Optimizing Face Recognition Inference with a Collaborative Edge-Cloud Network.

The rapid development of deep-learning-based edge artificial intelligence applications and their data-driven nature has led to several research issues. One key issue is the collaboration of the edge and cloud to optimize such applications by increasing inference speed and reducing latency. Some researchers have focused on simulations that verify that a collaborative edge-cloud network would be optimal, but the real-world implementation is not considered. Most researchers focus on the accuracy of the detection and recognition algorithm but not the inference speed in actual deployment. Others have implemented such networks with minimal pressure on the cloud node, thus defeating the purpose of an edge-cloud collaboration. In this study, we propose a method to increase inference speed and reduce latency by implementing a real-time face recognition system in which all face detection tasks are handled on the edge device and by forwarding cropped face images that are significantly smaller than the whole video frame, while face recognition tasks are processed at the cloud. In this system, both devices communicate using the TCP/IP protocol of wireless communication. Our experiment is executed using a Jetson Nano GPU board and a PC as the cloud. This framework is studied in terms of the frame-per-second (FPS) rate. We further compare our framework using two scenarios in which face detection and recognition tasks are deployed on the (1) edge and (2) cloud. The experimental results show that combining the edge and cloud is an effective way to accelerate the inferencing process because the maximum FPS achieved by the edge-cloud deployment was 1.91× more than the cloud deployment and 8.5× more than the edge deployment.

Light-FER: A Lightweight Facial Emotion Recognition System on Edge Devices.

Facial emotion recognition (FER) systems are imperative in recent advanced artificial intelligence (AI) applications to realize better human-computer interactions. Most deep learning-based FER systems have issues with low accuracy and high resource requirements, especially when deployed on edge devices with limited computing resources and memory. To tackle these problems, a lightweight FER system, called Light-FER, is proposed in this paper, which is obtained from the Xception model through model compression. First, pruning is performed during the network training to remove the less important connections within the architecture of Xception. Second, the model is quantized to half-precision format, which could significantly reduce its memory consumption. Third, different deep learning compilers performing several advanced optimization techniques are benchmarked to further accelerate the inference speed of the FER system. Lastly, to experimentally demonstrate the objectives of the proposed system on edge devices, Light-FER is deployed on NVIDIA Jetson Nano.

Effects of prophylactic atropine on the time to tracheal intubation with the pre-administration of remifentanil.

BACKGROUND: Pre-administration of remifentanil in target-controlled propofol and remifentanil anaesthesia could prolong the time of onset of muscle relaxation owing to haemodynamic effects, thereby prolonging the time to tracheal intubation. Although the sympatholytic effects of remifentanil result in bradycardia and hypotension, these responses can be attenuated by the administration of atropine. Therefore, we investigated whether prophylactic administration of atropine could prevent the prolongation of the time to tracheal intubation. METHODS: Sixty-four patients were included in this study. They were randomised into Group A (atropine 0.5 mg, n = 32) and Group S (saline 0.9%, n = 32), immediately before the pre-administration of remifentanil. The primary outcome was the time to tracheal intubation and the secondary outcomes were rocuronium onset time, time to loss of consciousness (LOC), time to reach a value of 60 on the bispectral index (BIS) and haemodynamic variables. RESULTS: The median [Interquartile range] of the time to tracheal intubation was 240 [214, 288]s in Group S and 190 [176, 212]s in Group A(median difference: 50 s, 95% confidence interval: 27-80 s, P = .001). Rocuronium onset time was significantly decreased in Group A compared to that in Group S (129 [110, 156] vs 172 [154, 200], P = .001). The times to LOC and reach 60 on the BIS were not significantly different between the two groups. Cardiac output(CO) and heart rate were less decreased in Group A than in Group S (P = .02, P < .001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Prophylactic administration of atropine could compensate for the reduction in CO in cases pre-administered with remifentanil in target-controlled propofol and remifentanil anaesthesia. This in turn prevented the prolongation of rocuronium onset time and reduced the time to tracheal intubation.

QCN-Based Analysis for Predicting the Quality of Resulting Electrospun Nanofiber: Effect of Real-Time Transient Rheological Properties of Precursor Solution on Electrospinning.

