Natural edible materials made of protein-functionalized aerogel particles for postprandial hyperglycemia management.

α-Amylase inhibitors (α-AIs) delay digestion of dietary starch by inhibiting α-amylase in the gut, thereby reducing the postprandial glycemia, which is beneficial to the patients with obesity and diabetes. The proteinaceous α-AIs from wheat can effectively control starch digestion and regulate postprandial hyperglycemia. However, their gastric intolerance remains a challenge, which limits its commercial production and industrial application. In this study, sodium alginate/chitosan aerogels loaded with wheat protein α-AIs were prepared and evaluated as potential transportation and protection matrices for important components in food or pharmaceutical applications. Specifically, the biodegradable aerogel cross-linked with sodium alginate-chitosan-calcium chloride, has a large surface area and open porous structure, which can adsorb staple wheat proteins as an integrated edible material to block around 88,660 U/g of α-amylase activity. The aerogel particles were able to protect the activity of wheat α-AIs in the stomach, leading to the slow passage of the wheat α-AIs through the small intestine to inhibit starch digestion more effectively. Animal experiments further showed that the postprandial blood glucose levels in rats were effectively controlled through delayed increase, after administration of wheat protein-functionalized aerogel particles loaded with wheat α-AIs, which are natural biological macromolecules. This is a novel, safe, and economical method for the prevention and pretreatment of diabetes.

Complete denture tooth arrangement technology driven by a reconfigurable rule.

The conventional technique for the fabrication of complete dentures is complex, with a long fabrication process and difficult-to-control restoration quality. In recent years, digital complete denture design has become a research focus. Digital complete denture tooth arrangement is a challenging issue that is difficult to efficiently implement under the constraints of complex tooth arrangement rules and the patient's individualized functional aesthetics. The present study proposes a complete denture automatic tooth arrangement method driven by a reconfigurable rule; it uses four typical operators, including a position operator, a scaling operator, a posture operator, and a contact operator, to establish the constraint mapping association between the teeth and the constraint set of the individual patient. By using the process reorganization of different constraint operators, this method can flexibly implement different clinical tooth arrangement rules. When combined with a virtual occlusion algorithm based on progressive iterative Laplacian deformation, the proposed method can achieve automatic and individual tooth arrangement. Finally, the experimental results verify that the proposed method is flexible and efficient.

Personalized Orthodontic Accurate Tooth Arrangement System with Complete Teeth Model.

The accuracy, validity and lack of relation information between dental root and jaw in tooth arrangement are key problems in tooth arrangement technology. This paper aims to describe a newly developed virtual, personalized and accurate tooth arrangement system based on complete information about dental root and skull. Firstly, a feature constraint database of a 3D teeth model is established. Secondly, for computed simulation of tooth movement, the reference planes and lines are defined by the anatomical reference points. The matching mathematical model of teeth pattern and the principle of the specific pose transformation of rigid body are fully utilized. The relation of position between dental root and alveolar bone is considered during the design process. Finally, the relative pose relationships among various teeth are optimized using the object mover, and a personalized therapeutic schedule is formulated. Experimental results show that the virtual tooth arrangement system can arrange abnormal teeth very well and is sufficiently flexible. The relation of position between root and jaw is favorable. This newly developed system is characterized by high-speed processing and quantitative evaluation of the amount of 3D movement of an individual tooth.