Collagen-Coated Hyperelastic Bone Promotes Osteoblast Adhesion and Proliferation.

Successfully reconstructing bone and restoring its dynamic function represents a significant challenge for medicine. Critical size defects (CSDs), resulting from trauma, tumor removal, or degenerative conditions, do not naturally heal and often require complex bone grafting. However, these grafts carry risks, such as tissue rejection, infections, and surgical site damage, necessitating the development of alternative treatments.

Mania: An atypical presentation of probable meningoencephalitis.

, also known as Group B Streptococcus (GBS), is a common pathogen in the neonatal period, causing meningitis and sepsis. In non-pregnant adults it is an unusual cause of meningitis. We report about an elderly female with several risk factors for invasive GBS infection who developed GBS meningoencephalitis one month after treatment for COVID-19 upper respiratory tract infection.

Drug-Induced Thrombocytopenia Due to Nintedanib during Treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Nintedanib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that was approved for the treatment of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2014. The most common side effect of Nintedanib is diarrhea, and thrombocytopenia is a rare side effect of Nintedanib. The exact mechanism is unknown, and the literature lacks case reports of this phenomenon.

Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw: A disease of significant importance for older patients.

Background: Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) is clinically defined as a non-healing jawbone ulcerative-necrotic lesion appearing after dental therapy or minor trauma in patients treated previously with anti-resorptive, anti-angiogenic or immunomodulators. Older patients with osteoporosis and cancer receive these pharmacological agents regularly. As these patients are long-term survivors, efficient treatment is of paramount importance for their quality of life.

The Use of Hydrogels for the Treatment of Bone Osteosarcoma via Localized Drug-Delivery and Tissue Regeneration: A Narrative Review.

Osteosarcoma is a malignant tumor of bone that leads to poor mortality and morbidity. Management of this cancer through conventional methods involves invasive treatment options that place patients at an increased risk of adverse events. The use of hydrogels to target osteosarcoma has shown promising results both in vitro and in vivo to eradicate tumor cells while promoting bone regeneration.

Suppurative Thrombosis of the Portal Vein (Pylephlebits): A Systematic Review of Literature.

Suppurative portal vein thrombosis (pylephlebitis) is an uncommon condition usually associated with an intra-abdominal infection or inflammatory process. In this study, we aimed to synthesize data on previously published cases according to the PRISMA guidelines. A total of 103 patients were included.

Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis-A Systematic Review of Published Cases.

is an emerging, Gram-negative, obligate intracellular pathogen that is transmitted by a tick vector. Human infection ranges from asymptomatic to severe disease that can present with pancytopenia, multiorgan failure, and death. The aim of this systematic review is to analyze case reports and case series reported over the last two decades in peer-reviewed journals indexed in the Medline/PubMed database according to the PRISMA guidelines.

Local delivery of hydrogel encapsulated vascular endothelial growth factor for the prevention of medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw.

The anti-angiogenic effects of bisphosphonates have been hypothesized as one of the major etiologic factors in the development of medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ), a severe debilitating condition with limited treatment options. This study evaluated the potential of a gelatine-hyaluronic acid hydrogel loaded with the angiogenic growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), as a local delivery system to aid in maintaining vascularization in a bisphosphonate-treated (Zoledronic Acid) rodent maxillary extraction defect. Healing was assessed four weeks after implantation of the VEGF-hydrogel into extraction sockets.

Extracellular Alpha-Synuclein Promotes a Neuroinhibitory Secretory Phenotype in Astrocytes.

Multiple system atrophy (MSA) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) are α-synucleinopathies that exhibit widespread astrogliosis as a component of the neuroinflammatory response. Munc18, a protein critical to vesicle exocytosis, was previously found to strongly mark morphologically activated astrocytes in brain tissue of MSA patients. Immunofluorescence of MSA, DLB and normal brain tissue sections was combined with cell culture and co-culture experiments to investigate the relationship between extracellular α-synuclein and the transition to a secretory astrocyte phenotype.

Ageing as a risk factor for cerebral ischemia: Underlying mechanisms and therapy in animal models and in the clinic.

