Advances in imaging of the lacrimal gland in Sjögren's syndrome: A narrative review.

Due to lymphocytic infiltration of the salivary and lacrimal glands, Sjogren's syndrome (SS), a systemic autoimmune illness that mostly affects the exocrine glands, causes dry mouth (xerostomia) and dry eyes (xerophthalmia). Additionally, SS is associated with various comorbidities such as cardiovascular diseases, infections, musculoskeletal diseases, and cancers. Among patients with SS, xerophthalmia frequently arises as a complication, leading to insufficient tear production or rapid tear evaporation, thereby causing discomfort, irritation, and a gritty sensation in the eyes. This article aims to examine recent advancements in the imaging of the lacrimal gland in Sjögren's syndrome and briefly discusses the utilization of various imaging examinations for the lacrimal gland in this particular disease.

Design principles and implementation of receiver positioning and beam steering for laser power transfer systems.

Laser power transfer (LPT) is an emerging technology that can provide convenient and long-range wireless power to the ever-expanding array of electronic devices. One of the biggest challenges in implementing LPT systems is to realize receiver positioning and beam steering (RPBS) for directing power toward the intended target which, however, have only been investigated by a few studies. Herein, a set of design principles is proposed, intended to assist researchers in developing systematic schemes for RPBS. Then, an open-source implementation of RPBS is designed and evaluated using two experimental protocols that simulate real-world receiver movement patterns. Notably, the experimental results show that the implementation enables 3D receiver movement within an operating range exceeding 2-m height and achieves RPBS in ∼1 s, sufficient for most indoor settings. Moreover, strategies that can improve the current design are discussed in detail. Overall, this study provides guidance that can facilitate new ideas and improvements to RPBS among researchers in relevant fields.

Design and evaluation a kind of functional biomaterial for bone tissue engineering: Selenium/mesoporous bioactive glass nanospheres.

Conventional treatments of bone tumor involve removal followed by radiation and chemotherapeutic drugs that may have limitations and cause secondary damage. The development of functional filling biomaterial has led to a new strategy for tumor therapy. In this study, a novel therapeutic ion selenium doped mesoporous bioactive glasses (Se/MBG) nanospheres were successfully synthesized by a facile sol-gel technique using cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as the template, which had uniform spherical morphology (≈ 400 nm), high surface area (>400 m2/g) and mesopore volume (≈0.30 cm3/g). Results showed that hydroxyapatite formation ability and controllable doxorubicin (DOX) release and distinct degradation of Se/MBG nanospheres depended on the dose of Se4+. In vitro cell cultures showed that both Se/MBG and DOX-Se/MBG nanospheres had the culture time and dose dependent cytotoxicity to MG63 osteosarcoma cells. But DOX-Se/MBG nanospheres reduced the acute cytotoxicity to MG63 because of the co-operative effect of Se and DOX. Meanwhile, Se/MBG nanospheres were found to have selective cytotoxicity to cancer cells (MG63) and normal cells (MC3T3-E1), indicating that the prepared Se/MBG nanospheres had cell recognition function. These all note that the synthesized Se/MBG nanospheres can be used as a filling biomaterial for the bone tissue engineering.

Sol-gel derived terbium-containing mesoporous bioactive glasses nanospheres: In vitro hydroxyapatite formation and drug delivery.

Terbium (Tb) doped mesoporous bioactive glasses (Tb/MBG) nanospheres were successfully synthesized by a facile sol-gel method using cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as the template. Results indicated that Tb/MBG had spherical morphology (100-200nm), higher specific surface area (250-350m2/g) and narrow mesopore size distribution (2-3nm). In order to investigate the effects of Tb on the in vitro bioactivity, prepared Tb/MBG nanospheres were soaking in simulated body fluid (SBF) for 3 days, and results indicated incorporation Tb ions in the MBG nanospheres could improve the hydroxyapatite formation ability. In addition, Tb/MBG nanospheres showed controlled release property of anti-cancer drugs (DOX) and distinct degradation in PBS with different pH values. Their release mechanism can be explained by Fickian diffusion according the Higuchi model, and the delivery of DOX from Tb/MBG nanospheres can be dominated by changing the doping concentration of Tb and the values of pH. In addition, the cytotoxicity of Tb/MBG nanospheres was assessed using a cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), and results showed that the synthesized Tb/MBG nanospheres at low concentration had no significant cytotoxicity in MC3T3 cells. These all note that this material is a promising candidate for the therapy of bone tissue regeneration.

A doxorubicin delivery system: Samarium/mesoporous bioactive glass/alginate composite microspheres.

Samarium (Sm) incorporated mesoporous bioactive glasses (MBG) microspheres have been prepared using the method of alginate cross-linking with Ca(2+) ions. The in vitro bioactivities of Sm/MBG/alginate microspheres were studied by immersing in simulated body fluid (SBF) for various periods. The results indicated that the Sm/MBG/alginate microspheres have a faster apatite formation rate on the surface. To investigate their delivery properties further, doxorubicin (DOX) was selected as a model drug. The results showed that the Sm/MBG/alginate microspheres exhibit sustained DOX delivery, and their release mechanism is controlled by Fickian diffusion according the Higuchi model. In addition, the delivery of DOX from Sm/MBG/alginate microspheres can be dominated by changing the doping concentration of Sm and the values of pH microenvironment. These all revealed that this material is a promising candidate for the therapy of bone cancer.