Search

Haoli Jiang,1 Mohan Prasath Mani,2 Saravana Kumar Jaganathan3–6 1Orthopaedics Department, The Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518114, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Malaysia; 3Department for Management of Science and Technology Development, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; 4Faculty of Applied Sciences, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; 5IJNUTM Cardiovascular Engineering Center, School of Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Malaysia; 6Department of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UKCorrespondence: Saravana Kumar JaganathanDepartment for Management of Science and Technology Development, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, VietnamTel +84 28837755037Email saravana@tdtu.edu.vnIntroduction: Recently several new approaches were emerging in bone tissue engineering to develop a substitute for remodelling the damaged tissue. In order to resemble the native extracellular matrix (ECM) of the human tissue, the bone scaffolds must possess necessary requirements like large surface area, interconnected pores and sufficient mechanical strength.Materials and methods: A novel bone scaffold has been developed using polyurethane (PE) added with wintergreen (WG) and titanium dioxide (TiO2). The developed nanocomposites were characterized through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), contact angle measurement, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and tensile testing. Furthermore, anticoagulant assays, cell viability analysis and calcium deposition were used to investigate the biological properties of the prepared hybrid nanocomposites.Results: FESEM depicted the reduced fibre diameter for the electrospun PE/WG and PE/WG/TiO2 than the pristine PE. The addition of WG and TiO2 resulted in the alteration in peak intensity of PE as revealed in the FTIR. Wettability measurements showed the PE/WG showed decreased wettability and the PE/WG/TiO2 exhibited improved wettability than the pristine PE. TGA measurements showed the improved thermal behaviour for the PE with the addition of WG and TiO2. Surface analysis indicated that the composite has a smoother surface rather than the pristine PE. Further, the incorporation of WG and TiO2 improved the anticoagulant nature of the pristine PE. In vitro cytotoxicity assay has been performed using fibroblast cells which revealed that the electrospun composites showed good cell attachment and proliferation after 5 days. Moreover, the bone apatite formation study revealed the enhanced deposition of calcium content in the fabricated composites than the pristine PE.Conclusion: Fabricated nanocomposites rendered improved physico-chemical properties, biocompatibility and calcium deposition which are conducive for bone tissue engineering.Keywords: polymer, TiO2/wintergreen, surface properties, apatite formation, tissue engineering

Jie Qi,1,* Huang Zhang,2,* Yingzhou Wang,3 Mohan Prasath Mani,4 Saravana Kumar Jaganathan5–7 1Department of Orthopedics, Shaanxi Provincial People’s Hospital, 2Department of Orthopedics, Han Zhong People’s Hospital, Han Zhong, Shaanxi Province, 3Beijing Meinuoyikang Health Food Co., Ltd, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 4Faculty of Biosciences and Medical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia; 5Department for Management of Science and Technology Development, 6Faculty of Applied Sciences, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; 7IJN-UTM Cardiovascular Engineering Centre, Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences and Medical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia *These authors contributed equally to this work Introduction: Currently, the design of extracellular matrix (ECM) with nanoscale properties in bone tissue engineering is challenging. For bone tissue engineering, the ECM must have certain properties such as being nontoxic, highly porous, and should not cause foreign body reactions. Materials and methods: In this study, the hybrid scaffold based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) blended with metallocene polyethylene (mPE) and plectranthus amboinicus (PA) was fabricated for bone tissue engineering via electrospinning. The fabricated hybrid nanocomposites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), contact angle measurement, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Furthermore, activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), and hemolytic assays were used to investigate the blood compatibility of the prepared hybrid nanocomposites. Results: The prepared hybrid nanocomposites showed reduced fiber diameter (238±45 nm) and also increased porosity (87%) with decreased pore diameter (340±86 nm) compared with pure PVA. The interactions between PVA, mPE, and PA were identified by the formation of the additional peaks as revealed in FTIR. Furthermore, the prepared hybrid nanocomposites showed a decreased contact angle of 51°±1.32° indicating a hydrophilic nature and exhibited lower thermal stability compared to pristine PVA. Moreover, the mechanical results revealed that the electrospun scaffold showed an improved tensile strength of 3.55±0.29 MPa compared with the pristine PVA (1.8±0.52 MPa). The prepared hybrid nanocomposites showed delayed blood clotting as noted in APTT and PT assays indicating better blood compatibility. Moreover, the hemolysis assay revealed that the hybrid nanocomposites exhibited a low hemolytic index of 0.6% compared with pure PVA, which was 1.6% suggesting the safety of the developed nanocomposite to red blood cells (RBCs). Conclusion: The prepared nanocomposites exhibited better physico-chemical properties, sufficient porosity, mechanical strength, and blood compatibility, which favors it as a valuable candidate in bone tissue engineering for repairing the bone defects. Keywords: scaffold, electrospinning, bone tissue engineering, physico-chemical characterization, blood compatibility

