An automated in vitro wound healing microscopy image analysis approach utilizing U-net-based deep learning methodology.

Background: The assessment of in vitro wound healing images is critical for determining the efficacy of the therapy-of-interest that may influence the wound healing process. Existing methods suffer significant limitations, such as user dependency, time-consuming nature, and lack of sensitivity, thus paving the way for automated analysis approaches.

Methods: Hereby, three structurally different variations of U-net architectures based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) were implemented for the segmentation of in vitro wound healing microscopy images.

Machine learning-aided evaluation of oxidative strength of cold atmospheric plasma-treated water.

Plasma medicine is gaining attraction in the medical field, particularly the use of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) in biomedicine. The chemistry of the plasma is complex, and the reactive oxygen species (ROS) within it are the basis for the biological effect of CAP on the target. Understanding how the oxidative power of ROS responds to diverse plasma parameters is vital for standardizing the effective application of CAP.

Prediction of the synergistic effect of antimicrobial peptides and antimicrobial agents via supervised machine learning.

Background: Infectious diseases not only cause severe health problems but also burden the healthcare system. Therefore, the effective treatment of those diseases is crucial. Both conventional approaches, such as antimicrobial agents, and novel approaches, like antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), are used to treat infections.

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles accommodating electrospun nanofibers as implantable local drug delivery system processed by cold atmospheric plasma and spin coating approaches.

Nanofibers (NF) and nanoparticles are attractive for drug delivery to improve the drug bioavailability and administration. Easy manipulation of NF as macroscopic bulk material give rise to potential usages as implantable local drug delivery systems (LLDS) to overcome the failures of systemic drug delivery systems such as unmet personalized needs, side effects, suboptimal dosage. In this study, poly(ethylene glycol) polyethyleneimine (mPEG:PEI) copolymer blended poly-caprolactone NFs, NFaccommodating mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) as the implantable LLDS was achieved by employing spin coating and cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) as the post-process for accommodation on NF.

Nonthermal Plasma Treatment Can Eliminate Sandblasting Procedure For Zirconia-Resin Cement Bonding.

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of nonthermal atmospheric plasma (NTAP) treatment, alone or combined with sandblasting and/or primer application, on the bonding of zirconia ceramics to resin cement. Materıals and Methods: A total of 420 discs of Y-TZP (2 x 15 x 12 mm) were prepared and randomly divided into 10 groups according to surface treatment, as follows: Z (control), SB (sandblasting), Pr (primer), SBPr (sandblasting + primer), P (NTAP), SBP (sandblasting + NTAP), PrP (primer + NTAP), SBPrP (sandblasting + primer + NTAP), PPr (NTAP + primer), and SBPPr (sandblasting + NTAP + primer). After surface treatments, the surface roughness values were evaluated using a profilometer, and the contact angle measurements were performed using a goniometer.

Effect of antimicrobial peptide conjugated surgical sutures on multiple drug-resistant microorganisms.

Surgical site infections are commonly encountered as a risk factor in clinics that increase the morbidity of a patient after a surgical operation. Surgical sutures are one of the leading factor for the formation of surgical site infections that induce bacterial colonization by their broad surface area. Current strategies to overcome with surgical site infections consist utilization of antibiotic agent coatings such as triclosan.

Biomimetic sharkskin surfaces with antibacterial, cytocompatible, and drug delivery properties.

Fighting with the infection is one of the most challenging and costly burdens of the healthcare system. Several types of antibiotics and antibacterial agents have been designed and used in combating this dilemma. Nevertheless, the overuse of drugs and the difficulties of proper delivery have led to the development of drug-resistance in many species of bacteria which has reduced the efficacy of antibiotics.

Irrigation of peritoneal cavity with cold atmospheric plasma treated solution effectively reduces microbial load in rat acute peritonitis model.

Accurate and timely diagnosis of appendicitis in children can be challenging, which leads to delayed admittance or misdiagnosis that may cause perforation. Surgical management involves the elimination of the focus (appendectomy) and the reduction of the contamination with peritoneal irrigation to prevent sepsis. However, the validity of conventional irrigation methods is being debated, and novel methods are needed.

Antibacterial activity of antimicrobial peptide-conjugated nanofibrous membranes.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are considered as novel potential alternatives to antibiotics against increasing number of multi drug resistant (MDR) pathogens. Although AMPs have shown strong antimicrobial activity against gram-negative or gram-positive microorganisms, AMP conjugated biomaterials that are effective against MDR microorganisms are yet to be developed. Herein, the potential use of (RWRWRWRW)-NH2 (AMP-1) and KRFRIRVRV-NH2 (AMP-2) peptide conjugated electrospun polylactic-co-glycolic-acid (PLGA) nanofibers (NFs) fabricated and their antimicrobial effect by themselves and in their dual combination (1:1) were evaluated on P.

The Effect of Atmospheric Pressure Cold Plasma Application on Titanium Barriers: A Vertical Bone Augmentation.

Objective: The aim of the present, microcomputed tomographic (μCT) and histological study, was to evaluate the effect of surface modification by atmospheric pressure cold plasma (APCP) on vertical guided bone regeneration in a rabbit calvaria model.

Material-methods: The experimental study was conducted on 12 male New Zealand rabbits with healing periods of 45 and 90 days. Following surgical exposure of the calvarium, 4 customized titanium cylindricalders were fixed.

Evaluation of efficacy of non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma in treatment of periodontitis: a randomized controlled clinical trial.

Objectives: In this clinical study, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness of non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma (NAPP), which is a novel procedure used in periodontal pocket decontamination adjunctive to non-surgical periodontal treatment (NSPT).

