Karol Kozak

New nano-hydroxyapatite in bone defect regeneration: A histological study in rats

Many types of bone substitute materials are available on the market. Researchers are refining new bone substitutes to make them comparable to autologous grafting materials in treatment of bone defects. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the osseoconductive potential and bone defect regeneration in rat calvaria bone defects treated with new synthetic nano-hydroxyapatite. The study was performed on 30 rats divided into 5 equal groups. New preproduction of experimental nano-hydroxyapatite material by NanoSynHap (Poznań, Poland) was tested and compared with commercially available materials. Five mm critical size defects were created and filled with the following bone grafting materials: 1) Geistlich Bio-Oss®; 2) nano-hydroxyapatite+β-TCP; 3) nano-hydroxyapatite; 4) nano-hydroxyapatite+collagen membrane. The last group served as controls without any augmentation. Bone samples from calvaria were harvested for histological and micro-ct evaluation after 8 weeks. New bone formation was observed in all groups. Histomorphometric analysis revealed an amount of regenerated bone between 34.2 and 44.4% in treated bone defects, whereas only 13.0% regenerated bone was found in controls. Interestingly, in group 3, no significant particles of the nano-HA material were found. In contrast, residual bone substitute material could be detected in all other test groups. Micro-CT study confirmed the results of the histological examinations. The new nano-hydroxyapatite provides comparable results to other grafts in the field of bone regeneration.

In vivo analysis of covering materials composed of biodegradable polymers enriched with flax fibers

BackgroundThe objective of this study was to investigate the in vivo effect of bioactive composites with poly(lactic acid) (PLA) or polycaprolactone (PCL) as the matrix, reinforced with bioplastic flax fibers, on the surrounding muscle tissue.MethodsMaterials of pure PLA and PCL and their composites with flax fibers from genetically modified plants producing poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PLA-transgen, PCL-transgen) and unmodified plants (PLA-wt, PCL-wt) were placed subcutaneous on the M. latissimus dorsi for four weeks.ResultsThe analysis of histological samples revealed that every tested material was differently encapsulated and the capsule thickness is much more pronounced when using the PCL composites in comparison with the PLA composites. The encapsulation by connective tissue was significantly reduced around PCL-transgen and significantly increased in the cases of PLA-transgen and PLA-wt. In the collected muscle samples, the measured protein expression of CD45, lymphocyte common antigen, was significantly increased after the use of all tested materials, with the exception of pure PCL. In contrast, the protein expression of caveolin-1 remained unchanged after treatment with the most examined materials. Only after insertion of PLA-wt, a significant increase of caveolin-1 protein expression was detected, due to the improved neovascularization.ConclusionThese data support the presumption that the new bioactive composites are biocompatible and they could be applicable in the medical field to support the regenerative processes.

Using Togaf for Building a National Implementation Strategy for E-Health Services and Technologies in Burundi

In order to better align existing and future ICT implementations in the health domain with the strategic options defined by the National Plan for Health Development, the Ministry of Health (MoH) of Burundi initiated in 2014 the development of a national e-health enterprise architecture based on the TOGAF methodology. A first part of the development cycle consisted of a detailed analysis of regulatory documents and strategic plans related to the Burundian health system. In a second part, semi-structured interviews were organized with a representative sample of relevant MoH health structures. The study demonstrated the donor driven unequal distribution of hardware equipment over health administration components and health facilities. Internet connectivity remains problematic and few health oriented business applications found their way to the Burundian health system. Paper based instruments remain predominant in Burundi’s health administration. The study also identified a series of problems introduced by the uncoordinated development of health ICT in Burundi such as the lack of standardization, data security risks, varying data quality, inadequate ICT infrastructures, an unregulated e-health sector and insufficient human capacity. The results confirm the challenging situation of the Burundian health information system but they also expose a number of bright spots that provide hope for the future: a political will to reclaim MoH leadership in the health information management domain, the readiness to develop e-health education and training programs and the opportunity to capitalize the experiences with DHIS2 deployment, results based financing monitoring and hospital information management systems implementation.

Multiparametric Analysis of High Content Screening Data

Cell-based High-Content Screening (HCS) using automated microscopy is an upcoming methodology for the investigation of cellular processes and their alteration by multiple chemical or genetic perturbations. The analysis of the large amount of data generated in HCS experiments represents a significant challenge and is currently a bottleneck in many screening projects. This article reviews the different ways to analyse large sets of HCS data, including the questions that can be asked and the challenges in interpreting the measurements. The main data mining approaches used in HCS, such as image descriptors computations and classification algorithms, are outlined.

