A Computational Pitting Corrosion Model of Magnesium Alloys.

Controlling the corrosion rate of implants to maintain mechanical properties during tissue healing is significant in developing magnesium alloy implants. In addition to surface treatment and material properties, the study of geometric alteration and mechanical strength are also vital for implant development. In this study, we developed a three-dimensional model for semi-autonomous computational pitting corrosion.

Identification of a distal RXFP1 gene enhancer with differential activity in fibrotic lung fibroblasts involving AP-1.

Relaxin/insulin-like family peptide receptor 1 (RXFP1) mediates relaxin's antifibrotic effects and has reduced expression in the lung and skin of patients with fibrotic interstitial lung disease (fILD) including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and systemic sclerosis (SSc). This may explain the failure of relaxin-based anti-fibrotic treatments in SSc, but the regulatory mechanisms controlling RXFP1 expression remain largely unknown. This study aimed to identify regulatory elements of RXFP1 that may function differentially in fibrotic fibroblasts.

Three-dimensional diastolic blood flow in the left ventricle.

Three-dimensional blood flow in a human left ventricle is studied via a computational analysis with magnetic resonance imaging of the cardiac motion. Formation, growth and decay of vortices during the myocardial dilation are analyzed with flow patterns on various diametric planes. They are dominated by momentum transfer during flow acceleration and deceleration through the mitral orifice.

Kinematic, Dynamic, and Energy Characteristics of Diastolic Flow in the Left Ventricle.

Blood flow characteristics in the normal left ventricle are studied by using the magnetic resonance imaging, the Navier-Stokes equations, and the work-energy equation. Vortices produced during the mitral valve opening and closing are modeled in a two-dimensional analysis and correlated with temporal variations of the Reynolds number and pressure drop. Low shear stress and net pressures on the mitral valve are obtained for flow acceleration and deceleration.

Intramyocardial peptide nanofiber injection improves postinfarction ventricular remodeling and efficacy of bone marrow cell therapy in pigs.

Background: Growing evidence suggests that intramyocardial biomaterial injection improves cardiac functions after myocardial infarction (MI) in rodents. Cell therapy is another promising approach to treat MI, although poor retention of transplanted cells is a major challenge. In this study, we hypothesized that intramyocardial injection of self-assembling peptide nanofibers (NFs) thickens the infarcted myocardium and increases transplanted autologous bone marrow mononuclear cell (MNC) retention to attenuate cardiac remodeling and dysfunction in a pig MI model.