Monitoring the recovery time of children after tonsillectomy using commercial activity trackers.

An observational prospective feasibility study in which children received a tracker 2 weeks before a tonsillectomy and were required to wear it until four weeks postoperatively. The parents used a diary to log the estimated steps of their child. As primary endpoint, the compliance of complete datasets was compared between the tracker and the diary.

Structural and Mechanical Comparison of Human Ear, Alar, and Septal Cartilage.

Background: In the human ear and nose, cartilage plays a key role in establishing its form and function. Interestingly, there is a noticeable paucity on biochemical, structural, and mechanical studies focused on facial cartilage. Such studies are needed to provide elementary knowledge that is fundamental to tissue engineering of cartilage.

Supervised preoperative forearm exercise to increase blood vessel diameter in patients requiring an arteriovenous access for hemodialysis: rationale and design of the PINCH trial.

Background: Failure of maturation occurs in 30%-60% of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) creation for hemodialysis, with highest rates in distal radiocephalic fistulas. This is partly due to initial small blood vessel size with limited blood flow capacity. Forearm exercise has shown potential as stimulus for increasing blood vessel size in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and may promote maturation of AVFs in the upper limb when applied postoperatively.

Noninvasive Measurement of Ear Cartilage Elasticity on the Cellular Level: A New Method to Provide Biomechanical Information for Tissue Engineering.

Background: An important feature of auricular cartilage is its stiffness. To tissue engineer new cartilage, we need objective tools to provide us with the essential biomechanical information to mimic optimal conditions for chondrogenesis and extracellular matrix (ECM) development. In this study, we used an optomechanical sensor to investigate the elasticity of auricular cartilage ECM and tested whether sensitivity and measurement reproducibility of the sensor would be sufficient to accurately detect (subtle) differences in matrix compositions in healthy, diseased, or regenerated cartilage.

Molecular imaging of bone marrow mononuclear cell survival and homing in murine peripheral artery disease.

Objectives: This study aims to provide insight into cellular kinetics using molecular imaging after different transplantation methods of bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (MNCs) in a mouse model of peripheral artery disease (PAD).

Background: MNC therapy is a promising treatment for PAD. Although clinical translation has already been established, there is a lack of knowledge about cell behavior after transplantation and about the mechanism whereby MNC therapy might ameliorate complaints of PAD.

Interleukin-16 deficiency suppresses the development of chronic rejection in murine cardiac transplantation model.

Background: IL-16 promotes the recruitment of various cells expressing CD4, a receptor for IL-16. The precise role of IL-16 in transplant rejection remains unknown; therefore, the present study investigated the contribution of IL-16 to the development of chronic rejection in heart transplants.

Methods: C-H-2(bm12)KhEg (H-2(bm12)) donor hearts were transplanted into (1) IL-16-deficient (IL-16(-/-)) C57BL/6J or (b) wild type (WT) control recipients (MHC class II mismatch).

Role of molecular imaging in stem cell therapy for myocardial restoration.

During the past two decades, stem cells have created enthusiasm as a regenerative therapy for ischemic heart disease. Transplantation of bone marrow stem cells, skeletal myoblasts, and endothelial progenitor cells has shown to improve myocardial function after infarction. Recently, attention has focused on the potential use of embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells because they possess the capacity to differentiate into various cell types, including cardiac and endothelial cells.