Comparison of modified injection molding and conventional machining in biodegradable behavior of perforated cannulated magnesium hip stents

In this study,perforated cannulated magnesium(Mg)hip stents were fabricated via modified Mg injection molding and conventional machining,respectively.Additionally,the stent canal was filled with paraffin to simulate injection of biomaterials.The microstructure,mechanical performance,corrosion behavior,and biocompatibility were comparably studied.Scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and energy dispersive spectroscopy(EDS)showed higher affinity of interstitial element such as oxygen and carbon as consequences of routine molding process.After immersion in SBF,machining stents showed reduced degradation rate and increased deposition of calcium phosphate compared to molding stents.Corrosion resistance was improved via paraffin-filling.Consistently,the hemolysis and in vitro osteoblast cell culture models showed favourable biocompatibility in machining stents compared to molding ones,which was improved by paraffin-filling treatment as well.These results implied that the feasibility of the prepared machining stents as the potential in vivo orthopaedic application where slower degradation is required,which could be enhanced by designing canal-filling injection of biomaterials as well.     

Rapid and Superior Bacteria Killing of Carbon Quantum Dots/ZnO Decorated Injectable Folic Acid‐Conjugated PDA Hydrogel through Dual‐Light Triggered ROS and Membrane Permeability

One of the most difficult challenges in the biomedical field is bacterial infection, which causes tremendous harm to human health. In this work, an injectable hydrogel is synthesized through rapid assembly of dopamine (DA) and folic acid (FA) cross‐linked by transition metal ions (TMIs, i.e., Zn²⁺), which was named as DFT‐hydrogel. Both the two carboxyl groups in the FA molecule and catechol in polydopamine (PDA) easily chelates Zn²⁺ to form metal–ligand coordination, thereby allowing this injectable hydrogel to match the shapes of wounds. In addition, PDA in the hydrogel coated around carbon quantum dot‐decorated ZnO (C/ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) to rapidly generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and heat under illumination with 660 and 808 nm light, endows this hybrid hydrogel with great antibacterial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus, typical Gram‐positive bacteria) and Escherichia coli (E. coli, typical Gram‐negative bacteria). The antibacterial efficacy of the prepared DFT‐C/ZnO‐hydrogel against S. aureus and E. coli under dual‐light irradiation is 99.9%. Importantly, the hydrogels release zinc ions over 12 days, resulting in a sustained antimicrobial effect and promoted fibroblast growth. Thus, this hybrid hydrogel exhibits great potential for the reconstruction of bacteria‐infected tissues, especially exposed wounds.     

In Situ Disinfection through Photoinspired Radical Oxygen Species Storage and Thermal‐Triggered Release from Black Phosphorous with Strengthened Chemical Stability

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) utilizing light‐induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a promising alternative to combat antibiotic‐resistant bacteria and biofilm. However, the photosensitizer (PS)‐modified surface only exhibits antibacterial properties in the presence of light. It is known that extended photoirradiation may lead to phototoxicity and tissue hypoxia, which greatly limits PDT efficiency, while ambient pathogens also have the opportunity to attach to biorelevant surfaces in medical facilities without light. Here, an antimicrobial film composed of black phosphorus nanosheets (BPSs) and poly (4‐pyridonemethylstyrene) endoperoxide (PPMS‐EPO) to control the storage and release of ROS reversibly is introduced. BPS, as a biocompatible PS, can produce high singlet oxygen under the irradiation of visible light of 660 nm, which can be stably stored in PPMS‐EPO. The ROS can be gradually thermally released in the dark. In vitro antibacterial studies demonstrate that the PPMS‐EPO/BPS film exhibits a rapid disinfection ability with antibacterial rate of 99.3% against Escherichia coli and 99.2% against Staphylococcus aureus after 10 min of irradiation. Even without light, the corresponding antibacterial rate reaches 76.5% and 69.7%, respectively. In addition, incorporating PPMS significantly improves the chemical stability of the BPS.     

Embedding ZnSe nanodots in nitrogen-doped hollow carbon architectures for superior lithium storage

Nano Research - Transition metal chalcogenides represent a class of the most promising alternative electrode materials for high-performance lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their high...     

Formation of metastable wurtzite phase boron nitride by emulsion detonation synthesis

Emulsion detonation synthesis (EDS) is a newly developed process to synthesize nano‐sized ceramic powders based on the detonation of 2 water‐in‐oil emulsions. The process provides high pressure and temperature along with rapid quenching. In this work, we report the formation of wurtzite phase BN (w‐BN) for the first time by EDS process, using hexagonal BN (h‐BN) as the precursor. Characterization studies demonstrated the formation of w‐BN with sizes varying from nanometer to micrometer scale either embedded in or grown from h‐BN matrix. These findings provide a new avenue to synthesize metastable and superhard BN phases.     

