Repairing articular cartilage defects with an injectable gel engineered with gene modified BMSCs

Public release date: 23-Apr-2013
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Contact: Ai-Xi Yu
yuaixi666@163.com
Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine

Researchers at Micro Orthopaedics, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, led by Dr. Ai-xi Yu, have suggested that articular cartilage defects can be repaired by a novel thermo-sensitive injectable hydrogel engineered with gene modified bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs). The chitosan and polyvinyl alcohol composite hydrogel containing hTGF?-1 gene modified BMSCs was injected into rabbits with defective articular cartilage. Sixteen weeks later the defected cartilage regenerated and was proven to be hyaline cartilage. This work can be found in the January 2013 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine.

"No reliable approach is currently available for complete restoration of damaged articular cartilage", said Dr. Bai-wen Qi, "in this study, CS/PVA gel was combined with rabbit bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) transfected with hTGF?-1 and used to repair rabbit articular cartilage defects and the repair effect was evaluated".

Tissue engineering combined with gene therapy technology has the potential to manage the repair of defective articular cartilage. In this study, through minimally invasive injection methods the authors were able to repair rabbit articular cartilage defects with CS/PVA gel and gene modified BMSCs. Dr. Qi said "CS/PVA gel can be applied to the repair of articular cartilage defects as an injectable material in tissue engineering, and the regenerated cartilage can secrete cartilage matrix and perform the functions of hyaline cartilage. Use of this gel for cartilage repair has advantages such as the minor surgical procedure required, tight bonding with the damaged tissue and lack of rejection".

Dr. Steven R. Goodman, Editor-in-Chief of Experimental Biology and Medicine said "The study by Qi and colleagues is very exciting as it combines tissue engineering and gene therapy approaches to successfully repair defective articular cartilage. The approach should be adaptable in the future to human tissue repair".

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Experimental Biology and Medicine is a journal dedicated to the publication of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research in the biomedical sciences. The journal was first established in 1903.

Experimental Biology and Medicine is the journal of the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine. To learn about the benefits of society membership visit http://www.sebm.org. If you are interested in publishing in the journal please visit http://ebm.rsmjournals.com.

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Public release date: 23-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ai-Xi Yu
yuaixi666@163.com
Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine

Researchers at Micro Orthopaedics, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, led by Dr. Ai-xi Yu, have suggested that articular cartilage defects can be repaired by a novel thermo-sensitive injectable hydrogel engineered with gene modified bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs). The chitosan and polyvinyl alcohol composite hydrogel containing hTGF?-1 gene modified BMSCs was injected into rabbits with defective articular cartilage. Sixteen weeks later the defected cartilage regenerated and was proven to be hyaline cartilage. This work can be found in the January 2013 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine.

"No reliable approach is currently available for complete restoration of damaged articular cartilage", said Dr. Bai-wen Qi, "in this study, CS/PVA gel was combined with rabbit bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) transfected with hTGF?-1 and used to repair rabbit articular cartilage defects and the repair effect was evaluated".

Tissue engineering combined with gene therapy technology has the potential to manage the repair of defective articular cartilage. In this study, through minimally invasive injection methods the authors were able to repair rabbit articular cartilage defects with CS/PVA gel and gene modified BMSCs. Dr. Qi said "CS/PVA gel can be applied to the repair of articular cartilage defects as an injectable material in tissue engineering, and the regenerated cartilage can secrete cartilage matrix and perform the functions of hyaline cartilage. Use of this gel for cartilage repair has advantages such as the minor surgical procedure required, tight bonding with the damaged tissue and lack of rejection".

Dr. Steven R. Goodman, Editor-in-Chief of Experimental Biology and Medicine said "The study by Qi and colleagues is very exciting as it combines tissue engineering and gene therapy approaches to successfully repair defective articular cartilage. The approach should be adaptable in the future to human tissue repair".

###

Experimental Biology and Medicine is a journal dedicated to the publication of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research in the biomedical sciences. The journal was first established in 1903.

