Limbal stem-cell therapy and long-term corneal regeneration.

Background: Corneal renewal and repair are mediated by stem cells of the limbus, the narrow zone between the cornea and the bulbar conjunctiva. Ocular burns may destroy the limbus, causing limbal stem-cell deficiency. We investigated the long-term clinical results of cell therapy in patients with burn-related corneal destruction associated with limbal stem-cell deficiency, a highly disabling ocular disease.

Evaluation of molecular markers in corneal regeneration by means of autologous cultures of limbal cells and keratoplasty.

Purpose: To determine the epithelial phenotype in patients with a limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD) after ocular surface reconstruction with autologous cultured stem cells. To correlate the epithelial phenotype with the clinical outcome.

Methods: Six eyes affected by LSCD, verified and graded by impression cytology, were treated with an autologous fibrin-cultured limbal stem cell graft.

Socket grafting in the posterior maxilla reduces the need for sinus augmentation.

This study compared the dimensional alterations, the need for sinus floor elevation, and the histologic wound healing of augmented and nonaugmented alveolar sockets. Sixteen human extraction sockets were either grafted or left untreated. At baseline and 3 and 6 months postextraction, alveolar ridge alterations were evaluated; at 3, 6, and 9 months, histologic analyses were conducted.

Investigation of an apparent outbreak of Rhodococcus equi bacteremia.

During January to April 2007, hospital staff reported 3 patients with Rhodococcus equi bloodstream infections. Isolates were analyzed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, to confirm identification and to assess strain relatedness; 2 were R. equi but genetically distinct, and 1 was identified as Gordonia polyisoprenivorans.

Synthesis of ZnO nanostructures using different metal catalyst: morphology and photoluminescence characteristics.

In the present study, we report the synthesis of ZnO nanostructures using the Vapor-Liquid-Solid growth with different metal catalyst by electron beam evaporation method. As grown samples were characterized by means of Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy. FESEM characterization showed the formation of different type of nanostructure depending on the metal catalyst.

Human embryonic stem cell-derived keratinocytes: how close to clinics?

Recently in The Lancet, Guenou et al. (2009) demonstrate that human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) can differentiate into mature keratinocytes able to generate a pluristratified epithelium on immunodeficient mice. Their findings and the potential clinical use of hESC-derived keratinocytes will be discussed.

Pre-clinical models for oral and periodontal reconstructive therapies.

The development of new medical formulations (NMF) for reconstructive therapies has considerably improved the available treatment options for individuals requiring periodontal repair or oral implant rehabilitation. Progress in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine modalities strongly depends on validated pre-clinical research. Pre-clinical testing has contributed to the recent approval of NMF such as GEM 21S and INFUSE bone grafts for periodontal and oral regenerative therapies.

Cutaneous melanoma with metastasis in a cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis).

Background: A 3.3-year-old-male cynomolgus macaque (Macaca fascicularis) showed a focally extensive soft, dark, discoid dermal mass, 0.5 cm in diameter, on the dorsal surface of the right hind foot, over the fourth and fifth metatarsal bones.

PDGF-B gene therapy accelerates bone engineering and oral implant osseointegration.

Platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) stimulates repair of healing-impaired chronic wounds such as diabetic ulcers and periodontal lesions. However, limitations in predictability of tissue regeneration occur due, in part, to transient growth factor bioavailability in vivo. Here, we report that gene delivery of PDGF-B stimulates repair of oral implant extraction socket defects.

Light extraction with dielectric nanoantenna arrays.

SiO(2) and TiO(2) dielectric nanoparticles are arranged in linear arrays, supporting collective Bragg modes, and employed as dielectric nanoantennae. Electrodynamic calculations show that strong, tunable, and lossless light extraction is obtained in a wide spectral range, including UV, visible, and near-infrared regions, in opposition to poor enhancement features of isolated dielectric nanoparticles. Emission quantum efficiencies comparable to those obtained employing metallic structures are achieved, with strong emission enhancement even for poor emitter position and dipole moment orientation.

Gene therapy of inherited skin adhesion disorders: a critical overview.

Gene therapy has the potential to treat devastating inherited diseases for which there is little hope of finding a conventional cure. These include lethal diseases, like immunodeficiencies or several metabolic disorders, or conditions associated with a relatively long life expectancy but poor quality of life and expensive and life-long symptomatic treatments, such as muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and thalassaemia. Skin adhesion defects belong to both groups.

Tunable, directional and wavelength selective plasmonic nanoantenna arrays.

Linear arrays of noble metal nanoparticles, supporting Bragg plasmonic resonances, are proposed as optical nanoantennae. Electrodynamic calculations show that tunable, directional and wavelength selective emission enhancement is obtained throughout the visible and near-infrared spectrum by varying the dielectric environment and the array geometrical parameters, and thus tuning the Bragg modes. Large quantum efficiency enhancements are possible even in the case of poor emitters (1% intrinsic efficiency), spanning wavelengths that are relevant in lighting (lambda approximately equal 400 nm) and telecommunication (lambda approximately equal 1.

