This textbook summarizes the basic knowledge of atomic, nuclear, and radiation physics that professionals working in medical physics and biomedical engineering need for efficient and safe use of ionizing radiation in medicine. Concentrating on the underlying principles of radiation physics, the textbook covers the prerequisite knowledge for medical physics courses on the graduate and post-graduate levels in radiotherapy physics, radiation dosimetry, imaging physics, and health physics, thus providing the link between elementary undergraduate physics and the intricacies of four medical physics specialties: diagnostic radiology physics, nuclear medicine physics, radiation oncology physics, and health physics. To recognize the importance of radiation dosimetry to medical physics three new chapters have been added to the 14 chapters of the previous edition. Chapter 15 provides a general introduction to radiation dosimetry. Chapter 16 deals with absolute radiation dosimetry systems that establish absorbed dose or some other dose related quantity directly from the signal measured by the dosimeter. Three absolute dosimetry techniques are known and described in detail: (i) calorimetric; (ii) chemical (Fricke), and (iii) ionometric. Chapter 17 deals with relative radiation dosimetry systems that rely on a previous dosimeter calibration in a known radiation field. Many relative radiation dosimetry systems have been developed to date and four most important categories used routinely in medicine and radiation protection are described in this chapter: (i) Ionometric dosimetry; (ii) Luminescence dosimetry; (iii) Semiconductor dosimetry; and (iv) Film dosimetry. The book is intended as a textbook for a radiation physics course in academic medical physics graduate programs as well as a reference book for candidates preparing for certification examinations in medical physics sub-specialties. It may also be of interest to many professionals, not only physicists, who in their daily occupations deal with various aspects of medical physics or radiation physics and have a need or desire to improve their understanding of radiation physics.

This book presents current innovative, alternative and creative approaches that challenge traditional mechanisms in and across disciplines and industries targeting societal impact. A common thread throughout the book is human-centered, uni and multi-modal strategies across the range of human technologies, including sensing and stimuli; virtual and augmented worlds; games for serious applications; accessibility; digital-ethics and more. Focusing on engaging, meaningful, and motivating activities that at the same time offer systemic information on human condition, performance and progress, the book is of interest to anyone seeking to gain insights into the field, be they students, teachers, practicing professionals, consultants, or family representatives. By offering a wider perspective, it addresses the need for a core text that evokes and provokes, engages and demands and stimulates and satisfies.

This authored monograph supplies empirical evidence for the Bayesian brain hypothesis by modeling event-related potentials (ERP) of the human electroencephalogram (EEG) during successive trials in cognitive tasks. The employed observer models are useful to compute probability distributions over observable events and hidden states, depending on which are present in the respective tasks. Bayesian model selection is then used to choose the model which best explains the ERP amplitude fluctuations. Thus, this book constitutes a decisive step towards a better understanding of the neural coding and computing of probabilities following Bayesian rules. The target audience primarily comprises research experts in the field of computational neurosciences, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students who want to specialize in this field.

Medical images are at the base of many routine clinical decisions and their influence continues to increase in many fields of medicine. Since the last decade, computers have become an invaluable tool for supporting medical image acquisition, processing, organization and analysis. Biomedical Image Analysis and Machine Learning Technologies: Applications and Techniques provides a panorama of the current boundary between biomedical complexity coming from the medical image context and the multiple techniques which have been used for solving many of these problems. This innovative publication serves as a leading industry reference as well as a source of creative ideas for applications of medical issues.

Integrating basic to applied science and technology in medicine, pharmaceutics, molecular biology, biomedical engineering, biophysics and irreversible thermodynamics, this book covers cutting-edge research of the structure and function of biomaterials at a molecular level. In addition, it examines for the first time studies performed at the nano- and micro scale. With innovative technologies and methodologies aiming to clarify the molecular mechanism and macroscopic relationship, Nano/Micro Science and Technology in Biorheology thoroughly covers the basic principles of these studies, with helpful step-by-step explanations of methodologies and insight into medical applications. Written by pioneering researchers, the book is a valuable resource for academics and industry scientists, as well as graduate students, working or studying in bio-related fields.

