scholarly journals Mini-Review: Potential of Diatom-Derived Silica for Biomedical Applications

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 4533
Author(s):  
Angela Sardo ◽  
Ida Orefice ◽  
Sergio Balzano ◽  
Lucia Barra ◽  
Giovanna Romano
Keyword(s):  
Biomedical Applications ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Porous Silica ◽  
Drug Carriers ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Aquatic Environments ◽  
Hydrated Silica ◽  
Silica Cell ◽  
Surface Functionalisation ◽  
Fossil Diatoms

Diatoms are unicellular eukaryotic microalgae widely distributed in aquatic environments, possessing a porous silica cell wall known as frustule. Diatom frustules are considered as a sustainable source for several industrial applications because of their high biocompatibility and the easiness of surface functionalisation, which make frustules suitable for regenerative medicine and as drug carriers. Frustules are made of hydrated silica, and can be extracted and purified both from living and fossil diatoms using acid treatments or high temperatures. Biosilica frustules have proved to be suitable for biomedical applications, but, unfortunately, they are not officially recognised as safe by governmental food and medical agencies yet. In the present review, we highlight the frustule formation process, the most common purification techniques, as well as advantages and bottlenecks related to the employment of diatom-derived silica for medical purposes, suggesting possible solutions for a large-scale biosilica production.

scholarly journals Biomedical Applications of Biomolecules Isolated from Methanotrophic Bacteria in Wastewater Treatment Systems

Biomolecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1217
Author(s):  
Rana Salem ◽  
Ahmed ElDyasti ◽  
Gerald F. Audette
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Biomedical Applications ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Electronic Devices ◽  
Drug Carriers ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Methanotrophic Bacteria ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Systems

Wastewater treatment plants and other remediation facilities serve important roles, both in public health, but also as dynamic research platforms for acquiring useful resources and biomolecules for various applications. An example of this is methanotrophic bacteria within anaerobic digestion processes in wastewater treatment plants. These bacteria are an important microbial source of many products including ectoine, polyhydroxyalkanoates, and methanobactins, which are invaluable to the fields of biotechnology and biomedicine. Here we provide an overview of the methanotrophs’ unique metabolism and the biochemical pathways involved in biomolecule formation. We also discuss the potential biomedical applications of these biomolecules through creation of beneficial biocompatible products including vaccines, prosthetics, electronic devices, drug carriers, and heart stents. We highlight the links between molecular biology, public health, and environmental science in the advancement of biomedical research and industrial applications using methanotrophic bacteria in wastewater treatment systems.

scholarly journals Cyanobacteria—From the Oceans to the Potential Biotechnological and Biomedical Applications

Marine Drugs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 241
Author(s):  
Shaden A. M. Khalifa ◽  
Eslam S. Shedid ◽  
Essa M. Saied ◽  
Amir Reza Jassbi ◽  
Fatemeh H. Jamebozorgi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bioactive Compounds ◽  
Biomedical Applications ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Scale Production ◽  
Pharmacological Activities ◽  
Large Scale Production ◽  
Marine Products ◽  
Hiv 1 ◽  
Successful Phase

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotic organisms which represent a significant source of novel, bioactive, secondary metabolites, and they are also considered an abundant source of bioactive compounds/drugs, such as dolastatin, cryptophycin 1, curacin toyocamycin, phytoalexin, cyanovirin-N and phycocyanin. Some of these compounds have displayed promising results in successful Phase I, II, III and IV clinical trials. Additionally, the cyanobacterial compounds applied to medical research have demonstrated an exciting future with great potential to be developed into new medicines. Most of these compounds have exhibited strong pharmacological activities, including neurotoxicity, cytotoxicity and antiviral activity against HCMV, HSV-1, HHV-6 and HIV-1, so these metabolites could be promising candidates for COVID-19 treatment. Therefore, the effective large-scale production of natural marine products through synthesis is important for resolving the existing issues associated with chemical isolation, including small yields, and may be necessary to better investigate their biological activities. Herein, we highlight the total synthesized and stereochemical determinations of the cyanobacterial bioactive compounds. Furthermore, this review primarily focuses on the biotechnological applications of cyanobacteria, including applications as cosmetics, food supplements, and the nanobiotechnological applications of cyanobacterial bioactive compounds in potential medicinal applications for various human diseases are discussed.

