SpringerBriefs in Bioengineering – serie

Systems Biomechanics of the Cell attempts to outline systems biomechanics of the cell as an emergent and promising discipline. The new field owes conceptually to cell mechanics, organism-level systems biomechanics, and biology of biochemical systems. Its distinct methodology is to elucidate the structure and behavior of the cell by analyzing the unintuitive collective effects of elementary physical forces that interact within the heritable cellular framework. The problematics amenable to this approach includes the variety of cellular activities that involve the form and movement of the cell body and boundary (nucleus, centrosome, microtubules, cortex, and membrane). Among the elementary system effects in the biomechanics of the cell, instability of symmetry, emergent irreversibility, and multiperiodic dissipative motion can be noted. Research results from recent journal articles are placed in this unifying framework. It is suggested that the emergent discipline has the potential to expand the spectrum of questions asked about the cell, and to further clarify the physical nature of animate matter and motion.

Throughout history, humanity has been plagued by a myriad of humanitarian crises that seemingly take the form of perpetual human suffering. Today, approximately 125,000,000 people require humanitarian assistance as the result of famine, war, geopolitical conflict, and natural disasters. A core component of this suffering is afflictions related to human health, where disturbances strain or overwhelm the existing healthcare infrastructure to create the conditions for an increase in morbidities and co-morbidities. One of the more startling elements is the loss of life to preventable medical conditions that were not properly treated or even diagnosed in the field, and is often due to the limited interventional capacity that medical teams and humanitarian practitioners have in these scenarios. These individuals are often hindered by medical equipment deficiencies or devices not meant to function in austere conditions. The development of highly versatile, feasible, and cost-effective medical devices and technologies that can be deployed in the field is essential to enhancing medical care in unconventional settings. In this book we examine the nature of the creative problem-solving paradigm, and dissect the intersection of frugal, disruptive, open, and reverse innovation processes in advancing humanitarian medicine. Specifically, we examine the feasible deployment of these devices and technologies in unconventional environments not only by humanitarian aid and disaster relief agencies, but also by crisis-affected communities themselves. The challenge is complex, but the financial support and technical development of innovative solutions for the delivery of humanitarian aid is a process in which everyone is a stakeholder.

This book serves as an introduction on mass transfer models in membrane processes, with a special focus on their applications in Artificial Organs. Various such models are discussed while multiple easy to use module equations are presented, enabling readers to gain basic knowledge of the mass flow of toxins across membranes. This is particularly interesting to membrane manufacturers who may use these equations to improve the relation of module performances and production costs. Additionally, examples which specialize on artificial organs, but in principle can be applied to analogous environmental, food and biotechnology processes- are analysed. This book will appeal to readers who want to understand how membrane modules and processes can be optimized and will be a great tool for graduates, researchers and professionals working in this field.

This book offers a summary of research on the biomechanics of fracture fixation and mechanobiology of fracture healing. The author, a known expert, provides an overview of the state of art, his own research together with that of his co-workers and collaborators; he describes the ideas and findings from the beginning of this research field in the 1960s up to the clinical consequences and applications of today. The book discusses the mechanobiology of fracture healing, illustrates the numerical methods that simulate fracture healing processes, and depicts specific research methods of experimental studies. Finally, it provides conclusions for the improvement of fracture treatment that will be of use in clinical applications nowadays. This book will be a valuable resource of knowledge for students and scientists in the field of bioengineering, experimental biology, and biomechanics, helping them to identify the correct conditions and analysis for their respectiveresearch and receive an understanding of the research field from its beginning until today. For experimental and clinical surgeons active in the field of fracture healing, this book will provide a useful historical overview over this translational research field.

This book describes a new strategy for rehabilitation from injury and/or disease using Crucial Event Therapy. Recent studies have shown that individuals can recuperate more rapidly from surgery and other invasive procedures intended to correct the negative effects of disease or injury through the use of life support systems that operate at the body's natural biofrequencies. The same observation has been clinically shown to reverse the degenerative effects of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer's Disease.Crucial Event Therapy describes medicine as the operational control of the functions of the human body treated as a network-of-networks, with 1/f-variable crucial events coding the dynamic states of health and disease through information flow within a network and information exchange between biomedical networks. A new way of thinking based on the statistics of Cortical Events is presented and the relevant literature is suitably referenced. This is anideal book for biophysicists and data scientists seeking to understand the connection of complexity measures for the study of consciousness with the clinical aspects of designing a rehabilitation strategy.

