Synergistic Reinforcement of Composite Hydrogels with Nanofiber Mixtures of Cellulose Nanocrystals and Chitin Nanofibers.

Simultaneous incorporation of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and chitin nanofibers (ChNFs) into a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix opens possibilities for customization of more environmentally friendly composite materials. When used in tricomponent composite hydrogels, the opposite surface charges on CNCs and ChNFs lead to the construction of beneficial nanofiber structures. In this work, composite hydrogels containing CNCs, ChNFs, or their mixtures are produced using cyclic freeze-thaw (FT) treatments.

Controlling Barrier and Mechanical Properties of Cellulose Nanocrystals by Blending with Chitin Nanofibers.

Chitin nanofibers (ChNFs) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have been proposed as materials for renewable packaging with low O transmission that protect food, medicine, and electronics. A challenge in biomass-derived functional materials is tuning both barrier and mechanical properties, while minimizing process steps. A concept that merits additional study in this field is tuning of the barrier and mechanical properties by use of oppositely charged biomass-derived fibers, through interactions that support dense film formation.

The effect of surface topography and porosity on the tensile fatigue of 3D printed Ti-6Al-4V fabricated by selective laser melting.

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) is emerging as a key manufacturing technique in medical devices. Selective laser melted (SLM) Ti-6Al-4V implants with interconnected porosity have become widespread in orthopedic applications where porous structures encourage bony ingrowth and the stiffness of the implant can be tuned to reduce stress shielding. The SLM technique allows high resolution control over design, including the ability to introduce porosity with spatial variations in pore size, shape, and connectivity.

Impact of surface porosity and topography on the mechanical behavior of high strength biomedical polymers.

The ability to control the surface topography of orthopedic implant materials is desired to improve osseointegration but is often at the expense of mechanical performance in load bearing environments. Here we investigate the effects of surface modifications, roughness and porosity, on the mechanical properties of a set of polymers with diverse chemistry and structure. Both roughness and surface porosity resulted in samples with lower strength, failure strain and fatigue life due to stress concentrations at the surface; however, the decrease in ductility and fatigue strength were greater than the decrease in monotonic strength.

Seeking homeostasis: temporal trends in respiration, oxidation, and calcium in SOD1 G93A Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis mice.

Impairments in mitochondria, oxidative regulation, and calcium homeostasis have been well documented in numerous Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) experimental models, especially in the superoxide dismutase 1 glycine 93 to alanine (SOD1 G93A) transgenic mouse. However, the timing of these deficiencies has been debatable. In a systematic review of 45 articles, we examine experimental measurements of cellular respiration, mitochondrial mechanisms, oxidative markers, and calcium regulation.

State of the field: An informatics-based systematic review of the SOD1-G93A amyotrophic lateral sclerosis transgenic mouse model.

Numerous sub-cellular through system-level disturbances have been identified in over 1300 articles examining the superoxide dismutase-1 guanine 93 to alanine (SOD1-G93A) transgenic mouse amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) pathophysiology. Manual assessment of such a broad literature base is daunting. We performed a comprehensive informatics-based systematic review or 'field analysis' to agnostically compute and map the current state of the field.