This work aims to fabricate scaffold using polyurethane (PU) integrated with bourbon oil (BB) and cobalt nitrate (CoNO3) using the electrospinning technique. Morphological investigation signified a fall in fibre diameter for the PU/BB and PU/BB/CoNO3 nanocomposite than the PU. Spectral analysis indicated that BB and CoNO3 were added within the PU matrix. Wettability analysis insinuated an increase in the hydrophobic nature of the PU/BB than the PU. PU/BB/CoNO3 turned to be hydrophilic due to the integration of CoNO3 in the polymer matrix. Mechanical testing of PU/BB and PU/BB/CoNO3 indicated an increase in the tensile strength of the fabricated composites. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) portrayed the reduction in the roughness of the PU/BB and PU/BB/CoNO3 compared to the PU. The coagulation studies invariably documented the improved anticoagulant behaviour and less toxic nature of the PU/BB and PU/BB/CoNO3 in comparison with the PU. Further, bone mineralization testing revealed the enhanced apatite formation of the nanocomposite. Nanocomposite scaffolds with the fore-mentioned properties hold good potential for bone tissue engineering.

We introduce a model-based deep learning architecture termed MoDL-MUSSELS for the correction of phase errors in multishot diffusion-weighted echo-planar MR images. The proposed algorithm is a generalization of the existing MUSSELS algorithm with similar performance but significantly reduced computational complexity. In this work, we show that an iterative re-weighted least-squares implementation of MUSSELS alternates between a multichannel filter bank and the enforcement of data consistency. The multichannel filter bank projects the data to the signal subspace, thus exploiting the annihilation relations between shots. Due to the high computational complexity of the self-learned filter bank, we propose replacing it with a convolutional neural network (CNN) whose parameters are learned from exemplary data. The proposed CNN is a hybrid model involving a multichannel CNN in the k-space and another CNN in the image space. The k-space CNN exploits the annihilation relations between the shot images, while the image domain network is used to project the data to an image manifold. The experiments show that the proposed scheme can yield reconstructions that are comparable to state-of-the-art methods while offering several orders of magnitude reduction in run-time.

We propose a model-based deep learning architecture for the reconstruction of highly accelerated diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that enables high resolution imaging. The proposed reconstruction jointly recovers all the diffusion weighted images in a single step from a joint k-q under-sampled acquisition in a parallel MRI setting. We propose the novel use of a pre-trained denoiser as a regularizer in a model-based reconstruction for the recovery of highly under-sampled data. Specifically, we designed the denoiser based on a general diffusion MRI tissue microstructure model for multi-compartmental modeling. By using a wide range of biologically plausible parameter values for the multi-compartmental microstructure model, we simulated diffusion signal that spans the entire microstructure parameter space. A neural network was trained in an unsupervised manner using an autoencoder to learn the diffusion MRI signal subspace. We employed the autoencoder in a model-based reconstruction and show that the autoencoder provides a strong denoising prior to recover the q-space signal. We show reconstruction results on a simulated brain dataset that shows high acceleration capabilities of the proposed method.

