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Clin Nutr 2018 Nov 30. Epub 2018 Nov 30.

Servicio de Geriatría, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain. Electronic address:

Recent definitions of malnutrition include low muscle mass within its diagnostic criteria. In fact, malnutrition is one of the main risk factors of skeletal muscle loss contributing to the onset of sarcopenia. However, differences in the screening and diagnosis of skeletal muscle loss, especially as a result of malnutrition in clinical and community settings, still occur mainly as techniques and thresholds used vary in clinical practice. Read More

Curr Opin Insect Sci 2018 Dec 24;30:19-25. Epub 2018 Aug 24.

Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Kiel University, D-24118 Kiel, Germany.

This paper is a brief review and discussion of the recent literature on the hairy adhesive pads of beetles, with the focus on two features of these pads, firstly, compliant setal tips and secondly, a liquid secretion, that together guarantee robust cycles of attachment/detachment on smooth and rough substrates. The compliance is required to ensure sufficient contact between the setal tips and the substrate with a minimum of elastically stored energy at the contact interface. The secretion fills potential gaps between both surfaces, generates capillary adhesive forces, and enhances self-cleaning of these microstructures. Read More

ISA Trans 2018 Dec 6. Epub 2018 Dec 6.

National Key Laboratory of Aerospace Flight Dynamics, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710072, China; College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518060, China. Electronic address:

This paper investigates the relative position tracking and attitude synchronization problem of a chaser spacecraft rendezvous and docking with an uncontrolled tumbling target in the presence of external disturbances and actuator saturation. By combining the extended state observer technique with backstepping control methodology, a robust output-feedback control strategy with no precise motion information of the tumbling target is proposed. Moreover, a particular Nussbaum-type function is introduced to compensate for the nonlinear terms arising for actuator saturation. Read More

J Safety Res 2018 Dec 25;67:125. Epub 2018 Oct 25.

BioMechanical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 2, NL 2628, CD, Delft, the Netherlands. Electronic address:

Materials (Basel) 2018 Dec 13;11(12). Epub 2018 Dec 13.

Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, Monterrey 64849, NL, México.

This paper focuses on investigating the residual stress values associated with a part fabricated by Selective Laser Melting technology (SLM) when this is subjected further to forces on single point incremental forming (SPIF) operation of variable wall angle. The residual stresses induced by the SLM manufacturing process on the fabricated AlSi10Mg metallic sheets, as well as those produced during their forming SPIF operation were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. Significant residual stress levels of variation, positive or negative, along the metallic sample were observed because of the bending effects induced by the SPIF processes. Read More

Nanomaterials (Basel) 2018 Dec 13;8(12). Epub 2018 Dec 13.

School of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.

Due to their excellent properties and two-dimensional geometry, graphenes (Grs) have been widely used as reinforced fillers in graphene/aluminum nanolaminated composite (GANC). The separation and slippage behavior of the GANC is highly dependent on the interfacial properties between Gr and aluminum (Al). In this study, two interfacial failures of GANCs, i. Read More

Sensors (Basel) 2018 Dec 13;18(12). Epub 2018 Dec 13.

Rural Engineering Department, University of Cordoba. Ed. Leonardo da Vinci, Campus Rabanales, Ctra. Nacional IV, km 396, 14014 Córdoba, Spain.

Canopy characterization has become important when trying to optimize any kind of agricultural operation in high-growing crops, such as olive. Many sensors and techniques have reported satisfactory results in these approaches and in this work a 2D laser scanner was explored for measuring canopy trees in real-time conditions. The sensor was tested in both laboratory and field conditions to check its accuracy, its cone width, and its ability to characterize olive canopies in situ. Read More

PLoS Comput Biol 2018 Dec 14;14(12):e1006652. Epub 2018 Dec 14.

Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States of America.

