Bioresorbable Materials on the Rise: From Electronic Components and Physical Sensors to In Vivo Monitoring Systems

Over the last decade, scientists have dreamed about the development of a bioresorbable technology that exploits a new class of electrical, optical, and sensing components able to operate in physiological conditions for a prescribed time and then disappear, being made of materials that fully dissolve in vivo with biologically benign byproducts upon external stimulation. The final goal is to engineer these components into transient implantable systems that directly interact with organs, tissues, and biofluids in real-time, retrieve clinical parameters, and provide therapeutic actions tailored to the disease and patient clinical evolution, and then biodegrade without the need for device-retrieving surgery that may cause tissue lesion or infection. Here, the major results achieved in bioresorbable technology are critically reviewed, with a bottom-up approach that starts from a rational analysis of dissolution chemistry and kinetics, and biocompatibility of bioresorbable materials, then moves to in vivo performance and stability of electrical and optical bioresorbable components, and eventually focuses on the integration of such components into bioresorbable systems for clinically relevant applications. Finally, the technology readiness levels (TRLs) achieved for the different bioresorbable devices and systems are assessed, hence the open challenges are analyzed and future directions for advancing the technology are envisaged

Chapter 34 - Biocompatibility of nanocellulose: Emerging biomedical applications

Nanocellulose already proved to be a highly relevant material for biomedical applications, ensued by its outstanding mechanical properties and, more importantly, its biocompatibility. Nevertheless, despite their previous intensive research, a notable number of emerging applications are still being developed. Interestingly, this drive is not solely based on the nanocellulose features, but also heavily dependent on sustainability. The three core nanocelluloses encompass cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), and bacterial nanocellulose (BNC). All these different types of nanocellulose display highly interesting biomedical properties per se, after modification and when used in composite formulations. Novel applications that use nanocellulose includewell-known areas, namely, wound dressings, implants, indwelling medical devices, scaffolds, and novel printed scaffolds. Their cytotoxicity and biocompatibility using recent methodologies are thoroughly analyzed to reinforce their near future applicability. By analyzing the pristine core nanocellulose, none display cytotoxicity. However, CNF has the highest potential to fail long-term biocompatibility since it tends to trigger inflammation. On the other hand, neverdried BNC displays a remarkable biocompatibility. Despite this, all nanocelluloses clearly represent a flag bearer of future superior biomaterials, being elite materials in the urgent replacement of our petrochemical dependence

The 2nd International Electronic Conference on Applied Sciences

This book is focused on the works presented at the 2nd International Electronic Conference on Applied Sciences, organized by Applied Sciences from 15 to 31 October 2021 on the MDPI Sciforum platform. Two decades have passed since the start of the 21st century. The development of sciences and technologies is growing ever faster today than in the previous century. The field of science is expanding, and the structure of science is becoming ever richer. Because of this expansion and fine structure growth, researchers may lose themselves in the deep forest of the ever-increasing frontiers and sub-fields being created. This international conference on the Applied Sciences was started to help scientists conduct their own research into the growth of these frontiers by breaking down barriers and connecting the many sub-fields to cut through this vast forest. These functions will allow researchers to see these frontiers and their surrounding (or quite distant) fields and sub-fields, and give them the opportunity to incubate and develop their knowledge even further with the aid of this multi-dimensional network