Recent Developments in Metallic Degradable Micromotors for Biomedical and Environmental Remediation Applications

Synthetic micromotor has gained substantial attention in biomedicine and environmental remediation.Metal-based degradable micromotor composed of magnesium(Mg),zinc(Zn),and iron(Fe)have promise due to their nontoxic fuel-free propulsion,favorable biocompatibility,and safe excretion of degradation products Recent advances in degradable metallic micromotor have shown their fast movement in complex biological media,efficient cargo delivery and favorable biocompatibility.A noteworthy number of degradable metal-based micromotors employ bubble propulsion,utilizing water as fuel to generate hydrogen bubbles.This novel feature has projected degradable metallic micromotors for active in vivo drug delivery applications.In addition,understanding the degradation mechanism of these micromotors is also a key parameter for their design and performance.Its propulsion efficiency and life span govern the overall performance of a degradable metallic micromotor.Here we review the design and recent advancements of metallic degradable micromotors.Furthermore,we describe the controlled degradation,efficient in vivo drug delivery,and built-in acid neutralization capabilities of degradable micromotors with versatile biomedical applications.Moreover,we discuss micromotors’efficacy in detecting and destroying environmental pollutants.Finally,we address the limitations and future research directions of degradable metallic micromotors.

Preface–Introduction to the Special Issue for Chinese-Russian Workshop on Biophotonics and Biomedical Optics

The Chinese-Russian Workshop on Biophotonics and Biomedical Optics 2023 was held online twice on 18–21 September and 25–26 September 2023.The bilateral workshop brought together both Russian and Chinese scientists,engineers,and clinical researchers from a variety of disciplines engaged in applying optical science,photonics,and imaging technologies to problems in biology and medicine.During the workshops,two plenary lectures and twenty invited presentations were presented.This special issue selects some papers from both Russian and Chinese sides,consisting of one review and seven original research articles.

GPa-level pressure-induced enhanced corrosion resistance in TiZrTaNbSn biomedical high-entropy alloy

TiZrTaNb-based high-entropy alloys(HEAs)are research frontier of biomedical materials due to their high hardness,good yield strength,excellent wear resistance and corrosion resistance.Sn,as an essential trace element in the human body that plays a significant role in physiological process.It has stable chemical properties and a low elastic modulus.In this study,a new material,TiZrTaNbSn HEAs,was proposed as a potential biomedical alloy.The Ti_(35)Zr_(25)Ta_(15)Nb_(15)Sn_(10)biomedical high-entropy alloys(BHEAs)were successfully prepared through an arc melting furnace and then remelted using a German high-temperature and high-pressure apparatus under GPa-level(4 GPa and 7 GPa).The precipitation behavior of the needle-like HCP-Zr_(5)Sn_(3)phase that precipitates discontinuously at the grain boundary was successfully controlled.The phase constitution,microstructure,and corrosion resistance of the alloy were studied.The results show that the needle-like HCP-Zr_(5)Sn_(3)phase is eliminated and the(Zr,Sn)-rich nano-precipitated phase is precipitated in the microstructure under high pressure,which leads to the narrowing of grain boundaries and consequently improves the corrosion resistance of the alloy.In addition,the formation mechanisms of(Zr,Sn)-rich nanoprecipitates in BHEAs were discussed.More Zr and Sn dissolve in the matrix due to the effect of high pressure,during the cooling process,they precipitate to form a(Zr,Sn)-rich nano-precipitated phase.

A Method of Generating Semi-Experimental Biomedical Datasets

This paper proposed a method to generate semi-experimental biomedical datasets based on full-wave simulation software.The system noise such as antenna port couplings is fully considered in the proposed datasets,which is more realistic than synthetical datasets.In this paper,datasets containing different shapes are constructed based on the relative permittivities of human tissues.Then,a back-propagation scheme is used to obtain the rough reconstructions,which will be fed into a U-net convolutional neural network(CNN)to recover the high-resolution images.Numerical results show that the network trained on the datasets generated by the proposed method can obtain satisfying reconstruction results and is promising to be applied in real-time biomedical imaging.

