The Topical Effect of rhGDF-5 Embedded in a Collagen–Gelatin Scaffold for Accelerated Wound Healing

The application of exogenous growth factors such as the recombinant human growth and differentiation factor 5 (rhGDF-5) represents a major research topic with great potential for the treatment of complex wounds. In a randomized, controlled minipig study, the topical effect of rhGDF-5 on full-thickness skin defects was evaluated. A total of 60 deep dermal wounds were either treated with rhGDF-5 embedded in an innovative collagen scaffold or another commonly used collagen matrix or left untreated. Wound healing was analyzed by planimetric analysis to determine wound closure over time. After 21 days, the areas of the initial wounds were excised, and the newly formed tissue was examined histologically. In comparison to untreated wounds, all examined matrices accelerated dermal wound healing. The largest acceleration of wound healing was seen with the high-dose rhGDF-5-treated wounds, which, compared to the untreated wounds, accelerated wound healing by 2.58 days, improved the neoepidermal thickness by 32.40 µm, and increased the epidermal cell density by 44.88 cells. The innovative collagen scaffold delivered rhGDF-5 adequately, served as a template to guide proliferating and restructuring cells, and accelerated wound healing. Thus, this composite product offers a novel tool for developing effective wound dressings in regenerative medicine.

Challenges, Trends and Solutions for Communication Networks and Cyber-Security in Smart Grid.

Power grid is one of the most important manifestations of the modern civilization and the engine of it where it is described as a digestive system of the civil life. It is a structure has three main functions: generation, transmission lines, distribution. This concept was appropriate for a century. However, the beginning of the twenty-first century brought dramatic changes on different domains: media, human growth, economic, environmental, political, and technical etc. Smart grid is a sophisticated structure including cyber and physical bodies hence it reinforces the sustainability, the energy management, the capability of integration with microgrids, and exploiting the renewable energy resources. The quantum leap of smart grid is related to the advanced communication networks that deal with the cyber part. Moreover, the communication networks of smart grid offer attractive capabilities such as monitoring, control, and protection at the level of real time. The wireless communication techniques in integration frame are promised solution to compensate the requirements of smart grid designing such as wireless local area networks, worldwide interoperability for microwave access, long term evolution, and narrowband- internet of things. These technologies could provide high capacity, flexibility, low-cost maintenance for smart grid. However, the multi-interfaces in smart grid may exploit by persons or agencies to implement different types of cyber-attacks may lead to dangerous damage. This research paper reviews the up-to-date researches in the field of smart grid to handle the new trends and topics in one frame in order to offer integration vision in this vital section. It concentrates on the section of communication networks the mainstay of smart grid. This paper discusses the challenging and requirements of adopting the wireless communication technologies and delves deeply into literature review to devise and suggest solutions to compensate the impairments efficiently. Moreover, it explores the cyber security that representing the real defiant to implement the concept of smart grid safely.

Sex Hormones, Growth Hormone, and the Cornea

The growth and maintenance of nearly every tissue in the body is influenced by systemic hormones during embryonic development through puberty and into adulthood. Of the ~130 different hormones expressed in the human body, steroid hormones and peptide hormones are highly abundant in circulation and are known to regulate anabolic processes and wound healing in a tissue-dependent manner. Of interest, differential levels of sex hormones have been associated with ocular pathologies, including dry eye disease and keratoconus. In this review, we discuss key studies that have revealed a role for androgens and estrogens in the cornea with focus on ocular surface homeostasis, wound healing, and stromal thickness. We also review studies of human growth hormone and insulin growth factor-1 in influencing ocular growth and epithelial regeneration. While it is unclear if endogenous hormones contribute to differential corneal wound healing in common animal models, the abundance of evidence suggests that systemic hormone levels, as a function of age, should be considered as an experimental variable in studies of corneal health and disease.

