Lost-foam (also known as Expendable Pattern Casting, EPC) is an ever-growing metal casting technique, capable of producing complex metal components without parting lines. Mold preparation for lost-foam casting is typically accurate, but expensive and slow. The goal of this research was to develop a new approach for producing rapid lost-foam molds. With this new approach, patterns generated by S...

Carbonate apatite (CO₃Ap) foam has gained much attention in recent years because of its ability to rapidly replace bone. However, its mechanical strength is extremely low for clinical use. In this study, to understand the potential of gelatin-reinforced CO₃Ap foam for bone replacement, CO₃Ap foam was reinforced with gelatin and the resulting physical characteristics were evaluated. The mechanic...

Liquid foams are classified into a dry foam and a wet foam, empirically judging from the liquid fraction or the shape of the gas bubbles. It is known that physical properties such as elasticity and diffusion are different between the dry foam and the wet foam. Nevertheless, definitions of those states have been vague and the dry-wet transition of foams has not been clarified yet. Here we show t...

Adaptation of fingertip forces to friction at the grasping surface is necessary to prevent use of inadequate or excessive grip forces. In the current study we investigated the effect of blocking tactile information from the fingertips noninvasively on the adaptation and efficiency of grip forces to surface friction during precision grasp. Ten neurologically intact subjects grasped and lifted an...

To the Editor: Chronic venous insufficiency is a common disease in adulthood. One recently developed therapy for varicose veins is foam sclerotherapy.1 We used foam sclerotherapy in a 51-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman who had symptomatic varicose great saphenous veins and were otherwise healthy. Immediately after the initiation of treatment, transient scotomas developed in the man, and a ...

Beta-migrating very low density lipoproteins (beta--VLDL) and chemically modified low density lipoproteins (LDL), labeled with the fluorescent probe 3,3'-dioctadecylindocarbocyanine (Dil), were used to determine whether foam cells from atherosclerotic lesions have lipoprotein receptors similar to those of macrophages. The advantage of the Dil probe is that it produces a brilliant fluorescence d...

BACKGROUND Toluene diisocyanate (TDI) is used in industry in the production of flexible polyurethane foam, commonly a mixture of the 2,4- and 2,6- isomers. The production process may lead to exposure to diisocyanates which are associated with respiratory disease. A method has been available for the determination of TDI biomarkers in urine for some years. AIMS To explore the usefulness of urin...

The Lost Foam Casting (LFC) process employs a sacrificial foam replica of the desired casting that is supported by an unbonded sand mold through an overhead raining and flask vibration stage. Generally, the raining and vibration is programmed to a pattern-specific schedule to adequately promote fluidized sand flow into pattern cavities and produce proper densification. Currently, a lengthy tria...