Nowadays, medical implant manufacturers are asked to continually elevate their surface finish and profile accuracy standards, with medical implants more in demand than ever before. Kemet International Ltd has spent many years automating, developing, and perfecting precision surface finishing processes, specifically for the medical industry.

Surface finishing techniques play a major part in the development of both medical devices and orthopedic implants. For that essential shine, medical equipment needs to be finished efficiently - which is achieved by selecting the right surface finishing tool.

There is a high demand for dimensional accuracy within orthopedic implants, which can be achieved by using lapping and polishing processes. In order to achieve professional performance, medical devices also have intricate parts, such as blades, that need to be finished perfectly.

The risk in these devices - in terms of sharpness, roughness, dimensions, alignment, and so on - can be eliminated with this technique. Naturally, therefore, an accurate measurement is required, which can be provided courtesy of the surface finishing techniques mentioned above.

Kemet process development laboratories have successfully developed special-purpose polishing machines for a wide range of medical implants. The latest development from Kemet is the KemiSphere II: otherwise known as a bench top spherical/ball lapper/polisher, which can lap and polish spherical forms to more than five microns roundness with a mirror finish.

The process is simple and consists of two stages, offering an extremely economical and highly repeatable way of processing spherical forms to a wide variety of surface finishes. The system can also process a myriad of different materials either to be lapped as an individual component or to match lap spherical forms together.

Not only can the new product from Kemet process all joint sizes and materials up to 60 mm in diameter (or 100 mm with the floor-standing version), but Kemet also offers to demonstrate its process within its testing labs by producing test data and samples so that all questions can be answered prior to ordering a machine.

This also means that machines can be sent pre-programmed and ready for use regardless of their intended application.

When it comes to the manufacture of tibial trays and hips, most of the production costs are associated with process consumables and, as a manufacturer of these, Kemet is there to help reduce them.

More importantly, Kemet’s expertise in surface finishing allows the company to develop new processes and consumables while ensuring increased productivity and reduced cost per part.

The improvements to the process - be it less rework, faster throughput or lower consumption - tend to outweigh the cost associated with introducing new consumables.

The Kemet Tibial Polishing Cell has been specifically developed for finishing large production quantities of knee replacement parts, such as Tibial Trays. A typical cell contains Kemet smoothing, polishing and cleaning systems.

Manufacturers now have the added benefits of improved product quality, greatly reduced costs and faster production. All Kemet Polishing Systems, be they small manual processes or large fully automated cells, are serviced and supported by Kemet.

The company is also a key manufacturer of polishing consumables and can take full responsibility for all aspects of production relating to one of its finishing processes. At present, all of the process development work is being carried out free of charge.

A contributing factor to making the company a global leader in this technology is Kemet’s ability to develop, supply and support such processes. In addition to precision surface finishing, Kemet also offers:

• Ultrasonic cleaning tanks ranging from 40 to 160 liters, with over 400 high-performance formulations to choose from.
• Aqueous cleaning fluids are perfectly suited for the medical industry with validation standards of ISO 19227-2018 and biocompatibility standards of ISO 10993-18.
• Passivation lines that comply with ISO 7 clean room.
• Vacuum solvent cleaners - minimal loss of solvent, significantly cutting process costs.

Contact Kemet today to find out more about the solutions provided, or to arrange lapping or polishing trials.

Established in 1938, Kemet International Limited is at the forefront of precision lapping and polishing technology, using Diamond Compound and Diamond Slurry, which are manufactured in house to ISO 9001:2015 quality standards. We offer innovative solutions to operations which demand precision finish and close tolerance. Kemet's highly specialised and accurate lapping machines can machine a wide variety of materials for numerous applications.

Operating at the forefront of orthopaedic implant polishing technology for over 20 years, Kemet International Ltd has transformed the quality and cost of manufacture of tibial trays and hip heads/cups.

Kemet's process Laboratories are fully equipped with the latest range of Lapping Machines, Polishing Machines, Ultrasonic Cleaners, Mould Polishing and Metallographic & Geological thin sectioning Equipment to carry out tests on customers' samples. In addition, our team of industrial chemists are able to manufacture bespoke diamond lapping and diamond polishing compounds and diamond suspensions.

Let Kemet help you develop a new process, reduce costs or solve immediate technical problems. Kemet offer training courses covering all aspects of lapping and polishing in our Lapping Laboratories or at your own premises. Kemet International actively takes part in the leading Trade Shows and Exhibitions and have received many awards for our achievements internationally.

Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.Net which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments.

Increasing work demands and workplace stress levels can take a toll on your mental health. Employees may be unable to perform to their full potential and realise their life goals if they are experiencing such negative effects on their bodies and brains. Practising meditation at the workplace has many proven benefits like reduced stress and improved focus. Increased creativity, productivity and improved relationships with colleagues are some of the great results of meditation one can attain at work. According to the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, mindfulness and meditation are the most effective ways in reducing work stress and poor mental health symptoms while creating a positive impact on employees’ mental well-being. (Also read: Tips to handle stress at workplace)

In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Raman Mittal, Co-founder and meditation expert, Idanim, shared five effective meditation techniques that you can practice at work.

1. Mantra Meditation: Creating a positive aura around you in a difficult situation may work wonders. Think of a mantra or a motivating phrase and keep repeating it in your mind. It will act as a tool to help release tension in your mind and boost awareness. It can make a lot of difference, especially if you are having trouble concentrating or getting in the right frame of mind. Mantra chanting (or any conscious affirmations) also unblocks our energy flow and rejuvenates our mind and body.

2. Breathing Meditation: Do you feel anxious before a presentation or before meetings? Try deep breathing for five minutes. Deep breathing is one of the most effective methods to keep calm. Taking a deep breath enables more airflow in your body, which calms down your nerves, reducing stress and anxiety. So, next time you are in a stressful situation, start taking deep and conscious breaths and you will notice an immediate sense of relaxation.

3. Walking Meditation: There are times when you are in a stressful situation at work and you feel like running away from it. It is obvious that you cannot run away from work or leave it. However, taking a refreshing walk with awareness enables the human mind to observe things better. This help the mind and body to relax. I’m sure, this technique will definitely help you take a break from stressful working hours.

4. Body Scan: Have you been feeling unproductive lately or your mind keeps on wandering? Body scan meditation will help manage your physical and emotional feelings when you are overwhelmed, sad, or anxious. Pay attention to your whole body and how it feels, scanning from your feet to the top of your head in a slow and deliberate progression. This will help you relieve tension and return back to work mindfully. This the technique is a great health meditation way to relax your body and mind both at the same time.

5. Visualization Meditation: If you feel you need a little escape, a visualization exercise might be ideal. Think about where you’d go if you could be anywhere right now. It could be a bench in a peaceful garden or a sandy shore on a summer day. You might prefer a rock overlooking a waterfall in a forest. Now, set a timer for 5-10 minutes and enjoy the tranquillity of your place. Picture every detail - the sights, sounds, and smells. Enjoy the scenery. Let your mind wander to your happy place whenever you need to relax your mind during work.

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One of the best ways to go green is to travel in an electric vehicle. But while EVs are more popular than ever, most people still can't afford the hefty price tag.

For those who still drive combustion-engine cars, there are still ways to maximize your mileage for less money.

This technique is called hypermiling, a strategy to get every last mile out of a gallon of fuel. It is a prime example of eco-friendly driving in action.

Here are four hypermiling strategies you can use right now.

Related: The 5 Most Luxurious Electric Cars on the Market That Will Make You Want To Skip On Gas

1. Keep your engine tuned

The first step to hypermiling is getting your car set up for maximum efficiency. Using driving techniques will certainly help save fuel, but you're only halfway there if your vehicle is not maintained well.

First, have the car tuned up. This involves changing the sparkplugs, so this is an excellent opportunity to go with iridium-tipped "performance" ones that will be very efficient as creating the combustion. The result is more power while using less fuel for it and contributing fewer emissions.

You should also have an oil change done and switch to using synthetic motor oil if you aren't already. Synthetic oil is long-lasting so it will cost less over time, but, more importantly, it will increase the motor's efficiency and use less fuel as a result. Also, look for lightweight motor oil as it is easier for the engine to pump it, making for greater efficiency.

2. Maintain the tires

One of the most critical aspects of hypermiling is the condition of your tires. The key is how much of the rubber is in contact with the road.

They should be aligned properly so they wear evenly and have the proper contact with the road. Next, they should be properly inflated. You can Boost your gas mileage by up to 3.3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

When they are underinflated, too much contact with the road and friction will reduce fuel efficiency. On the other hand, overinflated tires cause a lot of drag and are dangerous when driving, in addition to reduced efficiency.

3. Drive steady

Constantly slowing down and speeding up is one of the worst ways to drive from fuel efficiency. Instead, try to use a steady speed without much variation. If you have cruise control, then using it when it makes sense will help.

