Facial palsy, or weakness of the facial muscles, arises from injury to the facial nerve and can lead to debilitating morbidity by affecting facial expression, speech, and daily activities. Playing a wind instrument, such as the saxophone, requires formation of an airtight seal with the instrument's mouthpiece through a coordinated effort of facial muscles known as embouchure. Consequently, facial palsy can impair a musician's ability to play a wind instrument. To address this functional disability, we present a novel three dimensional (3D) printed embouchure-assistive device designed for application in saxophone players with facial palsy. Quantitative and qualitative metrics were recorded, demonstrating improved duration of note sustain, increased mean air pressure within the mouthpiece during play, and subjectively improved patient comfort and overall tone quality with use of the device. We also include design iterations of the prototype device as they may serve as a template for broader applications in musicians with facial palsy.

Integration of inorganic fillers with polymer matrices opens up exciting possibilities for creating high-performance functional materials. Metal/metal oxides/silsesquioxanes as nanofillers are gaining attention for enhancing polymer matrices. Understanding the dispersion and interaction of these nanofillers is crucial for modifying properties in technological applications. Homogeneously dispersed fillers boost physiochemical and biological properties, like mechanical strength and biocompatibility. These functional materials are employed in tissue engineering and other healthcare applications, maintaining their characteristics even in challenging conditions. In the biomedical field, these fillers show promise in developing stimuli-responsive systems, drug delivery, gene vectors, and biological imaging.

In the last few years, a renewed interest has been devoted to the origin of life. Nucleic acids have a central role in biogenesis and prebiotic synthesis of ribose, purines and pyrimidines has been described. Particularly attractive is the idea that life on Earth was first founded on simple and autocatalytic RNA molecules (RNA world). RNA duplexes are formed by helical and antiparallel chains, but the rationale for these features is not yet known. An inverted (antiparallel) stacking of purine rings from guanosine and other nucleosides has been found in crystallographic studies. Molecular modeling also supports an inverted conformation, and this preferential stacking occurs when they are aggregated within a clay (montmorillonite) matrix, which is confirmed by spectral studies. Thus, crystallography, spectroscopy and molecular modeling allow proposing a "zipper" model in which antiparallel nucleosides stack within the clay matrix, and then high-energy polyphosphates form auto-intercalated single RNA chains. Unstacking and strand separation result in the shortening and inclination of the ribose-phosphate chains, leading to helicity, antiparallelism and base pairing by H-bonding, with formation of typical RNA structures such as hairpins, cloverleaves, hammerheads, dumbbells, circular viroids and virusoids. A "tetris" model for the prebiotic self-replication mechanism of these simple RNA duplexes, involving the formation of an RNA tetraplex, is also proposed.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a complex disorder characterized by a set of interrelated metabolic abnormalities, such as central obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance. It constitutes a major public health problem worldwide due to its association with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and other chronic diseases. Biomedical engineering (BME), through its interdisciplinary nature, has contributed significantly to the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of MetS. The aim of this review article is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of research and advances in BME approaches to the study and management of MetS. The article will delve into diverse approaches, including computational and omics models, that have been used to improve our understanding of MetS. In addition, it will provide an overview of specialized devices that have been designed for the non-invasive assessment of individuals with MetS.