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    Membrane supported poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) nanofibrous matrices as cardiac patch: Effect of basement membrane for the fiber deposition and cellular behavior

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    Electrospun nanofibrous matrices are convenient biomaterials that mimic extracellular matrices for adhesion, migration, proliferation, and differentiation of cells. The aim of this study is to optimize the electrospinning parameters for poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) nanofiber production by the response surface methodology (RSM) and to develop a suitable material design for the usability of PBAT in cardiac tissue engineering. Therefore, electrospun PBAT nanofibrous matrices collected on solvent-casted polycaprolactone (PCL) or PBAT basement membranes at optimized conditions. The attachment and proliferation behavior of the H9C2 rat cardiomyoblasts investigated on different PBAT and PCL surface features as a model cell line. For this purpose, neat PBAT and PCL films have been used comparatively with both random (R-PBAT) and aligned PBAT (A-PBAT) nanofibers coated films. The effect of polymer concentration, flow rate, applied voltage, and needle tip -connector distance on fiber diameter and alignment was examined in the electrospinning process and optimum processing parameters were determined by RSM. The PBAT nanofibers were spun on basement membranes with 10% (w/v) polymer concentration, 1 mL/h volumetric flow rate, 2000 rpm collector rotation velocity (for aligned ones), 15 kV applied voltage, and 20 cm needle tip-collector distance. The average diameter of random (R-PBAT) and aligned (A-PBAT) nanofibers was calculated as 555 +/- 126 nm and 417 +/- 137 nm. The mechanical test results showed that the alignment topography increased the elastic modulus of PBAT nanofibers compared to random matrices. The alignment of fibers found as 91% and 75% within the +/- 10? range for A-PBAT/SC-PBAT and A-PBAT/SC-PCL, respectively. These findings showed that usage of PCL, instead of PBAT, as basement membrane decrease the alignment of deposited nanofibers. A 7-day cell culture study conducted with H9C2 cells seeded samples to investigate the influence of these differences on cell behavior. The results indicated that the alignment of fibers provides a suitable topography to proliferate and spread in myocyte morphology for H9C2 cells especially compared to neat films. Cellular behavior and nanofiber deposition have been affected by the usage of various basement membrane polymers. These findings demonstrated that the usage of basement membrane as support material provides the required thickness and mechanical properties to the aligned PBAT nanofiber matrices, and this double layer structure might be a promising candidate for cardiac tissue engineering with further studie

    Membrane Supported Poly(butylene Adipate-Co Nanofibrous Matrices as Cardiac Patch: Effect of Basement Membrane for the Fiber Deposition and Cellular Behavior

    No full text
    Electrospun nanofibrous matrices are convenient biomaterials that mimic extracellular matrices for adhesion, migration, proliferation, and differentiation of cells. The aim of this study is to optimize the electrospinning parameters for poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) nanofiber production by the response surface methodology (RSM) and to develop a suitable material design for the usability of PBAT in cardiac tissue engineering. Therefore, electrospun PBAT nanofibrous matrices collected on solvent-casted polycaprolactone (PCL) or PBAT basement membranes at optimized conditions. The attachment and proliferation behavior of the H9C2 rat cardiomyoblasts investigated on different PBAT and PCL surface features as a model cell line. For this purpose, neat PBAT and PCL films have been used comparatively with both random (R-PBAT) and aligned PBAT (A-PBAT) nanofibers coated films. The effect of polymer concentration, flow rate, applied voltage, and needle tip -connector distance on fiber diameter and alignment was examined in the electrospinning process and optimum processing parameters were determined by RSM. The PBAT nanofibers were spun on basement membranes with 10% (w/v) polymer concentration, 1 mL/h volumetric flow rate, 2000 rpm collector rotation velocity (for aligned ones), 15 kV applied voltage, and 20 cm needle tip-collector distance. The average diameter of random (R-PBAT) and aligned (A-PBAT) nanofibers was calculated as 555 +/- 126 nm and 417 +/- 137 nm. The mechanical test results showed that the alignment topography increased the elastic modulus of PBAT nanofibers compared to random matrices. The alignment of fibers found as 91% and 75% within the +/- 10? range for A-PBAT/SC-PBAT and A-PBAT/SC-PCL, respectively. These findings showed that usage of PCL, instead of PBAT, as basement membrane decrease the alignment of deposited nanofibers. A 7-day cell culture study conducted with H9C2 cells seeded samples to investigate the influence of these differences on cell behavior. The results indicated that the alignment of fibers provides a suitable topography to proliferate and spread in myocyte morphology for H9C2 cells especially compared to neat films. Cellular behavior and nanofiber deposition have been affected by the usage of various basement membrane polymers. These findings demonstrated that the usage of basement membrane as support material provides the required thickness and mechanical properties to the aligned PBAT nanofiber matrices, and this double layer structure might be a promising candidate for cardiac tissue engineering with further studiesHacettepe University Research Fund [FDK-2020 -18721]This study was conducted within the scope of the doctoral thesis of Tug ??e G?ltan G?rb?z. This work has been financially assisted by Hacettepe University Research Fund (Project No: FDK-2020 -18721) . The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods

    Author Index

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    koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist

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    We have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used

    NaOH-etched/boron-doped nanohydroxyapatite-coated PEEK implants enhance the proliferation and differentiation of osteogenic cells

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    The aim of the present study is to eliminate the bioinertness of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) material and to increase its osteogenic activity by applying a number of surface modifications in order to discover the most effective method. First, the surface of the bare PEEK (B-PEEK) was mechanically modified by sandblasting (S-PEEK). As a second method, physical modification was provided by etching of B-PEEK in 10 M sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution at 60 degrees C for 48 h (N-PEEK). Following the sandblasting, S-PEEK samples were also etched with NaOH to obtain SN-PEEK samples. In order to increase osteogenic activity of the mechanically and/or physically modified PEEK samples, they were coated with boron-doped nanohydroxyapatite (B-nHAp) in the presence of microwave energy. Thus, B-PEEK/B-nHAp, S-PEEK/B-nHAp, N-PEEK/B-nHAp and SN-PEEK/B-nHAp samples were obtained. While water contact angles and surface roughness of the B-PEEK samples increased after modification, hydrophilicity increased with B-nHAp coating. Cell culture results demonstrated that high proliferation and differentiation capacities of MC3T3-E1 cells were obtained on the B-nHAP-coated surfaces compared to uncoated specimens. However, channeled texture of both the N-PEEK and N-PEEK/B-nHAp samples enhanced Col1a1 mRNA expression and collagen secretion in addition to increased alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity when compared to other groups. As a result, it was determined that the bioactivity increased on the modified PEEK surfaces, but the most effective osteogenic activity was provided with B-nHAp coatings. The synergetic effect of NaOH etching and B-nHAp coatings might be used as a promising surface modification method to use PEEK material in orthopedic and dental applications with increased osteogenic activity
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