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Incorporating Bioengineered Proteins into Wound Dressings to Create a More Synergistic Environment
No full textWound healing is a prevalent need in medicine; in response, modern dressings have started incorporating large molecules such as proteins into polymeric materials to increase wound healing. However, using these biomolecules is costly. Synthetic analogs of these costly biomolecules should be able to maintain a favorable healing environment while helping prevent infection and encouraging cell growth at a cost that is manageable. These synthetic analogs can be incorporated into electrospun scaffolds that are applicable for sensors, tissue engineering, and drug delivery agents. Also, there has been new research into incorporating bioengineered versions of proteins into the scaffolds for release into the wound bed to better the biological processes they are a part of.
Collagen is the primary structural protein in the body and collagen-based products are suited for biomedical applications because they are biocompatible, biodegradable, and weakly antigenic. Also, chitosan, a sugar that comes from the outer skeleton of shellfish, has been shown to have antimicrobial properties. A chitosan and collagen blend has shown promise as a wound healing dressing. The modified poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) utilized in this project was designed based on the most abundant amino acids in collagen - glycine, proline, alanine, and hydroxyproline. Due to the constraints of commercially available synthetic polymers, the PAA used in this project had a lower molecular weight than that of collagen (50,000 Da) to leave room for additional amino acid substituents to be added through synthesis. This weight is good for electrospinning the PAA into nanofiber scaffolds that can have a degree of elasticity like that of traditional wound dressings.
A bioengineered protein was also of interest to be incorporated into the electrospun fiber mats. The protein used was super-human fibroblast growth factor (shFGF) and this was a protein of interest because it would help call fibroblasts to the wound bed to produce collagen with the benefit of interacting with the anti-coagulation factors less than hFGF so that clotting can occur more rapidly. The use of bioengineered proteins to enhance the way our body heals itself is of interest to many in the medical community. The protein paired with PAA could result in an environment that not only promotes wound healing but promotes it at a rate faster than would usually occur in the body.
The modified protein has changes in certain amino acid residues, and these changes are what allows the bioengineered protein to repel interaction with anti-coagulation factors that would naturally inhibit clotting. This research investigated mixtures of poly(vinyl)-alcohol(PV A) and chitosan with added sFGF-1 to see if and how the protein would release from the nanofibrous materials. The effects of fiber mats with the components mentioned above and how the protein behaves when spun into the fiber mats was tested through release studies and characterization experiments
The Effects of Light Intensity and Cell Structure on the Cultivation of Arthrospira platensis
Get PDFAs scientists explore further into space, more cost-effective resources are needed for long-term space travel. An interesting solution is Arthrospira platensis, a filamentous cyanobacteria high in proteins and nutrients, and known for its helical structure. In unfavorable conditions, coiled spirulina cells become straight. Spirulina converts carbon dioxide gas into pure oxygen and the different cell structures stimulate different responses in oxygen production and cultivation. In these experiments, 2.3 L containers of pure coiled spirulina and mixed (coiled and straight) spirulina were placed into 3 incubators with different light intensities: 51μmol/m2/s, 25μmol/m2/s, 12μmol/m2/s. Each experiment length was 72 hours and the spirulina cultures’ cell concentration, and oxygen production was measured at the 24, 48, and 72 hour mark. During observations, the coiled spirulina expressed a continuous cell concentration growth, whereas the mixed spirulina steadily declined over the 72 hours. Results of this experiment also suggest that coiled spirulina produces more oxygen at an intensity of 25μmol/m2/s and can do so at a lower concentration while growing at a consistent rate. The mixed cultures appear to multiply faster in a lower light intensity, but the oxygen production remains low
Deranda and the Pediatrician
Get PDFThe winter after her tenth birthday brought the crisis with it. That crisis compounded a wretched combination of willfulness and unrecognized reality with timing. The compound meant that she might not live to be eleven— however impossible that seemed at the time.
