Applications of scaffolds: Tools for enhancing the immunomodulation of mesenchymal stromal cells

Exogenously delivered mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are therapeutically beneficial owing to their paracrine effect; they secrete various cytokines, nucleic acids, and proteins. Multiple bioengineering techniques can help MSC cultures to release secretomes by providing stem cell niche-like conditions (both structurally and functionally). Various scaffolds mimic the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) using both natural and synthetic polymers, providing favorable environments for MSC proliferation and differentiation. Depending on material properties, either topographically or elastically structured scaffolds can be fabricated. Three-dimensional scaffolds have tunable substrate rigidities and structures, aiding MSC cultivation. Decellularized ECM-derived hydrogels are similar to the natural ECM, thus improving the paracrine effects of MSCs. Here, we discuss recent research on the application of scaffolds to maximize the immunomodulatory function of MSCs.     

Emergence and the Forms of Metabolism

Earlier this year, Michael Weinstock published a seminal book, The Architecture of Emergence: The Evolution of Form in Nature and Civilisation, which challenges established cultural and architectural histories. The conventional worldview is expanded by placing human development alongside ecological development: the history of cultural evolution and the production of cities are set in the context of processes and forms of the natural world. As well as providing a far-reaching thesis, Weinstock's book gives lucid and accessible explanations of the complex systems of the physical world. In this abridged extract from Chapter 5, Weinstock explains the dynamics of individual and collective metabolisms from which intelligence and social and spatial orders emerge. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于遗传算法的火炮总体参数动力学优化

为提高火炮射击精度,寻找最佳的总体参数,本文利用小生境遗传算法,实现了与ADAMS软件联合进行火炮总体参数动力学优化设计。结合某火炮,对上述方法进行了计算,计算结果表明：优化后的炮口扰动值比优化前明显降低;小生境遗传算法一次可以搜索出多个有效方案,给火炮总体布置带来更大灵活性。     

小生境遗传算法在孔隙介质反演中的应用研究

为加快寻找地下复杂介质中的油气，针对含单相饱和流体的孔隙介质，综合了等效孔隙介质理论、Radon变换以及小生境遗传算法等，将接收信号与遗传群体相联系，引入了最小二乘原理和小生境迭代，形成了基于等效孔隙介质模型与地震CT技术的小生境多参数反演算法。理论分析与反演结果表明，该方法能够有效避开波动方程求解的复杂性，精度高、求解方便，具有一定的实用价值，能有效解决井间地层成像问题。图2表2参16     

Strategic niche management for biofuels: Analysing past experiments for developing new biofuel policies

Biofuels have gained a lot of attention since the implementation of the 2003 European Directive on biofuels. In the Netherlands the contribution of biofuels is still very limited despite several experiments in the past. This article aims to contribute to the development of successful policies for stimulating biofuels by analysing three experiments in depth. The approach of strategic niche management (SNM) is used to explain success and failure of these projects. Based on the analysis as well as recent innovation literature we develop a list of guidelines that is important to consider when developing biofuel policies.     

Optimization of Rolling Force Distribution Based on Niche Genetic Algorithm in Continuous Hot Rolling Mills

Based on the niche genetic algorithm, the intelligent and optimizing model for the rolling force distribution in hot strip mills was put forward. The research showed that the model had many advantages such as fast searching speed, high calculating pre- cision and suiting for on-line calculation. A good strip shape could be achieved by using the model and it is appropriate and practica-ble for rolling producing.     

Injectable and Crosslinkable PLGA‐Based Microribbons as 3D Macroporous Stem Cell Niche

Poly(lactide‐co‐glycolide) (PLGA) has been widely used as a tissue engineering scaffold. However, conventional PLGA scaffolds are not injectable, and do not support direct cell encapsulation, leading to poor cell distribution in 3D. Here, a method for fabricating injectable and intercrosslinkable PLGA microribbon‐based macroporous scaffolds as 3D stem cell niche is reported. PLGA is first fabricated into microribbon‐shape building blocks with tunable width using microcontact printing, then coated with fibrinogen to enhance solubility and injectability using aqueous solution. Upon mixing with thrombin, firbornogen‐coated PLGA microribbons can intercrosslink into 3D scaffolds. When subject to cyclic compression, PLGA microribbon scaffolds exhibit great shock‐absorbing capacity and return to their original shape, while conventional PLGA scaffolds exhibit permanent deformation after one cycle. Using human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) as a model cell type, it is demonstrated that PLGA μRB scaffolds support homogeneous cell encapsulation, and robust cell spreading and proliferation in 3D. After 28 days of culture in osteogenic medium, hMSC‐seeded PLGA μRB scaffolds exhibit an increase in compressive modulus and robust bone formation as shown by staining of alkaline phosphatase, mineralization, and collagen. Together, the results validate PLGA μRBs as a promising injectable, macroporous, non‐hydrogel‐based scaffold for cell delivery and tissue regeneration applications.     

