Sharif Digital Repository

Orthopaedic implant-associated infections are one of the most serious complications in orthopaedic surgery and a major cause of implant failure. In the present work, drug-eluting coatings based on chitosan containing various amounts of vancomycin were prepared by a cathodic electrophoretic deposition process on titanium foils. A three-step release mechanism of the antibiotic from the films in a phosphate-buffered saline solution was noticed. At the early stage, physical encapsulation of the drug in the hydrogel network controlled the release rate. At the late stage, however, in vitro degradation/deattachment of chitosan was responsible for the controlled release. Cytotoxicity evaluation of... 

The technological and clinical need for orthopedic replacement materials has led to significant advances in the field of nanomedicine, which embraces the breadth of nanotechnology from pharmacological agents and surface modification through to regulation and toxicology. A variety of nanostructures with unique chemical, physical, and biological properties have been engineered to improve the functionality and reliability of implantable medical devices. However, mimicking living bone tissue is still a challenge. The scope of this review is to highlight the most recent accomplishments and trends in designing nanomaterials and their applications in orthopedics with an outline on future directions... 

The influence of particle size and surface modification on sonocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanoparticles was investigated by measuring the degradation efficiency of methyl orange (MO) as a model pollutant. Crystalline TiO2 nanoparticles with different particles and aggregate size were prepared through solution-phase method with varying synthesis temperatures. Coating with polyvinyl alcohol was performed to enhance colloidal stability of the particles over a wide range of pH values (1.5–7.5). Characterization was carried out using X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and Fourier-transformed infrared techniques. It was found that... 

Composite coatings with bone-bioactivity and drug-eluting capacity are considered as promising materials for titanium bone implants. In this work, drug-eluting chitosan-bioactive glass coatings were fabricated by a single-step electrophoretic deposition technique. Drug-loading and -releasing capacity of the composite coatings were carried out using the vancomycin antibiotic. Uniform coatings with a thickness of ∼55 μm containing 23.7 wt% bioactive glass particles and various amounts of the antibiotic (380-630 μg/cm2) were produced. The coatings were bioactive in terms of apatite-forming ability in simulated body fluid and showed favorable cell adhesion and growth. In vitro biological tests... 

Abstract: In this study, chitosan–Laponite nanocomposite coatings with bone regenerative potential and controlled drug-release capacity are prepared by electrophoretic deposition technique. The controlled release of a glycopeptide drug, i.e. vancomycin, is attained by the intercalation of the polymer and drug macromolecules into silicate galleries. Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry reveals electrostatic interactions between the charged structure of clay and the amine and hydroxyl groups of chitosan and vancomycin, leading to a complex positively-charged system with high electrophoretic mobility. By applying electric field the charged particles are deposited on the surface of titanium... 

Recent strategies to locally deliver antimicrobial agents to combat implant-associated infections—one of the most common complications in orthopedic surgery—are gaining interest. However, achieving a controlled release profile over a desired time frame remains a challenge. In this study, we present an innovative multifactorial approach to combat infections which comprises a multilayer chitosan/bioactive glass/vancomycin nanocomposite coating with an osteoblastic potential and a drug delivery capacity. The bioactive drug-eluting coating was prepared on the surface of titanium foils by a multistep electrophoretic deposition technique. The adopted deposition strategy allowed for a high... 

In this study, novel graphene oxide/chitosan nanocomposite coatings with long term drugeluting potential are presented. The coatings are fabricated by the facile and reproducible electrophoretic deposition technique. Analysis of the prepared films shows that the graphene oxide nanosheets are exfoliated in the chitosan matrix. Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry reveals polymer attachment to the carboxylic bonds of graphene oxide, providing a strong interaction and exfoliation of the nanolayers. In vitro viability assay by human osteosarcoma cells (MG-63) demonstrates that the nanocomposite films are highly biocompatible up to 30 wt% graphene oxide, but at higher concentrations a slight... 

Targeted delivery by either passive or active targeting of therapeutics to the bone is an attractive treatment for various bone related diseases such as osteoporosis, osteosarcoma, multiple myeloma, and metastatic bone tumors. Engineering novel drug delivery carriers can increase therapeutic efficacy and minimize the risk of side effects. Developmnet of nanocarrier delivery systems is an interesting field of ongoing studies with opportunities to provide more effective therapies. In addition, preclinical nanomedicine research can open new opportunities for preclinical bone-targeted drug delivery; nevertheless, further research is needed to progress these therapies towards clinical... 