Ayurveda oil contains numerous source of biological constituents which plays an important role in reducing the pain relief caused during bone fracture. The aim of the study is to fabricate the polyurethane (PU) scaffold for bone tissue engineering added with ayurveda amla oil using electrospinning technique. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis showed that the fabricated nanocomposites showed reduced fiber diameter (758 ± 185.46 nm) than the pristine PU (890 ± 116.91 nm). Fourier Infrared Analysis (FTIR) revealed the existence of amla oil in the PU matrix by hydrogen bond formation. The contact angle results revealed the decreased wettability (116° ± 1.528) of the prepared nanocomposites compared to the pure PU (100° ± 0.5774). The incorporation of amla oil into the PU matrix improved the surface roughness. Further, the coagulation assay indicated that the addition of amla oil into PU delayed the blood clotting times and exhibited less toxic to red blood cells. Hence, the fabricated nanocomposites showed enhanced physicochemical and better blood compatibility parameters which may serve as a potential candidate for bone tissue engineering.

In this survey, we provide a detailed review of recent advances in the recovery of continuous domain multidimensional signals from their few non-uniform (multichannel) measurements using structured low-rank matrix completion formulation. This framework is centered on the fundamental duality between the compactness (e.g., sparsity) of the continuous signal and the rank of a structured matrix, whose entries are functions of the signal. This property enables the reformulation of the signal recovery as a low-rank structured matrix completion, which comes with performance guarantees. We will also review fast algorithms that are comparable in complexity to current compressed sensing methods, which enables the application of the framework to large-scale magnetic resonance (MR) recovery problems. The remarkable flexibility of the formulation can be used to exploit signal properties that are difficult to capture by current sparse and low-rank optimization strategies. We demonstrate the utility of the framework in a wide range of MR imaging (MRI) applications, including highly accelerated imaging, calibration-free acquisition, MR artifact correction, and ungated dynamic MRI.

Scaffolds supplemented with naturally derived materials seem to be a good choice in bone tissue engineering. This study aims to develop polyurethane (PU) nanofibers added with ylang ylang (YY) and zinc nitrate (ZnNO 3 ) using the electrospinning method. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images showed that the diameter of the PU nanofibers (869 ± 122 nm) was reduced with the addition of YY and ZnNO 3 (PU/YY-467 ± 132 nm and PU/YY/ZnNO 3 -290 ± 163 nm). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), a thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and an X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the interactions between PU with YY and ZnNO 3 . In addition, a thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) study revealed the improved thermal stability for PU/YY and a slight reduction in the thermal stability for PU/YY/ZnNO 3 . A tensile test indicated that the addition of YY and ZnNO3 (PU/YY-12.32 MPa and PU/YY/ZnNO 3 -14.90 MPa) improved the mechanical properties of the pristine PU (6.83 MPa). The electrospun PU/YY (524 nm) and PU/YY/ZnNO 3 (284 nm) showed a reduced surface roughness when compared with the pristine PU (776 nm) as depicted in the atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis. The addition of YY and ZnNO 3 improved the anticoagulant and biocompatibility nature of the pristine PU. Furthermore, the bone mineralization study depicted the improved calcium deposition in the fabricated composites (PU/YY-7.919% and PU/YY/ZnNO 3 -10.150%) compared to the pristine PU (5.323%). Hence, the developed composites with desirable physico-chemical properties, biocompatibility and calcium deposition can serve as plausible candidates for bone tissue engineering.

The aim of this study was to develop polyurethane (PU) wound dressing incorporated with cobalt nitrate using electrospinning technique. The morphology analysis revealed that the developed composites exhibited reduced fiber and pore diameter than the pristine PU. The electrospun membranes exhibited average porosity in the range of 67% - 71%. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectra (EDS) showed the presence of cobalt in the PU matrix. The interaction of cobalt nitrate with PU matrix was evident in Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The contact angle results indicated the improved wettability of the prepared PU/cobalt nitrate composites (82° ± 2) than the pure PU (100° ± 1). The incorporation of cobalt nitrate into the PU matrix enhanced the surface roughness and mechanical strength as evident in the atomic force microscopy (AFM) and tensile test analysis. The blood compatibility assays revealed the anticoagulant nature of the prepared composites by displaying prolonged blood clotting time than the PU control. Further, the developed composite exhibited less toxicity nature as revealed in the hemolysis and cytotoxicity studies. It was observed that the PU wound dressing added with cobalt nitrate fibers exhibited enhanced physicochemical, better blood compatibility parameters and enhanced fibroblast proliferation rates which may serve as a potential candidate for wound dressings.

