Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics

ISSN: 1556-5297 (print)
ISSN: 1556-5300 (online) Publication Frequency: Quarterly

About the Journal

The field of biomechanics concerns with motion, deformation, and forces in biological systems. With the explosive progress in molecular biology, genomic engineering, bioimaging, and nanotechnology, there will be an ever-increasing generation of knowledge and information concerning the mechanobiology of genes, proteins, cells, tissues, and organs. Such information will bring new diagnostic tools, new therapeutic approaches, and new knowledge on ourselves and our interactions with our environment. It becomes apparent that biomechanics focusing on molecules, cells as well as tissues and organs is an important aspect of modern biomedical sciences. The aims of this journal are to facilitate the studies of the mechanics of biomolecules (including proteins, genes, cytoskeletons, etc.), cells (and their interactions with extracellular matrix), tissues and organs, the development of relevant advanced mathematical methods, and the discovery of biological secrets. As science concerns only with relative truth, we seek ideas that are state-of-the-art, which may be controversial, but stimulate and promote new ideas, new techniques, and new applications. This journal will encourage the exchange of ideas that may be seminal, or hold promise to stimulate others to new findings.

Indexing and Abstracting

Applied Mechanics Reviews; BIOBASE (Elsevier); BIOSIS Preview-Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics); Cambridge Scientific Abstracts-Proquest; Ei Compendex/Engineering Village (Elsevier); EMBASE (Elsevier); GEOBASE (Elsevier); INSPEC (IET); Science Navigator; Scopus (Elsevier): Citescore 2018: 0.64; SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper 2018): 0.528; World Textiles and Scopus; Zentralblatt fur Mathematik; Portico, etc...

