Machine learning and artificial intelligence: Enabling the clinical translation of atomic force microscopy-based biomarkers for cancer diagnosis.

The influence of biomechanics on cell function has become increasingly defined over recent years. Biomechanical changes are known to affect oncogenesis; however, these effects are not yet fully understood. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is the gold standard method for measuring tissue mechanics on the micro- or nano-scale.

Distinct Longitudinal Changes in EEG Measures Reflecting Functional Network Disruption in ALS Cognitive Phenotypes.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterised primarily by motor system degeneration, with clinical evidence of cognitive and behavioural change in up to 50% of cases. We have shown previously that resting-state EEG captures dysfunction in motor and cognitive networks in ALS. However, the longitudinal development of these dysfunctional patterns, especially in networks linked with cognitive-behavioural functions, remains unclear.

Genetics impact risk of Alzheimer's disease through mechanisms modulating structural brain morphology in late life.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related neuropathological changes can occur decades before clinical symptoms. We aimed to investigate whether neurodevelopment and/or neurodegeneration affects the risk of AD, through reducing structural brain reserve and/or increasing brain atrophy, respectively.

Methods: We used bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomisation to estimate the effects between genetic liability to AD and global and regional cortical thickness, estimated total intracranial volume, volume of subcortical structures and total white matter in 37 680 participants aged 8-81 years across 5 independent cohorts (Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development, Generation R, IMAGEN, Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children and UK Biobank).

Computational Investigation of Vessel Injury Due to Catheter Tracking During Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement.

Catheter reaction forces during transcatheter valve replacement (TAVR) may result in injury to the vessel or plaque rupture, triggering distal embolization or thrombosis. In vitro test methods represent the arterial wall using synthetic proxies to determine catheter reaction forces during tracking, but whether they can account for reaction forces within the compliant aortic wall tissue in vivo is unknown. Moreover, the role of plaque inclusions is not well understood.

Advances in the Development of Nano-Engineered Mechanically Robust Hydrogels for Minimally Invasive Treatment of Bone Defects.

Injectable hydrogels were discovered as attractive materials for bone tissue engineering applications given their outstanding biocompatibility, high water content, and versatile fabrication platforms into materials with different physiochemical properties. However, traditional hydrogels suffer from weak mechanical strength, limiting their use in heavy load-bearing areas. Thus, the fabrication of mechanically robust injectable hydrogels that are suitable for load-bearing environments is of great interest.

Prophylactic onlay mesh placement techniques for optimal abdominal wall closure: randomized controlled trial in an ex vivo biomechanical model.

Background: Incisional hernias occur after up to 40 per cent of laparotomies. Recent RCTs have demonstrated the role of prophylactic mesh placement in reducing the risk of developing an incisional hernia. An onlay approach is relatively straightforward; however, a variety of techniques have been described for mesh fixation.

Personalized Scaffolds for Diabetic Foot Ulcer Healing Using Extracellular Matrix from Induced Pluripotent Stem-Reprogrammed Patient Cells.

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) are chronic wounds sustained by pathological fibroblasts and aberrant extracellular matrix (ECM). Porous collagen-based scaffolds (CS) have shown clinical promise for treating DFUs but may benefit from functional enhancements. Our previous work showed fibroblasts differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells are an effective source of new ECM mimicking fetal matrix, which notably promotes scar-free healing.

Biomarkers for the early detection of pressure ulcers in the intensive care setting: A comparison between sub-epidermal moisture measurements and interleukin-1α.

Pressure ulcer (PU) prevention in the intensive care unit (ICU) is an important clinical issue as critically unwell patients are at high risk of developing PUs. However, current methods of PU detection are limited, especially for early detection. This study aimed to establish the correlation between Interleukin-1α (IL-1α)/total protein (TP) and sub-epidermal moisture (SEM) measurements in the early identification of PUs in ICU patients.

Mechanomodulatory biomaterials prospects in scar prevention and treatment.

Scarring is a major clinical issue that affects a considerable number of patients. The associated problems go beyond the loss of skin functionality, as scars bring aesthetic, psychological, and social difficulties. Therefore, new strategies are required to improve the process of healing and minimize scar formation.

Microbe-Based Sensor for Long-Term Detection of Urine Glucose.

The development of a reusable and low-cost urine glucose sensor can benefit the screening and control of diabetes mellitus. This study focused on the feasibility of employing microbial fuel cells (MFC) as a selective glucose sensor for continuous monitoring of glucose levels in human urine. Using MFC technology, a novel cylinder sensor (CS) was developed.

New approach in programming sequentially implanted children: Towards balanced dynamic ranges (DR).

There is a tendency for children undergoing sequential cochlear implant after a long period of unilateral implant use to have a smaller dynamic range in their second implant compared to their first implant. This study aimed to investigate if balancing the dynamic ranges between the two implants influenced functional outcomes in sequentially implanted children. Nineteen participants with long inter-implant time delays were randomly assigned to a study group or a control group.

Effects of vasopressor agents on the development of pressure ulcers in critically ill patients: a systematic review.

Objective: The primary objective of this systematic review was to determine the effect of vasopressor agents on the development of pressure ulcers (PUs) among critically ill patients in intensive care units (ICUs). The secondary outcome of interest was length of stay in the ICU.

Method: A systematic review was undertaken using the databases searched: Medline, Embase, CINAHL and The Cochrane Library.

Biomaterial and Therapeutic Approaches for the Manipulation of Macrophage Phenotype in Peripheral and Central Nerve Repair.