This book explores how machine learning is transforming nanomedicine, with a focus on the rational design of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for mRNA-based therapies. Moving beyond traditional, labor-intensive workflows, it highlights AI-driven methods—such as supervised learning, data augmentation, and deep learning—for predictive modeling and in silico screening.Key topics include chemoinformatics, molecular fingerprinting, and strategies to optimize LNP transfection efficiency and biocompatibility. Real-world applications, including mRNA vaccines and personalized nanomedicines, illustrate the convergence of computational biology and pharmaceutical engineering. It also addresses the ethical considerations and regulatory challenges surrounding AI-driven drug development. This book is intended for researchers, pharmaceutical scientists, computational biologists, and professionals in the biotechnology industry who seek to leverage AI-driven methodologies in nanomedicine development.

This book explores a novel technique for processing biodiesel using lipase immobilization by encapsulation and its physical properties, stability characteristics, and application in stirred tank and re-circulated packed bed immobilized reactors for biodiesel production. The enzymatic processing of biodiesel addresses many of the problems associated with chemical processing. It requires only moderate operating conditions and yields a high-quality product with a high level of conversion and the life cycle assessment of enzymatic biodiesel production has more favourable environmental consequences. The chemical processing problems of waste water treatment are lessened and soap formation is not an issue, meaning that waste oil with higher FFA can be used as the feedstock. The by product glycerol does not require any purification and it can be sold at higher price. However, soluble enzymatic processing is not perfect. It is costly, the enzyme cannot be recycled and its removal from the product is difficult. For these reasons, immobilized enzymatic process has been developed which retains the advantages of the soluble enzymatic process and reuse of the enzyme is possible which decreases the enzyme cost, the biodiesel produced does not contain any enzyme residue and the activity of the enzyme can be increased by immobilization. The drawbacks of the immobilized enzyme process are mass transfer limitation, enzyme leakage, the lack of a versatile commercial immobilized enzyme and some of immobilization methods involve toxic chemicals. To overcome the drawbacks of the immobilized enzyme, an attempt is made to use a degradable biopolymer (κ-carrageenan) as a carrier for lipase immobilization.

The understanding of the events taking place in a cell, a biological fluid or in any biological system is the main goal of biology research. Many fields of research use different technology to assess those events. Mass spectrometry is one of those techniques and this undergoes constant evolution and adaptation to always enhance the accuracy of the information provided. Proteomics provides a large panel of data on protein identity and protein expression that were made possible by mass spectrometry. For several years now mass spectrometry has become central to performing proteomic research, however this powerful tool is under constant evolution to be more sensitive and more resolute. More importantly mass spectrometry became a field of research focusing on new applications. Indeed, the complexity in biological systems relies on the changes of expression of transcription of proteins but also on the post-translational modification of proteins, the structure of proteins and the interaction between proteins, amongst others. As of now, several investigations tried to improve the quantification of proteins by mass spectrometry, the determination of post-translational modifications, the protein-protein and protein-nucleic acids interaction or the proteins structures.This book is structured as follows: after a brief introduction of the usual and most popular applications for mass spectrometry in proteomics, the most recent research and developments in mass spectrometry-based methodologies will be explored.

