New Trends in 3D Printing

A quarter century period of the 3D printing technology development affords ground for speaking about new realities or the formation of a new technological system of digital manufacture and partnership. The up-to-date 3D printing is at the top of its own overrated expectations. So the development of scalable, high-speed methods of the material 3D printing aimed to increase the productivity and operating volume of the 3D printing machines requires new original decisions. It is necessary to study the 3D printing applicability for manufacturing of the materials with multilevel hierarchical functionality on nano-, micro- and meso-scales that can find applications for medical, aerospace and/or automotive industries. Some of the above-mentioned problems and new trends are considered in this book

The effect of various protein ingredients utilized as a lean meat replacement in a model emulsion system and frankfurters

The effects of various protein ingredients (whey protein concentrate, beef gelling plasma, pork skin collagen, chicken skin collagen, and turkey skin collagen) utilized as a lean meat replacement in a model emulsion system and frankfurters were measured. The treatments consisted of a 1:3 ratio (1 percent protein ingredient and 3 percent water) and a 2:6 ratio (2 percent protein ingredient and 6 percent water) hydration ratio of the treatment ingredient to replace 4 or 8 percent of the lean in the formulation, respectively. The parameters measured included yield, thermal emulsion stability, color (CIE L*, a*, b*), pH, proximate composition (moisture, fat, protein) texture and sensory attributes. The smokehouse yield, raw and cooked pH, moisture, protein, L*, and a* of the 1 percent frankfurter treatments were equivalent to the control (P \u3c 0.05). Various specific sensory attributes were revealed to be non-equivalent to the control by the replacement of the lean meat with collagen and water. None of the 1 percent poultry collagen treatments had significantly different (P \u3c 0.05) water separation, fat separation, moisture, fat, protein, L*, a*, purge, peak force, and internal force values when compared to the control. All texture profile analysis parameters measured (cohesiveness, chewiness, springiness, hardness) from the poultry collagen (1 and 2 percent) were not statistically significant. No differences in consumer acceptance were observed when the 1 percent poultry collagen treatments were compared to the control. Minimal correlations could be derived between the model emulsion system and the frankfurter system. Significant (P \u3c 0.05) correlations between puncture attributes, texture attributes, and sensory attributes were observed. The results indicated that various protein ingredients can be used in frankfurters to replace a portion of the lean while maintaining processing, proximate composition, internal color, and various texture characteristics. The hydration of 1 percent protein ingredient at a 1:3 ratio can be a cost-effective functional ingredient to replace 4 percent of the lean material utilized in processed meat formulations

Segmentation and Deformable Modelling Techniques for a Virtual Reality Surgical Simulator in Hepatic Oncology

Liver surgical resection is one of the most frequently used curative therapies. However, resectability is problematic. There is a need for a computer-assisted surgical planning and simulation system which can accurately and efficiently simulate the liver, vessels and tumours in actual patients. The present project describes the development of these core segmentation and deformable modelling techniques. For precise detection of irregularly shaped areas with indistinct boundaries, the segmentation incorporated active contours - gradient vector flow (GVF) snakes and level sets. To improve efficiency, a chessboard distance transform was used to replace part of the GVF effort. To automatically initialize the liver volume detection process, a rotating template was introduced to locate the starting slice. For shape maintenance during the segmentation process, a simplified object shape learning step was introduced to avoid occasional significant errors. Skeletonization with fuzzy connectedness was used for vessel segmentation. To achieve real-time interactivity, the deformation regime of this system was based on a single-organ mass-spring system (MSS), which introduced an on-the-fly local mesh refinement to raise the deformation accuracy and the mesh control quality. This method was now extended to a multiple soft-tissue constraint system, by supplementing it with an adaptive constraint mesh generation. A mesh quality measure was tailored based on a wide comparison of classic measures. Adjustable feature and parameter settings were thus provided, to make tissues of interest distinct from adjacent structures, keeping the mesh suitable for on-line topological transformation and deformation. More than 20 actual patient CT and 2 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) liver datasets were tested to evaluate the performance of the segmentation method. Instrument manipulations of probing, grasping, and simple cutting were successfully simulated on deformable constraint liver tissue models. This project was implemented in conjunction with the Division of Surgery, Hammersmith Hospital, London; the preliminary reality effect was judged satisfactory by the consultant hepatic surgeon

