Stress Relaxation and Composition of Hydrazone-Crosslinked Hybrid Biopolymer-Synthetic Hydrogels Determine Spreading and Secretory Properties of MSCs.

The extracellular matrix plays a critical role in mechanosensing and thereby influences the secretory properties of bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs). As a result, interest has grown in the development of biomaterials with tunable properties for the expansion and delivery of MSCs that are used in cell-based therapies. Herein, stress-relaxing hydrogels are synthesized as hybrid networks containing both biopolymer and synthetic macromer components.

A discrete choice experiment exploring farmer preferences for insurance against extreme weather events.

Agriculture represents one of the most vulnerable sectors to extreme weather events that are projected to increase with climate change. Insurance has been advocated as a more efficient means to ensure financial security to farmers, than post-disaster aid for damages. A potential drawback of insurance however, is that unless carefully designed it could dis-incentivise farmers to engage in wider farm adaptation measures or lead to more risk-taking behaviour.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the anal sacs in three dogs.

Anal sac squamous cell carcinoma is rare in dogs. Five cases have been previously reported, treatment of which involved surgery alone. This report describes three further cases of canine anal sac squamous cell carcinoma which underwent medical (meloxicam) management alone, resulting in survival of up to seven months.

The accuracy of oral predictive and infrared emission detection tympanic thermometers in an emergency department setting.

Objective: To assess the accuracy of an oral predictive thermometer and an infrared emission detection (IRED) tympanic thermometer in detecting fever in an adult emergency department (ED) population, using an oral glass mercury thermometer as the criterion standard.

Methods: This was a single-center, nonrandomized trial performed in the ED of a metropolitan tertiary referral hospital with a convenience sample of 500 subjects. The temperature of each subject was taken by an oral predictive thermometer, an IRED tympanic thermometer set to "oral" equivalent, and an oral glass mercury thermometer (used as the criterion standard).