“
“Microvascular network formation is a significant and challenging goal in the engineering of large three-dimensional artificial tissue structures. We show here the development of a fully patent, 3D endothelial cell (microvascular) microfluidic network that has a single inlet and outlet, created in only 28 h in a microdevice involving fluid flow equivalent to natural vasculature. Our microdevice features a Milciclib tailored “”multi-rung ladder”" network, a stylized mimic of an arterial-to-venous pedicle, designed to also allow for systematic and reproducible cell seeding. Immunofluorescence
staining revealed a highly contiguous endothelial monolayer (human umbilical vein endothelial cells) throughout the whole network after 24 h of continuous perfusion. This network persisted for up to 72 h of culture, providing a useful template from which the effects of surface chemistry, fluid flow, and environmental conditions on the development of artificial vascular networks ex vivo may be rapidly and robustly evaluated. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3609264]“
“Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the prescription of essential or futile medications for terminal cancer patients during their final admission.
Materials and Methods
We
conducted a retrospective review of the medical charts of terminally ill cancer patients admitted to the Hemato-oncology Department of two teaching hospitals from March Ulixertinib 1, 2007 to December 31, 2009. Essential medications were based on the drugs listed by the International Association
for Hospice and Palliative Care, while futile medications were defined when short-term benefit to patients with respect to survival, quality of life, or symptom control was selleck chemicals not anticipated.
Results
A total of 196 patients were included. Among essential medications, strong opioids were the most frequently prescribed drugs during the last admission (62.2% fentanyl, 44.3% morphine), followed by megestrol (46.0%), and metoclopramide (37.2%); 51% of gastric protectors were prescribed with potential futility. Anti-hypertensive and antiglycemic agents were administered to those who experienced arterial blood pressure below 90 mm Hg (47.3%) or presented with a single measurement of fasting glucose below 50 mg/dL (10.7%), respectively. Statins were prescribed to 6.1% (12/196) of patients, and 75% of those prescriptions were regarded as futile.
Conclusion
Our data suggest that effective prescription of essential medications and withdrawal from futile medications should be actively reconciled for improvement of a patient’s end-of-life care.”
“This paper examined the feasibility of a microfluidics chip for cell capturing and pairing with a high efficiency. The chip was fabricated by the polydimethylsiloxane-based soft-lithography technique and contained two suction duct arrays set in parallel on both sides of a main microchannel.