footprint while maintaining phosphorus recovery and product quality.

Seawater, as an alternative magnesium source, has the potential to improve the overall economics and environmental footprint of struvite production compared to the use of pure magnesium salts. However, the dilution effect and the presence of other ions in seawater can reduce the phosphorus recovery potential and the simultaneous precipitation of other compounds may reduce the quality of the produced struvite. This work presents a comparative study of seawater and MgCl by performing a series of thermodynamic equilibrium modeling and crystallization experiments.

Systolic Dysfunction in Systemic Sclerosis: Prevalence and Prognostic Implications.

Objective: Primary cardiac involvement is presumed to account for a substantial part of disease-related mortality in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Still, there are knowledge gaps on the evolution and total burden of systolic dysfunction in SSc. Here we evaluated prospective left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) systolic function in an unselected SSc cohort and assessed the burden of systolic dysfunction on mortality.

Enhancing efficiency and economics of phosphorus recovery process by customizing the product based on sidestream characteristics - an alternative phosphorus recovery strategy.

The enhanced biological phosphorus removal process makes the phosphorus recovery feasible from the dewatering streams of biological sludge. The physicochemical properties of these sidestreams, as an input to a crystallizer, are different before and after anaerobic digestion. In this study, phosphorus recovery by calcium phosphate is proposed for pre-digestion sidestreams and by struvite precipitation for post-digestion sidestreams.

Prevalence of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes in two non-random populations aged 44-77 years in the Faroe Islands.

Aims: The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing worldwide but little known about the status in the Faroe Islands. The aim was therefore to determine the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus and prediabetes in two non-random populations aged 44-77 years.

Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted between 2011 and 2012 and included two sub-populations, namely 518 Septuagenarians aged 74-77 years (84% of the invited) and 401 Mark aged 44-73 years (87% of the invited).

Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction Predicts Mortality in Patients With Systemic Sclerosis.

Background: Primary cardiac affection is common and is a major cause of death in systemic sclerosis (SSc), but there are knowledge gaps regarding the effect of cardiac dysfunction on mortality.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate diastolic function in a large, unselected SSc cohort and assess the effect of diastolic dysfunction (DD) on mortality.

Methods: SSc patients followed prospectively at the Oslo University Hospital from 2003 to 2016 with available echocardiographies and matched control subjects were included.

Growing gold nanostructures for shape-selective cellular uptake.

With development in the synthesis of shape- and size-dependent gold (Au) nanostructures (NSs) and their applications in nanomedicine, one of the biggest challenges is to understand the interaction of these shapes with cancer cells. Herein, we study the interaction of Au NSs of five different shapes with glioblastoma-astrocytoma cells. Three different shapes (nanorods, tetrahexahedra, and bipyramids), possessing tunable optical properties, have been synthesized by a single-step seed-mediated growth approach employing binary surfactant mixtures of CTAB and a secondary surfactant.

Prevalence of type 2 diabetes and prediabetes in the Faroe Islands.

Aims: To determine the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus and prediabetes among the population aged 40-74 years in the Faroe Islands.

Methods: This population-based cross-sectional survey, conducted between 2011 and 2012, invited 2186 randomly selected individuals (corresponding to 11.1% of the entire population aged 40-74 years).

Morbidity outcomes after surgical aortic valve replacement.

Objective: In patients with mild to moderate operative risk, surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) is still the preferred treatment for patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis (AS). Aiming to broaden the knowledge of postsurgical outcomes, this study reports a broad set of morbidity outcomes following surgical intervention.

Methods: Our cohort comprised 442 patients referred for severe AS; 351 had undergone SAVR, with the remainder (91) not operated on.

A correlative spatiotemporal microscale study of calcium phosphate formation and transformation within an alginate hydrogel matrix.

Unlabelled: The modification of soft hydrogels with hard inorganic components is a method used to form composite materials with application in non-load-bearing bone tissue engineering. The inclusion of an inorganic component may provide mechanical enhancement, introduce osteoconductive or osteoinductive properties, or change other aspects of interactions between native or implanted cells and the material. A thorough understanding of the interactions between such components is needed to improve the rational design of such biomaterials.

Gelling kinetics and in situ mineralization of alginate hydrogels: A correlative spatiotemporal characterization toolbox.

Unlabelled: Due to their large water content and structural similarities to the extracellular matrix, hydrogels are an attractive class of material in the tissue engineering field. Polymers capable of ionotropic gelation are of special interest due to their ability to form gels at mild conditions. In this study we have developed an experimental toolbox to measure the gelling kinetics of alginate upon crosslinking with calcium ions.

Controlled mineralisation and recrystallisation of brushite within alginate hydrogels.

Due to high solubility and fast resorption behaviour under physiological conditions, brushite (CaHPO4⋅2H2O, calcium monohydrogen phosphate dihydrate, dicalcium phosphate dihydrate) has great potential in bone regeneration applications, both in combination with scaffolds or as a component of calcium phosphate cements. The use of brushite in combination with hydrogels opens up possibilities for new cell-based tissue engineering applications of this promising material. However, published preparation methods of brushite composites, in which the mineral phase is precipitated within the hydrogel network, fail to offer the necessary degree of control over the mineral phase, content and distribution within the hydrogel matrix.

Echocardiographic evidence of right ventricular functional improvement after balloon pulmonary angioplasty in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) induces right ventricular (RV) adaptive changes but often results in RV failure and death. Balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) is a treatment option in patients in whom pulmonary endarterectomy is contraindicated and in patients with residual pulmonary hypertension after pulmonary endarterectomy. We hypothesized that RV reverse remodeling and improved RV function would occur after BPA in patients with CTEPH.

Prognostic value of circulating microRNA-210 levels in patients with moderate to severe aortic stenosis.

Background: Circulating micro-RNAs have been proposed as a novel class of cardiovascular (CV) biomarkers, but whether they meet analytical requirements and provide additional information to establish risk indices have not been established. miR-210 levels are increased in subjects with low VO2 max, which is a recognized risk factor in patients with aortic stenosis (AS), and we hypothesized that circulating miR-210 levels may be increased in patients with AS and associated with a poor prognosis.

Methods: We measured circulating miR-210 levels by real-time PCR in 57 patients with moderate to severe AS and in 10 age- and gender-matched healthy controls.

The effect of rosuvastatin on inflammation, matrix turnover and left ventricular remodeling in dilated cardiomyopathy: a randomized, controlled trial.

Background: Dilated cardiomyopathy is characterized by left ventricular dilatation and dysfunction. Inflammation and adverse remodeling of the extracellular matrix may be involved in the pathogenesis. Statins reduce levels of low density lipoprotein cholesterol, but may also attenuate inflammation and affect matrix remodeling.

Viscoelastic properties of mineralized alginate hydrogel beads.

Alginate hydrogels have applications in biomedicine, ranging from delivery of cells and growth factors to wound management aids. However, they are mechanically soft and have shown little potential for the use in bone tissue engineering. Here, the viscoelastic properties of alginate hydrogel beads mineralized with calcium phosphate, both by a counter-diffusion (CD) and an enzymatic approach, are characterized by a micro-manipulation technique and mathematical modeling.