Synthetic conduits efficacy in neural repair: a comparative study of dip-coated polycaprolactone and electrospun polycaprolactone/polyurethane conduits.

Peripheral nerve injuries (PNI) represent the most common type of nervous system injuries, resulting in 5 million injuries per year. Current gold standard, autografts, still carry several limitations, including the inappropriate type, size, and function matches in grafted nerves, lack of autologous donor sites, neuroma formation, and secondary surgery incisions. Polymeric nerve conduits, also known as nerve guides, can help overcome the aforementioned issues that limit nerve recovery and regeneration by reducing tissue fibrosis, misdirection of regenerating axons, and the inability to maintain long- distance axonal growth.

Human Post-Translational SUMOylation Modification of SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Protein Enhances Its Interaction Affinity with Itself and Plays a Critical Role in Its Nuclear Translocation.

Viruses, such as Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), infect hosts and take advantage of host cellular machinery for genome replication and new virion production. Identifying and elucidating host pathways for viral infection is critical for understanding the development of the viral life cycle and novel therapeutics. The SARS-CoV-2 N protein is critical for viral RNA (vRNA) genome packaging in new virion formation.

Where Is Garlic Mustard? Understanding the Ecological Context for Invasions of .

The invasive plant Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) has spread throughout forest understory and edge communities in much of North America, but its persistence, density, and impacts have varied across sites and time. Surveying the literature since 2008, we evaluated both previously proposed and new mechanisms for garlic mustard's invasion success and note how they interact and vary across ecological contexts. We analyzed how and where garlic mustard has been studied and found a lack of multisite and longitudinal studies, as well as regions that may be under- or overstudied, leading to poor representation for understanding and predicting future invasion dynamics.

Human SUMOylation Pathway Is Critical for Influenza B Virus.

The identification and elucidation of host pathways for viral infection are critical for understanding the viral infection processes and novel therapeutics development. Here, for the first time, we discover that the human SUMOylation pathway is essential for the IBV viral life cycle. First, IBV viruses were completely inhibited by a novel SUMOylation specific inhibitor, STE025, discovered from our FRET-based high-throughput screening, and the inhibition was very potent, with IC~ 0.

Encapsulating Polyethyleneimine-DNA Nanoplexes into PEGylated Biodegradable Microparticles Increases Transgene Expression In Vitro and Reduces Inflammatory Responses In Vivo.

Encapsulating genetic material into biocompatible polymeric microparticles is a means to improving gene transfection while simultaneously decreasing the tendency for inflammatory responses; and can be advantageous in terms of delivering material directly to the lungs via aerosolization for applications such as vaccinations. In this study, we investigated the advantages of using polymeric microparticles carrying the luciferase reporter gene in increasing transfection efficiency in the readily transfectable HEK293 cell line and the difficult to transfect RAW264.7 cell line.

Implementation of a Workplace-Based Assessment System to Measure Performance of the Core Entrustable Professional Activities in the Pediatric Clerkship.

Objective: The Core Entrustable Professional Activities for Entering Residency (Core EPAs) were developed to address the gap between medical school and residency. There is a lack of instruments to measure performance of the Core EPAs in clerkships. We describe the operationalization and outcomes of a workplace-based assessment (WBA) system to measure performance of the Core EPAs in the pediatrics clerkship.

Implantable Osmotic Transport Device Can Reduce Edema After Severe Contusion Spinal Cord Injury.

Recent findings from the ISCoPe study indicate that, after severe contusion to the spinal cord, edema originating in the spinal cord accumulates and compresses the tissue against the surrounding dura mater, despite decompressive laminectomy. It is hypothesized that this compression results in restricted flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the subarachnoid space and central canal and ultimately collapses local vasculature, exacerbating ischemia and secondary injury. Here we developed a surgically mounted osmotic transport device (OTD) that rests on the dura and can osmotically remove excess fluid at the injury site.

The latency of peroxisomal catalase in terms of effectiveness factor for pancreatic and glioblastoma cancer cell lines in the presence of high concentrations of HO: Implications for the use of pharmacological ascorbate in cancer therapy.

Previous research has identified variation in cancer cell line response to high levels of extracellular HO (eHO) exposure. This directly contributes to our understanding cellular efficacy of pharmacological ascorbate (P-AscH) therapy. Here we investigate the factors contributing to latency of peroxisomal catalase of a cell and the importance of latency in evaluating cell exposure to eHO.

Single and binary protein electroultrafiltration using poly(vinyl-alcohol)-carbon nanotube (PVA-CNT) composite membranes.

Electrically conductive composite ultrafiltration membranes composed of carbon nanotubes have exhibited efficient fouling inhibition in wastewater treatment applications. In the current study, poly(vinyl-alcohol)-carbon nanotube membranes were applied to fed batch crossflow electroultrafiltration of dilute (0.1 g/L of each species) single and binary protein solutions of α-lactalbumin and hen egg-white lysozyme at pH 7.

Finding the optimal design of a passive microfluidic mixer.

The ability to thoroughly mix two fluids is a fundamental need in microfluidics. While a variety of different microfluidic mixers have been designed by researchers, it remains unknown which (if any) of these mixers are optimal (that is, which designs provide the most thorough mixing with the smallest possible fluidic resistance across the mixer). In this work, we automatically designed and rationally optimized a microfluidic mixer.

Development and applications of a concentrating membrane osmometer for colloid solutions.

The membrane concentration osmometer coupled with multiple sample preparations has been used for over a century to determine a number of colloidal properties. At the dilute region, this method has been used to determine solute molecular mass. When the solution is proteinaceous, in the intermediate region, the osmotic pressure profile provides the second virial coefficient, useful for estimating protein crystallization and salting out.