Current Issue - Vol.17, No.2, 2020 Most Viewed

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ARTICLE
A Patient-Specific Computational Fluid Dynamic Model of Middle Cerebral Artery Aneurysm Before and One Year After Surgery
Shicheng He¹, Juhui Qiu¹, Wanling Liu¹, Tieying Yin¹, Dechuan Zhang^2,*, Donghua Liao^3,4, Haijun Zhang⁵, Yuxia Yin⁵, Guixue Wang^1,*
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.17, No.2, pp. 63-74, 2020, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2020.08750
Abstract Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been widely used for studying intracranial aneurysm hemodynamics, while its use for guiding clinical strategy is still in development. In this study, CFD simulations helped inform treatment decision for a middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysm case was investigated. A patient with a 10.4 × 9.8 mm aneurysm attached with a small aneurysm at the edge of the trifurcation in the left MCA was included in this study. For removing the MCA aneurysm, two scenarios were considered: Plan-A involved clipping the small aneurysm and Plan-B involved clipping the whole aneurysm. A suitable treatment plan was decided… More
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ARTICLE
New Concept to Non-Invasively Screen Iron Deficiency in Patients
Ali E. Dabiri^1,2,*, Erik Samwel³, Ghassan S. Kassab¹
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.17, No.2, pp. 75-83, 2020, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2020.08775
Abstract Nearly two billion people are afflicted with iron deficiency and approximately 300 million children globally have anemia. Most of those affected are unaware of their lack of iron, in part because detection of iron deficiency requires a blood test. It is becoming increasingly important to screen these individuals to reduce medical cost and avoid chronic disease conditions. There are limited settings of laboratory infrastructure for standard blood-based tests around the world to routinely accomplish this important screening test. We propose a new concept to use either human hair or nail as a screening method to detect steady state iron content… More
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ARTICLE
A C-GAN Denoising Algorithm in Projection Domain for Micro-CT
Lujie Chen¹, Liang Zheng¹, Maosen Lian¹, Shouhua Luo^1,*
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.17, No.2, pp. 85-92, 2020, DOI: 10.32604/mcb.2019.07386
Abstract Micro-CT provides a high-resolution 3D imaging of micro-architecture in a non-invasive way, which becomes a significant tool in biomedical research and preclinical applications. Due to the limited power of micro-focus X-ray tube, photon starving occurs and noise is inevitable for the projection images, resulting in the degradation of spatial resolution, contrast and image details. In this paper, we propose a C-GAN (Conditional Generative Adversarial Nets) denoising algorithm in projection domain for Micro-CT imaging. The noise statistic property is utilized directly and a novel variance loss is developed to suppress the blurry effects during denoising procedure. Conditional Generative Adversarial Networks (C-GAN)… More
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ARTICLE
New Applications for Cryotherapy
Rafi Mazor^1,*, Meital Mazor², Ali E. Dabiri^2,3, Bhavesh Patel², Ghassan S. Kassab²
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.17, No.2, pp. 93-99, 2020, DOI: 10.32604/mcb.2019.08267
Abstract Cryotherapy, or more commonly known as cold therapy, is the use of low temperatures in medical treatment. The most prominent use of cryotherapy is for cryosurgery where application of very low temperatures is used to ablate diseased tissue (e.g., most commonly in dermatology). Recent research, however, shows that low temperature may modulate collagen fibers beyond the already known effects of extreme cooling on joint pain relieve and inflammation. The goal of this brief review is to outline the known effects of extreme cooling on molecular, fiber and cell physiology and to leverage these properties in various potential medical applications. Specially,… More
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ARTICLE
Kinematic and Dynamic Characteristics of Pulsating Flow in 180^o Tube
Tin-Kan Hung^1,*, Ruei-Hung Kuo², Cheng-Hsien Chiang³
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.17, No.1, pp. 19-24, 2020, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2019.07817
Abstract Kinematic and dynamic characteristics of pulsating flow in a model of human aortic arch are obtained by a computational analysis. Three-dimensional flow processes are summarized by pressure distributions on the symmetric plane together with velocity and pressure contours on a few cross sections for systolic acceleration and deceleration. Without considering the effects of aortic tapering and the carotid arteries, the development of tubular boundary layer with centrifugal forces and pulsation are also analyzed for flow separation and backflow during systolic deceleration. More
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ABSTRACT
Finite Element Modelling Predicts Large Accommodation Induced Optic Nerve Head Deformations
Xiaofei Wang^1,2,*, Yubo Fan^1,2
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.16, Suppl.2, pp. 112-112, 2019, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2019.07053
Abstract Accommodation is the ability of the eye to adjust its lens thickness to alter the refractive power through the contraction of ciliary muscles. The loss of accommodation ability due to aging leads to presbyopia, a condition in which the eye is unable to focus on near objects. Glaucoma is a disease that vision is impaired due to damage of the retinal ganglion cell at the optic nerve head (ONH) region, which is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. The biomechanical theory of glaucoma suggests that the deformations of ONH tissues could (directly or indirectly) drive retinal ganglion cell death.… More
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Molecular Mechanoimmunology
Cheng Zhu^1,*
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.16, Suppl.2, pp. 11-11, 2019, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2019.08411
Abstract The immune response is orchestrated by a variety of immune cells. The function of each cell is determined by the collective signals from various immunoreceptors whose expression and activity depend on the developmental stages of the cell and its environmental context. Recent studies have highlighted the presence of mechanical forces on specific immunoreceptor–ligand bonds, which are transmitted across the cell membrane, potentially inducing mechanotransduction. As mechanobiology intersects with immunology, the interest to explore how immune cells sense, respond and adapt to their mechanical environment is rapidly growing. In this talk, I will review recent advances in the emerging field of… More
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ABSTRACT
Multifrequency Microwave Imaging for Brain Stroke Detection
Lulu Wang^1,*
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.16, Suppl.2, pp. 125-125, 2019, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2019.07101
Abstract Early diagnosis of stroke with timely treatment could reduce adult permanent disability significantly [1]. Conventional medical imaging tools such as X-ray, ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) have been widely used for diagnosis of brain disease. However, each of these methods has some limitations. X-ray imaging produces harmful radiation to the human body and challenging to identify early-stage abnormal tissue due to the relatively small dielectric proprieties contrast between the healthy tissue and abnormal tissue at X-ray frequencies [2]. PET provides useful information about soft tissues, but it is expensive and produces poor… More
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Engineering Zap70 Biosensor Through Directed Evolution for Applications in Single-Cell Imaging and Immunotherapy
Longwei Liu¹, Praopim Limsakul¹, Shaoying (Kathy) Lu¹, Peter Yingxiao Wang^1,*
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.16, Suppl.2, pp. 82-82, 2019, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2019.07360
Abstract Genetically-encoded biosensors based on Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET biosensors) have been widely used to dynamically track the activity of Protein Tyrosine Kinases (PTKs) in living cells because of their sensitive ratiometric fluorescence readout, high spatiotemporal resolution. However, the limitation in sensitivity, specificity, and dynamic range of these biosensors have hindered their broader applications, and there was a lack of efficient ways to optimize FRET biosensors. Here we established a rapid, systematic and universal approach for FRET biosensor optimization through directed evolution which involves generating genetic diversity and screening for protein variants with desired properties at the same time and… More
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ABSTRACT
Mechano-Electric Feedback and Arrhythmogenic Current Generation in A Computational Model of Coupled Myocytes
Viviane Timmermann¹, Kevin Vincent², Joakim Sundnes¹, Andrew D. McCulloch^2,*
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.16, Suppl.2, pp. 133-133, 2019, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2019.07311
Abstract Heterogeneous mechanical dyskinesis has been implicated in arrhythmogenic phenotypes. Strain-induced perturbations to cardiomyocyte electrophysiology (EP) may trigger arrhythmias via a variety of mechano-electric feedback (MEF) mechanisms. While the role of stretch-activated ionic currents (SACs) has been investigated intensively using computational models, experimental studies have shown that mechanical strain can also trigger intra- and inter-cellular calcium waves. To investigate whether the inherent strain dependence of myofilament calcium affinity may promote arrhythmogenic intra- and inter-cellular calcium waves under conditions of pathologic mechanical heterogeneity, we coupled a mathematical model of excitation-contraction coupling (ECC) in rabbit ventricular myocytes to a model of myofilament activation… More
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