Healthy Aims: Developing New Medical Implants and Diagnostic Equipment

Healthy Aims is a 23- million, four-year project, funded under the EU's information society technology sixth framework program to develop intelligent medical implants and diagnostic systems (www.healthyaims.org). The project has 25 partners from 10 countries, including commercial, clinical, and research groups. This consortium represents a combination of disciplines to design and fabricate new medical devices and components as well as to test them in laboratories and subsequent clinical trials. The project focuses on medical implants for nerve stimulation and diagnostic equipment based on strain-gauge technology.     

Über die Darstellung und Sulfatierung von N-substituierten 12-Hydroxyoctadecen-(9)-säure-(1)-amiden

Preparation and Sulfation of N-Substituted 12-Hydroxy-octadecan-(9) Acid-(1) Amides Ricinoleic acid amides, substituted at the nitrogen atom, were converted to the sodium salts of the monosulfuric acid esters of the substituted ricinoleic acid amides (sodium salt of substituted 12-hydroxy sulfonyl-oxy-oleic acid amide) by sulfation with chlorosulfuric acid-diethyl ester-adduct followed by neutralisation. Washing capacity as well as surface tension, angle of contact and wetting capacity in relation to the concentration of the aqueous solutions of these anion active surfactants are measured.     

Microstereophotolithography using a liquid crystal display as dynamic mask-generator

 A new laser microstereophotolithography process has been developed in our laboratory to manufacture three-dimensional parts with a high accuracy. As usual in laser stereophotolithography or laser microstereophotolithography, the part is manufactured layer by layer by a light-induced space-resolved polymerization. Until now, in all the already existing microstereophotolithography devices a layer is manufactured vector by vector, by moving the part beneath the initiating light source which remains motionless. We developed a simpler and easier process, in which we can manufacture an entire layer by irradiating its whole surface only once: we used a liquid crystal display as a dynamic generator of masks. In the device we set up, we need only one mobile element, the z translator, all the others are fixed. We manufactured several different 3D microparts, in particular a piece of bevel microgearing with helicoidal cogs, the volume of which is less than half a cubic millimetre. Received: 14 December 1995 / Accepted: 16 September 1996     

Geochemical signature of contaminated sediment remobilization revealed by spatially resolved X-ray microanalysis of annual rings of Salix nigra

An X-ray microprobe was used to determine the concentration and distribution of Ni, U, and other metals within annual rings of willows (Salix nigra L.) from a former de facto radiological settling basin (Steed Pond; SP) and a depositional environment downstream (Tims Branch; TB) on the Savannah River Site (SRS). Geochemical and historical information about both areas are well documented. Following spillway breaches at SP in 1984 and the early 1990s, TB is inundated with contaminated sediments during storms. Bulk elemental composition of tree cores was determined using ICP-OES. Synchrotron X-rayfluorescence (SXRF) analysis showed that the metal contents of SP and TB cores were an order of magnitude higher than those from a reference site. TB cores were enriched with Ni in 1984 and 1991, corresponding with SP spillway breaches (containing 790 mg kg(-1) Ni in 1991). Cores from SP exhibited an extremely high Ni peak in 1996, approximately 5000 mg kg(-1), even though contaminant levels at SP did not change. The geochemical signature of contaminants recorded in TB annual rings reflected the significant sediment remobilization events consistent with the detailed history of the site, and at concentrations relative to their proximity to the source term. However, physiological processes occurring within impacted trees strongly influence the chronological accuracy of dendroanalysis and must be investigated further.     

Analysis of reactive trace contaminants in styrene by GC/MS

Summary The purity of the styrene monomer is critical since impurities influence the physical properties and appearance of the final polymerized product. It is particularly important to assess the content of the monomer for oxygenated compounds. In this study, two typical monomers were studied. One sample consisted of a one month old monomer that had been exposed to air. The other monomer was a recycle feedstock taken from a continuous polymerization reactor. Analysis was carried out by capillary column gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.In addition to dimers and trimers that have been reported in the literature, the presence of several classes of oxygenated impurities was established for the first time.