Tissue engineering holds as a prominent technique to repair or replace the damaged human parts to recreate its native function. In this research, a novel scaffold based on polyurethane (PU) comprising megni oil was electrospun for tissue engineering applications. The obtained polyurethane blended with megni oil nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), contact angle measurement and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Furthermore, the blood compatibility of the fabricated nanocomposites evaluated through activated prothrombin time (APTT), partial thromboplastin time (PT) and hemolysis assay to determine the anticoagulant nature. The morphological results showed that the fabricated nanocomposites showed reduced fiber size (789 ± 143.106 nm) than the pristine control (890 ± 116.91 nm). The interaction between PU and megni oil was identified by the hydrogen bond formation evident in the FTIR. The incorporation of megni oil in the PU decreased the wettability behavior (113.3° ± 1.528) and improved the surface roughness (646 nm). Preliminary evaluation of blood compatibility assessments was carried out using APTT, PT and hemolysis assay revealed the enhanced antithrombogenicity nature of the fabricated nanocomposites than the PU. Hence, we conclude that the fabricated new nanocomposite membrane with desirable characteristics which might find potential application in the tissue engineering applications.

Traditionally, in the Asian continent, oils are a widely accepted choice for alleviating bone-related disorders. The design of scaffolds resembling the extracellular matrix (ECM) is of great significance in bone tissue engineering. In this study, a multicomponent polyurethane (PU), canola oil (CO) and neem oil (NO) scaffold was developed using the electrospinning technique. The fabricated nanofibers were subjected to various physicochemical and biological testing to validate its suitability for bone tissue engineering. Morphological analysis of the multicomponent scaffold showed a reduction in fiber diameter (PU/CO-853 ± 141.27 nm and PU/CO/NO-633 ± 137.54 nm) compared to PU (890 ± 116.911 nm). The existence of CO and NO in PU matrix was confirmed by an infrared spectrum (IR) with the formation of hydrogen bond. PU/CO displayed a mean contact angle of 108.7° ± 0.58 while the PU/CO/NO exhibited hydrophilic nature with an angle of 62.33° ± 2.52. The developed multicomponent also exhibited higher thermal stability and increased mechanical strength compared to the pristine PU. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis depicted lower surface roughness for the nanocomposites (PU/CO-389 nm and PU/CO/NO-323 nm) than the pristine PU (576 nm). Blood compatibility investigation displayed the anticoagulant nature of the composites. Cytocompatibility studies revealed the non-toxic nature of the developed composites with human fibroblast cells (HDF) cells. The newly developed porous PU nanocomposite scaffold comprising CO and NO may serve as a potential candidate for bone tissue engineering., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Cardiovascular application of nanomaterial's is of increasing demand and its usage is limited by its mechanical and blood compatible properties. In this work, an attempt is made to develop an electrospun novel nanocomposite loaded with basil oil and titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) particles. The composite material displayed increase in hydrophobic and reduced fiber diameter compared to the pristine polymer. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results showed the interaction of the pristine polymer with the added substances. Thermal analysis showed the increased onset degradation, whereas the mechanical testing portrayed the increased tensile strength of the composites. Finally, the composite delayed the coagulation times and also rendered safe environment for red blood cells signifying its suitability to be used in contact with blood. Strikingly, the cellular toxicity of the developed composite was lower than the pristine polymer suggesting its compatible nature with the surrounding tissues. With these promising characteristics, developed material with enhanced physicochemical properties and blood compatibility can be successfully utilized for cardiac tissue applications.

