The labour market, occupational safety and health, and work organisation are our main fields of activity. The creation and use of knowledge through learning, information and documentation are important to the Institute, as is international cooperation. The Institute is collaborating with interested parties in various development projects. The areas in which the Institute is active include: • la...

mn doped zno nanocomposite thin film coated on glass by a simple spin-coating method was used to degrade an azo textile dye from aqueous environment. mn doped zno nanocomposite thin film was characterized by means of x-ray diffraction (xrd) and scanning electron microscopy (sem). the photo-reduction activity of photocatalyst was evaluated using an azo textile dye as organic contaminant irradiat...

3,4-Dihydroxyphenyl-L-alanine-modified poly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG-DOPA3) is a biologically-inspired material that exhibits unique adhesion properties. In this study, mPEG-DOPA3 thin films were prepared using a novel laser process known as matrix-assisted pulsed-laser evaporation (MAPLE). The films were examined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, profilometr...

A case of propylene glycol poisoning is described in a 39 year old woman which resulted in her admission to hospital in status epilepticus. She had had a long-standing history of uncontrollable epilepsy. The diagnosis of propylene glycol poisoning resulted directly from the finding of a high plasma osmolal gap on admission. This finding would have been missed if later samples only had been anal...

We tested the hypothesis that the solvent for etomidate was a factor in the incidence of pain and other side effects after injection, and that these were associated with histamine release. Nine of 10 volunteers who received etomidate in a propylene glycol formulation reported moderate to severe pain on injection; only one of 10 subjects who received a lipid emulsion formulation reported mild pa...

Concentrated aqueous cornstarch (CS) suspensions are often used to demonstrate an extreme example of shear thickening rheological behaviour. Here, we describe the increased rheological complexity that occurs on the addition of poly(propylene glycol) 10 (PPG) to an aqueous CS suspension. The appearance of shear thickening/jamming, shear thinning, yield stress and near-Newtonian behaviours is dep...

Four polyesters were prepared by stepwise condensation of isopbthalic acid, cblorendic acid and maleic anhydride with propylene glycol using p-toluenesulpbonic acid as catalyst and xylene as entrainer. The quantities of maleic anbydride and propylene glycol used were 1 and 2.2 moles respectively and tbe molar ratios of cblorendic acid to isopbtbalic acid were 0.2: 0.8. 0.4: 0.6, 0.6: 0.4 and 0....

Introduction Debridement of devitalised tissue is essential for successful wound healing, as formation of granulation tissue requires a clean wound bed. Devitalised tissue that may have an imbalance of bacteria may retard the healing process. Amorphous hydrogels are primarily designed to promote autolytic debridement of devitalized tissue. Hydrogels contain polymers, or gelling agents that infl...

BACKGROUND Drug and contrast agent delivery systems that achieve controlled release in the presence of enzymatic activity are becoming increasingly important, as enzymatic activity is a hallmark of a wide array of diseases, including cancer and atherosclerosis. Here, we have synthesized clusters of ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxides (USPIOs) that sense enzymatic activity for applications ...