scholarly journals GAKTpore: Stereological Characterisation Methods for Porous Foams in Biomedical Applications

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 1269
Author(s):  
Gareth Sheppard ◽  
Karl Tassenberg ◽  
Bogdan Nenchev ◽  
Joel Strickland ◽  
Ramy Mesalam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tissue Engineering ◽  
Biomedical Applications ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Collagen Scaffold ◽  
Porous Structures ◽  
Tissue Engineering Scaffolds ◽  
Biological Responses ◽  
Sem Micrograph ◽  
Cell Adhesion And Proliferation ◽  
Characterisation Methods

In tissue engineering, scaffolds are a key component that possess a highly elaborate pore structure. Careful characterisation of such porous structures enables the prediction of a variety of large-scale biological responses. In this work, a rapid, efficient, and accurate methodology for 2D bulk porous structure analysis is proposed. The algorithm, “GAKTpore”, creates a morphology map allowing quantification and visualisation of spatial feature variation. The software achieves 99.6% and 99.1% mean accuracy for pore diameter and shape factor identification, respectively. There are two main algorithm novelties within this work: (1) feature-dependant homogeneity map; (2) a new waviness function providing insights into the convexity/concavity of pores, important for understanding the influence on cell adhesion and proliferation. The algorithm is applied to foam structures, providing a full characterisation of a 10 mm diameter SEM micrograph (14,784 × 14,915 px) with 190,249 pores in ~9 min and has elucidated new insights into collagen scaffold formation by relating microstructural formation to the bulk formation environment. This novel porosity characterisation algorithm demonstrates its versatility, where accuracy, repeatability, and time are paramount. Thus, GAKTpore offers enormous potential to optimise and enhance scaffolds within tissue engineering.

scholarly journals Preparation and Sustained-Release Performance of PLGA Microcapsule Carrier System

Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1758
Author(s):  
Shuaikai Ren ◽  
Chunxin Wang ◽  
Liang Guo ◽  
Congcong Xu ◽  
Yan Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Controlled Release ◽  
Biomedical Applications ◽  
Encapsulation Efficiency ◽  
Drug Carriers ◽  
Optimum Conditions ◽  
Carrier System ◽  
Preparation Conditions ◽  
Encapsulation Rate ◽  
Release Drug ◽  
Release Curve

Microcapsules have been widely studied owing to their biocompatibility and potential for application in various areas, particularly drug delivery. However, the size of microcapsules is difficult to control, and the size distribution is very broad via various encapsulation techniques. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain microcapsules with uniform and tailored size for the construction of controlled-release drug carriers. In this study, emulsification and solvent evaporation methods were used to prepare a variety of ovalbumin-loaded poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microcapsules to determine the optimal preparation conditions. The particle size of the PLGA microcapsules prepared using the optimum conditions was approximately 200 nm, which showed good dispersibility with an ovalbumin encapsulation rate of more than 60%. In addition, porous microcapsules with different pore sizes were prepared by adding a varying amount of porogen bovine serum albumin (BSA) to the internal water phase. The release curve showed that the rate of protein release from the microcapsules could be controlled by adjusting the pore size. These findings demonstrated that we could tailor the morphology and structure of microcapsules by regulating the preparation conditions, thus controlling the encapsulation efficiency and the release performance of the microcapsule carrier system. We envision that this controlled-release novel microcapsule carrier system shows great potential for biomedical applications.

scholarly journals Time-resolved PIV measurements of a deflected submerged jet interacting with liquid-gas and liquid-liquid interfaces