The ultimate goal in tissue engineering is to fabricate a scaffold which could mimic the native tissue structure. In this work, the physicochemical and biocompatibility properties of electrospun composites based on polyurethane (PU) with added pepper mint (PM) oil and copper sulphate (CuSO₄) were investigated. Field Emission Electron microscope (FESEM) study depicted the increase in mean fiber diameter for PU/PM and decrease in fiber diameter for PU/PM/CuSO₄ compared to the pristine PU. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis revealed the formation of a hydrogen bond for the fabricated composites as identified by an alteration in PU peak intensity. Contact angle analysis presented the hydrophobic nature of pristine PU and PU/PM while the PU/PM/CuSO₄ showed hydrophilic behavior. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis revealed the increase in the surface roughness for the PU/PM while PU/PM/CuSO₄ showed a decrease in surface roughness compared to the pristine PU. Blood compatibility studies showed improved blood clotting time and less toxic behavior for the developed composites than the pristine PU. Finally, the cell viability of the fabricated composite was higher than the pristine PU as indicated in the MTS assay. Hence, the fabricated wound dressing composite based on PU with added PM and CuSO₄ rendered a better physicochemical and biocompatible nature, making it suitable for wound healing applications.

We propose a model-based deep learning architecture for the correction of phase errors in multishot diffusion-weighted echo-planar MRI images. This work is a generalization of MUSSELS, which is a structured low-rank algorithm. We show that an iterative reweighted least-squares implementation of MUSSELS resembles the model-based deep learning (MoDL) framework. We propose to replace the self-learned linear filter bank in MUSSELS with a convolutional neural network, whose parameters are learned from exemplary data. The proposed algorithm reduces the computational complexity of MUSSELS by several orders of magnitude, while providing comparable image quality.

We introduce a model-based image reconstruction framework with a convolution neural network (CNN)-based regularization prior. The proposed formulation provides a systematic approach for deriving deep architectures for inverse problems with the arbitrary structure. Since the forward model is explicitly accounted for, a smaller network with fewer parameters is sufficient to capture the image information compared to direct inversion approaches. Thus, reducing the demand for training data and training time. Since we rely on end-to-end training with weight sharing across iterations, the CNN weights are customized to the forward model, thus offering improved performance over approaches that rely on pre-trained denoisers. Our experiments show that the decoupling of the number of iterations from the network complexity offered by this approach provides benefits, including lower demand for training data, reduced risk of overfitting, and implementations with significantly reduced memory footprint. We propose to enforce data-consistency by using numerical optimization blocks, such as conjugate gradients algorithm within the network. This approach offers faster convergence per iteration, compared to methods that rely on proximal gradients steps to enforce data consistency. Our experiments show that the faster convergence translates to improved performance, primarily when the available GPU memory restricts the number of iterations.

Essential oils play an important role in reducing the pain and inflammation caused by bone fracture.In this study, a scaffold was electrospun based on polyurethane (PU), grape seed oil, honey and propolis for bone tissue-engineering applications. The fiber diameter of the electrospun PU/grape seed oil scaffold and PU/grape seed oil/honey/propolis scaffold were observed to be reduced compared to the pristine PU control. FTIR analysis revealed the existence of grape seed oil, honey and propolis in PU identified by CH band peak shift and also hydrogen bond formation. The contact angle of PU/grape seed oil scaffold was found to increase owing to hydrophobic nature and the contact angle for the PU/grape seed/honey oil/propolis scaffold were decreased because of hydrophilic nature. Further, the prepared PU/grape seed oil and PU/grape seed oil/honey/propolis scaffold showed enhanced thermal stability and reduction in surface roughness than the control as revealed in thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis. Further, the developed nanocomposite scaffold displayed delayed blood clotting time than the pristine PU in the activated prothrombin time (APTT) and partial thromboplastin time (PT) assay. The hemolytic assay and cytocompatibility studies revealed that the electrospun PU/grape seed oil and PU/grape seed oil/honey/propolis scaffold possess non-toxic behaviour to red blood cells (RBC) and human fibroblast cells (HDF) cells indicating better blood compatibility and cell viability rates. Hence, the newly developed electrospun nanofibrous composite scaffold with desirable characteristics might be used as an alternative candidate for bone tissue engineering applications., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