使用特征点与灰度值的医学图像局部配准方法

针对医学图像配准中,存在某些图像间大部分区域没有差异或者存在差异但不被关心的情况,提出了一种局部图像配准方法。该方法使用局部可控的紧支撑径向基函数作为配准变换函数,通过在感兴趣区域设置特征点,将变换函数作用范围限制在图像中某一特定区域,保持其他区域不发生变形。利用图像间的互信息量作为测度函数,更加精确地求解变换函数。在优化策略的选择中,将图像配准看作为寻优过程,采用基于小生境的遗传算法优化变换函数参数,能够克服经典遗传算法早熟、搜索能力差等缺点。通过对已知变换函数的仿真图像与真实医学图像进行实验,结果表明该算法能够准确地找到较优的变换函数,并且将作用区域限制在较小范围内。该方法结合了基于特征点和基于像素配准方法的优点,有效的搜索策略保证了变换函数准确性,是一种可行的、鲁棒的局部医学图像配准方法。     

Stem Cell-Niche Engineering via Multifunctional Hydrogel Potentiates Stem Cell Therapies for Inflammatory Bone Loss

Effective therapies capable of simultaneously inhibiting inflammation and promoting bone healing remain to be developed for inflammatory bone disease. Stem cell therapies hold great promise for a variety of diseases, but their translation is hampered by low cell survival, rapid clearance, and limited functional integration of transplanted stem cells in target tissues. Herein, a multifunctional hydrogel-based stem cell niche engineering strategy is reported for the treatment of inflammatory bone loss. By rationally integrating different functional modules, an injectable hydrogel-based stem niche is engineered, which possesses temperature-triggered gelling performance, inflammation/oxidative stress-resolving activity, stem-cell binding and survival-enhancing capacity, and osteogenesis-promoting capability. Using ectomesenchymal stem cells (EMSCs), effectiveness of this functionally advanced synthetic stem cell niche is demonstrated in rats with periodontitis, a representative inflammatory bone loss disease. Synergistic effects of the multifunctional hydrogel and EMSCs are also confirmed, with respect to normalizing the pathological microenvironment and improving alveolar bone regeneration in the periodontal tissue. Mechanistically, inflammation/oxidative stress-resolving and osteogenic differentiation promoting capacities of the synthetic stem cell niche are mainly achieved by an incorporated nanotherapy via the GDF15/Atf3/c-Fos axis of the MAPK signaling pathway. Besides periodontitis, the newly engineered hydrogel-stem cell therapies are promising for the treatment of other inflammatory bone defects.     

基于小生境的多目标进化算法

进化算法求解多目标优化问题平衡收敛性和多样性面临的主要挑战在两个方面：增强对帕累托最优前沿的选择压力和获得多样性良好的解集。然而,随着目标维数的增加,基于帕累托支配关系的选择标准无法有效地解决以上问题。因此,设计了一种基于小生境的多目标进化算法。基于小生境,提出了一种新的支配关系,其中,设计了一个聚合函数和一种采用目标向量角的密度估计方法分别度量候选解的收敛度和分布性。为了保证解集的收敛性,在同一个小生境内,仅仅收敛度最好的解是非支配解。为了维护解集的多样性,在任何两个不同的小生境内,一个小生境内兼具收敛度和分布性良好的解支配另一个小生境内收敛性和分布性均差的解,将提出的支配关系嵌入VaEA取代帕累托支配关系,设计了一种多目标进化算法VaEA-SDN。VaEA-SDN与NSGA-Ⅲ、VaEA、MSEA、NSGAII-CSDR、RPS-NSGAII以及CDR-MOEA等先进的算法在DTLZ(Deb-Thiele-Laumanns-Zitzler)和MaF(manyobjective function)基准测试系列问题上进行了广泛的对比仿真实验。仿真结果表明,VaEA-SDN平衡收敛收敛性...