Medical applications overview

H.F. Stewart and M.E. Stratmeyer (editors), An Overview of Ultrasound Theory, Measurement, Medical Applications and Biological Effects, HHS Publication FDA 82-8190, Rockville MD, 1982,134 pp. 

This membrane industry is very fragmented. Industrial applications are divided into six main sub-groups reverse osmosis ultrafiltration microfiltration gas separation pervaporation and electrodialysis. Medical applications are divided into three more artificial kidneys blood oxygenators and controlled release pharmaceuticals. Few companies are involved in more than one sub-group of the industry. Because of these divisions it is difficult to obtain an overview of membrane science and technology this book is an attempt to give such an overview. 

Banker, G.S. Pharmaceutical applications of controlled release—an overview of the past, present, and future. In Medical Applications of Controlled Release Langer, R.S., Wise, D.L., Eds. CRC Press Boca Raton, Florida, 1984 II, Chapter 1. 

This volume of Advances in Polymer Science is an attempt to provide an overview of the state of the art in the area of peptide hybrid polymers. The five articles in this volume cover a broad range of topics, from chemical and biological synthesis, to solution and solid-state self-assembly, to medical applications. 

Hauert, R. (2004) An overview on the tribological behaviour of diamond-like carbon in technical and medical applications. Trihol. Int., 37, 991-1003. 

The interaction of artificial metal ions/complexes with peptides/proteins [11], nucleic acids/DNA [12,13], enzymes [14], steroids [15] and carbohydrates [16] forms a bridge between natural and artificial macromolecular metal complexes. Biometal-organie chemistry concentrates on such complexes [17]. The reason for the increasing interest in this field lies in medical applications of metal complexes (cancer, photodynamic therapy of cancer, immunoassays, fluorescence markers, enantioselective catalysis, template orientated synthesis of peptides, etc.). Figure 2-4 presents an overview of metals in medicine [18]. Some examples are given below. 

This chapter on polyphosphazenes provides the reader an overview of the synthesis and side group chemistry in context to the degradation profile and biocompatibility. In addition, it reviews the medical applications developed using biodegradable polyphosphazenes specifically drug delivery matrices and tissue-engineering scaffolds. 

It has already been demonstrated earlier in this overview that polymer-based spunlaid and meltblown and their combinations are the fastest growing technologies in global terms. It is also a fact that their use in personal care, by eae, healfiicare and medical applications are growing rapidly across the world. 

This chapter has three main sections. The first section gives an overview of the current state of the art on textile electrodes and their working principles. Section 2.3 summarizes the advances in textile sensors. Finally, the third section concentrates on textile-based actuators for medical applications, including textiles used for heating, electroflierapy and artificial muscles. 

From Duerig T, Pelton A, Stoeckel D. An Overview of nitinol medical applications. Mater Sd Eng 1999 A273-275 149-160. 

Overviews on environmentally degradable plastics have recently appeared for the nonspecialist (1-4) as well as more technical symposia proceedings (5-13). Several extensive Web sites are maintained (14,15) and a commercial market report has been available (16) (see Biodegradable Polymers, Medical Applications). 

This book thus gives an overview of the theory and possible scientific, technical, and medical applications of liquid crystals. Its appeal is not only to physicists and chemists (especially spectroscopists) but equally to those in the manufacturing and processing industries (including electrical engineers). 

Table 5.124 provides an overview of plastics in medical applications. Suppliers of medical grade plastics usually depend on USP class VI certificates to demonstrate the suitability of their materials for the medical equipment industry. However, more and more plastics are also providing characteristic data based on ISO 10993 (see Chapter 2) [292]. 

This chapter provides a brief overview of several medical applications that polymers have made seminal contributions to over the years. Many of the polymers discussed here are initially developed as plastics, elastomers, and fibers for nonmedical industrial applications. They were borrowed by the smgeons post-World War II to address medical problems. Since then, they have led to the development of biomedical-specific materials. Currently, with the rapid growth in modem biology and the collaborative effort, cross-disciplines such as materials science, engineering, chemistry, biology, and medicine, polymeric biomaterials are now being fashioned into bioactive, biomimetic, and most importantly, with excellent biocompatibility. Examples of this newer generation of polymeric biomaterials are also included in this chapter. 

Overview. Microbeam experiments are carried out if the structure iu a small volume element of the sample is to be studied. Compared to macrobeam applications, the advantage of this method is the possibility to study spatial variations of nanostructure. An example of a matching scientific question is the analysis of the core-shell structure of polymer fibers, or the study of nanostructure variations in nanostructured gradient materials which are developed for medical applications. All the corresponding experiments are carried out in a scanning microbeam setup . 

Table 10.1 gives an overview of different aliphatic-aromatic copolyesters synthesised as degradable materials during the last few years. Part of the work reported in the literature dealt with hydrolytic degradation mechanisms which do not involve enzymic catalysis (chemical hydrolysis). This kind of degradation is often present in medical applications of polyesters, e.g., as implants in living tissues. Enzymic catalysed hydrolysis, in contrast, is usually connected to microbial degradation in the environment. 

This idea represents a true answer to the natural question What is the novelty in Advanced Polymers in Medicine The first part of the book reviews the relevant background information on polymer chemistry and the physicochemical characterization and represents the scientific support for the following chapters. The second part is devoted to a complete overview of Medically oriented polymers and every chapter is dedicated to a medical specialty. In my opinion, this type of approach will provide a better overview of polymers and medical applications and allows an effective use both for teaching that scientific reference book. Therefore, this book is intended for students and researchers who work in the area of biomaterials. 1 am conscious that a successful book is a product of several integrated expertises in this contributed volume, many of these were given by contributing authors, all of which are listed in the bibliography. Thank you ... 

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