Methods: The study included 25 systemically healthy periodontitis patients. In the split-mouth design, NAPP application into the pockets, in addition to NSPT, was performed.

Deionized water can substitute common bleaching agents for nonvital tooth bleaching when treated with non-thermal atmospheric plasma.

The bleaching efficacy of common bleaching agents and deionized water treated with non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma in the pulp chamber for nonvital tooth bleaching was evaluated. A total of 120 extracted human maxillary first incisors were stained using human blood. Teeth were randomly divided into eight groups (n = 15).

Prevention of Peritoneal Adhesions by Non-Thermal Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Treatment on Mouse Model: A Proof of Concept Study.

Formation of peritoneal adhesions is a common consequence of abdominopelvic surgeries and remarkably increases the mortality and morbidity. Moreover, peritoneal adhesions linked to chronic abdominopelvic pain and infertility in women. Various attempts for prevention of peritoneal adhesions were reported.

Aspartic and Glutamic Acid Templated Peptides Conjugation on Plasma Modified Nanofibers for Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A Comparative Study.

Optimization of nanofiber (NF) surface properties is critical to achieve an adequate cellular response. Here, the impact of conjugation of biomimetic aspartic acid (ASP) and glutamic acid (GLU) templated peptides with poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) electrospun NF on osteogenic differentiation of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) was evaluated. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) was used to functionalize the NF surface and thus to mediate the conjugation.

Prevention of bacterial colonization on non-thermal atmospheric plasma treated surgical sutures for control and prevention of surgical site infections.

Surgical site infections have a remarkable impact on morbidity, extended hospitalization and mortality. Sutures strongly contribute to development of surgical site infections as they are considered foreign material in the human body. Sutures serve as excellent surfaces for microbial adherence and subsequent colonization, biofilm formation and infection on the site of a surgery.

Synergistic Effect of Cold Plasma Treatment and RGD Peptide Coating on Cell Proliferation over Titanium Surfaces.

The aim of this study was to investigate the synergistic effect of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) treatment and RGD peptide coating for enhancing cellular attachment and proliferation over titanium (Ti) surfaces. The surface structure of CAP-treated and RGD peptide-coated Ti discs were characterized by contact angle goniometer and atomic force microscopy. The effect of such surface modification on human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) adhesion and proliferation was assessed by cell proliferation and DNA content assays.

Chemical Changes in Nonthermal Plasma-Treated N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) Solution and Their Contribution to Bacterial Inactivation.

In continuation of our previous reports on the broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity of atmospheric non-thermal dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma treated N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) solution against planktonic and biofilm forms of different multidrug resistant microorganisms, we present here the chemical changes that mediate inactivation of Escherichia coli. In this study, the mechanism and products of the chemical reactions in plasma-treated NAC solution are shown. UV-visible spectrometry, FT-IR, NMR, and colorimetric assays were utilized for chemical characterization of plasma treated NAC solution.

Preservation of imaging capability in sensitive ultrasound contrast agents after indirect plasma sterilization.

Many injectables are not amenable to standard sterilization methods, which destroy sensitive materials. This is particularly true for ultrasound contrast agents (UCA) consisting of gas bubbles stabilized by a surfactant or polymer shell. We investigated a new method to achieve safe and effective sterilization in production by introducing dielectric-barrier discharge non-thermal plasma.

Control of multi-drug-resistant pathogens with non-thermal-plasma-treated alginate wound dressing.

Background: Non-thermal dielectric-barrier discharge plasma (non-thermal plasma) is being investigated for use in wound healing. Alginate gel, already in clinical use, is non-toxic but has no meaningful antimicrobial property. This study reports that a non-thermal-plasma-treated alginate wound dressing has strong antimicrobial properties.

Calcium binding-mediated sustained release of minocycline from hydrophilic multilayer coatings targeting infection and inflammation.

Infection and inflammation are common complications that seriously affect the functionality and longevity of implanted medical implants. Systemic administration of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs often cannot achieve sufficient local concentration to be effective, and elicits serious side effects. Local delivery of therapeutics from drug-eluting coatings presents a promising solution.

Antimicrobial efficacy and wound-healing property of a topical ointment containing nitric-oxide-loaded zeolites.

Topical delivery of nitric oxide (NO) through a wound dressing has the potential to reduce wound infections and improve healing of acute and chronic wounds. This study characterized the antibacterial efficacy of an ointment containing NO-loaded, zinc-exchanged zeolite A that releases NO upon contact with water. The release rate of NO from the ointment was measured using a chemiluminescence detection system.

Nonthermal dielectric-barrier discharge plasma-induced inactivation involves oxidative DNA damage and membrane lipid peroxidation in Escherichia coli.

Oxidative stress leads to membrane lipid peroxidation, which yields products causing variable degrees of detrimental oxidative modifications in cells. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are the key regulators in this process and induce lipid peroxidation in Escherichia coli. Application of nonthermal (cold) plasma is increasingly used for inactivation of surface contaminants.

Tensile bond strength of an aged resin composite repaired with different protocols.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of different surface treatments and bonding procedures on the tensile bond strength (TBS) of resin composites repaired 6 months after polymerization.

Materials And Methods: Resin composite sticks were aged in distilled water at 37°C for 6 months. They were divided into 12 groups (n = 10) according to the combination of surface treatment/bonding procedures [none, only bur treatment, XP Bond (XPB/Dentsply/DeTrey) with/without bur, AdheSE (A-SE/Ivoclar/Vivadent) with/without bur, Composite Primer (CP/GC) with/without bur, CP after bur and acid-etching, XPB after acid etching and CP with bur, A-SE after bur and CP].