The excessive and continuous contacting pressure tends to cause skin injury and pain when the lower limb contacting with prosthetic liners. To relate the subcutaneous pressure and the brain response induced by pain sensations, a mathematical model was established based on the finite element model, Hodgkin-Huxley model and GCT model. The results showed that stronger subcutaneous pressure stimulation can lead to higher frequency of the membrane potential and T-cell potential. The frontal, prefrontal cortex, primary somatosensory cortex and occipital lobe were involved in the processing of pressure pain. A significant increase was observed in γ oscillations in pain states compared with no pain, but no significant differences in different pain level, indicating mathematical model and EEG methods can distinguish the pain but cannot distinguish the pain intensities when the stimulation exceeded the pain threshold. Compared with silicone materials, a higher T-cell potential and a lower pressure pain threshold were observed as the skin contacted with foam materials, suggesting that the foam materials can induce more severe pain on the skin surface. This study is helpful to understand the mechanisms of pain from skin surface to brain response and to provide theoretical guidance for the optimal design of lower limb prostheses.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is regarded as the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide within recent decades. Stent intervention is one of the main methods for treating CVD due to its advantages of minimal trauma, fast recovery and fewer complications. However, the main function of existing drug-eluting stents is anti-hyperplasia, and their re-endothelialisation function is still insufficient and needs to be strengthened. In this study, a novel coating containing traditional Chinese medicine ingredient, Ophiopogon Saponin D (OPH), is designed to enhance the re-endothelialisation function of stents: firstly, the dopamine (DA) and hexanediamine (HD) were co-polymerised to the bare metal stent, endowing rich-amino surface (PDA/HD) for conjugating functional molecules by chemical reaction; thereafter hyaluronic acid (HA) containing OPH were conjugated to the PDA/HD. Our data suggested that the OPH coating promoted surface re-endothelialisation not only by directly enhancing proliferation/migration and inhibiting apoptosis of endothelial cells, but also by regulating macrophages to M2 phenotype and smooth muscle cells to contractile phenotype. Our study may provide inspiration for designing more novel biomaterial coatings using traditional Chinese medicine ingredient.

Medicated moxa sticks were prepared by mixing the herbs in Juanbi decoction with moxa wool. The components of smoke produced by combustion of these medicated moxa sticks and pure moxa sticks were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The smoke of the medicated moxa sticks contained 34 more active ingredients than that of the pure moxa sticks. Six of the active ingredients screened using network pharmacology and molecular docking can regulate joint diseases via the tumour necrosis factor pathway and have good binding affinities with core targets. The preparation process of the medicated moxa sticks was optimised using Box-Behnken design of response surface methodology. The smoke of the optimised product contained a high concentration of active ingredients and a low tar concentration. Molecular dynamics simulations and rat experiments demonstrated that the smoke derived from medicated moxa sticks possessed good skin permeability and detumescence activity. The developed medicated moxa sticks are environmentally friendly and show good prospects for the treatment of joint disease.

3D fibre aerogels with aligned architecture, due to their high porosity, interconnected pore structure and high specific surface area, show great potential in sound absorption, oil-water separation and air filtration. Herein, we present a novel and simple long straight bundle electrospinning strategy inspired by Darwin's bark spider to prepare 3D aligned fibre aerogels. Different from the conventional electrospinning, whipping instability of the fibre is effectively eliminated by manipulating the distribution of electric field lines during the long straight bundle electrospinning, resulting in the formation of a 3D aligned fibre aerogel. The detailed long straight bundle electrospinning process (formation of fibre bundle, flying path of fibre bundle and deposition of fibre bundle) along with the underlying mechanism are systematically studied. Based on this theoretical basis, scalable fabrication of the 3D flexible aligned fibre aerogel with an ultrahigh fibre alignment degree of 0.93 and an ultrathick structure (2.8 cm) is achieved in one step. As a proof of concept, we investigate the use of the 3D aligned fibre aerogel in air filtration. It is found that the fibre aerogel shows excellent PM_1.0 and PM_2.5 filtration performance in both perpendicular to and parallel to fibre alignment direction. Interestingly, the pressure drop in the direction parallel to fibre alignment is only 21 Pa, which is much lower than that in the direction perpendicular to fibre alignment. We also compare the filtration performance of our 3D fibre aerogel with other filters and find that the comprehensive performance of our aerogel is obviously better.

