Expansion of human allogeneic liver-derived progenitor cells for liver regenerative therapy in serum-free culture conditions.

Human allogeneic liver-derived progenitor cells (HALPCs) display advanced ability to differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells and exhibit potent immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and anti-fibrotic properties. HALPCs have been successfully manufactured under good manufacturing practice (GMP) and are currently in clinical development. A previous phase 2a trial demonstrated the safety of peripheral intravenous infusions of HALPCs and preliminary evidence of the cells' properties to restore liver function in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), thus potentially improving their survival.

Feasibility and Acceptability of a Mobile App for Prolonged Grief Disorder Symptoms.

Background: Mobile apps provide a unique platform for mental health assessment and monitoring. They can provide real time, accessible data on symptoms of mental disorders that may yield rich data for detailed clinical assessment and help individuals gain insight into their current mental state. We developed one of the first apps for tracking symptoms of prolonged grief disorder.

Effects of Deposition Temperature and Working Pressure on the Thermal and Nanomechanical Performances of Stoichiometric CuN: An Adaptable Material for Photovoltaic Applications.

The pursuit of efficient, profitable, and ecofriendly materials has defined solar cell research from its inception to today. Some materials, such as copper nitride (CuN), show great promise for promoting sustainable solar technologies. This study employed reactive radio-frequency magnetron sputtering using a pure nitrogen environment to fabricate quality CuN thin films to evaluate how both temperature and gas working pressure affect their solar absorption capabilities.

Adaptive filter with Riemannian manifold constraint.

The adaptive filtering theory has been extensively developed, and most of the proposed algorithms work under the assumption of Euclidean space. However, in many applications, the data to be processed comes from a non-linear manifold. In this article, we propose an alternative adaptive filter that works on a manifold, thus generalizing the filtering task to non-Euclidean spaces.

Human Allogeneic Liver-Derived Progenitor Cells Significantly Improve NAFLD Activity Score and Fibrosis in Late-Stage NASH Animal Model.

Accumulated experimental and clinical evidence supports the development of human allogeneic liver-derived progenitor cells (HALPCs) to treat fibro-inflammatory liver diseases. The aim of the present study was to evaluate their therapeutic effect in a non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)-STAM mouse model. The immune signaling characteristics of HALPCs were first assessed in vitro.

Comprehensive Model for the Transformation of Zinc Nitride Metastable Layers.

In this work, we performed systematic studies on the oxidation of zinc nitride metastable layers using a climate chamber with controlled temperature and relative humidity. The electrical properties of the samples were in situ analyzed using a programmable microprocessor with a voltage divider, while the structural and optical properties were ex situ measured by scanning electron microscopy, elastic recoil detection analysis, and spectroscopic ellipsometry. Our results show that zinc nitride transformation proceeds in a top-down way, with a progressive substitution of N by O, which leads to the formation of pores and a remarkable swelling effect.

A phase II study of human allogeneic liver-derived progenitor cell therapy for acute-on-chronic liver failure and acute decompensation.

Background & Aims: Human allogeneic liver-derived progenitor cells (HALPC, HepaStem®; Promethera Biosciences, Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium) are an advanced therapy medicinal product that could potentially alleviate systemic inflammation and ameliorate liver function in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) or acute decompensation of cirrhosis (AD).

Methods: This open-label phase II study was conducted in 9 centres in Belgium, Spain, and Bulgaria between 2016 and 2019. The primary objective was to assess the safety of HALPC therapy up to Day 28 and the secondary objectives were to assess its safety and preliminary efficacy up to Month 3.

Biological and Mechanical Synergies to Deal With Proton Therapy Pitfalls: Minibeams, FLASH, Arcs, and Gantryless Rooms.

Proton therapy has advantages and pitfalls comparing with photon therapy in radiation therapy. Among the limitations of protons in clinical practice we can selectively mention: uncertainties in range, lateral penumbra, deposition of higher LET outside the target, entrance dose, dose in the beam path, dose constraints in critical organs close to the target volume, organ movements and cost. In this review, we combine proposals under study to mitigate those pitfalls by using individually or in combination: (a) biological approaches of beam management in time (very high dose rate "FLASH" irradiations in the order of 100 Gy/s) and (b) modulation in space (a combination of mini-beams of millimetric extent), together with mechanical approaches such as (c) rotational techniques (optimized in partial arcs) and, in an effort to reduce cost, (d) gantry-less delivery systems.

Tuberculosis infection in children visiting friends and relatives in countries with high incidence of tuberculosis: A study protocol.

