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

Supramolecular Organization of Functional Organic Materials in the Bulk and at Organic/Organic Interfaces: A Modeling and Computer Simulation Approach

The molecular organization of functional organic materials is one of the research areas where the combination of theoretical modeling and experimental determinations is most fruitful. Here we present a brief summary of the simulation approaches used to investigate the inner structure of organic materials with semiconducting behavior, paying special attention to applications in organic photovoltaics and clarifying the often obscure jargon hindering the access of newcomers to the literature of the field. Special attention is paid to the choice of the computational "engine" (Monte Carlo or Molecular Dynamics) used to generate equilibrium configurations of the molecular system under investigation and, more importantly, to the choice of the chemical details in describing the molecular interactions. Recent literature dealing with the simulation of organic semiconductors is critically reviewed in order of increasing complexity of the system studied, from low molecular weight molecules to semiflexible polymers, including the challenging problem of determining the morphology of heterojunctions between two different materials