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[Display omitted] Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) have been extensively used in therapeutic applications due to their unique physicochemical and biological properties. Meanwhile, urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most prevalent infections for which conventional antibiotics are the only treatment option. Unfortunately, improper and overuse of those antibiotics cause antibiotic resistance. Therefore, the current study is about the eco-friendly and cost-effective green synthesis of ZnONPs using Mimosa pudica leaf extract as a reducing, stabilizing, and capping agent that can act as an alternative therapeutics. The structural and optical properties of these M. pudica -based ZnONPs(Mp-ZnONPs), were characterized through various techniques, including UV–Vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential analysis, X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). From the above characterization, it was demonstrated that these crystalline nearly spherical NPs had an average size of 22.84 nm and a surface charge of −24.6 mV. Furthermore, the antibacterial and antibiofilm activity of MP-ZnONPs was assessed against multidrug-resistant (MDR) uropathogens, including both Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) strains with a MIC of 25–400 µg. These NPs also exhibited good hemocompatibility against human blood (hblood) samples. The cytotoxicity assay, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and NPs involvement in morphological and intracellular function were also investigated in RAW 264.7 and MCF7 cell lines to understand the in-vitro biocompatibility. These Mp-ZnONPs also showed an anticancer efficiency for cancerous MCF7 cells in comparison with the standard RAW 264.7 cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, bacterial infection has become one of the significant clinical challenges. The overuse or misuse of antibiotics increases the number of antibiotic‐resistant bacterial pathogens and causes enormous medical burdens with high morbidity and mortality. Several strategies have been adopted to tackle this; poly‐ionic liquids (PILs), a class of ionic liquids (ILs) systems demonstrating a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activities, have been widely used in biomedical applications. During polymerization, the charge density of the cations, molecular weight, and hydrophobic behavior can be regulated to accomplish more potent antibacterial efficacy with low cytotoxicity. However, inadequate literature is available highlighting the application of PIL‐based materials in biomedical applications. Keeping this in mind, the recent advances in PIL‐based biomaterials formed by conjugating PIL with natural and synthetic polymers as effective antimicrobial agents have been the focus area of this review.

In recent years, conductive hydrogels have generated tremendous attention in biomedicals and bioelectronics fields due to their excellent physiochemical properties. In this study, a physically cross-linked conducting hydrogel has been designed in combination with cellulose nanocrystalline (CNC), polyacrylic acid (PAA) chains, laurel methacrylate, and sodium dodecyl sulfate. The obtained result shows that the hydrogel prepared is ultrastretchable, mechanically robust, transparent, biocompatible, conductive, and self-healing. The mechanical property of the prepared hydrogel is optimized through variation of the CNC content. The optimal hydrogel (CNC-1/PAA) exhibits an impressive mechanics, including high stretchability (∼1800%) and compressibility, good elasticity, and fatigue resistance. Furthermore, the conductivity of the hydrogel enables tensile strain- and pressure-sensing capabilities. The CNC/PAA-based flexible sensors are successfully designed, which shows high sensitivity, fast response (290 ms), and excellent cycle stability as well as the pressure sensing capability. As a result, the designed hydrogel has the ability to sense and detect diverse human motion, including elbow/finger/wrist bending and speaking, which demonstrates that the designed self-healing conductive hydrogels have significant potential for applications in flexible electronics.

In recent years, polymeric biomaterials have emerged as a potential candidate for therapeutic applications owing to their salient features. The characterization of these drugs and bioactive molecules loaded polymer based biomaterials is an important prerequisite for obtaining a deep understanding of their physicochemical behavior in order to ensure their successful clinical use. There are a variety of complementary characterization techniques available for the characterization of the biomaterials. This review highlights the potential of Raman spectroscopy including its importance for investigating the molecular structure of polymeric materials along with a brief description of its principles, instrumentation, and recent advances.

The nuclear envelope (NE) has long been considered to dismantle only during mitosis. However, recent observations in cancer cells and laminopathy patient cells have revealed that the NE can also transiently rupture during interphase, thereby perturbing cellular homeostasis. Although NE ruptures are promoted by mechanical force and the loss of lamins, their stochastic nature and variable frequency preclude the study of their direct downstream consequences. We have developed a method based on vapor nanobubble-mediated photoporation that allows for deliberately inducing NE ruptures in a spatiotemporally controlled manner. Our method relies on wide-field laser illumination of perinuclear gold nanoparticles, resulting in the formation of short-lived vapor nanobubbles that inflict minute mechanical damage to the NE, thus creating small pores. We demonstrate that perinuclear localization of gold nanoparticles can be achieved after endocytic uptake or electroporation-facilitated delivery and that both strategies result in NE rupture upon laser irradiation. Furthermore, we prove that photoporation-induced nuclear ruptures are transient and recapitulate hallmarks of spontaneous NE ruptures that occur in A-type lamin-depleted cells. Finally, we show that the same approach can be used to promote influx of macromolecules that are too large to passively migrate through the NE. Thus, by providing unprecedented control over nuclear compartmentalization, nuclear photoporation offers a powerful tool for both fundamental cell biology research and drug delivery applications.