This book thoroughly covers each subfield of respiratory mechanics: pulmonary mechanics, the respiratory pump, and flow. It presents the current understanding of the field and serves as a guide to the scientific literature from the golden age of respiratory mechanics, 1960 - 2010. Specific topics covered include the contributions of surface tension and tissue forces to lung recoil, the gravitational deformation of the lung, and the interdependence forces that act on pulmonary airways and blood vessels. The geometry and kinematics of the ribs is also covered in detail, as well as the respiratory action of the external and internal intercostal muscles, the mechanics of the diaphragm, and the quantitative compartmental models of the chest wall is also described. Additionally, flow in the airways is covered thoroughly, including the wave-speed and viscous expiratory flow-limiting mechanisms; convection, diffusion and the stationary front; and the distribution of ventilation. This is an ideal book for respiratory physiologists, pneumologists, exercise physiologists, and critical care physicians.This book also: Maximizes reader insights into current and landmark respiratory mechanics researchConcisely yet thoroughly explores the current research on pulmonary mechanics, the respiratory pump, and flowServes as an invaluable guide for those entering the field, or those seeking to expand their knowledge of it

This Briefprovides a comprehensive introduction to the control of blood flow in thebrain. Beginning with the basic physiology of autoregulation, the author goeson to discuss measurement techniques, mathematical models, methods of analysis,and relevant clinical conditions, all within this single volume. The author drawstogether this disparate field, and lays the groundwork for future researchdirections. The textgives an up-to-date review of the state of the art in cerebral autoregulation,which is particularly relevant as cerebral autoregulation moves from thelaboratory to the bedside. CerebralAutoregulation will be useful to researchers in the physical sciences suchas mathematical biology, medical physics, and biomedical engineering whose workis concerned with the brain. Researchers in the medical sciences and cliniciansdealing with the brain and blood flow, as well as industry professionalsdeveloping techniques such as ultrasound, MRI, and CT will alsofind this Briefof interest.

This book gives a concise overview of bionanomaterials with applications for skin regeneration. The advantages and challenges of nanoscale materials are covered in detail, giving a basic view of the skin structure and conditions that require transdermal or topical applications. Medical applications, such as wound healing, care for burns, skin disease, and cosmetic care, such as aging of the skin and photodamage, and how they benefit from bionanomaterials, are described in detail. A final chapter is devoted to the ethical and social issues related to the use of bionanomaterials for skin regeneration. This is an ideal book for researchers in materials science, medical scientists specialized in dermatology, and cosmetic chemists working in formulations. It can also serve as a reference for nanotechnologists, dermatologists, microbiologists, engineers, and polymer chemists, as well as students studying in these fields.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the art in signal quality assessment techniques for physiological signals, and chiefly focuses on ECG (electrocardiography) and PPG (photoplethysmography) signals obtained from wearable sensors in ambulatory clinical settings. It presents the techniques currently proposed by leading researchers, as well as examples using data from clinical trials on wearable sensors for inpatient and outpatient settings.  In addition, the book assesses current approaches through a practical lens by discussing the implications of deploying the various proposed systems for clinical practices and health outcomes. As such, it will be of considerable interest to both graduate students and researchers working to develop personalized healthcare applications, as well as physiological sensor software and hardware developers.

This brief introduces recursive modeling techniques that take account of variations in blood glucose concentration within and between individuals. It describes their use in developing multivariable models in early-warning systems for hypo- and hyperglycemia; these models are more accurate than those solely reliant on glucose and insulin concentrations because they can accommodate other relevant influences like physical activity, stress and sleep.Such factors also contribute to the accuracy of the adaptive control systems present in the artificial pancreas which is the focus of the brief, as their presence is indicated before they have an apparent effect on the glucose concentration and so can be more easily compensated. The adaptive controller is based on generalized predictive control techniques and also includes rules for changing controller parameters or structure based on the values of physiological variables. Simulation studies and clinical studies are reported to illustrate the performance of the techniques presented.

"Gene Therapy for Cartilage and Bone Tissue Engineering" outlines the tissue engineering and possible applications of gene therapy in the field of biomedical engineering as well as basic principles of gene therapy, vectors and gene delivery, specifically for cartilage and bone engineering. It is intended for tissue engineers, cell therapists, regenerative medicine scientists and engineers, gene therapist and virologists. Dr. Yu-Chen Hu is a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University and has received the Outstanding Research Award (National Science Council), Asia Research Award (Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan) and Professor Tsai-Teh Lai Award (Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers). He is also a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and a member of the Tissue Engineering International & Regenerative Medicine Society (TERMIS)-Asia Pacific Council.