Renewable Polymers in Biomedical Applications:From the Bench to the Market

Polymers from renewable resources have been used for a long time in biomedical applications and found an irreplaceable role in some of them.Their uses have been increasing because of their attractive properties,contributing to the improvement of life quality,mainly in drug release systems and in regenerative medicine.Formulations using natural polymer,nano and microscale particles preparation,composites,blends and chemical modification strategies have been used to improve their properties for clinical application.Although many studies have been carried out with these natural polymers,the way to reach the market is long and only very few of them become commercially available.Vegetable cellulose,bacterial cellulose,chitosan,poly(lactic acid)and starch can be found among the most studied polymers for biological applications,some with several derivatives already established in the market,and others with potential for such.In this scenario this work aims to describe the properties and potential of these renewable polymers for biomedical applications,the routes from the bench to the market,and the perspectives for future developments.

Recent advances of collagen composite biomaterials for biomedical engineering:antibacterial functionalization and 3D-printed architecturalization

Collagen possesses high biocompatibility with all tissue and cell types in the body,enabling the creation of multifunc-tional composite materials for medical applications.In biomedical engineering,naturally-sourced collagen is often combined with diverse organic and inorganic bioactive components to eliminate defects and disorders in fields including orthopedics,dermatology,and more.At the same time,medical-related infection issues and the precise treatment needs of patients require collagen composite biomaterials to have antibacterial properties and customized structures.This paper reviews the antibacterial functionalization of collagen composite biomaterials in recent years,including the combination with inorganic or organic antibacterial agents,which is beneficial for preventing and con-trolling biological contamination in medical applications.Then,the existing problems and future development direc-tions for the architecturalization of collagen composite materials with 3D printing were discussed,providing guidance for personalized customization of multifunctional materials to meet the specific needs of patients in the future.

Joint Biomedical Entity and Relation Extraction Based on Multi-Granularity Convolutional Tokens Pairs of Labeling

Extracting valuable information frombiomedical texts is one of the current research hotspots of concern to a wide range of scholars.The biomedical corpus contains numerous complex long sentences and overlapping relational triples,making most generalized domain joint modeling methods difficult to apply effectively in this field.For a complex semantic environment in biomedical texts,in this paper,we propose a novel perspective to perform joint entity and relation extraction;existing studies divide the relation triples into several steps or modules.However,the three elements in the relation triples are interdependent and inseparable,so we regard joint extraction as a tripartite classification problem.At the same time,fromthe perspective of triple classification,we design amulti-granularity 2D convolution to refine the word pair table and better utilize the dependencies between biomedical word pairs.Finally,we use a biaffine predictor to assist in predicting the labels of word pairs for relation extraction.Our model(MCTPL)Multi-granularity Convolutional Tokens Pairs of Labeling better utilizes the elements of triples and improves the ability to extract overlapping triples compared to previous approaches.Finally,we evaluated our model on two publicly accessible datasets.The experimental results show that our model’s ability to extract relation triples on the CPI dataset improves the F1 score by 2.34%compared to the current optimal model.On the DDI dataset,the F1 value improves the F1 value by 1.68%compared to the current optimal model.Our model achieved state-of-the-art performance compared to other baseline models in biomedical text entity relation extraction.

Hydrogen sulfide responsive nanoplatforms: Novel gas responsive drug delivery carriers for biomedical applications

Hydrogen sulfide(H_(2)S)is a toxic,essential gas used in various biological and physical processes and has been the subject of many targeted studies on its role as a new gas transmitter.These studies have mainly focused on the production and pharmacological side effects caused by H_(2)S.Therefore,effective strategies to remove H_(2)S has become a key research topic.Furthermore,the development of novel nanoplatforms has provided new tools for the targeted removal of H_(2)S.This paper was performed to review the association between H_(2)S anddisease,relatedH_(2)S inhibitory drugs,aswell as H_(2)S responsive nanoplatforms(HRNs).This review first analyzed the role of H_(2)S in multiple tissues and conditions.Second,common drugs used to eliminate H_(2)S,as well as their potential for combination with anticancer agents,were summarized.Not only the existing studies on HRNs,but also the inhibition H_(2)S combined with different therapeutic methods were both sorted out in this review.Furthermore,this review provided in-depth analysis of the potential of HRNs about treatment or detection in detail.Finally,potential challenges of HRNs were proposed.This study demonstrates the excellent potential of HRNs for biomedical applications.

