Topic Review
Detecting VOC Biomarkers in the Exhaled Breath
In general, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have a high vapor pressure at room temperature (RT). It has been reported that all humans generate unique VOC profiles in their exhaled breath which can be utilized as biomarkers to diagnose disease conditions. The aforementioned discussions show that the human breath contains a variety of VOCs that serve as biomarkers for various diseases and metabolic problems. Therefore, the real-time monitoring of such VOCs in the exhaled human breath is highly essential to enable non-invasive illness detection. A detailed discussion has been carried out to understand various techniques developed to detect VOCs in very low concentrations of part per million volumes (ppmv), part per billion volumes (ppbv), and part per trillion volumes (pptv).
  • 739
  • 09 Feb 2023
Topic Review
3D Bioprinting for Pancreas Engineering/Manufacturing
Diabetes is the most common chronic disease in the world, and it brings a heavy burden to people’s health. Against this background, diabetic research, including islet functionalization has become a hot topic in medical institutions all over the world. Especially with the rapid development of microencapsulation and three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting technologies, organ engineering and manufacturing have become the main trends for disease modeling and drug screening. Especially the advanced 3D models of pancreatic islets have shown better physiological functions than monolayer cultures, suggesting their potential in elucidating the behaviors of cells under different growth environments.
  • 739
  • 12 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Monitor Mental Health Conditions
Recently, there has been an increase in the production of devices to monitor mental health and stress as means for expediting detection, and subsequent management of these conditions. The objective of this review is to identify and critically appraise the most recent smart devices and wearable technologies used to identify depression, anxiety, and stress, and the physiological process(es) linked to their detection. 
  • 738
  • 11 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Fe0-based environmental remediation
The technology of using metallic iron (Fe0) for in situ generation of iron oxides for water treatment is a very old one. The Fe0 remediation technology has been re-discovered in the framework of groundwater remediation using permeable reactive barriers (PRBs). Despite its simplicity, the improvement of Fe0 PRBs is fraught with difficulties regarding their operating modes. The literature dealing with Fe0 remediation contains ambiguities regarding its invention and its development. The present paper examines the sequence of contributions prior to the advent of Fe0 PRBs in order to clarify the seemingly complex picture.
  • 736
  • 26 Aug 2020
Topic Review
Protein Engineering of Multiheme Cytochromes
Electrogenic microorganisms possess unique redox biological features, being capable of performing Extracellular Electron Transfer (EET) and converting highly toxic compounds into nonhazardous forms. These microorganisms have led to the development of Microbial Electrochemical Technologies (METs), which include applications in the fields of bioremediation and bioenergy production. Geobacter bacteria have served as a model for understanding the mechanisms underlying the phenomenon of EET, which is highly dependent on a multitude of multiheme cytochromes (MCs). MCs are, therefore, logical targets for rational protein engineering to improve the EET rates of these bacteria. In this Review, the main characteristics of electroactive Geobacter bacteria, their potential to develop METs and the main features of MCs are initially highlighted. This is followed by a detailed description of the current methodologies that assist the characterization of the functional redox networks in MCs. Finally, it is discussed how this information can be explored to design optimal Geobacter-mutated strains with improved capabilities in METs.
  • 735
  • 23 Jun 2021
Topic Review
LAMP-Based Point-of-Care Biosensors for Rapid Pathogen Detection
Seeking optimized infectious pathogen detection tools is of primary importance to lessen the spread of infections, allowing prompt medical attention for the infected. Among nucleic-acid-based sensing techniques, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a promising method, as it provides rapid, sensitive, and specific detection of microbial and viral pathogens and has enormous potential to transform current point-of-care molecular diagnostics.
  • 734
  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Reprogramming of α-Cells into Insulin Producing Cells
Numerous cell sources are being explored to replenish functional β-cell mass since the proof-of -concept for cell therapy of diabetes was laid down by transplantation of islets. Various strategies that aim to generate bone fide insulin producing cells are explored.  In particular on reprogramming and especially on α-cells conversion into insulin producing cells are focused here. A logical place to begin with for generating β-cells is to utilise the plasticity of closely related endoderm derived cell types like pancreatic non-β-cells and coaxing them to adopt a β-cell phenotype. Given the close ontogenetic relationship, functional similarity and dependency among these cells, the potential for interconversion is unequivocal. Phenotypic plasticity between pancreatic α-cells and β-cells is notably pronounced.
  • 733
  • 16 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Tremor Suppression Devices
Tremors are the most prevalent movement disorder that interferes with the patient’s daily living, and physical activities, ultimately leading to a reduced quality of life. Due to the pathophysiology of tremor, developing effective pharmacotherapies, which are only suboptimal in the management of tremor, has many challenges. Thus, a range of therapies are necessary in managing this progressive, aging-associated disorder. Surgical interventions such as deep brain stimulation are able to provide durable tremor control. However, due to high costs, patient and practitioner preference, and perceived high risks, their utilization is minimized. Medical devices are placed in a unique position to bridge this gap between lifestyle interventions, pharmacotherapies, and surgical treatments to provide safe and effective tremor suppression.
  • 730
  • 19 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Olfactory Optogenetics
The mammalian olfactory system has an amazing ability to distinguish thousands of odorant molecules at the trace level. Scientists have made great achievements on revealing the olfactory sensing mechanisms in decades; even though many issues need addressing. Optogenetics provides a novel technical approach to solve this dilemma by utilizing light to illuminate specific part of the olfactory system; which can be used in all corners of the olfactory system for revealing the olfactory mechanism. 
