PIII treatment improves biocompatability

Global medical investigations have shown that cardio-vascular diseases cause 29% of all deaths that is 17 million people annually. Cardio-vascular diseases cause more deaths than car, crash, cancer, tuberculosis and AIDS combined. In Australia 40% of total deaths are from cardio-vascular diseases, and the annual budget for cardio-vascular treatment is about $8.8 billion. Internationally about 80% of lethal cardio-vascular diseases occur in developing countries with low income. In most cases of cardio-vascular disease a life can be saved by an operation that replaces organs or parts. One of the most common implants are heart implants or implants concerned with heart or vascular systems. An implantation of donor organs has many ethical problems and is limited by donor possibilities. Many patients die waiting for a donor organ to become available. Therefore, artificial implants may be the preferable way to save lives. Modern artificial implants work successfully in organisms for more then 20 years. The success of the medical implant industry and surgery practice is proved by a high number of operations. Research has shown that 73% of people who received artificial heart implants survived after 9 years and 65% survived after 18 years, while only 48% of people who received the therapeutic treatment survived after 5 years. In the case of artificial aorta implants 85% of people survive after 5 years, while only 10% of people who received the therapeutic treatment survived after 5 years. Further development of the biomaterial science and surgery techniques can increase this difference. Full biocompatibility of the implant with the organism is the goal. However, an intrusion of any artificial material into an organism causes a reaction of the organism’s immune system. The immune reaction on the foreign body protects the organism against bacteria, viruses and injuries, and causes an isolation of the implant from the organism tissue that can break a functionality of the implant. In the worst case scenario the implant must be removed or replaced. This involves a secondary operation that increases the risk of lethality significantly, especially for elderly people who mostly need the implants. Research has shown that 100% of all artificial implants cause an immune reaction, and 35% of them require a secondary operation. Therefore, the immune response of the organism on the artificial implant is a problem and must be solved. The artificial implant with absent or decreased immune response is necessary to save patients and to improve quality of life. This research proves that the cross-linked non-soluble polyurethane can be synthesised so that it has adjustable mechanical properties comparable to soft tissue with low stiffness and sufficient mechanical strength, and which also has low residuals, is non-toxic and stable in the organism. We have modified the polyurethane with Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation (PIII) and created the active carbonised layer. The modified polyurethane implant was characterised with different physical and chemical methods and it was shown, that: - Modified polyurethane has thin carbonised surface layer consisting of condensed aromatic structures like graphite or grapheme. The carbon atoms on the edge of this surface layer have unpaired electrons known as free radicals; - These free radicals are responsible for the polyurethane implant’s high hydrophilicity and high chemical activity, which allows the organism’s protein to covalently attach to the implant surface forming total stable coverage. The carbonised layer provides fast total endothelialisation of the implant surface like control TCP surface. The polyurethane implants as disks were implanted subcutaneously in mice and the polyurethane graft replaced the abdominal aorta of a rat. The animal experiments and following histological investigations showed that the PIII treated implant causes significantly weaker immune response of the organism than the untreated implant. This is evidenced by the thinner collagen capsule (p<0.001), lower number and activity of macrophages (p<0.001), specific distribution of macrophages near the implant surface, less cell proliferation activity (p<0.001), less pro-inflammatory factor activity (p<0.001). In some cases the capsule and macrophages activity was absent. The absence of the immune reaction on an artificial soft polyurethane implant with PIII treatment is possible

Composite Materials With Uncured Epoxy Matrix Exposed in Stratosphere During NASA Stratospheric Balloon Flight

A cassette of uncured composite materials with epoxy resin matrixes was exposed in the stratosphere (40 km altitude) over three days. Temperature variations of -76 to 32.5C and pressure up to 2.1 torr were recorded during flight. An analysis of the chemical structure of the composites showed, that the polymer matrix exposed in the stratosphere becomes crosslinked, while the ground control materials react by way of polymerization reaction of epoxy groups. The space irradiations are considered to be responsible for crosslinking of the uncured polymers exposed in the stratosphere. The composites were cured on Earth after landing. Analysis of the cured composites showed that the polymer matrix remains active under stratospheric conditions. The results can be used for predicting curing processes of polymer composites in a free space environment during an orbital space flight

