Oriented artificial nanofibers and laser induced periodic surface structures as substrates for Schwann cells alignment.

People with injuries to the peripheral nervous system suffer from paralysis of the facial muscles, fingers and hands or toes and feet, often for the rest of their lives, due to its poor functional regeneration. Therefore, to improve patients' quality of life, there is an urgent need for conduits that effectively support the healing of large defects in nerve pathways through specific guidance of nerve cells. This paper describes two specific methods for achieving directed growth of Schwann cells, a type of glial cells that can support the regeneration of the nerve pathway by guiding the neuronal axons in the direction of their alignment.

Simulating the Effect of Removing Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) from Blood Reveals That Only Implantable Devices Can Significantly Reduce Metastatic Burden of Patients.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cells that have separated from a solid cancerous lesion and entered the bloodstream. They play a crucial role in driving the metastatic spread to distant organs, which is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Various concepts for blood purification devices aiming to remove CTCs from the blood and prevent metastases have been developed.

The Development and Biomechanical Analysis of an Allograft Interference Screw for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

Graft fixation during cruciate ligament reconstruction using interference screws is a common and frequently used surgical technique. These interference screws are usually made of metal or bioabsorbable materials. This paper describes the development of an allograft interference screw from cortical human bone.

A simple and cheap aerosol penetrometer for filter testing using an electronic cigarette.

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic face masks grew in importance as their use by the general population was recommended by health officials in order to minimize the risk of infection and prevent further spread of the virus. To ensure health protection of medical personnel and other system relevant staff, it is of considerable interest to quickly test if a certain lot of filtering facepiece masks meets the requirements or if the penetration changes under different conditions. As certified penetrometers are rather expensive and were difficult to obtain during the COVID-19 pandemic, we describe two quite simple and cheap methods to quickly test the filter penetration based on an electronic cigarette.

A Novel Screw Drive for Allogenic Headless Position Screws for Use in Osteosynthesis-A Finite-Element Analysis.

Due to their osteoconductive properties, allogenic bone screws made of human cortical bone have advantages regarding rehabilitation compared to other materials such as stainless steel or titanium. Since conventional screw drives like hexagonal or hexalobular drives are difficult to manufacture in headless allogenic screws, an easy-to-manufacture screw drive is needed. In this paper, we present a simple drive for headless allogenic bone screws that allows the screw to be fully inserted.