She was a child who loved the outdoors and its beauty, but also loved order, neatness, and cleanliness. Those two loves warred within her, with the best manifestation being a penchant for interrupting her early preoccupation with making mud-pies for frequent trips indoors to wash up before returning to “cooking.” The long walkway from her first childhood home to the street seemed made for tricycling or attaching skates to her shoes to spend hours going end-toend— as long as light lasted
Motley Time Machine
Get PDFThis is the poster for the faculty recital, \u27Motley\u27 Time Machine, given by Dr. Austin Motley. Dr. Motley played the trombone and euphonium. Pianist Dr. Mary Chung and flautist Dr. Carols Feller accompanied the performance. The recital took place on April 26, 2023, in the McBeth Recital Hall
Broken Standards
Get PDFThis is the poster for the concert, Broken Standards, by The Muses Creative Artistry Project, held on September 14, 2023, in the McBeth Recital Hall. The concert was provided in part by the Floyd E. and Dorothy G. Henley Fine Arts Endowment and the Arkadelphia Philharmonic Club
Lenten Liederabend: Songs of Loss, Longing, & Hope
Get PDFThis is the poster for the guest artist concert, Lenten Liederabend: Songs of Loss, Longing, and Hope, featuring soprano Liesl Mindeman Dromi and pianist Ryan Ransdell. This recital took place on April 7, 2023, in the W. Francis McBeth Recital Hall
Sara (Wheeler) McDaniel \u2798 (Renovation takes root)
Get PDFIf you’ve ever wondered why Minden, La., is called “the friendliest city in the South,” one visit with Sara McDaniel ’98 explains it all. She is genuine, friendly, humble and kind – much like others you’ll meet in this sweet, Southern town.
After teaching elementary students in Texas for 10 years, McDaniel shifted to a career that supported teachers through educational sales and consulting. During this time, she went through a difficult divorce, struggling with what was next.
After feeling the Lord leading her to return home to Louisiana in 2014, McDaniel set her sights on restoring a cottage built in 1926. She closed on the house in 2016, beginning a 22-month restoration process. Her journey and her home have been featured in such magazines and social media accounts as Better Homes & Gardens, Southern Living and Cottages & Bungalows
Exosomal MicroRNA and Protein Profiles of Hepatitis B Virus-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells
No full textInfection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a main risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Extracellular vesicles, such as exosomes, play an important role in tumor development and metastasis, including regulation of HBV-related HCC. In this study, we have characterized exosome microRNA and proteins released in vitro from hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC cell lines SNU-423 and SNU-182 and immortalized normal hepatocyte cell lines (THLE2 and THLE3) using microRNA sequencing and mass spectrometry. Bioinformatics, including functional enrichment and network analysis, combined with survival analysis using data related to HCC in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, were applied to examine the prognostic significance of the results. More than 40 microRNAs and 200 proteins were significantly dysregulated (p \u3c 0.05) in the exosomes released from HCC cells in comparison with the normal liver cells. The functional analysis of the differentially expressed exosomal miRNAs (i.e., mir-483, mir-133a, mir-34a, mir-155, mir-183, mir-182), their predicted targets, and exosomal differentially expressed proteins (i.e., POSTN, STAM, EXOC8, SNX9, COL1A2, IDH1, FN1) showed correlation with pathways associated with HBV, virus activity and invasion, exosome formation and adhesion, and exogenous protein binding. The results from this study may help in our understanding of the role of HBV infection in the development of HCC and in the development of new targets for treatment or non-invasive predictive biomarkers of HCC
Spitting on Christians in Palestine
No full textYou’ve got to hand it to the Israeli Haaretz (The Land) newspaper and its editors, prominent among them are Gideon Levy and Amira Haas.
In a cauldron of madness and turmoil, today Haaretz and the Israeli online blog +972 Magazine (as they have been) are perhaps the only Israeli voices of conscience.
And in its rabid descent into mayhem and chaos bordering on anarchy, Israeli society, under Benjamin Netanyahu and his cohorts of rightwing xenophobic coalition of convicted felons and religious ideologues, is finally unmasking its heretofore shellacked over and camouflaged fault lines of Israel’s past and present.
The Gutsy Haaretz did what no major American or European media dared do
Ouachita Jazz Band in a Concert
Get PDFThis is the poster from the Jazz Band Concert held on November 13, 2023, and directed by Dr. Austin Motley. The concert was held in the Jones Performing Arts Center