Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation: Titanium-Based, Fenestrated, in-Plane Microneedles for Passive Ocular Drug Delivery.

Titanium-based, fenestrated, in-plane microneedles for passive ocular drug delivery.

Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2012 Aug; 2012: 6572-5
Khandan O, Famili A, Kahook MY, Rao MP

Drug delivery to the eye remains a key challenge, due to limitations inherent to prevailing delivery techniques. For example, while topical delivery offers simplicity and safety, its efficacy is often limited by poor bioavailability, due to natural transport barriers and clearance mechanisms. Similarly, while intravitreal injections performed across the ocular tunic provide means for circumventing such limitations, non-negligible potential for retinal detachment and other complications adversely affects safety. Herein, we discuss our initial efforts to address these limitations through development of titanium-based microneedles (MNs) which seek to provide a safer, simpler, and more efficacious means of ocular drug delivery. Devices with in-plane geometry and through-thickness fenestrations that serve as drug reservoirs for passive delivery via diffusive transport from fast-dissolving coatings are demonstrated. Details regarding device design, fabrication, and mechanical testing are presented, as are results from preliminary coating characterization and insertion testing in ex vivo rabbit cornea.
HubMed – drug

 

Nanotopography effects on astrocyte attachment to nanoporous gold surfaces.

Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2012 Aug; 2012: 6568-71
Kurtulus O, Seker E

Nanoporous gold, synthesized by a self-assembly process, is a new biomaterial with desirable attributes, including tunable nanotopography, drug delivery potential, electrical conductivity, and compatibility with conventional microfabrication techniques. This study reports on the effect of nanotopography in guiding cellular attachment on nanoporous gold surfaces. While the changes in topography do not affect adherent cell density, average cell area displays a non-monotonic dependence on nanotopography.
HubMed – drug

 

Dynamic seizure imaging in patients with extratemporal lobe epilepsy.

Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2012 Aug; 2012: 6228-31
Lu Y, Yang L, Worrell GA, Brinkmann B, Nelson C, He B

Epilepsy is a common neurological disease that affects about 50 million people worldwide. Extratemporal lobe epilepsy, which represents an important type of epilepsy, may involve seizure activity in various lobes and the surgical treatment in these patients tends to have less favorable surgical outcome. Noninvasive seizure imaging in drug-resistant patients is of vital importance to image the seizure onset zones (SOZs) and understand the mechanisms for an improved treatment plan. In this study, we directly imaged the seizure sources in 8 extratemporal lobe partial epilepsy patients from noninvasive EEG. The surgically resected regions and SOZs identified from intracranial EEG (iEEG) recordings were used to evaluate the source imaging results. All of the eight patients underwent resective surgery and the estimated seizure sources were co-located with the resection zone. Seven of the patients had iEEG recordings available and the source imaging results were concordant with the SOZs marked on the intracranial recording grid. The present results suggest that dynamic seizure imaging could be potentially useful to image the SOZs of extratemporal lobe seizures and help the pre-surgical planning of epilepsy patients.
HubMed – drug

 

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