Design and micromanufacturing technologies of focused piezoelectric ultrasound transducers for biomedical applications

Piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers have shown great potential in biomedical applications due to their high acoustic-to-electric conversion efficiency and large power capacity.The focusing technique enables the transducer to produce an extremely narrow beam,greatly improving the resolution and sensitivity.In this work,we summarize the fundamental properties and biological effects of the ultrasound field,aiming to establish a correlation between device design and application.Focusing techniques for piezoelectric transducers are highlighted,including material selection and fabrication methods,which determine the final performance of piezoelectric transducers.Numerous examples,from ultrasound imaging,neuromodulation,tumor ablation to ultrasonic wireless energy transfer,are summarized to highlight the great promise of biomedical applications.Finally,the challenges and opportunities of focused ultrasound transducers are presented.The aim of this review is to bridge the gap between focused ultrasound systems and biomedical applications.

Biobanks and biomarkers:Their current and future role in biomedical research

The importance and utility of biobanks has increased exponentially since their inception and creation.Initially used as part of translational research,they now contribute over 40%of data for all cancer research papers in the United States of America and play a crucial role in all aspects of healthcare.Multiple classification systems exist but a simplified approach is to either classify as population-based or disease-oriented entities.Whilst historically publicly funded institutions,there has been a significant increase in industry funded entities across the world which has changed the dynamic of biobanks offering new possibilities but also new challenges.Biobanks face legal questions over data sharing and intellectual property as well as ethical and sustainability questions particularly as the world attempts to move to a low-carbon economy.International collaboration is required to address some of these challenges but this in itself is fraught with complexity and difficulty.This review will examine the current utility of biobanks in the modern healthcare setting as well as the current and future challenges these vital institutions face.

The Sustainable Development Pathway of the Biomedical Industry Based on Environmental,Social,and Governance(ESG)Concepts

There is a growing global awareness of environmental,social,and governance(ESG)concerns.The biopharmaceutical industry is an important field that affects human health and well-being,and its sustainable development is now the industry’s focus.Based on the current state of the green development of China’s biopharmaceutical industry,the article proposes suggestions and paths for promoting the industry to better fulfill its social responsibilities and protect the environment while pursuing economic benefits.By doing so,the industry can make a greater contribution to global public health and become an important factor in promoting human health and social prosperity.

"Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles:Eco-friendly advancements for biomedical marvels"

This article explores an in-depth analysis of eco-friendly green synthesis methods to manufacture zinc oxide nanoparticles(ZnO NPs).Although chemical and/or physical approaches may initially provide better results;in the long term;a biological approach using green or natural pathways using plant extracts;enzymes;and mi-crobes may be eco-friendly and more cost-effective.This review addresses various green synthesis techniques and their potential biomedical applications;elucidating their mechanisms.Additionally;the article highlights the pivotal role of ZnO NPs in diabetes;cancer;wound healing;drug delivery;and other biomedical marvels.Overall;it highlights the importance of green-synthesized ZnO NPs in building a future of sustainable biomedical breakthroughs.

A Review on Graphene-Based Nanomaterials in Biomedical Applications and Risks in Environment and Health

Graphene-based nanomaterials(GBNs) have attracted increasing interests of the scientific community due to their unique physicochemical properties and their applications in biotechnology, biomedicine, bioengineering, disease diagnosis and therapy. Although a large amount of researches have been conducted on these novel nanomaterials, limited comprehensive reviews are published on their biomedical applications and potential environmental and human health effects. The present research aimed at addressing this knowledge gap by examining and discussing:(1) the history, synthesis,structural properties and recent developments of GBNs for biomedical applications;(2) GBNs uses as therapeutics,drug/gene delivery and antibacterial materials;(3) GBNs applications in tissue engineering and in research as biosensors and bioimaging materials; and(4) GBNs potential environmental effects and human health risks. It also discussed the perspectives and challenges associated with the biomedical applications of GBNs.