Tunable Properties of Poly-DL-Lactide-Monomethoxypolyethylene Glycol Porous Microparticles for Sustained Release of Polyethylenimine-DNA Polyplexes.

Direct pulmonary delivery is a promising step in developing effective gene therapies for respiratory disease. Gene therapies can be used to treat the root cause of diseases, rather than just the symptoms. However, developing effective therapies that do not cause toxicity and that successfully reach the target site at therapeutic levels is challenging.

Interrogating the Osmotic Pressure of Self-Crowded Bovine Serum Albumin Solutions: Implications of Specific Monovalent Anion Effects Relative to the Hofmeister Series.

The free-solvent-based (FSB) model and osmotic pressure were used to probe the ion binding and protein hydration for self-crowded bovine serum albumin in 0.15 M NaF, NaCl, NaI, and NaSCN solutions. All experiments were conducted with solutions at pH 7.

Calculated cell-specific intracellular hydrogen peroxide concentration: Relevance in cancer cell susceptibility during ascorbate therapy.

The high extracellular hydrogen peroxide (HO) concentrations generated during pharmacological ascorbate (P-AscH) therapy has been shown to exhibit a high flux into susceptible cancer cells leading to a decrease in clonogenic survival. It is hypothesized that the intracellular HO concentration for susceptibility is independent of cell type and that the variation observed in dosing is associated with differences in the cell-specific overall steady-state intracellular HO concentration values. The steady-state variation in intracellular HO concentration is coupled to a number of cellular specific transport and reaction factors including catalase activity and membrane permeability.

Warming increases the sensitivity of seedling growth capacity to rainfall in six temperate deciduous tree species.

Predicting the effects of climate change on tree species and communities is critical for understanding the future state of our forested ecosystems. We used a fully factorial precipitation (three levels; ambient, -50 % ambient, +50 % ambient) by warming (four levels; up to +4 °C) experiment in an old-field ecosystem in the northeastern USA to study the climatic sensitivity of seedlings of six native tree species. We measured whole plant-level responses: survival, total leaf area (TLA), seedling insect herbivory damage, as well as leaf-level responses: specific leaf area (SLA), leaf-level water content (LWC), foliar nitrogen (N) concentration, foliar carbon (C) concentration and C:N ratio of each of these deciduous species in each treatment across a single growing season.

Instantaneous simulation of fluids and particles in complex microfluidic devices.

Microfluidics researchers are increasingly using computer simulation in many different aspects of their research. However, these simulations are often computationally intensive: simulating the behavior of a simple microfluidic chip can take hours to complete on typical computing hardware, and even powerful workstations can lack the computational capabilities needed to simulate more complex chips. This slows the development of new microfluidic chips for new applications.

Prevalence of key care indicators of pressure injuries, incontinence, malnutrition, and falls among older adults living in nursing homes in New Zealand.

Pressure injuries, incontinence, malnutrition, and falls are important indicators of the quality of care in healthcare settings, particularly among older people, but there is limited information on their prevalence in New Zealand (NZ). The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of these four problems among older people in nursing home facilities. The cross-sectional study was an analysis of data collected on a single day for the 2016 National Care Indicators Programme-New Zealand (NCIP-NZ).

MOPSA: A microfluidics-optimized particle simulation algorithm.

Computer simulation plays a growing role in the design of microfluidic chips. However, the particle tracers in some existing commercial computational fluid dynamics software are not well suited for accurately simulating the trajectories of particles such as cells, microbeads, and droplets in microfluidic systems. To address this issue, we present a microfluidics-optimized particle simulation algorithm (MOPSA) that simulates the trajectories of cells, droplets, and other particles in microfluidic chips with more lifelike results than particle tracers in existing commercial software.

Health, functional ability and life satisfaction among older people 65 years and over: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Satisfaction with life is a complex interplay of older people's perspectives on life achievements. Satisfaction with life, alongside health and functional ability contribute to successful ageing.

Aim: To explore the impact of increasing age on older people's perceptions of their health, functional ability and life satisfaction.

Peroxiporin Expression Is an Important Factor for Cancer Cell Susceptibility to Therapeutic H2O2: Implications for Pharmacological Ascorbate Therapy.

Cancer cell toxicity to therapeutic H2O2 varies widely depending on cell type. Interestingly, it has been observed that different cancer cell types have varying peroxiporin expression. We hypothesize that variation in peroxiporin expression can alter cell susceptibility to therapeutic H2O2 concentrations.

MECs: "Building Blocks" for Creating Biological and Chemical Instruments.

The development of new biological and chemical instruments for research and diagnostic applications is often slowed by the cost, specialization, and custom nature of these instruments. New instruments are built from components that are drawn from a host of different disciplines and not designed to integrate together, and once built, an instrument typically performs a limited number of tasks and cannot be easily adapted for new applications. Consequently, the process of inventing new instruments is very inefficient, especially for researchers or clinicians in resource-limited settings.

Psychometric testing of a person-centred care scale the Eden Warmth Survey in a long-term care home in New Zealand.

Background: Traditional nursing homes have been viewed as dominated by the medical model. Since the 1990s, the Eden Alternative(TM) has become a significant model in systemic transformations in nursing homes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric performance of the 20 items of the Eden Warmth Survey - Residents (EWS-R) in an aged-care home.

Reduction of Cerebral Edema via an Osmotic Transport Device Improves Functional Outcome after Traumatic Brain Injury in Mice.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI), the foremost cause of morbidity and mortality in persons under 45 years of age worldwide, leads to about 200,000 victims requiring hospitalization and approximately 52,000 deaths per year in the United States. TBI is characterized by cerebral edema leading to raised intracranial pressure, brain herniation, and subsequent death. Current therapies for TBI treatment are often ineffective, thus novel therapies are needed.