Fungal Chitin Nanofibrils Improve Mechanical Performance and UV-Light Resistance in Carboxymethylcellulose and Polyvinylpyrrolidone Films.

Materials from renewable carbon feedstock can limit our dependence on fossil carbon and facilitate the transition from linear carbon-intensive economies to sustainable, circular economies. Chitin nanofibrils (ChNFs) isolated from white mushrooms offer remarkable environmental benefits over conventional crustacean-derived nanochitin. Herein, ChNFs are utilized to reinforce polymers of natural and fossil origin, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), respectively.

Implementation of an In-House 3D Manufacturing Unit in a Public Hospital's Radiology Department.

Objective: Three-dimensional printing has become a leading manufacturing technique in healthcare in recent years. Doubts in published studies regarding the methodological rigor and cost-effectiveness and stricter regulations have stopped the transfer of this technology in many healthcare organizations. The aim of this study was the evaluation and implementation of a 3D printing technology service in a radiology department.

Magnetic Bioreactor for Magneto-, Mechano- and Electroactive Tissue Engineering Strategies.

Biomimetic bioreactor systems are increasingly being developed for tissue engineering applications, due to their ability to recreate the native cell/tissue microenvironment. Regarding bone-related diseases and considering the piezoelectric nature of bone, piezoelectric scaffolds electromechanically stimulated by a bioreactor, providing the stimuli to the cells, allows a biomimetic approach and thus, mimicking the required microenvironment for effective growth and differentiation of bone cells. In this work, a bioreactor has been designed and built allowing to magnetically stimulate magnetoelectric scaffolds and therefore provide mechanical and electrical stimuli to the cells through magnetomechanical or magnetoelectrical effects, depending on the piezoelectric nature of the scaffold.

Accuracy Evaluation of Dense Matching Techniques for Casting Part Dimensional Verification.

Product optimization for casting and post-casting manufacturing processes is becoming compulsory to compete in the current global manufacturing scenario. Casting design, simulation and verification tools are becoming crucial for eliminating oversized dimensions without affecting the casting component functionality. Thus, material and production costs decrease to maintain the foundry process profitable on the large-scale component supplier market.

Obtaining reliable intraoral digital scans for an implant-supported complete-arch prosthesis: A dental technique.

This article describes a technique for obtaining an accurate complete-arch digital scan for an edentulous patient. To achieve this, an auxiliary polymeric device that simulates a denture is designed, fabricated, and placed in the mouth. This device, having the geometry of a typical dental arch, facilitates the digitalization of the edentulous complete arch.

Evaluation of the Accuracy of a System to Align Occlusal Dynamic Data on 3D Digital Casts.

In recent years the T-Scan system has introduced the possibility of importing digitization of dental arches to its registrations. This is a remarkable advance, which allows an intuitive display of the location of the gathered dynamic data on the denture. Nevertheless, today's usual method of manually positioning the arch in relation to the T-Scan's force registration gives rise to the possibility of human error.

Virtual facebow technique.

This article describes a virtual technique for transferring the location of a digitized cast from the patient to a virtual articulator (virtual facebow transfer). Using a virtual procedure, the maxillary digital cast is transferred to a virtual articulator by means of reverse engineering devices. The following devices necessary to carry out this protocol are available in many contemporary practices: an intraoral scanner, a digital camera, and specific software.

Comparison of the accuracy of a 3-dimensional virtual method and the conventional method for transferring the maxillary cast to a virtual articulator.

Statement Of Problem: The currently available virtual articulators fail to locate the digitized maxillary cast at the exact position in the virtual environment. Some locate the casts on a mechanical articulator with a facebow, and this position is then digitized for the virtual environment.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the location of the maxillary cast on an articulator by using 2 different procedures: the conventional method and a virtual method.

Improved digital transfer of the maxillary cast to a virtual articulator.

The clinical procedure described provides a quantifiable, repeatable, and reliable method of transferring the location of the maxillary dental arch from the patient directly to a virtual articulator (virtual facebow transfer) by means of reverse engineering devices to design a customized dental restoration. This procedure allows the dentist and the dental laboratory technician to work in a fully digital environment without having to mount stone casts on a mechanical articulator. In addition, specific suggestions are provided for designing the transfer device to enhance patient comfort during the data transfer process and reduce deviation.

Improving the digital workflow: direct transfer from patient to virtual articulator.

When designing a custom-made dental restoration, using a digital workflow represents an important advance over mechanical tools such as facebows or mechanical articulators. When using virtual scanning procedures, there is a direct transfer from the patient to the articulator. This paper presents a novel methodology to design custom-made restorations.

Direct transfer of the position of digitized casts to a virtual articulator.

This article describes a digital technique to transfer the location of digitized casts obtained directly from the patient to a virtual articulator (digital/virtual facebow transfer). The primary advantage of this technique is that it allows the dentist and the dental laboratory technician to work in a fully digital environment without having to mount stone casts on a physical articulator. This results in a significant time reduction and a higher degree of accuracy in the cast location.