Naresuan University Journal
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Harnessing the Potential of Mesenchymal Stem Cells for IVD Regeneration.
No full textIntervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is one of the leading causes of low back pain, which affects a large proportion of the global population at a huge socioeconomic burden. Current treatments focus primarily on symptomatic pain relief or surgery, but offer relatively poor long-term efficacy as they fail to address the pathogenesis of the underlying IVD degeneration. In order to offer improved clinical outcomes, a number of biological and regenerative therapies are currently being developed which target the disease at a molecular and cellular level and aim to restore IVD function. This review focusses on the considerations for development of cell-based therapies for IVD regeneration. In particular it focusses on the identification of novel progenitor cell populations within the IVD and the application of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in IVD tissue engineering, which are being increasingly studied as they offer huge potential for tissue regeneration. Additionally it highlights how the growing understanding of the molecular phenotype of IVD cells is allowing tailored differentiation strategies to be developed and how MSC source and choice of growth factor influences cell phenotype and appropriate tissue formation. Finally, it reviews the range of functional biomaterials being developed to aid MSC delivery and differentiation, and discusses the potential impact the degenerate IVD microenvironmental niche may have on MSC behaviour following implantation
ALMA observations of anisotropic dust mass loss in the inner circumstellar environment of the red supergiant VY Canis Majoris
No full textEffect of a novel temperature-controlled laminar airflow device on personal breathing zone aeroallergen exposure.
No full textTemperature-controlled laminar airflow improves symptoms in atopic asthmatics, but its effects on personal allergen exposure are unknown. We aimed to evaluate its effects on personal cat allergen and particulate exposures in a simulated bedroom environment. Five healthy volunteers lay under an active and an inactive temperature-controlled laminar airflow device for 175 min, in a simulated bedroom containing bedding from a cat owner. Total airborne particles (≥0.5 - ≥10 μm diameter) were quantified with a laser particle counter. Airborne allergen was sampled with Institute of Occupational Medicine filters. Inhaled exposure was sampled with nasal air samplers. Allergen-containing particles were quantified by immunoassay. Treatment reduced total airborne particles (>0.5 μm diameter) by >99% (P <0.001) and reduced airborne allergen concentration within the breathing zone (ratio of median counts = 30, P = 0.043). Treatment reduced inhaled allergen (ratio of median counts = 7, P = 0.043). Treatment was not associated with a change in airborne allergen concentration outside of the breathing zone (P = 0.160). Temperature-controlled laminar airflow treatment of individuals in an allergen-rich experimental environment results in significant reductions in breathing zone allergenic and non-allergenic particle exposure, and in inhaled cat allergen exposure. These findings may explain the clinical benefits of temperature-controlled laminar airflow
An efficient SpiNNaker implementation of the Neural Engineering Framework
No full textBy building and simulating neural systems we hope to understand how the brain may work and use this knowledge to build neural and cognitive systems to tackle engineering problems. The Neural Engineering Framework (NEF) is a hypothesis about how such systems may be constructed and has recently been used to build the world’s first functional brain model, Spaun. However, while the NEF simplifies the design of neural networks, simulating them using standard computer hardware is still computationally expensive – often running far slower than biological real-time and scaling very poorly: problems the SpiNNaker neuromorphic simulator was designed to solve.In this paper we (1) argue that employing the same model of computation used for simulating general purpose spiking neural networks on SpiNNaker for NEF models results in suboptimal use of the architecture, and (2) provide and evaluate an alternative simulation scheme which overcomes the memory and compute challenges posed by the NEF. This proposed method uses factored weight matrices to reduce memory usage by around 90% and, in some cases, simulate 2000 neurons on a processing core – double the SpiNNaker architectural target
Reworked marine pythonomorph (Reptilia, Squamata) remains in Late Pleistocene cave deposits in central Spain
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Evidence-base for chemotherapy in advanced well-differentiated gastrointestinal (GI) (non-pancreatic) neuroendocrine tumours (NETS): a systematic review and meta-analysis
No full textBackground: This systematic review evaluates the role of chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with advanced (inoperable) gastrointestinal well-differentiated non-pNETs. Methods: Eligible studies (identified using MEDLINE) included those which reported response and/or survival data for patients with well-differentiated GI NETs receiving chemotherapy. Primary end-point was overall response (OR)-rate. Secondary end-points were progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), disease stabilisation (DS) and disease control (DC)-rates. Chemotherapy response data in GI NET and pNET populations were compared in studies including both populations. Results: Searches identified 6,434 studies, of which 20 were eligible: 1 randomised phase III study, 2 randomised phase II studies, 10 single-arm phase II studies and 7 retrospective analyses. Data from 264 chemotherapy-treated patients (multiple combinations/schedules) were available; the median number of patients per study was 11 (range 6-49). The mean “median PFS” and “median OS” were 16.9 months (95%-confidence interval (CI) 3.8-30.04) and 32.2 months (95%-CI 10.4-54.2) respectively. The non-weighted mean OR-rate, DS-rate and DC-rate were 11.5% (95%-CI 5.8-17.2), 56.5% (95%-CI 38.1-74.9) and 70.7% (95%-CI 54.9-86.5), respectively. Meta-analysis showed lower OR-rate in the GI NET patients versus pNET patients [odds ratio 0.35 (95%-CI 0.18-0.66), however significance was lost when high-risk bias studies were excluded in a sensitivity analysis [odds ratio 0.45 (95%-CI 0.19-1.07); p-value 0.07]. Conclusion: Chemotherapy may have some activity in patients with non-pNETs; however, available studies were of poor quality (evidence level C), including heterogeneous populations/regimens and small patient numbers. Prospective studies are needed to define the role of chemotherapy in this setting
Strong and Selective Anion Binding within the Central Cavity of Molecular Knots and Links.
No full textA molecular pentafoil knot and doubly and triply entwined [2]catenanes based on circular Fe(II) double helicate scaffolds bind halide anions in their central cavities through electrostatic and CH···X(-) hydrogen-bonding interactions. The binding is up to (3.6 ± 0.2) × 10(10) M(-1) in acetonitrile (for pentafoil knot [2·Cl](PF6)9), making these topologically complex host molecules some of the strongest synthetic noncovalent binders of halide anions measured to date, comparable in chloride ion affinity to silver salts