Extreme non-equilibrium oxygen plasma was used for the deep functionalisation of viscose materials used for the healing of chronic wounds. Those thermal effects, which usually appear during plasma treatment due to the influence of charged particles, were avoided effectively by using electrode-less discharge at a very low power density of 25 W/l volume. A huge flux of neutrally reactive atoms at room temperature of 3 * 10[sup][23] m[sup][-2] s[sup][-1], allowed for the effective diffusion of O-atoms into inter-fibril space and thus the activationof fibrils throughout the non-woven materials. Apart from the standard Wilhelmy balance and pedant drop method for determining the absorption dynamics on a macroscopic scale, optical polarisation microscopy was applied for studying the microscopic effects. The sorption characteristics were determined for saline solution, exudate, and blood and the results showed a dramatic improvement. Focusing on hydrophobic recovery prevention, the modified samples were stored for 10 days in air, nitrogen, and argon atmospheres. Some ageing effects occurred, whilst the absorption properties were independent of the storage atmosphere.
COBISS.SI-ID: 16890390
Electrospinning is a method based on the use of electrostatic forces for producing continuous fi bres with the diameter from between ten nanometres to some micrometres. Such fi ne fi bres cannot be produced with conventional methods for the production of nonwovens. The nanofibres formed with electrospinning have an exceptionally large active surface area per mass unit (fibre surface at diameter of 100 nm equals 40 m2/g) and the spinning process itself enables a planned formation of the web structure (e.g. planned size of pores in the web by adjusting the nanofi bre diameter and fibre thickness). Nanofibres can be electrospun from synthetic or natural polymers and their blends, from polymers with various nanoparticles (metal, ceramic etc), active substances etc. We can fabricate individual fibres, as well as webs with a random or planned fibre arrangement. Fibres with a complex structure, e.g. core shell or hollow fibres, can be produced with a special electrospinning method. Regarding the advantages demonstrated by the nanofibres fabricated with electrospinning, this procedure has become an important part of research in seve ral fi elds of use of technical textiles, e.g. shielding materials, air and oil filters in the car industry, agrotextiles and most of all medical textiles. The method can also be used in the production of batteries and photovoltaic cells. Apart from the apparatus designed for the research purpose in laboratories, pilot devices and the devices designed for the use in the industry can be found on the market. The paper comprises the introduction of the preparation procedure of nanofibres on an electrospinning apparatus, the morphological characteristics of fibres and the characteristics of electrospun webs in dependence of the conditions when forming fibres.
COBISS.SI-ID: 16777238
Band smearing in agarose gels of PCR amplified bacterial 16S rRNA genes is understood to comprise amplicons of varying sizes arising from PCR errors, and requires elimination. We consider that with amplified heterogeneous DNA, delayed electro-migration is caused not by PCR errors but by dsDNA structures that arise from imperfect strand pairing. The extent of band smearing was found to be proportional to the sequence heterogeneity in 16S rRNA variable regions. Denaturing alkaline gels showed that all amplified DNA was of the correct size. A novel bioinformatic approach was used to reveal that band smearing occurred due to imperfectly paired strands of the amplified DNA. Since the smear is a structural fraction of the correct size PCR product, it carries important information on richness and diversity of the target DNA. For accurate analysis, the origin of the smear must first be identified before it is eliminated by examining the amplified DNA in denaturing alkaline gels.
COBISS.SI-ID: 30828249