1,721,220 research outputs found
Bioactive hydrogel scaffolds - advances in cartilage regeneration through controlled drug delivery
No full textThe importance of growth factor delivery in cartilage tissue engineering is nowadays widely recognized. However, when growth factors are administered by a bolus injection, they undergo rapid clearance before they could stimulate the cells of interest at promoting cartilage repair. Their short half-lives make growth factors ineffective, unless administered at supra-physiological doses, with potentially harmful consequences on patient safety. Recently, new tissue engineering strategies relying on the combination of biodegradable scaffolds and specific biological cues, such as growth or adhesive factors or genetic material, have demonstrated that controlled release is the key factor for achieving effective cartilage repair at lower drug doses. Among all biomaterials, hydrogels have emerged as promising cartilage tissue engineering scaffolds for simultaneous cell growth and drug delivery. In fact, hydrogels can be easily loaded with cells and drugs, that are subsequently released in a controlled fashion. The success of hydrogels in controlled drug delivery for tissue engineering originates from their biocompatibility and capacity to integrate well with the host tissue. This review overviews the hydrogels technologies now available for the regeneration of cartilage that base their efficacy on the controlled release of bioactive substances able to modulate cellular behavior and to eventually lead to successful tissue repai
Advances in Drug Delivery and Biomaterials: Facts and Vision
Full text linkDrug delivery and biomaterials are different fields of science but, at the same time, are tightly related and intertwined. The 2018 CRS Italy Chapter Annual Workshop aims to explore recent advances in design and development in these areas. Many colleagues from Europe participated to the Workshop, stimulating the discussion. To foster the discussion on recent research and networking opportunities, especially among younger attendees, all poster-presenting authors were asked to provide a short talk. The very friendly and stimulating atmosphere allowed the attendees to explore new frontiers and tackle new horizons
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Anomalous enhanced water diffusion in polysaccharide interpenetrating hydrogels
No full textWater structure and dynamics are investigated by 1H NMR in a polysaccharide interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) based on calcium alginate and methacrylated hyaluronic acid. The effects of two solvents, water and a saline NaCl solution, on the transport properties of water and on the polymer structure are analyzed. Anomalous diffusion behavior of water in the different samples is investigated and correlated to the polymer structure. Up to three water fractions are detected in the IPN samples having different hydrogen bond network structure and diffusion properties. This work highlights how the aggregation of hydrophobic domains in amphiphilic hydrogels influences the transport properties of solvent water. In addition, the results emphasize the effect of charged ions, used to improve hydrogel biocompatibility, on the polymer network structure and of polymer interpenetration mechanisms
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