Silk fibroin nanoparticles for locoregional cancer therapy: Preliminary biodistribution in a murine model and microfluidic GMP-like production.

Silk fibroin nanoparticles (SFNs) have been widely investigated for drug delivery, but their clinical application still faces technical (large-scale and GMP-compliant manufacturing), economic (cost-effectiveness in comparison to other polymer-based nanoparticles), and biological (biodistribution assessments) challenges. To address biodistribution challenge, we provide a straightforward desolvation method (in acetone) to produce homogeneous SFNs incorporating increasing amounts of FeO (SFNs-Fe), detectable by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and loaded with curcumin as a model lipophilic drug. SFNs-Fe were characterized by a homogeneous distribution of the combined materials and showed an actual FeO loading close to the theoretical one.

Evaluation of Patient Expectations and Outcomes after Distal Radius Fractures.

Background: Patient expectations influence patient-reported outcomes after musculoskeletal injuries. The goal of this study is to determine how pretreatment expectations correlate with outcomes in patients with distal radius fractures.

Methods: Seventy-five patients with an isolated distal radius fracture were prospectively enrolled into nonoperative and operative cohorts.

Challenges in providing special care dentistry during COVID-19 pandemic: a survey of public dental care services in Italy.

Background: The aim of this paper was to assess COVID-19 pandemic impact over the public health care services (HCS) involved in special care dentistry (SCD).

Methods: Customized questionnaire was sent to 45 HCS involved in SCD. Healthcare personnel (HP) on duty, safety of HCS, time of suspension and reduction of routine dental practice in special needs patients (SNP), kind of SNP mostly penalized during pre-COVID period/T1, lockdown (phase 1/T2) and post pandemic reopening (phase 2/T3) were analyzed by statistical means (P<0.