There is a large margin between the mechanical properties and morphology of electrospun fibers required in each area. The produced fibers show a large difference depending on the external environment such as temperature, humidity, and season even in optimum concentration and same electrospinning set-up. The properties of polymer solution among the parameters are the largest determinant of the mechanical strength and diameter of electrospun fibers. Herein, the accurate predicting system in advance to electrospinning is required. In this study, we conduct a comparative study on the viscosity (measured by Brookfield rheometer) and the transient mass change and evaporation speed by our lab-made QCN in order to establish a predicting system for the quality of fiber. It was possible to measure the change of mass of the polymer solution in real-time using the lab-made QCN as well as calculating the volatility, the evaporation time of the polymer solution. The volatility of the polymer solution has a significant impact on the quality of the electrospun fiber including the diameter, uniformity, and surface topography. We compare the mass changes, viscosimetric viscosities, and the quality of corresponding fiber, and reveal the potential of QCN as a tool predicting pre-electrospinning fibers.

Harnessing Nanotopography of Electrospun Nanofibrous Nerve Guide Conduits (NGCs) for Neural Tissue Engineering.

The anatomical recovery of nerve defects with their neurological functions after an injury caused by diseases or accidents is an important clinical issue. The most efficient surgical technique so far to the nerve defects, which are unrepairable by direct end-to-end suture, can be autograft transplantation. The autograft transplantation, however, has disadvantages including multiple rounds of surgery, a shortage of nerve donor, and function loss at the donor site. Tissue-engineered nerve guide conduits (TENGCs) have emerged as a potential alternative to autologous nerve grafts for nerve regeneration and functional recovery. Various TENGCs researches are being carried out to improve characteristics and enhance functionality such as material selection, biomimetic, topography, and enhancement by the biomolecules additions. Among them, the customizable surface nanotopography of aligned fibrous TENGCs foster neural repair by providing a cell-friendly environment, permissiveness, guidance cues, and directional growth of the cells. Fibrous nerve guide conduits (NGCs) made of longitudinally ordered fibers is a promising candidate for nerve tissue engineering.

Reading simple and complex facial expressions in patients with major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders.

AIM: Decoding facial expression is important for psychological well-being. This study examined facial emotion recognition of simple/complex and pleasant/unpleasant emotions in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and anxiety disorders (AnD). METHODS: Patients with MDD (n = 37), AnD (n = 36) and healthy controls (HC) (n = 40) participated in this study. The recognition accuracy of emotional faces was calculated. RESULTS: Patients with MDD had significantly lower recognition accuracy compared to HC. Patients with MDD exhibited lower recognition accuracy for simple emotions compared to patients with AnD and HC, and lower accuracy for complex emotions compared only to HC. Patients with AnD and HC showed comparable recognition accuracy for simple emotions, which were lower than that of patients with MDD. However, in recognition accuracy of complex emotions, AnD was not significantly different from either MDD or HC. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with MDD and AnD have a distinctive difficulty with the recognition of facial expressions. The recognition of complex emotions in patients with MDD and AnD should be studied further.

Soluble RANKL expression in Lactococcus lactis and investigation of its potential as an oral vaccine adjuvant.

BACKGROUND: To initiate mucosal immune responses, antigens in the intestinal lumen must be transported into gut-associated lymphoid tissue through M cells. Recently, it has been increasingly recognized that receptor activator of NF-kB ligand (RANKL) controls M cell differentiation by interacting with RANK expressed on the sub-epithelium of Peyer's patches. In this study, we increased the number of M cells using soluble RANKL (sRANKL) as a potent mucosal adjuvant. RESULTS: For efficient oral delivery of sRANKL, we constructed recombinant Lactococcus lactis (L. lactis) IL1403 secreting sRANKL (sRANKL-LAB). The biological activity of recombinant sRANKL was confirmed by observing RANK-RANKL signaling in vitro. M cell development in response to oral administration of recombinant L. lactis was determined by 1.51-fold higher immunohistochemical expression of M cell marker GP-2, compared to that of non-treatment group. In addition, an adjuvant effect of sRANKL was examined by immunization of mice with M-BmpB as a model antigen after treatment with sRANKL-LAB. Compared with the wild-type L. lactis group, the sRANKL-LAB group showed significantly increased systemic and mucosal immune responses specific to M-BmpB. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that the M cell development by sRANKL-LAB can increase the antigen transcytotic capability of follicle-associated epithelium, and thereby enhance the mucosal immune response, which implies that oral administration of sRANKL is a promising adjuvant strategy for efficient oral vaccination.