This volume presents the current state of laser-assisted bioprinting, a cutting edge tissue engineering technology. Nineteen chapters discuss the most recent developments in using this technology for engineering different types of tissue. Beginning with an overview, the discussion covers bioprinting in cell viability and pattern viability, tissue microfabrication to study cell proliferation, microenvironment for controlling stem cell fate, cell differentiation, zigzag cellular tubes, cartilage tissue engineering, osteogenesis, vessel substitutes, skin tissue and much more. Because bioprinting is on its way to becoming a dominant technology in tissue-engineering, Bioprinting in Regenerative Medicine is essential reading for those researching or working in regenerative medicine, tissue engineering or translational research. Those studying or working with stem cells who are interested in the development of the field will also find the information invaluable.

This book provides the latest information about hairy root culture and its several applications, with special emphasis on potential of hairy roots for the production of bioactive compounds. Due to high growth rate as well as biochemical and genetic stability, it is possible to study the metabolic pathways related to production of bioactive compounds using hairy root culture. Chapters discuss the feasibility of hairy roots for plant derived natural compounds. Advantages and difficulties of hairy roots for up-scaling studies in bioreactors are included as well as successful examples of hairy root culture of plant species producing bioactive compounds used in food, flavors and pharmaceutical industry. This book is a valuable resource for researchers and students working on the area of plant natural products, phytochemistry, plant tissue culture, medicines, and drug discovery.

This book addresses the background and significance of the factors potentially influencing the clinical and biological outcomes of metal-on-metal hip implants.Metal-on-metal bearings were introduced and evaluated as an alternative to other bearing couples, particularly metal-on-polyethylene, due to their enhanced wear resistance as determined in laboratory testing.Initially, reports of short-term clinical outcomes were favorable and an increasing number of metal-on-metal prostheses were implanted. Subsequently, isolated case findings describing adverse tissue responses around the articulation became the harbinger of an increasing number of reports describing pseudotumors and other significant lymphocytic-based responses associated with metal-on-metal prostheses. Questions have been raised as to whether this is an implant, design, or patient-specific response. The reasons why some patients have a negative biological response and pathology while others do not remain to be determined, but tens of thousands of patients in the US, the UK, and around the world are considered to be at risk. Leading researchers and clinicians describe the issues related to the nature of the biological and pathological responses and the protocols that should be followed to determine if an adverse response is occurring. This book is essential reading for researchers, engineers, and orthopaedic surgeons who are involved in the design, evaluation, and implantation of metal-on-metal prostheses."

The development of biodegradable implants which can remain in the human body to fix a problem and subsequently dissolve, or be absorbed, consumed or excreted, without warranting a secondary surgery, is very appealing to scientists. Due to their excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability, magnesium implants provide a viable option many problems associated with permanent metallic implants such as, restenosis, thrombosis, permanent physical irritation, and inability to adapt to growth and changes in human body. Volume 2 of this important new book explores practical issues of magnesium and magnesium alloys, physical and mechanical modification and coatings to enhance this material for biomedical applications.

This book investigates the design of devices, systems, and circuits for medical applications using the two recently established frequency bands: ultra-wideband (3.1-10.6 GHz) and 60 GHz ISM band. These two bands provide the largest bandwidths available for communication technologies and present many attractive opportunities for medical applications. The applications of these bands in healthcare are wireless body area network (WBAN), medical imaging, biomedical sensing, wearable and implantable devices, fast medical device connectivity, video data transmission, and vital signs monitoring. The recent technological advances and developments proposed or used in medicine based on these two bands are covered. The book introduces possible solutions and design techniques to efficiently implement these systems in medical environment. All individual chapters are written by leading experts in their fields. Contributions by authors are on various applications of ultra-wideband and the 60 GHz ISM band including circuit implementation, UWB and 60 GHz signal transmission around and in- body, antenna design solution, hardware implementation of body sensors, UWB transceiver design, 60 GHz transceiver design, UWB radar for contactless respiratory monitoring, and ultra-wideband based medical Imaging. The book will be a key resource for medical professionals, bio-medical engineers, and graduate and senior undergraduate students in computer, electrical, electronic and biomedical engineering disciplines.

