Label-Free Quantification of Microscopic Alignment in Engineered Tissue Scaffolds by Polarized Raman Spectroscopy.

Monitoring of extracellular matrix (ECM) microstructure is essential in studying structure-associated cellular processes, improving cellular function, and for ensuring sufficient mechanical integrity in engineered tissues. This paper describes a novel method to study the microscale alignment of the matrix in engineered tissue scaffolds (ETS) that are usually composed of a variety of biomacromolecules derived by cells. First, a trained loading function was derived from Raman spectra of highly aligned native tissue via principal component analysis (PCA), where prominent changes associated with specific Raman bands (e.

Connecting Vibrational Spectroscopy to Atomic Structure via Supervised Manifold Learning: Beyond Peak Analysis.

Vibrational spectroscopy is a nondestructive technique commonly used in chemical and physical analyses to determine atomic structures and associated properties. However, the evaluation and interpretation of spectroscopic profiles based on human-identifiable peaks can be difficult and convoluted. To address this challenge, we present a reliable protocol based on supervised manifold learning techniques meant to connect vibrational spectra to a variety of complex and diverse atomic structure configurations.

Active space garnering by leaves of a rosette plant.

Near-ground growth offers low-statured plants many benefits but also exposes them to the risk of being overtopped and losing access to sunlight. Plant community development is often portrayed as a process of serial dominance by successively taller species, but here we describe a mechanism by which a low-growing rosette species alters community spatial structure. Elephantopus elatus (Asteraceae), an herbaceous savanna plant with low-growing leaves that emerge radially from a central bud, pushes neighboring plants away and thereby avoids being overtopped.

Label-free quantification of soft tissue alignment by polarized Raman spectroscopy.

The organization of proteins is an important determinant of functionality in soft tissues. However, such organization is difficult to monitor over time in soft tissue with complex compositions. Here, we establish a method to determine the alignment of proteins in soft tissues of varying composition by polarized Raman spectroscopy (PRS).

On shockwave propagation and attenuation in poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate hydrogels.

An analytical model is developed to predict shockwave propagation and attenuation in hydrogels by combining the classical method of shock characteristics and a solution for the shock front structure. To guide the development of the model, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed. Specifically, a one-dimensional shock pulse in poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogels is simulated with the nonequilibrium MD method.

Raman Spectroscopy Methods to Characterize the Mechanical Response of Soft Biomaterials.

Raman spectroscopy has been used extensively to characterize the influence of mechanical deformation on microstructure changes in biomaterials. While traditional piezo-spectroscopy has been successful in assessing internal stresses of hard biomaterials by tracking prominent peak shifts, peak shifts due to applied loads are near or below the resolution limit of the spectrometer for soft biomaterials with moduli in the kilo- to mega-Pascal range. In this Review, in addition to peak shifts, other spectral features (e.

Effect of Loop Defects on the High Strain Rate Behavior of PEGDA Hydrogels: A Molecular Dynamics Study.

The high strain rate behavior of nonideal poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate hydrogels under uniaxial tension and transient-state shear deformations is investigated using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. This work specifically focuses on the influence of first-order loop defects, including their effect on topological evolutions. Two approaches are proposed to systematically introduce first-order loops, allowing separate and controllable investigations of effective cross-link functionality and cross-link density.

Association of Child Neurology-Indian Epilepsy Society Consensus Document on Parental Counseling of Children with Epilepsy.

When a child is diagnosed with epilepsy, counseling regarding the same is done by the treating doctor. Most parents are frightened and have poor knowledge about epilepsy. Therapeutic advice including drug dosage, administration and side effects takes up the major part of physician's time, thereby neglecting important issues like home seizure management, follow up and others.

Effect of water concentration on the shock response of polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogels: A molecular dynamics study.

Shockwave propagation in polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogels is simulated for the first time using nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. PEGDA hydrogel models are built using the "perfect network" approach such that each crosslink junction is comprised of six chain connections. The influence of PEGDA concentration (20-70 wt%) on shock behavior is investigated for a range of particle velocities (200-1000 m/s).

Controlled single bubble cavitation collapse results in jet-induced injury in brain tissue.