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Puttinger ◽  
Mahdi Saeedipour
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Layer ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Free Surface Flow ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Liquid Pool ◽  
Surface Flow ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Submerged Jet ◽  
Major Interest

AbstractThis paper presents an experimental investigation on the interactions of a deflected submerged jet into a liquid pool with its above interface in the absence and presence of an additional lighter liquid. Whereas the former is a free surface flow, the latter mimics a situation of two stratified liquids where the liquid-liquid interface is disturbed by large-scale motions in the liquid pool. Such configurations are encountered in various industrial applications and, in most cases, it is of major interest to avoid the entrainment of droplets from the lighter liquid into the main flow. Therefore, it is important to understand the fluid dynamics in such configurations and to analyze the differences between the cases with and without the additional liquid layer. To study this problem, we applied time-resolved particle image velocimetry experiments with high spatial resolution. A detailed data analysis of a small layer beneath the interface shows that although the presence of an additional liquid layer stabilizes the oscillations of the submerged jet significantly, the amount of kinetic energy, enstrophy, and velocity fluctuations concentrated in the proximity of the interface is higher when the oil layer is present. In addition, we analyze the energy distribution across the eigenmodes of a proper orthogonal distribution and the distribution of strain and vortex dominated regions. As the main objective of this study, these high-resolution time-resolved experimental data provide a validation platform for the development of new models in the context of the volume of fluid-based large eddy simulation of turbulent two-phase flows.

scholarly journals Current Strategies for Noble Metal Nanoparticle Synthesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giyaullah Habibullah ◽  
Jitka Viktorova ◽  
Tomas Ruml
Keyword(s):  
Noble Metal ◽  
Noble Metals ◽  
Drug Carriers ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Metal Nanoparticle ◽  
Noble Metal Nanoparticles ◽  
Synthesis Methods ◽  
Gold And Silver Nanoparticles ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
The Past

AbstractNoble metals have played an integral part in human history for centuries; however, their integration with recent advances in nanotechnology and material sciences have provided new research opportunities in both academia and industry, which has resulted in a new array of advanced applications, including medical ones. Noble metal nanoparticles (NMNPs) have been of great importance in the field of biomedicine over the past few decades due to their importance in personalized healthcare and diagnostics. In particular, platinum, gold and silver nanoparticles have achieved the most dominant spot in the list, thanks to a very diverse range of industrial applications, including biomedical ones such as antimicrobial and antiviral agents, diagnostics, drug carriers and imaging probes. In particular, their superior resistance to extreme conditions of corrosion and oxidation is highly appreciated. Notably, in the past two decades there has been a tremendous advancement in the development of new strategies of more cost-effective and robust NMNP synthesis methods that provide materials with highly tunable physicochemical, optical and thermal properties, and biochemical functionalities. As a result, new advanced hybrid NMNPs with polymer, graphene, carbon nanotubes, quantum dots and core–shell systems have been developed with even more enhanced physicochemical characteristics that has led to exceptional diagnostic and therapeutic applications. In this review, we aim to summarize current advances in the synthesis of NMNPs (Au, Ag and Pt).

Research on a New Type of Lithium Battery String Equalization and Management System

2011 ◽  
Vol 383-390 ◽  
pp. 1470-1476
Author(s):  
Hao Wang ◽  
Ding Guo Shao ◽  
Lu Xu
Keyword(s):  
Lithium Batteries ◽  
Management System ◽  
Lithium Battery ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Balance Control ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Control Technique ◽  
New Type ◽  
Management Functions

Lithium battery has been employed widely in many industrial applications. Parameter mismatches between lithium batteries along a series string is the critical limits of the large-scale applications in high power situation. Maintaining equalization between batteries is the key technique in lithium batteries application. This paper summarizes normal equalization techniques and proposed a new type of lithium Battery Equalization and Management System (BEMS) employing the isolated DC-DC converter structure. The system is integrated both equalization functions and management functions by using distributed 3-level controlled structure and digital control technique. With this control method the flexibility of the balance control strategy and the compatibility for different battery strings are both improved dramatically. The experimental results show optimizing equalization, efficiency and the battery string life span has been extended.

