Correction to: Fixation of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) mesh with cyanoacrylate-derived glues in a rat experimental model: histopathologic immunohistochemical and morphometric study.

Unfortunately, during the revision of the manuscript the title has been incorrectly published.

Fixation of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) mesh with cyanoacrylate-derived glues in a rat experimental model: histopathologic immunohistochemical and morphometric study.

PURPOSE: The use of cyanoacrylate (CA)-based tissue adhesives for mesh fixation in abdominal hernia repair is increasing due to the fast action and bond strength of these glues. The aim of the present study was to assess tissue changes induced by different CA glues used for mesh fixation in an animal model. METHODS: Parietal defects were induced in the abdominal wall of 60 rats and repaired by polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) mesh fixation using different CA glues. At 1, 7, 15, and 30 days post-surgery, macroscopic and histopathological studies were performed to evaluate mesh adhesion, the presence of complications and the tissue response. RESULTS: All meshes were successfully fixed without signs of inflammatory reaction, displacement or detachment. In areas where CA adhesives were applied, the acute tissue response was limited and transient. At 7 days post-surgery, collagen fibril production around prosthetic materials was observed, and collagen maturation was achieved at 30 days post-surgery. Good mesh incorporation was detected with all three glues, but the application of Glubran-2 was associated with an early macrophagic response and the early production and maturation of collagen fibrils. CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirmed that CA tissue adhesives induced the good incorporation of prosthetic mesh within host tissue with a low incidence of complications and reduced acute tissue reaction. At 30 days post-surgery no signs of mesh disinsertion or migration were observed, the prosthetic mesh adhesion was due to the presence of a dense mature connective tissue rich in type I collagen fibres.

HisTOOLogy: an open-source tool for quantitative analysis of histological sections.

HisTOOLogy is an open-source software for the quantification of digital colour images of histological sections. The simple graphical user interface enables both expert and non-expert users to rapidly extract useful information from stained tissue sections. The software's main feature is a generalizable colour separation algorithm based on k-means clustering which accurately and reproducibly returns the amount of colour per unit area for any stain, thus allowing the quantification of tissue components. Here we describe HisTOOLogy's algorithms and graphical user interface structure, showing how it can be used to separate different dye colours in several classical stains. In addition, to demonstrate how the tool can be employed to obtain quantitative information on biological tissues, the effect of different hepatic tissue decellularization protocols on cell removal and matrix preservation was assessed through image analysis using HisTOOLogy and compared with conventional DNA and total protein content assays. HisTOOLogy's performance was also compared with ImageJ's colour deconvolution plug-in, demonstrating its advantages in terms of ease of use and speed of colour separation.

Profile analysis of hepatic porcine and murine brain tissue slices obtained with a vibratome.

This study is aimed at characterizing soft tissue slices using a vibratome. In particular, the effect of two sectioning parameters (i.e., step size and sectioning speed) on resultant slice thickness was investigated for fresh porcine liver as well as for paraformaldehyde-fixed (PFA-fixed) and fresh murine brain. A simple framework for embedding, sectioning and imaging the slices was established to derive their thickness, which was evaluated through a purposely developed graphical user interface. Sectioning speed and step size had little effect on the thickness of fresh liver slices. Conversely, the thickness of PFA-fixed murine brain slices was found to be dependent on the step size, but not on the sectioning speed. In view of these results, fresh brain tissue was sliced varying the step size only, which was found to have a significant effect on resultant slice thickness. Although precision-cut slices (i.e., with regular thickness) were obtained for all the tissues, slice accuracy (defined as the match between the nominal step size chosen and the actual slice thickness obtained) was found to increase with tissue stiffness from fresh liver to PFA-fixed brain. This quantitative investigation can be very helpful for establishing the most suitable slicing setup for a given tissue.

Sphyga: a multiparameter open source tool for fabricating smart and tunable hydrogel microbeads.

Hydrogel microbeads are used in many biological applications, particularly for cell, protein or drug encapsulation. Although there are several methods for fabricating microbeads with controlled shapes and dimensions, many are limited to a small range of materials or sizes. We describe a compact open source tool-the spherical hydrogel generator (Sphyga)-for the fabrication of highly reproducible hydrogel based microbeads with predictable shapes and diameters ranging from 100 to 2000 µm. The unique feature of the system is the ability to modulate multiple parameters independently, so as to create a wide range of working conditions for fabricating tailored microbeads. Hence, by combining the different fabrication parameters, hydrogel beads with chosen shapes, sizes and materials can be generated with Sphyga. A multiparameter working-window was obtained by fixing the concentration of the base material, alginate, and varying the viscosity of the solution along with Sphyga's fabrication parameters (needle size, external air pressure, and material outflow). To validate the multiparameter working window, components such as proteins, cells, dyes and nanoparticles were also used to fabricate composite microbeads. The results show that the architecture of hydrogel microbeads can be engineered by considering the viscosity of the initial solution, which depends principally on the pH and composition of alginate solution. Coupled with Sphyga's multiple working parameters, material viscosity can then be used to tune hydrogel domains and thereby generate complex biologically relevant microenvironments for many biomedical applications.

Adherence to therapeutic and diagnostic recommendations in patients with femur fracture and at risk of re-fracture or death: results of an analysis of administrative databases.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the application into clinical practice of therapeutic and diagnostic recommendations for the prevention of bone re-fracture in postmenopausal women after an hospitalization for hip fracture in clinical practice and to assess the relationship between the application of diagnostic recommendations and re-fracture or death risk. A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted. All female patients, at least 65 years old, and with an hospitalization with main or secondary diagnosis of hip fracture during the period 1 January 2006 - 31 December 2008, were included. Besides demographic characteristics and comorbidities, drug treatment prescriptions related to bone fracture or supplementary with calcium or vitamin D and prescriptions of recommended laboratory and instrumental diagnostic tests (e.g. spine radiography), were analysed. A total of 5,636 patients were included in the study. The prescription of a drug treatment aimed to reduce the risk of re-fracture was found in 16.3% of patients, among them 76.3% (699 patients) used bisphosphonates only, 17.1% (157 patients) strontium ranelate only and 4.9% (45 patients) used more than one treatment during the observation period. Among the patients who did not receive drug treatment, 17.5% made use of only supplemental calcium and vitamin D. The remaining part of patients (69.1%) received no treatment. The prescription of at least one laboratory test of first and second level was performed, respectively, on 53.7% and 43.1% of included patients, whereas the prescription of at least one instrumental test of first and second level was performed, respectively, on 5.9% and 0.8%. Although it is established that the prescription of the recommended tests and appropriate drug treatment are significantly associated with reduced risk of re-fracture and death, today the application of these recommendations is reduced.