Comparative analysis of supercritical fluid-based and chemical-based decellularization techniques for nerve tissue regeneration.

Axon regeneration and Schwann cell proliferation are critical processes in the repair and functional recovery of damaged neural tissues. Biomaterials can play a crucial role in facilitating cell proliferative processes that can significantly impact the target tissue repair. Chemical decellularization and supercritical fluid-based decellularization methods are similar approaches that eliminate DNA from native tissues for tissue-mimetic biomaterial production by using different solvents and procedures to achieve the final products.

Cellular direct conversion by cell penetrable OCT4-30Kc19 protein and BMP4 growth factor.

Background: The number of patients suffering from osteoporosis is increasing as the elderly population increases. The demand for investigating bone regeneration strategies naturally arises. One of the approaches to induce bone regeneration is somatic cell transdifferentiation.

RGD-incorporated biomimetic cryogels for hyaline cartilage regeneration.

Maintaining the integrity of articular cartilage is paramount to joint health and function. Under constant mechanical stress, articular cartilage is prone to injury that often extends to the underlying subchondral bone. In this study, we incorporated arginine-aspartate-glycine (RGD) peptide into chondroitin sulfate-based cryogel for hyaline cartilage regeneration.

Sequential growth factor releasing double cryogel system for enhanced bone regeneration.

Bone regeneration is a complicated physiological process regulated by several growth factors. In particular, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP-4) are regarded as key factors that induce bone regeneration by angiogenesis and osteogenesis. In this study, we developed a double cryogel system (DC) composed of gelatin/chitosan cryogel (GC) surrounded by gelatin/heparin cryogel (GH) for dual drug delivery with different release kinetics.

Injectable anti-inflammatory hyaluronic acid hydrogel for osteoarthritic cartilage repair.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common cartilage disorder that results from breakdown of joint cartilage and underlying bone tissues. Once OA is induced in the joint, subsequent immune reaction leads to chronic inflammation that results in the progression of OA and deconstruction of the cartilage. In this study, an injectable hydrogel with epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is introduced to control inflammation and enhance cartilage regeneration.

Vancouver Declaration II on Global Headache Patient Advocacy 2019.

In 2017, the International Headache Society convened a Global Patient Advocacy Summit (GPAS-1) to begin a collaborative effort involving patients, patient advocates, patient advocacy organizations, healthcare professionals, scientists, professional pain, neurology, and headache societies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and regulatory agencies to advance issues of importance to patients affected by headache worldwide. In September 2019, the second Global Patient Advocacy Summit (GPAS-2) was convened to revisit issues from the inaugural meeting, assess the progress of the International Headache Society Global Patient Advocacy Coalition (IHS-GPAC) in meeting the goals set forth therein, and discuss strategies for achieving established goals and supporting future development. Short- and long-term mandates from the first Summit were realized, including publishing the Vancouver Declaration on Global Headache Patient Advocacy 2018, determining the governing and operational structures of the IHS-GPAC, and helping to facilitate the first World Federation of Neurology World Brain Day dedicated to migraine.

Inflammation-Modulating Hydrogels for Osteoarthritis Cartilage Tissue Engineering.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of the joint disease associated with age, obesity, and traumatic injury. It is a disabling degenerative disease that affects synovial joints and leads to cartilage deterioration. Despite the prevalence of this disease, the understanding of OA pathophysiology is still incomplete.

Enhanced Osteogenic Commitment of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Polyethylene Glycol-Based Cryogel with Graphene Oxide Substrate.

Graphene oxide (GO) is considered a comparatively recent biomaterial with enormous potential because of its nontoxicity, high dispersity, and enhanced interaction with biomolecules. These characteristics of GO can promote the interactions between the substrates and cell surfaces. In this study, we incorporated GO in a cryogel-based scaffold system to observe their influence on the osteogenic responses of human tonsil-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hTMSCs).

Chondrogenically primed tonsil-derived mesenchymal stem cells encapsulated in riboflavin-induced photocrosslinking collagen-hyaluronic acid hydrogel for meniscus tissue repairs.

Unlabelled: Current meniscus tissue repairing strategies involve partial or total meniscectomy, followed by allograft transplantation or synthetic material implantation. However, allografts and synthetic implants have major drawbacks such as the limited supply of grafts and lack of integration into host tissue, respectively. In this study, we investigated the effects of conditioned medium (CM) from meniscal fibrochondrocytes and TGF-β3 on tonsil-derived mesenchymal stem cells (T-MSCs) for meniscus tissue engineering.

XAF1 promotes neuroblastoma tumor suppression and is required for KIF1Bβ-mediated apoptosis.

Neuroblastoma is an aggressive, relapse-prone childhood tumor of the sympathetic nervous system. Current treatment modalities do not fully exploit the genetic basis between the different molecular subtypes and little is known about the targets discovered in recent mutational and genetic studies. Neuroblastomas with poor prognosis are often characterized by 1p36 deletion, containing the kinesin gene KIF1B.

High throughput approaches for controlled stem cell differentiation.

Unlabelled: Stem cells have unique ability to undergo self-renewal indefinitely in culture and potential to differentiate into almost all cell types in the human body. However, the developing a method for efficiently differentiating or manipulating these stem cells for therapeutic purposes remains a challenging problem. Pluripotent stem cells, as well as adult stem cells, require biological cues for their proliferation and differentiation.

Riboflavin-induced photo-crosslinking of collagen hydrogel and its application in meniscus tissue engineering.

A meniscus tear is a common knee injury, but its regeneration remains a clinical challenge. Recently, collagen-based scaffolds have been applied in meniscus tissue engineering. Despite its prevalence, application of natural collagen scaffold in clinical setting is limited due to its extremely low stiffness and rapid degradation.

Modeling suggests that gene circuit architecture controls phenotypic variability in a bacterial persistence network.

Background: Bacterial persistence is a non-inherited bet-hedging mechanism where a subpopulation of cells enters a dormant state, allowing those cells to survive environmental stress such as treatment with antibiotics. Persister cells are not mutants; they are formed by natural stochastic variation in gene expression. Understanding how regulatory architecture influences the level of phenotypic variability can help us explain how the frequency of persistence events can be tuned.