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Coatings for medical devices are expected to improve their surface biocompatibility mainly by being bioactive, i.e. stimulating healing-oriented interactions with living cells, tissues and organs. In particular, for stent applications, coatings are often designed to enhance the endothelialization process. The coating strategy will be primarily responsible for the interfacial properties between the substrate and the coating, which must show high stability. Therefore, the present work aims at comparing the stability of adsorbed and grafted fibronectin, a protein well-known to promote endothelialization. Fibronectin coatings were deposited on fluorocarbon films generated by a plasma-based process on stainless steel substrates. Then, deformation tests were performed in order to simulate the stenting procedure and stability tests were completed under static and under-flow conditions. Coatings were characterized by XPS, AFM, water contact angle, immunostaining and ToF-SIMS analyses. The results show higher stability for the grafted coatings; indeed, the integrity of the protein simply adsorbed was strongly compromised especially after under-flow tests. Both coatings exhibited similar behavior after deformation and static tests. These results clearly show the impact of the coating strategy on the overall stability of the coatings as well as the importance of under-flow investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Salmonellosis, a zoonotic and foodborne disease, is a public health problem in developing countries. With the aim of identifying human carriers of Salmonella, a survey was performed in five regions of Colombia with reported salmonellosis outbreaks. Methodology: The general population and cholecystectomy surgical patients were included in this study. Stool samples from 667 volunteers and gallbladder bile samples from 199 surgical patients were examined. Detection of Salmonella from cultured stool and bile samples was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Multiplex PCR and biochemical and serological tests were performed to identify the serovars of the isolates. Results: Nine (1.35%) stool samples were positive for Salmonella: two S. Newport, two S. Anatum, one S. Sinstorf, and four Salmonella spp. A total of 11 gallbladder bile samples were positive: S. Enteritidis was isolated from 3 bile cultures (1.5%), and 8 samples (4%) were positive for Salmonella spp. Conclusions: Our results show the presence of Salmonella carriers in the inhabitants of regions with reported outbreaks and suggest that these carriers are potential sources of infection in endemic and epidemic cases. Carriers also suggest Salmonella zoonotic transmission, since broiler and beef cattle are hosts to the Salmonella serotypes isolated. It is important to establish the source of infection in regions where salmonellosis is endemic in order to control transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]