Comprehensive Application of Graphene: Emphasis on Biomedical Concerns

Graphene, sp^2 hybridized carbon framework of one atom thickness, is reputed as the strongest material to date. It has marked its impact in manifold applications including electronics, sensors, composites, and catalysis. Current state-of-the-art graphene research revolves around its biomedical applications. The two-dimensional(2D) planar structure of graphene provides a large surface area for loading drugs/biomolecules and the possibility of conjugating fluorescent dyes for bioimaging. The high near-infrared absorbance makes graphene ideal for photothermal therapy. Henceforth, graphene turns out to be a reliable multifunctional material for use in diagnosis and treatment. It exhibits antibacterial property by directly interacting with the cell membrane. Potential application of graphene as a sca old for the attachment and proliferation of stem cells and neuronal cells is captivating in a tissue regeneration scenario. Fabrication of 2D graphene into a 3D structure is made possible with the help of 3D printing, a revolutionary technology having promising applications in tissue and organ engineering. However, apart from its advantageous application scope, use of graphene raises toxicity concerns. Several reports have confirmed the potential toxicity of graphene and its derivatives, and the inconsistency may be due to the lack of standardized consensus protocols. The present review focuses on the hidden facts of graphene and its biomedical application, with special emphasis on drug delivery, biosensing, bioimaging, antibacterial, tissue engineering, and 3D printing applications.

Development of biomedical publications on ametropia research in PubMed from 1845 to 2010:a bibliometric analysis

We have carried out a bibliometric analysis on the development of ametropia literature to determine its growth rule and tendency, and to provide the basis for the problems related to ametropia research. Literatures that contained the descriptors of ametropia in title or paper published before Nov. 10, 2010 in PubMed databases (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Pubmed) were selected. As bibliometric indicators of ametropia, biomedical journals referring to ophthalmology by ISSN were calculated. The principal bibliometric indicators: Price's and Bradford's laws were applied on the increase or dispersion of scientific literature, the participation index of languages and the journals. By means of manual coding, literatures were classified according to documents study and statistical analysis. The literatures cited in ametropia, astigmatism, myopia and hypermetropia had accumulated to 26475, which consists of Review (n =1560), Randomized Controlled Trial (n =776), Practice Guideline (n =10), Meta-Analysis (n=23), Letter (n=1222), Editorial (n =328), Clinical Trial ( n =1726) and Others (n=20830); and Humans (n=23073), Animals (n=1434) and Others ( n=1968). 1136 literatures were included in PubMed Central, 22384 in MEDLINE and 2955 in others. The ametropia literatures rose every 5 years which of the ametropia-year cumulated amount of the literatures had three periods: before 1900, slowly increasing from 1901 to 1950, rapidly rising from 1951 to 2010 (increased approximate exponentiation exponent). Sixty kinds of languages were listed in PubMed databases, of which English was dominant for aborting to ametropia research documents before 2010 (77.32%, 20471/26475). The document language of top eight accounted for 95.58% (English, German, French, Japanese, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Chinese), and others for 4.42% (1171/26475). The SCI database includes 48 ophthalmologic journals and the impact factor of 39 journals is >= 1 on Thomson-Reuters in 2010. Of 48 ophthalmologic journals, there were 14785 documents (55.85%) of ametropia, astigmatism, myopia, and hypermetropia. Others were without exception. The bibliometric analysis results show that ametropia literature are increased progressively, approximate exponentiation Exponent during 1951-2010. In addition, ametropia research has become more popular since nearly half century.

Surface modification of titanium using steel slag ball and shot blasting treatment for biomedical implant applications

Surface modification is often performed using grit or shot blasting treatment for improving the performances of biomedical implants. The effects of blasting treatments using steel slag balls and spherical shots on the surface and subsurface of titanium were studied in this paper. The treatments were conducted for 60-300 s using 2-5 mm steel slag bails and 3.18 mm spherical shots. The surface morphology, roughness, and elemental composition of titanium specimens were examined prior to and after the treatments. Irregular and rough titanium surfaces were formed after the treatment with the steel slag balls instead of the spherical shots. The former treatment also introduced some bioactive elements on the titanium surface, but the latter one yielded a harder surface layer. In conclusion, both steel slag ball and shot blasting treatment have their own specialization in modifying the surface of metallic biomaterials. Steel slag ball blasting is potential for improving the osseointegration quality of implants; but the shot blasting is more appropriate for improving the mechanical properties of temporary and load bearing implants, such as osteosynthesis plates.

