Assessing the value of 3D printed personalised products

As end-users become more involved in personalising designs, Additive Manufacturing has become an enabler to deliver this service through the manipulation of three-dimensional designs using easy-to- use design toolkits. Consequently, end-users are able to fabricate their personalised designs through various types of AM systems. This study employs an experimental method to investigate end-users’ reflections on the value of 3D Printed personalised products based on Product Value and Experiential Value. The results suggest that end-users gave higher value to all measurements for the 3D Printed personalised products. This indicates that 3D Printed personalised products have increased perceived value when compared to standard mass-production counterparts

Artificial vascularised scaffolds for 3D-tissue regeneration – a perspective of the ArtiVasc 3D Project

This is an Open Access Article. It is published by WHIOCE Publishing under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/The aim of this paper is to raise awareness of the ArtiVasc 3D project and its findings. Vascularization is one of the most important and highly challenging issues in the development of soft tissue. It is necessary to supply cells with nutrition within a multilayer tissue, for example in artificial skin. Research on artificial skin is driven by an increasing demand for two main applications. Firstly, for the field of regenerative medicine, the aim is to provide patients with implants or grafts to replace damaged soft tissue after traumatic injuries or ablation surgery. Secondly, another aim is to substitute expensive and ethically disputed pharmaceutical tests on animals by providing artificial vascularized test beds to simulate the effect of pharmaceuticals into the blood through the skin. This paper provides a perspective on ArtiVasc 3D, a major European Commission funded project that explored the development of a full thickness, vascularized artifi-cial skin. The paper provides an overview of the aims and objectives of the project and describes the work packages and partners involved. The most significant results of the project are summarized and a discussion of the overall success and remaining work is given. We also provide the journal papers resulting from the project

The custom-made titanium orbital floor prosthesis in reconstruction for orbital floor fractures

The custom-made titanium orbital floor prosthesis in reconstruction for orbital floor fracture

A patient-centred evaluation of thermal resilience practices in temperature-sensitive people with multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is neurodegenerative disease characterised by temperature sensitivity, where changes in body temperature induce transient symptoms worsening. There is no pharmacological intervention for this condition and patients often develop their own thermal resilience practices. Yet, there is no formal evaluation of the variety and perceived effectiveness of those practices. The aim of the study was to survey the experience of temperature sensitivity and the individual strategies used to combat it, in MS.</div

The Genome of Mycobacterium Africanum West African 2 Reveals a Lineage-Specific Locus and Genome Erosion Common to the M. tuberculosis Complex

Mycobacterium africanum, a close relative of M. tuberculosis, is studied for the following reasons: M. africanum is commonly isolated from West African patients with tuberculosis yet has not spread beyond this region, it is more common in HIV infected patients, and it is less likely to lead to tuberculosis after one is exposed to an infectious case. Understanding this organism's unique biology gets a boost from the decoding of its genome, reported in this issue. For example, genome analysis reveals that M. africanum contains a region shared with “ancient” lineages in the M. tuberculosis complex and other mycobacterial species, which was lost independently from both M. tuberculosis and M. bovis. This region encodes a protein involved in transmembrane transport. Furthermore, M. africanum has lost genes, including a known virulence gene and genes for vitamin synthesis, in addition to an intact copy of a gene that may increase its susceptibility to antibiotics that are insufficiently active against M. tuberculosis. Finally, the genome sequence and analysis reported here will aid in the development of new diagnostics and vaccines against tuberculosis, which need to take into account the differences between M. africanum and other species in order to be effective worldwide

Mechanical and Morphological Effect of Plant Based Antimicrobial Solutions on Maxillofacial Silicone Elastomer

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of plant based antimicrobial solutions specifically tea tree and Manuka oil on facial silicone elastomers. The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effect of disinfection with plant extract solution on mechanical properties and morphology on the silicone elastomer. Test specimens were subjected to disinfection using tea tree oil, Manuka oil and the staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria. Furthermore, a procedure duration was used in the disinfection process to simulate up to one year of usage. Over 500 test specimens were fabricated for all tests performed namely hardness, elongation, tensile, tear strength tests, visual inspection and lastly surface characterization using SEM. A repeated measures ANOVA revealed that hardness and elongation at break varied significantly over the time period, whereas this was not observed in the tear and tensile strength parameters of the test samples

A patient-centred evaluation of phantom skin wetness as a sensory symptom in people with Multiple Sclerosis

Background: A noticeable but unknown proportion of people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) report the sudden experience of wetness on a dry skin site, i.e., phantom wetness. Yet, we lack patient-centred investigations on the prevalence and subjective experience of this uncomfortable symptom.Objectives: To assess the prevalence of phantom wetness in pwMS, its association with individual factors, and subjective experience.Methods757 pwMS completed an online survey assessing the frequency and subjective experience of phantom wetness. We calculated descriptive statistics and odd ratios and performed a thematic analysis to extract a patient-centred description of phantom wetness.Results220 participants reported experiencing phantom wetness (29%). Females and those affected by Relapsing Remitting (RR) MS were 2.17 [1.39, 3.34] (p&lt;0.001) and 1.73 [1.23, 2.40] (p = 0.001) times as likely to experience phantom wetness as males and those not affected by RR MS, respectively. The thematic analysis indicated phantom wetness is more often experienced as water trickling on the skin of the lower limb. Conclusion: Phantom wetness is a paraesthesia occurring in almost a third of the sample surveyed. Clinicians are encouraged to discuss with pwMS to validate their experience as a genuine symptom. Using the patient-generated language we report may help facilitate such conversations