Effect of cell therapy with allogeneic osteoblasts on bone repair of rat calvaria defects

Background aims

Regenerative medicine strategies based on cell therapy are considered a promising approach to repair bone defects. The aims of this study were to evaluate the effect of subculturing on the osteogenic potential of osteoblasts derived from newborn rat calvaria and the effect of these osteoblasts on bone repair of rat calvaria defects.

The effect of charge density on the velocity and attenuation of ultrasound waves in human cancellous bone

Cancellous bone is a highly porous material, and two types of waves, fast and slow, are observed when ultrasound is used for detecting bone diseases. There are several possible stimuli for bone remodelling processes, including bone fluid flow, streaming potential, and piezoelectricity. Poroelasticity has been widely used for elucidating the bone fluid flow phenomenon, but the combination of poroelasticity with charge density has not been introduced. Theoretically, general poroelasticity with a varying charge density is employed for determining the relationship between wave velocity and attenuation with charge density. Fast wave velocity and attenuation are affected by porosity as well as charge density; however, for a slow wave, both slow wave velocity and attenuation are not as sensitive to the effect of charge density as they are for a fast wave. Thus, employing human femoral data, we conclude that charged ions gather on trabecular struts, and the fast wave, which moves along the trabecular struts, is significantly affected by charge density.     

Optimising the clinical strategy for autoimmune liver diseases: Principles of value-based medicine

Background

Autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cholangitis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis represent the three major autoimmune liver diseases (AILDs). Their management is highly specialized, requires a multidisciplinary approach and often relies on expensive, orphan drugs. Unfortunately, their treatment is often unsatisfactory, and the care pathway heterogeneous across different centers. Disease-specific clinical outcome indicators (COIs) able to evaluate the whole cycle of care are needed to assist both clinicians and administrators in improving quality and value of care. Aim of our study was to generate a set of COIs for the three AILDs. We then prospectively validated these indicators based on a series of consecutive patients recruited at three tertiary clinical centers in Lombardy, Italy.

CEP128 Localizes to the Subdistal Appendages of the Mother Centriole and Regulates TGF-β/BMP Signaling at the Primary Cilium

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Direct mechanics assessment of elastic symmetries and properties of trabecular bone architecture

A method is presented to find orthotropic elastic symmetries and constants directly from the elastic coefficients in the overall stiffness matrix of trabecular bone test specimens. Contrary to earlier developed techniques, this method does not require pure orthotropic behavior or additional fabric measurements. The method uses high-resolution computer reconstructions of trabecular bone specimens as input for large-scale FE-analyses to determine all the 21 elastic coefficients in the overall stiffness matrix of the specimen, using a direct mechanics approach. An optimization procedure is then used to find the coordinate transformation that yields the best orthotropic representation of this matrix. The method is illustrated here relative to two trabecular bone specimens. The techniques developed here can be used to obtain a complete characterization of the mechanical properties of trabecular architecture. With the development of in vivo reconstruction techniques, even in vivo measurements will be possible.