Device Design and Advanced Computed Tomography of 3D Printed Radiopaque Composite Scaffolds and Meniscus.

3D printed biomaterial implants are revolutionizing personalized medicine for tissue repair, especially in orthopedics. In this study, a radiopaque bismuth oxide (BiO) doped polycaprolactone (PCL) composite is developed and implemented to enable the use of diagnostic X-ray technologies, especially spectral photon counting X-ray computed tomography (SPCCT), for comprehensive tissue engineering scaffold (TES) monitoring. PCL filament with homogeneous BiO nanoparticle (NP) dispersion (0.

Material Composition and Implantation Site Affect in vivo Device Degradation Rate.

Successful tissue engineering requires biomedical devices that initially stabilize wounds, then degrade as tissue is regenerated. However, the material degradation rates reported in literature are often conflicting. Incorporation of in situ monitoring functionality into implanted devices would allow real time assessment of degradation and potential failure.

Computed tomography technologies to measure key structural features of polymeric biomedical implants from bench to bedside.

Implanted polymeric devices, designed to encourage tissue regeneration, require porosity. However, characterizing porosity, which affects many functional device properties, is non-trivial. Computed tomography (CT) is a quick, versatile, and non-destructive way to gain 3D structural information, yet various CT technologies, such as benchtop, preclinical and clinical systems, all have different capabilities.

In vivo micro-computed tomography evaluation of radiopaque, polymeric device degradation in normal and inflammatory environments.

Polymeric biomedical implants are an important clinical tool, but degradation remains difficult to determine post-implantation. Computed tomography (CT) could be a powerful tool for device monitoring, but polymers require incorporation of radiopaque contrast agents to be distinguishable from tissue. In addition, immune response to radiopaque devices must be characterized as it modulates device function.

The state of the art in the treatment of severe aplastic anemia: immunotherapy and hematopoietic cell transplantation in children and adults.

Acquired aplastic anemia (AA) is an immune-mediated bone marrow (BM) failure where marrow disruption is driven by a cytotoxic T-cell-mediated autoimmune attack against hematopoietic stem cells. The key diagnostic challenge in children, but also in adults, is to exclude the possible underlying congenital condition and myelodysplasia. The choice of treatment options, either allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) or immunosuppressive therapy (IST), depends on the patient's age, comorbidities, and access to a suitable donor and effective therapeutic agents.

Material matters: Degradation products affect regenerating Schwann cells.

Devices to treat peripheral nerve injury (PNI) must balance many considerations to effectively guide regenerating nerves across a gap and achieve functional recovery. To enhance efficacy, design features like luminal fillers have been explored extensively. Material choice for PNI devices is also critical, as the determining factor of device mechanics, and degradation rate and has increasingly been found to directly impact biological response.

Device Design and Diagnostic Imaging of Radiopaque 3D Printed Tissue Engineering Scaffolds.

3D printed biomaterial implants are revolutionizing personalized medicine for tissue repair, especially in orthopedics. In this study, a radiopaque Bi O doped polycaprolactone ( ) composite is developed and implemented to enable the use of diagnostic X-ray technologies, especially photon counting X-ray computed tomography ( ), for comprehensive in vivo device monitoring. PCL filament with homogeneous Bi O nanoparticle ( ) dispersion (0.

In vivo Biomedical Imaging of Immune Tolerant, Radiopaque Nanoparticle-Embedded Polymeric Device Degradation.

Biomedical implants remain an important clinical tool for restoring patient mobility and quality of life after trauma. While polymers are often used for devices, their degradation profile remains difficult to determine post-implantation. CT monitoring could be a powerful tool for in situ monitoring of devices, but polymers require the introduction of radiopaque contrast agents, like nanoparticles, to be distinguishable from native tissue.

Functional attachment of primary neurons and glia on radiopaque implantable biomaterials for nerve repair.

Repairing peripheral nerve injuries remains a challenge, even with use of auxiliary implantable biomaterial conduits. After implantation the location or function of polymeric devices cannot be assessed via clinical imaging modalities. Adding nanoparticle contrast agents into polymers can introduce radiopacity enabling imaging using computed tomography.

Incorporating Tantalum Oxide Nanoparticles into Implantable Polymeric Biomedical Devices for Radiological Monitoring.

Longitudinal radiological monitoring of biomedical devices is increasingly important, driven by the risk of device failure following implantation. Polymeric devices are poorly visualized with clinical imaging, hampering efforts to use diagnostic imaging to predict failure and enable intervention. Introducing nanoparticle contrast agents into polymers is a potential method for creating radiopaque materials that can be monitored via computed tomography.

Radiopaque Implantable Biomaterials for Nerve Repair.

Repairing peripheral nerve injuries remains a clinical challenge. To enhance nerve regeneration and functional recovery, the use of auxiliary implantable biomaterial conduits has become widespread. After implantation, there is currently no way to assess the location or function of polymeric biomedical devices, as they cannot be easily differentiated from surrounding tissue using clinical imaging modalities.

Incorporating Radiopacity into Implantable Polymeric Biomedical Devices for Clinical Radiological Monitoring.

Longitudinal radiological monitoring of biomedical devices is increasingly important, driven by risk of device failure following implantation. Polymeric devices are poorly visualized with clinical imaging, hampering efforts to use diagnostic imaging to predict failure and enable intervention. Introducing nanoparticle contrast agents into polymers is a potential method for creating radiopaque materials that can be monitored via computed tomography.

