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Topic Review
Electrospinning for Neural Applications
Electrospinning is a fabrication technique used to produce nano- or micro- diameter fibers to generate biocompatible, biodegradable scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. Electrospun fiber scaffolds are advantageous for neural regeneration because they mimic the structure of the nervous system extracellular matrix and provide contact guidance for regenerating axons. Glia are non-neuronal regulatory cells that maintain homeostasis in the healthy nervous system and regulate regeneration in the injured nervous system. Electrospun fiber scaffolds offer a wide range of characteristics, such as fiber alignment, diameter, surface nanotopography, and surface chemistry that can be engineered to achieve a desired glial cell response to injury. Further, electrospun fibers can be loaded with drugs, nucleic acids, or proteins to provide local, sustained release of such therapeutics to alter glial cell phenotype to better support regeneration.
  • 876
  • 19 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Optical Biosensors for COVID-19 and Other Viruses Diagnosis
The sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a huge concern globally because of the astounding increase in mortality rates worldwide. The medical imaging computed tomography technique, whole-genome sequencing, and electron microscopy are the methods generally used for the screening and identification of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
  • 875
  • 28 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Craniofacial Bone Tissue Engineering
Craniofacial Bone Tissue Engineering aims to regenerate large bone defects in the craniofacial region that cannot heal spontaneously. Bone is a hard-vascularized tissue, which renews itself continuously to adapt to the mechanical and metabolic demands of the body. The craniofacial area is prone to trauma and pathologies that often result in large bone damage, thus leading to both aesthetic and functional complications for the patients. The “gold standard” for treating these large defects is autologous bone grafting, which has various drawbacks, such as the necessity for a harvesting site with sufficient bone volume, considerable morbidity and infection. Indeed, tissue engineering combining a biomaterial with the appropriate cells and molecules of interest would allow a new therapeutic approach to treat large bone defects while minimizing surgical complications. 
  • 873
  • 21 May 2021
Topic Review
Controlling Upper Limb Prostheses Using Sonomyography
A ground-breaking study by Zheng et al. investigated whether ultrasound imaging of the forearm might be used to control a powered prosthesis, and the term “sonomyography” (SMG) was coined by the group. Ultrasound signals have recently garnered the interest of researchers in the area of HMIs because they can collect information from both superficial and deep muscles and so provide more comprehensive information than other techniques. Due to the great spatiotemporal resolution and specificity of ultrasound measurements of muscle deformation, researchers have been able to infer fine volitional motor activities, such as finger motions and the dexterous control of robotic hands.
  • 873
  • 27 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Virus Filter Foulants
The major classes of foulants in virus filtration. This includes irreversible and reversible product aggregates and minor product variants that differ in their charge or hydrophobicity. Product variants arise because mammalian cell-derived biotherapeutics are heterogeneous. The product is defined based on the production process and not on a single molecular species. Product variants with different post-translational modifications can have different hydrophobicity, charge, and conformations. If present, HCP, proteases, and nucleic acids can also foul the virus filter.
  • 868
  • 25 Apr 2022
Topic Review
3D Bioprinting in Cardiac Tissue Engineering
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Cardiac tissue engineering is a direction in regenerative medicine that aims to repair various heart defects with the long-term goal of artificially rebuilding a full-scale organ that matches its native structure and function. Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting offers promising applications through its layer-by-layer biomaterial deposition using different techniques and bio-inks. Recent advancements in this field have improved 3D bioprinting accuracy and resolution and its latest applications span cardiac tissues, patches, organoids, and the full organ. 
  • 867
  • 21 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Novel Heart Organoid Generation Methods
Organoids are three-dimensional in vitro cell constructs that recapitulate organ properties and structure to a significant extent. They constitute particularly useful models to study unapproachable states in humans, such as embryonic and fetal development, or early disease progression in adults. In recent years organoids have been implemented to model a wide range of different organs and disease conditions. However, the technology for their fabrication and application to cardiovascular studies has been lagging significantly when compared to other organoid types (e.g., brain, pancreas, kidney, intestine). This is a surprising fact since cardiovascular disease (CVD) and congenital heart disease (CHD) constitute the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the developed world, and the most common birth defect in humans, respectively, and collectively constitute one of the largest unmet medical needs in the modern world. There is a critical need to establish in vitro models of the human heart that faithfully recapitulate its biology and function, thus enabling basic and translational studies to develop new therapeutics. Generating heart organoids that truly resemble the heart has proven difficult due to its complexity, but significant progress has been made recently to overcome this obstacle.
