Intervening to Preserve Function in Ischemic Cardiomyopathy with a Porous Hydrogel and Extracellular Matrix Composite in a Rat Myocardial Infarction Model.

Multiple hydrogels are developed for injection therapy after myocardial infarction, with some incorporating substances promoting tissue regeneration and others emphasizing mechanical effects. In this study, porosity and extracellular matrix-derived digest (ECM) are incorporated, into a mechanically optimized, thermoresponsive, degradable hydrogel (poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-N-vinylpyrrolidone-co-MAPLA)) and evaluate whether this biomaterial injectate can abrogate adverse remodeling in rat ischemic cardiomyopathy. After myocardial infarction, rats are divided into four groups: NP (non-porous hydrogel) without either ECM or porosity, PM (porous hydrogel) from the same synthetic copolymer with mannitol beads as porogens, and PME with porosity and ECM digest added to the synthetic copolymer.

Management of Patients with Colorectal Cancer through Fast-Track Surgery.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in men and the second most common in women globally. CRC is considered a priority public health issue due to its incidence and the high associated costs. Surgery is the predominant therapeutic approach for CRC.

Redefining vascular repair: revealing cellular responses on PEUU-gelatin electrospun vascular grafts for endothelialization and immune responses on models.

Tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs) poised for regenerative applications are central to effective vascular repair, with their efficacy being significantly influenced by scaffold architecture and the strategic distribution of bioactive molecules either embedded within the scaffold or elicited from responsive tissues. Despite substantial advancements over recent decades, a thorough understanding of the critical cellular dynamics for clinical success remains to be fully elucidated. Graft failure, often ascribed to thrombogenesis, intimal hyperplasia, or calcification, is predominantly linked to improperly modulated inflammatory reactions.

Mammary tissue-derived extracellular matrix hydrogels reveal the role of irradiation in driving a pro-tumor and immunosuppressive microenvironment.

Radiation therapy (RT) is essential for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) treatment. However, patients with TNBC continue to experience recurrence after RT. The role of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of irradiated breast tissue in tumor recurrence is still unknown.

Open-Source Image-Based Tool to Experimentally Evaluate Blood Residence Time in Clinical Devices.

This article introduces an open-source tool to experimentally compare blood residence time in biomedical devices using an image-based method. The experimental setup and the postprocessing workflow are comprehensively elucidated in a detailed report that conducts a thorough comparison of the residence times of a blood analog within three distinct blood oxygenator prototypes. To enable widespread accessibility and ease of use, the user-friendly MATLAB App developed for the analysis is available on the Mathworks repository: https://www.

A bioengineered in situ ovary (ISO) supports follicle engraftment and live-births post-chemotherapy.

Female cancer patients who have undergone chemotherapy have an elevated risk of developing ovarian dysfunction and failure. Experimental approaches to treat iatrogenic infertility are evolving rapidly; however, challenges and risks remain that hinder clinical translation. Biomaterials have improved in vitro follicle maturation and in vivo transplantation in mice, but there has only been marginal success for early-stage human follicles.

Influence of Polymer Stiffness and Geometric Design on Fluid Mechanics in Tissue-Engineered Pulmonary Valve Scaffolds.

There is still much unknown about the fluid mechanical response to cardiac valve scaffolds, even as their implementation in the clinic is on the horizon. Specifically, while degradable polymer valve scaffolds are currently being tested in the pulmonary valve position, their material and mechanical properties have not been fully elucidated. Optimizing these properties are important determinants not only of acute function, but long-term remodeling prospects.

Polyester urethane urea (PEUU) functionalization for enhanced anti-thrombotic performance: advancing regenerative cardiovascular devices through innovative surface modifications.

Thrombogenesis, a major cause of implantable cardiovascular device failure, can be addressed through the use of biodegradable polymers modified with anticoagulating moieties. This study introduces a novel polyester urethane urea (PEUU) functionalized with various anti-platelet deposition molecules for enhanced antiplatelet performance in regenerative cardiovascular devices. PEUU, synthesized from poly-caprolactone, 1,4-diisocyanatobutane, and putrescine, was chemically oxidized to introduce carboxyl groups, creating PEUU-COOH.