Experimental Biology and Medicine is the journal of the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine. To learn about the benefits of society membership visit http://www.sebm.org. If you are interested in publishing in the journal please visit http://ebm.rsmjournals.com.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/sfeb-rac042313.php

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A look at immigrant patients deported by hospitals

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? Over the last five years, American hospitals have sent at least 600 immigrants who were in the U.S. illegally back to their home countries to avoid paying for long-term care after serious illness or injury.

The Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall University has documented "medical repatriation" cases in 15 states involving patients from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Lithuania, Mexico, the Philippines and South Korea.

Here's a look at some of the most dramatic examples from a report issued in December:

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Quelino Ojeda Jimenez was working atop a building at Chicago's Midway Airport in 2010 when he fell, suffering injuries that left him nearly quadriplegic and reliant on a ventilator.

Advocate Christ Medical Center cared for Jimenez for four months, absorbing more than $650,000 in costs, according to a 2011 Chicago Tribune story.

Three days before Christmas that year, the hospital put him aboard a medical flight and sent him to Mexico, even though his family protested. Crying and unable to speak, Jimenez could do nothing to prevent his removal.

The receiving hospital in Mexico lacked rehabilitation services and could not afford new filters for his ventilator. After suffering two heart attacks and a septic infection, Jimenez died on Jan. 2, 2012.

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Luis Alberto Jimenez was working as a landscaper in Florida when the car he was in was struck by a drunk driver in February 2000.

Jimenez, then 35, suffered brain damage and other injuries and was treated at Martin Memorial Medical Center in Stuart, Fla., until June, when he was transferred to a nursing home.

The following January, he was readmitted to the hospital with an infection that doctors feared could be fatal. He stayed at the hospital for a year because no other long-term care provider would take him.

The hospital eventually filed a lawsuit in state court seeking permission to transport him to a hospital in his native Guatemala. A judge approved the flight in June 2003, and Jimenez was flown to Guatemala before the court could rule on an appeal filed by his legal guardian.

In mid-2004, the Florida District Court of Appeals overturned the lower court's order, declaring that state courts do not have the authority to permit deportations, which are regulated by federal immigration law. But by then Jimenez had been returned home, bedridden and suffering from seizures, to live with his elderly mother in a remote area of Guatemala.

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Barbara Latasiewicz was working as a housekeeper in the Chicago area in 2009 when she had a stroke while scrubbing a bathtub. The Polish woman was paralyzed on her left side and needed around-the-clock care.

Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital tried to find her long-term care, but 30 facilities refused to take her because she was undocumented. Latasiewicz had overstayed a temporary visa after arriving in the U.S. in 1990.

The hospital allowed her to stay without insurance or any other way to pay for 2? years at a cost of more than $1.4 million.

In early 2012, arrangements were made to transfer her to a stroke-specialty unit in Poland. She refused to consent to the transfer, which would permanently separate her from her son and grandchildren. The hospital obtained a judge's order allowing her transfer to Poland.

A March 1 story in the Chicago Tribune says the 60-year-old woman cried while sitting in the airport awaiting a flight out, knowing she would probably never return to the U.S., which had been her home for more than 20 years.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/look-immigrant-patients-deported-hospitals-071427622.html

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The human immune system in space

Apr. 22, 2013 ? When the space shuttle Atlantis touched down in the summer of 2011 at Cape Canaveral, closing the book on the U.S. shuttle program, a team of U.S. Army researchers stood at the ready, eager to get their gloved hands on a small device in the payload that housed a set of biological samples. On Monday, April 22, at the Experimental Biology 2013 conference in Boston, the team will present the results of nearly two years' worth of study on those samples, results that shed light on how the human immune system responds to stress and assaults while in space -- and maybe here on Earth.

