SHANGHAI - Few people think that silk can be used as a shield to defend the brain, but Chinese researchers have transformed the soft garment material into screws to stabilize skull bones in brain surgery.Researchers at a laboratory in Shanghai have extracted silk proteins from the cocoons of the Bombyx mori silkworm and made them into fixing devices such as screws and linking stripes.After years of experiments on animals, including rodents and rabbits, researchers have improved the properties, including strength and toughness.The research was led by Professor Mao Ying, vice president of the Fudan University's affiliated Huashan Hospital, and Tao Hu, researcher of Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology.The research was published as a cover story in the latest issue of "Advanced Healthcare Materials."According to Mao, creating medical materials for skull fixation and repair is demanding. In the past, screws were usually made of metal materials, which were likely to cause foreign-body sensations resulting in discomfort.Metal materials risk infection and immunological rejection, meaning some patients have to go through second surgeries."Compared with metal or chemical materials, silk devices have outstanding biocompatibility that induces no foreign-body reaction, and controlled degradation without generating hazardous residues," said Tao, who conducted the research over three years.Silk devices developed by researchers also include a chip-shaped film that medicine can be wrapped in. With the degradation of silk proteins in the brain, the medicine inside will be released to treat inflammation and heal injured tissue.Silk is also much cheaper than metal. Mao said a regular silk quilt can be made into thousands of silk screws, reducing medical costs.The silk devices are expected to complete clinical trials within three to five years. custom his and her braceletscustom rolex braceletsilicone bracelets customwristbands canadacustom logo wristbands
BEIJING - Chinese scientists have developed a fire-resistant wallpaper that not only can withstand flames, but also detect fires and trigger an alarm if a fire occurs.The wallpaper was designed by scientists from the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.Most of the wallpaper on the market today is made of highly flammable materials such as plant cellulose fibers or synthetic polymers, which can spread the fire rather than preventing it.The new wallpaper can withstand a high temperature of 1,000 degrees Celsius. It is made of an inorganic fire-resistant hydroxyapatite nanowire paper and a graphene oxide temperature sensor. The sensor is attached to the back of the wallpaper through a simple drop-casting process using an ink containing graphene oxide. It is then connected to the metal wire as an electrode.Graphene oxide is not electrically conductive at room temperature, but can become conductive at high temperatures, triggering the fire alarm device.The wallpaper is highly flexible and can be made into various shapes, dyed different colors, and printed with commercial printers.The research was published in the journal ACS Nano in March.Zhu Yingjie, the team leader, said that although the wallpaper is still in the early research phase, the research team is exploring low-cost mass production technology."We are also investigating more applications of the new fire-resistant inorganic paper, which might be used in other fields such as preserving important paper documents, battery separators, flame-retardant fiber-optic cables, catalytic paper, and flexible electronics," Zhu said.
