[Use of polypropylene single thread as the suture material].

The authors studied the results of using polypropylene monothread as suture material in 254 patients who underwent planned and emergency operations for various diseases. It was found that polypropylene monothread used for suturing the skin, deeper located tissues, granulating wounds is sufficiently elastic, acapillary, strong, and biologically inert owing to which there is no need to remove it until complete healing of the wound even in considerable exposition. The monothread causes a less traumatizing effect than does a thread of natural silk when drawn through the tissues.

[Papain immobilization on a fibrous polymer of polyvinyl alcohol].

The paper discusses papain immobilization on modified polyvinyl alcohol fibers by the ion fixation technique. The effect of the chemical structure of polyvinyl alcohol fibers on the basic properties of the bound enzyme has been examined. The level of activity and tolerance to pH changes of the resultant immobilized enzymes have been shown to depend on the papain arrangement in the polymer molecule.