Spatial analysis of transcript and protein levels in skeletal muscle.

Skeletal muscle spatial analyses have revealed unexpected regionalized gene expression patterns challenging the understanding of muscle as a homogeneous tissue. Here, we present a protocol for the spatial analysis of transcript and protein levels in murine skeletal muscle. We describe steps for tibialis anterior dissection, formaldehyde fixation, tissue chopper cutting, and hybridization chain reaction (HCR) detection and amplification.

Standardizing designed and emergent quantitative features in microphysiological systems.

Microphysiological systems (MPSs) are cellular models that replicate aspects of organ and tissue functions in vitro. In contrast with conventional cell cultures, MPSs often provide physiological mechanical cues to cells, include fluid flow and can be interlinked (hence, they are often referred to as microfluidic tissue chips or organs-on-chips). Here, by means of examples of MPSs of the vascular system, intestine, brain and heart, we advocate for the development of standards that allow for comparisons of quantitative physiological features in MPSs and humans.

Integrated Electrochemical and Optical Biosensing in Organs-on-Chip.

Demand for biocompatible, non-invasive, and continuous real-time monitoring of organs-on-chip has driven the development of a variety of novel sensors. However, highest accuracy and sensitivity can arguably be achieved by integrated biosensing, which enables in situ monitoring of the in vitro microenvironment and dynamic responses of tissues and miniature organs recapitulated in organs-on-chip. This paper reviews integrated electrical, electrochemical, and optical sensing methods within organ-on-chip devices and platforms.

Miniaturized engineered heart tissues from hiPSC-derived triple cell type co-cultures to study human cardiac function.

Human heart tissues grown as three-dimensional spheroids and consisting of different cardiac cell types derived from pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) recapitulate aspects of human physiology better than standard two-dimensional models in vitro. They typically consist of less than 5000 cells and are used to measure contraction kinetics although not contraction force. By contrast, engineered heart tissues (EHTs) formed around two flexible pillars, can measure contraction force but conventional EHTs often require between 0.

Automated assessment of human engineered heart tissues using deep learning and template matching for segmentation and tracking.

The high rate of drug withdrawal from the market due to cardiovascular toxicity or lack of efficacy, the economic burden, and extremely long time before a compound reaches the market, have increased the relevance of human in vitro models like human (patient-derived) pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived engineered heart tissues (EHTs) for the evaluation of the efficacy and toxicity of compounds at the early phase in the drug development pipeline. Consequently, the EHT contractile properties are highly relevant parameters for the analysis of cardiotoxicity, disease phenotype, and longitudinal measurements of cardiac function over time. In this study, we developed and validated the software HAARTA (Highly Accurate, Automatic and Robust Tracking Algorithm), which automatically analyzes contractile properties of EHTs by segmenting and tracking brightfield videos, using deep learning and template matching with sub-pixel precision.

An organ-on-chip device with integrated charge sensors and recording microelectrodes.

Continuous monitoring of tissue microphysiology is a key enabling feature of the organ-on-chip (OoC) approach for in vitro drug screening and disease modeling. Integrated sensing units are particularly convenient for microenvironmental monitoring. However, sensitive in vitro and real-time measurements are challenging due to the inherently small size of OoC devices, the characteristics of commonly used materials, and external hardware setups required to support the sensing units.

Rapid Prototyping of Organ-on-a-Chip Devices Using Maskless Photolithography.

Organ-on-a-chip (OoC) and microfluidic devices are conventionally produced using microfabrication procedures that require cleanrooms, silicon wafers, and photomasks. The prototyping stage often requires multiple iterations of design steps. A simplified prototyping process could therefore offer major advantages.

The treatment of acute appendicitis in two age-based groups during COVID-19 pandemic: a retrospective experience in a COVID-19 referral hospital.

Purpose: During the past months, the Italian Government has reduced the restrictions and access to hospitals as well as outpatient. Since then, up to 40% of non-traumatic abdominal emergencies have had unusual delayed treatment. Given the rapidly evolving situation and the absence of evidence to support recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is useful to assess how the current situation is influencing the management of elderly patients with acute appendicitis.

Organs-on-chip: The way forward.

Organ-on-chip (OoC) technology is thriving thanks to stem cells availability and international OoC programs. Concerted standardization, qualification, and independent testing of devices are needed to coherently develop OoC technology further and fulfill its potential in drug development, disease modeling, and personalized medicine. The OoC roadmap can lead the way forward.

