The presence of bone-marrow-derived stem cells was investigated in a wound-healing model where subcutaneously implanted cellulose sponges were used to induce granulation tissue formation. When cellulose was coated with hydroxyapatite (HA), the sponges attracted circulating haemopoietic and mesenchymal progenitor cells more efficiently than uncoated cellulose. We hypothesized that the giant cell...

Selection of Taxa Porifera (sponges) are a diverse taxon of benthic aquatic (marine and limnic) animals, with over 8,500 described species distributed over four main extant lineages: Demospongiae (83% of living species; demosponges, including bath sponges), Hexactinellida (glass sponges), Calcarea (calcareous sponges), and Homoscleromorpha (flesh sponges) (Van Soest et al. 2012) (Fig. 2). Tradi...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE For prosthetic joint-associated infection (PJI), a regimen of debridement, antibiotics, irrigation, and retention of the prosthesis (DAIR) is generally accepted for acute infections. Various risk factors associated with treatment success have been described. The use of local antibiotic carriers (beads and sponges) is relatively unknown. We retrospectively analyzed risk fa...

Cryptococcosis, an increasingly important opportunistic infection caused by the encapsulated yeast-like organism Cryptococcus neoformans, is limited by an anticryptococcal cell-mediated immune (CMI) response. Gaining a thorough understanding of the complex anticryptococcal CMI response is essential for developing means of controlling infections with C. neoformans. The murine cryptococcosis mode...

The present work describes the biological activities using the marine sponges collected from kanyakumari. The sponges are such as the Callyspongia diffusa, Echinodictyum gorgonoides, Callyspongia reticutis, Gelliodes cellaria, and Thalysias vulpine. It is revealed that the sponges showed the antifungal activity against the various fungal strains such as the Aspergillus niger, Pencillium notatum...

Like all organisms, sponges allocate resources to life functions such as growth and reproduction. Additionally, some sponges are defended by secondary metabolites that deter potential predators. Assuming resources are limiting, species that produce defensive metabolites should allocate fewer resources to growth and reproduction. To test the hypothesis that there is a trade-off between chemical ...

In Shark Bay, Western Australia, bottlenose dolphins Tursiops sp. carry conical sponges Echinodictyum mesenterinum on their rostra in the only documented cetacean foraging behaviour using a tool (‘sponging’). In this study, we examined the influence of various ecological factors on live sponge distribution and the occurrence of sponging in parts of the western gulf of Shark Bay. We assessed spo...

Marine sponges are an extremely rich and important source of natural products. Mariculture is one solution to the so-called "supply problem" that often hampers further studies and development of novel compounds from sponges. We report the extended culture (767 days) at sea in depths of 10 and 20 m of three sponge species: Negombata magnifica, Amphimedon chloros and Theonella swinhoei that produ...

Porous silicone sponges are fabricated by polymerization of organosilanes in the presence of Fe3O4@silica nanoparticles. The sponges feature fast magnetic responsivity, superhydrophobicity/superoleophilicity, high compressibility and stability. The sponges can selectively absorb floating oils on a water surface, heavy oils under water and even emulsified oils.

BACKGROUND Risk factors for medical errors remain poorly understood. We performed a case-control study of retained foreign bodies in surgical patients in order to identify risk factors for this type of error. METHODS We reviewed the medical records associated with all claims or incident reports of a retained surgical sponge or instrument filed between 1985 and 2001 with a large malpractice in...