Long-Term Prognostic Implications of Cerebral Microbleeds in Chinese Patients With Ischemic Stroke.

Background: This study was performed to determine the clinical correlates and long-term prognostic implications of microbleed burden and location in Chinese patients with ischemic stroke.

Methods And Results: We recruited 1003 predominantly Chinese patients with ischemic stroke who received magnetic resonance imaging at the University of Hong Kong. We determined the clinical correlates of microbleeds and the long-term risks (3126 patient-years of follow-up) of recurrent ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) by microbleed burden (0 versus 1, 2-4, and ≥5) and location, adjusting for age, sex, and vascular risk factors and stratified by antithrombotic use.

Development of large engineered cartilage constructs from a small population of cells.

Confronted with articular cartilage's limited capacity for self-repair, joint resurfacing techniques offer an attractive treatment for damaged or diseased tissue. Although tissue engineered cartilage constructs can be created, a substantial number of cells are required to generate sufficient quantities of tissue for the repair of large defects. As routine cell expansion methods tend to elicit negative effects on chondrocyte function, we have developed an approach to generate phenotypically stable, large-sized engineered constructs (≥3 cm(2) ) directly from a small amount of donor tissue or cells (as little as 20,000 cells to generate a 3 cm(2) tissue construct).

The testicular and epididymal expression profile of PLCζ in mouse and human does not support its role as a sperm-borne oocyte activating factor.

Phospholipase C zeta (PLCζ) is a candidate sperm-borne oocyte activating factor (SOAF) which has recently received attention as a potential biomarker of human male infertility. However, important SOAF attributes of PLCζ, including its developmental expression in mammalian spermiogenesis, its compartmentalization in sperm head perinuclear theca (PT) and its release into the ooplasm during fertilization have not been established and are addressed in this investigation. Different detergent extractions of sperm and head/tail fractions were compared for the presence of PLCζ by immunoblotting.

Osmotic release of bioactive VEGF from biodegradable elastomer monoliths is the same in vivo as in vitro.

The feasibility of generating an extended period of linear release of therapeutic proteins from photo-cross-linked, biodegradable elastomer monolithic devices in vitro has been previously demonstrated. The release is driven primarily by the osmotic pressure generated upon the dissolution of the encapsulated particles within the polymer. The osmotic pressure is provided by co-incorporation into the particle of trehalose as an osmotigen.

Long term in vivo degradation and tissue response to photo-cross-linked elastomers prepared from star-shaped prepolymers of poly(epsilon-caprolactone-co-D,L-lactide).

Long term in vivo degradation, and tissue response to, cylindrical elastomers made of photo-cross-linked star-poly(epsilon-caprolactone-co-D,L-lactide) triacrylate were investigated through subcutaneous implantation in rats. The elastomers were prepared via UV initiated crosslinking of prepolymers of equimolar amounts of monomers; a high crosslink density elastomer (ELAST 1250) was prepared from a prepolymer of 1250 Da and a low crosslink density elastomer (ELAST 7800) was prepared from a prepolymer of 7800 Da. The elastomers were characterized using cross-polarization magic angle spinning solid state (13)C NMR and attenuated total reflectance fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.