Electrospun Drug-Loaded Textiles for Biomedical and Healthcare Applications

2016 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
pp. 64-72
Author(s):  
Irene Bonadies ◽  
Francesca Cimino ◽  
Veronica Ambrogi ◽  
Cosimo Carfagna

Electrospinning is a versatile technology for the production of polymer micro/nanoscale fibers. It provides the direct addition of bioactive payloads into micro/nanofibers thus improving the encapsulation efficiency and reducing the burst release via proper selection of drug-polymer-solvent system or electrospinning setup. In addition, since electrospun fibers have one dimension at the microscopic scale but another dimension at the macroscopic one, it is possible to combine the advantages possessed by functional materials on the nanometer scale. A large surface to volume ratio, with the properties of conventional solid membranes, such as ease of manipulation and applicability in any size and shape, making them suitable for biomedical or healthcare applications both topically (i.e. skin) and locally (i.e. tumor). This communication deals with electrospun fibrous systems containing active compounds extracts from plants such as Artemisinin and Propolis; these systems have been properly realized to preserve the pharmacological activity of drugs and evaluated as potential delivery systems for vector-born deseases and cancer, reducing the damage to non-target organism and environment.

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-52
Author(s):  
Bonnie White

In 1917 the British government began making plans for post-war adjustments to the economy, which included the migration of surplus women to the dominions. The Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women was established in 1920 to facilitate the migration of female workers to the dominions. Earlier studies have argued that overseas emigration efforts purposefully directed women into domestic service as surplus commodities, thus alleviating the female ‘surplus’ and easing economic hardships of the post-war period. This article argues that as Publicity Officer for the SOSBW, Meriel Talbot targeted women she believed would be ideal candidates for emigration, including former members of the Women's Land Army and affiliated groups. With the proper selection of female migrants, Talbot sought to expand work opportunities for women in the dominions beyond domestic service, while reducing the female surplus at home and servicing the connection between state and empire. Dominion authorities, whose demands for migrant labour vacillated between agricultural workers during the war years and domestic servants after 1920, disapproved of Talbot's efforts to migrate women for work in agriculture. Divergent policies led to the early failure of the SOSBW in 1923.


Author(s):  
D. Josephine Selvarani Ruth

AbstractNickel Titanium Naval Ordinance Laboratory (NiTiNOL) is widely called as a shape memory alloy (SMA), a class of nonlinear smart material inherited with the functionally programmed property of varying electrical resistance during the transformation enabling to be positioned as a sensing element. The major challenge to instrument the SMA wires is to suppress the wires’ nonlinearity by proper selection of two important factors. The first factor is influenced by the mechanical biasing element and the other is to identify the sensing current for the sensing device (SMA wires + biasing). This paper focuses on developing SMA wires for sensing in different orientation types and configurations by removing the non-linearity in the system’s output by introducing inverse hysteresis to the wires through the passive mechanical element.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 2073
Author(s):  
Rossella Dorati ◽  
Enrica Chiesa ◽  
Mariella Rosalia ◽  
Silvia Pisani ◽  
Ida Genta ◽  
...  

This work aimed at formulating tubular grafts electrospun with a size < 6 mm and incorporating vancomycin as an antimicrobial agent. Compared to other papers, the present study succeeded in using medical healthcare-grade polymers and solvents permitted by ICH Topic Q3C (R4). Vancomycin (VMC) was incorporated into polyester synthetic polymers (poly-L-lactide-co-poly-ε-caprolactone and poly lactide-co-glycolide) using permitted solvents; moreover, a surfactant was added to the formulation in order to avoid the precipitation of VMC on fiber surface. A preliminary preformulation study was carried out to evaluate solubility of VMC in different aqueous and organic solvents and its stability. To reduce size of fibers and their orientation, we studied a solvent system based on methylene chloride and acetone (DCM/acetone), at different ratios (80:20, 70:30, and 60:40). Considering conductivity of solutions and their spinnability, solvent system at a 80:20 ratio was selected for the study. SEM images demonstrated that size of fibers, their distribution, and their orientation were affected by the incorporation of VMC and surfactant into polymer solution. Surfactant allowed for the reduction of precipitates of VMC on fiber surface, which are responsible of the high burst release in the first six hours; the release was mainly dependent on graft structure porosity, number of pores, and graft absorbent capability. A controlled release of VMC was achieved, covering a period from 96 to 168 h as a function of composition and structure; the concentration of VMC was significantly beyond VMC minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC, 2 ug/mL). These results indicated that the VMC tubular electrospun grafts not only controlled the local release of VMC, but also avoided onset of antibiotic resistance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 462-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsung-Ting Kuo ◽  
Hugo Zavaleta Rojas ◽  
Lucila Ohno-Machado

Abstract Objectives To introduce healthcare or biomedical blockchain applications and their underlying blockchain platforms, compare popular blockchain platforms using a systematic review method, and provide a reference for selection of a suitable blockchain platform given requirements and technical features that are common in healthcare and biomedical research applications. Target audience Healthcare or clinical informatics researchers and software engineers who would like to learn about the important technical features of different blockchain platforms to design and implement blockchain-based health informatics applications. Scope Covered topics include (1) a brief introduction to healthcare or biomedical blockchain applications and the benefits to adopt blockchain; (2) a description of key features of underlying blockchain platforms in healthcare applications; (3) development of a method for systematic review of technology, based on the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement, to investigate blockchain platforms for healthcare and medicine applications; (4) a review of 21 healthcare-related technical features of 10 popular blockchain platforms; and (5) a discussion of findings and limitations of the review.


