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Polypropylene (PP) based hernia mesh often shows multiple post‐surgery complications due to lack of biocompatibility, poor cell attachment, and unwanted tissue adhesion. These limitations can be addressed by material designing and surface modification of a mesh with side‐specific properties such as the visceral side (facing intestine) with low protein and cell attachment and the parietal side (facing incision) with improved cell attachment properties for normal healing. However, the development of dual‐sided mesh is very challenging because of its porous structure. Herein, a dual‐sided biocompatible mesh with protein anti‐adsorption and cell attachment properties on two different sides is developed by grafting highly hydrophilic 2‐methcryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine polymer (PMPC) on the plasma‐activated visceral side, while the parietal side is coated with bioactive chitosan and functionalized nanodiamond (Chi/FND) using a temporary polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) mold. The PMPC‐grafted side demonstrated excellent resistance to protein adsorption (96% reduction compared to PP) and cell attachment. However, the bioactive coating on the parietal side has significantly improved cell attachment and proliferation properties. In addition, both sides confirmed the presence of the respective biomaterials after an accelerated degradation study for 28 days. Hence, the newly developed dual‐sided mesh by semi‐solid polymer mold (SSPM) method is a promising candidate to address the long‐existing multiple issues of hernia mesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polypropylene (PP) mesh is most commonly used for the treatment of hernia and pelvic floor construction. However, some of the patients have a few complications after surgery due to the rejection or infection of the implanted meshes. The poor biocompatibility of PP mesh, low wettability results in poor cell attachment/proliferation and restricts the loading of antibacterial agent, leading to a slow healing process and high risk of infection after surgery. Here in this study, a new technique has been employed to develop a novel antimicrobial and biocompatible PP mesh modified with bioactive chitosan and functionalized nanodiamond (FND) for infection inhibition and acceleration of the healing process. An oxygen plasma treatment PP mesh was used then chitosan was strongly attached to the surface of the PP fibers. Subsequently, FND as an antibacterial agent was loaded into the chitosan modified PP fiber to provide desired antibacterial functions. The meshes were characterised with XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDX, water contact angle, confocal, and optical microscopy. The modified PP mesh with chitosan and FND showed a significant increase in its hydrophilicity and L929 fibroblast cell attachment. Furthermore, the modified mesh exhibited great antibacterial efficiency against Escherichia coli. Therefore, the newly developed technique to modify PP mesh could be a promising technique to generate a biocompatible PP mesh to accelerate the healing process and reduce the risk of infection after surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to develop chemical protective clothing via a functionalised surface coating on cotton fabric for simultaneous barrier performance and thermal comfort. An omniphobic protective layer on the cotton fabric was developed through a polyurethane – superabsorbent polymer – fluoropolymer coating to protect the penetration of water, oils and liquid chemicals. It was found that the padding of coated specimens with fluoropolymer provided a substantial improvement of hydrophobicity, and therefore, exhibited a high-water contact angle (114.06°) and a maximum water repellency rating of 100. The highest aqueous liquid repellency (8.0) and satisfactory oil repellency (7.5) with resistance against liquid chemical penetration were also achieved after the treatment with fluoropolymer. Moreover, the coated fabrics integrated with superabsorbent polymer showed an improved dry heat resistance and moisture vapour transmittance, consequently a high evaporative cooling index to create a favourable thermal comfort between the skin and the apparel in hot and humid conditions. Other comfort parameters, including air permeability and moisture management performance were compromised to a certain level due to a continuous and hydrophobic barrier layer on the fabric surface that hindered the transferring of air and liquid sweat through the coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pelvic floor disorders, including pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI), are serious and very common. Surgery is commonly undertaken to restore the strength of the vaginal wall using transvaginal surgical mesh (TVM). However, up to 15% of TVM implants result in long-term complications, including pain, recurrent symptoms, and infection.Clinical Relevance- In this study, a new bioengineered TVM has been developed to address these issues. The TVM is visible using noninvasive imaging techniques such as computed tomography (CT); it has a highly similar structural profile to human tissue and potential to reduce pain and inflammation. These combined technological advances have the potential to revolutionize women's health.

Biogenic nanoparticles are the smartest weapons to deal with the multidrug-resistant "superbugs" because of their broad-spectrum antibacterial propensity as well as excellent biocompatibility. The aqueous biogenic silver nanoparticles (Aq-bAgNPs) and ethanolic biogenic silver nanoparticles (Et-bAgNPs) were synthesized using aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Andrographis paniculata stem, respectively, as reducing agents. Electron microscopic images confirmed the synthesis of almost spherical shaped biogenic silver nanoparticles (bAgNPs). The zeta potentials of the nanoparticles were negative and were -22 and -26 mV for Aq-bAgNPs and Et-bAgNPs, respectively. The antibacterial activity of bAgNPs was investigated against seven pathogenic (i.e., enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae, Enterococcus faecalis, Hafnia alvei, Acinetobacter baumannii ) and three nonpathogenic (i.e., E. coli DH5α, E. coli K12, and Bacillus subtilis ) bacteria at different time points (i.e., 12, 16, 20, and 24 h) in a dose-dependent manner (i.e., 20, 40, and 60 μg) through broth dilution assay, disk diffusion assay, CellTox TM Green uptake assay, and trypan blue dye exclusion assay. The lowest minimum inhibitory concentration value for both the bAgNPs was 0.125 μg. Et-bAgNPs showed the highest antibacterial activity against S. aureus at 60 μg after 16 h and the diameter of inhibited zone was 28 mm. Lipid peroxidation assay using all the bacterial strains revealed the formation of malondialdehyde-thiobarbituric acid adduct due to the oxidation of cell membrane fatty acids by bAgNPs. The bAgNPs showed excellent hemocompatibility against human as well as rat red blood cells. Furthermore, there was no significant toxicity observed when the levels of rat serum ALT, AST, γ-GT (i.e., liver function biomarkers), and creatinine (i.e., kidney function biomarker) were determined., (Copyright © 2019 Hossain, Polash, Takikawa, Shubhra, Saha, Islam, Hossain, Hasan, Takeoka and Sarker.)