Bone repair

Niobium finds use in the production of numerous stainless steels for use at high temperatures, and Nb/Zr wires are used in superconducting magnets. The extreme corrosion-resistance of tantalum at normal temperatures (due to the presence of an exceptionally tenacious film of oxide) leads to its application in the construction of chemical plant, especially where it can be used as a liner inside cheaper metals. Its complete inertness to body fluids makes it the ideal material for surgical use in bone repair and internal suturing. 

Besides the previously mentioned collagen, a wide variety of natural polymers have been involved in the synthesis of bio-nanohybrid materials with potential application in bone repair and dental prostheses. For instance, some recent examples refer to bionanocomposites based on the combination of HAP with alginate [96,97], chitosan [98,99], bovine serum albumin (BSA) [100], sodium caseinate [101], hyaluronic acid [102], silk fibroin [103,104], silk sericin [105], or polylactic add (PLA) [106,107]. These examples illustrate the increasing interest in the subject of HAP-based biohybrid materials, which has led to almost 400 articles appeared in scientific journals in 2006 alone. 

These sol-gel-derived nano-hybrids have a potential to show flexibility and bioactivity. As the biological and mechanical properties of nano-hybrids can be tailored by selecting the combination of the organic and inorganic components, these nano-hybrids may be a useful design to obtain flexible and bioactive bone-repairing materials. 

Bioactive ceramics have already played an important role in bone repair in the clinical fields because of their ability to bond to living bone. However, the use of these bioactive ceramics is limited because of their brittleness and higher Young s modulus than bone. The combination of ceramic and organic components provides us with a design for novel tissue-repairing materials. The establishment of these techniques promises a novel bone repairing material. 

Miyazaki, T., Ohtsuki, C. and Tanihara, M. (2003) Synthesis of bioactive organic-inorganic nano-hybrid for bone repair through sol-gel processing. Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, 3, 511-515. 

Biomimetic Materials for Bone Repair. The Hybrid Approach... 

Bordem, M. D., Khan, Y., Attawia, M., and Laurencin, C. T. (2001), Tissue engineered microsphere-based matrices for bone repair Design, evaluation and optimisation, Biomaterials, 23, 551-559. 

Heteroatom biodegradable and electrically conducting polymers, (IV), effective for tissue engineering applications were prepared by Schmidt [4] and used in spinal cord regeneration, wound healing, and bone repair. 

Meikle, M.C. Papaioannou, S. Ratledge, T.J. Speight, P.M. Watt-Smith, S.R. Hill, P.A. Reynolds, J.J. Effect of poly D-lactide-co-glycolide implants and xenogeneic bone matrix-derived growth factors on calvarial bone repair in the rabbit. Biomaterials 1994, 15 (7), 513-521. 

The radioactive isotope most widely used in nuclear medicine is tech-netium-99, which has a short half-life and emits low-energy gamma rays. This radioactive isotope is used in bone scans. Bone repairs occur when there is a fracture, infection, arthritis, or an invading cancer. Bones that are repairing themselves take in minerals and absorb the technetium at the same time. If an area of bone has an unusual amount of repair, the technetium will gather there. Cameras detect the gamma rays that result from its decay. 

Plastic materials are moulded to make all kinds of objects, e.g. bottles, boxes, flexible air containers, parts of items for handles of knifes, spoons, toys, etc. and they must comply with government health and safety regulations with regard to potential leaching of chemicals and metals. These regulations are rigorously applied where the plastics are to be used in contact with foods, pharmaceutical/medicinal products, adhesives, bone repairs, toiletries and household detergents. 

Bone resorption increases with age, but changes in bone formation are not observed consistently. Increased osteocyte apoptosis may decrease responses to mechanical strain and hinder bone repair. Cortical porosity from years of remodeling and decreased trabecular connectivity, particularly of horizontal struts, promotes microarchitectural deterioration of bone that is not always reflected in BMD. Aging also increases fracture risk in other ways that are independent of BMD. 

Afzal, A. (2014) Implantable zirconia bioceramics for bone repair and replacement a chronological review. Mater Express, 4 (1), 1-12. 

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