This book provides comprehensive mechanobiological insights into bone, including the microstructure of cancellous bone and its realistic loading in the human body. This approach considers different types of loads, i.e. static and dynamic, and the response under uniaxial and multiaxial loading conditions. The book also reviews additional factors influencing biomechanical properties, e.g. fluid transport. In closing, the mechanobiological approach is discussed in the context of the finite element method.

This book presents the latest advances in marine structures and related biomaterials for applications in both soft- and hard-tissue engineering, as well as controlled drug delivery. It explores marine structures consisting of materials with a wide variety of characteristics that warrant their use as biomaterials. It also underlines the importance of exploiting natural marine resources for the sustainable development of novel biomaterials and discusses the resulting environmental and economic benefits. The book is divided into three major sections: the first covers the clinical application of marine biomaterials for drug delivery in tissue engineering, while the other two examine the clinical significance of marine structures in soft- and hard-tissue engineering, respectively. Focusing on clinically oriented applications, it is a valuable resource for dentists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, and students and researchers in the field of tissue engineering.

Joint endoprosthetics - the science of implanting artificial joints into the human body - has been around since the 1960 s, and consistent advancements are leading to better practice, materials and mechanics.
The present book is devoted to the biophysics and effect of wear, friction and lubrication on artificial joints. The important aspects of biocompatibility and wear resistance are reviewed and a retrospective analysis of modern joint endoprosthetic designs is presented. Data on clinical aspects of endoprosthetics are cited in support of the text. Advancements in genetic engineering, and promising new techniques of designing bone and cartilage transplants are explored, and a critical comparison between tribological mechanisms of operation and natural joint functioning are made.
An exceptional resource for all specialists in orthopedy, biophysics, immunology and engineers engaged in developing artificial joints.

Are we satisfied with the rate of drug development? Are we happy with the drugs that come to market? Are we getting our money's worth in spending for basic biomedical research? In Translational Systems Biology, Drs. Yoram Vodovotz and Gary An address these questions by providing a foundational description the barriers facing biomedical research today and the immediate future, and how these barriers could be overcome through the adoption of a robust and scalable approach that will form the underpinning of biomedical research for the future. By using a combination of essays providing the intellectual basis of the Translational Dilemma and reports of examples in the study of inflammation, the content of Translational Systems Biology will remain relevant as technology and knowledge advances bring broad translational applicability to other diseases. Translational systems biology is an integrated, multi-scale, evidence-based approach that combines laboratory, clinical and computational methods with an explicit goal of developing effective means of control of biological processes for improving human health and rapid clinical application. This comprehensive approach to date has been utilized for in silico studies of sepsis, trauma, hemorrhage, and traumatic brain injury, acute liver failure, wound healing, and inflammation.

This thesis mainly focuses on the design and synthesis of novel multifunctional nanoprobes, investigating their feasibility for applications involving sensing, molecular imaging, and the simultaneous diagnosis and therapy of cancer. Above all, it discusses the development of innovative nanomaterials to address the issues limiting the effectiveness of currently available nanoprobes such as the synthesis shortcoming and poor performance in sensing, imaging and therapeutic applications. One of the strengths of this thesis is its integration of knowledge from chemistry, materials science and biomedicine. Further, it presents the theoretical fundamentals in the design of nanoprobes, which can offer guidance for future studies on the development of novel multifunctional nanomaterials with significantly enhanced performance.

The goal of this book is to provide, in a friendly and refreshing manner, both theoretical concepts and practical techniques for the important and exciting field of Artificial Intelligence that can be directly applied to real-world healthcare problems. Healthcare - the final frontier. Lately, it seems like Pandora opened the box and evil was released into the world. Fortunately, there was one thing left in the box: hope. In recent decades, hope has been increasingly represented by Intelligent Decision Support Systems. Their continuing mission: to explore strange new diseases, to seek out new treatments and drugs, and to intelligently manage healthcare resources and patients. Hence, this book is designed for all those who wish to learn how to explore, analyze and find new solutions for the most challenging domain of all time: healthcare.