Advanced Materials for Oral Application

This book consists of one editorial, 12 original research articles and two review papers from scientists across the world, with expertise in materials for dental application. The main subjects covered are: biomaterials and techniques for oral tissue engineering and regeneration; biomaterials for surgical reconstruction; CAD/CAM technologies and dedicated materials; novel restorative and endodontic materials and instruments

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 385)

This bibliography lists 536 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System Database. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance

Innovative strategies for the development of biopolymer-based materials with suitable properties for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications

Nell'ambito dei biomateriali, i biomateriali polimerici hanno destato particolare interesse per il loro potenziale di applicazione in diversi ambiti biomedici e farmaceutici. Tra questi, i film polimeri sottili e gli idrogel si sono venuti a contraddistinguere come ottimi candidati ai fini della realizzazione di sistemi atti alla veicolazione di agenti terapeutici, medicazioni innovative volte a favorire il processo di guarigione delle ferite, nonché supporti in grado di promuovere la crescita e proliferazione cellulare. Nonostante ciò, tali materiali biopolimerici sono ancora affetti da importanti limitazioni che vanno ad ostacolare fortemente il loro effettivo utilizzo. Sulla base di ciò, il presente lavoro di ricerca si è prefissato lo scopo di investigare alcune delle problematiche principali che possono essere riscontrate durante lo sviluppo di tali matrici polimeriche, al fine di proporre delle strategie alternative valide impiegabili per il superamento di questi ostacoli e volte ad implementare l'applicabilità dei film sottili e degli idrogel negli ambiti biomedici e farmaceutici considerati

The development of an anti-scarring burn dressing

Introduction: Scarring has a significant impact on the function and quality of life in burn patients. This thesis describes selected stages of the development of an anti-scarring burn dressing and an objective scar assessment panel. Methods: This thesis is divided into two sections. Section 1 covers the development of an objective scar measurement tool based panel and score via a systematic review and subsequent reliability testing and validation of selected devices. Section 2 covers different aspects of dressing formulation. The cytotoxicity effects of decorin were investigated in dermal fibroblast cultures to provide guidance to safe and effective decorin dosing. Manufacturing, sterilisation and clinical use exposes decorin to elevated temperatures and the effects of this on the structure of decorin and bio-activity of decorin is investigated with circular dichroism and in-vitro cell cultures respectively. Lastly, a skin contact study in healthy volunteers was performed to establish the safety of two gellan formulations (sheet and fluid gel). Results: Objective scar measurement tools were found to be more reliable than subjective scar scores and an objective scar score was created consisting of high frequency ultrasound and pliability measures. Decorin had no measurable cytotoxicity on dermal fibroblasts even at high concentrations. Conformational change in decorin structure was seen at relatively low temperatures however results suggest that heating may enhance its bio-activity. Both gellan formulations were found to be safe for use on intact skin. Conclusion: The new objective scar scale can be used to accurately measure the effects of antiscarring treatments. Decorin and gellan are safe to be used in patients but the dressings may need to be protected against high temperatures

Ex-vivo and In-vivo Characterization of Human Accommodation

A completely satisfying approach to restoring accommodation still needs to be developed. Besides, there are considerable discrepancies between objective and subjective trials to evaluate the therapeutic success. A substantial biomechanical understanding of all structures and processes involved in accommodation as well as presbyopia are needed to develop promising new strategies. This contribution focuses on developing advanced imaging techniques to create a basic understanding of accommodation and presbyopia and to evaluate existing concepts for restoring accommodation. Besides, the emphasis is also on replacing stiff presbyopic lenses by a material that imitates the young crystalline lens