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Topic Review
Small Diameter Cell-Free Tissue-Engineered Vascular Grafts
Vascular grafts (VGs) are medical devices intended to replace the function of a blood vessel. Available VGs in the market present low patency rates for small diameter applications setting the VG failure. This event arises from the inadequate response of the cells interacting with the biomaterial in the context of operative conditions generating chronic inflammation and a lack of regenerative signals where stenosis or aneurysms can occur. Tissue Engineered Vascular grafts (TEVGs) aim to induce the regeneration of the native vessel to overcome these limitations. Besides the biochemical stimuli, the biomaterial and the particular micro and macrostructure of the graft will determine the specific behavior under pulsatile pressure. The TEVG must support blood flow withstanding the exerted pressure, allowing the proper compliance required for the biomechanical stimulation needed for regeneration.
  • 643
  • 06 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Emotion Recognition from Physiological Signals
In many treatments for medical and psychosomatic disorders, such as physical therapy and other relaxation techniques, there is often a lack of consistent feedback on how well a patient responds to the therapy. This lack of feedback often leads to high drop-out rates and irregular training, which hinders the therapy’s ability to constantly yield an improved physical or psychological state. Implementing affective engineering in real-life applications requires the ability to effectively recognize emotions using physiological measurements. Despite being a widely researched topic, there seems to be a lack of systems that translate results from data collected in a laboratory setting to higher technology readiness levels. 
  • 642
  • 20 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Imaging of Gastrointestinal Tract Ailments
Gastrointestinal (GI) disorders comprise a diverse range of conditions that can significantly reduce the quality of life and can even be life-threatening in serious cases. The development of accurate and rapid detection approaches is of essential importance for early diagnosis and timely management of GI diseases. 
  • 638
  • 30 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Augmented Reality in Minimally Invasive Surgery Procedures
Augmented reality (AR) technology is gaining increasing interest in the development of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) procedures. The main application areas can be divided into three main groups: Navigation, education and training, and user-environment interfaces. Although AR-guided navigation systems do not yet offer a precision advantage, benefits include improved ergonomics and visualization, as well as reduced surgical time and blood loss. Benefits are also seen in improved education and training conditions and improved user environment interfaces, which may indirectly influence MIS procedures. Controlled studies with large case numbers and standardized outcome parameters and reporting are lacking to confirm the added value for clinical use.
  • 634
  • 04 May 2023
Topic Review
Electroencephalography for Neurological Disorders Rehabilitation
In clinical scenarios, the use of biomedical sensors, devices and multi-parameter assessments is fundamental to provide a comprehensive portrait of patients’ state, in order to adapt and personalize rehabilitation interventions and support clinical decision-making. Electroencephalography (EEG) measures the electrical activity of the brain and can monitor the complex neuronal activity and its changes.
  • 634
  • 21 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Plasmonic Biosensors for Point-of-Care Devicesf Engineering
The progresses in the research of plasmonic phenomena and materials paved the route toward the development of optical sensing platforms based on metal nanostructures with a great potential to be integrated into point-of-care (POC) devices for the next generation of sensing platforms, thus enabling real-time, highly sensitive and accurate diagnostics.
  • 631
  • 30 May 2023
Topic Review
Microfluidics Techniques for Pesticide Residues Detection in Food
Food safety is a significant issue that affects people worldwide and is tied to their lives and health. The issue of pesticide residues in food is just one of many issues related to food safety, which leave residues in crops and are transferred through the food chain to human consumption. Foods contaminated with pesticide residues pose a serious risk to human health, including carcinogenicity, neurotoxicity, and endocrine disruption. Although traditional methods, including gas chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography, chromatography, and mass spectrometry, can be used to achieve a quantitative analysis of pesticide residues, the disadvantages of these techniques, such as being time-consuming and costly and requiring specialist staff, limit their application.
  • 627
  • 25 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Wheelchair Skills Training Using Virtual Reality
It is estimated that 1% of the global population are wheelchair users (WUs). To promote the integration of WUs in society and enhance their independence, it is important that they know how to manoeuvre a wheelchair safely. Several training programmes for wheelchair driving skills have been developed; some programmes entail navigating in everyday settings (i.e., homes, schools, etc.), while others focus on controlled environments where a set of tasks are performed.