Aquaculture in North America: An Assessment of Future Prospects

1982 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Larkin
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Aquatic Environments ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Growing Period ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Cheap Alternative ◽  
Alternative Sources ◽  
Simple Technology

The farming of aquatic environments is already a large-scale world enterprise involving relatively simple technology, but aquacultural production in North America is only a small part of the world total. Aquaculture is only economically rewarding where high rates of production over a long growing period can be coupled with close proximity to large markets in which there are few cheap alternative sources of protein. Much of North American aquaculture is aimed at meeting demands of recreational fishermen rather than as a way of producing food. There are many opportunities for development of aquaculture in North America and it seems reasonable to project substantial increases in production in the next two decades.Key words: aquaculture, geographical location, North America, future prospects, economics

scholarly journals Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) for Water and Wastewater Treatment: Preparation to Application

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5717
Author(s):  
Mian Muhammad-Ahson Aslam ◽  
Hsion-Wen Kuo ◽  
Walter Den ◽  
Muhammad Usman ◽  
Muhammad Sultan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Nanotubes ◽  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Biological Species ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Water And Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Adsorption Sites ◽  
Water And Wastewater

As the world human population and industrialization keep growing, the water availability issue has forced scientists, engineers, and legislators of water supply industries to better manage water resources. Pollutant removals from wastewaters are crucial to ensure qualities of available water resources (including natural water bodies or reclaimed waters). Diverse techniques have been developed to deal with water quality concerns. Carbon based nanomaterials, especially carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with their high specific surface area and associated adsorption sites, have drawn a special focus in environmental applications, especially water and wastewater treatment. This critical review summarizes recent developments and adsorption behaviors of CNTs used to remove organics or heavy metal ions from contaminated waters via adsorption and inactivation of biological species associated with CNTs. Foci include CNTs synthesis, purification, and surface modifications or functionalization, followed by their characterization methods and the effect of water chemistry on adsorption capacities and removal mechanisms. Functionalized CNTs have been proven to be promising nanomaterials for the decontamination of waters due to their high adsorption capacity. However, most of the functional CNT applications are limited to lab-scale experiments only. Feasibility of their large-scale/industrial applications with cost-effective ways of synthesis and assessments of their toxicity with better simulating adsorption mechanisms still need to be studied.

CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF ELECTROCHEMOTHERAPY

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregor Serša
Keyword(s):  
Biomedical Applications ◽  
Liver Tumors ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Combined Treatment ◽  
Local Treatment ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Interleukin 12 ◽  
Nice Guidelines ◽  
Or Gene

Electroporation has several biomedical and industrial applications. The biomedical applications are in the field of drug or gene delivery. Electrochemotherapy utilizes electroporation for the increased delivery of cytotoxic drugs like bleomycin or cisplatin into tumors. The use of electrochemotherapy has spread throughout Europe for the treatment of cutaneous tumors or metastases. It is in the NICE guidelines and is becoming standard ablative technique in treatment of cancer. The technological advancements have also enabled the use of electrochemotherapy for the treatment of deep seated tumors, such as soft tissue or liver tumors. Clinical studies demonstrate good effectiveness on fibrosarcomas, colorectal liver metastases and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, electrochemotherapy is a local treatment that also induces moderate local immune response. This so called “in situ vaccination” induced by electrochemotherapy can be exploited in combined treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors or electrogene therapy with immunostimulating effect. Therefore, gene electrotransfer of plasmid coding for interleukin 12 (IL-12), in combination with electrochemotherapy could result in transformation of electrochemotherapy from local into systemic treatment. This is also of our current interest, and we are undertaking steps to bring this idea from preclinical into clinical testing.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document