"Weakening of the immune system associated with spaceflight is an area that needs a thorough investigation," said Marti Jett, director of the Integrative Systems Biology Program at the U.S. Army Medical Command. "Astronauts subjected to microgravity have shown a significant immune weakening. Furthermore, microgravity has been shown to enhance bacterial virulence while depressing the immune response."

Among the tasks completed by the four-person crew of the orbiter Atlantis were experiments on human cells using a common component of an Earth-dwelling microorganism that plays a role in septic shock. The experiments were designed, overseen remotely and replicated on Earth under normal gravity conditions by the army team, led by Rasha Hammamieh, deputy director of the Integrative Systems Biology Program, which is based at the U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research at Fort Detrick in Maryland.

"There's an increased risk of infection due to altered bacterial growth in microgravity. Wounds heal poorly in microgravity. So the question investigated was 'In what way does the host response to pathogen differ in microgravity versus on Earth?'" Hammamieh explained. The research team set out to investigate the molecular cascade of events that occur in human endothelial cells in response to exposure to the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide, or LPS, from the cell wall of gram-negative bacteria.

The cells hung out in space for six days before the astronauts applied the LPS to them, but even during that untouched period they showed genomic responses typical of immune dysfunction to the zero-gravity conditions. "And so, when we added the agonist, they didn't respond very well," Jett said. The cells were so busy dealing with the gravity situation that they barely put up a fight against the bacteria. The cells' poor response "suddenly reminded us of something we'd seen previously," Jett said.

The research team previously had conducted a study of Army Rangers. The scientists took blood samples from the special forces at the beginning, middle and end of their intensive training program and exposed those samples to pathogens to see if battlefield conditions affected immune responses. That work was published in the journal Genes & Immunology last year.

"We found that they weren't responding normally at all. We saw what maybe one could guess in retrospect that you would see, which was that the immune system was involved in the stress of being a Ranger, and when we added these pathogens -- the virus, bacteria and toxin -- in separate experiments, they didn't respond to them. And we saw something very similar to that in space. The cells were probably preoccupied with the response to microgravity, and, therefore, when exposed to LPS, yes, there was a response, but it certainly wasn't comparable to what we were seeing on the ground."

The team determined that, in the samples that went to space, there was a diminished capability of the cells to activate the normal immune response in terms of pathogen processing. Reduced gravity also altered angeogenesis and vasculogenesis and promoted genes involved in rheumatoid arthritis, tumor growth and wound repair. This could suggest an elevated risk of neurological degeneration and other problems as a result of microgravity.

Jett said the results of both the spaceflight study and Rangers study have drawn the interest of those studying immune response in people exposed to other high-stress conditions, such as Wall Street executives and CEOs. "The core motivation was to try to understand why there is not a good immune response in terms of healing and preventing illness in space -- why healing is compromised -- and it just ends up coming back to maybe broader strokes to what we see on Earth as well," Jett said.

About the team's toxin of choice

The research team decided to use LPS in space because it's the most common endotoxin and because it impairs the wound-healing process. When left untreated, Gram-negative bacteria infection can cause septic shock, or sepsis.

"Every year, severe sepsis strikes about 750,000 Americans. It's been estimated that between 28 and 50 percent of these people die -- far more than the number of U.S. deaths from prostate cancer, breast cancer and AIDS combined," Hammamieh said.

Sepsis cases are on the rise in the U.S, and about $17 billion is spent annually to treat it. LPS-induced endotoxemia is the most common form of infection after burns, and it's the leading cause of postsurgical deaths.

"Our research seeks diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic markers of LPS infection in the healthy cells and the cells immunocompromised by microgravity. Our high-dimensional, -omics approach results in deluge of data," explained Hammamieh, which promises to hold the key to therapy of this complex disease.

Jett added that, because reduced gravity enhances bacterial activity, it's possible that "the host responses in microgravity may adapt novel healing mechanisms, or the assaults may find unconventional pathways to trigger the damage. The understanding of these paradigms can potentially enlighten the ground-based LPS therapy."