In gene therapy, endosomal escape represents a major bottleneck since nanoparticles often remain entrapped inside endosomes and are trafficked toward the lysosomes for degradation. A detailed understanding of the endosomal barrier would be beneficial for developing rational strategies to improve transfection and endosomal escape. By visualizing individual endosomal escape events in live cells, we obtain insight into mechanistic factors that influence proton sponge-based endosomal escape. In a comparative study, we found that HeLa cells treated with JetPEI/pDNA polyplexes have a 3.5-fold increased endosomal escape frequency compared to ARPE-19 cells. We found that endosomal size has a major impact on the escape capacity. The smaller HeLa endosomes are more easily ruptured by the proton sponge effect than the larger ARPE-19 endosomes, a finding supported by a mathematical model based on the underlying physical principles. Still, it remains intriguing that even in the small HeLa endosomes, <10% of the polyplex-containing endosomes show endosomal escape. Further experiments revealed that the membrane of polyplex-containing endosomes becomes leaky to small compounds, preventing effective buildup of osmotic pressure, which in turn prevents endosomal rupture. Analysis of H1299 and A549 cells revealed that endosomal size determines endosomal escape efficiency when cells have comparable membrane leakiness. However, at high levels of membrane leakiness, buildup of osmotic pressure is no longer possible, regardless of endosomal size. Based on our findings that both endosomal size and membrane leakiness have a high impact on proton sponge-based endosomal rupture, we provide important clues toward further improvement of this escape strategy.

Research on additive manufacturing (AM) of high-performance polymers provides novel materials and technologies for advanced applications in different sectors, such as aerospace and biomedical engineering. The present article is contextualized in this research trend by describing a novel AM protocol for processing a polysulfone (PSU)/N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) solution into medical implant prototypes. In particular, an AM technique involving the patterned deposition of the PSU/NMP mixture in a coagulation bath was employed to fabricate PSU implants with different predefined shape, fiber diameter, and macropore size. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis highlighted a fiber transversal cross-section morphology characterized by a dense external skin layer and an inner macroporous/microporous structure, as a consequence of the nonsolvent-induced polymer solidification process. Physical-chemical and thermal characterization of the fabricated samples demonstrated that PSU processing did not affect its macromolecular structure and glass-transition temperature, as well as that after post-processing PSU implants did not contain residual solvent or nonsolvent. Mechanical characterization showed that the developed PSU scaffold tensile and compressive modulus could be changed by varying the macroporous architecture. In addition, PSU scaffolds supported the in vitro adhesion and proliferation of the BALB/3T3 clone A31 mouse embryo cell line. These findings encourage further research on the suitability of the developed processing method for the fabrication of customized PSU implants.

A versatile approach for the design and fabrication of multilayer magnetic scaffolds with tunable magnetic gradients is described. Multilayer magnetic gelatin membrane scaffolds with intrinsic magnetic gradients were designed to encapsulate magnetized bioagents under an externally applied magnetic field for use in magnetic-field-assisted tissue engineering. The temperature of the individual membranes increased up to 43.7 °C under an applied oscillating magnetic field for 70 s by magnetic hyperthermia, enabling the possibility of inducing a thermal gradient inside the final 3D multilayer magnetic scaffolds. On the basis of finite element method simulations, magnetic gelatin membranes with different concentrations of magnetic nanoparticles were assembled into 3D multilayered scaffolds. A magnetic-gradient-controlled distribution of magnetically labeled stem cells was demonstrated in vitro. This magnetic biomaterial–magnetic cell strategy can be expanded to a number of different magnetic biomaterials for various tissue engineering applications.

Magnetic silk fibroin protein (SFP) scaffolds integrating magnetic materials and featuring magnetic gradients were prepared for potential utility in magnetic-field assisted tissue engineering. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were introduced into SFP scaffolds via dip-coating methods, resulting in magnetic SFP scaffolds with different strengths of magnetization. Magnetic SFP scaffolds showed excellent hyperthermia properties achieving temperature increases up to 8 °C in about 100 s. The scaffolds were not toxic to osteogenic cells and improved cell adhesion and proliferation. These findings suggest that tailored magnetized silk-based biomaterials can be engineered with interesting features for biomaterials and tissue-engineering applications.

