SCYL3, as a novel binding partner and regulator of ROCK2, promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression.

Background & Aims: SCY1-like pseudokinase 3 (SCYL3) was identified as a binding partner of ezrin, implicating it in metastasis. However, the clinical relevance and functional role of SCYL3 in cancer remain uncharacterized. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the role of SCYL3 in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Enhancement of human iPSC-derived cardiomyocyte maturation by chemical conditioning in a 3D environment.

Recent advances in the understanding and use of pluripotent stem cells have produced major changes in approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of human disease. An obstacle to the use of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) for regenerative medicine, disease modeling and drug discovery is their immature state relative to adult myocardium. We show the effects of a combination of biochemical factors, thyroid hormone, dexamethasone, and insulin-like growth factor-1 (TDI) on the maturation of hiPSC-CMs in 3D cardiac microtissues (CMTs) that recapitulate aspects of the native myocardium.

3D and 4D Bioprinting of the Myocardium: Current Approaches, Challenges, and Future Prospects.

3D and 4D bioprinting of the heart are exciting notions in the modern era. However, myocardial bioprinting has proven to be challenging. This review outlines the methods, materials, cell types, issues, challenges, and future prospects in myocardial bioprinting.

In vivo therapeutic applications of cell spheroids.

Spheroids are increasingly being employed to answer a wide range of clinical and biomedical inquiries ranging from pharmacology to disease pathophysiology, with the ultimate goal of using spheroids for tissue engineering and regeneration. When compared to traditional two-dimensional cell culture, spheroids have the advantage of better replicating the 3D extracellular microenvironment and its associated growth factors and signaling cascades. As knowledge about the preparation and maintenance of spheroids has improved, there has been a plethora of translational experiments investigating in vivo implantation of spheroids into various animal models studying tissue regeneration.

Role of virtual reality in congenital heart disease.

Objective: New platforms for patient imaging present opportunities for improved surgical planning in complex congenital heart disease (CHD). Virtual reality (VR) allows for interactive manipulation of high-resolution representations of patient-specific imaging data, as a supplement to traditional 2D visualizations and 3D printed heart models.

Design: We present the novel use of VR for the presurgical planning of cardiac surgery in two infants with complex CHD to demonstrate interactive real-time views of complex intra and extracardiac anatomy.

Fabrication and Mechanical Properties Measurements of 3D Microtissues for the Study of Cell-Matrix Interactions.

Cell interactions with the extracellular matrix (ECM) are critical to cell and tissue functions involving adhesion, communication, and differentiation. Three-dimensional (3D) in vitro culture systems are an important approach to mimic in vivo cell-matrix interactions for mechanobiology studies and tissue engineering applications. This chapter describes the use of engineered microtissues as 3D constructs in combination with a magnetic tissue gauge (μTUG) system to analyze tissue mechanical properties.

3D bioprinting using stem cells.

Recent advances have allowed for three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies to be applied to biocompatible materials, cells and supporting components, creating a field of 3D bioprinting that holds great promise for artificial organ printing and regenerative medicine. At the same time, stem cells, such as human induced pluripotent stem cells, have driven a paradigm shift in tissue regeneration and the modeling of human disease, and represent an unlimited cell source for tissue regeneration and the study of human disease. The ability to reprogram patient-specific cells holds the promise of an enhanced understanding of disease mechanisms and phenotypic variability.

Biomaterial-Free Three-Dimensional Bioprinting of Cardiac Tissue using Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Cardiomyocytes.

We have developed a novel method to deliver stem cells using 3D bioprinted cardiac patches, free of biomaterials. Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs), fibroblasts (FB) and endothelial cells (EC) were aggregated to create mixed cell spheroids. Cardiac patches were created from spheroids (CM:FB:EC = 70:15:15, 70:0:30, 45:40:15) using a 3D bioprinter.

Tissue engineered vascular grafts: current state of the field.

Conventional synthetic vascular grafts are limited by the inability to remodel, as well as issues of patency at smaller diameters. Tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs), constructed from biologically active cells and biodegradable scaffolds have the potential to overcome these limitations, and provide growth capacity and self-repair. Areas covered: This article outlines the TEVG design, biodegradable scaffolds, TEVG fabrication methods, cell seeding, drug delivery, strategies to reduce wait times, clinical trials, as well as a 5-year view with expert commentary.

Fabrication of three-dimensional autocloned photonic crystal on sapphire substrate.

We applied the laser interference lithography method to form a patterned sapphire substrate (PSS). A three-dimensional photonic crystal was formed by autocloning the PSS with alternate Ta2O5/SiO2 coatings. A high total integrated reflectance (TIR) band was obtained around the 410 to 470 nm wavelength range that matched the emission spectrum of the gallium nitride (GaN) light-emitting diode (LED) for application in manipulating the light extraction of the sapphire-based GaN LED.

Surface profile control of the autocloned photonic crystal by ion-beam-sputter deposition with radio-frequency-bias etching.

Growth of the autocloned Ta(2)O(5)/SiO(2) multilayer photonic crystal with a lateral sawtooth period was simulated. Ion-beam sputter (IBS) was applied to deposit the films and radio-frequency-bias (RF-bias) etching was applied simultaneously with the IBS on the Ta(2)O(5) film. Both simulation and experiment showed that the quality of the autocloning can be controlled by the RF-bias power; there is an intermediate power range within which the drop of peak-to-valley height variation of the sawtooth profile can be reduced significantly such that a high degree of autocloning can be achieved.

The partly folded back solution structure arrangement of the 30 SCR domains in human complement receptor type 1 (CR1) permits access to its C3b and C4b ligands.

Human complement receptor type 1 (CR1, CD35) is a type I membrane-bound glycoprotein that belongs to the regulators of complement activity (RCA) family. The extra-cellular component of CR1 is comprised of 30 short complement regulator (SCR) domains, whereas complement receptor type 2 (CR2) has 15 SCR domains and factor H (FH) has 20 SCR domains. The domain arrangement of a soluble form of CR1 (sCR1) was studied by X-ray scattering and analytical ultracentrifugation.

Nutrition and stroke.

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and certainly the major cause of disability in the world. WHO has estimated that between 1990 to 2020 the world will witness an increase in stroke mortality of 78% in woman and 106% in man. Much of this increase will be in developing countries which are witnessing rapid change in lifestyle and nutrition, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking, atrial fibrillation, hyperlipidemia, Homocysteinemia, and alcohol are the most significant modifiable risk factors of stroke.

Genetic polymorphism of ferula mushroom growing on Ferula sinkiangensis.

Mating tests, internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence analysis, intergenic spacer 1-restriction fragment length polymorphism (IGS1-RFLP), IGS1 sequence analysis, and IGS2-RFLP analysis were carried out on isolates of 17 morphologically different Pleurotus mushrooms collected on Ferula sinkiangensis. The isolates were divided, based on mating tests and ITS sequence analysis, into two groups identical to P. eryngii var.