Development of artificial blood vessels made of new materials, used for vascular access in renal dialysis

It can take many years to find a matched kidney donor and, in some cases, a matched donor is never found. Dialysis machines and methods of accessing a patient's cardiovascular system mean patients can live well whilst waiting for a transplant. Patients must undergo one of two surgical procedures before their first haemodialysis; receiving either an arteriovenous fistula or an arteriovenous graft, which join the artery to the vein and facilitate the transfer of blood from body to machine. If a graft is needed, an operation to insert a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) based device is required but complications can arise in the form of blockages. Denan Jin, Department of Innovative Medicine, Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Japan, has spent years conducting research on the issues related to PTFE device blockage. He worked with his mentor Professor Mizuo Myazaki before his retirement and his colleague Professor Shinji Takai, and these collaborations led to understanding of the major causes of these blockages. Jin and his team are working to develop means to increase the longevity of PTFE grafts. The researchers have discovered two key mechanisms through which the grafts become blocked, which has led to the identification of two possible routes for preventing blockages. These relate to fibroblasts and the researchers have also identified the enzyme chymase as a key intermediate in the process of fibroblast recruitment. Jin and the team are proposing the use of an alternative to PTFE and the development of an effective chymase inhibitor to reduce the recruitment of fibroblasts to the graft site.

Development of Non-Porous Silica Nanoparticles towards Cancer Photo-Theranostics

Nanoparticles have demonstrated several advantages for biomedical applications, including for the development of multifunctional agents as innovative medicine. Silica nanoparticles hold a special position among the various types of functional nanoparticles, due to their unique structural and functional properties. The recent development of silica nanoparticles has led to a new trend in light-based nanomedicines. The application of light provides many advantages for in vivo imaging and therapy of certain diseases, including cancer. Mesoporous and non-porous silica nanoparticles have high potential for light-based nanomedicine. Each silica nanoparticle has a unique structure, which incorporates various functions to utilize optical properties. Such advantages enable silica nanoparticles to perform powerful and advanced optical imaging, from the in vivo level to the nano and micro levels, using not only visible light but also near-infrared light. Furthermore, applications such as photodynamic therapy, in which a lesion site is specifically irradiated with light to treat it, have also been advancing. Silica nanoparticles have shown the potential to play important roles in the integration of light-based diagnostics and therapeutics, termed “photo-theranostics”. Here, we review the recent development and progress of non-porous silica nanoparticles toward cancer “photo-theranostics”.

“What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger”: Future Applications of Amyloid Aggregates in Biomedicine

Amyloid proteins are linked to the pathogenesis of several diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, but at the same time a range of functional amyloids are physiologically important in humans. Although the disease pathogenies have been associated with protein aggregation, the mechanisms and factors that lead to protein aggregation are not completely understood. Paradoxically, unique characteristics of amyloids provide new opportunities for engineering innovative materials with biomedical applications. In this review, we discuss not only outstanding advances in biomedical applications of amyloid peptides, but also the mechanism of amyloid aggregation, factors affecting the process, and core sequences driving the aggregation. We aim with this review to provide a useful manual for those who engineer amyloids for innovative medicine solutions.

Orthostatic hypotension. Part 2: diagnosis and treatment

Since orthostatic hypotension is largely asymptomatic, performing an orthostatic challenge is considered as the main mean to diagnose it. One should try to define the causes of orthostatic hypotension in every single case as treating illness that lead to orthostatic hypotension will improve patient’s health outcomes. The main target for therapy should be improving patient’s functional status, reducing orthostatic symptoms as well as risk for falls and syncopes, but not maintaining arterial blood pressure within certain limits. The higher the doctors’ awareness of the methods used to diagnose the orthostatic hypotension, the better patient’s quality of life will be. The first part of the systematic review was published in the Innovative Medicine of Kuban, nr. 4, 2018.