Enamel shear bond strength of different primers combined with an orthodontic adhesive paste

Abstract Aim: The aim of this study was a comparison of shear bond strength (SBS) on tooth enamel of different primers combined with the adhesive paste Transbond XT. Materials and methods: Forty bovine teeth were used in order to create 40 test blocks. The blocks were divided into four groups of 10 blocks each: group A – sample primer (SP); group B – Opal Seal (OS); group C – Transbond Plus SEP (TSEP); group D – Transbond XT Primer (TXT). After surface preparation and application of the primer, respectively, two stainless steel brackets were fixed on each tooth by using Transbond XT. Accordingly, 80 brackets were debonded (n=20). Shear bond strength and adhesive remnant index (ARI) scores were evaluated. Statistical analyses were performed by using the Student’s t-test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results: All tested groups revealed high shear bond strength in a similar size range. There were no significant differences between the groups concerning shear bond strength. The ARI scores of group C showed significantly lower ARI scores (0 and 1) than that of group D. Apart from that there was no statistical difference. Conclusion: In combination with the adhesive paste Transbond XT, all tested primers were suitable for fixing orthodontic brackets. The primers could be changed according to the clinical situation.

Brain Rehabilitation in Clinical Trials Setup by Eye-Tracking

The number of patients with traumatic brain injury in Germany is about 280,000 per year. Eighty percent of the patients hospitalized in these cases exhibit minor traumatic brain injury, while approximately 10 percent are suffering from moderate and another 10 percent from severe traumatic brain injury. The goals of rehabilitation are to help survivors become as independent as possible and to attain the best possible quality of life. For the last few years, eye tracking has been used as an assistive tool, especially as a tool for alternative communication. Within the paper we explore new patent pending approach in brain injury rehabilitation. However, eye tracking questionnaire need a full implementation into clinical studies and medical documentation systems. In this paper we present integration of cognitive test into eye tracking technology based on electronic case report form.

Building а National Clinical Data Warehouse

Turkey has created an e-health vision along with the Health Transformation Program. In this framework, standard coding systems such as standard definitions of the institutions, databank of healthcare providers, standard disease, drug and medical supplies classifications have been developed and a national clinical data warehouse (Health-NET) was established. Health-NET is an integrated, safe, fast and expandable health information system which aims to improve efficiency and quality of health services by collecting all kinds of data produced in the health institutions in line with the standards and generating information adequate for all stakeholders of the collected data.

The Application of PEST Analysis to the Creation of the Profile of na IT Product Designed to Activate and Support Senior Citizens in Poland

The purpose of the paper is to create a profile of an IT product, using IT tools to collect and to analyse information and enable communication between elderly people to support and activate them. PEST Analysis method was used to determine different factors of influence on the domain of elderly people activation and support Having evaluated the factors and defined the product characteristics, the Authors focused on defining the profile of the IT product by referring the aforementioned characteristics to the structure of the product in the marketing understanding thereof.

Interoperability Within E-Health Arena

Integrated care that starts with patients taking care for their health, that includes truly multidisciplinary team approach to treating patients’ conditions and that utilizes enormous existing common knowledge in an efficient way, is one big step towards increasing healthcare provisioning quality while in the same time having healthcare cost under control. The foundation of the integrated care is timely availability of comprehensive information for all stakeholders within healthcare processes independent on their location and information system or application they use. The absolute precondition for this is ability of different IT systems / applications to exchange and display information in a way that is not only comprehensible to all stakeholders but also means the same to all of them. This ability is called interoperability. In this paper, overview of different interoperability aspects for electronic healthcare records / personal healthcare records is given. The main standards / initiatives are explained along with some challenges and possible way forward. Index Terms — Electronic Healthcare Record, Personal Healthcare Record, interoperability EN 13606, openEHR, archetype, HL7 CDA, IHE

Suggestions for the Elicitation of Seniors Involvement in ICT and Socially Innovative Solutions to Tackle IT

Human-computer interaction (HCI) issues for older people are extremely important in the light of the rapidly ageing population in developed countries. In addition, technology offers great potential for this age group, but it will be only useful if it can be used effectively by its target users. We will therefore examine how HCI can address the needs and situations of this increasing older population and how their involvement can be maximized in order to support participation and empowerment. In recent years, HCI technologies have manifested their potential to enhance the autonomy and quality of the life of elderly people, through boosting the elicitation of seniors. This paper is describing a methodology and challenges that will support healthcare professionals’ action in the further effective usage of systems based on HCI.