Volume 16, Issue 1

Aim of the presented research was the improvement of fibrous cellulosic products for uses in hygiene and medical sectors. Nano-particles of bioactive polysaccharides were imparted to cellulosic fibrous products to modify their properties: physical–chemical like absorption, biological like antibacterial and antifungal activity, and mechanical. Fibrous materials like dressing gauze, wood-wool, and hygiene tissues were modified by the addition of chitosan and chitosan-alginate nano-particles. Padding and freeze-drying was applied in the coating of the fibrous materials with the nano-sized polymers.

Body motion signals indicate several pathological features of the human body, and a wearable human motion monitoring system can respond to human joint motion signal in real time, thereby enabling the prevention and treatment of some diseases. Because conductive fabrics can be well integrated with the garment, they are ideal as a sensing element of wearable human motion monitoring systems. This study prepared polypyrrole conductive fabric by in situ polymerization, and the anisotropic property of the conductive fabric resistance, resistance–strain relationship, and the relationship between resistance and the human knee and elbow movements are discussed preliminarily.

One of the main causes of disabling deficits is neurological affections. Many times, the evolution of the condition leads to a diminution of the patient’s life quality. Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is part of the neurological rehabilitation process that comprises all the actions one can take in order to increase a patient’s integration and autonomy degree from a social and financial point of view. FES is a method based on substituting the commands that are usually transmitted by the nervous system with an electric impulse. The use of such a method on different body areas required the development of some adequate devices, starting with the stimulator itself and finishing with the way in which the stimulus is conveyed to the effectors. Textile materials that incorporate sensors and, mainly, the clothing products that have such components in their structure, have a high applicability potential; they can be used for preventing illnesses and for the rehabilitation of seniors, of people who are confined to bed, sportsmen, people who suffer from long-term illnesses, disabled people, thus diminishing the time one spends in the hospital. A possible solution for manufacturing incorporated textile electrodes consists in the insertion of some electro-conductive yarns onto textile surfaces by using a variety of technologies. The project approaches the use of knitting, a widespread textile technology. The incorporated knitted electrodes were accomplished by applying the knitting technology on single circular small diameter machines. Thus, we were able to obtain a variety of knitted articles as two-dimensional or three-dimensional tubular knitted fabric. Their dimensions, structures, and parameters correspond to the typo-dimensions of the human body and to the purpose for which the clothing product was designed. The knitted versions were tested by using a Microstim2v2 (PW = 300 μs, 40 Hz) neurostimulator for which the current intensity was adjusted to approx. 30 mA.

The incidence of skin cancer is increasing by epidemic proportions. Basal cell cancer remains the most common skin neoplasm, and simple excision is generally curative. On the other hand, aggressive local growth and metastasis are common features of malignant melanoma, which accounts for 75% of all deaths associated with skin cancer. The primary cause of skin cancer is long exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UV-R) crossed with the amount of skin pigmentation and family genetics. It is believed that in childhood and adolescence, 80% of UV-R gets absorbed while in the remaining, 20 % gets absorbed later in the lifetime. This suggests that proper and early photoprotection may reduce the risk of subsequent occurrence of skin cancer. Reducing the exposure time to sunlight, using sunscreens and protective textiles are the three ways of UV protection. Most people think that all the clothing will protect them, but it does not provide full sun screening properties. Literature sources claim that only 1/3 of the spring and summer collections tested give off proper UV protection. This is very important during the summer months, when UV index is the highest. Fabric UV protection ability highly depends on large number of factors such as type of fiber, fabric surface, construction, porosity, density, moisture content, type and concentration of dyestuff, fluorescent whitening agents, UV-B protective agents (UV absorbers), as well as nanoparticles, if applied. For all of these reasons, in the present paper, the results of UV protecting ability according to AS/NZS 4399:1996 will be discussed to show that standard clothing materials are not always adequate to prevent effect of UV-R to the human skin; and to suggest the possibilities for its improvement for this purpose enhancing light conversion and scattering. Additionally, the discrepancy in UV protection was investigated in distilled water as well as Adriatic Sea water.

Investigations are presented for the preparation of a model hemostatic dressing that would exhibit an adequate hemostatic capacity in injuries and surgical wounds, an antibacterial activity to prevent primary and secondary infections, and offer safety in use. The Hemoguard dressing has been designed as a powder prepared from the complex chitosan/alginate Na/Ca in the form of micro- and nano-fibrids. Useful antibacterial and hemostatic properties of Hemoguard, which would qualify the material as first aid dressing and a temporary protection of injury wounds in field conditions, were assessed. Biocompatibility of the dressing was confirmed by biological in vitro examinations.