Electrospun bioresorbable tissue repair scaffolds: From laboratory to clinic

The healing of soft tissue wounds and injury sites is a complex process requiring the participation of many different cells, tissues, proteins and tissue components in a coordinated manner. We describe the development of regenerative, electrospun, bioresorbable advanced material tissue scaffolds providing three dimensional (3D) structure for cells involved in the repair of soft tissue injuries. One product, EktoTherix™ provides a micron-scale 3D architecture to enhance the recruitment of reparative cells onto this temporary support and in this way the body's capacity to repair itself is utilised. EktoTherix and other electrospun tissue scaffolds have been translated from early stage laboratory work through manufacturing process development and clinical investigation

Neuropsychological profile of patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus and Alzheimer's disease

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Neuropsychological profile of patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus and Alzheimer's disease

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Volatile-Rich Magmas Distributed Through the Upper Crust in the Main Ethiopian Rift

Abstract Understanding magma storage and differentiation in the East African Rift underpins our understanding of volcanism in continental rift settings. Here, we present the geochemistry of melt inclusions erupted in Main Ethiopian Rift transitional basalts, trachytes, and peralkaline rhyolites, produced by fractional crystallization. Basalts stored on‐ and off‐axis are saturated in an exsolved volatile phase at up to 18 km in the upper crust. Much of the CO2 outgassed from the magmas is likely lost through diffuse degassing. Observed CO2 fluxes require the intrusion of up to 0.14 km3 of basalt beneath the rift each year. On‐axis peralkaline rhyolites are stored shallowly, at ~4–8 km depth. In the Daly Gap, magmas saturate in sulfide and an exsolved volatile phase, which promotes magma rise to shallower levels in the crust. Here, magmas undergo further protracted fractional crystallization and degassing, leading to the formation of a substantial exsolved volatile phase, which may accumulate in a gas‐rich cap. The exsolved volatile phase is rich in sulfur and halogens: their projected loadings into the atmosphere during explosive peralkaline eruptions in the MER are predicted to be substantially higher than their metaluminous counterparts in other settings. The high fraction of exsolved volatiles in the stored magmas enhances their compressibility and must be considered when interpreting ground displacements thought to be caused by magma intrusion at depth; otherwise, intruding volumes will be underestimated. Pockets of exsolved volatiles may be present at the roof zones of magma reservoirs, which may be resolvable using geophysical techniques

Commissioning of the new ALICE Inner Tracking System

The upgrade of the Inner Tracking System (ITS) of ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) will extend measurements of heavy-flavour hadrons and low-mass dileptons to a lower transverse momentum than currently achieved and increase the readout capabilities to incorporate the full interaction. Furthermore, the tracking efficiency will be improved at low transverse momentum. To achieve this, the new ALICE ITS is comprised of seven layers of a custom Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor design known as ALPIDE, with a spatial resolution of $5\,\mathrm{\mu m}$. The use of the ALPIDE-based detector design will reduce the material budget to $0.35\%\,\mathrm{X_0}$ per layer for the innermost three layers, and to $1.0\%\,\mathrm{X_0}$ per layer for the outermost four layers, compared to $1.14\%\,\mathrm{X_0}$ per layer in the previous ITS. The construction effort in numerous sites around the world has resulted in a fully assembled and connected detector, which is currently undergoing on surface commissioning before its installation in the ALICE cavern. This contribution discusses the design and the current status of the commissioning of the new ITS detector, including the methods used to characterise the detector and the results obtained so far.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, proceedings of INSTR20, Novosibirsk, 24th-28th February 202

Cognitive and psychological sequelae of hydrocephalus and spina bifida: turning interesting theoretical research into useful clinical intervention and guidelines

Background Ventricular shunts have significantly improved the prognosis of people with hydrocephalus and spina bifida; nevertheless, there are lifelong effects, which in many cases is associated with a cognitive profile of short term memory, attention and executive function difficulties (Iddon et al, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2004). There can also be psychological sequelae including depression and low self-esteem. The aim of this study is to develop clinical practice guidelines to inform intervention strategies to help patients and their carer to manage these difficulties. Materials and methods A three-stage project is being developed. Stage 1: A survey will be carried out to ascertain the needs of the client group, including gaps in local service provision and the impact of cognitive and psychological difficulties on everyday lives. Stage 2: Using data previously collected as well as new data, a detailed review will take place of specific cognitive difficulties and how these relate to everyday functions. Stage 3: A cognitive training programme will be developed as a guideline for practical clinical intervention. Results Data will be presented, showing the unmet need of people with hydrocephalus and spina bifida (N = 150, range of IQ's). Preliminary results of the new project will be presented and discussed. Conclusion It is not possible to provide a complete psychological support for individuals with hydrocephalus attending one London hospital clinic for their annual multi-disciplinary review. However, this project aims to bridge the theoretical/clinical gap we have previously identified in order to inform and guide their local services of the unmet needs of these clients, and to recommend appropriate interventions. This we anticipate will improve patients' quality of life

Cognitive and psychological sequelae of hydrocephalus and spina bifida: correlating subjective data and objective neuropsychological data to establish insight and inform clinical intervention and guidelines

Background Despite significant advances in treating and improving the prognosis of individuals with hydrocephalus and spina bifida, many of these individuals continue to experience specific cognitive difficulties in the areas of memory, language, attention and executive function and these can often have a significant negative impact on everyday functioning [1–3]. Materials and methods A comprehensive questionnaire was designed, based on known cognitive and emotional sequelae, to assess patient and caregiver perceptions of the specific difficulties experienced by people with hydrocephalus and spina bifida and the extent to which these are being addressed. In order to establish levels of insight, this questionnaire was correlated with detailed neuropsychological data to triangulate actual cognitive performance with subjective self-assessment obtained from patients and the objective view of caregivers. Results Questionnaire data will be presented that will highlight specific areas of discrepancy and concordance between patients and their caregivers (n = 60) and will be discussed in relation to actual performance on a range of cognitive tasks and the subsequent implications for strategic advice and intervention. Conclusion The data is being used to tailor specific cognitive strategies based on enhanced self-awareness, as part of small group and individual cognitive training interventions, within a multidisciplinary setting. It is hoped that the dissemination of the materials and methods designed for this study will inform best practice guidelines for these individuals and their caregivers and provide measurable outcomes for cognitive performance discrepancy, meta-awareness, strategy implementation and evaluation