Evaluation of combined effects of brief electrical stimulation and Schwann-like cells on sciatic nerve injury model.

Severe nerve injuries can be treated with electrical stimulation and stem cell therapies, but little is known about the potential benefits of combining these two treatments. In an effort to investigate this combination, we conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of electrical stimulation and Schwann-like cell transplantation in female Wistar albino rats. Our study consisted of five groups of rats: a sham group, an injury group, an electrical stimulation group, a Schwann-like cell group, and a combination group. The experimental groups received electrical stimulation, Schwann-like cell transplantation, or both. The animals sciatic function index was evaluated during a 6-week recovery period, and nerve conduction velocity, wet muscle mass, and nerve tissues were also analyzed. The results of the study showed that all experimental groups had a faster functional recovery compared to the injury group, although the difference between groups was not statistically significant. Both the combination group and the Schwann-like cell transplantation group had a higher nerve conduction velocity compared to the other experimental groups. However, there was no significant difference between the combination and Schwann-like cell transplantation groups. Nonetheless, histological analysis showed a better axonal reorganization in the combination group. The study provides preliminary evidence of the potential benefits of combining electrical stimulation and Schwann-like cell transplantation in treating severe nerve injuries. However, further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm these findings and optimize the treatment parameters.

Comparison of the Effects of Electroacupuncture and Melatonin on Nerve Regeneration in Experimentally Nerve-Damaged Rats.

Background: Development of methods to accelerate nerve regeneration in peripheral nerve damage is important. Electroacupuncture is a new therapeutic method that combines traditional acupuncture with modern electrotherapy. Melatonin has been shown to reduce nerve damage. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to determine and compare the therapeutic effects of electroacupuncture and melatonin on rat sciatic nerve injury. Methods: A total of 56 adult male Wistar Albino rats were divided into four study groups with 14 animals in each group: intact control (group I), subcutaneous saline (group II), subcutaneous melatonin (group III), and electroacupuncture (group IV). Surgical procedure including unilateral (right) sciatic nerve injury was applied to groups II, III, and IV. Saline and melatonin started immediately after surgery for six weeks, while electroacupuncture was given two weeks after surgery for 3 weeks. Functional and histological assessments were used as outcome measurements. Results: Sciatic nerve damage caused a significant decrease in nerve conduction velocity. Both electroacupuncture treatment and melatonin treatment significantly increased the nerve conduction velocity. Both sciatic functional recovery and histological regeneration were faster in these treatment groups compared to the saline. However, no significant difference was observed between the two treatment groups. Conclusion: Electroacupuncture and melatonin are promising alternative treatment strategies for peripheral nerve damage and can be examined in detail in future studies.

Machine learning aided diagnosis of hepatic malignancies through in vivo dielectric measurements with microwaves.

In the past decade, extensive research on dielectric properties of biological tissues led to characterization of dielectric property discrepancy between the malignant and healthy tissues. Such discrepancy enabled the development of microwave therapeutic and diagnostic technologies. Traditionally, dielectric property measurements of biological tissues is performed with the well-known contact probe (open-ended coaxial probe) technique. However, the technique suffers from limited accuracy and low loss resolution for permittivity and conductivity measurements, respectively. Therefore, despite the inherent dielectric property discrepancy, a rigorous measurement routine with open-ended coaxial probes is required for accurate differentiation of malignant and healthy tissues. In this paper, we propose to eliminate the need for multiple measurements with open-ended coaxial probe for malignant and healthy tissue differentiation by applying support vector machine (SVM) classification algorithm to the dielectric measurement data. To do so, first, in vivo malignant and healthy rat liver tissue dielectric property measurements are collected with open-ended coaxial probe technique between 500 MHz to 6 GHz. Cole-Cole functions are fitted to the measured dielectric properties and measurement data is verified with the literature. Malign tissue classification is realized by applying SVM to the open-ended coaxial probe measurements where as high as 99.2% accuracy (F1 Score) is obtained.