Recent advances in lipid nanovesicles for targeted treatment of spinal cord injury.

The effective regeneration and functional restoration of damaged spinal cord tissue have been a long-standing concern in regenerative medicine. Treatment of spinal cord injury (SCI) is challenging due to the obstruction of the blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB), the lack of targeting of drugs, and the complex pathophysiology of injury sites. Lipid nanovesicles, including cell-derived nanovesicles and synthetic lipid nanovesicles, are highly biocompatible and can penetrate BSCB, and are therefore effective delivery systems for targeted treatment of SCI. We summarize the progress of lipid nanovesicles for the targeted treatment of SCI, discuss their advantages and challenges, and provide a perspective on the application of lipid nanovesicles for SCI treatment. Although most of the lipid nanovesicle-based therapy of SCI is still in preclinical studies, this low immunogenicity, low toxicity, and highly engineerable nanovesicles will hold great promise for future spinal cord injury treatments.

A direct-write method for preparing a bimetal sulfide/graphene composite as a free-standing electrode for high-performance microsupercapacitors.

It is a great challenge to ideally integrate graphene with its unique two-dimensional (2D) and porous structure into the pseudocapacitive materials. In this paper, a simple technique, i.e. direct-laser-writing (DLW), was developed to fabricate microsupercapacitors (MSCs) with excellent electrochemical performance, marked as Ni-Co-S/laser induced graphene (LIG) that exhibit a high areal specific capacitance of 680 mF cm-2 at the current density of 1 mA cm-2. A symmetric MSC device was assembled using Ni-Co-S/LIG as a positive electrode and active carbon (AC) as the negative electrode, and exhibited a high areal energy density of 56.9 µW h cm-2 at the power density of 800 µW cm-2, and excellent cycling stability maintaining 89.6% of the areal specific capacitance after 8000 cycles. The synergistic effect of bimetallic Ni-Co-S and the LIG with the 2D structure results in the excellent electrochemical performance. This work demonstrates a method to integrate Ni-Co-S pseudocapacitive materials into porous graphene with a direct-laser-writing technique. The produced integrated materials possess high energy density that can be used in MSCs.

Neuroprotective effects of ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides against oxidative stress-induced neuronal apoptosis.

Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides have protective effects against apoptosis in neurons exposed to ischemia/reperfusion injury, but the mechanisms are unclear. The goal of this study was to investigate the underlying mechanisms of the effects of ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides against oxidative stress-induced neuronal apoptosis. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was used to induce apoptosis in cultured cerebellar granule cells. In these cells, ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides remarkably suppressed H2O2-induced apoptosis, decreased expression of caspase-3, Bax and Bim and increased that of Bcl-2. These findings suggested that ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides regulate expression of apoptosis-associated proteins, inhibit oxidative stress-induced neuronal apoptosis and, therefore, have significant neuroprotective effects.

{2-[(2-Amino-cyclo-hex-yl)imino-meth-yl]phenolato}dioxidovanadium(V).

In the title dioxidovanadium complex, [V(C(13)H(17)N(2)O)O(2)], the V(V) atom is in a square-based pyramidal coordination: the basal plane is defined by the phenolate O, imine N and amine N atoms of the tridentate Schiff base ligand, and by one oxide O atom. The apical position is occupied by the other oxide O atom. In the crystal, mol-ecules are connected by N-H⋯O and N-H⋯(O,O) hydrogen bonds, forming a tetra-mer.

Diagnosis and treatment of ossification of the ligamentum flavum associated with dural ossification: clinical article.

OBJECT: In this paper, the authors aimed to summarize the clinical characteristics of ossification of the ligamentum flavum (OLF) associated with dural ossification (DO) and to identify improved methods for preoperative diagnosis. METHODS: Thirty-six patients who had undergone OLF surgery between February 2005 and September 2009 were included in this retrospective study. The patients were divided into 2 groups: one that included patients with intraoperative evidence of DO and a second group that included patients without DO. The clinical features of DO were summarized and the neurological status of the patients was evaluated pre- and postoperatively. RESULTS: The incidence rate of DO associated with OLF was 39% (14/36). The sensitivity and specificity of the tram track sign were found to be 93% and 59%, respectively. Dural ossification was found among 86% of the patients with tuberous type Sato classification. The postoperative neurological status of patients was generally improved relative to that observed prior to surgery, although neurological recovery did not differ between the 2 groups. Cerebrospinal fluid leakage was the main complication, occurring predominantly in the patients with DO, and all leaks resolved in all patients after comprehensive treatments. CONCLUSIONS: The tram track sign and Sato classification were found to be useful for preoperative diagnosis of DO and for determining the surgical procedure to be performed. Dural ossification had no effect on postoperative neurological recovery.