  • 627
  • 13 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Design and Formulation of Hyaluronic-Acid-Based Hydrogels
Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a natural polymer that is widely distributed in the human body and plays a significant role in numerous physiological processes such as cell migration, tissue hydration, and wound healing. Hydrogels based on HA and its derivatives have gained popularity as potential treatments for bone-related diseases. HA-based hydrogels have been extensively studied for their ability to mimic the natural extracellular matrix of bone tissue and provide a suitable microenvironment for cell support and tissue regeneration. The physical and chemical properties of HA can be modified to improve its mechanical strength, biocompatibility, and osteogenic potential.
  • 625
  • 07 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Thermomagnetic-Responsive Self-Folding Microgrippers for Minimally Invasive Surgical Techniques
Minimally invasive surgery allows for fewer complications as microdevices operate through small incisions or natural orifices. Thermomagnetic-responsive microgrippers are microscopic multi-fingered devices that respond to temperature changes due to the presence of thermal-responsive polymers. Polymeric devices, made of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) (pNIPAM-AAc) and polypropylene fumarate (PPF), self-fold due to swelling and contracting of the hydrogel layer. In comparison, soft metallic devices feature a pre-stressed metal bilayer and polymer hinges that soften with increased temperature. Both types of microdevices can self-actuate when exposed to the elevated temperature of a tumor microenvironment, allowing for direct targeting for biopsies. Microgrippers can also be doped to become magnetically responsive, allowing for direction without tethers and the retrieval of microdevices containing excised tissue. The smaller size of stimuli-responsive microgrippers allows for their movement through hard-to-reach areas within the body and the successful extraction of intact cells, RNA and DNA. 
  • 619
  • 28 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Kinect-Based Assessment of Lower Limbs during Gait
Several studies have explored the potentiality, accuracy, and effectiveness of this 3D optical sensor as an easy-to-use and non-invasive clinical measurement tool for the assessment of gait parameters in several pathologies. Focusing on stroke individuals, some of the available studies aimed to directly assess and characterize their gait patterns. In contrast, other studies focused on the validation of Kinect-based measurements with respect to a gold-standard reference. Although the Kinect-only based approach for motion analysis is not yet fully used to evaluate gait patterns in clinical settings, its use as a complementary tool with laboratory-grade systems is encouraged, the usefulness of a Kinect-based gait analysis has been demonstrated as a low-cost tool that can overcome the typical limitations of measurements in indoor laboratory environments, such as high cost, dependency on trained personnel, and the need to wear limited clothing.
  • 616
  • 18 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Cancer Treatments Combined with Thermal Therapy
As a safe and minimal-invasive modality, thermal therapy has become an effective treatment in cancer treatment. Other than killing the tumor cells or destroying the tumor entirely, the thermal modality results in profound molecular, cellular and biological effects on both the targeted tissue, surrounding environments, and even the whole body, which has triggered the combination of the thermal therapy with other traditional therapies as chemotherapy and radiation therapy or new therapies like immunotherapy, gene therapy and so on. The combined treatments have shown encouraging therapeutic effects both in research and clinic. The heating of tissue can be realized by either electromagnetic or mechanical waves. Typical treatments include radiofrequency ablation (RFA), microwave ablation (MWA), laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT), magnetic particle hyperthermia (MPH), photothermal therapy (PTT), and high intensity-focused ultrasound (HIFU). Thermal ablation uses a temperature higher than 55 °C to induce direct coagulative necrosis of the targeted tumor tissue. In these ablation treatments, due to the thermal diffusion, the region of the tissue that surrounds the region with high lethal temperature will experience temperature that is in the range of hyperthermia. Cryoablation is usually realized by high-pressure gas or low-temperature liquids. Clinical thermal therapy techniques have been reported to show promising results from either in vitro studies or clinical retrospective evaluations in combination with other tumor treatment modalities, which include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and other minimally invasive therapy.
  • 615
  • 23 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Photoacoustic Imaging with Single-Element Transducer in Animal Studies
Photoacoustic imaging is a hybrid imaging technique that has received considerable attention in biomedical studies. In contrast to pure optical imaging techniques, photoacoustic imaging enables the visualization of optical absorption properties at deeper imaging depths. In preclinical small animal studies, photoacoustic imaging is widely used to visualize biodistribution at the molecular level. PAI systems used single-element US transducers to acquire data. Single-element transducers scanned around the animals to produce tomographic images.