Doing biological science in space

After securing funding for the research project in early 2011, the team had only six months to prepare for the launch. But, having conducted systems biology work since the late 1990s, the team was a well-oiled machine. Jett said she and her colleagues had a workable plan in mind "but it was a matter of adapting to make it work in space." That was easier said than done.

"One of the complexities was to be prepared to repeat the entire setup in case the launch did not occur on the designated day. Because our cell cultures required three days to prepare for launch, we had to have cultures ready for the backup dates even while preparing as the shuttle was on the launch pad," she said. "Our technical staff got just two hours of sleep the night before the launch, since they had to prepare for the next two launch dates in case of delay. It was exhausting, exciting and an unbelievable experience."

When it was time for Atlantis to return to Earth, the logistics were equally challenging. Uncertain whether the landing would take place in Florida or California, the team dispatched a member to each coast.

"We had one person in the air going to Cape Canaveral. Dr. Hammamieh was in the airport ready to step on the plane to go to L.A. and asked, 'If I hear it's landing at Cape Canaveral, can I step off?' And then, just before she stepped through the door of the plane and they were going to close it, she got the message 'It's landing at Cape Canaveral!' and she got off. It was a crazy time. It was really fun."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), via Newswise.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/Uqk4WXrVACM/130422132504.htm

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Screening detects ovarian cancer using neighboring cells

Apr. 22, 2013 ? Pioneering biophotonics technology developed at Northwestern University is the first screening method to detect the early presence of ovarian cancer in humans by examining cells easily brushed from the neighboring cervix or uterus, not the ovaries themselves.

A research team from Northwestern and NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) conducted an ovarian cancer clinical study at NorthShore. Using partial wave spectroscopic (PWS) microscopy, they saw diagnostic changes in cells taken from the cervix or uterus of patients with ovarian cancer even though the cells looked normal under a microscope.

The results have the potential to translate into a minimally invasive early detection method using cells collected by a swab, exactly like a Pap smear. No reliable early detection method for ovarian cancer currently exists.

In previous Northwestern-NorthShore studies, the PWS technique has shown promising results in the early detection of colon, pancreatic and lung cancers using cells from neighboring organs. If commercialized, PWS could be in clinical use for one or more cancers in approximately five years.

The ovarian cancer study was published this month by the International Journal of Cancer.

PWS uses light scattering to examine the architecture of cells at the nanoscale and can detect profound changes that are the earliest known signs of carcinogenesis. These changes can be seen in cells far from the tumor site or even before a tumor forms.

"We were surprised to discover we could see diagnostic changes in cells taken from the endocervix in patients who had ovarian cancer," said Vadim Backman, who developed PWS at Northwestern. "The advantage of nanocytology -- and why we are so excited about it -- is we don't need to wait for a tumor to develop to detect cancer."

Backman is a professor of biomedical engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. He and his longtime collaborator, Hemant K. Roy, M.D., formerly of NorthShore, have been working together for more than a decade and conducting clinical trials of PWS at NorthShore for four years. Backman and Roy both are authors of the paper.

"The changes we have seen in cells have been identical, no matter which organ we are studying," Backman said. "We have stumbled upon a universal cell physiology that can help us detect difficult cancers early. If the changes are so universal, they must be very important."

Ovarian cancer, which ranks fifth in cancer fatalities among American women, usually goes undetected until it has spread elsewhere. The cancer is difficult to treat at this late stage and often is fatal.

"This intriguing finding may represent a breakthrough that would allow personalization of screening strategies for ovarian cancer via a minimally intrusive test that could be coupled to the Pap smear," Roy said.

At the time of the ovarian cancer study, Roy was director of gastroenterology research at NorthShore and worked with Jean A. Hurteau, M.D., a gynecological oncologist at NorthShore. (Hurteau is an author of the paper.) Roy is now chief of the section of gastroenterology at Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center.

