Synthetic polymers reconstruction

The application of polymeric materials in medicine is a fairly specialized area with a wide range of specific applications and requirements. Although the total volume of polymers used in this application may be small compared to the annual production of polyethylene, for example, the total amount of money spent annually on prosthetic and biomedical devices exceeds 16 billion in the United States alone. These applications include over a million dentures, nearly a half billion dental fillings, about six million contact lenses, over a million replacement joints (hip, knee, finger, etc.), about a half million plastic surgery operations (breast prosthesis, facial reconstruction, etc.), over 25,000 heart valves, and 60,000 pacemaker implantations. In addition, over AO,000 patients are on hemodialysis units (artificial kidney) on a regular basis, and over 90,000 coronary bypass operations (often using synthetic polymers) are performed each year (]J. 

S.L. Bourke, J. Kohn, M.G. Dunn, Preliminary development of a novel resorbable synthetic polymer fiber scaffold for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Tissue Eng. 10 (2004) 43-52. 

Synthetic Polymers-Based Nanolibers for Dermal Reconstruction and Wound Healing... 

Prolysis is the thermal fission of naturally occurring and synthetic polymers producing a range of smaller molecules. Analysis of these products enables a profile of the original eompound to be reconstructed. The pyrolytic... 

Muscles contract and expand in response to electrical, thermal, and chemical stimuli. Certain polymers, such as synthetic polypeptides, are known to change shape on application of electric current, temperature, and chemical environment. For instance, selected bioelastic smart materials expand in salt solutions and may be used in desalination efforts and as salt concentration sensors. Polypeptides and other polymeric materials are being studied in tissue reconstruction, as adhesive barriers to prevent adhesion growth between surgically operated tissues, and in controlled drug release, where the material is designed to behave in a predetermined matter according to a specific chemical environment. 

The addition of water-soluble polymers such as polyethylene oxide (PEO) or polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) into the synthetic mixture of the C TMAX-HN03-TE0S-H20 system (n = 16 or 18 X = Br or Cl) under shear flow is found to promote uniformity and elongation of rope-like mesoporous silica. The millimeter-scaled mesoporous silica ropes are found to possess a three-level hierarchical structure. The addition of water-soluble polymer does not affect the physical properties of the silica ropes. Moreover, further hydrothermal treatment of the acid-made material under basic ammonia conditions effectively promotes reconstruction of the silica nanochannels while maintaining the rope-like morphology. As a result, a notable enhancement in both thermal and hydrothermal stability is found. 

The surface eroding characteristics of POE has led to the research of this polymer for bone reconstruction [8,73 ]. Surface degradation allows a scaffold to sustain mechanical support for the surrounding tissue since the bulk of the material remains structurally intact. In other studies, hepatocytes were grafted onto polyorthoesters and adhered to the surface of the synthetic scaffold [74]. 

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