Multiscale damage due to cavitation is considered as a potential mechanism of traumatic brain injury (TBI) associated with explosion. In this study, we employed a TBI relevant hippocampal ex vivo slice model to induce bubble cavitation. Placement of single reproducible seed bubbles allowed control of size, number, and tissue location to visualize and measure deformation parameters.

Wave propagation in ballistic gelatine.

Wave propagation characteristics in long cylindrical specimens of ballistic gelatine have been investigated using a high speed digital camera and hyper elastic constitutive models. The induced transient deformation is modelled with strain rate dependent Mooney-Rivlin parameters which are determined by modelling the stress-strain response of gelatine at a range of strain rates. The varying velocity of wave propagation through the gelatine cylinder is derived as a function of prestress or stretch in the gelatine specimen.

Measurement of viscoelastic properties in multiple anatomical regions of acute rat brain tissue slices.

Mechanical property data for brain tissue are needed to understand the biomechanics of neurological disorders and response of the brain to different mechanical and surgical forces. Most studies have characterized mechanical behavior of brain tissues over large regions or classified tissue properties for either gray or white matter regions only. In this study, spatially heterogeneous viscoelastic properties of ex vivo rat brain tissue slices were measured in different anatomical regions including the cerebral cortex, caudate/putamen, and hippocampus using an optical coherence tomography (OCT) indentation system.

Bio-electrolytic conversion of acidogenic effluents to biohydrogen: an integration strategy for higher substrate conversion and product recovery.

Feasibility of integrating Microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) process with dark-fermentation process for additional hydrogen recovery as well as substrate degradation was demonstrated in the present study. MEC was employed in order to utilize the residual organic fraction present in the acidogenic effluents of dark fermentation process as substrate for hydrogen production with input of small electric current. MEC was operated at volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration of 3000 mg/l under different poised potentials (0.

High-strain-rate brain injury model using submerged acute rat brain tissue slices.

Blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) has received increasing attention in recent years due to ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sudden impacts or explosive blasts generate stress and pressure waves that propagate at high velocities and affect sensitive neurological tissues. The immediate soft tissue response to these stress waves is difficult to assess using current in vivo imaging technologies.

Loading velocity dependent permeability in agarose gel under compression.

A new approach for characterization of agarose gel permeability under compression at different loading velocities is proposed. Uniaxial compression tests on thin agarose gel specimens in a rigid porous confinement cell immersed in a water bath are undertaken. The equilibrium response of the gel, which is assumed to be achieved under extremely low-loading velocity (of the order of tens nanometers per second) is considered to be the response of the hydrated gel scaffold.

Fermentative effluents from hydrogen producing bioreactor as substrate for poly(beta-OH) butyrate production with simultaneous treatment: an integrated approach.

The feasibility of bioplastics production as poly(beta-OH)butyrate (PHB) was studied with individual volatile fatty acids (VFA) and acid-rich effluents from a biohydrogen producing reactor (HBR) as primary substrates employing aerobic consortia as biocatalyst under anoxic microenvironment. Butyrate as substrate showed higher PHB productivity (33%) followed by acetate (32%), acids mixture (16%) and propionate (11%) among synthetic VFA studied. Acid-rich effluents from HBR yielded higher PHB productivity (25%) especially at lower substrate loading conditions.

Compressive strain rate sensitivity of ballistic gelatin.

Gelatin is a popular tissue simulant used in biomedical applications. The uniaxial compressive stress-strain response of gelatin was determined at a range of strain rates. In the quasistatic regime, gelatin strength remained relatively constant.

Analysis of nanoindentation response of diatom frustules.

Diatom frustules have been suggested for numerous nanotechnological applications. Experimental studies using nanoindenter have shown that the hardness and the stiffness of the frustules vary with location of indentation. To gain further insight, a computational framework has been developed where the Berkovich nanoindentation experiments were simulated by a rigid-deformable contact process.

Investigation of mechanical properties of diatom frustules using nanoindentation.

Diatom frustules have been identified as potential candidate materials for nanotechnology applications. However, for successful engineering applications, their mechanical properties must be fully determined. Toward this end, indentation hardness and elastic properties frustules of the centric diatom Coscinodiscus concinnus were evaluated using nanoindentation.