Therapeutic Effects of hiPSC-Derived Glial and Neuronal Progenitor Cells-Conditioned Medium in Experimental Ischemic Stroke in Rats

Transplantation of various types of stem cells as a possible therapy for stroke has been tested for years, and the results are promising. Recent investigations have shown that the administration of the conditioned media obtained after stem cell cultivation can also be effective in the therapy of the central nervous system pathology (hypothesis of their paracrine action). The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effects of the conditioned medium of hiPSC-derived glial and neuronal progenitor cells in the rat middle cerebral artery occlusion model of the ischemic stroke. Secretory activity of the cultured neuronal and glial progenitor cells was evaluated by proteomic and immunosorbent-based approaches. Therapeutic effects were assessed by overall survival, neurologic deficit and infarct volume dynamics, as well as by the end-point values of the apoptosis- and inflammation-related gene expression levels, the extent of microglia/macrophage infiltration and the numbers of formed blood vessels in the affected area of the brain. As a result, 31% of the protein species discovered in glial progenitor cells-conditioned medium and 45% in neuronal progenitor cells-conditioned medium were cell type specific. The glial progenitor cell-conditioned media showed a higher content of neurotrophins (BDNF, GDNF, CNTF and NGF). We showed that intra-arterial administration of glial progenitor cells-conditioned medium promoted a faster decrease in neurological deficit compared to the control group, reduced microglia/macrophage infiltration, reduced expression of pro-apoptotic gene Bax and pro-inflammatory cytokine gene Tnf, increased expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine genes (Il4, Il10, Il13) and promoted the formation of blood vessels within the damaged area. None of these effects were exerted by the neuronal progenitor cell-conditioned media. The results indicate pronounced cytoprotective, anti-inflammatory and angiogenic properties of soluble factors secreted by glial progenitor cells.     

Reward–Penalty Assignments and Genetic Algorithms for Ordinal Interval Number Group Decision Making

Ordinal interval number group decision making (GDM) is implemented using the closed interval preferences provided by the decision makers (DMs) for the potential courses of action. Two reward–penalty assignments (RPAs) are introduced, which express the compatibility between the ordinal intervals provided by the DMs in a purely binary and a fully graded manner, respectively. Genetic algorithms are employed for establishing a collectively preferred ranking, with chromosome‐validity‐enforcing crossover and gene‐swapping mutation being appropriately combined for efficient convergence. The effect that the consensus function, as derived from two RPAs, has on the fitness landscape and, consequently, on the preferred course(s) of action is illustrated in a number of GDM problems derived from the relevant literature covering (a) complete and incomplete problems, (b) perturbations of the relative importance values assigned to the DMs, (c) full and partial preferences, and (d) increasing numbers of DMs and/or available courses of action (scaling potential).     

Large-scale in vivo synthesis of the carbohydrate moieties of gangliosides GM1 and GM2 by metabolically engineered Escherichia coli

Two metabolically engineered Escherichia coli strains have been constructed to produce the carbohydrate moieties of gangliosides GM2 (GalNAcbeta-4(NeuAcalpha-3)Galbeta-4Glc; Gal = galactose, Glc = glucose, Ac = acetyl) and GM1 (Galbeta-3GalNAcbeta-4(NeuAcalpha-3)Galbeta-4Glc. The GM2 oligosaccharide-producing strain TA02 was devoid of both beta-galactosidase and sialic acid aldolase activities and overexpressed the genes for CMP-NeuAc synthase (CMP = cytidine monophosphate), alpha-2,3-sialyltransferase, UDP-GlcNAc (UDP = uridine diphosphate) C4 epimerase, and beta-1,4-GalNAc transferase. When this strain was cultivated on glycerol, exogenously added lactose and sialic acid were shown to be actively internalized into the cytoplasm and converted into GM2 oligosaccharide. The in vivo synthesis of GM1 oligosaccharide was achieved by taking a similar approach but using strain TA05, which additionally overexpressed the gene for beta-1,3-galactosyltransferase. In high-cell-density cultures, the production yields for the GM2 and GM1 oligosaccharides were 1.25 g L(-1) and 0.89 g L(-1), respectively.     

Predicting Functioning Processes of Uniaxially Oriented Polymeric Materials

Fibre Chemistry - Traditionally, prediction of functioning processes of uniaxially oriented polymeric materials faces objective difficulties due to inhomogeneity of the rheological structure of...     

Physical Analysis of the Creep of Polypropylene and Polyvinylidene Fluoride Threads for Medical Purposes

Fibre Chemistry - Results are given for a study and modelling of short-term creep of polypropylene and polyvinylidene fluoride threads designed for medical purposes. A physical analysis is given...     

Remote-Controlled Ambidextrous Robot Hand Concept

In the development of robotic limbs, the side of members is of importance to define the shape of artificial limbs and the range of movements. It is mainly significant tbr biomedical applications concerning patients suffering arms or legs injuries, fn this paper, the concept of an ambidextrous design lbr robot hands is introduced. The fingers can curl in one xvay or another, to imitate either a right hand or a left hand. The advantages and inconveniences of different models have been investigated to optimise the range and the maximum force applied by fingers. Besides, a remote control interthce is integrated to the system, allowing both to send comrnands through internet and to display a video streaming of the ambidextrous hand as feedback. Therefore, a robotic prosthesis could be used for the first time in telerehabilitation. The main application areas targeted are physiotherapy alter strokes or management of phantom pains/br amputees by/earning to control the ambidextrous hand. A client application is also accessible on Facehook social network, making the robotic limb easily reachable for the patients. Additionally the ambidextrous hand can be used tbr robotics research as well as artistic performances.     

Fullerene: biomedical engineers get to revisit an old friend

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3D numerical simulation of the behaviour of a spherical particle suspended in a Newtonian fluid and submitted to a simple shear

The 3D flow around a rigid spherical particle suspended in a Newtonian fluid and submitted to simple shear is numerically studied using Rem3D^® finite element code. The sphere motion is imposed by a sticking contact between the sphere and the fluid. The effect of the particle size as compared with the finite dimension of the shear cell was investigated. The direct calculations show that 3D modelling is necessary to correctly predict the sphere behaviour. The proximity of the particle and the cell walls strongly affects the flow velocities, the sphere motion (increase of the rotation period of the sphere) and the stress field (change of orientation angle and increase of maximal local stresses).