AIM To determine the incidence of non-severe keratitis (NSK) and severe keratitis (SK) among wearers of current generation contact lenses. METHODS A 12 month, prospective, hospital based epidemiological study was conducted by examining all contact lens wearers presenting with a corneal infiltrate/ulcer to a hospital centre in Manchester. A clinical severity matrix was used to differentiate be...

Zhang, Y. 2016. Hyaluronan Based Biomaterials with Imaging Capacity for Tissue Engineering. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1402. 60 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-554-9649-4. This thesis presents the preparation of hyaluronan-based biomaterials with imaging capability and their application as scaffold...

A technique for measuring the instantaneous deformation rate of hydrogel microstructures is introduced. In developing this technique, we have adapted microscopic particle image velocimetry, a method for measuring velocity fields in microfluidic devices. Small fluorescent seed particles are incorporated into the hydrogel microstructure, and as the structure swells or contracts, the displacement ...

We present an easy and effective method for the encapsulation of cells inside PEG-based hydrogel microstructures fabricated using photolithography. High-density arrays of three-dimensional microstructures were created on substrates using this method. Mammalian cells were encapsulated in cylindrical hydrogel microstructures of 600 and 50 micrometers in diameter or in cubic hydrogel structures in...

A novel three-component supramolecular hydrogel based on riboflavin, melamine and amino acid derivatives were constructed for controlled release of pesticides, Niclosamide derivatives. The formation of hydrogel may be attributed to self-assemble via hydrogen bonding and π-π interaction, which have been researched via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spec...

A sacrificial templating process using lithographically printed minimal surface structures allows complex de novo geo-metries of delicate hydrogel materials. The hydrogel scaffolds based on cellulose and chitin nanofibrils show differences in terms of attachment of human mesenchymal stem cells, and allow their differentiation into osteogenic outcomes. The approach here serves as a first example...

In this work, hydrogel nanocomposites were synthesized by solution polymerization of acrylic acid (AA) and itaconic acid (IA) in the presence of cotton fabric. Ammonium persulfate (APS) was used as the polymerization initiator in the presence of a crosslinker, methylene bisacrylamide (MBA). Insertion of Ag followed by reduction of Ag+ cations results in a hydrogel nanocomposite. The ...

X. Zhao and co-workers develop on page 4035 a new biocompatible hydrogel system that is extremely tough and stretchable and can be 3D printed into complex structures, such as the multilayer mesh shown. Cells encapsulated in the tough and printable hydrogel maintain high viability. 3D-printed structures of the tough hydrogel can sustain high mechanical loads and deformations.

Hydrogel optical fibers are utilized for continuous glucose sensing in real time. The hydrogel fibers consist of poly(acrylamide-co-poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate) cores functionalized with phenylboronic acid. The complexation of the phenylboronic acid and cis-diol groups of glucose enables reversible changes of the hydrogel fiber diameter. The analyses of light propagation loss allow for qua...

We report a facile method to fabricate free-standing, 3D hydrogel microarchitectures of chemically sol-gel transitional hydrogels, which is based on the use of hydrophilic substrate and aerosol of gelling agent without molding (or sandwiching) process. Using proposed methods, we fabricated hydrogel microarchitectures of sheets, meshes, or microunits without morphological distortions on the micr...