Corneal Biomechanics

The corne a is the first and mos t powe rful refrac tive surface of the optical syst em of 6 the eye. 7 The produc tion of an accur ate image in the ret inal rece ptors requires the cornea 8 to be transpa rent and have a suitabl e refractive po wer [ 1 ? 3 ]. 9 The struct ural integr ity o f the corne a can be altered in the CR modify ing its 10 refrac tive prope rties. These procedure s have been develop ed emp irically without 11 detailed kno wledge of corneal behavior . 12 Measuri ng the change in corneal shape has been available in the past d ecade 13 through com puterized analysis of the reflec tion of photo keratos copic ring surface of 14 the cornea (corneal topog rapher). 15 Little is know n about the behavio r of the internal structure of the corne a. 16 Altho ugh the ult rastructu re was analyzed by elect ron micro scopy, the rol e of each 17 one of the layers has not been examined in detail. We shall see below attempt s to 18 define such roles, which still need further anal ysis. 19 The tools to measur e and under stand these proce sses ari se from mechani cal 20 engineer ing and have been used in othe r medica l specialties , such as o rthopedics, 21 which evaluates quantitative ly the require ments of the prosthes is. Many of these 22 methods are not suitable for soft tissue such as the corne a, but the general princi ples 23 can be appl ied.Fil: Guarnieri, Fabio Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones en Métodos Computacionales. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Centro de Investigaciones en Métodos Computacionales; Argentin

Polymers in Ophthalmology

El articulo Polymers in ophthalmology es parte del capitulo 6 del libro Advanced polymers in medicine.Ophthalmological sciences are disciplines focused in the health of the eyes and related structures, as well as vision, visual systems, and vision information processing in humans; dealing with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. Along time a wide variety of materials, including metals, ceramics and polymers, have been developed and used in different ophthalmic applications. Although, modern ophthalmic devices and drug platforms are made with polymeric materials. Applications of polymers in ophthalmology include vitreous replacement fluids, contact lenses, intraocular lenses, artificial orbital walls, artificial corneas, artificial lacrimal ducts, glaucoma drainage devices, viscoelastic replacements, drug delivery systems, sclera buckles, retinal tacks and adhesives, and ocular endotamponades. Both synthetic and natural polymeric biomaterials are used in ophthalmological applications, although in the lasts years most efforts were focused in natural and biocompatible materials, such as gelatin, hyaluronan, chitosan, gums, etc.; developing, tablets, films, suspensions, nanosystems, inserts, etc. This chapter attempts to offers an insight into the importance of polymers in the design and development of pharmaceuticals platforms used in ocular therapeutics.Fil: Calles, Javier Adrián. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina.Fil: Bermudez, José María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química; Argentina.Fil: Bermudez, José María. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria Química; Argentina.Fil: Valles, Enrique Marcelo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet Bahía Blanca; Argentina.Fil: Valles, Enrique Marcelo. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Allemandi, Daniel Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Allemandi, Daniel Alberto. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo en Tecnología Farmacéutica; Argentina.Fil: Palma, Santiago Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Palma, Santiago Daniel. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo en Tecnología Farmacéutica; Argentina.Otras Ciencias Química