  • 614
  • 20 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Glycemic Control Biomarkers
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a worldwide-spread chronic metabolic disease that occurs when the pancreas fails to produce enough insulin levels or when the body fails to effectively use the secreted pancreatic insulin, eventually resulting in hyperglycemia. According to the International Diabetes Federation, in 2021, 537 million adults were suffering from DM, resulting in 6.7 million deaths and a 966 billion dollars healthcare cost. Systematic glycemic control is the only procedure at the disposal to prevent diabetes long-term complications such as cardiovascular disorders, kidney diseases, nephropathy, neuropathy, and retinopathy. The gold standard for glycemic control assessment in clinics is the glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) measurement,  but glycated albumin (GA) has recently gained more and more attention as a control biomarker thanks to its shorter lifespan and wider reliability compared to HbA1c. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and blood glucose monitoring (BGM) remain useful individual tools for diabetes self-management. 
  • 613
  • 05 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Bioengineering Immunotherapeutics for the Treatment of Glioblastoma
Improvements in bioengineering methodology and tools have allowed for significant progress in the development of therapeutics and diagnostics in medicine, as well as progress in many other industries, such as materials manufacturing, food and agriculture, and consumer goods. Glioblastomas present significant challenges to adequate treatment, in part due to their immune-evasive nature. Rational-design bioengineering using novel scaffolds, bio-based materials, and inspiration across disciplines can push the boundaries in treatment development to create effective therapeutics for glioblastomas.
  • 612
  • 13 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Joint Pathologies and Acoustic Emissions
The condition of a joint in a human being is prone to wear and several pathologies, particularly in the elderly and athletes. Current means towards assessing the overall condition of a joint to assess for a pathology involve using tools such as X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging, to name a couple. These expensive methods are of limited availability in resource-constrained environments and pose the risk of radiation exposure to the patient. The prospect of acoustic emissions (AEs) presents a modality that can monitor the joints’ conditions passively by recording the high-frequency stress waves emitted during their motion.
  • 595
  • 19 May 2023
Topic Review
Basic Concepts of Myoelectric Control
Surface electromyography (sEMG) signal analysis refers to a series of processing steps applied to the acquired human sEMG signals using signal acquisition devices. The primary objective is to eliminate irrelevant noise unrelated to the intended movements while retaining as many useful features as possible. This process aims to accurately identify the user’s intended movements.
  • 586
  • 10 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Thermographic Techniques for Skin Cancer Diagnosis
Infrared (IR) thermography is one of the most promising technologies now available for the early detection of malignant diseases (such as skin and breast cancers). Its significant strengths are the absence of contact and dangerous radiation; it is also a non-invasive and cost-effective technique.
  • 579
  • 05 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Deep Learning in Brain Tumor Classification from MRI
The independent detection and classification of brain malignancies using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can present challenges and the potential for error due to the intricate nature and time-consuming process involved. The complexity of the brain tumor identification process primarily stems from the need for a comprehensive evaluation spanning multiple modules. The advancement of deep learning (DL) has facilitated the emergence of automated medical image processing and diagnostics solutions, thereby offering a potential resolution to this issue. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) represent a prominent methodology in visual learning and image categorization. 
  • 569
  • 22 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Collagen-Based Scaffolds for Bone Regeneration
Orthopedics has been identified as a major clinical medicine branch since the 18th century for musculoskeletal disease diagnosis and therapeutics. Along with technological progress, the surgical treatment of bone disorders became available in the 19th century, while its growth faced several obstacles due to a lack of proper biocompatible material and alternative structures. Therefore, tissue engineering has emerged as a key building block to overcome these challenges, providing the capability for bone growth, and fabricating scaffolds with enriched desirable cellular compatibility as well as mechanical properties. Among various structures, the electrospun layer has implied high porosity and fine pore sizes, and succeeded in cell growth and proliferation. Collagen nanofibers have represented a wide potential for mineralization, bone regeneration, and forming processes. Despite this, such scaffolds have accosted bone remodeling limitations due to inadequate osteoinductivity and mechanical strength. Hence, the tendency to fabricate efficient collagen-based nanofibrous layers enriched with organic and inorganic materials has been extensively declared. Embedding these materials leads to engineering a membrane with appropriate physical, degradability, and mechanical properties, as well as proper mineralization and biological activity required for better replicating the bone organ’s natural microenvironment.
  • 563
  • 26 Jul 2023
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