Category Health/Medical

Production of neocartilage tissues using primary chondrocytes

In an effort to develop a method for cartilage tissue engineering, Umeå Uni Sweden researchers have successfully used cartilage cells from cow knee joints. By creating a successful method with conditions conducive to growing healthy cartilage tissue, the findings could help lead to a new cure for osteoarthritis using stem cell-based tissue engineering.

Articular cartilage is tissue that is found on all the joint surfaces in the body. Since the tissue is not supplied with any blood vessels, it has a low self-repair capacity. Joint injuries and wear often damage cartilage tissue, leading to a condition called osteoarthritis. In 2012 in Sweden, 26.6% of all people aged 45 yrs or older were diagnosed with OA.

“There is currently no...

Non-gray circles and their connections represent 80, 70 and 60 percent (from top to bottom) of all outgoing traffic within the sampled section of a cortical region. Credit: Indiana University

70% of all info within cortical regions in the brain passes through only 20% of its regions’ neurons. These high-traffic “hub neurons” could play a role in understanding brain health since this sort of highly efficient network – in which a small number of neurons are more essential to brain function – is also more vulnerable to disruption. That’s because relatively small breakages can cause the whole system to “go down”...

Photocleavable Hydrogel-Coated Upconverting Nanoparticles: A Multifunctional Theranostic Platform for NIR Imaging and On-Demand Macromolecular Delivery. Lanthanide-doped upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) have emerged as excellent nanotransducers for converting longer wavelength near-infrared (NIR) light to shorter wavelengths spanning the UV to visible (Vis) regions of the spectrum via a multiphoton absorption process, known as upconversion. Here, we report the development of NIR to UV–Vis–NIR UCNPs consisting of LiYF4:Yb3+/Tm3+@SiO2 individually coated with a 10 ± 2 nm layer of chitosan (CH) hydrogel cross-linked with a photocleavable cross-linker (PhL).

Some drug regimens, eg those designed to eliminate tumors, are notorious for nasty side effects...

Short bursts of Intensive Exercise provide a more “time-efficient” and realistic way of preventing, delaying and managing Type 2 diabetes and also losing weight. Obesity and Type 2 diabetes are linked, with >80% of people with the condition classed as overweight or obese – diet and physical activity interventions are the cornerstones for management of both conditions.

The effects of exercise on Type 2 diabetes and improving the body’s ability to use insulin to absorb blood sugar are well established, but its impact on weight regulation is more controversial...