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Topic Review
AI Algorithms and Material Informatics Tools
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in materials design is revolutionizing the field of materials engineering thanks to their power to predict material properties, design de novo materials with enhanced features, and discover new mechanisms beyond intuition. In addition, they can be used to infer complex design principles and identify high-quality candidates more rapidly than trial-and-error experimentation.
  • 1.3K
  • 08 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) Biomaterial
Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has become a useful polymeric biomaterial due to its superior properties and has been increasingly used in dentistry, especially in prosthetic dentistry and dental implantology. Promising applications of PEEK in dentistry are dental implants, temporary abutment, implant-supported provisional crowns, fixed prosthesis, removable denture framework, and finger prosthesis. PEEK as a long-term provisional implant restoration has not been studied much. 
  • 1.2K
  • 07 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Natural and Synthetic Hydrogels in Wound Healing
The care and rehabilitation of acute and chronic wounds have a significant social and economic impact on patients and global health. This burden is primarily due to the adverse effects of infections, prolonged recovery, and the associated treatment costs. Chronic wounds can be treated with a variety of approaches, which include surgery, negative pressure wound therapy, wound dressings, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. However, each of these strategies has an array of limitations. The existing dry wound dressings lack functionality in promoting wound healing and exacerbating pain by adhering to the wound. Hydrogels, which are commonly polymer-based and swell in water, have been proposed as potential remedies due to their ability to provide a moist environment that facilitates wound healing. Their unique composition enables them to absorb wound exudates, exhibit shape adaptability, and be modified to incorporate active compounds such as growth factors and antibacterial compounds. 
  • 1.2K
  • 08 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Chronic Periodontal Disease
Periodontitis (PD) is an infection-driven inflammatory disease of periodontal tissues caused by pathogenic microorganisms, which have been characterized by disruption of the tooth-supporting structures. In periodontal disease treatment, the conventional route of drug administration has many drawbacks such as poor biodistribution, low selectivity of the therapeutic effect, burst release of the drug, and damage to healthy cells. To overcome these difficulties, controlled drug delivery systems have been evolved as an alternative method to address oral infectious disease ailments. The use of drug delivery devices proves to be an excellent auxiliary method in enhancing the quality and effectiveness in periodontitis treatment, which includes inaccessible periodontal pockets. In the literature, there have been described as many various polymer-based delivery systems such as hydrogels, liposomes, micro-, and nanoparticles, which can be used in the treatment of chronic periodontal disease. The review shows the current state of knowledge regarding the applications of various polymer-based delivery systems such as hydrogels, liposomes, micro-, and nanoparticles in the treatment of chronic periodontal disease.
  • 1.2K
  • 27 Jul 2020
Topic Review
Immunomodulating Hydrogels for Drug Delivery Applications
One of the most concerning issues with conventional drug delivery platforms is the elicitation of an immune response upon implantation. Different natural and artificial platforms have been used for various biomedical applications ranging from drug and metabolite delivery, gene delivery, and wound healing/regenerative applications. However, most of these platforms suffer due to a compromise on immunogenicity and their respective biomedical applications. Although hydrogels from biomaterials of different origins have shown great promise in various biomedical applications, their immunogenicity, however small, is still a matter of concern, thus preventing their widespread clinical adoption. Hydrogels have been proposed as an excellent platform for various applications in drug delivery and regenerative medicine. Hydrogels are soft, tridimensional crosslinked networks of polymers with a high-water content, similar to the percentage found in human tissue.
  • 1.2K
  • 04 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Self-Healing Concrete
The production of cement accounts for 5 to 7% of carbon dioxide emissions in the world, and its broad-scale use contributes to climate imbalance. As a solution, biotechnology enables the cultivation of bacteria and fungi for the synthesis of calcium carbonate as one of the main constituents of cement. Through biomineralization, which is the initial driving force for the synthesis of compounds compatible with concrete, and crystallization, these compounds can be delivered to cracks in concrete. Microencapsulation is a method that serves as a clock to determine when crystallization is needed, which is assisted by control factors such as pH and aeration. 
