An estriol-eluting pessary to treat pelvic organ prolapse.

Pelvic organ prolapse affects up to 50% of parous women. Commonly used treatment options have unwelcome attributes; pessaries can cause erosion and estrogen creams need to be applied frequently, which is inconvenient and difficult to administer. This study involved the development of an estriol-releasing pessary utilising 3D printing molds.

3D-Printed Hybrid Collagen/GelMA Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering Applications.

Bioprinting is an emerging technology involved in the fabrication of three-dimensional tissue constructs for the repair and regeneration of various tissues and organs. Collagen, a natural protein found abundantly in the extracellular matrix of several tissues, can be extracted from collagen-rich tissues of animals such as sheep, cows, rats, pigs, horses, birds, and marine animals. However, due to the poor printability of collagen bioinks, biocompatible collagen scaffolds that mimic the extracellular matrix (ECM) are difficult to fabricate using bioprinting techniques.

Gelatine-based drug-eluting bandage contact lenses: Effect of PEGDA concentration and manufacturing technique.

Drug-eluting bandage contact lenses (BCLs) have been widely studied as an alternative to eye drops due to their ability to increase the drug residence time and bioavailability as well as improve patient compliance. While silicone hydrogel polymers are commonly used in drug-eluting BCLs due to their transparency, mechanical properties and high oxygen permeability, gelatine hydrogels are also clear, flexible and have high oxygen permeability and may therefore be suitable contact lens materials. Moreover, the rheological properties of gelatine hydrogels allow their use as inks in extrusion-based 3D printers, therefore opening the door to a wide range of applications.

Ophthalmic gels: Past, present and future.

Aqueous gels formulated using hydrophilic polymers (hydrogels) along with those based on stimuli responsive polymers (in situ gelling or gel forming systems) continue to attract increasing interest for various eye health-related applications. They allow the incorporation of a variety of ophthalmic pharmaceuticals to achieve therapeutic levels of drugs and bioactives at target ocular sites. The integration of sophisticated drug delivery technologies such as nanotechnology-based ones with intelligent and environment responsive systems can extend current treatment duration to provide more clinically relevant time courses (weeks and months instead of hours and days) which will inevitably reduce dose frequency, increase patient compliance and improve clinical outcomes.

Medicated ocular bandages and corneal health: potential excipients and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Corneal blindness can occur due to improper healing of the corneal tissues after induced injury or abrasion which can be accidental, pathogenic, or after corneal surgery. Abnormal regulation of the healing mechanisms can lead to corneal opacity. Reducing inflammation and promoting epithelial wound healing are crucial for scar-free corneal recovery without eyesight complications.

A de novo marker chromosome derived from 9p in a patient with 9p partial duplication syndrome and autism features: genotype-phenotype correlation.

Background: Previous studies focusing on candidate genes and chromosomal regions identified several copy number variations (CNVs) associated with increased risk of autism or autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Case Presentation: We describe a 17-year-old girl with autism, severe mental retardation, epilepsy, and partial 9p duplication syndrome features in whom GTG-banded chromosome analysis revealed a female karyotype with a marker chromosome in 69% of analyzed metaphases. Array CGH analysis showed that the marker chromosome originated from 9p24.

Optic disk and white matter abnormalities in a patient with a de novo 18p partial monosomy.

Purpose: Neuro-ophthalmologic and neuroimaging features of partial chromosome 18p deletion syndromes have not yet been fully described.

Methods: Careful neuro-ophthalmologic and neuroimaging evaluation of a young woman with a partial 18p deletion, including 3 Tesla MRI and diffusion tensor imaging, cytogenetic analysis on GTG-banded chromosomes, and 244K array CGH analysis.

Results: This 17-year-old girl had modest mental retardation, facial dysmorphism, other characteristics typical of 18p deletion syndrome, and anomalous optic disks.

Ophthalmologic abnormalities in a de novo terminal 6q deletion.

Purpose: To correlate the clinical phenotype with the genotype of a boy with a terminal deletion of chromosome 6q and to compare these observations to previous reports of 6q deletions and review of the literature.

Methods: Careful clinical evaluation, conventional cytogenetic analysis on GTG-banded chromosomes and 244K array CGH analysis.

Results: This 14 year old Saudi boy had modest mental retardation, seizures, microcephaly, cortical dysplasia, a non-comitant esotropia, impersistent eccentric gaze, congenital nystagmus, thick corneas, and substantial myopia.

Characterization of a monoclonal antibody that specifically binds to choline phospholipids and its use in immunocytochemistry.

A monoclonal IgM (MC22-33F), raised in response to mouse embryonic dental papilla cells, was selected for further analysis on the basis of the unusual resistance of its epitope to detergent extractions and protease treatments of cell cultures. Binding of MC22-33F to cultured cells was abolished after either pre-treatment of the cells with phospholypase C or pre-incubation of the hybridoma culture supernatant with multilamellar phosphatidylcholine-containing vesicles. MC22-33F reacted with phosphatidylcholine, with the phosphatidylcholine analogue dimethylphosphatidylethanolamine, and with sphingomyelin immobilized on polystyrene surfaces or in thin-layer chromatograms.

Clinical and flow cytometry characteristics of malignant pleural effusions in patients after intracavitary administration of methylprednisolone acetate.

Ten patients with recurrent pleural effusions due to advanced cancer were treated by intracavitary methylprednisolone acetate (Depo-Medrol [DM], Upjohn, Kalamazoo, MI). They received one to six courses of DM (median, three courses per patient) with doses ranging from 80 to 160 mg per course. Effusion cells were cryopreserved before and during DM installation for subsequent determination of ploidy by flow cytometry.

Characterization of a mouse monoclonal antibody to vimentin by indirect immunofluorescence microscopy and immunoblotting.

A murine IgM monoclonal antibody, termed MC15A13G was produced after immunization of Balb/c mouse with Swiss mouse dental papillae. This antibody, characterized by immunoblotting analysis and indirect immunofluorescence microscopy, recognized a 57 Kda protein identified as vimentin in different cell types with no cross reaction with other cytoskeletal proteins.

Production of monoclonal antibodies against mouse molar papilla cells.

To develop markers for the analysis of the molecular mechanisms of dental papilla cells differentiation, 10 monoclonal antibodies were produced against trypsin-isolated mouse molar dental papilla cells. These antibodies identify matrix components, cell membrane associated antigens and intracellular-constituents. Changes of the staining patterns were correlated with a typological hierarchy of dental papilla cells and with terminal differentiation of odontoblasts.

Monoclonal antibodies against mouse molar papilla: preliminary indirect immunofluorescence.

A variety of monoclonal antibodies have been produced against native dental papilla and used to stain frozen sections. Five different staining patterns corresponding to unidentified antigens were documented. The suitability of monoclonal antibodies for probing dental cell lineages is discussed.