Determination of the oxygen transmissibility and permeability of hydrogel contact lenses

To test the validity of the method of stacked hydrogel contact lenses to obtain the oxygen permeability and transmissibility coefficients of the lenses, the coefficients of one low hydration (38% water) and two high hydration (55 and 58% water) hydrogel contact lenses stacked one to five on an oxygen electrode were determined. From the oxygen diffusion through the lenses, the current intensity in the stationary state was determined, and from this the “instrument” the oxygen transmissibility was obtained. The permeability coefficients of the lenses, corrected for edge effects, were obtained from the slope of the plot of the reciprocal of the transmissibility coefficients versus the lens thicknesses. The oxygen permeability and transmissibility coefficients of the lenses obtained neglected the boundary layers resistance between the stacked lenses and, therefore, these are not the “true” coefficients. This article compares the “apparent” oxygen permeability coefficients of the hydrogel contact lenses, obtained by others, with the “true” oxygen permeability coefficients obtained with a corrected equation that takes into account the boundary layers between the stacked lenses. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 72: 321–327, 1999     

Amphiphilic polymer co‐networks: 32 years old and growing stronger – a perspective

This brief perspective overviews amphiphilic polymer co‐networks (APCNs), polymeric chemically crosslinked hydrogels also covalently hosting a hydrophobic segment, conferring upon these materials the important property of internal self‐organization in aqueous environments. APCN synthesis is most conveniently accomplished via the random crosslinking copolymerization of a hydrophilic monomer with a hydrophobic macro‐crosslinker, whereas better structures are attained via the end‐linking of amphiphilic linear ABA triblock copolymers or amphiphilic star diblock copolymers. Microphase‐separated morphologies, translucency‐to‐transparency, biocompatibility, low to moderate aqueous swelling, fair mechanical strength and possible stimulus‐responsiveness constitute the main physicochemical properties of APCNs, with their major commercial application being in silicone hydrogel soft contact lenses. Modeling the swelling, morphological and mechanical behavior of these intriguing materials is an area where more progress is necessary in order to improve our understanding of these networks and facilitate the design of next‐generation APCNs. © 2020 Society of Industrial Chemistry     

高精度柱面镜加工技术研究

光学柱面镜在强激光系统和同步辐射光束中有着广泛的应用,对柱面镜的精度要求也越来越高。采用传统光学表面成型技术与数控加工设备相结合的工艺方法对柱面镜进行加工。根据精磨时工件表面粗糙度与材料去除率随研磨时间的变化规律,确定了最佳的研磨时间,并通过对研磨液在不同浓度、温度时材料去除率的研究,优化了抛光的工艺参数。通过反复的加工和检测分析,得到满足光学系统要求的柱面镜,经过轮廓仪检测,柱面透镜能够达到PV≤0.1358μm。     

Materials and Manufacturing Methods for EWOD Devices: Current Status and Sustainability Challenges

Electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) devices have proven to be effective tools for precise microfluidic manipulation or in liquid lenses that surpass conventional solid lenses in versatility. However, the fabrication of these devices presents many challenges, such as their scalability or the growing concern on their environmental impact due to materials used in their fabrication. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the materials currently used in the fabrication of EWOD devices and the characteristics they must meet. In addition, a discussion of future challenges in the fabrication of EWOD devices is presented, in particular the environmental problems presented by some of the materials currently in use.     

Development of therapeutic contact lenses using a supercritical solvent impregnation method

We present some selected results indicating the feasibility of preparing therapeutic finished ophthalmic articles, namely commercially available soft contact lenses, using a supercritical solvent impregnation (SSI) technique. Several commercial soft contact lenses were tested and, among these, four lenses were selected for more complete studies: Nelfilcon A (FocusDailies^®, CIBA Vision), Omafilcon A (Proclear^® Compatibles, CooperVision), Methafilcon A (Frequency^® 55, CooperVision) and Hilafilcon B (SofLens^® 59 Comfort, Bausch & Lomb). Supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) was the chosen supercritical fluid and two ophthalmic drugs were tested: flurbiprofen (a NSAID, hydrophobic) and timolol maleate (an anti-glaucoma drug, hydrophilic). The effects of operational pressure, of impregnation duration and of the addition of a cosolvent (ethanol) were studied on the overall drug loading yields. Depending on the experiment, we employed pressures from 9 up to 16 MPa and impregnation times from 30 up to 180 min. Temperature was kept constant and equal to 313 K. The employed depressurization rates were kept low and between 0.1 and 0.2 MPa/min.Results are discussed in terms of the employed operational conditions and taking in consideration all the possible interactions between supercritical fluids, drugs, cosolvents and the polymers which compose the employed hydrogel contact lenses. In vitro drug release experiments were carried out in order to evaluate the resulting drug release profiles. Obtained results were also compared with drug-loaded contact lenses obtained by conventional drug “soaking” in aqueous solutions. Results also proved that SSI can be considered as a viable, efficient and safe alternative for the impregnation of drugs, including those of hydrophobic character or presenting low aqueous solubility, into commercial soft contact lenses. SSI proved to be a “tunable” process since the variation of the employed operational conditions indicated that it is possible to control the amount of impregnated drug. In the end, the ophthalmic articles were recovered undamaged and without the presence of harmful solvent residues. This method also permits to process already prepared commercial contact lenses, without interfering with their manufacture methods and, after processing, store them for future use.     