  • 1.2K
  • 15 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Carbon-Based Materials for CO2 Adsorption and Conversion
The UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) has stressed that stakeholders need to work together to achieve a NetZero target. Technologies involving absorbents for the capture of CO2 from a gas mixture are energy-intensive. Carbon adsorption and conversion (CAC) approaches have been gaining attention since these technologies can mitigate CO2 emissions.
  • 1.2K
  • 06 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Cationic Antibacterial Dendrimers
The alarming increase in antimicrobial resistance, based on the built-in abilities of bacteria to nullify the activity of current antibiotics, leaves a growing number of bacterial infections untreatable. An appealing approach, advanced in recent decades, concerns the development of novel agents able to interact with the external layers of bacteria, causing irreparable damage. Regarding this, some natural cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs) have been reconsidered, and synthetic cationic polymers, mimicking CAMPs and able to kill bacteria by non-specific detrimental interaction with the negative bacterial membranes, have been proposed as promising solutions. Lately, also dendrimers were considered suitable macromolecules for the preparation of more advanced cationic biomimetic nanoparticles, able to harmonize the typical properties of dendrimers, including nanosize, mono-dispersion, long-term stability, high functionality, and the non-specific mechanism of action of CAMPs. Although cationic dendrimers are extensively applied in nanomedicine for drug or gene delivery, their application as antimicrobial agents is still in its infancy. In this first part of our overview on the main types of cationic antibacterial dendrimers, the state of the art of the potential applications of PAMAM and PPI-based agents has therefore been reviewed here, with particular attention to the innovative case studies reported in the literature 
  • 1.2K
  • 14 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Periodontal and Peri-Implant Regeneration
Periodontal and peri-implant regeneration is the technique that aims to restore the damaged tissue around teeth and implants. They are surrounded by a different apparatus, and according to it, the regenerative procedure can differ for both sites. During the last century, several biomaterials and biological mediators were proposed to achieve a complete restoration of the damaged tissues with less invasiveness and a tailored approach.
  • 1.2K
  • 17 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Biochemical-Modification of Titanium Oral Implants
Biochemical Modification of Titanium Surfaces (BMTiS) is the process that immobilize proteins, enzymes, or peptides on biomaterials for the purpose of inducing specific cell and tissue responses or, in other words, to control the tissue implant interface with molecules delivered directly to the interface. Biochemical surface modification utilizes critical organic components of bone to affect tissue response. The purpose of implant surface functionalization by BMTiS derives from the supposition that the ability to imitate bone tissue’s characteristics may increment implant surface performances, thus promoting the initial biological response. Therefore BMTiS, strictly speaking, refers only to the use of molecules normally present in the human body.
  • 1.2K
  • 09 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Mycomerge: Mycelium-Based NFRC on A Rattan Framework
Counteracting the usual fabrication techniques, the proposed design method aims to guide mycelium’s growth on a natural rattan framework that serves as a supportive structure for the mycelium substrate and its fiber reinforcement. The rattan skeleton is integrated into the finished composite product, forming a fully biodegradable unit, which can support a load beyond 20 times its own weight. 
  • 1.2K
  • 12 May 2022
Topic Review
Photoresponsive Biomaterials
Photoresponsive biomaterials have garnered increasing attention due to their ability to dynamically regulate biological interactions and cellular behaviors in response to light. Photoresponsive biomaterials are created by integrating photoresponsive molecules, such as spiropyrans, azobenzenes, hydrazones, and diarylethenes, into biomaterials like hydrogels, nanoparticles, or scaffolds. 
  • 1.2K
  • 16 May 2023
Topic Review
Regenerated Keratin-Based Biofilms
The recycling, development, and application of keratin-containing waste (e.g., hair, wool, feather, and so on) provide an important means to address related environmental pollution and energy shortage issues. The extraction of keratin and the development of keratin-based functional materials are key to solving keratin-containing waste pollution. Keratin-based biofilms are gaining substantial interest due to their excellent characteristics, such as good biocompatibility, high biodegradability, appropriate adsorption, and rich renewable sources, among others. At present, keratin-based biofilms are a good option for various applications, and the development of keratin-based biofilms from keratin-containing waste is considered crucial for sustainable development. 