Mechanical stimulation of the healing tendon is thought to regulate scar anisotropy and strength and is relatively easy to modulate through physical therapy. However, in vivo studies of various loading protocols in animal models have produced mixed results. To integrate and better understand the available data, we developed a multiscale model of rat Achilles tendon healing that incorporates the effect of changes in the mechanical environment on fibroblast behavior, collagen deposition, and scar formation. Read More

Glob Chang Biol 2019 Jan 22;25(1):174-186. Epub 2018 Nov 22.

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, ESM, Laxenburg, Austria.

There is an increasing evidence that smallholder farms contribute substantially to food production globally, yet spatially explicit data on agricultural field sizes are currently lacking. Automated field size delineation using remote sensing or the estimation of average farm size at subnational level using census data are two approaches that have been used. However, both have limitations, for example, automatic field size delineation using remote sensing has not yet been implemented at a global scale while the spatial resolution is very coarse when using census data. Read More

Adv Mater 2018 Dec 14:e1806948. Epub 2018 Dec 14.

School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, Harvard University, MA, 02138, USA.

Peeling from strong adhesion is hard, and sometimes painful. Herein, an approach is described to achieve both strong adhesion and easy detachment. The latter is triggered, on-demand, through an exposure to light of a certain frequency range. Read More

BMC Syst Biol 2018 Dec 14;12(Suppl 7):92. Epub 2018 Dec 14.

Environmental Laboratory, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, 3909 Halls Ferry Road, Vicksburg, MS, 39180, USA.

Background: Ecotoxicological studies on the insensitive munitions formulation IMX-101 and its components 2,4-dinitroanisole (DNAN), nitroguanidine (NQ) and nitrotriazolone (NTO) in various organisms showed that DNAN was the main contributor to the overall toxicity of IMX-101 and suggested that the three compounds acted independently. These results motivated this toxicogenomics study to discern toxicological mechanisms for these compounds at the molecular level.

Methods: Here we used the soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, a well-characterized genomics model, as the test organism and a species-specific, transcriptome-wide 44 K-oligo probe microarray for gene expression analysis. Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2018 Nov;121(22):228002

Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

Wrinkling instabilities appear in soft materials when a flat elastic layer on an elastic substrate is sufficiently stressed that it buckles with a wavy pattern to minimize the energy of the system. This instability is known to play an important role in engineering, but it also appears in many biological systems. In these systems, the stresses responsible for the wrinkling instability are often created through differential growth of the two layers. Read More

Aerospace (Basel) 2018 2;5(2):52. Epub 2018 May 2.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA;

This study focused on the development of a chemical micropropulsion system suitable for primary propulsion and/or attitude control for a nanosatellite. Due to the limitations and expense of current micropropulsion technologies, few nanosatellites with propulsion have been launched to date; however, the availability of such a propulsion system would allow for new nanosatellite mission concepts, such as deep space exploration, maneuvering in low gravity environments and formation flying. This work describes the design of "dual mode" monopropellant/bipropellant microthruster prototype that employs a novel homogeneous catalysis scheme. Read More

Sensors (Basel) 2018 Dec 11;18(12). Epub 2018 Dec 11.

Institute of Microtechnology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Braunschweig University of Technology, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.

In this work, we developed and fabricated a paper-based anisotropic magneto-resistive sensor using a sputtered permalloy (Ni 81 Fe 19 ) thin film. To interpret the characteristics of the sensor, we proposed a computational model to capture the influence of the stochastic fiber network of the paper surface and to explain the physics behind the empirically observed difference in paper-based anisotropic magneto-resistance (AMR). Using the model, we verified two main empirical observations: (1) The stochastic fiber network of the paper substrate induces a shift of 45 ∘ in the AMR response of the paper-based Ni 81 Fe 19 thin film compared to a Ni 81 Fe 19 film on a smooth surface as long as the fibrous topography has not become buried. Read More

Micromachines (Basel) 2018 Dec 11;9(12). Epub 2018 Dec 11.

