Scalable Bulk Synthesis of Phase-Pure γ-SnN as a Model for an Argon-Flow-Mediated Metathesis Reaction.

Nitrides represent a promising class of materials for a variety of applications. However, bulk synthesis remains a challenging task due to the stability of the N molecule. In this study, we introduce a simple and scalable approach for synthesizing nitride bulk materials.

Del1 Is a Growth Factor for Skeletal Progenitor Cells in the Fracture Callus.

Failure to properly form bone or integrate surgical implants can lead to morbidity and additional surgical interventions in a significant proportion of orthopedic surgeries. While the role of skeletal stem cells (SSCs) in bone formation and repair is well-established, very little is known about the factors that regulate the downstream Bone, Cartilage, Stromal, Progenitors (BCSPs). BCSPs, as transit amplifying progenitor cells, undergo multiple mitotic divisions to expand the pool of lineage committed progenitors allowing stem cells to preserve their self-renewal and stemness.

Sexually dimorphic estrogen sensing in skeletal stem cells controls skeletal regeneration.

Sexually dimorphic tissues are formed by cells that are regulated by sex hormones. While a number of systemic hormones and transcription factors are known to regulate proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts and osteoclasts, the mechanisms that determine sexually dimorphic differences in bone regeneration are unclear. To explore how sex hormones regulate bone regeneration, we compared bone fracture repair between adult male and female mice.

Heart Involvement in Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, Associated With COVID-19 in Children: The Retrospective Multicenter Cohort Data.

Objectives: Heart involvement in multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with COVID-19 in children (MIS-C) is a new challenging problem, requiring fast and reliable diagnostics and appropriate treatment. The aim of this study is to describe heart involvement in patients with MIS-C.

Study Design: In this retrospective, multicenter cohort study, data of 122 patients were included.

A deep learning model for burn depth classification using ultrasound imaging.

Identification of burn depth with sufficient accuracy is a challenging problem. This paper presents a deep convolutional neural network to classify burn depth based on altered tissue morphology of burned skin manifested as texture patterns in the ultrasound images. The network first learns a low-dimensional manifold of the unburned skin images using an encoder-decoder architecture that reconstructs it from ultrasound images of burned skin.

Prevalence of DNA of regular occupants in vehicles.

People will deposit, redistribute and remove biological traces when they interact with their environment. Understanding the dynamics of trace DNA is crucial to assess both the optimal sampling strategy to recover traces and the relevance of DNA evidence in the context of a case. This paper addresses the prevalence of DNA of drivers, passengers, and unknown individuals in vehicles.

[Thoracoscopic resection of mediastinal parathyroid gland].

According to the modern literature, mediastinal parathyroid glands are diagnosed in 2-20% of cases. In the available Russian-language literature, there are few reports on successful resection of mediastinal parathyroid glands in impossible surgery through cervical approach. Despite the development of minimally invasive surgical approaches and their advantages, traumatic sternotomy was used in these cases.

Safety profile of atorvastatin in the role of burn wound injury conversion.

Background: Atorvastatin could be beneficial in the treatment of burn patients to prevent burn wound progression from partial to full thickness. Our primary aim is to evaluate the safety of atorvastatin in burn patients.

Methods: Single center retrospective chart review of burn patients receiving atorvastatin during admission May 2016-May 2019 with historic controls was performed.

Real-time Burn Classification using Ultrasound Imaging.

This article presents a real-time approach for classification of burn depth based on B-mode ultrasound imaging. A grey-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) computed from the ultrasound images of the tissue is employed to construct the textural feature set and the classification is performed using nonlinear support vector machine and kernel Fisher discriminant analysis. A leave-one-out cross-validation is used for the independent assessment of the classifiers.

Prevalence of DNA from the driver, passengers and others within a car of an exclusive driver.

Cars are often sampled for DNA to help identify occupants and their possible location(s) within the car. While DNA from the frequent driver is likely to accumulate over time, DNA from previous and/or subsequent occupants, and those whose DNA has inadvertently been transferred to the car, may also contribute to any samples collected. This study investigates how much DNA resides on various sites within cars, and who might contribute to these samples.

DEL1 protects against chondrocyte apoptosis through integrin binding.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a debilitating disease process, affecting mobility and overall health of millions. Current treatment is for symptomatic relief and discovery of approaches to halt or reverse damage is imperative. Deletion of developmental endothelial locus-1 (Del1) has been shown to increase severity of OA in knockout mice.

Review of the Current Management of Pressure Ulcers.

The incidence of pressure ulcers is increasing due to our aging population and the increase in the elderly living with disability. Learning how to manage pressure ulcers appropriately is increasingly important for all professionals in wound care. Many new dressings and treatment modalities have been developed over the recent years and the goal of this review is to highlight their benefits and drawbacks to help providers choose their tools appropriately.

