Drug delivery from microcapsules: How can we estimate the release time?

Predicting the release performance of a drug delivery device is an important challenge in pharmaceutics and biomedical science. In this paper, we consider a multi-layer diffusion model of drug release from a composite spherical microcapsule into an external surrounding medium. Based on this model, we present two approaches for estimating the release time, i.e. the time required for the drug-filled capsule to be depleted.

Drug delivery from multi-layer micro-capsules: how can we estimate the release time?

In this paper, we consider a multi-layer diffusion model of drug release from a composite spherical microcapsule into an external surrounding medium. Based on this model, we present two approaches for estimating the release time, i.e. the time required for the drug-filled capsule to be depleted. Both approaches make use of temporal moments of the drug concentration at the centre of the capsule, which provide useful insight into the timescale of the process and can be computed exactly without explicit calculation of the full transient solution of the multi-layer diffusion model.

Functional inequalities for marked point processes

In recent years, a number of functional inequalities have been derived for Poisson random measures, with a wide range of applications. In this paper, we prove that such inequalities can be extended to the setting of marked temporal point processes, under mild assumptions on their Papangelou conditional intensity. First, we derive a Poincare inequality. Second, we prove two transportation cost inequalities. The first one refers to functionals of marked point processes with a Papangelou conditional intensity and is new even in the setting of Poisson random measures.

Combining mathematical modelling with in vitro experiments to predict in vivo drug-eluting stent performance

In this study, we developed a predictive model of in vivo stent based drug release and distribution that is capable of providing useful insights into performance. In a combined mathematical modelling and experimental approach, we created two novel sirolimus-eluting stent coatings with quite distinct doses and release kinetics. Using readily measurable in vitro data, we then generated parameterised mathematical models of drug release. These were then used to simulate in vivo drug uptake and retention.

Mathematical Modeling of Intracellular ATP Concentration in Vascular Endothelial Cells on Line Patterns

The migration of endothelial cells (ECs) is critical for various processes including vascular wound healing, tumor angiogenesis, and the development of viable endovascular implants. EC migration is regulated by intracellular ATP and recent observations in our laboratory on ECs cultured on line patterns - surfaces where cellular adhesion is limited to 15 m-wide lines that physically confine the cells - have demonstrated very different migration behavior from cells on control unpatterned surfaces.

Edge Computing Perspectives: Architectures, Technologies, and Open Security Issues

Edge and Fog Computing will be increasingly pervasive in the years to come due to the benefits they bring in many specific use-case scenarios over traditional Cloud Computing. Nevertheless, the security concerns Fog and Edge Computing bring in have not been fully considered and addressed so far, especially when considering the underlying technologies (e.g. virtualization) instrumental to reap the benefits of the adoption of the Edge paradigm. In particular, these virtualization technologies (i.e.

Modelling drug release from composite capsules and nanoparticles

We present a general mechanistic model of mass diffusion for a composite sphere placed in a large ambient medium. The multi-layer problem is described by a system of diffusion equations coupled via interlayer boundary conditions such as those imposing a finite mass resistance at the external surface of the sphere. While the work is applicable to the generic problem of heat or mass transfer in a multi-layer sphere, the analysis and results are presented in the context of drug kinetics for desorbing and absorbing spherical microcapsules.

A large deviation approach to super-critical bootstrap percolation on the random graph G(n,p)

We consider the Erdös-Rényi random graph G(n,p) and we analyze the simple irreversible epidemic process on the graph, known in the literature as bootstrap percolation. We give a quantitative version of some results by Janson et al. (2012), providing a fine asymptotic analysis of the final size A_n of active nodes, under a suitable super-critical regime. More specifically, we establish large deviation principles for the sequence of random variables n-A_n/f (n) with explicit rate functions and allowing the scaling function f to vary in the widest possible range.

Designing a web Spatial Decision Support System based on Analytic Network Process to locate a freight lorry parking

The relevant role of freight lorry parking facilities as a tool to reduce nuisances and impact of economic activities in densely populated urban areas is widely recognised in the literature. Nevertheless, the literature currently lacks specific contributions addressing the use of a complex Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) approach for coping with an optimal location of freight lorry parking facilities in the urban context.