School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130025, China.

Nanoindentation techniques, with high spatial resolution and force sensitivity, have recently been moved into the center of the spotlight for measuring the mechanical properties of biomaterials, especially bridging the scales from the molecular via the cellular and tissue all the way to the organ level, whereas characterizing soft biomaterials, especially down to biomolecules, is fraught with more pitfalls compared with the hard biomaterials. In this review we detail the constitutive behavior of soft biomaterials under nanoindentation (including AFM) and present the characteristics of experimental aspects in detail, such as the adaption of instrumentation and indentation response of soft biomaterials. We further show some applications, and discuss the challenges and perspectives related to nanoindentation of soft biomaterials, a technique that can pinpoint the mechanical properties of soft biomaterials for the scale-span is far-reaching for understanding biomechanics and mechanobiology. Read More

Sensors (Basel) 2018 Dec 10;18(12). Epub 2018 Dec 10.

German Aerospace Center (DLR); Institute for Communications and Navigation, Oberpfaffenhofen, 82234 Wessling, Germany.

In 3D pedestrian indoor navigation applications, position estimation based on inertial measurement units (IMUss) fails when moving platforms (MPs), such as escalators and elevators, are not properly implemented. In this work, we integrate the MPs in an upper 3D-simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm which is cascaded to the pedestrian dead-reckoning (PDR) technique. The step and heading measurements resulting from the PDR are fed to the SLAM that additionally estimates a map of the environment during the walk in order to reduce the remaining drift. Read More

Biosensors (Basel) 2018 Dec 10;8(4). Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Department of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.

Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), regulating the expression of several genes that mediate the inflammatory responses and cell proliferation, is one of the therapeutic targets for chronic inflammatory disease and cancer. A novel molecular binding scheme for the detection of NF-κB was investigated for its affinity to Ig-κB DNA composed by dye and quencher fluorophores, and this specificity is confirmed by competing with the DNA sequence that is complementary to the Ig-κB DNA. We create a normalization equation to remove the negative effects from the various initial fluorophore concentrations and the background noise. Read More

Sensors (Basel) 2018 Dec 7;18(12). Epub 2018 Dec 7.

Centre for Computational Intelligence, De Montfort University, Gateway House, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK.

When a satellite performs complex tasks such as discarding a payload or capturing a non-cooperative target, it will encounter sudden changes in the attitude and mass parameters, causing unstable flying and rolling of the satellite. In such circumstances, the change of the movement and mass characteristics are unpredictable. Thus, the traditional attitude control methods are unable to stabilize the satellite since they are dependent on the mass parameters of the controlled object. Read More

J Mech Behav Biomed Mater 2018 Nov 15;91:76-90. Epub 2018 Nov 15.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Worcester, MA 01609, USA; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, African University of Science and Technology, Km 10, Airport Road, Galadimawa, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria; Advanced Biotechnology Laboratory, Sheda Science and Technology Complex, Abuja, Nigeria. Electronic address:

This paper presents the results of a combined experimental and analytical/computational study of viscoelastic cell deformation and detachment from poly-di-methyl-siloxane (PDMS) surfaces. Fluid mechanics and fracture mechanics concepts are used to model the detachment of biological cells observed under shear assay conditions. The analytical and computational models are used to compute crack driving forces, which are then related to crack extension during the detachment of normal breast cells and breast cancer cells from PDMS surfaces that are relevant to biomedical implants. Read More

Soft Matter 2018 Dec 13. Epub 2018 Dec 13.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA and Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA.

A temperature variation can electrically polarize a pyroelectric material. In its converse manifestation, the electrocaloric effect entails a change in temperature due to the application of an electric field. These phenomena have wide applications ranging from infrared detection sensors and solid-state refrigeration to energy harvesting. Read More

Nanoscale 2018 Dec 13. Epub 2018 Dec 13.

