Excellent outcome of stem cell transplantation for sickle cell disease.

Many sickle cell disease (SCD) patients lack matched family donors (MFD) or matched unrelated donors (MUD), implying haploidentical donors (MMFD) as a logical donor choice. We used a reduced toxicity protocol for all donor types. We included 31 patients (2-22 years) with MFD (n = 15), MMFD (10), or MUD (6) HSCT and conditioning with alemtuzumab/ATG, thiotepa, fludarabine and treosulfan, and post-transplant cyclophosphamide for MMFD.

Impact of Endurance Training on Regeneration of Axons, Glial Cells, and Inhibitory Neurons after Spinal Cord Injury: A Link between Functional Outcome and Regeneration Potential within the Lesion Site and in Adjacent Spinal Cord Tissue.

Endurance training prior to spinal cord injury (SCI) has a beneficial effect on the activation of signaling pathways responsible for survival, neuroplasticity, and neuroregeneration. It is, however, unclear which training-induced cell populations are essential for the functional outcome after SCI. Adult Wistar rats were divided into four groups: control, six weeks of endurance training, Th9 compression (40 g/15 min), and pretraining + Th9 compression.

Epidural oscillating field stimulation increases axonal regenerative capacity and myelination after spinal cord trauma.

Oscillating field stimulation (OFS) with regular alterations in the polarity of electric current is a unique, experimental approach to stimulate, support, and potentially guide the outgrowth of both sensory and motor nerve fibers after spinal cord injury (SCI). In previous experiments, we demonstrated the beneficial effects of OFS in a 4-week survival period after SCI. In this study, we observed the major behavioral, morphological, and protein changes in rats after 15 minutes of T9 spinal compression with a 40 g force, followed by long-lasting OFS (50 µA), over a 8-week survival period.

Cardiovascular Care of Turner Syndrome Women in Germany: Where Do We Stand?-Results from an Online Patient Survey.

Background: This study aimed to investigate whether the cardiovascular care of Turner Syndrome (TS) women in Germany is in accordance with the latest clinical practice guidelines established by the 2016 Cincinnati international TS meeting.

Methods: An anonymous online questionnaire was created to ask TS subjects about existing cardiovascular conditions and cardiovascular care received. Depending on cardiovascular morbidity and type of medical care received, the fulfillment of the latest clinical practice guidelines for the care of TS women was assessed.

Combined therapy (Rho-A-kinase inhibitor and chitosan/collagen porous scaffold) provides a supportive environment for endogenous regenerative processes after spinal cord trauma.

Due to the complexity of pathological processes in spinal cord injury (SCI), it is increasingly recognized that combined strategies are more effective than single treatments. The aim of the present study was to enhance neural tissue regeneration and axon regrowth using Rho-A-kinase inhibitor (Y-27632) in a rat SCI model (Th9 compression) and to bridge the lesion with a chitosan/collagen porous scaffold (ChC-PS) applied two weeks after SCI. In addition, to see the synergic effect of Y-27632 and ChC-PS, we combined these single therapeutic strategies to enhance the regenerative capacity of injured spinal cord tissue.