Age is the only one non-modifiable risk of cerebral ischemia. Advances in stroke medicine and behavioral adaptation to stroke risk factors and comorbidities was successful in decreasing stroke incidence and increasing the number of stroke survivors in western societies. Comorbidities aggravates the outcome after cerebral ischemia.

Vascular Tissue Engineering: Advanced Techniques and Gene Editing in Stem Cells for Graft Generation.

The common occurrence of cardiovascular diseases and the lack of proper autologous tissues prompt and promote the pressing development of tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs). Current progress on scaffold production, genetically modified cells, and use of nanotechnology-based monitoring has considerably improved the long-term patency of engineered tissue grafts. However, challenges abound in the autologous materials and manipulation of genes and cells for tissue engineering.

Long-term treatment with spermidine increases health span of middle-aged Sprague-Dawley male rats.

Let alone calorie restriction, life span extension in higher organisms has proven to be difficult to achieve using simple drugs. Previous studies have shown that the polyamine spermidine increased the maximum life span in C. elegans and the median life span in mice.

Dietary habits, lifestyle factors and neurodegenerative diseases.

Worldwide stroke is increasing in parallel with modernization, changes in lifestyle, and the growing elderly population. Our review is focused on the link between diet, as part of 'modern lifestyle', and health in the context of genetic predisposition of individuals to 'unhealthy' metabolic pathway activity. It is concluded that lifestyle including high sugar diets, alcohol and tobacco addiction or high fat diets as well as ageing, brain injury, oxidative stress and neuroinflammation, negatively influence the onset, severity and duration of neurodegenerative diseases.

The Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5 Inhibitor Peptide Inhibits Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Replication.

In order to evaluate the influence of CDK5 inhibitory peptide (CIP) on Human alphaherpesvirus 1 (HSV-1) replication, we constructed two recombinant adeno-associated-virus 2 (rAAV2) vectors encoding CIP fused with cyan-fluorescent-protein (CFP), with or without nuclear localization signal. A third vector encoding non-fused CIP and CFP was also constructed. HeLa and HEK 293T cells were infected with the rAAV-CIP vectors at multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 5000, in the absence or presence of a recombinant HSV-1 that encodes a yellow-fluorescent-protein (rHSV48Y; MOI = 1).

3D printing strategies for peripheral nerve regeneration.

After many decades of biomaterials research for peripheral nerve regeneration, a clinical product (the nerve guide), is emerging as a proven alternative for relatively short injury gaps. This review identifies aspects where 3D printing can assist in improving long-distance nerve guide regeneration strategies. These include (1) 3D printing of the customizable nerve guides, (2) fabrication of scaffolds that fill nerve guides, (3) 3D bioprinting of cells within a matrix/bioink into the nerve guide lumen and the (4) establishment of growth factor gradients along the length a nerve guide.

Photochemically Induced Crosslinking of Tarsal Collagen as a Treatment for Eyelid Laxity: Assessing Potentiality in Animal Tissue.

Purpose: An experimental study to demonstrate in animal eyelids that the controlled exposure of excised tarsal plate to ultraviolet-A radiation can induce a rigidification effect due to photochemical crosslinking of the constitutive collagen.

Methods: Excised strips of sheep tarsus were irradiated with ultraviolet-A rays (wavelength 365 nm) at low and high irradiances, in the presence of riboflavin as a photosensitizer, using radiation sources available for corneal collagen crosslinking procedure. The tensile strength and Young's modulus (stiffness) of irradiated and control samples were measured in a mechanical tester and analyzed statistically.

Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Non-Pharmaceutical Ischemic Stroke Therapy in Aged Subjects.

Unlabelled: The incidence of ischemic stroke in humans increases exponentially above 70 years both in men and women. Comorbidities like diabetes, arterial hypertension or co-morbidity factors such as hypercholesterolemia, obesity and body fat distribution as well as fat-rich diet and physical inactivity are common in elderly persons and are associated with higher risk of stroke, increased mortality and disability. Obesity could represent a state of chronic inflammation that can be prevented to some extent by non-pharmaceutical interventions such as calorie restriction and hypothermia.

Caloric restriction stabilizes body weight and accelerates behavioral recovery in aged rats after focal ischemia.