Key Laboratory of Aerospace Advanced Materials and Performance of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science & Engineering Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have been regarded as a promising candidate for energy storage owing to their ultrahigh theoretical capacity and low cost. However, the commercial application of Li-S batteries has been plagued by the huge volume change of sulfur, the insulative nature of solid active materials (S and Li2S) and the polysulfide shuttle. Here, a uniform sulfur-gallium core-shell structure (S@Ga) with an ultrathin liquid gallium shell was prepared by harnessing the reaction between sulfur and gallium via a facile mixing process. Read More

Nat Mater 2019 Jan 10;18(1):19-23. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Japan.

Solids are generally classified into three categories based on their atomic arrangement: crystalline, quasicrystalline and amorphous. Here we report MgO and NdO ceramic phases with special atomic arrangements that should belong to a category of solids different from these three well known categories by combining state-of-the-art atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy and first-principles calculations. The reported solid structure exhibits a one-dimensional (1D) long-range order with a translational periodicity and is composed of structural units that individually have atomic arrangements similar to those observed in coincidence-site lattice configurations present at grain boundaries. Read More

Dent Mater J 2018 Dec 11. Epub 2018 Dec 11.

Department of Restorative Dentistry, Araraquara Faculty of Dentistry, Sao Paulo State University.

Computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) materials were submitted to thermocycling, to identify changes in mechanical behavior. Four CAD/CAM materials were divided in four subordinate groups (n=9): (1) dry out for 7 days, (2) distilled water at 37C for 7 days, (3) 60,000 thermocycles, and (4) 120,000 thermocycles. Following thermocycling, samples were submitted to three-point bending test. Read More

J Cardiovasc Magn Reson 2018 Dec 13;20(1):80. Epub 2018 Dec 13.

Department of Endocrinology and Internal Medicine and Medical Research Laboratories, Aarhus University Hospital, Nørrebrogade 44, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark.

Background: Women with Turner Syndrome have an increased risk for aortic dissection. Arterial stiffening is a risk factor for aortic dilatation and dissection. Here we investigate if arterial stiffening can be observed in Turner Syndrome patients and is an initial step in the development of aortic dilatation and subsequent dissection. Read More

BMC Health Serv Res 2018 Dec 12;18(1):961. Epub 2018 Dec 12.

Department of Endocrinology, Xijing Hospital, Air Force Medical University, 169 Changle Road West, Xi'an, 710032, China.

Background: To investigate the potential barriers to optimal diabetes control by evaluating the different perspectives of physicians and patients on such matters in China.

Methods: This multi-center survey was conducted from December 2015 to March 2016. A multi-stage stratified random sampling method was used to sample representative diabetes physicians and patients in 18 hospitals in Shaanxi province, China. Read More

Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2018 21;6:174. Epub 2018 Nov 21.

Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.

The Marchetti-Vicenzi's nail is an intramedullary device where six curved nails are kept straight by a closing ring in order to allow their insertion into the medullary canal of a long bone; in a following step, these nails stabilize the fracture due to the ring withdrawal and to the consequent elastic expansion of the nails. Pre-clinical testing of this sort of device is strongly advocated in order to be able to foresee their stability inside the medullary canal and to quantify their stiffening action on a broken bone. In this numerical work, an MB (Multi Body) model of the device has been developed, with the dual purpose of evaluating forces between the bone and the system components during its progressive opening and verifying the behavior of the stabilized bone when it undergoes external loading. Read More

Robotics Biomim 2018 12;5(1). Epub 2018 Nov 12.

2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Mie University, Tsu, Mie 514-8507 Japan.

In the first step, a 1-DOF power-assist robotic system (PARS) is developed for lifting lightweight objects. Dynamics for human-robot co-manipulation of objects is derived that considers human cognition (weight perception). Then, admittance control with position feedback and velocity controller is derived using weight perception-based dynamics. Read More

Scanning 2018 5;2018:6340425. Epub 2018 Nov 5.

Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Liverpool, L69 3GH, UK.

Using the atomic force microscopy- (AFM-) PeakForce quantitative nanomechanical mapping (QNM) technique, we have previously shown that the adventitia of the human internal mammary artery (IMA), tested under dehydrated conditions, is altered in patients with a high degree of arterial stiffening. In this study, we explored the nanoscale elastic modulus of the tunica media of the IMA in hydrated and dehydrated conditions from the patients with low and high arterial stiffening, as assessed by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV). In both hydrated and dehydrated conditions, the medial layer was significantly stiffer in the high PWV group. Read More

Front Plant Sci 2018 20;9:1685. Epub 2018 Nov 20.

School of Information Science and Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.

Rice ( L.) is one of the most important staple foods in the world. It is possible to identify candidate genes associated with rice yield using the model of random walk with restart on a functional similarity network. Read More

Nanotechnology 2019 Feb;30(6):065704

College of Aerospace and Civil Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, 150001, People's Republic of China.

This paper presents multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/poly(m-phenylene isophthalamide) (PMIA) nanocomposite films as electrothermal elements, which offer advantages in flexibility, low energy consumption and rapid temperature growth. The electrical properties, electrothermal behavior and thermal stability of the films were investigated as a function of MWCNT content. The percolation behavior analysis revealed MWCNTs built a continuously conductive network in PMIA matrix at the corresponding percolation threshold of ∼0. Read More

J Neural Eng 2018 Nov 15. Epub 2018 Nov 15.

Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-2210, USA, Knoxville, Tennessee, UNITED STATES.

Advances in brain science and computer technology in the past decade have led to exciting developments in Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), thereby making BCI a top research area in applied science. The renaissance of BCI opens new methods of neurorehabilitation for physically disabled people (e.g. Read More

J Phys Condens Matter 2018 Nov 30. Epub 2018 Nov 30.

Institute of Advanced Structure Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, Beijing, CHINA.

This study aims to characterize the size and shape dependent melting temperature of nanomaterials. Considering that surface atoms and interior atoms affect the melting of materials in different manners, thus we define an equivalent relationship between the contribution of surface atoms and interior atoms. Based on this definition, a criterion of melting is proposed through introducing a critical energy storage density of melting, the sum of the contribution of surface atoms and the interior atoms. Read More

Environ Health Prev Med 2018 Dec 6;23(1):61. Epub 2018 Dec 6.

Division of Hygiene, Department of Social Medicine, Nihon University School of Medicine, Oyaguchi-Kamicho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 173-8610, Japan.

Background: To develop human space exploration, it is necessary to study the effects of an isolated and confined environment, as well as a microgravity environment, on cerebral circulation. However, no studies on cerebral circulation in an isolated and confined environment have been reported. Therefore, we investigated the effects of a 14-day period of confinement in an isolated environment on dynamic cerebral autoregulation. Read More

J Acoust Soc Am 2018 Nov;144(5):2906

Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies, University of Cambridge, 1 Scroope Terrace, Cambridge CB2 1PX, United Kingdom.

Research shows that the sight of trees and the sound of moving water improve the soundscape quality of outdoor spaces exposed to road traffic noise. Effects are attributed to non-energetic masking, visual attentional distortion, and congruence between sight and hearing. However, there is no literature on such effects for aircraft noise. Read More

J Acoust Soc Am 2018 Nov;144(5):EL447

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506, USA.

