Search results for "Bioengineering"

Endothelial Function and Arterial Stiffness in Uncomplicated Type 1 Diabetes and Healthy Controls and the Impact of Insulin on These Parameters durin…

2007

BACKGROUND In addition to its role in glucose metabolism, insulin has shown to exert numerous vascular effects, and an impaired vascular function of insulin is assumed to be a major contributor in the development of vascular complications. Arterial augmentation (AP) and the augmentation index (Aix) are surrogate parameters of arterial stiffness and are commonly used as predictors for cardiovascular risk. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of insulin on arterial stiffness and parameters of endothelial function in patients with type 1 diabetes and healthy control subjects. METHODS Fourteen patients with type 1 diabetes (six male, eight female) with a mean age of 36.6 +/- 11.8 …

Microbial technologies for the discovery of novel bioactive metabolites

2002

Soil microbes represent an important source of biologically active compounds. These molecules present original and unexpected structure and are selective inhibitors of their molecular targets. At Biosearch Italia, discovery of new bioactive molecules is mostly carried out through the exploitation of a proprietary strain collection of over 50000 strains, mostly unusual genera of actinomycetes and uncommon filamentous fungi. A critical element in a drug discovery based on microbial extracts is the isolation of unexploited groups of microorganisms that are at the same time good producers of secondary metabolites. Molecular genetics can assist in these efforts. We will review the development an…

Biologic Response of Inguinal Hernia Prosthetics: A Comparative Study of Conventional Static Meshes Versus 3D Dynamic Implants

2015

Despite improvements in prosthetics and surgi- cal techniques, the rate of complications following inguinal hernia repair remains high. Among these, discomfort and chronic pain have become a source of increasing concern among surgeons. Poor quality of tissue ingrowth, such as thin scar plates or shrinking scars—typical results with con- ventional static implants and plugs—may contribute to these adverse events. Recently, a new type of 3D dynami- cally responsive implant was introduced to the market. This device, designed to be placed fixation-free, seems to induce ingrowth of viable and structured tissue instead of regressive fibrotic scarring. To elucidate the differences in biologic respo…

Neomyogenesis in 3D Dynamic Responsive Prosthesis for Inguinal Hernia Repair

2018

Despite undisputed improvements, prosthetics hernia repair continues to be affected by unacceptable rates of complications. Postoperative adverse events such as discomfort and chronic pain represent a subject of increasing concern among the surgical community. Poor quality biologic response, stiff scar plates, and mesh shrinkage, a typical effect of conventional static meshes and plugs, are all indicated as the main reasons for many of the complications related to inguinal hernia repair. Even the conventional concept of treatment based upon a supposed reinforcement of the groin consequent to the fibrotic incorporation of meshes, would appear to be inadequate in the light of the latest scien…

In-vitro assessment of centrifugal pumps for ventricular assist.

1990

Currently two major types of centrifugal pumps are commercially available for ventricular assist: the Biomedicus-cone (Group I) and the Centrimed-impeller pump (now Sarns 3M) (Group II). To compare them for blood trauma and hemolysis, an in-vitro experiment was designed with a Stockert roller pump as a standard control (Group III). The in-vitro circuit was constructed consisting of a pump head, electromagnetic flow probe, polyvinyl chloride tubing and a reservoir, identical for all groups. Human ACD blood was used for priming and was circulated with a flow rate of 2 L/min for 24 h. Blood samples were taken at 0, 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h and zero control values were subtracted from the resultin…

Effect of the Alterations in Contractility and Morphology Produced by Atrial Fibrillation on the Thrombosis Potential of the Left Atrial Appendage

2021

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia mainly affecting the elderly population, which can lead to serious complications such as stroke, ischaemic attack and vascular dementia. These problems are caused by thrombi which mostly originate in the left atrial appendage (LAA), a small muscular sac protruding from left atrium. The abnormal heart rhythm associated with AF results in alterations in the heart muscle contractions and in some reshaping of the cardiac chambers. This study aims to verify if and how these physiological changes can establish hemodynamic conditions in the LAA promoting thrombus formation, by means of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analyses. In particular, sinus …

Hyperhomocysteinemia in hemodialysis patients: Is it a risk factor for cardiovascular disease?

2005

Bioengineering Thymus Organoids to Restore Thymic Function and Induce Donor-Specific Immune Tolerance to Allografts.

2015

One of the major obstacles in organ transplantation is to establish immune tolerance of allografts. Although immunosuppressive drugs can prevent graft rejection to a certain degree, their efficacies are limited, transient, and associated with severe side effects. Induction of thymic central tolerance to allografts remains challenging, largely because of the difficulty of maintaining donor thymic epithelial cells in vitro to allow successful bioengineering. Here, the authors show that three-dimensional scaffolds generated from decellularized mouse thymus can support thymic epithelial cell survival in culture and maintain their unique molecular properties. When transplanted into athymic nude …

A New Absorbable Synthetic Substitute With Biomimetic Design for Dural Tissue Repair

2015

Dural repair products are evolving from animal tissue-derived materials to synthetic materials as well as from inert to absorbable features; most of them lack functional and structural characteristics compared with the natural dura mater. In the present study, we evaluated the properties and tissue repair performance of a new dural repair product with biomimetic design. The biomimetic patch exhibits unique three-dimensional nonwoven microfiber structure with good mechanical strength and biocompatibility. The animal study showed that the biomimetic patch and commercially synthetic material group presented new subdural regeneration at 90 days, with low level inflammatory response and minimal …

Nanocapsules generated out of a polymeric dexamethasone shell suppress the inflammatory response of liver macrophages.

2012

Abstract Dexamethasone (DXM) is a synthetic glucocorticoid with anti-inflammatory properties. Targeted delivery of dexamethasone to inflammatory cells, e.g. macrophages and Kupffer cells represents a promising approach to minimize side effects. The aim of the present study was to induce a targeted transport of novel DXM-based biodegradable nanocapsules to phagocytic cells. Nanocapsules (NCs) consisting of a hydroxyethylated glucose polymer (hydroxyethyl starch, HES) shell with encapsulated DXM and NCs synthesized exclusively in inverse miniemulsion out of DXM were investigated. Non-parenchymal murine liver cells served as target cells. HES-DXM NCs were predominantly incorporated by Kupffer …