Publications by authors named "L Aukstikalne"
As the population continues to age, the occurrence of chronic illnesses and comorbidities that often necessitate the use of polypharmacy has been on the rise. Polypharmacy, among other factors that tend to coincide with chronic diseases, such as obesity, impaired kidney and liver function, and older age, can increase the risk of medication errors (MEs). Our study aims to evaluate the prevalence of MEs in the Internal medicine, Cardiology, and Neurology departments at the secondary-level university hospital.
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- Idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (DILI) with DRESS is less understood in Western countries, but a study identified 53 cases from Spanish and Latin American registries to analyze their clinical characteristics and outcomes.
- Patients with DILI-DRESS were generally younger and exhibited more frequent cholestatic or mixed liver damage compared to a larger group of DILI patients, with only one case progressing to acute liver failure and resulting in death.
- The study found that certain medications, particularly anti-epileptics like carbamazepine and lamotrigine, were more commonly associated with DILI-DRESS, and higher bilirubin levels and lack of eosinophilia were linked to worse health outcomes.
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- Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a biodegradable, strong, and elastic material ideal for cartilage tissue engineering, but it needs improved hydrophilicity for effective scaffold use.
- The study enhanced PCL scaffolds' hydrophilicity using ozone treatment and loaded them with TGFβ3 to promote the differentiation of rabbit muscle-derived stem cells (rMDSCs) into chondrocytes.
- Results showed that ozone-treated scaffolds significantly improved collagen-II levels and cartilage regeneration, outperforming non-treated scaffolds, indicating their effectiveness for tissue engineering applications.
Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a non-cytotoxic, completely biodegradable biomaterial, ideal for cartilage tissue engineering. Despite drawbacks such as low hydrophilicity and lack of functional groups necessary for incorporating growth factors, it provides a proper environment for different cells, including stem cells. In our study, we aimed to improve properties of scaffolds for better cell adherence and cartilage regeneration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOzonation has been proved as a viable surface modification technique providing certain properties to the scaffolds that are essential in tissue engineering. However, the ozone (O) treatment of PCL scaffolds in aqueous environments has not yet been presented. O treatment performed in aqueous environments is more effective compared with traditional, executed in ambient air treatment due to more abundant production of hydroxyl radicals (•OH) within the O reaction with water molecules.
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