Human iPSC-derived motor neuron innervation enhances the differentiation of muscle bundles engineered with benchtop fabrication techniques.

Engineered skeletal muscle tissues are critical tools for disease modeling, drug screening, and regenerative medicine, but are limited by insufficient maturation. Because innervation is a critical regulator of skeletal muscle development and regeneration in vivo, motor neurons are hypothesized to improve the maturity of engineered skeletal muscle tissues. Although motor neurons have been added to pre-engineered muscle constructs, the impact of motor neurons added prior to the onset of muscle differentiation has not been evaluated.

Pain-Induced Delirium in Patient with Dementia: A Case Report and Narrative Review.

Pain management is the hallmark of palliative care; however, pain is commonly underassessed in cases of advanced dementia and delirium (acute confusional state). We present a case of a 66-year-old female patient with severe dementia who was hospitalized because of behavioral changes and sleep disturbance. Symptoms of confusion, disorientation, inattention, and agitation were most severe at night.

Indonesian WAIS-IV Cultural Research.

Objective: This study examined regional differences between Indonesians on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV Indonesia (WAIS-IV ID) and, in comparison, to the US. Three hypotheses were examined: a) Java will demonstrate stronger WAIS-IV ID performances than non-Java (NJ) samples. b) WAIS-IV ID performances will be correlated with educational attainment.

Engineering programmable material-to-cell pathways via synthetic notch receptors to spatially control differentiation in multicellular constructs.

Synthetic Notch (synNotch) receptors are genetically encoded, modular synthetic receptors that enable mammalian cells to detect environmental signals and respond by activating user-prescribed transcriptional programs. Although some materials have been modified to present synNotch ligands with coarse spatial control, applications in tissue engineering generally require extracellular matrix (ECM)-derived scaffolds and/or finer spatial positioning of multiple ligands. Thus, we develop here a suite of materials that activate synNotch receptors for generalizable engineering of material-to-cell signaling.

Randomized Trial of Sequential Compression Versus Ankle-Calf Movement to Increase Femoral Venous Velocity.

Objective In postoperative patients with a high risk of bleeding, sequential compression devices (SCD) and ambulation are effective methods to reduce venous thromboembolic (VTE) risks. High leg venous flow decreases VTE risk. We postulated that ankle flexion and extension (AFE) while in bed increased leg venous flow velocity as well.

Efficacy of Bioceramic and Calcium Hydroxide-Based Root Canal Sealers against Pathogenic Endodontic Biofilms: An Study.

Background: Complete eradication of root canal pathogens cannot be predictably achieved by chemomechanical preparation and root canal disinfection. Therefore, an obturation material that has superior antimicrobial activity and sealing ability is required to inactivate residual microbes and prevent them from reentering the root canal system. Recently developed bioceramic root canal sealers are hydraulic cement which form calcium hydroxide during the hydration process.

Osteotomy treatments and post-operative fixations for Blount disease: A systematic review.

Background: Blount disease is a developmental abnormality characterized by abnormal ossification of proximal tibia, resulting in lower limb deformities with tibia vara. The condition worsens into knee deformity, gait abnormalities, and premature medial compartment osteoarthritis if left untreated. Managements of those deformities have also advanced in line with the understanding of the deformities.

Modeling Patient-Specific Muscular Dystrophy Phenotypes and Therapeutic Responses in Reprogrammed Myotubes Engineered on Micromolded Gelatin Hydrogels.

models of patient-derived muscle allow for more efficient development of genetic medicines for the muscular dystrophies, which often present mutation-specific pathologies. One popular strategy to generate patient-specific myotubes involves reprogramming dermal fibroblasts to a muscle lineage through MyoD induction. However, creating physiologically relevant, reproducible tissues exhibiting multinucleated, aligned myotubes with organized striations is dependent on the introduction of physicochemical cues that mimic the native muscle microenvironment.

Market Potential for CO Removal and Sequestration from Renewable Natural Gas Production in California.

Bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration (BECCS) is critical for stringent climate change mitigation but is commercially and technologically immature and resource intensive. State and federal fuel and climate policies can drive first markets for BECCS in California. We develop a spatially explicit optimization model to assess niche markets for renewable natural gas (RNG) production with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) from waste biomass in California.

Determining the number of hidden layer and hidden neuron of neural network for wind speed prediction.

Artificial neural network (ANN) is one of the techniques in artificial intelligence, which has been widely applied in many fields for prediction purposes, including wind speed prediction. The aims of this research is to determine the topology of neural network that are used to predict wind speed. Topology determination means finding the hidden layers number and the hidden neurons number for corresponding hidden layer in the neural network.

Engineering skeletal muscle tissues with advanced maturity improves synapse formation with human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived motor neurons.

To develop effective cures for neuromuscular diseases, human-relevant models of neuromuscular tissues are critically needed to probe disease mechanisms on a cellular and molecular level. However, previous attempts to co-culture motor neurons and skeletal muscle have resulted in relatively immature neuromuscular junctions (NMJs). In this study, NMJs formed by human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived motor neurons were improved by optimizing the maturity of the co-cultured muscle tissue.

Characterization of Gelatin Hydrogels Cross-Linked with Microbial Transglutaminase as Engineered Skeletal Muscle Substrates.

Engineered in vitro models of skeletal muscle are essential for efficiently screening drug safety and efficacy. However, conventional culture substrates poorly replicate physical features of native muscle and do not support long-term culture, which limits tissue maturity. Micromolded gelatin hydrogels cross-linked with microbial transglutaminase (gelatin-MTG hydrogels) have previously been shown to induce C21C2 myotube alignment and improve culture longevity.