  • 862
  • 13 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Computational Biomechanics for Surgical Procedures and Devices Investigation
Biomechanical investigations of surgical procedures and devices are usually developed by means of human or animal models. The exploitation of computational methods and tools can reduce, refine, and replace (3R) the animal experimentations for scientific purposes and for pre-clinical research. The computational model of a biological structure characterizes both its geometrical conformation and the mechanical behavior of its building tissues. Model development requires coupled experimental and computational activities. Medical images and anthropometric information provide the geometrical definition of the computational model. Histological investigations and mechanical tests on tissue samples allow for characterizing biological tissues’ mechanical response by means of constitutive models. The assessment of computational model reliability requires comparing model results and data from further experimentations. Computational methods allow for the in-silico analysis of surgical procedures and devices’ functionality considering many different influencing variables, the experimental investigation of which should be extremely expensive and time consuming. 
  • 862
  • 08 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Lithium Therapeutic Monitoring in Bipolar Disorder
Lithium was discovered as a therapeutic remedy for psychiatric conditions in the mid-19th century and was reintroduced one century later and it is still the most widely used medication for long-term management of bipolar disorder, where it is administered as a salt in the form of lithium carbonate/cirate/chloride/or sulfate. Bipolar disorder (BD) is a serious life-long disorder, characterized by recurrent episodes of depression and mania.
  • 862
  • 10 Feb 2022
Topic Review
The Importance of Photoacoustic Tomography Image Post-Processing
Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) is a promising imaging technique that utilizes the detection of light-induced acoustic waves for both morphological and functional biomedical imaging. However, producing high-quality images using PAT is still challenging and requires further research. Besides improving image reconstruction, an alternative way to address this issue is through image post-processing, which enhances and optimizes the reconstructed PAT image. Image post-processing methods have rapidly emerged in PAT and are proven to be essential in improving image analysis performance.
  • 861
  • 14 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Multi-Domain Model of Anterior Cruciate Ligament
The anterior cruciate ligament’s (ACL) mechanics is an important factor governing the ligament’s integrity and, hence, the knee joint’s response. Despite many investigations in this area, the cause and effect of injuries remain unclear or unknown. This may be due to the complexity of the direct link between macro- and micro-scale damage mechanisms. In the first part of this investigation, a three-dimensional coarse-grained model of collagen fibril (type I) was developed using a bottom-up approach to investigate deformation mechanisms under tensile testing. 
  • 860
  • 27 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Practical Considerations for Next-Generation Adjuvant Development and Translation
Throughout the last two decades, there has been increasing focus on the discovery and translation of new immune-stimulating agents. These compounds are often collectively referred to as adjuvants due to their precedent of use in vaccine development. There has been an expansion in the application of adjuvants in oncology and other areas as the understanding and definition of adjuvants continue to grow. Adjuvants stimulate key cell types in the innate immune system and can influence the scale and class of immune response directed towards a given antigen or antigens.
  • 860
  • 07 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Engineered Vasculature
Engineered vasculature refers to the creation or fabrication of artificial blood vessel networks within biological systems or tissue constructs by combining organ-specific cells and vasculature cells, scaffolds, and biologically active molecules to form functional tissues. Engineered vasculature is inspired by the structure and function of the natural vascular system that facilitates nutrients and oxygen exchange between cells and blood vessels. It has been used to study vascular pathophysiology, vasculature–organ interaction, and drug and cell trans-endothelium trafficking. In particular, it has been applied in cancer research to study angiogenesis, vascular remodeling, and metastasis. Moreover, engineered vascular conduits that are usually large vessels (>1 cm3) have been used for regenerative purposes, replacing large dysfunctional arteria.