This book discusses the development of various reliable scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) imaging techniques for studying the distribution of biomarkers and nanomaterials in thin and thick animal samples, plant antioxidant (AO) defense systems, as well as human melanoma. The authors demonstrate that SECM could improve the diagnosis and understanding of different melanoma stages on the basis of highly resolved maps of the tyrosinase distribution. Tyrosinase is the key enzyme involved in fruit maturation and is a biomarker for melanoma. As such the book presents various tyrosinase SECM detection strategies developed for the analysis of the spatial distribution of tyrosinase in melanoma and in banana samples. It describes the first imaging of the redox active proteins within the entire mouse heart with an SECM system using a spider probe composed of eight independent microelectrodes. Further, it investigates distributions of injected graphene nanoribbons (GONRs) for drug delivery by Soft-Probe-SECM. Lastly, the book outlines a non-invasive electrochemical strategy for mapping the AO activity of apple peel using Soft-Probe-SECM.

Plastics in Medical Devices is a comprehensive overview of the main types of plastics used in medical device applications. It focuses on the applications and properties that are most important in medical device design, such as chemical resistance, sterilization capability and biocompatibility. The roles of additives, stabilizers, and fillers as well as the synthesis and production of polymers are covered and backed up with a wealth of data tables.

Since the first edition the rate of advancement of materials technology has been constantly increasing. In the new edition Dr. Sastri not only provides a thorough update of the first edition chapters with new information regarding new plastic materials, applications and new requirements, but also adds two chapters - one on market and regulatory aspects and supplier controls, and one on process validation. Both chapters meet an urgent need in the industry and make the book an all-encompassing reference not found anywhere else.
Comprehensive coverage of uses of polymers for medical devices.

Unique coverage of medical device regulatory aspects, supplier control and process validation.

Invaluable guide for engineers, scientists and managers involved in the development and marketing of medical devices and materials for use in medical devices.

This book summarizes the recent advances in applications of starch in state-of-the-art drug carriers (hydrogel, micro- and nano-particulate carriers) with stimulus-responsive and target-specific properties. It also highlights the role of starch and its derivatives in transmucosal administration to improve the bioavailability of drugs. Further, it outlines the principles of effective, advanced, starch-based drug delivery systems and illustrates how these principles are key to the development of future drug delivery strategies. This interesting reference resource is useful for students, researchers and engineers in the fields of carbohydrate chemistry, polymer sciences and drug delivery.

This book covers the latest advances, applications, and challenges in orthopedic biomaterials. Topics covered include materials for orthopedic applications, including nanomaterials, biomimetic materials, calcium phosphates, polymers, biodegradable metals, bone grafts/implants, and biomaterial-mediated drug delivery. Absorbable orthopedic biomaterials and challenges related to orthopedic biomaterials are covered in detail. This is an ideal book for graduate and undergraduate students, researchers, and professionals working with orthopedic biomaterials and tissue engineering. This book also: Describes biodegradable metals for orthopedic applications, such as Zn-based medical implants Thoroughly covers various materials for orthopedic applications, including absorbable orthopedic biomaterials with a focus on polymers Details the state-of-the-art research on orthopedic nanomaterials and nanotechnology

These are the Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Multibody Systems and Mechatronics (MUSME 2017) which was held in Florianopolis, Brazil, October 24-28, 2017. Topics addressed include analysis and synthesis of mechanisms; dynamics of multibody systems; design algorithms for mechatronic systems; simulation procedures and results; prototypes and their performance; robots and micromachines; experimental validations; theory of mechatronic simulation; mechatronic systems; and control of mechatronic systems. The MUSME 2017 Symposium was one of the activities of the FEIbIM Commission for Mechatronics and IFToMM technical Committees for Multibody Dynamics, Robotics and Mechatronics.