Source activation of P300 correlates with negative symptom severity in patients with schizophrenia.

It is well known that the P300 amplitude is reduced in schizophrenia patients, which may reflect the pathophysiology and symptom severity of schizophrenia, particularly related to negative symptoms. However, the relationship between the underlying neural generator of the P300 and symptomatic outcomes are not yet fully understood. This study aimed to verify the abnormal P300 of schizophrenia in terms of its source activation to and further examine the relationship between reduced source activation and symptom severity of patients. For this purpose, the P300 was recorded from 34 patients with schizophrenia and matched healthy controls using an auditory oddball paradigm. We found that the P300 amplitude of schizophrenia patients was significantly decreased along the midline electrodes and both bilateral temporal areas compared with healthy controls. In comparing the source activation between the two groups, schizophrenia patients showed decreased source activation predominantly over the left hemisphere, including the cingulate, inferior occipital gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, posterior cingulate, precuneus, and superior occipital gyrus. Furthermore, we found that the decreased activation of the contrasted areas showed significant negative correlation with PANSS negative symptom scores in the middle temporal gyrus, posterior cingulate, precuneus, and superior occipital gyrus. Our findings suggest that the reduced P300 source activation in schizophrenia might reflect deficits in fronto-temporal-parietal circuit.

3D cotton-type anisotropic biomimetic scaffold with low fiber motion electrospun via a sharply inclined array collector for induced osteogenesis.

Electrospinning is an effective method to fabricate fibrous scaffolds that mimic the ECM of bone tissue on a nano- to macro-scale. However, a limitation of electrospun fibrous scaffolds for bone tissue engineering is the structure formed by densely compacted fibers, which significantly impedes cell infiltration and tissue ingrowth. To address this problem, several researchers have developed numerous techniques for fabricating 3D fibrous scaffolds with customized topography and pore size. Despite the success in developing various 3D electrospun scaffolds based on fiber repulsion, the lack of contact points between fibers in those scaffolds has been shown to hinder cell attachment, migration, proliferation, and differentiation due to excessive movement of the fibers. In this article, we introduce a Dianthus caryophyllus-inspired scaffold fabricated using SIAC-PE, a modified collector under specific viscosity conditions of PCL/LA solution. The developed scaffold mimicking the structural similarities of the nature-inspired design presented enhanced cell proliferation, infiltration, and increased expression of bone-related factors by reducing fiber movements, presenting high space interconnection, high porosity, and controlled fiber topography.

Harnessing the Coil Electrospinning Method for Fabricating Superflexible and Multiscale-Patterned Fibrous Tubular Scaffolds with Topographical Features.

The fibrous tubular scaffold (FTS) has potential as a vascular graft; however, its clinical application is hindered by insufficient mechanical properties. Inadequate mechanical properties of vascular grafts can lead to some serious side effects such as intimal hyperplasia, luminal expansion, and blood thrombogenicity. In this study, we developed a novel fibrous tubular scaffold comprising multiscale fibers to ensure superior mechanical properties. Our novel approach involves a one-step manufacturing method that can fabricate the superflexible fibrous tubular scaffold (SF-FTS) with topographical features via a modified electrospinning setup. We investigated the effect of humidity and temperature during the fabrication process on the formation of multiscale fibers. It was demonstrated that the incorporation of multiscale fibers and topographical features significantly enhances the mechanical properties of FTS. The mechanical advantages of SF-FTS were confirmed through the kinking resistance test, compressive test, and in vivo experiments. Additionally, we explored the interaction between the multiscale fibers and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) behavior. Our results suggest a novel strategy for fabricating FTS with advanced mechanical properties, and the designed SF-FTS holds promise as a potential candidate for clinical applications.

Periodontal Ligament-Mimetic Fibrous Scaffolds Regulate YAP-Associated Fibroblast Behaviors and Promote Regeneration of Periodontal Defect in Relation to the Scaffold Topography.

