Through nanomedicine, game-changing methods are emerging to deliver drug molecules directly to diseased areas. One of the most promising of these is the targeted delivery of drugs and imaging agents via drug carrier-based platforms. Such drug delivery systems can now be synthesized from a wide range of different materials, made in a number of different shapes, and coated with an array of different organic molecules, including ligands. If optimized, these systems can enhance the efficacy and specificity of delivery compared with those of non-targeted systems. Emerging integrated multiscale experiments, models and simulations have opened the door for endless medical applications. Current bottlenecks in design of the drug-carrying particles are the lack of knowledge about the dispersion of these particles in the microvasculature and of their subsequent internalization by diseased cells (Bao et al . 2014 J. R. Soc. Interface 11 , 20140301 ( doi:10.1098/rsif.2014.0301 )). We describe multiscale modelling techniques that study how drug carriers disperse within the microvasculature. The immersed molecular finite-element method is adopted to simulate whole blood including blood plasma, red blood cells and nanoparticles. With a novel dissipative particle dynamics method, the beginning stages of receptor-driven endocytosis of nanoparticles can be understood in detail. Using this multiscale modelling method, we elucidate how the size, shape and surface functionality of nanoparticles will affect their dispersion in the microvasculature and subsequent internalization by targeted cells.

In a previous work by the author [Hedia HS, Mahmoud NA. Biomed Mater Eng 2004;14(2):133--143], a functionally graded material (FGM) dental implant was designed without cancellous bone in the model. In this investigation, the effect of the presence of cancellous bone as a thin layer around the dental implant was investigated. It is well known that the main inorganic component of natural bone is hydroxyapatite (HAP) and that the main organic component is collagen (Col). HAP implants are not bioabsorbable, and because induction of bone into and around the artificially made HAP is not always satisfactory, loosening or breakage of HAP implants might occur after implantation in the clinical application. The development of a new material that is bioabsorbable and that has osteo-conductive activity is needed. Therefore, the aim of the current investigation was to design an implant, in the presence of cancellous bone as a thin layer around it, from FGM. In this study, a novel biomaterial, Col/HAP, as a FGM, was developed using the finite element and optimization techniques that are available in the ANSYS package. These materials have a self-organized character similar to that of natural bone. The investigations have shown that the maximum stress in the cortical bone and cancellous bone for the Col/HAP functionally graded implant has been reduced by about 40% and 19%, respectively, compared with currently used titanium dental implants.

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A b s t r a c t -This paper presents a numerical modelling of an electromechanical relay connected with an electric excitation circuit. This transient modelling not only takes into account the classical electromagnetic equations of the device but also the movement and circuit equations. The use of the finite element-boundary element coupling method facilitates the computation of the movement while the actual coupling with circuit equations is necessary for a n accurate and reliable representation of transient phenomena.