Background: Traditionally, the manufacture of prostheses is time-consuming and labor-intensive. One possible route to improving access and quality of these devices is the digitalizing of the fabrication process, which may reduce the burden of manual labor and bring the potential for automation that could help unblock access to assistive technologies globally.
Objectives: To identify where there are gaps in the literature that are creating barriers to decision-making on either appropriate uptake by clinical teams or on the needed next steps in research that mean these technologies can continue on a pathway to maturity.
Background: Walking aids such as walking frames offer support during walking, yet paradoxically, people who self-report using them remain more likely to fall than people who do not. Lifting of walking frames when crossing door thresholds or when turning has shown to reduce stability, and certain design features drive the need to lift (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCont Lens Anterior Eye
January 2006
A series of in vitro assays for determining the biocompatibility of ocular biomaterials have been developed and used to assess the differences in performance of omafilcon A, etafilcon A and nelfilcon A contact lens materials. The assays assessed bacterial attachment, macrophage adhesion, granulocyte adhesion and activation, epithelial cell adhesion and corneal cell contact damage. Overall, omafilcon A was found to be more biocompatible than the other materials although there was no significant difference between the epithelial cell adhesion and granulocyte adhesion and activation on any of the hydrogels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe adsorption of alpha-1-microglobulin (alpha-1-m) from serum to the surface of polymers with different physicochemical properties was investigated. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed binding of this protein to the surface of polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and a polyurethane, Chronoflex, after water washing, but only trace levels could be detected on two polymethacrylate derivatives, polymethyl methacrylate and poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate). alpha-1-m was selectively desorbed from the five materials by sequential washes of serum-conditioned surfaces with isopropanol solutions at increasing concentrations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Appl Biomater Biomech
October 2012
The interaction of a glycol-containing polyurethane, Hydrothane(R), was assessed with respect to protein adsorption and cell and bacterial adhesion. The results obtained were compared with those from a second polyurethane, Chronoflex(R). Dynamic contact angle (DCA) and protein adsorption studies indicated that the overall hydrophilic nature of Hydrothane in physiological environment was affected by the possible presence of hydrophobic domains still exposed at the surface after wetting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Biomed Mater Res
October 2000
The potential use of novel poly(sulfobetaine) copolymers as antibioadherent coatings was investigated using Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a model microorganism and human macrophages and 3T3 mouse embryonic fibroblasts. Two well-defined statistical copolymers with narrow molecular weight distributions were prepared by group transfer copolymerization of n-butyl methacrylate (nBuMA) with either 10 or 30 mol % 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA). Sulfobetainized nBuMA-DMAEMA copolymers (poly[sulfobetaine-stat-nBuMA]) were obtained by treating these precursor polymers with 1,3-propanesultone under mild conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Biomed Mater Res
June 1998
Urine proteins in the molecular weight range of 9-137 kDa deposit to an equal extent from pooled human urine onto glass (12.7 +/- 1.9 micrograms/cm) and polystyrene (11.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Biomed Mater Res
September 1997
Bacterial adhesion to silver-coated orthopedic external fixation pins was compared with stainless steel controls in an in vitro study. Using five bacterial isolates from wound infections, the silver coating was found to reduce adhesion for Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and two strains of Staphylococcus aureus while the converse applied for Staphylococcus haemolyticus. When placed in human serum, both surfaces were conditioned to a similar extent with serum proteins; this conditioning lead to further reductions in bacterial adhesion, ultimately approaching similar levels for both stainless steel and silver-coated samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA recent study in our laboratory has identified the potential role of urine-derived alpha-1-microglobulin (alpha-1-m) in mediating Pseudomonas aeruginosa adhesion to polystyrene, while other workers have suggested a possible role of the protein in the immunological response. Due to the ubiquitous presence of alpha-1-m in body fluids, the adsorption of the protein from serum, cerebrospinal fluid, urine and used continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis fluid onto polystyrene was investigated. The treated surfaces were sequentially immersed in water and increasingly concentrated isopropanol-water solutions in order to selectively desorb bound proteins on the basis of their binding strength.
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