Multimedia Services for Highway Infrastructure Management

Photographic logging systems used by highway agencies provide engineers with information in the analysis of traffic accidents, design improvements, and highway pavement management. However, there exist limitations for such systems in the areas of accessibility, search capability of the image library, and synchronization video data with traditional engineering site data. More important, there are situations in which multiple users may need to examine the video footage at the same time. This capability cannot be provided by current systems. The analog nature of the video signals also presents difficulties in integrating the visual information with other types of data. This paper introduces a type of multimedia service that can be applied in a state highway department environment for highway infrastructure management. This multimedia‐based information system utilizes state‐of‐the‐art technologies in digital video, high‐speed networking, and video server. This paper discusses the requirements of high‐speed networking systems and presents a new computer network that has the potential to become a dominant technology for the transmission of multimedia data. In addition, design concerns regarding the video server and its structure are also discussed. A data‐synchronization algorithm is also presented on how to dynamically display digital video frames with traditional engineering data sets that contain information such as as‐built data, pavement condition and performance, traffic safety, geometric features, and other infrastructure data.     

Nanocarrier‐Mediated Codelivery of Small Molecular Drugs and siRNA to Enhance Chondrogenic Differentiation and Suppress Hypertrophy of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Cartilage loss is a leading cause of disability among adults, and effective therapy remains elusive. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), which have demonstrated self‐renewal and multipotential differentiation, are a promising cell source for cartilage repair. However, the hypertrophic differentiation of the chondrogenically induced MSCs and resulting tissue calcification hinders the clinical translation of MSCs for cartilage repair. Here, a multifunctional nanocarrier based on quantum dots (QDs) is developed to enhance chondrogenic differentiation and suppress hypertrophy of hMSCs simultaneously. Briefly, the QDs are modified with β‐cyclodextrin (β‐CD) and RGD peptide. The resulting nanocarrier is capable of carrying hydrophobic small molecules such as kartogenin in the hydrophobic pockets of conjugated β‐CD to induce chondrogenic differentiation of hMSCs. Meanwhile, via electrostatic interaction the conjugated RGD peptides bind the cargo siRNA targeting Runx2, which is a key regulator of hMSC hypertrophy. Furthermore, due to the excellent photostability of QDs, hMSCs labeled with the nanocarrier can be tracked for up to 14 d after implantation in nude mice. Overall, this work demonstrates the potential of our nanocarrier for inducing and maintaining the chondrogenic phenotype and tracking hMSCs in vivo.     

The Fast Prefix Coding Algorithm (FPCA) for 3D Pavement Surface Data Compression

The enormous data inflow during three‐dimensional (3D) pavement surface data collection requires an efficient compression system for 3D data. However, with respect to the phase of lossless encoding, the commonly used Huffman Coding is inefficient in terms of speed and memory usage for encoding 3D pavement surfaces. The Fast Prefix Coding Algorithm (FPCA) is proposed in the article as an effective substitute of Huffman Coding at the stage of lossless encoding. It is demonstrated in the article that the FPCA is much faster and more memory efficient than Huffman Coding, while outperforming Shannon–Fano Coding in terms of both redundancy and time efficiency. The FPCA‐based coding approach is a modification of the baseline JPEG algorithm to support 3D pavement data whose dynamic range is more than 12 bits. The presented modifications include algorithms for Quantization, Run‐Length Encoding and Entropy Coding without limiting data depth in terms of dynamic range. Compared with the baseline JPEG approach, the proposed coding system is able to restrict the data loss more successfully and can achieve a significantly higher level of time efficiency and compression ratio (over than 30:1 for most of the evaluated 3D images). With parallel computing techniques, encoding full‐lane width pavement in 3D and at 1 mm resolution with an up‐to‐date desktop computer can be conducted at 150 MPH or even higher speed.     

Effect of the adding of rod-like attapulgite upon the properties of polyimides produced by random copolycondensation

A series of polyimides (PIs) and polyimide/attapulgite (AT) composite films was successfully prepared by random copolycondensation. The polyimides were synthesized based on 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether, 2,2-bis[4-(3,4-dicarboxyphenoxy)phenyl]propane dianhydride (BPADA), and 4,4′-oxydiphthalic anhydride (ODPA). By adjusting the ratio of BPADA and ODPA, three different types of anhydride group-terminated PIs were obtained. AT was functionalized by chemical modification with γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane and then chemical bonded with PI via reaction between amino group and anhydride group, resulting in stable PI/AT composites. The structure and properties of PIs and PI/AT composites were characterized by FTIR, XRD, TG, SEM, DSC, DMA, mechanical measure, and so on. Comparison was given between PIs and PI/AT composites. Results showed that all PIs had good thermal stability and mechanical properties with glass translation temperature (T _g) over 210 °C, 5 % weight loss temperature (T _d,5%) over 494 °C and tension strength of 84–89.9 MPa, breaking elongation around 7 %. More stable, flexible, and much stronger films were obtained after adding 5 wt% AT, which showed 535–548.5 °C, 85.8–118.9 MPa, and 10.3–24.7 % in T _d,5%, tension strength, and breaking elongation, respectively. Much interestingly, we found that AT had the greatest effect on PI-2, the yielding of which occurred during mechanical measure, and PI/AT-2 composite displayed excellent comprehensive properties.