Biomedical sector

Nanotechnology promises to revolutionize a growing set of materials applications ranging from technology sectors such as semiconductor manufacturing, advanced sensors and coatings, to biomedical sectors such as drug delivery and implant... 

In contrast to polymers, the structural precision and hence more uniform properties of dendrimers predestine them primarily for applications in the biomedical sector. A further reason for interest in these compounds is that effects such as luminescence can be enhanced by straightforward substitution and high local concentrations of certain structural elements and functionalities can be obtained. 

PMMA is an interesting polymer which is widely used in architecture, railway, aerospace, automobile and biomedical sectors due to its good mechanical and optical properties (1,51). The low cost,... 

Evaluation of the performance of a method or an instrument represents the largest use of CRMs. Examples are widely reported in the literature. One could even say that the development of a new method or instrument without evaluation of the performances with (a) CRM(s) is an incomplete task. Besides these research tasks, CRMs for calibration or validation are also used to assess the performance of instruments by the manufacturer himself to demonstrate the possibilities of his instrument or by the customer who wishes to evaluate the proposed instrument before purchasing it. CRMs produced by independent official or regulatory bodies to validate instrument performance or calibration sets have been under development for several years. They have in particular allowed the solution of inaccuracy problems in the biomedical sector where calibration test kits of automatic instrument manufacturers were not comparable and even led to different results between countries such arguments supported many BCR projects for... 

Polyolefins, such as PE and PP, are commonly used in many applications in the biomedical sector. PE and PP can achieve biocompatible and antimicrobial properties using the suitable surface treatment [131, 132]. Many modification methods of the polymer surfaces have been employed, for example, techniques based on the plasma treatment [133]. A deposition of chitosan on the plasma-pretreated PP surface provides antifungal and antibacterial properties because chitosan exhibits an efficient antimicrobial activity [134]. If PE films were modified by a multistep process using plasma discharge, carboxylic groups and antibacterial agent can be developed over the surface. Immersion of these films into the solution of chitosan leads most likely to the adherence of a chitosan monolayer on the treated film. Small concentration of chitosan was enough for the induction of antimicrobial properties to the modified material [135]. 

During the last decades of the 1970s, applications with composites gained popularity in the aeronautics, automotive, sports items, and biomedical sectors. Successively, the 1980s saw a meaningful development of the use of high-modulus libers. 

Presently, chitosan has involved significant scientific and nanotechnological interest in the biomedical sector for various applications, containing tissue engineering. 

Abstract One of major contributing factor in the development of biomedical research are the number of researches carried out for the advancement of polymeric materials with their advance drug delivery systems to explore their potential applications in the similar area. This chapter has covered some of the recent hot topics of polymeric science directing its prospects towards biomedical sector. 

Traditionally, thin-film deposition techniques have been related to the semiconductor industry and not to the biomedical sector. This is mainly due to the extreme conditions generally required for the material deposition process and their lack of compatibility with biological systems. However, the interdisciplinary characteristics of biosensors and POC devices has opened an entirely new range of applications for these techniques, mainly orientated towards the fabrication of platforms that can be employed as both the transducer for the sensing process and the support for the immobilization of the recognition molecule (Lin and Yan, 2012 Ceylan Koydemir et al., 2013). 

The use of polymers in the biomedical sector began in the mid-twentieth century and, since then, has increased constantly. It is important to emphasize that there are specific requirements and limitations in using SMPs for biomedical applications. They should have small recovery times, be biocompatible and, depending on their specific applications, should be also biodegradable. Moreover, for these SMMs, their transition temperature should be in the order of body temperature in order to avoid tissue harm and to be able to use body temperature as the switching temperature. 

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