Liver transplantation is the most common treatment for patients with end-stage liver failure. However, liver transplantation is greatly limited by a shortage of donors. Liver tissue engineering may offer an alternative by providing an implantable engineered liver. Currently, diverse types of engineering approaches for in vitro liver cell culture are available, including scaffold-based methods, microfluidic platforms, and micropatterning techniques. Active cell patterning via dielectrophoretic (DEP) force showed some advantages over other methods, including high speed, ease of handling, high precision and being label-free. This article summarizes liver function and regenerative mechanisms for better understanding in developing engineered liver. We then review recent advances in liver tissue engineering techniques and focus on DEP-based cell patterning, including microelectrode design and patterning configuration.
Hashimoto encephalopathy (HE) is a poorly recognised steroid-responsive encephalopathy, with prominent neuropsychiatric features. Diagnosis is often difficult due to its heterogeneous clinical presentation, especially since the thyroid status or anti-thyroid antibody titres may not be related to the disease state. Here, the case of a 23-year-old Malay woman with Graves disease who presented with progressive encephalopathy diagnosed as HE is presented. She responded dramatically to high dose intravenous and then oral corticosteroid. A month after the initiation of treatment, she regained full independency.
Acute ischemic stroke is a stressful condition where there is marked increase in the production of cortisol. In the past, adrenal insufficiency in critically ill patients had been shown to be associated with significant morbidity and mortality. To date, there have been no studies performed to determine its prevalence among patients with acute ischemic stroke.