Metal-Organic Framework Nanocarriers for Drug Delivery in Biomedical Applications

Investigation of metal–organic frameworks(MOFs)for biomedical applications has attracted much attention in recent years.MOFs are regarded as a promising class of nanocarriers for drug delivery owing to well-defined structure,ultrahigh surface area and porosity,tunable pore size,and easy chemical functionalization.In this review,the unique properties of MOFs and their advantages as nanocarriers for drug delivery in biomedical applications were discussed in the first section.Then,state-ofthe-art strategies to functionalize MOFs with therapeutic agents were summarized,including surface adsorption,pore encapsulation,covalent binding,and functional molecules as building blocks.In the third section,the most recent biological applications of MOFs for intracellular delivery of drugs,proteins,and nucleic acids,especially aptamers,were presented.Finally,challenges and prospects were comprehensively discussed to provide context for future development of MOFs as efficient drug delivery systems.

Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: Synthesis and surface coating techniques for biomedical applications

Iron oxide nanoparticles are the most popular magnetic nanoparticles used in biomedical applications due to their low cost, low toxicity, and unique magnetic property. Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, including magnetite （Fe304） and maghemite （γ-Fe203）, usually exhibit a superparamagnetic property as their size goes smaller than 20 nm, which are often denoted as superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles （SPIONs） and utilized for drug delivery, diagnosis, therapy, and etc. This review article gives a brief introduction on magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in terms of their fundamentals of magnetism, magnetic resonance imaging （MRI）, and drug delivery, as well as the synthesis approaches, surface coating, and application examples from recent key literatures. Because the quality and surface chemistry play important roles in biomedical applications, our review focuses on the synthesis approaches and surface modifications of iron oxide nanopar- ticles. We aim to provide a detailed introduction to readers who are new to this field, helping them to choose suitable synthesis methods and to optimize the surface chemistry of iron oxide nanoparticles for their interests.

Review: Progress in the Preparation of Iron Based Magnetic Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications

With unique physical properties, chemical properties, and biological effects, magnetic nanomaterials are important functional materials in many fields. In the past decades, iron based magnetic nanomaterials have attracted much attention in the biomedicine field due to their superior magnetic properties and great potential in biomedical applications. In particular, magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles(MIONPs) have been playing a crucial role in the biomedicine field because of their diagnostic and therapeutic functions. Meanwhile, MIONPs are benign, low toxic, biocompatible, and biodegradable, so they are the only inorganic magnetic nanomaterials approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA) for clinical use at present. In this review, we mainly introduce the progress in the preparation of iron based magnetic nanomaterials for biomedical applications, including pure iron nanoparticles, iron-based alloy nanoparticles, and MIONPs, with a focus on MIONPs. Also, we summarize the preparation methods of MIONPs and point out the importance of their developments.

Biomedical microwave-induced thermoacoustic imaging

Microwave induced thermoacoustic imaging(MTAI)has emerged as a potential biomedical imaging modality with over 20-year growth.MTAI typically employs pulsed microwave as the pumping source,and detects the microwave-induced ultrasound wave via acoustic transducers.Therefore,it features high acoustic resolution,rich elect romagnetic contrast,and large imaging depth.Benefiting from these unique advantages,MTAI has been extensively applied to various fields including pathology,biology,material and medicine.Till now,MTAI has been deployed for a wide range of biomedical applications,including cancer diagnosis,joint evaluation,brain in-vestigation and endoscopy.This paper provides a comprehensive review on(1)essential physics(endogenous/exogenous contrast mechanisms,penetration depth and resolution),(2)hardware configurations and software implementations(excit ation source,antenna,ultrasound detector and image recovery algorithm),(3)animal studies and clinical applications,and(4)future directions.