Tissue formation and host remodeling of an elastomeric biodegradable scaffold in an ovine pulmonary leaflet replacement model.

In pursuit of a suitable scaffold material for cardiac valve tissue engineering applications, an acellular, electrospun, biodegradable polyester carbonate urethane urea (PECUU) scaffold was evaluated as a pulmonary valve leaflet replacement in vivo. In sheep (n = 8), a single pulmonary valve leaflet was replaced with a PECUU leaflet and followed for 1, 6, and 12 weeks. Implanted leaflet function was assessed in vivo by echocardiography.

Cardiac valve scaffold design: Implications of material properties and geometric configuration on performance and mechanics.

Development of tissue engineered scaffolds for cardiac valve replacement is nearing clinical translation. While much work has been done to characterize mechanical behavior of native and bioprosthetic valves, and incorporate those data into models improving valve design, similar work for degradable valve scaffolds is lacking. This is particularly important given the implications mechanics have on short-term survival and long-term remodeling.

Predicting In-Hospital Mortality During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Patients with Heart Failure: A Single-Center Exploratory Study.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether exposure to the pandemic was associated with increased in-hospital mortality for health failure. We collected data from patients hospitalized between 2019 and 2020 and we assessed the likelihood of in-hospital death. Although the positive association of exposure to the COVID period with an increased in-hospital mortality is not statistically significant, this may underscore other factors that may influence mortality.

Prediction of Hospital Length Stay for Patients Undergoing Mastectomy.

The prolonged length of stay is an important aspect to be considered for the healthcare management since this affect both the health-related expenditure of the hospital and the quality of the offered service. In the light of these consideration is important for hospitals to be able to predict the LOS of patients and to work on the principal aspect affecting it in order to reduce LOS as much as possible. In this work we focus on patients undergoing mastectomy.

Modeling Cholecystectomy Hospital Stay Through a Linear Approach.

Cholecystectomy is among the most frequent procedures in general surgery. In the healthcare facility organization, it is important to evaluate all interventions and procedures that have a great impact on health management and that have a clear effect on the Length of Stay (LOS). The LOS represents, in fact, an indicator of performance and measure the goodness of a health process.

MaestraNatura Reveals Its Effectiveness in Acquiring Nutritional Knowledge and Skills: Bridging the Gap between Girls and Boys from Primary School.

MaestraNatura (MN) is a nutrition education program developed to both enhance awareness about the importance of healthy eating behaviour and skills on food and nutrition in primary school students. The level of knowledge about food and nutritional issues was assessed by a questionnaire administered to 256 students (9-10 years old) attending the last class of primary school and was compared with that of a control group of 98 students frequenting the same schools that received traditional nutrition education based on curricular science lessons and one frontal lesson conducted by an expert nutritionist. The results indicated that students in the MN program showed a higher percentage of correct responses to the questionnaire when compared with the control group (76 ± 15.

Improving Nutrition Knowledge and Skills by the Innovative Education Program MaestraNatura in Middle School Students of Italy.

Promoting a healthy diet, mainly in youths, is the most effective action to prevent and fight dietary excesses and nutritional imbalance in the population. MaestraNatura (MN) is an innovative nutritional education program aimed at promoting a healthy lifestyle in first-level secondary school students. The study evaluated the effectiveness of the MN program in improving knowledge in students following the MN program (MN group) with respect to a control group (CO group) undergoing a “traditional” nutritional education path.

Continuous Microfiber Wire Mandrel-Less Biofabrication for Soft Tissue Engineering Applications.

Suture materials are the most common bioimplants in surgical and clinical practice, playing a crucial role in wound healing and tendon and ligament repair. Despite the assortment available on the market, sutures are still affected by significant disadvantages, including failure in mimicking the mechanical properties of the tissue, excessive fibrosis, and inflammation. This study introduces a mandrel-less electrodeposition apparatus to fabricate continuous microfiber wires of indefinite length.