1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kunsoo Huh ◽  
Jeffrey L. Stein

Because the behavior of the condition number can have highly steep and multi-modal structure, optimal control and monitoring problems based on the condition number cannot be easily solved. In this paper, a minimization problem is formulated for κ2(P), the condition number of an eigensystem (P) of a matrix in terms of the L2 norm. A new non-normality measure is shown to exist that guarantees small values for the condition number. In addition, this measure can be minimized by proper selection of controller and observer gains. Application to the design of well-conditioned controller and observer-based monitors is illustrated.


2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 353-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Dybowski ◽  
J. Szymszal ◽  
Ł. Poloczek ◽  
A. Kiełbus

Due to low density and good mechanical properties, aluminium alloys are widely applied in transportation industry. Moreover, they are characterized by the specific physical properties, such as high electrical conductivity. This led to application of the hypoeutectic Al-Si-Mg alloys in the power generation industry. Proper selection of the alloys chemical composition is an important stage in achievement of the demanded properties. The following paper presents results of the research on the influence of alloys chemical composition on their properties. It has been revealed that Si and Ti addition decreases electrical conductivity of the Al-Si-Mg alloys, while Na addition increases it. The mechanical properties of the investigated alloys are decreased by both silicon and iron presence. Sodium addition increases ductility of the Al-Si-Mg alloys.


2008 ◽  
Vol 600-603 ◽  
pp. 1199-1202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip G. Neudeck ◽  
David J. Spry ◽  
Andrew J. Trunek ◽  
Laura J. Evans ◽  
Liang Yu Chen ◽  
...  

This paper reports on initial results from the first device tested of a “second generation” Pt-SiC Schottky diode hydrogen gas sensor that: 1) resides on the top of atomically flat 4H-SiC webbed cantilevers, 2) has integrated heater resistor, and 3) is bonded and packaged. With proper selection of heater resistor and sensor diode biases, rapid detection of H2 down to concentrations of 20 ppm was achieved. A stable sensor current gain of 125 ± 11 standard deviation was demonstrated during 250 hours of cyclic test exposures to 0.5% H2 and N2/air.


1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Gaggioli ◽  
David H. Richardson ◽  
Anthony J. Bowman ◽  
David M. Paulus

Abstract The concept of available energy, as defined by Gibbs (1873b) is revisited. He gave representations of available energy for two circumstances. The first was the available energy of a “body,” for the case when a body, alone, is in a nonequilibrium condition and therefore has energy available. In turn, he presented the available energy of “the body and medium,” for the energy which is available because a body is not in equilibrium with some arbitrarily specified medium. Gibbs’ representations were graphical. Since Gibbs, representations with formulas have been developed and are common, for the “available energy of body and medium.” Gaggioli (1998a, b) has developed formulas which are more general, to represent “the available energy of the body (alone)” and to assign an exergy to subsystems of the body as a measure of each sub-system’s contribution to the available energy. In contrast to the available energy, exergy is an additive property, so that balance equations can be written. And the formulas are independent from any “medium,” which is important both theoretically and practically — because of its relevance to proper selection of “the dead state.” These issues are discussed and extended, after reviewing Gibbs development of available energy and additional concepts which he introduced, such as “available vacuum” and “capacity for entropy.” It is argued that these “availabililty” and “capacity” concepts are all equivalent to one another. In turn, because of interconvertability, it is seen that available energy is something more fundamental than “maximum useful work.” Furthermore, it is illustrated that available energy, equilibrium and stability, and thermostatic property relations are relative, to “constraints.”


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-40
Author(s):  
Ghulam Mostafa Khan

Proper selection of donor’s blood group is essential to prevent transfusion hazards. It is known that ABO antigen is fully developed at birth but the newborn baby does not produce ABO antibodies until 3 to 6 months of age. The ABO antibodies present in the serum of newborn babies are derived from mother’s blood due to placental transfer. So the blood group of the newborn baby is done by ABO antigen grouping (forward grouping) only, antibody grouping (reverse grouping) is not required. In case of transfusion of blood in newborn under 4 months of age, cross-matching of donor’s blood is done with the mother’s blood if it is available. We know, recipient’s same group of blood is always preferable in case of transfusion in adults or older children. But selection of blood for transfusion in the infants under 4 months of age depends on the mother’s blood group as well. If the mother’s blood group differs from the infant’s blood group, the infant’s same group of blood may not be selected for transfusion. For example, if the mother’s blood group is “O” and the newborn blood group is “A” or “B”, infant’s same group “A” or “B” group blood could not be transfused, because the anti-A & anti-B antibodies can be derived in the infant’s serum from mother’s blood which may react with the “A” or “B” antigen of the donor’s blood. In this case “O” group packed RBCs should be selected for transfusion. “O” group whole blood may contain IgG anti-A and anti-B antibodies in the plasma which can react with the “A” or “B” antigen of the infant’s blood. So to avoid anti-A & anti-B antibodies in “O” group, plasma should be discarded and the packed RBCs should be transfused. In case of Rh-negative mother with Rh positive baby, Rh antibody may develop in mother’s blood and Rh antibody may enter into baby’s circulation, in this case the infant should be transfused with Rh-negative blood to avoid Rh antigen & antibody reaction. So for the selection of blood for transfusion in newborn baby up to the age of 4 months mother’s blood group is important to select the appropriate blood. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jemc.v1i1.11138J Enam Med Col 2011; 1(1): 36-40


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document