Hwangabildtrup0182

Thermo-responsive (TR) gels swell substantially below their volume phase transition temperature Tc and shrink above this temperature. RXC004 Applications of TR gels in controlled drug delivery and their use as biosensors and temperature-triggered soft actuators require fine tuning of Tc. As the critical temperature is independent of the preparation conditions and molar fractions of monomers and cross-linkers, it is modulated by incorporation of (neutral or ionic) monomers and polymer chains into pre-gel solutions for TR gels. A model is developed for the mechanical response and equilibrium swelling of TR gels. Analytical formulas are derived for the effect of molar fraction of comonomers on the volume phase transition temperature Tc in copolymer gels and gels with semi-interpenetrating networks. Adjustable parameters are found by fitting equilibrium swelling diagrams on poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide) gels. Good agreement is demonstrated between predictions of the model and experimental data.Classical continuum mechanics has been widely used for implementation of the material models of articular cartilage (AC) mainly with the aid of the finite element (FE) method, which, in many cases, considers the stress-free configuration as the initial configuration. On the contrary, the AC experimental tests typically begin with the pre-stressed state of both material and geometrical properties. Indeed, imposing the initial pre-stress onto AC models with the in vivo values as the initial state would result in nonphysiologically expansion of the FE mesh due to the soft nature of AC. This change in the model configuration can also affect the material behavior kinematically in the mixture models of cartilage due to the intrinsic compressibility of the tissue. Although several different fixed-point backward algorithms, as the most straightforward pre-stressing methods, have already been developed to incorporate these initial conditions into FE models iteratively, such methods focused merely on the geometrical parameters, and they omitted the material variations of the anisotropic mixture models of AC. To address this issue, we propose an efficient algorithm generalizing the backward schemes to restore stress-free conditions by optimizing both the involving variables, and we hypothesize that it can affect the results considerably. To this end, a comparative simulation was implemented on an advanced and validated multiphasic model by the new and conventional algorithms. The results are in support of the hypothesis, as in our illustrative general AC model, the material parameters experienced a maximum error of 16% comparing to the initial in vivo data when the older algorithm was employed, and it led to a maximum variation of 44% in the recorded stresses comparing to the results of the new method. We conclude that our methodology enhanced the model fidelity, and it is applicable in most of the existing FE solvers for future mixture studies with accurate stress distributions.Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a muscle degenerative disease caused by a mutation in the dystrophin gene. The lack of dystrophin leads to persistent inflammation, degeneration/regeneration cycles of muscle fibers, Ca2＋ dysregulation, incompletely regenerated fibers, necrosis, fibrotic tissue replacement, and alterations in the fiber ultrastructure i.e., myofibril misalignment and branched fibers. This work aims to develop a comprehensive chemo-mechanical model of muscle-skeletal tissue accounting for dispersion in myofibrillar orientations, in addition to the disorders in sarcomere pattern and the fiber branching. The model results confirm a significant correlation between the myofibrillar dispersion and the reduction of isometric force in the dystrophic muscle and indicate that the reduction of contraction velocity in the dystrophic muscle seems to be associated with the local disorders in the sarcomere patterns of the myofibrils. Also, the implemented model can predict the force-velocity response to both concentric and eccentric loading. The resulting model represents an original approach to account for defects in the muscle ultrastructure caused by pathologies as DMD.

Novel androgen receptor axis-targeting drugs (ARATs) have been shown to improve outcomes in men with prostate cancer. Central nervous system androgen blockade may be harmful for older adults who may be at increased risk of adverse cognitive and psychologic effects.

To systematically evaluate the effect of ARATs on cognition and depression in men with metastatic prostate cancer.

We searched PubMed and EMBASE for articles published in English between September 2012 and September 2019 reporting cognition and depression outcomes in men receiving ARATs for metastatic prostate cancer using validated psychometric tools. The level of evidence and risk of bias were assessed using the GRADE approach for randomized clinical trials and observational studies.

15 reports studying 8954 men with metastatic castration-sensitive and -resistant, or non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer were identified. Data were available for abiraterone, enzalutamide and apalutamide but not darolutamide. The mean (and 95%e are lacking. Further studies of ARATs using validated clinician-based psycho-cognition tools along with self-reported measures in men with metastatic prostate cancer are needed.

Depression was assessed more frequently than cognition in men receiving ARATs. Self-reported depression measures favored abiraterone over enzalutamide and both abiraterone and enzalutamide over placebo. Data evaluating apalutamide and darolutamide are lacking. Further studies of ARATs using validated clinician-based psycho-cognition tools along with self-reported measures in men with metastatic prostate cancer are needed.

Stage I non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is potentially curable with surgical resection. Significant proportions of patients may still experience recurrence and death despite undergoing curative surgery. This study describes predictive nomograms for recurrence-free (RFS) and overall survival (OS) after lobectomy.

A total of 301 patients with the American Joint Committee on Cancer pathologic stage IA and IB NSCLC who underwent open, thoracoscopic, or robotic lobectomy from January 2011 to April 2017 were analyzed. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to create nomograms for OS and RFS. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were calculated for OS and RFS comparing high-risk and low-risk cohorts based on nomogram scores.

Histology (hazard ratio [HR], 0.24; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.10-0.56; P= .002), lymphovascular invasion (HR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.29-0.74; P= .001), smoking status (HR, 3.46; 95% CI, 1.25-9.55 P= .02), and total lymph nodes removed (HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.01-1.10; P= .