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of increasing spectral bandwidth from 3 to 10 kHz on individual speaker recognition in noisy conditions (+5, 0, and -5 dB signal-to-noise ratio). Experiment 1 utilized h(Vowel)d (hVd) signals, while experiment 2 utilized sentences from the Rainbow Passage. Both experiments showed significant improvements in individual speaker identification in the 10 kHz bandwidth condition (6% for hVds; 10% for sentences). Read More

J Acoust Soc Am 2018 Nov;144(5):EL460

Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, OHE 400F, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-1453, USA

A magnet can affect the vibration of the metal strings in a musical instrument. Here it is shown that a magnetic field can cause splitting of a metal guitar string's normally degenerate transverse vibration modes, leading to a beat note in the resulting sound. A distributed-spring model accurately predicts the natural frequencies of a vibrating guitar string in the non-uniform magnetic field. Read More

Nucleic Acids Res 2018 Dec 12. Epub 2018 Dec 12.

Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Intelligent Computing, Dalian University, Ministry of Education, Dalian 116622, China.

Recently, due to the dual roles of DNA and enzyme, DNAzyme has been widely used in the field of DNA circuit, which has a wide range of applications in bio-engineered system, information processing and biocomputing. In fact, the activity of DNAzymes was regulated by subunits assembly, pH control and metal ions triggers. However, those regulations required to change the sequences of whole DNAzyme, as separating parts and inserting extra DNA sequence. Read More

Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 2018 Dec 11. Epub 2018 Dec 11.

Headquarters Joint Force Command (HQ JFC) of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Lago Patria, Giugliano in Campania (NA), Italy.

Study Design: Cross-sectional, retrospective, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging study, performed during cadets' selection procedures of the Italian Air Force Academy.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of spinal MR imaging findings in asymptomatic young adults (18-22 yrs) candidate to Air Force Flight.

Summary Of Background Data: Spinal MR imaging findings are frequently detected in asymptomatic subjects. Read More

Lab Chip 2018 Dec 12. Epub 2018 Dec 12.

Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.

This paper reports a simple yet effective droplet manipulation approach that can displace aqueous droplets over a long distance within the working plane. Repeated patterns with surface gradient wettability were created on a super-hydrophobic surface by laser irradiation. Aqueous droplets as small as 2 μL are moved on the patterns over a long distance under in-plane symmetric cyclic vibration. Read More

Sci Rep 2018 Dec 12;8(1):17898. Epub 2018 Dec 12.

Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511, USA.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper. Read More

Nat Commun 2018 12 11;9(1):5329. Epub 2018 Dec 11.

Aachen Institute for Advanced Study in Computational Engineering Science (AICES), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52062, Germany.

The original version of this Article incorrectly omitted an affiliation of Sebastian Volz: 'LIMMS/CNRS-IIS(UMI2820) Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku Tokyo 153-8505 JAPAN'. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article. Read More

J Colloid Interface Sci 2018 Dec 4;538:449-461. Epub 2018 Dec 4.

Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Smart Bio-Interfaces, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, 56025 Pontedera, Italy; Politecnico di Torino, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy. Electronic address:

Major obstacles to the successful treatment of gliolastoma multiforme are mostly related to the acquired resistance to chemotherapy drugs and, after surgery, to the cancer recurrence in correspondence of residual microscopic foci. As innovative anticancer approach, low-intensity electric stimulation represents a physical treatment able to reduce multidrug resistance of cancer and to induce remarkable anti-proliferative effects by interfering with Ca and K homeostasis and by affecting the organization of the mitotic spindles. However, to preserve healthy cells, it is utterly important to direct the electric stimuli only to malignant cells. Read More

Math Biosci 2018 Dec 8;308:1-7. Epub 2018 Dec 8.

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, North Carolina State University, R3158 Engineering Building 3, Campus Box 7910, 911 Oval Drive, Raleigh, NC 27695, United States. Electronic address:

Tendon-to-bone insertion tissues may be considered as functionally-graded connective tissues, providing a gradual transition from soft tendon to hard bone tissue, and functioning to alleviate stress concentrations at the junction of these tissues. The tendon-to-bone insertion tissues demonstrate pronounced viscoelastic behavior, like many other biological tissues, and are designed by the nature to alleviate stress at physiological load rates and strains states. In this paper we present experimental data showing that under biaxial tension tendon-to-bone insertion demonstrates rate-dependent behavior and that stress-strain curves for the in-plane components of stress and strain become less steep when strain rate is increased, contrary to a typical viscoelastic behavior, where the opposite trend is observed. Read More

Adv Healthc Mater 2018 Dec 7:e1801234. Epub 2018 Dec 7.

