METHODS AND RESULTS: A detailed questionnaire was distributed to 28 highly-experienced interventional cardiologists ('Authors') from 13 Asia-Pacific countries. The results were discussed at a meeting on patient selection, technical consideration, deployment practices and patient management. Potential patient benefits of Absorb compared to metallic DES, the learning curve for patient selection and preparation, device deployment, and subsequent patient management approaches are presented.
CONCLUSIONS: Current practices are derived from guidelines optimized for European patients. Differences in approach exist in the Asia-Pacific context, including limited access to imaging and frequency of occurrence of complex lesions. Nevertheless, the use of the Absorb BVS ('Absorb') in certain Asia-Pacific countries has flourished and practices here are continuing to mature.
Materials and methods: QOS collagen nanofibers were electrospun by incorporating various concentrations of QOS (0.1%-10% w/w) and were cross-linked in situ after exposure to ammonium carbonate. The QOS cross-linked scaffolds were characterized and their biological properties were evaluated in terms of their biocompatibility, cellular adhesion and metabolic activity for primary human dermal fibroblasts and human fetal osteoblasts.
Results and discussion: The study revealed that 1) QOS cross-linking increased the flexibility of otherwise rigid collagen nanofibers and improved the thermal stability; 2) QOS cross-linked mats displayed potent antibacterial activity and 3) the biocompatibility of the composite mats depended on the amount of QOS present in dope solution - at low QOS concentrations (0.1% w/w), the mats promoted mammalian cell proliferation and growth, whereas at higher QOS concentrations, cytotoxic effect was observed.
Conclusion: This study demonstrates that QOS cross-linked mats possess anti-infective properties and confer niches for cellular growth and proliferation, thus offering a useful approach, which is important for hard and soft tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
MATERIALS & METHODS: The fabricated core/shell nanofibers contained polycaprolactone/gelatin as the shell, and silk fibroin/VEGF as the core materials.
RESULTS: The results observed that the core/shell nanofibers interact to differentiate MSCs into smooth muscle cells by the expression of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) contractile proteins α-actinin, myosin and F-actin.
CONCLUSION: The functionalized polycaprolactone/gelatin/silk fibroin/VEGF (250 ng) core/shell nanofibers were fabricated for the controlled release of VEGF in a persistent manner for the differentiation of MSCs into smooth muscle cells for vascular tissue engineering.