Fabrication of an efficient vanadium redox flow battery electrode using a free-standing carbon-loaded electrospun nanofibrous composite.

Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) are considered as promising electrochemical energy storage systems due to their efficiency, flexibility and scalability to meet our needs in renewable energy applications. Unfortunately, the low electrochemical performance of the available carbon-based electrodes hinders their commercial viability. Herein, novel free-standing electrospun nanofibrous carbon-loaded composites with textile-like characteristics have been constructed and employed as efficient electrodes for VRFBs.

Self-assembling peptides cross-linked with genipin: resilient hydrogels and self-standing electrospun scaffolds for tissue engineering applications.

Self-assembling peptides (SAPs) are synthetic bioinspired biomaterials that can be feasibly multi-functionalized for applications in surgery, drug delivery, optics and tissue engineering (TE). Despite their promising biocompatibility and biomimetic properties, they have never been considered real competitors of polymers and/or cross-linked extracellular matrix (ECM) natural proteins. Indeed, synthetic SAP-made hydrogels usually feature modest mechanical properties, limiting their potential applications, due to the transient non-covalent interactions involved in the self-assembling phenomenon.

Fabrication of nanofibrous electrospun scaffolds from a heterogeneous library of co- and self-assembling peptides.

Unlabelled: Self-assembling (SAPs) and co-assembling peptides (CAPs) are driving increasing enthusiasm as synthetic but biologically inspired biomaterials amenable of easy functionalization for regenerative medicine. On the other hand, electrospinning (ES) is a versatile technique useful for tailoring the nanostructures of various biomaterials into scaffolds resembling the extracellular matrices found in organs and tissues. The synergistic merging of these two approaches is a long-awaited advance in nanomedicine that has not been deeply documented so far.

Recent therapeutic approaches for spinal cord injury.

A spinal cord injury (SCI) often causes permanent changes in strength and sensation functions below the site of the injury and affects thousands of people each year. Transplantation of stem cells is a promising approach in acute SCI as it may support spinal cord repair. However, in case of chronic SCI greater amounts of nervous tissue have to be regenerated, leaving scaffold transplantation the only feasible option for cellular engraftment and nervous bridging.

Impacts of insulin infusion protocol on blood glucose level and outcomes in acute coronary syndrome patients with diabetes mellitus.

Background: Acute coronary syndrome is the most common disease in the world. Several studies suggest that hyperglycemia is associated with poor clinical outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of insulin infusion protocol and conventional therapy on the blood glucose level and outcomes in acute coronary syndrome patients with diabetes mellitus.

Drug release profile in core-shell nanofibrous structures: a study on Peppas equation and artificial neural network modeling.

Release profile of drug constituent encapsulated in electrospun core-shell nanofibrous mats was modeled by Peppas equation and artificial neural network. Core-shell fibers were fabricated by co-axial electrospinning process using tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) as the core and poly(l-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) or polycaprolactone (PCL) as the shell materials. The density and hydrophilicity of the shell polymers, feed rates and concentrations of core and shell phases, the contribution of TCH in core material and electrical field were the parameters fed to the perceptron network to predict Peppas constants in order to derive release pattern.