Biofluid, Imaging, Physiological, and Functional Biomarkers of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Subconcussive Head Impacts.

Post-concussive symptoms are frequently reported by individuals who sustain mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs) and subconcussive head impacts, even when evidence of intracranial pathology is lacking. Current strategies used to evaluate head injuries, which primarily rely on self-report, have a limited ability to predict the incidence, severity, and duration of post-concussive symptoms that will develop in an individual patient. In addition, these self-report measures have little association with the underlying mechanisms of pathology that may contribute to persisting symptoms, impeding advancement in precision treatment for TBI.

Photoenhanced Degradation of Sarin at Cu/TiO Composite Aerogels: Roles of Bandgap Excitation and Surface Plasmon Excitation.

Multifunctional composites that couple high-capacity adsorbents with catalytic nanoparticles (NPs) offer a promising route toward the degradation of organophosphorus pollutants or chemical warfare agents (CWAs). We couple mesoporous TiO aerogels with plasmonic Cu nanoparticles (Cu/TiO) and characterize the degradation of the organophosphorus CWA sarin under both dark and illuminated conditions. Cu/TiO aerogels combine high dark degradation rates, which are facilitated by hydrolytically active sites at the Cu||TiO interface, with photoenhanced degradation courtesy of semiconducting TiO and the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of the Cu nanoparticles.

Stabilization of reduced copper on ceria aerogels for CO oxidation.

Photodeposition of Cu nanoparticles on ceria (CeO) aerogels generates a high surface area composite material with sufficient metallic Cu to exhibit an air-stable surface plasmon resonance. We show that balancing the surface area of the aerogel support with the Cu weight loading is a critical factor in retaining stable Cu. At higher Cu weight loadings or with a lower support surface area, Cu aggregation is observed by scanning and transmission electron microscopy.

Semi-interpenetrating networks of hyaluronic acid in degradable PEG hydrogels for cartilage tissue engineering.

Hydrolytically biodegradable poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels offer a promising platform for chondrocyte encapsulation and tuning degradation for cartilage tissue engineering, but offer no bioactive cues to encapsulated cells. This study tests the hypothesis that a semi-interpenetrating network of entrapped hyaluronic acid (HA), a bioactive molecule that binds cell surface receptors on chondrocytes, and crosslinked degradable PEG improves matrix synthesis by encapsulated chondrocytes. Degradation was achieved by incorporating oligo (lactic acid) segments into the crosslinks.