Although multiple regenerative strategies are being developed for periodontal reconstruction, guided periodontal ligament (PDL) regeneration is difficult because of its cellular and fibrous complexities. Here, we manufactured four different types of PDL-mimic fibrous scaffolds on a desired single mat. These scaffolds exhibited a structure of PDL matrix and human PDL fibroblasts (PDLFs) cultured on the scaffolds resembling morphological phenotypes present in native PDLF. The scaffold-seeded PDLF exerted proliferative, osteoblastic, and osteoclastogenic potentials depending on the fiber topographical cues. Fiber surface-regulated behaviors of PDLF were correlated with the expression patterns of yes-associated protein (YAP), CD105, periostin, osteopontin, and vinculin. Transfection with si-RNA confirmed that YAP acted as the master mechanosensing regulator. Of the as-spun scaffolds, aligned or grid-patterned microscale scaffold regulated the YAP-associated behavior of PDLF more effectively than nanomicroscale or random-oriented microscale scaffold. Implantation with hydrogel complex conjugated with microscale-patterned or grid-patterned scaffold, but not other types of scaffolds, recovered the defected PDL with native PDL-mimic cellularization and fiber structure in the reformed PDL. Our results demonstrate that PDL-biomimetic scaffolds regulate topography-related and YAP-mediated behaviors of PDLF in relation to their topographies. Overall, this study may support a clinical approach of the fiber-hydrogel complex in guided PDL regenerative engineering.

Functional improvement of collagen-based bioscaffold to enhance periodontal-defect healing via combination with dietary antioxidant and COMP-angiopoietin 1.

Scaffolds combined with bioactive agents can enhance bone regeneration at therapeutic sites. We explore whether combined supplementation with coumaric acid and recombinant human-cartilage oligomeric matrix protein-angiopoietin 1 (rhCOMP-Ang1) is an ideal approach for bone tissue engineering. We developed coumaric acid-conjugated absorbable collagen scaffold (CA-ACS) and investigated whether implanting CA-ACS in combination with rhCOMP-Ang1 facilitates ACS- or CA-ACS-mediated bone formation using a rat model of critically sized mandible defects. We examined the mechanisms by which coumaric acid and rhCOMP-Ang1 regulate behaviors of human periodontal ligament fibroblasts (hPLFs). The CA-ACS exhibits greater anti-degradation and mechanical strength properties than does ACS alone. Implanting CA-ACS loaded with rhCOMP-Ang1 greatly enhances bone regeneration at the defect via the activation of angiogenic, osteogenic, and anti-osteoclastic responses compared with other rat groups implanted with an ACS alone or CA-ACS. Treatment with both rhCOMP-Ang1 and coumaric acid increases proliferation, mineralization, and migration of cultured hPLFs via activation of the Ang1/Tie2 signaling axis at a greater rate than treatment with either of them alone. Collectively, this study demonstrates that CA-ACS impregnated with rhCOMP-Ang1 enhances bone regeneration at therapeutic sites, and this enhancement is associated with a synergistic interaction between rhCOMP-Ang1-mediated angiogenesis and coumaric acid-related antioxidant responses.

Association between Metabolic Syndrome and the Number of Remaining Teeth in Postmenopausal Women: A Cross-Sectional Analysis Using the Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey.

There are very few studies on metabolic syndrome (MetS) and oral health in postmenopausal women. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine the association between MetS and its components and the number of remaining teeth in postmenopausal women in Korea. The study selected 3320 menopausal women (40-79 years old) from those who participated in the seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey (2016-2018). Multiple regression and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the association between MetS and its components and the number of remaining teeth. According to the multiple regression analysis, the regression coefficient (B) values were -1.62 (p < 0.05), -1.31 (p < 0.05), -1.60 (p < 0.05), and -2.28 (p < 0.05) in the hypertension group, hyperglycemia group, low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol group, and MetS prevalence group, respectively. This indicates that the number of remaining teeth was lower in the MetS prevalence group as compared to the non-prevalence groups. As observed in the multiple logistic regression analysis, the odds ratio of the number of remaining teeth (less than 20) was higher in the MetS prevalence group (1.82 (p < 0.05)) as compared to the non-prevalence groups (1.25 (p < 0.05) in the abdominal obesity group, 1.50 (p < 0.05) in the hypertension group, 1.36 (p <0.05) in the hyperglycemia group, and 1.72 (p < 0.05) in the low HDL cholesterol group). Therefore, our results indicate that abdominal obesity, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and prevalence of MetS are associated with tooth loss in postmenopausal women.

No Association between Metabolic Syndrome and Periodontitis in Korean Postmenopausal Women.