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is a global infectious disease. In low-incidence countries, paediatric TB affects mostly immigrant children and children of immigrants. We hypothesize that these children are at risk of exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis when they travel to the country of origin of their parents to visit friends and relatives (VFR).

Computer-aided classification of small airways dysfunction using impulse oscillometric features: a children-focused review.

Background and objective Spirometry, which is the most commonly used technique for asthma diagnosis, is often unsuitable for small children as it requires them to follow exact instructions and perform extreme inspiration and expiration maneuvers. In contrast, impulse oscillometry (IOS) is a child-friendly technique that could serve as an alternative pulmonary function test (PFT) for asthma diagnosis and control in children as it offers several advantages over spirometry. However, the complex test results of IOS may be difficult to be understood by practitioners due to its reliance on mechanical and electrical models of the human pulmonary system.

A Geant4 simulation for three-dimensional proton imaging of microscopic samples.

Proton imaging can be carried out on microscopic samples by focusing the beam to a diameter ranging from a few micrometers down to a few tens of nanometers, depending on the required beam intensity and spatial resolution. Three-dimensional (3D) imaging by tomography is obtained from proton transmission (STIM: Scanning Transmission Ion Microscopy) and/or X-ray emission (PIXE: Particle Induced X-ray Emission). In these experiments, the samples are dehydrated for under vacuum analysis.

Spectrally broad plasmonic absorption in Ga and In nanoparticle hybrids.

In this work, we use Joule-effect thermal evaporation to produce hybrid structures made of Ga and In nanoparticles (NPs) on Si (100) substrates. Taking advantage of the protective oxide shell, In NPs can be used as a template for a second deposition step without structural changes, enabling the hybridization of NPs of materials. These complex structures of mixed NPs present a spectrally broad plasmonic absorption that can be optically tuned with a wide range of photon energies from UV to IR regions with a full width at half maximum range of ∼400 to 800 nm.

Reconstruction of Positron Emission Tomography Images Using Gaussian Curvature.

Positron emission tomography (PET) provides images of metabolic activity in the body, and it is used in the research, monitoring, and diagnosis of several diseases. However, the raw data produced by the scanner are severely corrupted by noise, causing a degraded quality in the reconstructed images. In this paper, we proposed a reconstruction algorithm to improve the image reconstruction process, addressing the problem from a variational geometric perspective.

Photoluminescence enhancement of monolayer MoS using plasmonic gallium nanoparticles.

2D monolayer molybdenum disulphide (MoS) has been the focus of intense research due to its direct bandgap compared with the indirect bandgap of its bulk counterpart; however its photoluminescence (PL) intensity is limited due to its low absorption efficiency. Herein, we use gallium hemispherical nanoparticles (Ga NPs) deposited by thermal evaporation on top of chemical vapour deposited MoS monolayers in order to enhance its luminescence. The influence of the NP radius and the laser wavelength is reported in PL and Raman experiments.

Size-selective breaking of the core-shell structure of gallium nanoparticles.

Core-shell gallium nanoparticles (Ga NPs) have recently been proposed as an ultraviolet plasmonic material for different applications but only at room temperature. Here, the thermal stability as a function of the size of the NPs is reported over a wide range of temperatures. We analyze the chemical and structural properties of the oxide shell by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy.

Dietary acid load in early life and bone health in childhood: the Generation R Study.

Background: Dietary contribution to acid-base balance in early life may influence subsequent bone mineralization. Previous studies reported inconsistent results regarding the associations between dietary acid load and bone mass.

Objective: We examined the associations of dietary acid load in early life with bone health in childhood.

State of the art survey on MRI brain tumor segmentation.

Brain tumor segmentation consists of separating the different tumor tissues (solid or active tumor, edema, and necrosis) from normal brain tissues: gray matter (GM), white matter (WM), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). In brain tumor studies, the existence of abnormal tissues may be easily detectable most of the time. However, accurate and reproducible segmentation and characterization of abnormalities are not straightforward.

Monte-Carlo dosimetry on a realistic cell monolayer geometry exposed to alpha particles.

The energy and specific energy absorbed in the main cell compartments (nucleus and cytoplasm) in typical radiobiology experiments are usually estimated by calculations as they are not accessible for a direct measurement. In most of the work, the cell geometry is modelled using the combination of simple mathematical volumes. We propose a method based on high resolution confocal imaging and ion beam analysis (IBA) in order to import realistic cell nuclei geometries in Monte-Carlo simulations and thus take into account the variety of different geometries encountered in a typical cell population.