A Review of Methods to Modify the PDMS Surface Wettability and Their Applications.

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has attracted great attention in various fields due to its excellent properties, but its inherent hydrophobicity presents challenges in many applications that require controlled wettability. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of some key strategies for modifying the wettability of PDMS surfaces by providing the main traditional methods for this modification and the results of altering the contact angle and other characteristics associated with this property. Four main technologies are discussed, namely, oxygen plasma treatment, surfactant addition, UV-ozone treatment, and the incorporation of nanomaterials, as these traditional methods are commonly selected due to the greater availability of information, their lower complexity compared to the new techniques, and the lower cost associated with them.

Editorial for the Special Issue on Micro/Nanofluidic and Lab-on-a-Chip Devices for Biomedical Applications.

Micro/Nanofluidic and lab-on-a-chip devices have been increasingly used in biomedical research [...

Manual and Automatic Image Analysis Segmentation Methods for Blood Flow Studies in Microchannels.

In blood flow studies, image analysis plays an extremely important role to examine raw data obtained by high-speed video microscopy systems. This work shows different ways to process the images which contain various blood phenomena happening in microfluidic devices and in microcirculation. For this purpose, the current methods used for tracking red blood cells (RBCs) flowing through a glass capillary and techniques to measure the cell-free layer thickness in different kinds of microchannels will be presented.

Use and knowledge of Cactaceae in Northeastern Brazil.

Background: This study aimed to record the use, and knowledge that residents from São Francisco community (Paraiba, Brazil) have regarding the Cactaceae.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 118 informants; 50 men and 68 women. The cacti cited in this study were organised into use categories and use values were calculated.