In vitro evidence of nerve growth factor effects on human conjunctival epithelial cell differentiation and mucin gene expression.

Purpose: Mucins released into the tear film are crucial to maintaining a healthy ocular surface. Alterations in goblet cell numbers and mucin secretion are observed in chronic ocular surface inflammatory diseases. Nerve growth factor (NGF) plays a crucial role in healing and inflammation of the ocular surface.

Percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy: a self-drive control technique with video fiberoptic bronchoscopy reduces perioperative complications.

Background: The aim of this study was to demonstrate that performance of percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy (PDT) associated with a self-drive control technique lowers the incidence of complications.

Methods: A case-control, before-and-after, retrospective study. Place of study: A major teaching hospital in the Department of Emergency, Intensive Care Unit.

Epithelial stem cells in corneal regeneration and epidermal gene therapy.

Regenerative medicine refers to innovative therapies aimed at the permanent restoration of diseased tissues and organs. Regeneration of self-renewing tissues requires specific adult stem cells, which need to be genetically modified to correct inherited genetic diseases. Cultures of epithelial stem cells permanently restore severe skin and mucosal defects, and genetically corrected epidermal stem cells regenerate a normal epidermis in patients carrying junctional epidermolysis bullosa.

The safety and acceptability of an electric toothbrush on peri-implant mucosa in patients with oral implants in aesthetic areas: a prospective cohort study.

Objectives: The aim of this cohort study was to evaluate the safety and the acceptability of an electric toothbrush used on the peri-implant mucosa of implants placed in the aesthetic area.

Methods: One hundred consecutive patients rehabilitated with implants positioned in the maxillary aesthetic area were recruited. Implants had to be restored at least 6 months prior to baseline.

Correction of laminin-5 deficiency in human epidermal stem cells by transcriptionally targeted lentiviral vectors.

Deficiency of the basement membrane component laminin-5 (LAM5) causes junctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB), a severe and often fatal skin adhesion defect. Autologous transplantation of epidermal stem cells genetically corrected with a Moloney leukemia virus (MLV)-derived retroviral vector reconstitutes LAM5 synthesis, and corrects the adhesion defect in JEB patients. However, MLV-derived vectors have genotoxic characteristics, and are unable to reproduce the physiological, basal layer-restricted expression of LAM5 chains.

Immune thrombocytopenic purpura as a complication of Bartonella henselae infection.

Immune thrombocytopenic purpura is an infrequent yet well-recognized complication of viral infections, such as mumps, rubella, varicella, cytomegalovirus, parvovirus and infectious monunucleosis by Epstein-Barr virus. Some recent studies have described a possible association between Henoch-Schonlein purpura, a non-thrombocytopenic purpura, and seropositivity for Bartonella henselae, but in the literature only sporadic case reports have described a severe immune thrombocytopenic purpura as a complication of Bartonella henselae infection. We report a case of an immunocompetent child with clinical and serological evidence of Bartonella henselae infection presenting with purpura and cervical lymphoadenopathy and treated with intravenous immunoglobulin.

Towards a gene therapy clinical trial for epidermolysis bullosa.

Genetic mutations affecting the capacity of basal keratinocytes to adhere firmly to the underneath derma lead to severe, often lethal, blistering disorders of the skin known as Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB). About 400,000-500,000 people worldwide are affected and no definitive treatments have yet been developed. Gene therapy might represent an alternative therapeutic approach for these devastating inherited disorders.

Biomonitoring of Lake Garda: Identification of ciliate species and symbiotic algae responsible for the "black-spot" bloom during the summer of 2004.

At the end of July 2004, a "black-spot" appeared in the western portion of Lake Garda, an oligomictic lake classified as meso-oligotrophic. A few days later, this phenomenon spread throughout the lake. A first analysis by optical microscopy revealed that the origin of the black spot was a ciliated protozoan.

Detection and identification of beta-lactam residues in milk using a hybrid biosensor.

A novel application of a hybrid biosensor is here employed as an analytical method for the detection and presumptive identification of beta-lactam residues in milk. The method is based on measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2), the production of which is related to the microbial growth of the test microorganism Bacillus stearothermophilus var. calidolactis.

Correlation between salivary and serum markers of bone turnover in osteopenic rats.

Background: Previously, we measured bone alkaline phosphatase (b-ALP) and terminal C-telopeptide of collagen type I (CTX) in saliva. The present longitudinal experimental study sought to determine whether salivary concentrations of b-ALP and CTX have the same response as in serum samples under different conditions: normal, increased, and reduced bone remodeling.

Methods: Thirty rats were ovariectomized (OVX) to induce osteopenia 60 days after surgery, and 10 rats were sham operated.

Towards therapeutic application of ocular stem cells.

The first example of cell therapy using cultured stem cells dates back to 1981, when it was demonstrated that human epidermis could be grown in the laboratory and transplanted onto burnt patients to reconstitute a functional epidermis [Green H, Kehinde O, Thomas J. Growth of cultured human epidermal cells into multiple epithelia suitable for grafting. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1979;76(11):5665-8; Banks-Schlegel S, Kehinde O, Green H.