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Venous leg ulcers remain a problem in the United States, costing the health care industry nearly $1 billion annually. A major portion of this spending is incurred as a result of prolonged healing time. Compression therapy is known to promote recovery. This technique may be improved by allowing for dynamic customization of treatment parameters. The design of a sensing system for an intelligent compression stocking is described in this thesis. This sensing system will eventually serve as a means by which to quantify the performance of the stocking through the continuous measurement of key physiological variables. Blood flow velocity will be measured using an acoustic array, and leg volume will be quantified using bio-impedance techniques. Preliminary experiments were conducted in order to verify the responsiveness and practicality of using these technologies to monitor ulcer healing. The Edema Monitoring System was capable of resolving small changes in leg volume resulting from artificially-induced swelling. Unfortunately, the Acoustic Blood Flow Measurement System did not perform acceptably in terms of accuracy and robustness. Future directions for this technology include finding a more acceptable means by which to measure blood flow velocity, improving the sensing system by incorporating additional optimization parameters, exploring the use of alternative actuation mechanisms, and expanding its use to encompass all medical-grade compression stockings.

Engineered nanomaterials have structural features with at least one dimension in the 1?100 nm range. Because of their small size, nanoparticles possess unique chemical, mechanical, electrical, optical, magnetic, and biological properties that make them ideal candidates for a variety of novel commercial and medical applications. Particularly, carbon-based nanomaterials such as fullerenes, nanotubes, and nanowires are considered key elements in the development of new nano-applications with the potential to be used in everything from biomedicine and drug delivery systems to nanoelectronics and energy conservation mechanisms. Relatively unknown, however, is how exposure to nanoscale particles effects normal biological functions and processes. A major focus of recent toxicological research has begun to investigate the interactions between the biological environment and engineered nanoparticles and to determine appropriate safety standards that should be considered when interacting with nanomaterials. The purpose of this research is to investigate how fullerene-based amino acids interact with the biological environment both at the tissue and cellular levels and to identify factors, such as mechanical stimulation, that increase these interactions.