Critical limb ischemia (CLI) due to Buerger’s disease is a major unmet medical need with a high incidence of morbidity. This phase II, prospective, nonrandomized, open‐label, multicentric, dose‐ranging study was conducted to assess the efficacy and safety of i.m. injection of adult human bone marrow‐derived, cultured, pooled, allogeneic mesenchymal stromal cells (BMMSC) in CLI due to Buerger’s disease. Patients were allocated to three groups: 1 and 2 million cells/kg body weight (36 patients each) and standard of care (SOC) (18 patients). BMMSCs were administered as 40–60 injections in the calf muscle and locally, around the ulcer. Most patients were young (age range, 38–42 years) and ex‐smokers, and all patients had at least one ulcer. Both the primary endpoints—reduction in rest pain (0.3 units per month [SE, 0.13]) and healing of ulcers (11% decrease in size per month [SE, 0.05])—were significantly better in the group receiving 2 million cells/kg body weight than in the SOC arm. Improvement in secondary endpoints, such as ankle brachial pressure index (0.03 [SE, 0.01] unit increase per month) and total walking distance (1.03 [SE, 0.02] times higher per month), were also significant in the group receiving 2 million cells/kg as compared with the SOC arm. Adverse events reported were remotely related or unrelated to BMMSCs. In conclusion, i.m. administration of BMMSC at a dose of 2 million cells/kg showed clinical benefit and may be the best regimen in patients with CLI due to Buerger’s disease. However, further randomized controlled trials are required to confirm the most appropriate dose. Stem Cells Translational Medicine 2017;6:689–699

Aluminium alloy materials found to the best alternative with its unique capacity of designing the materials to give required properties. Aluminium alloy Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) are gaining wide spread acceptance for automobile, industrial, and aerospace applications because of their low density, high strength and good structural rigidity. In the present work, an attempt is made to prepare and compare the mechanical properties of Al6061-SiC & Al6061-SiC/Graphite hybrid composites. The composites were prepared using stir casting method in which amount of reinforcement is varied from 5-15% in steps of 5wt%. The prepared composites are characterized by microstructural studies and density, and mechanical properties were evaluated as per the standards. The microphotographs of the composites revealed fairly uniform distribution of the particles in composites with clustering at few places. The experimental densities were found to be lower than theoretical densities in all the composites. The dispersed Graphite and SiC in Al6061 alloy contributed in enhancing the tensile strength of the composites. The scanning electron micrographs of the samples indicated uniform distribution of the reinforcement particles in the matrix without any voids.

BACKGROUNDAnterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tear is the most common serious ligamentous injury to the knee joint. Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury is quite common among young active population, athletes and contact sports. The exact incidence of anterior cruciate ligament tears is not known as the cases are being under reported. The ACL is the primary stabilizer against anterior translation of the tibia on the femur and is important in counteracting rotation and valgus stress.

limb threatening ischemia. The thought that appropriate blood pressure control is detrimental to patients with claudication due to vascular occlusive disease is a myth. Even B-blockers do not appear to cause worsening of PAD symptoms in those requiring treatment as confirmed decades ago via a meta-analysis (Arch Intern Med 1991;151:1769-76). This article confirms the concept with a current analysis of pertinent studies and provides some data to suggest that in patients with intermittent claudication such treatment may actually improve symptoms if the hypertensive agent is effective (lowers MAP).

Concrete is a versatile material with tremendous applications in civil engineering construction. Structural concrete elements are generally made with concrete having a compressive strength of 20 to 35 MPa. Lately, there is an increase in use of high strength concrete (HSC) in major construction projects such as high-rise buildings, and bridges involving members of different sizes and shapes. The compressive strength of concrete is used as the most basic and important material property in the design of reinforced concrete structures. It has become a problem to use this value as the control specimen sizes and shapes are different from country to country. In India, the characteristic compressive strength is usually measured based on 150 mm cubes [1]. But, the ACI code of practice specifies the design compressive strength based on the standard 150x300 mm cylinders [2]. The use of 100x200 mm cylinders gained more acceptance as the need to test high strength concrete increases [3]. In this context the size and shape of concrete becomes an important parameter for the compressive strength. In view of the significance of compressive strength of concrete and due to the fact that the structural elements of different sizes and shapes are used, it is proposed to investigate the effect of size and shape of the specimen on the compressive strength of concrete. In this work, specimens of plain as well as Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete (GFRC) specimens are cast in order to carry out a comparative study