Osprey Medical (United States)

Scaffold design for bone tissue engineering along with recent advances in 3D printing represents a major technology to promote the healing of critical bone defects. However, designing the scaffold geometry from a given set of desired properties is challenging and typically tackled by means of high-complexity finite element simulations. Recently, the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs) has started emerging in this field and has provided promising results. In this study, we investigated the development of an ANN to predict the design parameters of a specific geometrical structure from the family of Triply-Periodic Minimal Surfaces, i.e., the gyroid. Unlike other studies, we investigated i) the possibility of using only morphological characteristics of the scaffold to predict the design parameters; ii) the prediction of anisotropic scaffolds since anisotropy has been found to significantly improve bone regeneration; and iii) the comparison of the performance of the ANN with a generalized additive model (GAM) previously designed for the same task. We generated a synthetic dataset of 6940 gyroids where the 90% was used to train the models and 10% for performance evaluation. A feature selection procedure was implemented to select the optimal feature set for the prediction. With the same feature set, the ANN outperformed the GAM in the prediction of all design parameters with Pearson's correlation coefficients ranging from 0.53 to 0.82, while the GAM's ranged from 0.41 to 0.51. The ANN also displayed a lower mean absolute error than GAM. The results of the study support the use of ANN for scaffold design. Further evaluations are needed to assess the feasibility of this technology in clinical applications.

The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is building LCLS-II, a new 4 GeV CW superconducting (SCRF) Linac as a major upgrade of the existing LCLS. The LCLS-II Low-Level Radio Frequency (LLRF) collaboration is a multi-lab effort within the Department of Energy (DOE) accelerator complex. The necessity of high longitudinal beam stability of LCLS-II imposes tight amplitude and phase stability requirements on the LLRF system (up to 0.01% in amplitude and 0.01° in phase RMS). This is the first time such requirements are expected of superconducting cavities operating in continuous-wave (CW) mode. Initial measurements on the Cryomodule test stands at partner labs have shown that the early production units are able to meet the extrapolated hardware requirements to achieve such levels of performance. A large effort is currently underway for system integration, Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) controls, transfer of knowledge from the partner labs to SLAC and the production and testing of 76 racks of LLRF equipment.

Older Americans have experienced dramatic gains in life expectancy in recent decades, but an emerging literature reveals that these gains are accumulating mostly to those at the top of the income distribution. We explore how growing inequality in life expectancy affects lifetime benefits from Social Security, Medicare, and other programs and how this phenomenon interacts with possible program reforms. We first project that life expectancy at age 50 for males in the two highest income quintiles will rise by 7 to 8 years between the 1930 and 1960 birth cohorts, but that the two lowest income quintiles will experience little to no increase over that time period. This divergence in life expectancy will cause the gap between average lifetime program benefits received by men in the highest and lowest quintiles to widen by $130,000 (in $2009) over this period. Finally we simulate the effect of Social Security reforms such as raising the normal retirement age and changing the benefit formula to see whether they mitigate or enhance the reduced progressivity resulting from the widening gap in life expectancy.

In 1974, artificial reef researchers organized the first International Conference on the subject of ‘Reefs’. The conference was held 20–22 March 1974 in Houston, Texas, USA ‘…to provide an international forum for the exchange of information, experiences and thoughts among persons involved with or interested in any aspect of artificial reef research, construction or use’ (Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Reefs, Houston, 1974, Texas A & M University Sea Grant College, College Station, TX). Nearly forty years have passed since that initial meeting and, while there have been many other conferences held on the subject of artificial reefs (see Bortone 2011a for a partial review), the need for these fora continues. Over the years, there have been changes in approaches, technology, political climate, and financial conditions with regard to artificial reef research. Stone et al. (1991) and Bortone (2011a) presented summaries of the previous CARAHs. The purpose here is to emphasize the milestones with regard to technology, direction, emphasis, scope and accomplishment of the efforts of the international artificial reef research community. It is through this perspective that one should gain an appreciation of the overall contribution that CARAHs have made toward refinement and progression to resolve many of the issues we face today in modern aquatic resource management. The continuing level of involvement occurs in the absence of a formal society, standing organizing committee, or scientific tribunal to oversee its progress. The fact that these conferences have occurred with such frequency, orderly direction, and high standards is attributable to the professionalism and diligence of all involved.

‘Spiritual Care in NHSScotland’ seeks to differentiate between religious and spiritual care. Yet the latter is not adequately addressed as a separate concept, and the definition which is given of it is unduly dependent upon established psychological theories. The author poses the question as to whether the education of staff in spiritual care, as opposed to religious care, ought necessarily to be the province of the chaplaincy at all.

Chemokine-ligand/receptor axes play pivotal roles in a myriad of inflammatory, allergic and autoimmune diseases, as well as in the promotion of tumor growth and metastasis. Upon insult, tissue resident cells (and cancer cells in general) release a defined set of inflammatory chemokines that are responsible for the recruitment of activated pathological leukocytes. Recruited leukocytes synthesize and release a host of inflammatory mediators such as chemokines, cytokines, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, and proteinases. These agents are responsible for the maintenance and amplification of inflammatory responses, and are directly responsible for secondary tissue damage, promotion of autoimmunity, fibrosis and tissue remodelling. Many cancers are associated with the expression of chemokine ligands that co-opt leukocytes such as tumor associated macrophages which in turn provide mediators including growth factors, chemokines and proteinases that promote angiogenesis, tumor growth, and cancer metastasis. Here, we discuss the relevant patents, development and the mechanism of action of a range of therapeutic and potential therapeutic agents that specifically target the chemokine ligand and receptor network. The main approaches that will be highlighted here are antagonism, cell depletion and the relatively unexplored fields of anti-sense, gene and stem cell therapies.