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Toyota to Make Biodegradable Plastics from Sweet Potatoes - News Item

Toyota has developed a biodegradable plastic based on sweet potatoes, sugar cane and corn which are used to make polylactics acid. Potential applicatiosn for this material are mentioned. This material is Posted September 3 2004

27 Sep 2004

Compact Cross Section Polisher for Large Cross Sections

JEOL have introduced the SM-09010, a new compact Cross Section Polisher (CSP) specially designed to prepare large-area cross sections of specimens for imaging/microscopy. Posted September 21 2004

22 Sep 2004

Los Alamos Researchers Grow World Record Length Carbon Nanotube - News Item

Researchers at The Los Alamos National Laboratory have grown the longest carbon nanotube in the world measuring 4cm in length. They used catalytic chemical vapour deposition to beat the previous recod that stood at a few millimetres long. Posted September 15 2004

16 Sep 2004

Biocomposites - Bone Cement, Hydroxyapatite and Biomimetic Composites for Bone Repair

The mechanical properties of hydroxyapatite are generally considered insufficient to be used in a monolithic form. Thus researchers have been working on composites to compensate for this. Some of the theories and concepts for bone repair are described herein.

14 Sep 2004

Buckyballs and Carbon Nanotubes in Cancer Therapies and Medical Treatment Applications

Buckyballs and carbon nanotubes cen be used in the delivery of drugs and other materials to treatment sites. Methods where this can be applied are described.

14 Sep 2004

Bioceramics in the In Situ Treatment of Cancer by Radiotherapy and Hyperthermia

Bioceramics such as glass ceramics and yttria have been used for the in situ treatment of cancer. The methods and materials used to treat cancer are described.

14 Sep 2004

Natural and Synthetic Bone Graft Materials – Autogenous, Allograft, Demineralised Bone Matrix and Synthetic Mixture Bone Grafts

Surgical procedures may require bone grafts where defects need to be filled or recontructions are necessary. Bone graft materials may be harvested from the patient (autograft) or someone alse (allograft). These materials and the benefits are described as well as other alternatives.

14 Sep 2004

Calcium Phosphate and Hydroxyapatite Coatings

Calcium phosphate coatings have been used on metallic implants which by themselves behave as bioinert biomaterials. The processes are briefly overviewed and the advantages of the sol-gel process explained.

14 Sep 2004

Coralline Apatites for Biomedical Applications - Clinical Applications and Production

Sea corals have been successfully converted to hydroxyapatites using processes such as hydrothermal or microwave processing. The use of coralline apatites in clinical applications is also outlined.

14 Sep 2004

Implant Stability and Fixation Using Surface Texturing and Surface Treatments

The long term success of an implant relies on its stability through either biological fixation or cemet fixation. Implant fixation can be enhanced bu surface texturing. Some surface texturing processes are outlined.

13 Sep 2004