2D 3D laparoscopic right colectomy: A propensity score-matching comparison of personal experience with systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The benefits of laparoscopic approach for right colectomy have been well established. However, the technical difficulty to construct the intra-corporeal anastomosis is still cumbersome.

Aim: To analyze the results of 3D and 2D laparoscopic right colectomy and to compare it to the published series through a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Acute appendicitis in elderly during Covid-19 pandemic.

Purpose: During the past months, the Italian Government has reduced the restrictions and access to hospitals. Since then, up to 40% of non-traumatic abdominal emergencies have had unusual delayed treatment. Given the rapidly evolving situation and the absence of evidence to support recommendations during the pandemic, it is useful to assess how the current situation is influencing the management of elderly with acute appendicitis.

Three-dimensional self-assembly using dipolar interaction.

Interaction between dipolar forces, such as permanent magnets, generally leads to the formation of one-dimensional chains and rings. We investigated whether it was possible to let dipoles self-assemble into three-dimensional structures by encapsulating them in a shell with a specific shape. We found that the condition for self-assembly of a three-dimensional crystal is satisfied when the energies of dipoles in the parallel and antiparallel states are equal.

Statistical reprogramming of macroscopic self-assembly with dynamic boundaries.

Self-assembly is a ubiquitous process that can generate complex and functional structures via local interactions among a large set of simpler components. The ability to program the self-assembly pathway of component sets elucidates fundamental physics and enables alternative competitive fabrication technologies. Reprogrammability offers further opportunities for tuning structural and material properties but requires reversible selection from multistable self-assembling patterns, which remains a challenge.

Self-aligned micro-optic integrated photonic platform.

In this work, we present the fabrication technology of a monolithically integrated photonic platform combining key components for optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging, thereby including a photonic interferometer, a collimating lens, and a 45° reflecting mirror that directs the light from the interferometer to the collimator. The proposed integration process simplifies the fabrication of an interferometric system and inherently overcomes the complexity of costly alignment procedures while complying with the necessarily stringent optical constraints. Fabricated waveguide characterization shows total optical losses as low as 3 dB, and less than 1 dB of additional loss due to the Si 45° mirror facet.

Prognostic impact of the 8th edition of American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) cancer staging system on clinically negative lymph nodes (cN0) breast cancer patients.

In 2017, the 8th edition of American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Staging Manual released the updating of TNM. The new edition introduces changes concerning tumor classification that could have a real innovative and useful clinical impact. The purpose of the study is to compare anatomic vs.

Controlling the pinning time of a receding contact line under forced wetting conditions.

Hypothesis: The contact line pinning that appears in a flow coating process over substrates patterned with chemical or physical heterogeneities has been recently applied to deposit micro- and nanoparticles with great precision. However, the mechanism underlying pinning of a receding contact line at the nanoscale is not yet well understood. In the case of a contact line pinned at a chemical heterogeneity, we hypothesise that it is possible to establish a relation between the pinning time, the contact line velocity and the liquid/plate/heterogeneity affinity that can help to optimize particle deposition.

Microscale Surface Tension and its Applications.

More than 200 years since the earliest scientific investigations by Young, Laplace and Plateau, liquid surface tension is still the object of thriving fundamental and applied research [...

Adhesive elastocapillary force on a cantilever beam.

This paper reports an experimental and theoretical investigation of a cantilever beam in contact with an underlying substrate, in the presence of an intervening liquid bridge. The beam is deflected in response to the adhesive capillary forces generated by the liquid. Three main regimes of contact are observed, similarly to other elastocapillary systems already reported in the literature.

Small-scale soft-bodied robot with multimodal locomotion.

Untethered small-scale (from several millimetres down to a few micrometres in all dimensions) robots that can non-invasively access confined, enclosed spaces may enable applications in microfactories such as the construction of tissue scaffolds by robotic assembly, in bioengineering such as single-cell manipulation and biosensing, and in healthcare such as targeted drug delivery and minimally invasive surgery. Existing small-scale robots, however, have very limited mobility because they are unable to negotiate obstacles and changes in texture or material in unstructured environments. Of these small-scale robots, soft robots have greater potential to realize high mobility via multimodal locomotion, because such machines have higher degrees of freedom than their rigid counterparts.