Stimulus-responsive nanomaterials have mainly been employed to ablate or destroy tissues or to facilitate controlled release of drugs or biologics. Herein, we demonstrate the potential of stimulus-responsive nanomaterials to promote tissue regeneration via a non-pharmacological and noninvasive strategy. Thin nanofilms of an optically-absorbing organic dye or nanoparticle (single-walled graphene nanoribbons[SWOGNR]) were placed over (without touching the skin) a rodent femoral fracture site. A nanosecond pulsed near-infrared laser diode was employed to generate photoacoustic (PA) signals from the nanofilms. X-ray micro-computed tomography (microCT), histology, and mechanical testing results showed that daily PA stimulations of upto 45 min for 6 weeks (complete fracture healing) do not adversely affect bone regeneration and quality. Further, microCT and histological analysis showed 10 min daily stimulation for 2 weeks significantly increases bone quantity at the fracture sites of rats exposed to the nanoparticle-generated PA signals. In these rats, up to threefold increase in bone volume to callus volume ratio and twofold increase in bone mineral density within the callus were noted, compared to rats that were not exposed to the photoacoustic signals. The results taken together indicate that nanofilm-generated photoacoustic signals serve as an anabolic stimulus for bone regeneration. The results, in conjugation with the ability of these nanofilms to serve as PA contrast agents, present opportunities toward the development of integrated noninvasive imaging and noninvasive or invasive treatment strategies for bone loss due to disease or trauma.
Este artículo presenta una metodología basada en redes neuronales para realizar priorización de zonas de mercado visto desde un enfoque empresarial. En esta investigación se intenta dar solución a la incertidumbre que existe en la mayoría de las organizaciones en torno a la prioridad que tiene una zona de mercado; para ello se hace una búsqueda de los criterios más relevantes que las empresas tienen en cuenta para asignar prioridades a ciertos clientes. La problemática se sustenta por la ausencia de herramientas que permitan determinar la prioridad de una zona de mercado y la falta de una interrelación efectiva entre los departamentos de logística y mercadeo. Para ello se ocupan los mapas de Kohonen que son un tipo de red neuronal que facilitan el agrupamiento de clientes y permiten determinar cuáles de ellos son los que impactan con mayor frecuencia los criterios de priorización previamente establecidos. Finalmente, se presentan tres escenarios con fin de validar la propuesta formulada y ver que comportamiento tienen las redes neuronales en temas de priorización de zonas de mercado.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.