Targeted delivery by either passive or active targeting of therapeutics to the bone is an attractive treatment for various bone related diseases such as osteoporosis, osteosarcoma, multiple myeloma, and metastatic bone tumors. Engineering novel drug delivery carriers can increase therapeutic efficacy and minimize the risk of side effects. Developmnet of nanocarrier delivery systems is an interesting field of ongoing studies with opportunities to provide more effective therapies. In addition, preclinical nanomedicine research can open new opportunities for preclinical bone-targeted drug delivery; nevertheless, further research is needed to progress these therapies towards clinical... 

A primary goal in the management of burn wounds is early wound closure. The use of skin allografts represents a lifesaving strategy for severe burn patients, but their ultimate rejection limits their potential efficacy and utility. IL-6 is a major pleiotropic cytokine which critically links innate and adaptive immune responses. Here, we devised anti-IL-6 receptor eluting gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) biomaterials (GelMA/anti-IL-6), which were implanted at the interface between the wound beds and skin allografts. Our visible light crosslinked GelMA/anti-IL-6 immunomodulatory biomaterial (IMB) demonstrated a stable kinetic release profile of anti-IL-6. In addition, the incorporation of... 

Comparison of the traditional linear heating method of TPD with an original stepwise heating scheme was reported for the first time. Stepwise heating TPD was carried out by keeping the temperature constant as soon as ammonia desorption signal rises until the signal returns to the baseline. More ammonia desorption peaks on a SAPO-34 catalyst were identified using TPD with stepwise heating. The effect of temperature ramp on desorption peak broadening in TPD curve was also addressed. The more distinct ammonia desorption peaks in stepwise TPD indicates that ammonia adsorbs in about five or six different ways on SAPO-34, and attribution of different adsorptions may be explained considering some... 

Most part of Iran is dominated by arid and semi-arid areas due to low annual rainfall. The need for production of fresh water from brackish water is considerably high, especially in dry regions. In this study 1 month daily-based experimental data from a solar still site has been reported. The technical and operational problems of this site which finally contributed to the total cease of the site are described. Then a detailed analysis is investigated on progress of a prototype which constructed in order to solve the site's problems. The results of 1 month of experimental data of the final design showed that the last prototype could be used to solve the current problems of the site. The... 

Hydrocracking is one of the most versatile petroleum refining processes for production of valuable products including gasoline, gas oil, and jet fuel. In this paper, a five-parameter continuous lumping model was used for kinetic modeling of hydrocracking of vacuum gas oil (VGO). The model parameters were estimated from industrial data obtained from a fixed bed reactor operating at an average temperature of 400°C and residence time of 0.3 h. Product distributions were obtained in terms of the weight fraction of various boiling point cuts. The model parameters were estimated using the Nelder-Mead optimization procedure and were correlated with temperature. Comparison of experimental and... 

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present an improved methodology for design of custom-made hip prostheses, through integration of advanced image processing, computer aided design (CAD) and additive manufacturing (AM) technologies. Design/methodology/approach - The proposed methodology for design of custom-made hip prostheses is based on an independent design criterion for each of the intra-medullary and extra-medullary portions of the prosthesis. The intra-medullar part of the prosthesis is designed using a more accurate and detailed description of the 3D geometry of the femoral intra-medullary cavity, including the septum calcar ridge, so that an improved fill and fit performance... 

In this letter, we propose a method for real-time high density impulse noise suppression from images. In our method, we first apply an impulse detector to identify the corrupted pixels and then employ an innovative weighted-average filter to restore them. The filter takes the nearest neighboring interpolated image as the initial image and computes the weights according to the relative positions of the corrupted and uncorrupted pixels. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the best existing methods in both PSNR measure and visual quality and is quite suitable for real-time applications  

The disposal of used tires is a major environmental problem. With increasing interest on recovery of wastes, pyrolysis is considered as an alternative process for recovering some of the value in scrap tires. An accurate kinetic model is required to predict product yields during thermal or catalytic pyrolysis of scrap tires. Pyrolysis products contain a variety of hydrocarbons over a wide boiling range. A common approach for kinetic modeling of such complex systems is lumping where each lump is defined by a boiling point range. Available experimental data for thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of scrap tires from the literature were used to evaluate two types of lumping models; discrete and...