BACKGROUND Despite the benefits of mother-newborn skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth, it has not been universally implemented as routine care for healthy term neonates. Midwifes are the first person to contact the neonate after birth. However, there is evidence that many midwives do not perform mother-newborn skin-to-skin contact. The aim of this study was to develop and psychometrica...

BACKGROUND The pathogenesis of irritant contact dermatitis and its modulation according to skin color is not well understood. Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) enables high-resolution, real-time, in-vivo imaging of human skin. OBJECTIVE The goal of our study was to use RCM to determine whether susceptibility to irritant contact dermatitis differs between black and white skin. METHODS Pa...

Contact dermatitis or eczema is a polymorphic inflammation of the skin. It occurs at the site of contact with irritating or antigenic substances. In the acute phase there is occurrence of itching erythema, papules, and vesicles, whereas in the chronic phase there is dryness, hyperkeratosis, and sometimes fissures. Contact dermatitis can be divided into irritant and allergic types. Allergic cont...

Background Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, recurrent inflammatory skin disease. Due to deficient skin barrier function, patients with AD are exposed to higher risk of contact sensitization and allergic contact dermatitis. Basic therapy of AD should consist of optimal skin care pointed at the skin barrier defect with regular use of emollients. Unfortunately, products from this group can pot...

This article overviews research in the interdisciplinary area of textile/skin interaction and related cutaneous intolerance. Microclimate in the skin/clothing system and especially the skin responses relates to the moisture and heat transfer within this system and plays a critical role in skin irritation from textiles. A discussion is then given on skin irritation reactions to textiles, includi...

When an adequate amount of an antigenie chemical such as dinitroehlorobenzene (DNCB) is applied to the skin of a guinea pig, an allergic contact sensitivity to that compound may result; this sensitivity is analogous to contact sensitivity in man. After the appearance of sensitization, however, further application of the same chemical to the skin may eventually produce a specific depression of s...

We propose a new sensor element for a tactile sensor skin which covers a large area such as a whole surface of a robot. The element acquires not only contact force but also contact area by using the nonlinear elasticity of skin materials. This paper provides the structure and theory of our tactile sensor element, and presents experimental results.

Although much effort has gone into promoting early skin-to-skin contact and parental involvement at vaginal birth, caesarean birth remains entrenched in surgical and resuscitative rituals, which delay parental contact, impair maternal satisfaction and reduce breastfeeding. We describe a 'natural' approach that mimics the situation at vaginal birth by allowing (i) the parents to watch the birth ...