Prevention of bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis via inhibition of the MRTF/SRF transcription pathway.

Bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis is a debilitating disease, linked to high morbidity and mortality in chemotherapy patients. The MRTF/SRF transcription pathway has been proposed as a potential therapeutic target, as it is critical for myofibroblast differentiation, a hallmark of fibrosis. In human lung fibroblasts, the MRTF/SRF pathway inhibitor, CCG-257081, effectively decreased mRNA levels of downstream genes: smooth muscle actin and connective tissue growth factor, with IC s of 4 and 15 μM, respectively.

A systematic review of point-of-care abdominal ultrasound scans performed by general surgeons.

Background: Ultrasound is an established imaging modality in general surgery. With the increasing use of bedside point-of-care ultrasounds, general surgeons have been incorporating this skill into their clinical practice. This systematic review provides an up-to-date summary of the evidence for abdominal ultrasound scans performed by general surgeons to diagnose intra-abdominal pathology.

Design Considerations to Facilitate Clinical Radiological Evaluation of Implantable Biomedical Structures.

Clinical effectiveness of implantable medical devices would be improved with in situ monitoring to ensure device positioning, determine subsequent damage, measure biodegradation, and follow healing. While standard clinical imaging protocols are appropriate for diagnosing disease and injury, these protocols have not been vetted for imaging devices. This study investigated how radiologists use clinical imaging to detect the location and integrity of implanted devices and whether embedding nanoparticle contrast agents into devices can improve assessment.

Competitive Interaction of Phosphate with Selected Toxic Metals Ions in the Adsorption from Effluent of Sewage Sludge by Iron/Alginate Beads.

Wastewater is characterized by a high content of phosphate and toxic metals. Many studies have confirmed the sorption affinity of alginate adsorbents for these ions. In this study, the adsorption of phosphate from effluent of sewage sludge on biodegradable alginate matrices cross-linked with Fe ions (Fe_Alg) was investigated.

Engineering a platform for nerve regeneration with direct application to nerve repair technology.

The development of effective treatment options for repair of peripheral nerves is complicated by lack of knowledge concerning the interactions between cells and implants. A promising device, the multichannel scaffold, incorporates microporous channels, aligning glia and directing axonal growth across a nerve gap. To enhance clinical outcomes of nerve repair, a platform, representative of current implant technology, was engineered which 1) recapitulated key device features (porosity and linearity) and 2) demonstrated remyelination of adult neurons.

Efficacy and Safety of Imatinib in Paediatric CML - A Single Centre Study.

Background/aim: Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) rarely affects the paediatric population and has an incidence of 0.06-0.12/100,000 children per year.

The mechanics of scaling-up multichannel scaffold technology for clinical nerve repair.

Peripheral nerve injury remains a large clinical problem, with challenges to the successful translation of nerve repair devices. One promising technology is the multichannel scaffold, a conduit incorporating arrays of linear microchannels, which has high open lumen volume to guide regenerating nerves toward distal targets. To maximize open lumen volume, and scale-up scaffolds for translation, this study explored how mechanical properties were affected by 1) material choice (poly(lactide co-glycolide) (PLGA) and poly(caprolactone) (PCL)), 2) microstructure (porous and non-porous), and 3) channel architecture (200 µm and 300 µm diameter).

Imatinib in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia in children and adolescents is effective and well tolerated: Report of the Polish Pediatric Study Group for the Treatment of Leukemias and Lymphomas.

Background: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) constitutes only 2-3% of all leukemias in pediatric patients. Philapelphia chromosome and BCR-ABL fusion are genetic hallmarks of CML, and their presence is crucial for targeted molecular therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), which replaced hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) as a standard first-line therapy. The disease in pediatric population is rare, and despite molecular and clinical similarities to CML in adults, different approach is needed, due to the long lifetime expectancy and distinct developmental characteristics of affected children.

Microstructure and in vivo characterization of multi-channel nerve guidance scaffolds.

In a previous study, we demonstrated a novel manufacturing approach to fabricate multi-channel scaffolds (MCS) for use in spinal cord injuries (SCI). In the present study, we extended similar materials processing technology to fabricate significantly longer (5X) porous poly caprolactone (PCL) MCS and evaluated their efficacy in 1 cm sciatic peripheral nerve injury (PNI) model. Due to the increase in MCS dimensions and the challenges that may arise in a longer nerve gap model, microstructural characterization involved MCS wall permeability to assess nutrient flow, topography, and microstructural uniformity to evaluate the potential for homogeneous linear axon guidance.

Infectious mononucleosis-like syndrome with high lymphocytosis and positive IgM EBV and CMV antibodies in a three-year-old girl.

Primary Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection usually affects preadolescent children or young adults, causing similar clinical presentation. Signs and symptoms are typically mild, and the majority of clinical and laboratory findings resolve spontaneously within one month after onset. In adulthood, the risk of fulminant EBV infection and severe complications is much higher, which may be related to increasing memory CD8+ T-cell population with age.

Biomineralization of Recombinant Peptide Scaffolds: Interplay among Chemistry, Architecture, and Mechanics.

Biomineralized scaffolds are an attractive option for bone tissue engineering, being similar to native bone. However, optimization is difficult, due to the complex interplay among architecture, chemistry, and mechanics. Utilizing biomimetic nucleation, linear mineralized scaffolds were created from a collagen type I based recombinant peptide (RCP).