Polymer assisted hydroxyapatite microspheres suitable for biomedical application

Hollow Microspheres of hydroxyapatite-polymer composite can be used as carriers in drug delivery and fillers in tissue engineering. Based on the concept of soft chemistry, a battery of technique is available in the literature to synthesize hollow microspheres, however, an economically viable synthesis route, having good control over the microarchitect and easy to be scaled up, is yet to be developed. Polymer matrix mediated synthesis of inorganic nanoparticles is known to synthesize nanoparticles with controlled morphology and dimensions. It is termed as biomimetic synthesis. Integrating the biomimetic synthesis of nano-particles and spray drying techniques, a novel process of producing hydroxyapatite-polymer composite hollow microspheres is briefly discussed here.

In vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo osseointergration properties of compression-molded HDPE-HA-Al2O3 hybrid biocomposites

The aim of this study was to investigate the in vivo biocompatibility in terms of healing of long segmental bone defect in rabbit model as well as in vitro cytotoxicity of eluates of compression-molded High density polyethylene (HDPE)hydroxyapatite (HA)-aluminum oxide (Al2O3) composite-based implant material. Based on the physical property in terms of modulus and strength properties, as reported in our recent publication, HDPE-40 wt % HA and HDPE-20 wt % HA-20 wt % Al2O3 hybrid composites were used for biocompatibility assessment. Osteoblasts cells were cultured in conditioned media, which contains varying amount of composite eluate (0.01, 0.1, and 1.0 wt %). In vitro, the eluates did not exhibit any significant negative impact on proliferation, mineralization or on morphology of human osteoblast cells. In vivo, the histological assessment revealed neobone formation at the bone/implant interface, characterized by the presence of osteoid and osteoblasts. The observation of osteoclastic activity indicates the process of bone remodeling. No inflammation to any noticeable extent was observed at the implantation site. Overall, the combination of in vitro and in vivo results are suggestive of potential biomedical application of compression-molded HDPE- 20 wt % HA- 20 wt % Al2O3 composites to heal long segmental bone defects without causing any toxicity of bone cells.

A note on fractal dimensions of biomedical waveforms

In this paper, we study performance of Katz method of computing fractal dimension of waveforms, and its estimation accuracy is compared with Higuchi's method. The study is performed on four synthetic parametric fractal waveforms for which true fractal dimensions can be calculated, and real sleep electroencephalogram. The dependence of Katz's fractal dimension on amplitude, frequency and sampling frequency of waveforms is noted. Even though the Higuchi's method has given more accurate estimation of fractal dimensions, the study suggests that the results of Katz's based fractal dimension analysis of biomedical waveforms have to be carefully interpreted.

Suitability of a point-contact SAW-based stiffness transducer for biomedical applications

Methods of diagnosis in Biomedical applications can be broadly divided into contact and non-contact based methods. So far, ultrasound based methods have been found to be most favorable for non-contact, non-invasive diagnosis, especially in the case of tissue stiffness analysis. We report here, the fabrication and characterization details of a new contact based transducer system for qualitative determination of the stiffnesses of non-piezoelectric substrates using the phenomenon of Surface Acoustic Waves (SAW). Preliminary trials to study the functionality of this system were carried out on various metallic and non-metallic substrates, and the results were found to be satisfactory. To confirm the suitability of this system for biomedical applications, similar trials have been conducted on tissue mimicking phantoms with varying degrees of stiffness.

A DCT Based Filtering of Biomedical Images

Image filtering techniques have numerous potential applications in biomedical imaging and image processing. The design of filters largely depends on the a-priori knowledge about the type of noise corrupting the image and image features. This makes the standard filters to be application and image specific. The most popular filters such as average, Gaussian and Wiener reduce noisy artifacts by smoothing. However, this operation normally results in smoothing of the edges as well. On the other hand, sharpening filters enhance the high frequency details making the image non-smooth. An integrated general approach to design filters based on discrete cosine transform (DCT) is proposed in this study for optimal medical image filtering. This algorithm exploits the better energy compaction property of DCT and re-arrange these coefficients in a wavelet manner to get the better energy clustering at desired spatial locations. This algorithm performs optimal smoothing of the noisy image by preserving high and low frequency features. Evaluation results show that the proposed filter is robust under various noise distributions.