Reduced infant rhesus macaque growth rates due to environmental enteric dysfunction and association with histopathology in the large intestine

Environmental enteric dysfunction is associated with malnutrition as well as infant growth stunting and has been classically defined by villous blunting, decreased crypt-to-villus ratio, and inflammation in the small intestine. Here, we characterized environmental enteric dysfunction among infant rhesus macaques that are naturally exposed to enteric pathogens commonly linked to human growth stunting. Remarkably, despite villous atrophy and histological abnormalities observed in the small intestine, poor growth trajectories and low serum tryptophan levels were correlated with increased histopathology in the large intestine. This work provides insight into the mechanisms underlying this disease and indicates that the large intestine may be an important target for therapeutic intervention.

Fractal aspects of natural growth

The work presented here puts forward a fractal aspect of natural growth. The S-shaped pattern of a logistic function is analyzed in terms of several constituent logistic functions. The approach sheds light on two familiar phenomena: the undulatory evolution of growth, which gives rise to an alternation between high-and low-growth periods, and the increasingly noticeable shrinking life cycle of products. There are some economic and political implications for the European nations. A quantitative example is given for computer sales from Digital Equipment Corporation. The approach is further generalized to suggest that any growth process can be analyzed in terms of natural-growth subprocesses. Applied to human growth this analysis yields precise definitions for the timing of transitions such as babyhood to childhood, and childhood to adolescence.

Aging, frailty, and design of built environments

Before developing agriculture, herding or metallurgy, humans occupied most of the world. Multiple socioculturally-based responses supported their migration, including building shelters and constructing niches to limit environmental stressors. Sheltered settings provided social support and security during stressful times, along with opportunities for injured, aging, and frail members to survive. Modern built environments are designed for similar purposes, to support human growth, development, reproduction, and maintenance. However, extended survival in modern settings has costs. With age, muscle (sarcopenia) and bone loss (osteopenia, osteoporosis), along with somatic, physiological, and sensory dysfunction, reduce our physical capabilities, increase our frailty, and impede our abilities to interface with built and natural environments and manufactured artifacts. Thereby, increasing our dependence on built environments to maintain autonomy and quality of life.What follows is a conceptual review of how frailty may limit seniors within modern built environments. It suggests age-related frailty among seniors provides specific data for those designing environments for accessibility to all users. It is based in human ecological theory, and physiological and gerontological research showing senescent alterations, including losses of muscle, bone, and sensory perceptions, produce a frail phenotype with increasing age limiting our mobility, activity, use of space, and physical abilities. As an individual phenotype, frailty leads to age-related physical and performance declines. As a physiological assessment, frailty indices amalgamate individual measures of functional abilities into a single score. Such frailty indices increase with age and differ betwixt individuals and across groups. To design built environments that improve access, usability, and safety for aging and frail citizens, today’s seniors provide living samples and evidence for determining their future abilities, limitations, and design needs. Designing built environments to accommodate and improve the quality of human-environment interactions for frail seniors will improve usability and accessibility for most user groups.

Mediating Role of School Variables in Anticipating Blocks and ConsequencesCreativity among Rural Adolescents

Each developmental stage upholds new and its own unique competency requirements,challenges, struggles and opportunities for personal human growth. When an individual isin their early adolescence phase, his/her creativity is greatly influenced by its surroundingsand school environment is one of those crucial factors. Hence, the present study wasplanned to explore the mediating role of school environment in students’ blocks andconsequences creativity. The primary data was collected from 300 academically bright ruralyoung adolescents. Z-test and ANOVA were administered to discover the influence ofindependent variables (school environment) on the dependent variables (blocks andconsequences creativity). Results elucidated significant differences in blocks fluency,consequences originality and consequences creativity across school type, academic classand teaching method employed by the teachers. Blocks flexibility had significant differencesacross school type and academic class. Blocks originality was observed to have significantdifferences across academic class and consecutive academic record. It was revealed thatblocks creativity had significant differences across all the independent variables.Consequences fluency of the students had significant differences across school type,academic class and consecutive academic record.