Obesity and hyperinsulinemia are risk factors for stroke. We tested the hypothesis that caloric restriction, which reduces the incidence of age-related obesity and metabolic syndrome, may represent an efficient and cost-effective strategy for preventing stroke and its devastating consequences. To this end, we placed aged, obese Sprague-Dawley aged rats on a calorie-restricted diet for 8 weeks prior to the experimental infarction.

Combining electrospinning and cell sheet technology for the development of a multiscale tissue engineered ligament construct (TELC).

Ligament tissue rupture is a common sport injury. Although current treatment modalities can achieve appropriate reconstruction of the damaged ligament, they present significant drawbacks, mostly related to reduced tissue availability and pain associated with tissue harvesting. Stem cell based tissue regeneration combined with electrospun scaffolds represents a novel treatment method for torn ligaments.

Stem cell therapies in preclinical models of stroke. Is the aged brain microenvironment refractory to cell therapy?

Unlabelled: Stroke is a devastating disease demanding vigorous search for new therapies. Initial enthusiasm to stimulate restorative processes in the ischemic brain by means of cell-based therapies has meanwhile converted into a more balanced view recognizing impediments that may be related to unfavorable age-associated environments. Recent results using a variety of drug, cell therapy or combination thereof suggest that, (i) treatment with Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor (G-CSF) in aged rats has primarily a beneficial effect on functional outcome most likely via supportive cellular processes such as neurogenesis; (ii) the combination therapy, G-CSF with mesenchymal cells (G-CSF+BM-MSC or G-CSF+BM-MNC) did not further improve behavioral indices, neurogenesis or infarct volume as compared to G-CSF alone in aged animals; (iii) better results with regard to integration of transplanted cells in the aged rat environment have been obtained using iPS of human origin; (iv) mesenchymal cells may be used as drug carriers for the aged post-stroke brains.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells Loaded with p5, Derived from CDK5 Activator p35, Inhibit Calcium-Induced CDK5 Activation in Endothelial Cells.

The potential use of stem cells as therapeutics in disease has gained momentum over the last few years and recently phase-I clinical trials have shown favourable results in treatment of a small cohort of acute stroke patients. Similarly, they have been used in preclinical models drug-loaded for the effective treatment of solid tumours. Here we have characterized uptake and release of a novel p5-cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) inhibitory peptide by mesenchymal stem cells and showed release levels capable of blocking aberrant cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) signaling pathways, through phosphorylation of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) and p53.

The Role of Oxidative Stress in Etiopathogenesis of Chemotherapy Induced Cognitive Impairment (CICI)-"Chemobrain".

Chemobrain or chemotherapy induced cognitive impairment (CICI) represents a new clinical syndrome characterised by memory, learning and motor function impairment. As numerous patients with cancer are long-term survivors, CICI represent a significant factor which may interfere with their quality of life. However, this entity CICI must be distinguished from other cognitive syndromes and addressed accordingly.

Artistic Skills Recovery and Compensation in Visual Artists after Stroke.

Background: Art is a characteristic of mankind, which requires superior central nervous processing and integration of motor functions with visual information. At the present time, a significant amount of information related to neurobiological basis of artistic creation has been derived from neuro-radiological cognitive studies, which have revealed that subsequent to tissue destruction, the artists continue to create art. The current study aims to review the most important cases of visual artists with stroke and to discuss artistic skills recovery and compensation as well as artistic style after stroke.

The effect of bisphosphonates on the endothelial differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells.

The contribution of the local stem cell niche to providing an adequate vascular framework during healing cannot be overemphasized. Bisphosphonates (BPs) are known to have a direct effect on the local vasculature, but their effect on progenitor cell differentiation is unknown. This in vitro study evaluated the effect(s) of various BPs on the differentiation of human placental mesenchymal stem cells (pMSCs) along the endothelial lineage and their subsequent functional and morphogenic capabilities.

Neuroinflammation and comorbidities are frequently ignored factors in CNS pathology.

Virtually all drug interventions that have been successful pre-clinically in experimental stroke have failed to prove their efficacy in a clinical setting. This could be partly explained by the complexity and heterogeneity of human diseases as well as the associated co-morbidities which may render neuroprotective drugs less efficacious in clinical practice. One aspect of crucial importance in the physiopathology of stroke which is not completely understood is neuroinflammation.