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An analysis of the literature provides no evidence so far for regular regeneration of hyaline cartilage in animal experiments and still today’s treatments for cartilage resurfacing are less than satisfactory, and rarely restore full function or return the tissue to its native normal state. The rapidly growing field of tissue engineering holds great promise for the generation of functional cartilage tissue substitutes. Cell biologists, engineers, and surgeons work closely together with combined knowledge of using biocompatible, biomimetic, biomechanical suitable scaffolds seeded with chondrogenic cells and loaded with bioactive molecules that promote time-relapsed cellular differentiation and/or maturation.

XP is a social activity as well as a technical activity. The social side of XP is emphasized typically in the values and principles which underlie the technical practices. However, the fieldwork studies we have carried out with mature XP teams have shown that the technical practices themselves are also intensely social: they have social dimensions that arise from and have consequences for the XP approach. In this paper, we report on elements of XP practice that show the social side of several XP practices, including test-first development, simple design, refactoring and on-site customer. We also illustrate the social side of the practices in combination through a thematic view of progress.

The derivation of the hESC lines and the resulting cardiomyocyte differentiation system may bring a unique value to several basic and applied research fields. Research based on the cells may help to elucidate the mechanisms involved in early human cardiac lineage commitment, differentiation, and maturation. Moreover, this research may promote the discovery of novel growth and transcriptional factors using gene trapping techniques, functional genomics, and proteomics as well as providing a novel in vitro model for drug development and testing. Finally, the ability to generate, in vitro for the first time, human cardiac tissue provides an exciting and promising cell source for the emerging discipline of regenerative medicine and myocardial repair.

XP is a social activity as well as a technical activity. The social side of XP is emphasized typically in the values and principles which underlie the technical practices. However, the fieldwork studies we have carried out with mature XP teams have shown that the technical practices themselves are also intensely social: they have social dimensions that arise from and have consequences for the XP approach. In this paper, we report on elements of XP practice that show the social side of several XP practices, including test-first development, simple design, refactoring and on-site customer. We also illustrate the social side of the practices in combination through a thematic view of progress.

The derivation of the hESC lines and the resulting cardiomyocyte differentiation system may bring a unique value to several basic and applied research fields. Research based on the cells may help to elucidate the mechanisms involved in early human cardiac lineage commitment, differentiation, and maturation. Moreover, this research may promote the discovery of novel growth and transcriptional factors using gene trapping techniques, functional genomics, and proteomics as well as providing a novel in vitro model for drug development and testing. Finally, the ability to generate, in vitro for the first time, human cardiac tissue provides an exciting and promising cell source for the emerging discipline of regenerative medicine and myocardial repair.

Regenerative medicine efforts are currently being undertaken for every type of tissue and organ, including the bladder, within the urinary system. Most of the effort expended to engineer bladder tissue has occurred within the last decade. Personnel who have mastered the techniques of cell harvest, culture, and expansion as well as polymer design are essential for the successful application of this technology. Various applications of engineered bladder tissues are at different stages of development, with some already being used clinically, a few in preclinical trials, and some in the discovery stage. Recent progress suggests that engineered bladder tissues may have an expanded clinical applicability in the future.

The ability to engineer or regenerate lost myocardial tissue caused by injury, aging, disease, or genetic abnormality holds great promise. The vision is to generate significant mass of functional heart muscle tissue. However, the area of myocardial tissue engineering still faces significant difficulties. Scientists are still searching for cell types other than cardiomyocytes. Novel approaches are warranted for material processing to create bioactive scaffolds, which would allow composition of the evolving myocardial structure. There is a need for development of strategies to promote vascularization and/or innervations within engineered myocardial tissue. Other important goals include achievement of immunologic tolerance for engineered constructs and increased understanding of the basic principles governing tissue formation, function, and failure, including the assembly of multiple cell types and biomaterials into multidimensional structures that mimic the architecture and function of native myocardial tissue.

In addition to laboratory-grown myocardial tissue, more research is warranted in the area of cardiac self-repair and regenerating functional myocardium in situ. If successful, these strategies could be used for surgical repair of the infarcted myocardium or congenital cardiac defects and would have a dramatic impact on the future of cardiovascular medicine and public health.

There are a number of advantages and disadvantages with the use of adult or ES cells for application in patients; however, for the therapeutic administration of human ES cells to be an option, the rejection of cells by the immune system will have to be addressed. Although the immune response should be less intense than the response to xenotransplants, the major histocompatibility complex differences between human ES cells and a recipient will require immunosuppression (e.g., ref. 133), the extent of which must be determined for the transplantation of cells into the epidermis. It is conceivable that stem cell-based therapy alone will not be the ultimate solution for the treatment of epidermal damage and loss of regeneration, and that therapies of the distant future might be a combination of stem cell transplantation, gene therapy, and drug treatment. Such a combination of therapies will be customized to the particular cellular ailment of the individual patient. At this point, it is difficult to predict how stem cell-based therapy will be translated into clinical practice for epidermal tissues. Some of the limitations and potential issues regarding ES cell and adult stem cell plasticity have been discussed; nevertheless, the promise is real and basic science advances continue to spur new skin cell biology that holds promise for novel skin cell therapeutics.