Injury to the peripheral or central nervous systems often results in extensive loss of motor and sensory function that can greatly diminish quality of life. In both cases, macrophage infiltration into the injury site plays an integral role in the host tissue inflammatory response. In particular, the temporally related transition of macrophage phenotype between the M1/M2 inflammatory/repair states is critical for successful tissue repair.

Assessment of standing passenger traumatic brain injury caused by ground impact in subway collisions.

Human head is the most vulnerable region in subway collisions. To design a safer subway, the head impact biomechanical response should be studied first. This paper aims to investigate the standing passenger head-ground impact dynamic response and traumatic brain injury (TBI) in subway collisions.

Understanding the deformation gradient in Abaqus and key guidelines for anisotropic hyperelastic user material subroutines (UMATs).

This tutorial paper provides a step-by-step guide to developing a comprehensive understanding of the different forms of the deformation gradient used in Abaqus, and outlines a number of key issues that must be considered when developing an Abaqus user defined material subroutine (UMAT) in which the Cauchy stress is computed from the deformation gradient. Firstly, we examine the "classical" forms of global and local deformation gradients. We then show that Abaqus/Standard does not use the classical form of the local deformation gradient when continuum elements are used, and we highlight the important implications for UMAT development.

Layer-specific stem cell differentiation in tri-layered tissue engineering biomaterials: Towards development of a single-stage cell-based approach for osteochondral defect repair.

Successful repair of osteochondral defects is challenging, due in part to their complex gradient nature. Tissue engineering approaches have shown promise with the development of layered scaffolds that aim to promote cartilage and bone regeneration within the defect. The clinical potential of implanting these scaffolds cell-free has been demonstrated, whereby cells from the host bone marrow MSCs infiltrate the scaffolds and promote cartilage and bone regeneration within the required regions of the defect.

A Thermoresponsive Chitosan/β-Glycerophosphate Hydrogel for Minimally Invasive Treatment of Critical Limb Ischaemia.

A reduction in blood supply to any limb causes ischaemia, pain and morbidity. Critical limb ischaemia is the most serious presentation of peripheral vascular disease. One in five patients with critical limb ischaemia will die within six months of diagnosis and one in three will require amputation in this time.

The Effect of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction with an Electropsun Scaffold on Tibiofemoral Contact Mechanics.

Surgical reconstruction of the torn ACL is performed to restore native contact mechanics. Drawbacks to traditional ACL repair techniques motivate the development of a tissue engineered ACL scaffold. Our group has developed a hierarchical electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffold that consists of rolled nanofiber bundles attached at each end with solvent-case blocks of PCL.

Three-dimensional In Vitro Biomimetic Model of Neuroblastoma using Collagen-based Scaffolds.

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in children, accounting for 15% of overall pediatric cancer deaths. The native tumor tissue is a complex three-dimensional (3D) microenvironment involving layers of cancerous and non-cancerous cells surrounded by an extracellular matrix (ECM). The ECM provides physical and biological support and contributes to disease progression, patient prognosis, and therapeutic response.

A retrospective review of parents' perceptions of the impact of bilateral cochlear implants on their child's quality of life.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of simultaneous and sequential bilateral cochlear implantation on deaf children's quality of life (QoL) and to investigate the impact of inter-implant time delay for the sequentially implanted children.

Methods: All completed questionnaires of the Brief Assessment of Parental Perception (BAPP), which had been routinely filled out by parents at annual review, were analysed for children with at least 12 months of bilateral implant experience. The responses for the simultaneous implanted group were compared to those who received sequential implants.

Translational Studies on the Potential of a VEGF Nanoparticle-Loaded Hyaluronic Acid Hydrogel.

Heart failure has a five-year mortality rate approaching 50%. Inducing angiogenesis following a myocardial infarction is hypothesized to reduce cardiomyocyte death and tissue damage, thereby preventing heart failure. Herein, a novel nano-in-gel delivery system for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), composed of star-shaped polyglutamic acid-VEGF nanoparticles in a tyramine-modified hyaluronic acid hydrogel (nano-VEGF-HA-TA), is investigated.

Cognitive network hyperactivation and motor cortex decline correlate with ALS prognosis.

We aimed to quantitatively characterize progressive brain network disruption in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) during cognition using the mismatch negativity (MMN), an electrophysiological index of attention switching. We measured the MMN using 128-channel EEG longitudinally (2-5 timepoints) in 60 ALS patients and cross-sectionally in 62 healthy controls. Using dipole fitting and linearly constrained minimum variance beamforming we investigated cortical source activity changes over time.

Optimization of extracellular matrix production from human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived fibroblasts for scaffold fabrication for application in wound healing.

Extracellular matrix is a key component of all tissues, including skin and it plays a crucial role in the complex events of wound healing. These events are impaired in chronic wounds, with chronic inflammation and infection often present in these non-healing wounds. Many tissue engineering approaches for wound healing provide a scaffold to mimic the native matrix.

SDF-1α gene-activated collagen scaffold enhances provasculogenic response in a coculture of human endothelial cells with human adipose-derived stromal cells.

Novel biomaterials can be used to provide a better environment for cross talk between vessel forming endothelial cells and wound healing instructor stem cells for tissue regeneration. This study seeks to investigate if a collagen scaffold containing a proangiogenic gene encoding for the chemokine stromal-derived factor-1 alpha (SDF-1α GAS) could be used to enhance functional responses in a coculture of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and human adipose-derived stem/stromal cells (ADSCs). Functional responses were determined by (1) monitoring the amount of junctional adhesion molecule VE-cadherin released during 14 days culture, (2) expression of provasculogenic genes on the 14th day, and (3) the bioactivity of secreted factors on neurogenic human Schwann cells.