Identifying Patient Populations in Texts Describing Drug Approvals Through Deep Learning-Based Information Extraction: Development of a Natural Language Processing Algorithm.

Background: New drug treatments are regularly approved, and it is challenging to remain up-to-date in this rapidly changing environment. Fast and accurate visualization is important to allow a global understanding of the drug market. Automation of this information extraction provides a helpful starting point for the subject matter expert, helps to mitigate human errors, and saves time.

Improving in vivo outcomes of decellularized vascular grafts via incorporation of a novel extracellular matrix.

Each year, hundreds of thousands coronary bypass procedures are performed in the US, yet there currently exists no off-the-shelf alternative to autologous vessel transplant. In the present study, we investigated the use of mouse thrombospondin-2 knockout (TSP2 KO) cells, which secrete a non-thrombogenic and pro-migratory extracellular matrix (TSP2 KO ECM), to modify small diameter vascular grafts. To accomplish this, we first optimized the incorporation of TSP2 KO ECM on decellularized rat aortas.

Historical Perspective and Future Direction of Blood Vessel Developments.

Over the past 40 years, remarkable advances have been made in our understanding of successful blood vessel regeneration, starting with the failures of early tissue-engineered vascular grafts designed using isolated components or molecules, such as collagen gels. The vascular tissue engineers are today better educated and have steered ongoing research developments toward clinical developments of more complete vascular grafts that replicate the multitude of specialized arterial aspects required for function.

New Functional Tools for Antithrombogenic Activity Assessment of Live Surface Glycocalyx.

Objective: It is widely accepted that the presence of a glycosaminoglycan-rich glycocalyx is essential for endothelialized vasculature health; in fact, a damaged or impaired glycocalyx has been demonstrated in many vascular diseases. Currently, there are no methods that characterize glycocalyx functionality, thus limiting investigators' ability to assess the role of the glycocalyx in vascular health.

Approach And Results: We have developed novel, easy-to-use, in vitro assays that directly quantify live endothelialized surface's functional heparin weights and their anticoagulant capacity to inactivate Factor Xa and thrombin.

Comparative biology of decellularized lung matrix: Implications of species mismatch in regenerative medicine.

Lung engineering is a promising technology, relying on re-seeding of either human or xenographic decellularized matrices with patient-derived pulmonary cells. Little is known about the species-specificity of decellularization in various models of lung regeneration, or if species dependent cell-matrix interactions exist within these systems. Therefore decellularized scaffolds were produced from rat, pig, primate and human lungs, and assessed by measuring residual DNA, mechanical properties, and key matrix proteins (collagen, elastin, glycosaminoglycans).

Production of decellularized porcine lung scaffolds for use in tissue engineering.

There is a growing body of work dedicated to producing acellular lung scaffolds for use in regenerative medicine by decellularizing donor lungs of various species. These scaffolds typically undergo substantial matrix damage due to the harsh conditions required to remove cellular material (e.g.

Click-coated, heparinized, decellularized vascular grafts.

A novel method enabling the engineering of a dense and appropriately oriented heparin-containing layer on decellularized aortas has been developed. Amino groups of decellularized aortas were first modified to azido groups using 3-azidobenzoic acid. Azide-clickable dendrons were attached onto the azido groups through "alkyne-azide" click chemistry, affording a tenfold amplification of adhesions sites.

Mesenchymal stromal cells form vascular tubes when placed in fibrin sealant and accelerate wound healing in vivo.

Non-healing, chronic wounds are a growing public health problem and may stem from insufficient angiogenesis in affected sites. Here, we have developed a fibrin formulation that allows adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (ADSCs) to form tubular structures in vitro. The tubular structures express markers of endothelium, including CD31 and VE-Cadherin, as well as the pericyte marker NG2.

Tissue-engineered vascular grafts created from human induced pluripotent stem cells.

The utility of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to create tissue-engineered vascular grafts was evaluated in this study. hiPSC lines were first induced into a mesenchymal lineage via a neural crest intermediate using a serum-free, chemically defined differentiation scheme. Derived cells exhibited commonly known mesenchymal markers (CD90, CD105, and CD73 and negative marker CD45) and were shown to differentiate into several mesenchymal lineages (osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic).

The use of optical clearing and multiphoton microscopy for investigation of three-dimensional tissue-engineered constructs.

Recent advances in three-dimensional (3D) tissue engineering have concomitantly generated a need for new methods to visualize and assess the tissue. In particular, methods for imaging intact volumes of whole tissue, rather than a single plane, are required. Herein, we describe the use of multiphoton microscopy, combined with optical clearing, to noninvasively probe decellularized lung extracellular matrix scaffolds and decellularized, tissue-engineered blood vessels.

Titania-hydroxyapatite nanocomposite coatings support human mesenchymal stem cells osteogenic differentiation.

In addition to mechanical and chemical stability, the third design goal of the ideal bone-implant coating is the ability to support osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Plasma-sprayed TiO(2)-based bone-implant coatings exhibit excellent long-term mechanical properties, but their applications in bone implants are limited by their bioinertness. We have successfully produced a TiO(2) nanostructured (grain size <50 nm) based coating charged with 10% wt hydroxyapatite (TiO(2)-HA) sprayed by high-velocity oxy-fuel.

Low thrombogenicity coating of nonwoven PET fiber structures for vascular grafts.

Vascular PET grafts (Dacron) have shown good performance in large vessels (≥ 6 mm) applications. To address the urgent unmet need for small-diameter (2-6 mm) vascular grafts, proprietary high-compliance nonwoven PET fiber structures were modified with various PEG concentrations using PVA as a cross-linking agent, to fabricate non-thrombogenic mechanically compliant vascular grafts. The blood compatibility assays measured through platelet adhesion (SEM and mepacrine dye) and platelet activation (morphological changes, P-selectin secretion, and TXB2 production) demonstrate that functionalization using a 10% PEG solution was sufficient to significantly reduce platelet adhesion/activation close to optimal literature-reported levels observed on carbon-coated ePTFE.

Effect of sterilization on non-woven polyethylene terephthalate fiber structures for vascular grafts.

Non-woven polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers produced via melt blowing and compounded into a 6 mm diameter 3D tubular scaffold were developed with artery matching mechanical properties. This work compares the effects of ethylene oxide (EtO) and low temperature plasma (LTP) sterilization on PET surface chemistry and biocompatibility. As seen through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, LTP sterilization led to an increase in overall oxygen content and the creation of new hydroxyl groups.

Biocompatibility of novel polymer-apatite nanocomposite fibers.

On the basis of the bioactivity of hydroxyapatite (HA) and the excellent mechanical and biocompatible performance of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), composite microfibers made of nanograde HA with PET was designed and fabricated to mimic the structure of biological bone, which exhibits a composite of nanograde apatite crystals and natural polymer. The PET/HA nanocomposite was molded into fibers so that the bulk structures' mechanical properties can be custom tailored by changing the final 3D orientation of the fibbers. This study focused on the in vitro biocompatibility evaluation of the PET/HA composite fibers as potential bone fixation biomaterial for total hip replacement prosthesis surfaces.