Adjunctive Use of Platelet Concentrates for Hard- and Soft-Tissue Grafting.

During healing after injury, platelets are natural reservoirs of growth factors and cytokines that play a critical role in the formation, maturation, and repair of soft and hard tissues. Platelet concentrates (PCs) have long been used to improve such healing in multiple applications throughout medicine and dentistry. Platelet-rich plasma and platelet-rich fibrin are autologous PCs derived from patients' blood. Because of the readily available source of blood after a simple venipuncture and the high level of patient acceptance of autologous materials, the use of autologous PCs for dental and oral surgical procedures is increasing in practice. Many indications for their use in dental procedures have been described, including hard- and soft-tissue regeneration. This article reviews the properties of currently available autologous platelet concentrates used in dentistry and identifies clinical applications for their adjunctive use to improve regeneration of oral tissues.

Measuring the evolution and output of cross-disciplinary collaborations within the NCI Physical Sciences-Oncology Centers Network.

Development of effective quantitative indicators and methodologies to assess the outcomes of cross-disciplinary collaborative initiatives has the potential to improve scientific program management and scientific output. This article highlights an example of a prospective evaluation that has been developed to monitor and improve progress of the National Cancer Institute Physical Sciences-Oncology Centers (PS-OC) program. Study data, including collaboration information, was captured through progress reports and compiled using the web-based analytic database: Interdisciplinary Team Reporting, Analysis, and Query Resource. Analysis of collaborations was further supported by data from the Thomson Reuters Web of Science database, MEDLINE database, and a web-based survey. Integration of novel and standard data sources was augmented by the development of automated methods to mine investigator pre-award publications, assign investigator disciplines, and distinguish cross-disciplinary publication content. The results highlight increases in cross-disciplinary authorship collaborations from pre- to post-award years among the primary investigators and confirm that a majority of cross-disciplinary collaborations have resulted in publications with cross-disciplinary content that rank in the top third of their field. With these evaluation data, PS-OC Program officials have provided ongoing feedback to participating investigators to improve center productivity and thereby facilitate a more successful initiative. Future analysis will continue to expand these methods and metrics to adapt to new advances in research evaluation and changes in the program.