Investigations on micro-blast wave assisted metal foil forming for biomedical applications

The deformation dynamics of metal foils (<0.25 mm thick) subjected to micro-blast wave are presented in this paper. The energy of micro-blast wave emanating from the open end of a polymer tube is used to deliver micro-particles for bio-medical applications. In these experiments metal foils are used to transfer the energy of the micro-blast wave to the micro-particles. Using cubic root scaling law the over pressure of the blast wave at the open end of the polymer tube is estimated and using this peak plate over pressure is estimated. The finite element analysis is used to estimate the velocity profile of the deforming metal foils. The finite element analysis results are compared with experimental results for the maximum deformation and deformed shape. Based on the deformation velocity, metal foil to be used for experiments is selected. Among the materials investigated 0.1 mm thick brass foil has the maximum velocity of 205 m/s and is used in the experiments. It is found from finite element analysis that the particles deposited within a radius of 0.5 mm will leave the foil with nearly equal velocity (error < 5%). The spray cone angle which is the angle of deviation of the path of particles from the axis of the polymer tube is also estimated and found to be less than 7 degrees up to a radius of 0.75 mm. Illustrative experiments are carried out to deliver micro particles (0.7 mu m diameter tungsten) into plant tissues. Particle penetration depth up to 460 mu m was achieved in ground tissue of potato tuber. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Flexible Phynox Alloy with Integrated Piezoelectric Thin Film for Micro Actuation Application

In this paper, we report on the application aspect of piezoelectric ZnO thin film deposited on flexible phynox alloy substrate. Highly crystalline piezoelectric ZnO thin films were deposited by RF reactive magnetron sputtering and were characterized by XRD, SEM, AFM analysis. Also, the effective d(33) coefficient value measurement was performed. The actuator element is a circular diaphragm of phynox alloy on to which piezoelectric ZnO thin film was deposited. ZnO film deposited actuator element was firmly fixed inside a suitable concave perspex mounting designed specifically for micro actuation purpose. The actuator element was excited at different frequencies for the supply voltages of 2V, 5V and 8V. Maximum deflection of the ZnO film deposited diaphragm was measured to be 1.25 mu m at 100 Hz for the supply voltage of 8V. The developed micro actuator has the potential to be used as a micro pump for pumping nano liters to micro liters of fluids per minute for numerous biomedical and aerospace applications.

Effect of equal channel angular pressing on grain refinement and texture evolution in a biomedical alloy Ti-13Nb-13Zr

Evolution of texture and concomitant grain refinement during Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) of Ti - 13Nb - 13Zr alloy has been presented. Sub-micron sized equiaxed grains with narrow grain size distribution could be achieved after eight pass at 873 K. A characteristic ECAP texture evolved in alpha phase till four passes while the evolution of characteristic ECAP texture in the beta phase could be observed only beyond the fourth pass. On increasing the deformation up to eight passes, the texture in alpha phase weakens while the beta phase shows an ideal ECAP texture. A weaker texture, low dislocation density and high crystallite size values in alpha phase suggest the occurrence of dynamic recrystallization. The absence of texture evolution in beta phase till four passes can be attributed to local lattice rotations. The characteristic ECAP texture in the eight pass deformed sample is attributed to delayed dynamic recrystallization in the beta phase. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Packaging of Polyvinylidene fluoride nasal sensor for biomedical applications

This paper presents the design technique that has been adopted for packaging of Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nasal sensor for biomedical applications. The PVDF film with the dimension of length 10mm, width 5mm and thickness 28 mu m was firmly adhered on one end of plastic base (8mmx5mmx30 mu m) in such a way that it forms a cantilever configuration leaving the other end free for deflection. Now with the leads attached on the surface of the PVDF film, the cantilever configuration becomes the PVDF nasal sensor. For mounting a PVDF nasal sensor, a special headphone was designed, that can fit most of the human head sizes. Two flexible strings are soldered on either side of the headphone. Two identical PVDF nasal sensors were then connected to either side of flexible string of the headphone in such a way that they are placed below the right and left nostrils respectively without disturbing the normal breathing. When a subject wares headphone along with PVDF nasal sensors, two voltage signals due to the piezoelectric property of the PVDF film were generated corresponding to his/her nasal airflow from right and left nostril. The entire design was made compact, so that PVDF nasal sensors along with headphone can be made portable. No special equipment or machines are needed for mounting the PVDF nasal sensors. The time required for packaging of PVDF nasal sensors was less and the approximate cost of the entire assembly (PVDF nasal sensors + headphone) was very nominal.

Structural characterization and in vitro biomedical activities of sulfated chitosan from Sepia pharaonis

A low molecular weight sulfated chitosan (SP-LMWSC) was isolated from the cuttlebone of Sepia pharaonis. Elemental analysis established the presence of C, H and N. The sulfation of SP-LMWSC was confirmed by the presence of characteristic peaks in FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra. The thermal properties of SP-LMWSC were studied by thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. Electrolytic conductivity of SP-LMWSC was measured by cyclic voltammetry and the molecular weight was determined by MALDI-TOF/MS. The molecular structure and sulfation sites of SP-LMWSC were unambiguously confirmed using H-1,C-13, 2D COSY and 2D HSQC NMR spectroscopy. SP-LMWSC exhibited increased anticoagulant activity in avian blood by delaying coagulation parameters and displayed cytostatic activity by inhibiting the migration of avian leucocytes. SP-LMWSC demonstrated avian antiviral activity by binding to Newcastle disease virus receptors at a low titer value of 1/64. These findings suggested that SP-LMWSC isolated from an industrial discard holds immense potentials as carbohydrate based pharmaceuticals in future. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.