A CO.sub.2 processed sheet structure comprising ECM derived from mammalian submucosa tissue, which can be formed into a pouch configured to encase a medical device.

An enhanced stent apparatus, comprising: a support element, wherein the support element is constructed to be positioned in a body lumen; and, a porous structure, the porous structure located on a surface of the support element, and wherein the porous structure is comprised of at least one fiber under 30 microns in diameter, has a coverage area of less than 30% and is provided with apertures.

A stent assembly adapted to carotid arterial placement that includes a self-expanding support element comprising metal struts constructed to be positioned in a body lumen and expanded from a retracted state to an expanded state, and a knitted cover disposed over an exterior of the support element and along an entire length thereof, wherein the knitted cover comprises a single polymer fiber having a diameter of at least 40 nanometers to 30 microns, wherein the self-expanding support element and knitted cover together have apertures sized 20 microns to smaller than 100 microns in diameter to block larger debris when the stent assembly is placed in a carotid artery and expanded to the expanded state. Methods of stenting a carotid artery by applying the stent assembly to the carotid artery of a patient in need of treatment and expanding the stent assembly in situ are disclosed.

To provide an absorbent article that has a high absorption speed, is unlikely to cause a liquid to remain on a skin-contacting surface, has excellent dry feeling, and is unlikely to cause excreted body fluid to return. The present invention provides an absorbent article comprising an absorber composed of at least one absorbent layer, wherein a water-absorbent resin powder meeting the following requirements (a) to (d) is disposed in an uppermost layer of the absorber: (a) a bulk density: 0.45 g/ml to 0.62 g/ml; (b) an absorption speed by a vortex method: 20 seconds to 50 seconds; (c) a liquid-passing speed under load: 10 seconds or less; and (d) a moisture absorption blocking ratio: 5% or less.

Provided are a composition and a sheet, including a mesenchymal stem cells-hydrogel-biodegradable support or a mesenchymal stem cells-hydrogel-nondegradable support and a preparing method thereof. More specifically, in the sheet including a mesenchymal stem cells-hydrogel-biodegradable support or a mesenchymal stem cells-hydrogel-nondegradable support according to the present invention, the high-active mesenchymal stem cells may be applied to a wounded part of a patient with epidermolysis bullosa as it is without isolation using proteases, and in the culturing, an extracellular matrix such as collagen, laminin, fibronectin, and elastin secreted from the mesenchymal stem cells is wholly present on the hydrogel to have an advantageous effect that skin reproduction and re-epithelization abilities are significantly excellent as compared with conventional dressing agents used for epidermolysis bullosa.

Described herein is a drug delivery system, which is based on a novel polymer namely hypromellose-graft-chitosan (HC), useful to deliver a drug to a patient in sustained and controlled release fashion. HC is highly water soluble across the pH range from 1.2 to 10, and has a high pH buffering capacity to provide a pH-stable environment for drug delivery. In addition, the drug delivery system provided herein exhibited a drug loading efficiency of over 90% in all drugs tested, which is 1-2 fold higher than the efficiency attainable by conventional chitosan, and achieved a 2-3 fold longer duration of sustained drug release.

The invention is to articles of extracellular matrix. The articles comprise one or more sheets of mammalian extracellular matrix laminated together. A single sheet can be folded over and laminated on 3 sides. Two or more sheets can be laminated to each other at their edges. The sheets can further encase a composition comprising a cell or cells, such as for example, a stem cell. A single sheet can be folded over to encase a composition, or rolled to encase a composition with lamination at either end of the roll, for example. The invention also includes methods of using these articles to regenerate tissue at tissue defects, or heal wounds in damaged tissue.

Certain embodiments include materials that carry oxygen and emit molecular oxygen upon heating. The approach reported here uses thermal decomposition of organic endoperoxide compounds to produce singlet oxygen. In certain aspects the oxygen carrier comprises an organic compound either alone or contained in a polymeric carrier or other carrier material that is used to form a coating, layer, or bulk substance that can be a solid, a gel or a fluid. The oxygen-carrier is most conveniently prepared by oxidation of a precursor compound, the structure of which determines its thermal stability and thus how rapidly oxygen is released at any given temperature.

A tissue prosthesis comprising an extracellular matrix (ECM) composition, the ECM composition comprising decellularized ECM derived from mesothelial tissue and an exogenously added basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF).

A sheet structure formed from an extracellular matrix (ECM) composition that includes acellular ECM derived from small intestine submucosa (SIS) tissue, gentamicin and vancomycin. The sheet structure is configured to modulate inflammation of damaged biological tissue and induce cell and tissue proliferation, bioremodeling of the damaged biological tissue, and regeneration of new tissue and tissue structures with site-specific structural and functional properties, when the tissue structure is delivered to the damaged biological tissue.