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, New York University, Brooklyn, NY, 11201, USA.

Macrophages are a predominant immune cell population that drive inflammatory responses and exhibit transitions in phenotype and function during tissue remodeling in disease and repair. Thus, engineering an immunomodulatory biomaterial has significant implications for resolving inflammation. Here, a biomimetic and photoresponsive hyaluronan (HA) hydrogel nanocomposite with tunable 3D extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesion sites for dynamic macrophage immunomodulation is engineered. Read More

Adv Healthc Mater 2018 Dec 10:e1800806. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA.

Tissue-engineered menisci hold promise as an alternative to allograft procedures but require a means of robust fixation to the native bone. The insertion of the meniscus into bone is critical for meniscal function and inclusion of a soft tissue-to-bone interface in a tissue engineered implant can aid in the fixation process. The native insertion is characterized by gradients in composition, tissue architecture, and cellular phenotype, which are all difficult to replicate. Read More

Cytometry A 2018 Dec 11. Epub 2018 Dec 11.

Biomedical Engineering Department, University of California, Irvine, California.

Characterization of single cell metabolism is imperative for understanding subcellular functional and biochemical changes associated with healthy tissue development and the progression of numerous diseases. However, single-cell analysis often requires the use of fluorescent tags and cell lysis followed by genomic profiling to identify the cellular heterogeneity. Identifying individual cells in a noninvasive and label-free manner is crucial for the detection of energy metabolism which will discriminate cell types and most importantly critical for maintaining cell viability for further analysis. Read More

Adv Healthc Mater 2018 Dec 7:e1801353. Epub 2018 Dec 7.

Australian Research Council Centre in Innovative BioEngineering, School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia.

The successful regeneration of functional bone tissue in critical-size defects remains a significant clinical challenge. To address this challenge, synthetic bone scaffolds are widely developed, but remarkably few are translated to the clinic due to poor performance in vivo. Here, it is demonstrated how architectural design of 3D printed scaffolds can improve in vivo outcomes. Read More

Brief Bioinform 2018 Dec 10. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, Weill Cornell Medicine at Cornell University, New York, NY, USA.

Owning to the rapid development of computer technologies, an increasing number of relational data have been emerging in modern biomedical research. Many network-based learning methods have been proposed to perform analysis on such data, which provide people a deep understanding of topology and knowledge behind the biomedical networks and benefit a lot of applications for human healthcare. However, most network-based methods suffer from high computational and space cost. Read More

Mil Med 2018 Dec 7. Epub 2018 Dec 7.

University of Cincinnati, 231 Albert Sabin Way, Cincinnati, OH.

Introduction: Adequate oxygenation is one of the primary goals of mechanical ventilation. Maintenance of adequate oxygenation and prevention of hypoxemia are the primary goals for the battlefield casualty, but military operations have unique concerns. In military operations, oxygen is a limited resource. Read More

Soft Matter 2018 Dec 11. Epub 2018 Dec 11.

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.

We explore the consequences of micelle formation for diffusiophoresis of charged colloidal particles in ionic surfactant concentration gradients, using a quasi-chemical association model for surfactant self assembly. The electrophoretic contribution to diffusiophoresis is determined by re-arranging the Nernst-Planck equations, and the chemiphoretic contribution is estimated by making plausible approximations for the density profiles in the electrical double layer surrounding the particle. For sub-micellar solutions we find that a particle will typically be propelled down the concentration gradient, although electrophoresis and chemiphoresis are finely balanced and the effect is sensitive to the detailed parameter choices and simplifying assumptions in the model. Read More