Silk proteins for biomedical applications: Bioengineering perspectives

Biomaterials of either natural or synthetic origin are used to fabricate implantable devices, as carriers for bioactive molecules or as substrates to facilitate tissue regeneration. For the design of medical devices it is fundamental to use materials characterized by non-immunogenicity, biocompatibility, slow and/or controllable biodegradability, non-toxicity, and structural integrity. The success of biomaterial-derived biodevices tends to be based on the biomimetic architecture of the materials. Recently, proteins from natural precursors that are essentially structural and functional polymers, have gained popularity as biomaterials. The silks produced by silkworms or spiders are of particular interest as versatile protein polymers. These form the basis for diverse biomedical applications that exploit their unique biochemical nature, biocompatibility and high mechanical strength. This review discusses and summarizes the latest advances in the engineering of silk-based biomaterials, focusing specifically on the fabrication of diverse bio-mimetic structures such as films, hydrogels, scaffolds, nanofibers and nanoparticles; their functionalization and potential for biomedical applications.     

A Review on Polymeric Nanocomposites of Nanodiamond,Carbon Nanotube,and Nanobifiller: Structure,Preparation and Properties

In this review, an overview of various types of nanofillers is presented with special emphasis on structure, synthesis and properties of carbon nanotube, nanodiamond, and nanobifiller of carbon nanotube/nanodiamond, carbon nanotube/graphene oxide and carbon nanotube/graphene. In addition, polymer/carbon nanotube, polymer/nanodiamond, and polymer/nanobifiller composites have been discussed. The efficacy of different fabrication techniques for nanocomposites (solution casting, in-situ, and melt blending method) and their properties were also discussed in detail. Finally, we have summarized the challenges and future prospects of polymer nanocomposites reinforced with carbon nanofillers hoping to facilitate progress in the emerging area of nanobifiller technology.     

Deterministic collision free communication despite continuous motion

We present a deterministic solution for nodes in a mobile wireless ad hoc network to communicate reliably and maintain local neighborhood information. The nodes are located on a two-dimensional plane and may be in continuous motion. In our solution we tile the plane with hexagons. Each hexagon is assigned a color from a finite set of colors. Two hexagons of the same color are located sufficiently far apart so that nodes in these two hexagons cannot interfere with each other’s broadcasts. Based on this partitioning we develop a periodic deterministic schedule for mobile nodes to broadcast. This schedule guarantees collision avoidance. Broadcast slots are tied to geographic locations instead of nodes and the schedule for a node changes dynamically as it moves from tile to tile. The schedule allows nodes to maintain information about their local neighborhood. This information in turn is used to keep the schedule collision-free. We demonstrate the correctness of our algorithm, and discuss how the periodic schedule can be adapted for different scenarios. The periodic schedule, however, does not address the problem of initial neighbor discovery at start-up. We give a separate algorithm for this problem of initially discovering nodes present within communication range at start-up.     

Controlled nanostructuring of multiphase core-shell nanowires by a template-assisted electrodeposition approach

Multiphase core-shell nanowires have been fabricated by controlling the ion transport processes of the microfluids in the nanochannels of the template. Both forced convection and pulsed potential induced migration can be applied to tune the morphologies of the nanostructures obtained by manipulating the ion transport during electrodeposition. The morphology and content of the core-shell structure were studied by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) analysis, transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), respectively. The magnetic properties were analyzed by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analysis. A magnetically hard core and soft shell constitutes the multiphase composite nanostructure. The unique magnetic hysteresis curve indicates the decoupled magnetic reversal processes of the two components. Our work provides deeper insights into the formation mechanisms of a new core-shell nanostructure, which may have potential applications in novel spintronics devices.     

Microwave assisted synthesis and antimicrobial activity of Fe3O4-doped ZrO2 nanoparticles

Composites play important role in dental filling by controlling shrinkage along with correction in teeth's shape and position. Rehabilitation of severely worn dentition can be achieved using mechanically strong composites. This study aims to synthesize zirconia-based composites to be used as dental fillers. Effect of microwave powers (100–900?W) along with Fe₃O₄ doping are studied on the structural, mechanical and magnetic properties of stabilized zirconia. SEM and TEM reveal formation of spherical nanoparticles with diameter of ～30?nm. XRD results shows phase pure tetragonal zirconia (t-ZrO₂) at microwave power of 500?W without any post heat treatment. Crystallite size calculated from XRD data (～23?nm) matches well with the previously reported value for stabilization of t-ZrO₂. Microwave energy dissipation results in stresses causing volume shrinkage leading to monoclinic to tetragonal phase transformation with higher X-ray density and hardness of ～1347HV. VSM results show ferromagnetic response with low coercivity (600Oe) value and saturation magnetization (～2emu/g). It is worth mentioning here that this is one of its kind study reporting synthesis of room temperature stabilized Fe₃O₄ doped zirconia composites at microwave power of 500?W. Antibacterial studies reveal inhibition zone of ～32?mm against bacillus bacteria suggesting their potential use as dental filler.