1,720,975 research outputs found
New Trends in Pathology: From Cell Morphology to Molecular Medicine
No full text: After Rudolf Virchow's pioneering works, technological advances boosted the scientific interest in this research field, which nowadays is still far from extinguished [...]
Electrosynthesis and analytical characterization of novel Ga-modified chitosan-polyacrylate bilayer coatings on titanium substrates
No full textAnalytical Assessment of the Vela Diagnostics NGS Assay for HIV Genotyping and Resistance Testing: The Apulian Experience
Full text linkDrug-resistance monitoring is one of the hardest challenges in HIV management. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies speed up the detection of drug resistance, allowing the adjustment of antiretroviral therapy and enhancing the quality of life of people living with HIV. Recently, the NGS Sentosa® SQ HIV Genotyping Assay (Vela Diagnostics) received approval for in vitro diagnostics use. This work is the first Italian evaluation of the performance of the Vela Diagnostics NGS platform, assessed with 420 HIV-1 clinical samples. A comparison with Sanger sequencing performance is also reported, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of the Sentosa® NGS assay. The precision of the technology was studied with reference specimens, while intra- and inter-assay reproducibility were evaluated for selected clinical samples. Vela Diagnostics’ NGS assay reached an 87% success rate through 30 runs of analysis in a real-world clinical context. The concordance with Sanger sequencing outcomes was equal to 97.2%. Several detected mismatches were due to NGS’s superior sensitivity to low-frequency variants. A high accuracy was observed in testing reference samples. Repeatability and reproducibility assays highlighted the good performance of the NGS platform. Beyond a few technical issues that call for further optimization, the key improvement will be a better balance between costs and processing speed. Once these issues have been solved, the Sentosa® SQ HIV Genotyping Assay will be the way forward for HIV resistance testing
Electrochemical Strategies for Titanium Implant Polymeric Coatings: The Why and How
Full text linkAmong the several strategies aimed at polymeric coatings deposition on titanium (Ti)
and its alloys, metals commonly used in orthopaedic and orthodontic prosthesis, electrochemical
approaches have gained growing interest, thanks to their high versatility. In this review, we will
present two main electrochemical procedures to obtain stable, low cost and reliable polymeric
coatings: electrochemical polymerization and electrophoretic deposition. Distinction should be
made between bioinert films—having mainly the purpose of hindering corrosive processes of the
underlying metal—and bioactive films—capable of improving biological compatibility, avoiding
inflammation or implant-associated infection processes, and so forth. However, very often, these
two objectives have been pursued and achieved contemporaneously. Indeed, the ideal coating is a
system in which anti-corrosion, anti-infection and osseointegration can be obtained simultaneously.
The ultimate goal of all these coatings is the better control of properties and processes occurring at
the titanium interface, with a special emphasis on the cell-coating interactions. Finally, advantages
and drawbacks of these electrochemical strategies have been highlighted in the concluding remarks
Pushing forward Gellan gum-based hydrogels: the impact of inorganic fillers on mechanical and biological performances
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A 3D Printed Composite Scaffold Loaded with Clodronate to Regenerate Osteoporotic Bone:In Vitro Characterization
No full textAdditive manufacturing (AM) is changing our current approach to the clinical treatment of bone diseases, providing new opportunities to fabricate customized, complex 3D structures with bioactive materials. Among several AM techniques, the BioCell Printing is an advanced, integrated system for material manufacture, sterilization, direct cell seeding and growth, which allows for the production of high-resolution micro-architectures. This work proposes the use of the BioCell Printing to fabricate polymer-based scaffolds reinforced with ceramics and loaded with bisphosphonates for the treatment of osteoporotic bone fractures. In particular, biodegradable poly(ε-caprolactone) was blended with hydroxyapatite particles and clodronate, a bisphosphonate with known efficacy against several bone diseases. The scaffolds' morphology was investigated by means of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and micro-Computed Tomography (micro-CT) while Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) revealed the scaffolds' elemental composition. A thermal characterization of the composites was accomplished by Thermogravimetric analyses (TGA). The mechanical performance of printed scaffolds was investigated under static compression and compared against that of native human bone. The designed 3D scaffolds promoted the attachment and proliferation of human MSCs. In addition, the presence of clodronate supported cell differentiation, as demonstrated by the normalized alkaline phosphatase activity. The obtained results show that the BioCell Printing can easily be employed to generate 3D constructs with pre-defined internal/external shapes capable of acting as a temporary physical template for regeneration of cancellous bone tissues.</p
In Vitro Evaluation of the Effects of Hyaluronic Acid and an Aminoacidic Pool on Human Osteoblasts
No full textThe treatment of bone injuries must be timely and effective to improve the chances of full recovery. In this respect, a mix of hyaluronic acid and an amino acidic pool has been marketed to promote soft tissue healing, fastening recovery times. Several studies have reported the in vitro and in vivo influence of hyaluronic acid and amino acids on fibroblasts and keratinocytes, highlighting the enhancement of cell proliferation, motility and cytokines synthesis. Even though the effectiveness of this combination of molecules on bone repair has been described in vivo, to the best of our knowledge, its in vitro effects on osteoblasts still need to be investigated. Therefore, this work describes for the first time osteoblast metabolism, proliferation and in vitro differentiation in the presence of hyaluronic acid and amino acids, aiming at understanding the mechanisms underlying their effectiveness in injured tissue repair. The reported results demonstrate the enhancement of osteoblasts’ metabolic activity and the fastening of cell cycle progression. Furthermore, gene expression studies show a significant increase in differentiation markers, i.e., osteoprotegerin and osteonectin. Finally, alkaline phosphatase activity is also boosted by the combination of hyaluronic acid and aminoacids, confirming the ability of in vitro cultured cells to properly differentiate through the osteogenic lineage
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