Bone cells are smart. When they break, they can be reluctant to attach themselves to the various foreign materials used by doctors to bridge a gap - which can make repairs, especially of major fractures, extremely difficult.
Screws, pins and plates have long been a solution for bone repair, offering sturdy support. But none of these materials is naturally found in the body, making immune reactions a problem. So, too, is their permanence - a pin in your bone isn't going anywhere unless you take it out. On top of that, pins tend to be solid, which causes problems for circulation of blood and other materials, and for regrowth.
So the challenge in recent years has been to use more natural materials such as stem cells or bone grafts.
These have their own problems, though.
Not only can they too trigger adverse immune reactions unless introduced carefully, it is hard to make them strong enough to support a patient's weight.
Now a UAE-based scientist believes he has found a better material for tricking the cells into growing new bone around it: nanocrystalline cellulose, a hybrid substance that mimics the structure and chemistry of bone.
Its strength and sponge-like structure provide the right environment for cells to grow new sections where there is major damage or where the bone is completely lost - and that could eliminate the need for bone grafting or stem cells for complex surgeries such as spine fusion, hip reconstruction, dental implants or to repair localised bone loss caused by cancer.
It would also reduce the risks associated with bone donations, such as disease transmission or inability to fuse the bones correctly.
Dr Raed Hashaikeh, an assistant professor in materials science and engineering at the Masdar Institute, is developing a sturdy, compostable plastic that mimics bones' chemical composition and is porous enough to allow blood to circulate and provide nutrients to bone cells so that they can regenerate tissue.
It is a strong candidate for use in bone-like scaffolding currently being developed by Dr Hala Zreiqat from the University of Sydney's biomedical engineering department. Researchers there have been using a similar, ceramic-based material, but they believe Dr Hashaikeh's could be even stronger and might dissolve faster.
It will, Dr Hashaikeh believes, be hundreds of times stronger than those currently available. A major component in developing the material involves tiny crystalline particles extracted from long chains of cellulose, which gives wood its remarkable strength.
A common extraction process requires the cellulose to be fed into heated screws, where it is mixed and melded with polymer and fillers. But Dr Hashaikeh is developing a new system that simultaneously combines extraction and mixing, which he says will improve the molecules' bonding, strength and elasticity.
The result is a nanocrystalline cellulose that contains calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, strontium, zinc and other ions, mimicking the composition of bone.
At Dr Zreiqat's lab, where the scaffolds are prepared, the chemicals are mixed in a lab into a milky paste, which is poured over a foam mould cut to the shape needed. The foam is then melted away in a 1,200C furnace, leaving a hollow structure that can be fitted onto the bone.
Once set in place in the patient, the material hosts new bone cells, which have access to nutrients carried in blood flowing freely through the porous material.
"This is a three-dimensional structure that not only acts as a support structure to mechanically hold loads of weight applied, but it is able to mimic native bone well enough that new bone and cells will actually grow on it," said Dr Zreiquat. "This is something that no one in the world has done before."
The new bone begins to grow within a month. After three months, the scaffolding will be almost entirely dissolved, leaving new bone in its place.
There is also evidence that blood vessels could form around the material as well.
"With very large defects, the bone will not heal on its own, but we found that these materials are highly effective and bone regenerates very quickly," she said, adding that the results are "not evident in anything commercially available at the moment."
So far, the substance has been tested on large bone defects in animals. The researchers expect to be able to begin clinical trials in two or three years.
Dr Hashaikeh's material is also intended for other applications. Because the compostable plastic is incredibly light, it lends itself well to environmentally friendly packaging.
By mixing tiny fibres of polylactic acid - derived from corn - with cellulose and exposing it to high voltages, the solvent evaporates, leaving a thin, biodegradable plastic film.
If used for packaging products, the material could break down in landfills in an enzymatic process that would take two to 10 years. In a controlled composting environment, microbes would digest the material into fertiliser.
"We believe that for much of the world's packaging, we can replace non-biodegradable with degradable," he said. "This could be the key to waste management and environmental problems."
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Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
The specs: 2019 GMC Yukon Denali
Price, base: Dh306,500
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
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Power: 420hp @ 5,600rpm
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Fuel economy, combined: 12.9L / 100km
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
The specs
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Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
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Indoor Cricket World Cup
Venue Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE squad Saqib Nazir (captain), Aaqib Malik, Fahad Al Hashmi, Isuru Umesh, Nadir Hussain, Sachin Talwar, Nashwan Nasir, Prashath Kumara, Ramveer Rai, Sameer Nayyak, Umar Shah, Vikrant Shetty
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
The five pillars of Islam
On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
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The years Ramadan fell in May