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A lack of healthy transplantable tissue to treat corneal blindness has led researchers to investigate the development and application of different scaffold materials for corneal tissue engineering and regeneration. In this study, hydrogels fabricated from decellularized corneal extracellular matrix were developed as a new approach to corneal stromal tissue regeneration. Porcine corneas were decellularized using a technique that combined freeze-thaw cycles with a nuclease treatment. The corneas were then freeze-dried, milled, and digested in an acidic pepsin solution that was used to form a hydrogel after adjusting the pH and gelation temperature. The resultant corneal matrix hydrogels (CMHs) were seeded with human corneal stromal cells and cultured for several days. When compared to collagens hydrogels, CMHs had superior optical transparency, similar mechanical properties, and were better able to retain the stromal cells native keratocyte phenotype. The CMHs also supported cell viability and proliferation and contained sulfated glycosaminoglycan, a vital constituent, for maintaining corneal transparency. These results suggest that the CMHs could provide an exceptional biomaterial for corneal stroma regeneration.

It is widely accepted that empathy is important for social work practice, yet there are multiple dimensions of empathy and comparatively few studies of empathy as a component of social work skill. To date, published studies have been quantitative, and as a result, we know little about how social workers demonstrate empathy in practice or what skilled empathic practice in child and family social work might sound like. This study contributes to the development of understanding of empathy as a social work skill through a mixed-methods analysis of 110 audio recordings of meetings in a child protection service between workers and parents, applying a coding framework for analysis. Findings indicate that workers who demonstrate higher levels of empathy skill use more open questions and reflections in their communication with parents.Further, they demonstrate curiosity about and make efforts to understand parents' often difficult experiences, including a focus on emotions. That the majority of workers were found not to demonstrate a high level of empathy skill presents concerns to be considered by the social work profession. A deeper understanding of empathy presents an opportunity for an increased focus in organizations to enable workers to demonstrate empathy towards families they work with.

Within the social work profession, supervision is highly valued. Yet it is not clear how supervision supports good practice or how supervision makes a difference for children and families. In this study, using paired observations of group supervision and family meetings alongside interviews with parents, we explored the link between supervision, practice, and engagement. Considering each data set separately, we found a range of skill levels within the supervision discussions and in the meetings with families. Parents reported generally high levels of satisfaction with the service and in relation to their individual worker. But more importantly, we found a “golden thread” between certain elements of supervision, more skilful practice, and improved parental engagement. We discuss these key elements in detail and consider what these findings tell us about good supervision and what difference it can make for families and children.