Surface-initiated RAFT polymerization of p (MA POSS-co-DMAEMA+) brushes on PDMS for improving antiadhesive and antibacterial properties

Poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) silicones, as a common intraocular lenses material, often lead to the happen of posterior capsule opacification due to the adhesion and reproduction of residual human lens epithelial cells (HLECs) on the posterior capsule after surgery. Bacterial infection is a potentially catastrophic complication of cataract surgery, which occurs within several days after implantation of the lens. A novel poly (methacrylisobutyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-co-2-(dimethylamino)-ethyl methacrylate) (p (MA POSS-co-DMAEMA)) brush was synthesized by reversible addition–fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization. After being quaternized treatment by 1-bromo-heptane, p (MA POSS-co-DMAEMA⁺) brushes with bactericidal function were obtained. The optical transmission of the brushes functionalized PDMS was better than p (DMAEMA⁺) coating modified PDMS, which may be due to the similar chemical composition of MA POSS and PDMS. Measurements of water contact angle, spectroscopic ellipsometry, and atomic force microscope were used to characterize hydrophilicity, thickness, and morphology of the brushes. Results revealed that brushes rendered PDMS surface more hydrophilicity and higher roughness. Adherences of bovine serum albumin and HLECs on the p (MA POSS-co-DMAEMA⁺) brushes were significantly reduced due to the hydrophilic property and cytotoxicity of the brushes. Bactericidal activity of the brushes, measured by shake-flask culture and LIVE/DEAD bacterial viability kit staining methods, was remarkably effective against S. aureus owing to the component of p (DMAEMA⁺).     

Single-lens theta microscopy — a new implementation of confocal theta microscopy

A new microscopical technique based on the principle of confocal theta microscopy (Stelzer, E.H.K., Lindek, S. & Pick, R. (1996) Konfokales Mikroskop . German Patent Office DE 43 26 473 (filed 6.8.1993, granted 6.12.1996)) is described. It uses a single objective lens in combination with a mirror unit to achieve the theta configuration that leads to axial and volume resolution improvements. In this paper we present technical details of possible microscopical set-ups, and we discuss different versions of mirror units.     

红外连续变焦镜头的结构设计与热分析

随着红外技术的不断发展,红外连续变焦镜头的应用越来越广泛。为了避免环境温度变化影响红外连续变焦镜头的成像质量,对改变过凸轮的红外镜头进行了光机热分析。建立连续变焦红外镜头的有限元模型,通过热分析对其模型进行处理,完成对有限元模型的热分析,并求解出不同情况下凸轮槽时镜头的位移云图、不同情况下镜片的位移云图、不同角度时凸轮的位移云图和不同角度下镜片的位移云图。结果表明,热光分析方法可以模拟红外光学系统的实际使用情况,并可以预测实际使用条件下的工作条件,对光学系统的设计具有重要的指导意义。     

图象数字变焦算法研究与实现

相邻像素之间的相关是图象数字变焦(视频插补)、图象平滑及滤波处理的理论基础。文章以图象的相关系数为量化参数,讨论了像素的空间和灰度相关性;定义了像素的空间距离和灰度距离,在此基础上构造了基于空间相关和灰度相关的邻域变焦(插值)算子,给出了该算子的离散算法、软件实现和仿真。仿真结果表明:该算法最大限度地减小了图象的几何失真和色彩失真,满足数码相机数字变焦的视觉要求。该算法已应用于eBoat系列数码相机。     

一种基于球面透视投影约束的鱼眼镜头校正方法

鱼眼镜头摄像机具有较大视场，但是，使用鱼眼摄像机拍摄的图像会有非常严重的变形．该文研究基于球面透视投影约束的鱼眼镜头校正方法．球面透视投影约束是指空间直线的球面透视投影为球面上的大圆．作者首先使用含有变形校正参数的鱼眼变形校正模型，将空间直线的鱼眼投影曲线上的点映射为球面点，然后通过球面点到大圆的球面距离最小来拟合大圆，恢复了变形校正参数，从而实现了鱼眼图像的校正．模拟实验和真实图像实验表明，该方法能得到比较满意的校正结果．