Polymeric Hydrogel Scaffolds: Skin Tissue Engineering and Regeneration.

Tissue engineering is a novel regenerative approach in the medicinal field that promises the regeneration of damaged tissues. Moreover, tissue engineering involves synthetic and natural biomaterials that facilitate tissue or organ growth outside the body. Not surprisingly, the demand for polymer-based therapeutical approaches in skin tissue defects has increased at an effective rate, despite the pressing clinical need. Among the 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering and regeneration approaches, hydrogel scaffolds have shown significant importance for their use as 3D cross-linked scaffolds in skin tissue regeneration due to their ideal moisture retention property and porosity biocompatibility, biodegradable, and biomimetic characteristics. In this review, we demonstrated the choice of ideal biomaterials to fabricate the novel hydrogel scaffolds for skin tissue engineering. After a short introduction to the bioactive and drug-loaded polymeric hydrogels, the discussion turns to fabrication and characterisation techniques of the polymeric hydrogel scaffolds. In conclusion, we discuss the excellent wound healing potential of stem cell-loaded hydrogels and Nano-based approaches to designing hydrogel scaffolds for skin tissue engineering.

The Effects of Clinical Pharmacist Education on Lifestyle Modifications of Postmyocardial Infarction Patients in South India: A Prospective Interventional Study.

BACKGROUND: Myocardial infarction (MI) is associated with significant short-term and long-term mortality and morbidity. Secondary prevention and treatment of post-MI patients through medication and lifestyle modification is becoming an important aspect of patient care regimens. Pharmacists have a crucial role in providing these disease-prevention interventions compared with other health care professionals. OBJECTIVES: The primary objective included evaluation of clinical pharmacist interventions at discharge and post-MI discharge follow-up to improve the secondary lifestyle modifications and medication adherence among post-MI patients. The secondary objective included the prevention of hospital readmission rates for major adverse cardiovascular events and death among post-MI patients. METHODS: In this prospective interventional study comprising 160 screened patients, 154 patients were randomized according to eligibility criteria of whom 77 were enrolled in Group A (the intervention group: clinical care along with pharmacist education) and 77 in Group B (the control group: clinical care with usual counseling) (November 2017-April 2018). Two patients were lost to follow-up in both study groups. Group A patients received clinical care with pharmacist structured intervention at post-MI discharge and through telephone follow-ups, whereas Group B patients received clinical care with usual counseling at baseline. Patients in both groups were analyzed for secondary lifestyle modifications such as fasting blood sugar level; postprandial blood sugar level; blood pressure; and total cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C, VLDL-C, and triglyceride level; hospital readmission rates; and medication adherence at the baseline. At the end of 6 months patients in both study groups underwent follow-up. Medication adherence was analyzed using the Medication Adherence Rating Scale. Statistical analysis was carried out by using SPSS software version 17 (SPSS-IBM Inc, Armonk, NY). RESULTS: The mean (SD) age of the study population was 56.38 (11.68) years in Group A and 53.93 (13.26) years in Group B. Ther were more male patients than female patients in the study population. There was a statistically significant reduction in systolic and diastolic BP in Group A (P ˃ 0.0031 and P ˃ 0.0069, respectively) compared with Group B. Reduction in total cholesterol levels were observed in Group A compared with Group B (P ˃ 0.0001) patients, but there were no significant reductions found in lipid profile values, including LDL-C (P ˃ 0.0669), HDL-C (P ˃ 0.595), triglyceride (P ˃ 0.119), and VLDL-C (P ˃ 0.4215) at follow-up. Group A patients were more adherent to the medications with lower hospital readmission rates compared with Group B. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical pharmacist counseling improved the medication adherence and lifestyle modifications in post-MI patients with the reduction in blood glucose levels, blood pressure, and total cholesterol levels among the study population.