The study included a total of 26 individuals. For cells taken from the endometrium (part of the uterus), there were 26 patients (11 with ovarian cancer and 15 controls); for cells taken from the endocervix, there were 23 patients (10 with ovarian cancer and 13 controls). The small size of the study reflects the difficulty in recruiting ovarian cancer patients.

Cells were placed on slides and then examined using PWS. The results showed a significant increase in the disorder of the nanoarchitecture of epithelial cells obtained from cancer patients compared to controls for both the endometrium and endocervix studies.

The cells for the ovarian cancer study were taken from the cervix and uterus. For the earlier lung cancer study, cells were brushed from the cheek. For the colon, cells came from the rectum, and for the pancreas, cells came from the duodenum. Cells from these neighboring organs showed changes at the nanoscale when cancer was present.

PWS can detect cell features as small as 20 nanometers, uncovering differences in cells that appear normal using standard microscopy techniques. PWS measures the disorder strength of the nanoscale organization of the cell, which is a strong marker for the presence of cancer in the organ or in a nearby organ.

The PWS-based test makes use of the "field effect," a biological phenomenon in which cells located some distance from the malignant or pre-malignant tumor undergo molecular and other changes.

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Journal Reference:

1. Dhwanil Damania, Hemant K. Roy, Dhananja Kunte, Jean A. Hurteau, Hariharan Subramanian, Lusik Cherkezyan, Nela Krosnjar, Maitri Shah, Vadim Backman. Insights into the field carcinogenesis of ovarian cancer based on the nanocytology of endocervical and endometrial epithelial cells. International Journal of Cancer, 2013; DOI: 10.1002/ijc.28122

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/OR6G5mqaHdM/130422175832.htm

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6 films and shows that remind you to love Earth

There is no reason not to love Earth. Despite what scientists speculate about Mars or distant "water worlds" discovered by NASA's Kepler probe, this planet is the only game in town if humans want to keep breathing, drinking water and, you know, existing in the near future. But as our entertainment choices frequently point out, we're not always the best caretakers of this big blue marble in space. In honor of Earth Day on Monday here are a few films and television shows that provide food for thought about why we should celebrate our planet every day of the year.

'Terminator 2: Judgment Day'
The opening minutes of 1991's "T2" deliver a jarring scene: Los Angeles in 2029 is nothing but a leveled wasteland of twisted bits of metal and piles of human skulls scattered about. It?s as dark as midnight, dusty, with not a single ray of natural light, not a blade of green grass, not a drop of water, not a tree branch. Earth is nearly devoid of the living, overrun instead by Skynet?s terrifying cyborgs. Kinda makes you appreciate our blue skies, (somewhat) clean air, mountains, rivers, human-run planet and non-murderous machines, doesn?t it? So take a break and get up from your desk. Go outside, suck in some fresh air, bask in the sunshine and be thankful that your TV isn?t a T-1000 intent on crushing your skull in its poly-alloy hands. --?Anna Chan

'Planet of the Apes'
Look, we?re not saying we humans have treated our dear Mother Earth well. But we?re not ready to hand it over to the monkeys yet. Don?t get us wrong: We loved Cornelius and Zira in the original "Planet of the Apes" film series that started in 1968. But the planet wasn?t any better under Ape Law, what with blowing up New York ("YOU MANIACS!") so that the Statue of Liberty was left chest-deep in the sand, and creating a race of mutants who worship the atom bomb. Damn dirty apes! We may not want them ruling our planet, but we puny humans continue to go bananas for ape movies, with the next one, ?Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,? coming in 2014. -- Gael Fashingbauer Cooper?