Photo-cross-linked ulvan scaffolds were designed with the aim to induce and support enzyme mediated formation of apatite minerals, in the absence of osteogenic growth factors. Scaffold formation with a desired geometry was investigated using chemically modified ulvan bearing radically polymerizable groups. Further bioactivity was incorporated by the use of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) induced minerals. Successful modification of UV cross-linked ulvan scaffolds was revealed by 1H NMR. The presence of the mineral formation was evidenced by Raman spectroscopy and XRD techniques. Investigations of the morphology confirmed the homogeneous mineralization using ALP. The MC3T3 cell activity clearly showed that the mineralization of the biofunctionalized ulvan scaffolds was effective in improving the cellular activity.

Abstract: A two-dimensional numerical study has been carried out to investigate the phase distribution of Taylor bubble flow in multi cross-branched microchannels along with the bubble breakup behavior at two junctions. A new design is put forward which is composed of a flow-focusing inlet section for the formation of bubbles and two bubble breakup junctions composed of a cross-junction and a T-junction. Glycerine and Nitrogen gas were used as the continuous phase and dispersed phase, respectively for the study. The study was carried out for different geometrical parameters such as the width of branch channels (wB= 100 μm to 300 μm), the width of the second main channel (wS= 100 μm to 400 μm), and the angle of branch channels (θ= 60° to 120°). In the study of bubble breakup behavior, the progression of the bubble breakup phenomenon and the distribution of total pressure in the flow field is analyzed at both junctions. The results reveal that the breakup type that occurs at the cross-junction was always the same but at the T-junction, along with the same bubble breakup type two other types of the non-breakup phenomenon were observed under different cases. From this study, it was observed that the difference in phase distribution characteristics was significant with changes in geometries. Graphic abstract:

The aim of the present work was to develop and characterize biohybrid hydrogels containing combinations of gelatin and chondroitin sulphate. Two approaches have been compared. First, physisorption of chondroitin sulphate to gelatin hydrogels was investigated using surface plasmon resonance measurements. Due to the limited interaction between both biopolymers, we developed in a second approach methacrylate‐modified chondroitin sulphate hydrogels as such or in combination with methacrylamide‐modified gelatin. Rheology measurements indicated that following this approach, mechanically stable hydrogel films could be obtained after UV irradiation in the presence of Irgacure 2959 as UV photo‐initiator. When keeping the gelatin concentration and the modification degree constant, an increase in derivatization of the chondroitin sulphate component resulted in a high increase of the storage modulus.

Three-dimensional numerical study is presented in this work that deals with thermo-hydrodynamic and entropy generation analysis of water-based nanofluids in recharging microchannel (RMC). Four different water-based nanofluids (Al2O3, CuO, SiO2, and ZnO) are considered with volume concentrations of 1–5% and nanoparticle diameters of 10–50 nm to understand their effect on thermo-hydrodynamic performance and entropy generation. Substrate bottom surface is subjected to a constant wall heat flux of 100 W/cm2 while coolant with Reynolds number range of 100–500 flows through the RMC. It is revealed that among all the nanofluids under investigation, water/Al2O3 provides enhanced thermal performance with higher effectiveness parameter (η), and it also shows reduced entropy generation. With increasing volume concentration of water/Al2O3 nanofluid, heat transfer coefficient increases, effectiveness parameter increases, and entropy generation reduces. Water/Al2O3 nanofluid with smaller nanoparticle diameter shows enhanced heat transfer coefficient and reduced entropy generation, whereas it shows decreased effectiveness parameter. This is attributed to increased pressure drop with decreasing particle diameter. This study suggests that an optimized combination of particle diameter and volume concentration should be chosen for using nanofluid-based coolants for high heat flux removal.

Thermal performance of microchannel heat sink can be augmented by designing inlet/outlet manifolds such that fluid flow distribution is uniform across microchannels. In this work, the effect of inlet/outlet manifold configurations on the thermo-hydrodynamic performance of recharging microchannel heat sink (RMCHS) is investigated numerically. For this purpose branched, rectangular, trapezoidal, and triangular manifold configurations are considered. All the numerical simulations are performed for channel Reynolds number of 50–300 and constant heat flux of 10 W/cm2 applied on the substrate bottom surface of the RMCHS. The results reveal that branched manifold configuration shows uniform fluid flow distribution across all the microchannels of heat sink and also shows uniform temperature distribution on the substrate bottom surface of RMCHS. Branched manifold configuration reduces thermal resistance by 16% and enhances average Nusselt number by 9.5% compared to rectangular manifold configuration. However, branched manifold configuration shows higher pressure drop in spite of enhancements in thermal performance and flow distribution uniformity. Overall performance analysis indicates that RMCHS with branched manifold configuration can be advantageous for high heat flux removal applications if there is no restriction on pumping power requirement.