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Vagal nerve stimulation has shown beneficial effects in treating cardiovascular diseases. However, the lack of clinical efficacy, as well as differences in stimulation parameters due to patient variability, indicates the necessity to integrate an automatic closed-loop control method, enabling subject-specific, optimal VNS parameter updates in real time.

ABSTRACTThe emergence of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Africa has caused significant mortality in recent years. Ebola virus (EBOV) is a filamentous, negative-sense, single stranded RNA virus that can infect mammalian species through direct blood and body fluids transmission, causing deadly hemorrhagic fever. The entry of EBOV into human body is thought to be mediated by a specific ligand-receptor binding mechanism. A group of PS binding proteins are identified to bind with the lipid phosphatidylserine (PS) expressed on the EBOV viral envelope.

Currently, spine disk implants have an average lifetime expectancy of only about 10 years, and the surgical procedures cost about $43,000 on average. Each year, typically 132,000 anterior cervical discectomy fusion (ACDF) surgeries are performed. Titanium is a common metal used for implants because of its corrosion resistance and osseointegration capability. In addition, surface topology affects bone tissue’s response towards implants.

Identifying proteases and the substrate-peptides they degrade can provide valuable information to harness the enzymatic responses of specific cell types. Previous approaches to protease identification are reliant on experimentation with protease inhibitors or are limited to classification by molecular weight. Our method, which combines fluorescent gel zymography with proteomic analysis provides a platform approach to identify unknown proteases and confirm protease-substrate pairs.

Von Willebrand Factor (vWF) is a large plasma glycoprotein involved in hemostasis by forming platelet plugs at damaged vessel walls. vWF mutation leads to von Willebrand Disease (vWD), a bleeding disorder which impacts one in every 1000 individuals. In the blood stream vWF exists as a multimer and unravels to expose binding sites for platelet and collagen adherence. Furthermore, the size of vWF is essential to normal hemostasis and is controlled by the ADAMTS13 enzyme cleavage at A2 domain of vWF.

Surface architecture can influence mechanical properties, such as adhesion and friction, in many natural systems. The careful study of these systems elucidates understanding of the many biological roles these properties serve and the mechanisms by which they occur. One means of controlling surface mechanical properties is through shape complementarity. Predicated on some natural systems' surface architectural design, shape complementarity can be used to enhance selectively between synthetic elastomeric surfaces.

Epilepsy and its onset, epileptogenesis, have complicated underlying mechanisms that can often be studied in greater detail when in vitro. In vitro hippocampal cultures develop epileptic symptoms in a period of approximately ten to fourteen days in vitro. Working in vitro allows for an easier manipulation of elements such as growth factors that can affect epileptogenesis as well as multiple methods of analyzing data to ensure significant results. The capability of electrophysiology recordings to directly quantify changes in epileptogenesis in vitro is the main focus of this work.

Von Willebrand factor (VWF) is an essential factor in the hemostasis process. VWF is secreted as a large multimer to promote platelet adhesion to the injured vessel and stop bleeding. [1] The function of VWF is mainly related to its A domain. Three A doma

The von Willebrand Factor (VWF) is an essential clotting factor in hemostasis. It is secreted into blood plasma as an ultralarge multimer to mediate platelet adhesion at vascular injured sites. The VWF can be cleaved to smaller multimers by the metalloprotease ADAMTS13, which is the feedback control to maintain the proper thrombogenic potential of the VWF. The A2 domain of the VWF contains the only cleavage site for ADAMTS13.

The rapidly advancing field of micro and nano-manufacturing is continuously offering novel advantages to existing technologies. Micro-injection molding provides a unique opportunity to create substrates capable of controlling the mechanical environment in stem cell culture in a high throughput industrially relevant manner. The modification of such polymer surfaces to match the target surface stiffness of relatively more compliant biological tissues necessitates the movement towards higher aspect ratio smaller dimension features.