Use of silicone rubber ('Silastic') prostheses for the replacement of metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints in rheumatoid arthritis was advocated by Swanson (1969), who considered the overall results of the operation superior to that of all previous surgical techniques. This report presents results of a short-term followup of twelve patients who had silastic MCP implants. Three subjects had joint re...

The formation of spherical aggregates during the growth of cell population has long been observed under various conditions. We observed the formation of such aggregates during proliferation of Huh-7.5 cells, a human hepatocarcinoma cell line, in a microfabricated low-adhesion microwell system (SpheroFilm; formed of mass-producible silicone elastomer) on the length scales up to 500 μm. The cell ...

PURPOSE Irrespective of the surgical technique chosen to treat high undescended testis, preservation of an adequate arterial supply for the testis is crucial for successful orchiopexy with maintenance of normal testicular size and texture. To provide an anatomical background for such a procedure, we performed a systematic study on the number and origin of arteries supplying the fetal testis dur...

PURPOSE At St. Erik Eye Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, ocular tumors of apical height above 6 mm are treated with brachytherapy, using iodine-125 seeds attached to a gold alloy plaque while the treatment planning is performed assuming homogeneous water surroundings. The aim of this work was to investigate the dose-modifying effects of the plaque and the seed fixating silicone rubber glue. MET...

Microchannels (40- microm wide, 10- microm high, 10-mm long, 70- microm pitch) were patterned in the silicone elastomer, polydimethylsiloxane on a microscope coverslip base. Integrated within each microchamber were individually addressable stimulation electrodes (40- microm wide, 20- microm long, 100-nm thick) and a common central pseudo-reference electrode (60- microm wide, 500- microm long, 1...

Silicone rubber insulators are replacing the conventional ceramic and porcelain insulators rapidly in power transmission and distribution industry. Very limited field knowledge is available about the performance of silicone rubber insulators in polluted and contaminated environments and therefore need further investigation. A comprehensive analysis of silicone rubber sheets (intended for coatin...

Scattering from a cavity in a soft elastic medium, such as silicone rubber, resembles scattering from an underwater bubble in that low-frequency monopole resonance is obtainable in both cases. Arrays of cavities can therefore be used to reduce underwater sound transmission using thin layers and low void fractions. This article examines the role of cavity shape by microfabricating arrays of disk...

For accurate particle image velocimetry measurements in hemodynamics studies it is important to use a fluid with a refractive index (n) matching that of the vascular models (phantoms) and ideally a dynamic viscosity matching human blood. In this work, a blood-mimicking fluid (BMF) composed of water, glycerol, and sodium iodide was formulated for a range of refractive indices to match most commo...

A switchable dry adhesive based on a nickel-titanium (NiTi) shape-memory alloy with an adhesive silicone rubber surface has been developed. Although several studies investigate micropatterned, bioinspired adhesive surfaces, very few focus on reversible adhesion. The system here is based on the indentation-induced two-way shape-memory effect in NiTi alloys. NiTi is trained by mechanical deformat...

Microfluidic channels are typically fabricated in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using soft lithography and sealed against a support substrate using various irreversible/reversible techniques-the most widely used method is the irreversible bonding of PDMS to glass using oxygen plasma. These techniques are limited in their ability to seal channels against rough, uneven, and/or three-dimensional sub...