Engineering in-plane mechanics of electrospun polyurethane scaffolds for cardiovascular tissue applications.

Effective cardiovascular tissue surrogates require high control of scaffold structural and mechanical features to match native tissue properties, which are dependent on tissue-specific mechanics, function heterogenicity, and morphology. Bridging scaffold processing variables with native tissue properties is recognized as a priority for advancing biomechanical performance of biomedical materials and, when translated to the clinical practice, their efficacy. Accordingly, this study selected electrospinning on a rotating cylindrical target as an apparatus of broad application and mapped the relationship between key processing variables and scaffold mechanics and structure.

Can a Biohybrid Patch Salvage Ventricular Function at a Late Time Point in the Post-Infarction Remodeling Process?

A biohybrid patch without cellular components was implanted over large infarcted areas in severely dilated hearts. Nonpatched animals were assigned to control or losartan therapy. Patch-implanted animals responded with better morphological and functional echocardiographic endpoints, which were more evident in a subgroup of animals with very low pre-treatment ejection fraction (<35%).

Promoting Health and Food Literacy through Nutrition Education at Schools: The Italian Experience with MaestraNatura Program.

MaestraNatura is an innovative nutrition education program aimed at both enhancing awareness about the importance of a healthy food-lifestyle relationship and the ability to transfer the theoretical principles of nutrition guidelines to everyday life. The educational contents of the program resulted from the analysis of the answers to a questionnaire submitted to students aged 6-13 in order to assess their degree of knowledge about nutritional facts. Educational paths were specifically designed and implemented to address the main knowledge gaps identified through the analysis of the answers and were then tested for teachers' satisfaction in a sample of 56 schools in the north, centre, and south of Italy, involving 790 classes, 600 teachers, and 15,800 students.

Development of a Semi-Automated, Bulk Seeding Device for Large Animal Model Implantation of Tissue Engineered Vascular Grafts.

Vascular tissue engineering is a field of regenerative medicine that restores tissue function to defective sections of the vascular network by bypass or replacement with a tubular, engineered graft. The tissue engineered vascular graft (TEVG) is comprised of a biodegradable scaffold, often combined with cells to prevent acute thrombosis and initiate scaffold remodeling. Cells are most effectively incorporated into scaffolds using bulk seeding techniques.

A Cell-free Biodegradable Synthetic Artificial Ligament for the Reconstruction of Anterior Cruciate Ligament in a Rat Model.

Traditional Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) reconstruction is commonly performed using an allograft or autograft and possesses limitations such as donor site morbidity, decreased range of motion, and potential infection. However, a biodegradable synthetic graft could greatly assist in the prevention of such restrictions after ACL reconstruction. In this study, artificial grafts were generated using "wet" and "dry" electrospinning processes with a biodegradable elastomer, poly (ester urethane) urea (PEUU), and were evaluated in vitro and in vivo in a rat model.

Adipose-derived stem cell sheet under an elastic patch improves cardiac function in rats after myocardial infarction.

Objectives: Although adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) have shown promise in cardiac regeneration, stable engraftment is still challenging. Acellular bioengineered cardiac patches have shown promise in positively altering ventricular remodeling in ischemic cardiomyopathy. We hypothesized that combining an ADSC sheet approach with a bioengineered patch would enhance ADSC engraftment and positively promote cardiac function compared with either therapy alone in a rat ischemic cardiomyopathy model.

Acute In Vivo Functional Assessment of a Biodegradable Stentless Elastomeric Tricuspid Valve.

Degradable heart valves based on in situ tissue regeneration have been proposed as potentially durable and non-thrombogenic prosthetic alternatives. We evaluated the acute in vivo function, microstructure, mechanics, and thromboresistance of a stentless biodegradable tissue-engineered heart valve (TEHV) in the tricuspid position. Biomimetic stentless tricuspid valves were fabricated with poly(carbonate urethane)urea (PCUU) by double-component deposition (DCD) processing to mimic native valve mechanics and geometry.