Efficient decellularization of equine tendon with preserved biomechanical properties and cytocompatibility for human tendon surgery indications.

Chronic and acute tendon injuries are frequent afflictions, for which treatment is often long and unsatisfactory. When facing extended injuries, matrices and scaffolds with sufficient biomechanical properties are required for surgical repair and could additionally serve as supports for cellular therapies to improve healing. In this study, protocols of either commonly used detergents only (SDS 1%, Triton 1%, TBP 1%, and Tween-20 1%) or a combination of freeze/thaw (F/T) cycles with decellularization agents (NaCl 1M, ddH O) were evaluated for the decellularization of horse equine superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) for hand flexor or extensor tendon reconstruction.

Decellularised tissues obtained by a CO-philic detergent and supercritical CO.

Tissue decellularisation has gained much attention in regenerative medicine as an alternative to synthetic materials. In decellularised tissues, biological cues can be maintained and provide cellular environments still unmet by synthetic materials. Supercritical CO (scCO ) has recently emerged as a promising alternative decellularisation technique to aggressive detergents; in addition, scCO provides innate sterilisation.

Diffusion in Li₂O studied by non-equilibrium molecular dynamics for 873 < T/K < 1603.

The use of non-equilibrium molecular dynamics facilitates the calculation of the cation diffusion constant of Li2O at temperatures too low to be accessible by other methods. Excellent agreement with experimental diffusion coefficients has been obtained over the temperature range 873 < T/K < 1603. Diffusion below 1200 K was shown to be dominated by a concerted nearest-neighbour hopping process, whereas in the high-temperature superionic region an additional mechanism involving a six-coordinate interstitial cation site in the anti-fluorite structure becomes increasingly dominant.

Validation of the French version of the MacNew heart disease health-related quality of life questionnaire.

Background: Assessment of health-related quality of life is widely recommended by European health agencies in relevant research studies as well as in clinical care.

Aims: To validate the French version of the MacNew heart disease health-related quality of life questionnaire.

Methods: As part of the International HeartQoL Project, 323 French-speaking patients with ischaemic heart disease (angina, n=76; myocardial infarction [MI], n=155; heart failure, n=91; mean age 58.

Molecular dynamics investigation of the disordered crystal structure of hexagonal LiBH4.

The crystal structure of the hexagonal phase of solid lithium borohydride (LiBH4) is studied by ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of both the low and high-temperature phases. A temperature range of 200-535 K is simulated with the aim of characterising the disorder in the high-temperature structure in detail. The mechanism and kinetics of the reorientational motion of the borohydride units (BH4(-)) are determined and are consistent with published neutron scattering experiments; it is found that rotational diffusivity increases by an order of magnitude at the phase transition temperature.