398 research outputs found
Basic science research in urology training
No full textThe role of basic science exposure during urology training is a timely topic that is relevant to urologic health and to the training of new physician scientists. Today, researchers are needed for the advancement of this specialty, and involvement in basic research will foster understanding of basic scientific concepts and the development of critical thinking skills, which will, in turn, improve clinical performance. If research education is not included in urology training, future urologists may not be as likely to contribute to scientific discoveries.Currently, only a minority of urologists in training are currently exposed to significant research experience. In addition, the number of physician-scientists in urology has been decreasing over the last two decades, as fewer physicians are willing to undertake a career in academics and perform basic research. However, to ensure that the field of urology is driving forward and bringing novel techniques to patients, it is clear that more research-trained urologists are needed. In this article we will analyse the current status of basic research in urology training and discuss the importance of and obstacles to successful addition of research into the medical training curricula. Further, we will highlight different opportunities for trainees to obtain significant research exposure in urology
Tissue Engineering for Tissue and Organ Regeneration
No full textTissue Engineering may offer new treatment alternatives for organ replacement or repair deteriorated organs. Among the clinical applications of Tissue Engineering are the production of artificial skin for burn patients, tissue engineered trachea, cartilage for knee-replacement procedures, urinary bladder replacement, urethra substitutes and cellular therapies for the treatment of urinary incontinence. The Tissue Engineering approach has major advantages over traditional organ transplantation and circumvents the problem of organ shortage. Tissues reconstructed from readily available biopsy material induce only minimal or no immunogenicity when reimplanted in the patient. This book is aimed at anyone interested in the application of Tissue Engineering in different organ systems. It offers insights into a wide variety of strategies applying the principles of Tissue Engineering to tissue and organ regeneration
From multipotent cells to fully differentiated connective tissue cells for regenerative medicine: emerging applications of mesenchymal stem cells
No full textRecommended from our members
Carbonate platform to basin transitions on seismic data and in outcrops; Great Bahama Bank and the Maiella Platform margin, Italy
No full textThe comparison of seismic and core data from the western Great Bahama Bank with the exhumed Maiella Platform margin and its adjacent slope in the Apennines of Italy relates the seismic facies to depositional facies and processes. Both platforms evolved similarly from an escarpment-bounded, aggrading platform in the Cretaceous to a prograding platform in the Tertiary. This comparison helps to improve seismic interpretation of isolated carbonate platform systems. Platform interior deposits are typically horizontally layered cycles of shallow-water carbonates, but the seismic sections from Great Bahama Bank are dominated by a chaotic to transparent sesimci facies. Synthetic seismic sections of the Maiella Platform margin demonstrate that the chaotic to transparent seismic facies is a product of low impedance contrasts in the platform carbonates. Both platforms were vounded in the Cretaceous by an escarpment that separated the platform from onlapping basinal and slope sediments. This juxtaposition of facies is recorded in the seismic facies by the latest change from chaotic platform to inclined continuous reflections of the slope. The outcrops of the Maiella Platform margin help assess the processes that formed these escarpments. Small concave scallops and associated megabreccias in the basinal section document episodic erosion during the platform growth, indicating that the escarpment was growing simultaneously with the platform. Both platforms prograde after burial of the escarpment by basinal sediments. On the western margin of the Great Bahama Bank, progradation started in the middle Miocene and advanced the platform margin approximately 25 km westward to its present position. Progradation is documented on the seismic data by clinoform geometry and the expansion of the interpreted platform seismic facies. The prograding system of western Great Bahama Bank consists of sigmoidal clinoforms with foresets that are approximately 600 m high. The foresets ate characterised by reflections with variable amplitude and continuity. Discontinuous high-amplitude packages are interrupted by low-amplitude, nearly tranparent units of periplatform ooze. Channels of variable size dissect the entire slope but deep incisions with a persistent cit-and-fill geometry occur preferentially at sequence boundaries. These incised submarine canyons are oriented downslope perpendicular to the strike of the platform margin. Most of the gravity-flow deposits bypassed the upper and middle slope and are deposited on the lower slope and on the toe-of-slope. These redeposited carbonates are seismically characterized by discontinuous to chaotic high-amplitude reflections that suggest a heterogeneous environment of depositional lobes. Core data indicate that a tripartite facies succession of slope, reef margin, and platform interior deposits forms the topsets of the prograding clinoforms on Great Bahama Bank. This facies succession is also found in the Maiella Platform margin that prograded across the underlying slope during Eocene time. Synthetic seismic sections show that the reefal units appear as transparent zones on the seismic data, corroborating the calibration made by a core-to-seismic correlation in the Bahamas. Along the Maiella Platform margin, incised slope canyons are exposed, revealing the lithologies of the channel fills. The Maiella canyons are filled with coarse, fining-upward mass gravity-flow deposits that fine upward. The outcrops in the Grand Sasso area display the heterogeneity of the toe-of-slope environment that is characterized by small, amalgamated lobes with feeder channels in largely pelagic background sediment
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