Jishizhan Chen

Abstract Biomaterial bone scaffolds offer a promising alternative to traditional treatments. Bioactive glass has shown promise however its clinical application is limited by its poor mechanical properties. Flexible hybrids are a potential solution. Herein, previous studies incorporated calcium into a silica/poly(tetrahydrofuran)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (SiO₂/PTHF/PCL-diCOOH) sol-gel hybrid to enhance its mechanical performance.

Abstract Lower back pain is linked to vertebral biomechanics, with vertebral endplates (VEPs) playing a key role in vertebral load transfer and distribution. Synchrotron computed tomography (sCT) allows for detailed visualisation of the microstructure of intact VEPs under near-physiological loads and, when coupled with digital volume correlation (DVC), can be used to quantify three-dimensional (3D) strain fields with nanoscale resolution.

1 Introduction From the first day of life, organisms engage with their surrounding environment and develop hierarchical structures.