  • 859
  • 11 May 2023
Topic Review
Histopathological Gastric Cancer Detection on GasHisSDB Dataset
Gastric cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, underscoring the need for early detection to improve patient survival rates. Deep learning pre-trained networks have shown promise in this regard, but each model can only extract a limited number of image features for classification. To overcome this limitation, the use of ensemble models, which combine the decisions of multiple pre-trained networks, proves to be effective.
  • 855
  • 30 May 2023
Topic Review
Applications of Microwaves in Medicine Leveraging Artificial Intelligence
Microwaves are non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation with waves of electrical and magnetic energy transmitted at different frequencies. They are widely used in various industries, including the food industry, telecommunications, weather forecasting, and in the field of medicine. Microwave applications in medicine are relatively a new field of growing interest, with a significant trend in healthcare research and development. The first application of microwaves in medicine dates to the 1980s in the treatment of cancer via ablation therapy; since then, their applications have been expanded. Significant advances have been made in reconstructing microwave data for imaging and sensing applications in the field of healthcare. Artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled microwave systems can be developed to augment healthcare, including clinical decision making, guiding treatment, and increasing resource-efficient facilities. 
  • 848
  • 07 Apr 2023
Topic Review
B-Lymphocytes in Progression to Osteoporosis
B-lymphocytes—typically appreciated for their canonical role in adaptive, humoral immunity—have emerged as critical regulators of bone remodeling. B-lymphocytes communicate with osteoclasts and osteoblasts through various cytokines, including IL-7, RANK, and OPG. In inflammatory conditions, B-lymphocytes promote osteoclast activation and differentiation. However, B-lymphocytes also possess immunomodulatory properties, with regulatory B-lymphocytes (Bregs) secreting TGF-β1 to restrain pathogenic osteoclastogenesis. 
  • 840
  • 07 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Characterization Technique for Exosomes
Exosomes distributed by extracellular vesicles carry various information highly consistent with cells, becoming a new type of biomarker for tumor screening. However, although conventional characterization technologies can quantify size and morphology for exosomes, they are limited in related fields such as function tracing, protein quantification at unit point, and microstructural information.
  • 840
  • 08 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Ankle and Foot Arthroplasty and Prosthesis
The foot and ankle serve vital roles in weight bearing, balance, and flexibility but are susceptible to many diverse ailments, making treatment difficult. More commonly, Total Ankle Arthroplasty (TAA) and Total Talus Replacement (TTR) are used for patients with ankle degeneration and avascular necrosis of the talus, respectively. Ankle prosthesis and orthosis are also indicated for use with lower limb extremity amputations or locomotor disability, leading to the development of powered exoskeletons. However, patient outcomes remain suboptimal, commonly due to the misfitting of implants to the patient-specific anatomy. Additive manufacturing (AM) is being used to create customized, patient-specific implants and porous implant cages that provide structural support while allowing for increased bony ingrowth and to develop customized, lightweight exoskeletons with multifunctional actuators. AM implants and devices have shown success in preserving stability and mobility of the joint and achieving fast recovery, as well as significant improvements in gait rehabilitation, gait assistance, and strength for patients. 
  • 837
  • 20 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Machine Learning-Enhanced Biosensors for Non-Invasive Sampling
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of widespread testing for SARS-CoV-2, leading to the development of various new testing methods. However, traditional invasive sampling methods can be uncomfortable and even painful, creating barriers to testing accessibility. 
  • 831
  • 21 Aug 2023
Topic Review
3D Printing in Ophthalmology
Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a process in which materials are added together in a layer-by-layer manner to construct customized products. Many different techniques of 3D printing exist, which vary in materials used, cost, advantages, and drawbacks. Medicine is increasingly benefiting from this transformative technology, and the field of ophthalmology is no exception. The possible 3D printing applications in eyecare are vast and have been explored in the literature, such as 3D-printed ocular prosthetics, orbital implants, educational and anatomical models, as well as surgical planning and training. 
  • 829
  • 01 Feb 2024
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