  • 1.2K
  • 28 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Type I Photosensitizers Based on Aggregation-Induced Emission
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is emerging as a minimally invasive therapeutic modality with precise controllability and high spatiotemporal accuracy in the field of diseases treatment. PDT mainly relies on the photosensitizers (PSs) to generate oxidative reactive oxygen species (ROS), to play the therapeutic role. Type I photosensitizers, that undergo hydrogen atom abstraction or electron transfer manner and subsequently produce superoxide radical (O2•−), hydroxyl radical (OH•), or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), etc., is showing more and more prominent advantages, particularly in hypoxic tissues, since type I PSs-involved PDT usually exhibit distinctive hypoxia tolerance. Regarding the diverse type I PSs, aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-active type I PSs are currently arousing great research interest owing to their distinguished aggregation-induced emission and aggregation-induced generation of reactive oxygen species (AIE-ROS) features.
  • 1.2K
  • 21 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Milk Whey Hydrolysates as High Value-Added Natural Polymers
There are two types of milk whey obtained from cheese manufacture: sweet and acid. It retains around 55% of the nutrients of the milk. Milk whey is considered as a waste, creating a critical pollution problem, because 9 L of whey are produced from every 10 L of milk. Some treatments such as hydrolysis by chemical, fermentation process, enzymatic action, and green technologies (ultrasound and thermal treatment) are successful in obtaining peptides from protein whey. Milk whey peptides possess excellent functional properties such as antihypertensive, antiviral, anticancer, immunity, and antioxidant, with benefits in the cardiovascular, digestive, endocrine, immune, and nervous system.
  • 1.2K
  • 27 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Pharmaceutical, Biological and Biomedical Potential of Citrus By-Products
Citrus fruits processing results in the generation of huge amounts of citrus by-products, mainly peels, pulp, membranes, and seeds. Although they represent a major concern from both economical and environmental aspects, it is very important to emphasize that these by-products contain a rich source of value-added bioactive compounds with a wide spectrum of applications in the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries.
  • 1.2K
  • 23 Oct 2023
Topic Review
NIR-II Emissive Semiconducting Polymer Dots
Much effort has been devoted to developing Pdots with emission bands located in the second near-infrared (NIR-II, 1000–1700 nm) region, which hold great advantages of higher spatial resolution, better signal-to-background ratios (SBR), and deeper tissue penetration for solid-tumor imaging in comparison with the visible region (400–680 nm) and the first near-infrared (NIR-I, 680–900 nm) window, by virtue of the reduced tissue autofluorescence, minimal photon scattering, and low photon absorption.
  • 1.2K
  • 15 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Cellulose Coarse-Grained
Cellulose is the most common biopolymer and widely used in our daily life. Due to its unique properties and biodegradability, it has been attracting increased attention in the recent years and various new applications of cellulose and its derivatives are constantly being found. The development of new materials with improved properties, however, is not always an easy task, and theoretical models and computer simulations can often help in this process.
  • 1.2K
  • 27 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Imine-Based Adaptive Covalent Chemistry
The imine bond, also referred to as the Schiff base, is one of the reversible covalent bonds that can participate in both associative and dissociative reactions. This opens up possibilities for mechanical and chemical recycling as well as self-healing.
  • 1.2K
  • 12 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Biomimetic Approaches in Clinical Endodontics
Endodontics is an important sub-branch of dentistry which deals with the different conditions of pulp to prevent tooth loss. Traditionally, common procedures, namely pulp capping, root canal treatment, apexification, and apexigonesis, have been considered for the treatment of different pulp conditions using selected materials. However, clinically to regenerate dental pulp, tissue engineering has been advocated as a feasible approach. New trends are emerging in terms of regenerative endodontics which have led to the replacement of diseased and non-vital teeth into the functional and healthy dentine-pulp complex. Root- canal therapy is the standard management option when dental pulp is damaged irreversibly. This treatment modality involves soft-tissue removal and then filling that gap through the obturation technique with a synthetic material. The formation of tubular dentine and pulp-like tissue formation occurs when stem cells are transplanted into the root canal with an appropriate scaffold material. To sum up tissue engineering approach includes three components: (1) scaffold, (2) differentiation, growth, and factors, and (3) the recruitment of stem cells within the pulp or from the periapical region.
  • 1.2K
  • 31 Jan 2023
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