Inhibition of IRE1 results in decreased scar formation.

Wound healing is characterized by the production of large amounts of protein necessary to replace lost cellular mass and extracellular matrix. The unfolded protein response (UPR) is an important adaptive cellular response to increased protein synthesis. One of the main components of the UPR is IRE1, an endoplasmic reticulum transmembrane protein with endonuclease activity that produces the activated form of the transcription factor XBP1.

Laboratory Models for the Study of Normal and Pathologic Wound Healing.

Current knowledge of wound healing is based on studies using various in vitro and in vivo wound models. In vitro models allow for biological examination of specific cell types involved in wound healing. In vivo models generally provide the full spectrum of biological responses required for wound healing, including inflammation and angiogenesis, and provide cell-cell interactions not seen in vitro.

A Novel Three-Dimensional Platform to Investigate Neoangiogenesis, Transendothelial Migration, and Metastasis of MDAMB-231 Breast Cancer Cells.

Background: A crucial step in the progression of cancer involves the transendothelial migration of tumor cells into the bloodstream and invasion at distant sites. Most in vitro models of malignant cell behavior do not account for the presence of and interaction with vascular cells. Three-dimensional platforms to further explore the factors responsible for metastatic cellular behavior are under intensive investigation.

Experiment-Driven Modeling of Crystalline Phosphorus Nitride P3 N5 : Wide-Ranging Implications from a Unique Structure.

Nitridophosphates have emerged as advanced materials due to their structural variability and broad technical applicability. Their binary parent compound P3 N5 , a polymeric network of corner- and edge-sharing PN4 tetrahedra with N and N sites, is a particularly interesting example. We present a study of the band gap and electronic structure of α-P3 N5 by using soft X-ray spectroscopy measurements and DFT calculations.

Perioperative Antibiotics in the Setting of Oropharyngeal Reconstruction: Less Is More.

Background: Recipient-site infection after oropharyngeal reconstruction is a potentially disastrous complication. Although studies suggest that perioperative antibiotics reduces infection rates in these patients from 87% to 20%, there is no consensus regarding what constitutes the most appropriate antibiotic regimen and duration of treatment.

Methods: A retrospective review of perioperative antibiotic administration was performed of all patients who underwent local, pedicled, or free flap oropharyngeal reconstruction after oncologic resection by a single surgeon at a single institution between 2007 and 2013 to assess for recipient-site complications.

Measuring partial fluorescence yield using filtered detectors.

Typically, X-ray absorption near-edge structure measurements aim to probe the linear attenuation coefficient. These measurements are often carried out using partial fluorescence yield techniques that rely on detectors having photon energy discrimination improving the sensitivity and the signal-to-background ratio of the measured spectra. However, measuring the partial fluorescence yield in the soft X-ray regime with reasonable efficiency requires solid-state detectors, which have limitations due to the inherent dead-time while measuring.

Reduction of suture associated inflammation after 28 days using novel biocompatible pseudoprotein poly(ester amide) biomaterials.

Sutures elicit an inflammatory response, which may impede the healing process and result in wound complications. We recently reported a novel family of biocompatible, biodegradable polymers, amino acid-based poly(ester amide)s (AA-PEA), which we have shown to significantly attenuate the foreign body inflammatory response in vitro. Two types of AA-PEA (Phe-PEA and Arg-Phe-PEA) were used to coat silk or plain-gut sutures, which were implanted in the gluteus muscle of C57BL/6 mice, while the uncoated control sutures were implanted in the contralateral side.

Prophylactic plastic surgery closure of neurosurgical scalp incisions reduces the incidence of wound complications in previously-operated patients treated with bevacizumab (Avastin®) and radiation.

Neurosurgical craniotomy, craniectomy, or other trans-galeal interventions are performed for a variety of indications, including the resection of benign or malignant tumors, hematoma evacuation, and for the management of intractable seizure disorders. Despite an overall low complication rate of intervention, wound healing complications such as dehiscence, surgical site infection, and cerebrospinal fluid leak are not uncommon. A retrospective review was performed of all patients who underwent scalp incision closure at a single institution by a single plastic surgeon between 2006 and 2013.

Fabrication and in vivo microanastomosis of vascularized tissue-engineered constructs.

Tissue engineering endeavors to create replacement tissues and restore function that may be lost through infection, trauma, and cancer. However, wide clinical application of engineered scaffolds has yet to come to fruition due to inadequate vascularization. Here, we fabricate hydrogel constructs using Pluronic(®) F127 as a sacrificial microfiber, creating microchannels within biocompatible, biodegradable type I collagen matrices.