'Revolution'
The main conceit of "Revolution," for those who haven?t seen the NBC series that first started airing in 2012, is that the power goes out. Not for a night, not for a week, but for always. There?s just no more electricity. In fact, anything that has to remotely be powered up ? cars, planes and the like ? is unable to do so. The net result goes beyond not having a refrigerator, air conditioning and creature comforts. It also means all those digital photos you took of your family are gone forever. Your ability to move from point A to point B? Better hope points A and B are close together. Otherwise your feet will be getting pretty tired. And when everyone?s blaming each other for the sorry state of affairs, leaders are ousted and tempers flare, who can you trust? The show isn?t about saving Earth or being "green." Rather, it illustrates just how thoroughly everything is intertwined on this planet of ours. Take care of it, and be nice to people. -- Courtney Hazlett

'March of the Penguins'
While "March of the Penguins" definitely brought the cute factor, the 2005 documentary also explored some heavy environmental issues. In addition to giving viewers an awe-inspiring glimpse of the natural habitat of the emperor penguins of Antarctica, the Academy Award winning film also showcased the effects that global warming has had on the adorable, noble creatures. Not only is the footage visually stunning, taking viewers under water and across the icy Antarctic terrain, but it taught that animals are much like humans in how they love, interact and live. Plus, who doesn?t like to watch baby penguins run around for 80 minutes? --?Ashley Majeski

'WALL-E'
The title robot in Pixar's animated "WALL-E" is so adorable. With his fixation on movie musicals, it's almost easy to forget that on at least one level, the film is an ecological horror story: WALL-E exists solely to help a garbage-covered (thanks, Buy-n-Large Corp.), human-depopulated Earth clean again so that humans can (in theory) eventually return to live there. The idea that humans can survive the trashing of their own planet is only vaguely comforting. The notion that they've been living in space for hundreds of years and are literally fat lazybones is not precisely a positive comment on human nature. If any movie will inspire you to pick up that piece of trash you absentmindedly tossed aside, it's this one. -- Randee Dawn

'Fringe'
Oxygen is awesome! That is a legit takeaway from the sci-fi thriller, which wrapped up its run early in 2013 and featured antagonists called Observers ?-- created, futuristic humans who pumped carbon dioxide into the atmosphere because current-day Earth's air was too oxygenated for their super-evolved DNA. (They also paved over Central Park -- heresy!) These visitors from the future came from a world saturated with pollution, so be warned: If you want new generations to be able to blow dandelion seeds in the park (instead of struggling for breath in an apocalyptic urban landscape), do what you can to protect our environment. Also, don't create humans without emotions in the first place. -- Dru Moorhouse

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Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/04/20/17838859-six-films-and-tv-shows-that-will-make-you-appreciate-earth?lite

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Afghanistan, Pakistan, U.S. to meet for talks in Brussels: Afghan official

April 22 (Reuters) - Pep Guardiola is not the only connection between Bayern Munich and Barcelona, who meet in their Champions League semi-final, first leg at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday. Both teams are dominating their leagues to an almost embarrassing extent, have won the Champions League four times apiece, share an acrimonious rivalry with Real Madrid, and owe part of their success to the flamboyant Dutchman Louis van Gaal. Both have also been in two Champions League finals in the last four years, though the Catalans won both of theirs and the Bavarians came out losers on each occasion. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-pakistan-u-meet-talks-brussels-afghan-official-122815893.html

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Sprint forms committee to evaluate Dish offer

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) ? Sprint Nextel has formed a committee of independent directors to review a $25.5 billion buyout offer from Dish Network.

The committee has retained Bank of America Merrill Lynch to act as its financial advisor and will provide an assessment to the full board, the company said Monday.

Dish Network Corp., the third-largest U.S. pay-TV provider, made an unsolicited offer for Sprint earlier this month. It's attempting to block the sale of 70 percent of Sprint to Softbank Corp. of Japan, a deal which Sprint agreed to in October.

Sprint, based in Overland Park, Kansas, is the third-largest U.S. cellphone company.

Dish's offer is driven by new technology and the growing demand from consumers to watch whatever they want, wherever they want to watch it. Sprint's technology could allow, Dish, based in Englewood, Colo., to get closer to that goal.

Sprint shares rose 2 cents to $7.19 in premarket trading.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-04-22-US-Dish-Sprint/id-9980fbff494449d7adea8d12b4f66b12

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