In this study, a small vascular graft based on polyurethane (PU) blended with chitosan (Ch) nanoparticles was fabricated using electrospinning technique. Initially, the chitosan nanoparticles were synthesized using ionic gelation method. UV-Vis spectrophotometer confirmed the presence of synthesized Ch nanoparticles by exhibiting absorption peak at 288 nm and the Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis confirmed the existence of the chitosan. Further, the synthesized Ch nanoparticles showed size diameter in the range of 134 ± 58 nm as measured using ImageJ. In the electrospun PU/chitosan graft, the fiber diameter and pore size diameter was found to be reduced compared to the pure PU owing to incorporation of chitosan into PU matrix. The FTIR spectrum revealed the presence of chitosan in the prepared nanocomposite membrane by the formation of the hydrogen bond and peak shift of CH and NH stretching. Moreover, the contact angle measurements revealed that the prepared graft showed decreased contact angle indicating hydrophilic nature compared to the pristine PU. The cytocompatibility studies revealed the non-toxic behavior of the fabricated graft. Hence, the prepared graft exhibiting significant physiochemical and non-toxic properties may be a plausible candidate for cardiovascular graft applications.

In this study, a wound dressing based on polyurethane (PU) blended with copper sulphate nanofibers was developed using an electrospinning technique. The prepared PU and PU nanocomposites showed smooth fibers without any bead defects. The prepared nanocomposites showed smaller fiber (663 ± 156.30 nm) and pore (888 ± 70.93 nm) diameter compared to the pristine PU (fiber diameter 1159 ± 147.48 nm and pore diameter 1087 ± 62.51 nm). The interaction of PU with copper sulphate was evident in the infrared spectrum through hydrogen-bond formation. Thermal analysis displayed enhanced weight residue at higher temperature suggesting interaction of PU with copper sulphate. The contact angle measurements revealed the hydrophilic nature of the prepared nanocomposites (71° ± 2.309°) compared with pure PU (100° ± 0.5774°). The addition of copper sulphate into the PU matrix increased the surface roughness, as revealed in the atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis. Mechanical testing demonstrated the enhanced tensile strength behavior of the fabricated nanocomposites (18.58 MPa) compared with the pristine PU (7.12 MPa). The coagulation assays indicated the enhanced blood compatibility of the developed nanocomposites [activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT)-179 ± 3.606 s and partial thromboplastin time (PT)-105 ± 2.646 s] by showing a prolonged blood clotting time compared with the pristine PU (APTT-147.7 ± 3.512 s and PT-84.67 ± 2.517 s). Furthermore, the hemolysis and cytotoxicity studies suggested a less toxicity nature of prepared nanocomposites by displaying low hemolytic index and enhanced cell viability rates compared with the PU membrane. It was observed that the fabricated novel wound dressing possesses better physicochemical and enhanced blood compatibility properties, and may be utilized for wound-healing applications., Competing Interests: Compliance with ethical standardsThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Electrospun polyurethane based nanocomposite scaffolds were fabricated by mixing with indhulekha oil. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) portrayed the nanofibrous nature of the composite and the average diameters of the composite scaffold were smaller than the pristine scaffolds. The fabricated scaffold was found to be hydrophobic (114°) due to the inclusion of indhulekha oil, which was displayed in contact angle measurement analysis. The fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results indicated that the indhulekha oil was dispersed in PU matrix identified by formation of hydrogen bond and peak shifting of CH group. The PU/indhulekha oil nanocomposite exhibits a higher decomposition onset temperature and also residual weight percentage at 900°C was more compared to the pure PU. Surface roughness was found to be increased in the composite compared to the pristine PU as indicated by the atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis. In order to investigate the blood compatibility of electrospun nanocomposites the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) assay, prothrombin time (PT) assay and hemolytic assay were performed. The blood compatibility results APTT and PT revealed that the developed nanocomposites demonstrated delayed clotting time indicating the anticoagulant nature of the composite in comparison with the pristine PU. Further, it was also observed that the hemolytic index of nanocomposites was reduced compared to pure PU suggesting the non-hemolytic nature of the fabricated scaffold. Hence, the fabricated nanocomposites might be considered as a potent substitute for scaffolding damaged tissue due to their inherent physicochemical and blood compatibility properties.