  • 730
  • 22 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Stem Cell Niche Microenvironment
Limbal epithelial stem cells (LESCs), which live in a specialized stem cell niche (SCN), are crucial for the survival of the human corneal epithelium. They live at the bottom of the limbal crypts, in a physically enclosed microenvironment with a number of neighboring niche cells. Scientists also simplified features of these diverse microenvironments for more analysis in situ by designing and recreating features of different SCNs. 
  • 729
  • 22 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Impact of Backpacks on Ergonomics
Among load carriage systems, the backpack (BP) is certainly one of the most widespread in the world, with tens of million people using them every day for shorter or longer periods since early childhood. The effects of load carriage packs on human gait biomechanics, physiology and metabolism depend on the weight carried, the design of the pack and its interaction with the user. 
  • 727
  • 20 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Smart Textile
The integration of electronic components in/onto conductive textile yarns without compromising textile qualities such as flexibility, conformability, heat and moisture transfer, and wash resistance is essential to ensuring acceptance of electronic textiles. One solution is creating flexible and stretchable conductive yarns that contain tiny surface-mounted electronic elements embedded at the fiber level.
  • 726
  • 06 May 2022
Topic Review
Electrode Array Design
Cochlear implants are neural implant devices that aim to restore hearing in patients with severe sensorineural hearing impairment.
  • 722
  • 08 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Complications of Dual Modular Stems
Titanium (Ti) alloys have been proven to be one of the most suitable materials for orthopaedic implants. Dual modular stems have been introduced to primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) to enable better control of the femoral offset, leg length, and hip stability. However, this recent innovation in the femoral stem design has proven itself to be an innovation trap actually. 
  • 718
  • 10 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Enzymatic Methods for Salivary Biomarkers Detection
A biomarker, also known as a biological marker, is any molecule, substance, or measurable process in the body or in one of its components that can support the diagnosis, prognosis, prediction, or response to the treatment of a disease. Recent technological advances have made it possible to detect and quantify biomarkers in saliva samples. Enzymatic assays as a cost-effective alternative to overcome the limitations of current methods for the quantification of biomarkers in saliva.
  • 713
  • 14 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Gene Circuits for Cancer Immunotherapy
Engineered mammalian cells for medical purposes are becoming a clinically relevant reality thanks to advances in synthetic biology that allow enhanced reliability and safety of cell-based therapies. However, their application is still hampered by challenges including time-consuming design-and-test cycle iterations and costs. For example, in the field of cancer immunotherapy, CAR-T cells targeting CD19 have already been clinically approved to treat several types of leukemia, but their use in the context of solid tumors is still quite inefficient, with additional issues related to the adequate quality control for clinical use.
  • 711
  • 17 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Advanced Sham Coil for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) neurophysiology has been widely applied worldwide, but it is often contaminated by confounders other than cortical stimulus-evoked activities. Although advanced sham coils that elaborately mimic active stimulation have recently been developed, their performance is not examined in detail. Developing such sham coils is crucial to improve the accuracy of TMS neurophysiology. Herein, we examined the specifications of the sham coil by comparison with the active coil. The magnetic flux and click sound pressure changes were measured when the stimulus intensity was varied from 10% to 100% maximum stimulator output (MSO), and the changes in coil surface temperature over time with continuous stimulation at 50% MSO for each coil. The magnetic flux change at the center of the coil showed a peak of 12.51 (kT/s) for the active coil, whereas it was 0.41 (kT/s) for the sham coil. Although both coils showed a linear change in magnetic flux as the stimulus intensity increased, due to the difference in coil winding structure, the sham coil took less than half the time to overheat and had 5 dB louder coil click sounds than the active coil. The sham coil showed a sufficiently small flux change at the center of the coil, but the flux change from the periphery of the coil was comparable to that of the active coil. Future use of high-quality sham coil will extend our understanding of the TMS neurophysiology of the cortex at the stimulation site. 
  • 711
  • 22 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Poly-L-Lactic Acid as a Biomaterial
Synthetic biopolymers are effective cues to replace damaged tissue in the tissue engineering (TE) field, both for in vitro and in vivo application. Among them, poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) has been highlighted as a biomaterial with tunable mechanical properties and biodegradability that allows for the fabrication of porous scaffolds with different micro/nanostructures via various approaches. Tissue engineering applications of biomaterials have widely focused on studying synthetic polymers due to their interesting mechanical strength, elasticity, and biodegradability.
  • 709
  • 01 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Wearable Sensors in Sports
Wearable sensor technology provides an alternative to classical laboratory-based assessments of human performance that enables real-time monitoring in natural environments, without the cumbersome set-up procedure and limitations related to space. We conducted a scoping review, aiming to present an overview of existing methods for assessments of shock impacts using wearable sensor technology within two domains: sports and occupational settings.
  • 705
  • 05 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Pores in 3D-Printed Scaffolds
Extrusion-based 3D printing technology has become a pivotal approach in tissue engineering, particularly in the fabrication of polymer-based cell-free and cell-laden constructs. Terminology is pivotal for facilitating clear communication and minimizing ambiguity, especially in specialized fields such as chemistry. In materials science, a subset of chemistry, the term “pore” is traditionally linked to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) nomenclature, which categorizes pores into “micro”, “meso”, and “macro” based on size.
  • 705
  • 28 Feb 2024
  • Page
  • of
  • 27
ScholarVision Creations