In vitro and in vivo Effect of Platelet-Rich Plasma-Based Autologous Topical Serum on Cutaneous Wound Healing

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Skin injury and wound healing is an inevitable event during lifetime. However, several complications may hamper the regeneration of the cutaneous tissue and lead to a chronic profile that prolongs patient recovery. Platelet-rich plasma is rising as an effective and safe alternative to the management of wounds. However, this technology presents some limitations such as the need for repeated blood extractions and health-care interventions. <b><i>Objective:</i></b> The aim of this study was to assess the use of an endogenous and storable topical serum (ES) derived from plasma rich in growth factors promoting wound healing, and to obtain preliminary data regarding its clinical and experimental effect over ulcerated skin models and patient care. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Human dermal fibroblast and 3D organotypic ulcerated skin models were used to assess ES over the main mechanisms of wound healing including cell migration, edge contraction, collagen synthesis, tissue damage, extracellular matrix remodeling, cell death, metabolic activity, and histomorphometry analysis. Additionally, 4 patients suffering from skin wounds were treated and clinically assessed. <b><i>Results:</i></b> ES promoted dermal fibroblast migration, wound edge contraction, and collagen synthesis. When topically applied, ES increased collagen and elastin deposition and reduced tissue damage. The interstitial edema, structural integrity, and cell activity were also maintained, and apoptotic levels were reduced. Patients suffering from hard-to-heal wounds of different etiologies were treated with ES, and the ulcers healed completely within few weeks with no reported adverse events. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> This preliminary study suggests that ES might promote cutaneous wound healing and may be useful for accelerating the re-epithelization of skin ulcers.

Min- k -Cut Coalition Structure Generation on Trust-Utility Relationship Graph

Trust relationships have an important effect on coalition formation. In many real scenarios, agents usually cooperate with others in their trusted social networks to form coalitions. Therefore, the trust value between agents should constrain the utility of forming coalitions when cooperating. At the same time, most studies ignore the impact of the number of coalitions in coalition structure. In this paper, the coalition formation of trust-utility relationship in social networks is researched. Each node represents an agent, and the trust-utility networks that connect the agents constrain coalition formation. To solve the task assignment problem, this paper proposes a greedy algorithm which is based on the edge contraction. Under the premise of ensuring the agent’s individually rationality, this algorithm simulates the formation process of coalitions between agents through continuous edge contraction and constrains the number of forming coalitions to k to solve the problem of coalition structure. Finally, the simulation results show that our algorithm has great scalability because of the ability of solving the coalition structure on a large-scale agent set. It can meet the growing demand for data intensive applications in the Internet of things and artificial intelligence era. The quality of the solution is much higher than other algorithms, and the running time is negligible.