Finger pad strain governs grip control and tactile feedback, yet in vivo measurements during sliding remain scarce. This feasibility study utilised 3D-digital image correlation (3D-DIC) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) for quantifying surface strains and subsurface deformation in a human finger pad during static/dynamic glass contact, linking both to the respective friction behaviour. Principal strains increase systematically with normal load (0.5-3 N), concentrating at the mechanoreceptor-rich fingertip under dynamic sliding (peak ε₁ 2%-7.5%). Friction (CoF 0.4-0.8) and apparent contact area follow load-dependent power laws, with adhesion dominating. Multiscale imaging validates surface strain as a reliable friction predictor, providing good proof-of-concept for strain-based human finger pad friction modelling despite subsurface measurement limitations.

Artificial ligaments (ALs), as important grafts for reconstructing the anterior cruciate ligament, often fail in rupture owing to inadequate mechanical properties and frictional wear in clinical practice. Braiding parameters affect the properties of ALs. Previous studies have been limited to investigating the effects of braiding parameters on the mechanical or tribological properties of ALs in isolation and lacked a comprehensive investigation into their combined or synergistic impact. Therefore, in this study, ALs with different braiding parameters are prepared, and mechanical and tribological indicators are integrated to conduct a synergistic investigation. The results show that as the braiding angle and number of layers decrease, the breaking strain increases, while the ultimate tensile force, elastic modulus, and yield force decrease. The number of spindles positively correlates with the mechanical and tribological performance of ALs.

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are a significant complication of indwelling urinary catheters, primarily caused by bacterial adhesion, biofilm formation and catheter-induced mechanical irritation. To reduce the risk of infection and enhance catheter safety and performance, this study developed an antibacterial lubricating coating. The coating was fabricated on a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) substrate via electrostatic self-assembly, combining dopamine-modified hyaluronic acid-dopamine (HA-DN) as a biomimetic adhesive with aminated mesoporous silica nanoparticles (AMSN) serving as a long-acting drug delivery carrier loaded with triclosan (TCS). The results demonstrated that the prepared AMSN exhibited a uniform particle size of approximately 80 nm, an ordered mesoporous structure and a high drug-loading capacity, enabling sustained in vitro release of TCS for up to 144 h. Additionally, the composite multilayer coating significantly improved surface hydrophilicity and lubricity, exhibited strong antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus and maintained good biocompatibility. These findings highlight its potential for preventing CAUTIs and enhancing the safety of indwelling urinary catheters.

Cancer progression has been shown to be accompanied by alterations in physical features of its microenvironment. In the study, we fabricated an aligned collagen fibre matrix, whose architecture in both micro-level and nano-level was similar to that of the matrix found around the breast tumour tissue. The modulus of matrix exhibited a stiffness similarly to that found in metastatic breast tumour tissue. On the tough substrate, MDA-MB-231 cells presented an increased migration rate along the alignment of fibre. The biomechanical properties of tumour cells were explored in situ by AFM. The stiffness of a single MDA-MB-231 cell on the aligned matrix was reduced when compared with that on the nonaligned one. Wound healing assay showed that tumour cells with compliant modulus moved fast along the alignment of collagen fibre matrix. The in vitro model effectively mimicked the tumour cell behaviour, which would be helpful for new therapeutic strategies to detect cancer progress.

Damage to the dental implant-alveolar bone interface is one of the key issues limiting the service life of implants, whereas the periodontal ligament between natural teeth and the alveolar bone provides a flexible cushioning function for the interface. Inspired by the flexible cushioning function of the periodontal ligament, this study comparatively analyses the mechanical properties of the dental implant-alveolar bone interface before and after adding a periodontal ligament-like flexible composite coating to the implant surface through finite element computer simulations, aiming to investigate the interfacial cushioning effect of the flexible composite coating. The results demonstrate that the flexible composite coating reduces and redistributes the stress at the implant-alveolar bone interface, providing an interfacial cushioning effect. Furthermore, both the application method and thickness of the flexible composite coating influence the interfacial cushioning to a certain extent. This research holds theoretical significance for the development of next-generation dental implants and offers theoretical support for designing implants with flexible cushioning capabilities.