We introduce a model-based image reconstruction framework, where we use a deep convolution neural network (CNN) based regularization prior. We rely on a recursive algorithm, which alternates between a CNN based denoising step and enforcement of data consistency. Unrolling the recursive algorithm yields a deep network that is trained using backpropagation. The unique aspect of this method is the use of the same CNN weights at each iteration, which makes the resulting structure consistent with the model-based formulation. Also, this approach reduces the number of trainable parameters, which hence lower the amount of training data needed. The use of a forward model also reduces the size of the network and enables the exploitation additional prior information available from calibration data. The use of the framework for multichannel MRI reconstruction provides improved reconstructions, compared to other state-of-the-art methods.

Cancer-related fatigue is a symptom of cancer where most patients or the general practitioners tend to misinterpret due to the insufficient understanding or knowledge of cancer-related fatigue (CRF). This paper will provide a better perspective for the patients and the health professionals on how to manage and handle CRF for both mild and severe fatigue patients. Articles were selected from the searches of PubMed database that had the terms "randomized controlled trials," "cancer," "fatigue," "pharmacologic treatment," and "nonpharmacologic treatment" using both Mesh terms and keywords. The authors have reviewed the current hypothesis and evidence of the detailed etiology of the CRF present in the literature for healthier management, directives, and strategies to improve the treatment of cancer-related fatigue. An algorithm has been blueprinted on screening, and management, of the CRF, and various kinds of effective treatments and assessment tools have been briefly studied and explained. Although many strategies seemed promising, the quality of randomized controlled trials is generally quite low in studies, making it difficult to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of each self-care strategies. Therefore, future studies require better design and reporting of methodological issues to ensure evidence-based self-care recommendations for people receiving cancer treatment.

The objective of this work is to characterize and investigate the blood compatibility of polyurethane (PU)/mustard oil composites fabricated using electrospinning technique. The fabricated scaffold was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), atomic force microscopy (AFM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and contact angle measurements. The activated partial thromboplastin time (APPT), prothrombin time (PT) and the hemolytic assay were done to investigate the blood compatibility of the developed composites. The SEM results revealed that the fiber diameter of the composites (761 ± 123 nm) was reduced compared to pristine PU control. The interaction between PU and mustard oil was confirmed by FTIR as evident through the shifting of peaks. The fabricated composites depicted hydrophobic behavior as insinuated by the increase in contact angle measurements. PU/mustard composites displayed improved crystallinity as confirmed by TGA. Atomic force micrographs suggested that developed PU/mustard oil composites showed an increase in the surface roughness ( R a) compared to pure PU. The Ra of pure PU was observed to be 723 nm but for the fabricated PU/mustard oil composite the R a was found to be 1298 nm ( R a). The hemolytic index value for pure PU and fabricated composites was observed to be 2.73% and 1.15% indicating that developed composites showed a non-hemolytic behavior signifying the safety of the composites with red blood cells. Hence the newly developed composites with improved physicochemical and blood compatibility properties may be considered as a potential candidate for fabricating cardiac patches and grafts., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

In this work, the physicochemical and blood compatibility properties of prepared PU/Bio oil nanocomposites were investigated. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies revealed the reduction of mean fiber diameter (709 ± 211 nm) compared to the pristine PU (969 nm ± 217 nm). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis exposed the characteristic peaks of pristine PU. Composite peak intensities were decreased insinuating the interaction of the bio oilTM with the PU. Contact angle analysis portrayed the hydrophobic nature of the fabricated patch compared to pristine PU. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) depicted the better thermal stability of the novel nanocomposite patch and its different thermal behavior in contrast with the pristine PU. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis revealed the increase in the surface roughness of the composite patch. Activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and prothrombin time (PT) signified the novel nanocomposite patch ability in reducing the thrombogenicity and promoting the anticoagulant nature. Finally the hemolytic percentage of the fabricated composite was in the acceptable range revealing its safety and compatibility with the red blood cells. To reinstate, the fabricated patch renders promising physicochemical and blood compatible nature making it a new putative candidate for wound healing application.