This study aimed to determine the association between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and periodontitis in Korean postmenopausal women. The study selected 3320 menopause women (40-79-year-old) from those who participated in the seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey (2016-2018). This association was determined using frequency and multiple logistic regression analyses. The prevalence of MetS in postmenopausal women was 33.2%, and among the MetS components, abdominal obesity showed a higher odds ratio of periodontitis by 1.36 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.12-1.65; p < 0.05). The odds ratio for periodontitis was 1.34 times higher (95% CI: 1.12-1.60) in the MetS prevalence group with three or more MetS components (p < 0.05); however, after adjusting for demographic characteristics and health behavior variables, it was not statistically significant. Therefore, our results indicated that MetS has no association with periodontitis in postmenopausal women after adjusting for confounding variables.

The controlled design of electrospun PCL/silk/quercetin fibrous tubular scaffold using a modified wound coil collector and L-shaped ground design for neural repair.

Asymmetrically porous and aligned fibrous tubular conduit with selective permeability as a biomimetic neural scaffold was manufactured using polycaprolactone (PCL), silk, and quercetin by a modified electrospinning method. The outer surface of the randomly oriented fibrous scaffold had microscale pores that could prevent fibrous tissue invasion (FTI), but could permeate neurotrophic factors, nutrients, and oxygen. The inner surface of the aligned fibrous scaffold can be favorable for neurite outgrowth, because of their superior neural cell attachment, migration, and directional growth. In vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated the therapeutic effect of Quercetin, a ubiquitous flavonoid widely distributed in plants, on neuropathy, by modulating the expression of NRF-2-dependent antioxidant responsive elements. In this study, the controlled inner and outer surface geometry of the 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 wt% quercetin-containing electrospun PCL/silk fibrous tubular scaffold fabricated via a modified wound coil collector and L-shaped ground design (WCC-LG) was characterized by FE-SEM, TEM, FFT, FT-IR, and XRD. In addition, two types of neural cell lines, PC12 and S42, were used to evaluate the cell proliferation rate of the different amount of quercetin-loaded PCL/silk tubular scaffolds.

Application of machine learning approaches for osteoporosis risk prediction in postmenopausal women.

Many predictive tools have been reported for assessing osteoporosis risk. The development and validation of osteoporosis risk prediction models were supported by machine learning. INTRODUCTION: Osteoporosis is a silent disease until it results in fragility fractures. However, early diagnosis of osteoporosis provides an opportunity to detect and prevent fractures. We aimed to develop machine learning approaches to achieve high predictive ability for osteoporosis risk that could help primary care providers identify which women are at increased risk of osteoporosis and should therefore undergo further testing with bone densitometry. METHODS: We included all postmenopausal Korean women from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (KNHANES V-1, V-2) conducted in 2010 and 2011. Machine learning models using methods such as the k-nearest neighbors (KNN), decision tree (DT), random forest (RF), gradient boosting machine (GBM), support vector machine (SVM), artificial neural networks (ANN), and logistic regression (LR) were developed to predict osteoporosis risk. We analyzed the effect of applying the machine learning algorithms to the raw data and featuring the selected data only where the statistically significant variables were included as model inputs. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) were used to evaluate performance among the seven models. RESULTS: A total of 1792 patients were included in this study, of which 613 had osteoporosis. The raw data consisted of 19 variables and achieved performances (in terms of AUROCs) of 0.712, 0.684, 0.727, 0.652, 0.724, 0.741, and 0.726 for KNN, DT, RF, GBM, SVM, ANN, and LR with fivefold cross-validation, respectively. The feature selected data consisted of nine variables and achieved performances (in terms of AUROCs) of 0.713, 0.685, 0.734, 0.728, 0.728, 0.743, and 0.727 for KNN, DT, RF, GBM, SVM, ANN, and LR with fivefold cross-validation, respectively. CONCLUSION: In this study, we developed and compared seven machine learning models to accurately predict osteoporosis risk. The ANN model performed best when compared to the other models, having the highest AUROC value. Applying the ANN model in the clinical environment could help primary care providers stratify osteoporosis patients and improve the prevention, detection, and early treatment of osteoporosis.

Fabrication of Three-Dimensional Alginate Porous Scaffold Incorporated with Decellularized Cornu Cervi Pantotrichum Particle for Bone Tissue Engineering.

