Designing Biomimetic Conductive Gelatin-Chitosan-Carbon Black Nanocomposite Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering

Towards robust partial nitrification in low-ammonia wastewater: Electrospinning nanofiber composite-enhanced hydrogel beads immobilized comammox Nitrospira

Stable partial nitrification (PN) in low-ammonia wastewater has been a critical challenge, but comammox Nitrospira shows great potential in PN systems due to unique physiological characteristics. Polyvinyl alcohol/sodium alginate electrospinning nanofiber (PVA/SA-EN) and polyvinylidene fluoride EN (PVDF-EN) were used to construct EN hydrogel beads (ENHB) with sandwich and core-shell structures, respectively. Comammox HB (cHB) and three types of comammox ENHB (cENHB) were assembled by immobilizing comammox sludge and operated for 60 days in low-ammonia wastewater. Results showed a significant correlation between PN performance, HB pore structure, and comammox Nitrospira abundance. With superior pore structure and mechanical strength, PVA/SA-PVDF-cENHB achieved a nitrite accumulation rate of 55.08 %, indicating enhanced PN performance. The contribution of comammox Nitrospira to PN was 73.19 %. Its abundance in PVA/SA-PVDF-cENHB was 5.56 × 10⁶ copies/(g sludge), 1.16-1.95-fold higher than the other three HB. Nanofiber composite-enhanced hydrogel immobilizes comammox Nitrospira provides new ideas for achieving robust PN in low-ammonia wastewater.

Soft Bioelectronics for Heart Monitoring

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a predominant global health concern, accounting for over 17.9 million deaths in 2019, representing approximately 32% of all global fatalities. In North America and Europe, over a million adults undergo cardiac surgeries annually. Despite the benefits, such surgeries pose risks and require precise postsurgery monitoring. However, during the postdischarge period, where monitoring infrastructures are limited, continuous monitoring of vital signals is hindered. In this area, the introduction of implantable electronics is altering medical practices by enabling real-time and out-of-hospital monitoring of physiological signals and biological information postsurgery. The multimodal implantable bioelectronic platforms have the capability of continuous heart sensing and stimulation, in both postsurgery and out-of-hospital settings. Furthermore, with the emergence of machine learning algorithms into healthcare devices, next-generation implantables will benefit artificial intelligence (AI) and connectivity with skin-interfaced electronics to provide more precise and user-specific results. This Review outlines recent advancements in implantable bioelectronics and their utilization in cardiovascular health monitoring, highlighting their transformative deployment in sensing and stimulation to the heart toward reaching truly personalized healthcare platforms compatible with the Sustainable Development Goal 3.4 of the WHO 2030 observatory roadmap. This Review also discusses the challenges and future prospects of these devices.

Nanocomposite Hydrogels-A Promising Approach towards Enhanced Bioavailability and Controlled Drug Delivery

Nanotechnology has emerged as the eminent focus of today's research to overcome challenges related to conventional drug delivery systems. A wide spectrum of novel delivery systems has been investigated to improve the therapeutic outcomes of drugs. The polymer-based nanocomposite hydrogels (NCHs) that have evolved as efficient carriers for controlled drug delivery are of particular interest in this regard. Nanocomposites amalgamate the properties of both nanoparticles (NPs) as well as hydrogels, exhibiting superior functionalities over conventional hydrogels. This multiple functionality is based upon advanced mechanical, electrical, optical as well as magnetic properties. Here is a brief overview of the various types of nanocomposites, such as NCHs based on Carbon-bearing nanomaterials, polymeric nanoparticles, inorganic nanoparticles, and metal and metal-oxide NPs. Accordingly, this article will review numerous ways of preparing these NCHs with particular emphasis on the vast biomedical applications displayed by them in numerous fields such as tissue engineering, drug delivery, wound healing, bioprinting, biosensing, imaging and gene silencing, cancer therapy, antibacterial therapy, etc. Moreover, various features can be tuned, based on the final application, by controlling the chemical composition of hydrogel network, which may also influence the released conduct. Subsequently, the recent work and future prospects of this newly emerging class of drug delivery system have been enlisted.