Bioactive glass nanoparticles (BGNs) have attracted widespread attention in regenerative medicine owing to their excellent biocompatibility and tissue repair capacity. However, the ion release behaviour associated with the long-term degradation of BGNs doped with different functional elements remains unclear. Herein, binary silicate BGNs (BGN-Ca, BGN-Mg, BGN-Zn, BGN-Cu and BGN-Mn) were prepared, and their degradation behaviour in normal saline was systematically evaluated over a period of up to 150 days. The evolution of particle morphology and size, ion release and pH changes in solution was characterised in detail. The results showed that the degradation behaviours of BGNs doped with different elements differed markedly. BGN-Ca and BGN-Mg exhibited the fastest degradation rates characterised by rapid degradation accompanied by higher Si release, whereas BGN-Zn and BGN-Mn showed comparable total Si release but displayed 'fast-then-slow' and 'slow-then-fast' release patterns, respectively. Overall, the reactivity of metal ions can provide a preliminary prediction of early ion-exchange trends, but the actual degradation behaviour is also co-regulated by multiple factors, including doping content, crystalline structure and solubility. This study elucidates the intrinsic relationship among doped elements, structural state and degradation behaviour and provides an experimental support for the precise design and stability regulation of multicomponent functionalised BGNs.

Viruses and microbes can be transferred from one surface to another via liquid droplets that result from, for example, sneezing. The exact mechanism of transfer from a surface to a finger-pad, however, has not been well studied. This novel work investigated how droplets are picked-up and how much liquid remains on each surface after contact is broken during a 'touching event' using optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. These showed that the droplet was pulled towards the finger-pad as it approached and formed an 'hour-glass' shape as the finger-pad moved away from the surface before splitting between surfaces as contact was broken. Despite the spread of liquid during the contact, after the touch, droplets reformed. Three-dimensional images of the droplets before and after the touch were used to determine the change in volume. For the droplets tested (0.40-1.85 mm³), the results consistently showed a transfer of 77%-94% of the volume to the finger pad, suggesting that within this volume range, the transfer mechanism remains stable for this specific liquid-surfaces interaction. This study demonstrates the potential of OCT for studying liquid droplet transfer. This is important in designing surfaces for reduced liquid transfer and for improving models of droplet behaviour.

Dental caries represents a significant global health challenge. Accurate quantification of the mechanical properties of dental tissues is essential for understanding disease progression and guiding medical procedures. However, comprehensive comparative analyses across multiple stages of natural caries progression using a unified methodological framework remain limited. This study employs a multimodal approach, integrating several experimental techniques to evaluate the preliminary trends in microstructure and mechanical behaviour of human enamel and dentine affected by white spot lesion in the vicinity of the fissure apex, non-cavitated, and cavitated brown spot lesions. The preliminary results suggest that certain pathological alterations, specifically within the examined brown spot lesions-affected tissues, may display enhanced mechanical properties, which could be attributed to subsurface remineralisation and mineral deposition in sclerotic dentine. In contrast, advanced lesions, particularly those with structural breakdown, appear to exhibit significant reductions in mechanical properties, reflecting extensive demineralisation within the studied specimens. Furthermore, the fissure region was found to be particularly susceptible to mechanical degradation, with localised pathologically altered area seemingly influenced by morphological factors. These initial findings highlight the critical role of microstructural features in modulating the biomechanical response of dental tissues to pathological challenges and provide a basis for broader statistical validation.

Developing protective coatings with desirable antifouling and lubricating capabilities is crucial for the long-term performance of implantable and interventional medical devices. However, stably immobilising functional materials onto diverse substrates without complex pretreatment remains a major challenge. Herein, we report a 'one-step co-deposition' strategy to prepare multifunctional coatings by synergising the amyloid-like phase transition of bovine serum albumin (BSA) with zwitterionic polymers. Phase-transited BSA (PTB), generated via rapid amyloid-like aggregation induced by the reduction of intramolecular disulfide bonds using tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP), acts as a robust interfacial anchor. This anchor embeds zwitterionic polymers—including poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) (PSBMA), poly(carboxybetaine methacrylate) (PCBMA) and poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine) (PMPC)—into a dense protein network, realising the rapid functionalisation of various material surfaces (e.g., metals, inorganic ceramics and hydrophobic polymers), forming ultrathin and superhydrophilic coatings. The resulting coatings exhibit outstanding resistance to nonspecific biofouling, inhibiting the adsorption from complex biological fluids, proteins and lipids by over 90%. Also, the strongly hydrated zwitterionic polymers enable an efficient lubrication ability, reducing the friction coefficient to an ultralow range of 0.005-0.015 under physiological conditions. This work presents a facile strategy that simultaneously integrates exceptional antifouling and ultra-lubricating properties, offering great potential for tailoring multifunctional surfaces on biomedical devices for bioengineering applications.