Homeostatic plasticity in the retina is associated with maintenance of night vision during retinal degenerative disease.

Neuronal plasticity of the inner retina has been observed in response to photoreceptor degeneration. Typically, this phenomenon has been considered maladaptive and may preclude vision restoration in the blind. However, several recent studies utilizing triggered photoreceptor ablation have shown adaptive responses in bipolar cells expected to support normal vision.

Neuromuscular disease modeling on a chip.

Organs-on-chips are broadly defined as microfabricated surfaces or devices designed to engineer cells into microscale tissues with native-like features and then extract physiologically relevant readouts at scale. Because they are generally compatible with patient-derived cells, these technologies can address many of the human relevance limitations of animal models. As a result, organs-on-chips have emerged as a promising new paradigm for patient-specific disease modeling and drug development.

Optical Clearing of Skeletal Muscle Bundles Engineered in 3-D Printed Templates.

Many techniques for engineering and interrogating three-dimensional (3-D) muscle bundles from animal- or patient-derived myoblasts have recently been developed to overcome the limitations of existing in vitro and in vivo model systems. However, many approaches for engineering 3-D muscle bundles rely on specialized and time-consuming techniques, such as photolithography for fabrication and cryosectioning for histology. Cryosectioning also limits visualization to a single plane instead of the entire 3-D structure.

An Origami Continuum Robot Capable of Precise Motion Through Torsionally Stiff Body and Smooth Inverse Kinematics.

Continuum robot arms, with their hyper-redundant continuously deformable bodies, show great promise in applications deemed impossible for traditional rigid robot arms with discrete links and joints, such as navigating tight corners without getting stuck. However, existing continuum robots suffer from excessive twisting when subjected to offset loading, even resulting from their own body weight, which reduces their dexterity and precision. In this work, we present a continuum manipulator that is capable of providing passive torsional stiffness through an origami-inspired modular design, remedying the non-controllable twist typically present in continuum robots.

Regulation of calcium dynamics and propagation velocity by tissue microstructure in engineered strands of cardiac tissue.

Disruptions to cardiac tissue microstructure are common in diseased or injured myocardium and are known substrates for arrhythmias. However, we have a relatively coarse understanding of the relationships between myocardial tissue microstructure, propagation velocity and calcium cycling, due largely to the limitations of conventional experimental tools. To address this, we used microcontact printing to engineer strands of cardiac tissue with eight different widths, quantified several structural and functional parameters and established correlation coefficients.

Modeling the Effect of TNF-α upon Drug-Induced Toxicity in Human, Tissue-Engineered Myobundles.

A number of significant muscle diseases, such as cachexia, sarcopenia, systemic chronic inflammation, along with inflammatory myopathies share TNF-α-dominated inflammation in their pathogenesis. In addition, inflammatory episodes may increase susceptibility to drug toxicity. To assess the effect of TNF-α-induced inflammation on drug responses, we engineered 3D, human skeletal myobundles, chronically exposed them to TNF-α during maturation, and measured the combined response of TNF-α and the chemotherapeutic doxorubicin on muscle function.

Correlation between vascular endothelial growth factor-A expression and tumor location and invasion in patients with colorectal cancer.

Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) has been observed as the predominant angiogenic factor in colorectal cancer (CRC) and the assessment of microvessel density (MVD) has been used to quantify tumor neoangiogenesis. This study aimed to determine clinicopathological and prognostic significance of both angiogenic markers in the local CRC patients.

Methods: We analyzed tissue samples obtained from 81 cases with CRC.

Fabrication of Micromolded Gelatin Hydrogels for Long-Term Culture of Aligned Skeletal Myotubes.

Cultured skeletal myotubes are a powerful in vitro system for identifying mechanisms of skeletal muscle development and disease. However, skeletal myotubes routinely delaminate from conventional culture substrates after approximately 1 week, which significantly hampers their utility for in vitro disease modeling and drug screening. To address this problem, we fabricated micromolded gelatin hydrogels as culture substrates that are more biomimetic than conventional substrates.

Hypomagnesemia Is Prevalent in Patients Undergoing Gynecologic Surgery by a Gynecologic Oncologist.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of and risk factors for hypomagnesemia in patients undergoing gynecologic surgery by a gynecologic oncologist.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed on all patients undergoing surgery for gynecologic pathology from July 2011 to July 2015 by a single surgeon. Demographic data, surgical indication, surgery performed, preoperative laboratory values, postoperative laboratory values, and medical history were examined.

Ovarian Cancer, Version 1.2016, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology.

This selection from the NCCN Guidelines for Ovarian Cancer focuses on the less common ovarian histopathologies (LCOHs), because new algorithms were added for LCOHs and current algorithms were revised for the 2016 update. The new LCOHs algorithms include clear cell carcinomas, mucinous carcinomas, and grade 1 (low-grade) serous carcinomas/endometrioid epithelial carcinomas. The LCOHs also include carcinosarcomas (malignant mixed Müllerian tumors of the ovary), borderline epithelial tumors (also known as low malignant potential tumors), malignant sex cord-stromal tumors, and malignant germ cell tumors.

Incidence and contributing factors to termination of the patient-physician relationship.

Purpose: Identify the incidence and factors contributing to the termination of gynecologic patient-physician relationships.

Methods: All patients terminated from the practice between January 2008 and December 2012 were identified. Charts were reviewed for demographic information, termination reason, and cancer diagnosis.