Digitalization of Modern Education: Problems and Solutions

The relevance of the research topic is due to modern global digital transformations and the transition to the digital economy and digital society. Social digitalization is caused by qualitative technological changes. All over the world, digitalization in education is closely related to a new way of life in a digital environment and the emergence of generations who were born and study in the specific environment. The study was based on a survey assessing the quality of digitalization in education, which involved 475 students and 118 teachers of the Russian State Vocational Pedagogical University (Yekateringburg). Based on the analysis of modern research on digital education, the most important components of digitalization have been identified and assessed in the survey. The survey was based on a Likert scale; the importance of each significant aspect of digitalization was assessed from 0 to 10. Unanimously, the research participants rated the level of penetration of digital technologies into Russian higher education as low: 3.15 (students) and 3.43 (teachers). The contribution of digitalization to academic performance was rated above average (7.25 and 5.21, respectively). There were some differences in the assessment of the role of the teacher in the digital environment (4.65 and 7.14), the convenience of the digital environment (7.11 and 2.53) and its positive impact on student motivation (8.09 and 3.61, respectively). The increase in the cognitive capabilities of students due to digitalization was also differently assessed by the students and teachers (6.88 and 3.11, respectively). Thus, digitalization in Russian universities generally reflects the expectation of its future development and a positive student attitude to the available opportunities. The novelty of the research is an attempt to objectively assess the internal process of digitalization and determine further research directions. In practice, the study can reform the education system, accelerate and improve the process of higher education digitalization

Cognitive-Conceptual Model for Developing Foreign Language Communicative Competence in Non-Linguistic University Students

This study is devoted to the foreign language communicative competence development among non-linguistic universities under-graduate students. This research covered the issue of foreign language education based on the cognitive-conceptual model for teaching English to non-linguistic university students. As the main research method, pedagogical modelling was chosen. The experiment was conducted at Russian State Vocational Pedagogical University, Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin, and Ural Institute of State Fire Service of EMERCOM of Russia among 72 undergraduate students. The results of several curriculum-based tests showed that the percentage of correct determination of expressions with the context available increased from 54% to 93.2% in EG1, and from 41.9 to 85.5% in EG2. The overall students’ understanding of lexical units increased by 39.2% and 43.6%, respectively. The ratio of misunderstanding/understanding of speech utterances increased from 15/7 to 6/16, while the proportion of students who do not use/use various interpretation strategies changed from 8/14 to 3/19. The developed cognitive-conceptual methodology effectiveness for teaching foreign language communicative competence was proven. It can be applied to train students of various specialisations at different university degree levels

Cognitive-Conceptual Model for Developing Foreign Language Communicative Competence in Non-Linguistic University Students

This study is devoted to the foreign language communicative competence development among non-linguistic universities under-graduate students. This research covered the issue of foreign language education based on the cognitive-conceptual model for teaching English to non-linguistic university students. As the main research method, pedagogical modelling was chosen. The experiment was conducted at Russian State Vocational Pedagogical University, Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin, and Ural Institute of State Fire Service of EMERCOM of Russia among 72 undergraduate students. The results of several curriculum-based tests showed that the percentage of correct determination of expressions with the context available increased from 54% to 93.2% in EG1, and from 41.9 to 85.5% in EG2. The overall students’ understanding of lexical units increased by 39.2% and 43.6%, respectively. The ratio of misunderstanding/understanding of speech utterances increased from 15/7 to 6/16, while the proportion of students who do not use/use various interpretation strategies changed from 8/14 to 3/19. The developed cognitive-conceptual methodology effectiveness for teaching foreign language communicative competence was proven. It can be applied to train students of various specialisations at different university degree levels