Objective(s): Fabrication of scaffolds with improved mechanical properties and favorable cellular compatibility is crucial for many tissue engineering applications. This study was aimed to improve mechanical and biological properties of polycaprolactone (PCL), which is a common biocompatible and biodegradable synthetic polymer in tissue engineering. Nanofibrillated chitosan (NC) was used as a n...

We present a model capable of following the evolution of strength in granular aggregates where dissolution driven by local contact stresses may result in grain interpenetration, precipitation and bonding. At each particle–particle contact mineral redistribution results from the serial processes of stress-enhanced dissolution, mass diffusion along the fluid film separating grain boundaries and t...

The design of reliable micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) requires understanding of material properties of devices, especially for free-standing thin structures such as membranes, bridges, and cantilevers. The desired characterization system for obtaining mechanical properties of active materials often requires load control. However, there is no such device among the currently available to...

The interplay among pain, allergy and dysregulated inflammation promises to yield significant conceptual advances in immunology and chronic pain. Hapten-mediated contact hypersensitivity reactions are used to model skin allergies in rodents but have not been utilized to study associated changes in pain perception in the affected skin. Here we characterized changes in mechanical hyperalgesia in ...

How a liquid drop sits or moves depends on the physical and mechanical properties of the underlying substrate. This can be seen in the hysteresis of the contact angle made by a drop on a solid, which is known to originate from surface heterogeneities, and in the slowing of droplet motion on deformable solids. Here, we show how a moving contact line can be used to characterize a molecularly thin...

BACKGROUND To elucidate the relationship between seven occupational dermatoses (ODs) and 20 types of work in Greece. METHODS This was a prevalence epidemiologic study of certain ODs among 4,000 workers employed in 20 types of enterprise, in 104 companies, in 2006-2012, using data from company medical records, questionnaires, occupational medical, and special examinations. The χ(2) test was ap...

Wear and failure of mechanical seals may be critical in certain applications and should be avoided. Large relative misalignment between the seal faces is the most likely cause for intermittent contact and the increased friction that eventually brings failure. Adjustment of the seal clearance is probably the most readily implemented method of reducing the relative misalignment and eliminating se...