Going below and beyond the surface: Microneedle structure, materials, drugs, fabrication, and applications for wound healing and tissue regeneration.

Microneedle, as a novel drug delivery system, has attracted widespread attention due to its non-invasiveness, painless and simple administration, controllable drug delivery, and diverse cargo loading capacity. Although microneedles are initially designed to penetrate stratum corneum of skin for transdermal drug delivery, they, recently, have been used to promote wound healing and regeneration of diverse tissues and organs and the results are promising. Despite there are reviews about microneedles, few of them focus on wound healing and tissue regeneration.

Engineering three-dimensional microenvironments towards in vitro disease models of the central nervous system.

The central nervous system (CNS) has a highly complex biophysical and biochemical environment. Despite decades of intensive research, it is still an enormous challenge to restore its functions and regenerate lost or damaged CNS tissues. Current treatment strategies remain sub-optimal because of (1) the hostile microenvironment created post CNS injury, and (2) insufficient understanding of the pathophysiology of acute and chronic CNS diseases.

Freehand three-dimensional ultrasound system for assessment of scoliosis.

Background/objective: Standing radiograph with Cobb's method is routinely used to diagnose scoliosis, a medical condition defined as a lateral spine curvature > 10° with concordant vertebral rotation. However, radiation hazard and two-dimensional (2-D) viewing of 3-D anatomy restrict the application of radiograph in scoliosis examination.

Methods: In this study, a freehand 3-D ultrasound system was developed for the radiation-free assessment of scoliosis.

Ultrasound Volume Projection Imaging for Assessment of Scoliosis.

The standing radiograph is used as a gold standard to diagnose spinal deformity including scoliosis, a medical condition defined as lateral spine curvature > 10°. However, the health concern of X-ray and large inter-observer variation of measurements on X-ray images have significantly restricted its application, particularly for scoliosis screening and close follow-up for adolescent patients. In this study, a radiation-free freehand 3-D ultrasound system was developed for scoliosis assessment using a volume projection imaging method.

Development of 3-D ultrasound system for assessment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS): and system validation.

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a common spinal disease and the prevalence of AIS is 2 to 4 % of the youngsters in the United States. Radiograph based Cobb's method is regarded as the gold standard. AIS patients normally have to undergo regular X-ray assessment every 4 to 6 months until skeletal maturity is reached.