Longitudinal CT study of sarcopenia due to hepatic failure after living donor liver transplantation.

Background: The quantity and quality of skeletal muscle have been observed to be closely related with post-transplantation mortality in patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). However, the effect of LDLT on skeletal muscle has not been thoroughly investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the change of trunk muscle mass and adiposity in recipients of LDLT.

Micro/nano-imprinted substrates grafted with a thermoresponsive polymer for thermally modulated cell separation.

There is a great demand for effective cell separation techniques that do not require the labeling of cell surfaces for applications in cell transplantation therapy and cell analysis. In the present study, we prepared thermoresponsive convex or concave substrates with circular hole, cylindrical pillar, and line patterns of various sizes as thermally modulated cell separation materials through the combination of thermal nano-imprinted lithography and subsequent surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide). Three types of human cells, human umbilical vein endothelial cells, normal human dermal fibroblasts, and human skeletal muscle myoblast cells, which are commonly used in cardiovascular tissue engineering, were employed in this study.

Enhanced Wettability Changes by Synergistic Effect of Micro/Nanoimprinted Substrates and Grafted Thermoresponsive Polymer Brushes.

Thermoresponsive polymer brushes are grafted on micro/nanostructured polymer substrates as new intelligent interfaces that synergistically enhance wettability changes in response to external temperature stimuli. Thermoplastic poly(styrene-co-4-vinylbenzyl chloride) [P(St-co-VBC)] is synthesized using radical polymerization and spin-coated on a glass substrate. Micro/nanopillar and hole patterns are imprinted on the P(St-co-VBC) layer using thermal nanoimprint lithography.

Absolute reliability of adipose tissue volume measurement by computed tomography: application of low-dose scan and minimal detectable change--a phantom study.

Metabolic syndrome increases the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease, particularly heart failure. Abdominal obesity is commonly assessed by measurement of the waist circumference, which exhibits a positive correlation with the visceral fat area measured on computed tomography (CT). CT is an excellent technique for measurement of cross-sectional areas of adipose tissue, but the exposure to ionizing radiation limits broad and repeated application in healthy subjects.