Mimicking the Architecture and Dissolution Chemistry of Cancellous Bone Tissue to Optimize the Biocompatibility of Bioactive Scaffolds.

Synthesis of mechanically stable porous scaffolds with an architecture analogous to cancellous bone tissue poses significant challenges to bioactive glass (BG) based scaffolds. This is primarily due to densification and crystallization of the BG's during heat treatment. This study presents a modified BG series (42SiO-xTiO-24NaO-21CaO-13PO, where x = 8 and 16 TiO).

Rapamycin Corrects T Regulatory Cell Depletion and Improves Embryo Implantation and Live Birth Rates in a Murine Model.

There are few treatments for patients with recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) or recurrent implantation failure (RIF). Women with RPL and unexplained infertility have lower T regulatory cell (T) expression when compared to fertile controls. A murine model has been developed with depletion of regulatory T cells (DEREG) after administration of diphtheria toxin (DT), resulting in smaller litter sizes, secondary to embryo implantation failure.

Maternal T Regulatory Cell Depletion Impairs Embryo Implantation Which Can Be Corrected With Adoptive T Regulatory Cell Transfer.

Maternal immune tolerance of fetal engraftment is critical for the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy, but the exact mechanisms permitting this semi-allograft in the maternal host are not completely understood. Further, failure of the embryo to implant in the uterus accounts for at least 30% of the best prognosis in vitro fertilization cycles when a perfect embryo is transferred to a normal uterus. We hypothesized that T regulatory cells (T), defined by CD4CD25hi surface expression and the FoxP3+ transcription factor, play an important role in the initiation of the earliest stages of pregnancy, specifically implantation of the embryo.

Total body irradiation must be delivered at high dose for efficient engraftment and tolerance in a rhesus stem cell gene therapy model.

Reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) is desirable for hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) gene therapy applications. However, low gene marking was previously observed in gene therapy trials, suggesting that RIC might be insufficient for (i) opening niches for efficient engraftment and/or (ii) inducing immunological tolerance for transgene-encoded proteins. Therefore, we evaluated both engraftment and tolerance for gene-modified cells using our rhesus HSC gene therapy model following RIC.

High School Athletes' Parents' Perceptions and Knowledge of the Skills and Job Requirements of the Certified Athletic Trainer.

Context: Parents play a crucial role in determining medical services for their children, and it is important they understand the scope of practice and skills of the athletic trainer (AT).

Objective: To understand parents' perceptions and knowledge of the skills and job requirements of the secondary school AT.

Design: Cross-sectional study.