Activiteit

However, at the same time, RMS bedding may increase the risk of mastitis caused by Streptococcus uberis.Hyaluronic acid (HA) and dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) are attractive research topics, and their combined use in the field of tissue engineering seems to be very promising. HA is a natural extracellular biopolymer found in various tissues, including dental pulp, and due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability, it is also a suitable scaffold material. However, low molecular weight (LMW) fragments, produced by enzymatic cleavage of HA, have different bioactive properties to high molecular weight (HMW) HA. Thus, the impact of HA must be assessed separately for each molecular weight fraction. In this study, we present the effect of three LMW-HA fragments (800, 1600, and 15,000 Da) on DPSCs in vitro. Discrete biological parameters such as DPSC viability, morphology, and cell surface marker expression were determined. Following treatment with LMW-HA, DPSCs initially presented with an acute reduction in proliferation (p less then 0.0016) and soon recovered in subsequent passages. They displayed significant size reduction (p = 0.0078, p = 0.0019, p = 0.0098) while maintaining high expression of DPSC markers (CD29, CD44, CD73, CD90). However, in contrast to controls, a significant phenotypic shift (p less then 0.05; CD29, CD34, CD90, CD106, CD117, CD146, CD166) of surface markers was observed. These findings provide a basis for further detailed investigations and present a strong argument for the importance of HA scaffold degradation kinetics analysis.Microparticles are ubiquitous in applications ranging from electronics and drug delivery to cosmetics and food. Conventionally, non-spherical microparticles in various materials with specific shapes, sizes, and physicochemical properties have been fabricated using cleanroom-free lithography techniques such as soft lithography and its high-resolution version particle replication in non-wetting template (PRINT). These methods process the particle material in its liquid/semi-liquid state by deformable molds, limiting the materials from which the particles and the molds can be fabricated. In this study, the microparticle material is exploited as a sheet placed on a deformable substrate, punched by a robust mold. Drawing inspiration from the macro-manufacturing technique of punching metallic sheets, Micromechanical Punching (MMP) is a high-throughput technique for fabrication of non-spherical microparticles. MMP allows production of microparticles from prepatterned, porous, and fibrous films, constituting thermoplastics and thermosetting polymers. As an illustration of application of MMP in drug delivery, flat, microdisk-shaped Furosemide embedded poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) microparticles are fabricated and Furosemide release is observed. Thus, it is shown in the paper that Micromechanical punching has potential to make micro/nanofabrication more accessible to the research and industrial communities active in applications that require engineered particles.A few simple polymeric microsystems, such as microcantilever sensors, have recently been developed for the preliminary screening of cardiac toxicity. The microcantilever deflection produced by a change in the cardiomyocyte (CM) contraction force is important for understanding the mechanism of heart failure. In this study, a new numerical model is proposed to analyze the contractile behavior of CMs cultured on a perforated microcantilever surface for improving the performance of the microcantilever sensor. First, the surface traction model is used to investigate the bending displacement of the plain microcantilever. In order to improve the bending effect, a new numerical model is developed to analyze the bending behavior of the perforated microcantilever covered with CMs. Compared with the designed molds, the latter yields better results. Finally, a simulation analysis is proposed based on a finite element method to verify the presence of a preformed mold. Moreover, the effects of various factors on the bending displacement, including microcantilever size, Young’s modulus, and porosity factor, are investigated. Both the simulation and numerical results have good consistency, and the maximum error between the numerical and simulation results is not more than 3.4%, even though the porosity factor reaches 0.147. The results show that the developed mold opens new avenues for CM microcantilever sensors to detect cardiac toxicity.We sought to determine the effects of the use of a Bioengineered Combo Dual-Therapy CD34 Antibody-Covered Sirolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent (Combo® DTS) in patients with chronic total occlusion (CTO) by evaluating clinical outcomes and by performing an optical coherence tomography (OCT) analysis. We retrospectively analyzed data from 39 patients who had successfully undergone OCT-guided revascularization of a CTO being treated with a Combo® DTS. Clinical assessment, angiography (with quantitative coronary angiography analysis) and OCT examination were performed at baseline and at follow-up. The median follow-up period was 189 days, ranging from 157 to 615 days. At follow-up, revascularization was required due to angiographic restenosis in 40% (14 of 35) of patients. OCT analysis detected neointima proliferation in 23 (76.6%) patients. Neointima formation was often associated with microvessels in 18 patients (60%). Neoatheroslcerosis was observed in 2 (6.6%) patients. Malapposition was found in 4 patients (13.3%), and stent fractures were found in 11 patients (36.6%). Rate of strut coverage was 96.3% at follow-up. In conclusion, the implantation of a Combo® DTS after successful CTO recanalization was associated with a restenosis rate of 40% despite good stent implantation at baseline, proven by OCT. Neointima formation was found as a main contributor to restenosis. Nevertheless, we observed a low rate of major cardiovascular events in our follow-up.Investigations were carried out to obtain different lignin monomers such as vanillin and catechol as efficiently as possible, to prevent side reactions e.g., during lignin degradation. Therefore, extraction experiments were performed to determine the influence of parameters such as initial pH in the aqueous phase, organic phases containing alcohols or solvating extractants, and monomer concentrations. Cyanex 923 (Cy923) and tri-n-butyl-phosphat (TBP) diluted in kerosene were the organic phases chosen to evaluate the transport of vanillin because of their high efficiencies (>76.8%) and suitability in membrane technologies. The most efficient vanillin transport was accomplished with Cy923, as > 90% of vanillin was transferred after 5 h. However, the permeability coefficient at carrier concentration of > 0.48 mol/L was influenced not only by the diffusion but also by the organic mixture viscosity. PKR-IN-C16 molecular weight Thus, this concentration was used in the membrane experiment containing a mixture of vanillin and catechol in the feed phase.