Deer antler velvet (DAV), Cornu Cervi Pantotrichum, has been known for the outstanding growth rate and used in extracted liquid form in oriental herbal medicine for the tissue regeneration. The DAV is also famous for the abundance of many different minerals, proteins, growth factors and interleukins. The immense amount of DAV is consumed to produce DAV extract in Asian countries. However, the mechanical strength and the morphologic features of DAV have been overlooked. In this study, we revisited the possibility of DAV as a bone tissue scaffold. We first obtained DAV particles via physical decellularization followed by levigation procedure and then applied to the fabrication of three-dimensional porous alginate/DAVP sponge through lyophilizing alginate/DAVP hydrogel as a potential bone tissue scaffold source. The morphological and physicochemical properties of alginate/DAVP sponge were characterized using UTM, SEM, FE-SEM, and FT-IR. The alginate-based highly porous sponge demonstrated the interconnected porous structure with DAVP and improved mechanical properties. We expected both alginate/DAVP and DAVP are potential for tissue engineering application.

In Situ Biological Transmutation of Catalytic Lactic Acid Waste into Calcium Lactate in a Readily Processable Three-Dimensional Fibrillar Structure for Bone Tissue Engineering.

A bioinspired three-dimensional (3D) fibrous structure possesses biomimicry, valuable functionality, and performance to scaffolding in tissue engineering. In particular, an electrospun fibrous mesh has been studied as a scaffold material in various tissue regeneration applications. We produced a low-density 3D polycaprolactone/lactic acid (LA) fibrous mesh (3D-PCLS) via the novel lactic-assisted 3D electrospinning technique exploiting the catalytic properties of LA as we reported previously. In the study, we demonstrated a strategy of recycling the LA component to synthesize the osteoinductive biomolecules in situ, calcium lactate (CaL), thereby forming a 3D bioactive PCL/CaL fibrous scaffold (3D-SCaL) for bone tissue engineering. The fiber morphology of 3D-PCLS and its packing degree could have been tailored by modifying the spinning solution and the collector design. 3D-SCaL demonstrated successful conversion of CaL from LA and exhibited the significantly enhanced biomineralization capacity, cell infiltration and proliferation rate, and osteoblastic differentiation in vitro with two different cell lines, MC3T3-e1 and bone marrow stem cells. In conclusion, 3D-SCaL proves to be a highly practical and accessible strategy using a variety of polymers to produce 3D fibers as a potential candidate for future regenerative medicine and tissue engineering applications.

Synthesis of polypyrrole nanorods via sacrificial removal of aluminum oxide nanopore template: A study on cell viability, electrical stimulation and neuronal differentiation of PC12 cells.

Synthesis of nanomaterials having uniform shape and size is a challenging task. Properties exhibited by such substrates would be compatible and homogeneous compared to the average properties displayed by those substrates with heterogeneous size. Herein, we report the synthesis of polypyrrole nanorods (PPy-NRs) of almost uniform size via oxidative chemical polymerization of pyrrole within anodized aluminum oxide nanopores followed by sacrificial removal of the template. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), fourier transformed infra-red (FT-IR) spectra, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and ultra-violet-visible-near infra-red (UV-Vis-NIR) spectra of the substrate were used to analyze the physicochemical properties of as-synthesized PPy-NRs. PPy-NRs treated MC3T3-E1 and PC12 cells exhibited good biocompatibility in CCK-8 and live/dead assays. The assay showed more cell viability on PC12 cell lines. Electrical stimulation through PPy-NRs treated PC12 cells accelerated neuronal differentiation compared to those without electrical stimulation during in vitro cell culture.

Harnessing the Topography of 3D Spongy-Like Electrospun Bundled Fibrous Scaffold via a Sharply Inclined Array Collector.

To date, many researchers have studied a considerable number of three-dimensional (3D) cotton-like electrospun scaffolds for tissue engineering, including the generation of bone, cartilage, and skin tissue. Although numerous 3D electrospun fibrous matrixes have been successfully developed, additional research is needed to produce 3D patterned and sophisticated structures. The development of 3D fibrous matrixes with patterned and sophisticated structures (FM-PSS) capable of mimicking the extracellular matrix (ECM) is important for advancing tissue engineering. Because modulating nano to microscale features of the 3D fibrous scaffold to control the ambient microenvironment of target tissue cells can play a pivotal role in inducing tissue morphogenesis after transplantation in a living system. To achieve this objective, the 3D FM-PSSs were successfully generated by the electrospinning using a directional change of the sharply inclined array collector. The 3D FM-PSSs overcome the current limitations of conventional electrospun cotton-type 3D matrixes of random fibers.