You should also try to use your brakes less and just coast when you need to slow down. When you accelerate from a slow speed rather than a full stop, then you increase your efficiency. Keep your distance between other cars so you can roll at a slow pace rather than stop altogether.

4. Pack lightly

Keep unnecessary items out of your vehicle, especially the heavy stuff that can weigh you down. An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your MPG by up to 2 percent, says the U.S. Department of Energy.

Scientists from the University of Ghent say they have developed new techniques for assessing antibody stability during drug development to select formulations that minimize degradation during long-term storage. The methods aim to quickly predict which antibody formulations are likely to degrade over time due to aggregation.

“During formulation development, it’s helpful to predict which formulations are stable, without having to wait one or two years for real-time stability studies to find out,” explains Hristo Svilenov, PhD, an associate professor from the University of Ghent. “Our approach evaluates how the formulation conditions affect the aggregation of partially unfolded antibodies at temperatures relevant for long-term storage.”

When native antibodies unfold, the aggregation-prone parts of the protein are exposed and can form aggregates. These aggregates can increase the risk of immune reactions in patients or, if they become large enough to form visible particles, they can lead to the drug batch being discarded, Svilenov explains, adding that the team has developed new methods for predicting the aggregation of antibodies during storage in a faster manner.

These methods can be used during drug development to find, for example, the optimum formulations for storage, including the optimal buffer or other excipients. According to Svilenov, the techniques use common chemical denaturants, such as urea and guanidinium salts. These can be added to the antibodies to induce the formation of partially unfolded proteins and accelerate the aggregation to allow comparisons to be made on short timescales.

“We aim to develop predictive techniques that are simple so you don’t need special equipment—you can perform them with devices in every lab and our goal is that they can be used by anyone,” he says.

The techniques can also be used during biomanufacturing to compare production batches and ensure that the drug product has the same degradation profile. Svilenov says the team is now following up on this research by developing quantitative prediction tools to rank formulations and drug candidates by aggregation risk. They also aim to automate these methods and apply them to other biotherapeutics beyond antibodies.

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Optica Foundation today issued details on the healthcare work being funded by its 20^th Anniversary Challenge. This newly funded research will address the potential of Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) microscopy, accessibility and portability of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), and applicability of Synthetic Wavelength Holography (SWH), a method to image through light-scattering materials like human skin.

“The field of imaging has benefited greatly from advances in photonics,” said Majid Ebrahim-Zadeh, ICFO - Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, Spain, and member of the 20^th Anniversary Challenge Selection Committee. “The research being conducted by the challenge recipients strives to solve for today’s pain points in imaging, including efficiency and accessibility. We expect these efforts to lead to continued investigation and advancement in this critical field.”

Healthcare initiatives from the 20^th Anniversary Challenge include the following:

Transparent Microparticle and Cancer Cell Imaging

• Guangwei Hu, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  Single-shot, Isotropic and Miniaturized Differential Interference Contrast (SIM-DIC) Microscopy based on computational flat-optics
  Research Executive Summary Optical microscopy offers a method of imaging tiny samples, even transparent ones, to track their movements in real-time in 3-D. To achieve that goal today, researchers deploy a bulky system, such as differential interference contrast microscopy, measuring elements in one dimension at a time due to orientation sensitivity. However, Guangwei Hu, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, is working to change the approach.

  To address shortcomings in current optical microscopy approaches, Hu’s research proposes using flat optical elements or metasurfaces to create smaller, more efficient, and more powerful systems. By leveraging silicon nanostructures as a foundation, the planned system will be set to perform multiple functionalities at one time, including the focusing phase, polarization multiplexing, and isotropic edge detection—all in 3-D— via a portable device that can potentially link up with standard consumer electronics.

  “I’m trying to revolutionize existing microscopic techniques with new and advanced optical elements based on metasurfaces,” explains Hu. “It’s a new crossover, really merging microscopic imaging systems with metasurfaces.”

  Hu has already conducted initial work on the fundamental limits and principals behind his approach and has developed designs to fabricate for testing. He plans to begin with a demonstration of the microscopy system, and within six months, Hu expects to operate the system on biological samples of cancer cells.

  “The ultimate goal is that healthcare researchers and practitioners could have a module that they can even place on their mobile phone to image,” said Hu. “At the end of the day, the proposed single-shot, isotropic and miniaturized DIC system is portable and simple to operate, because it’s essentially just a very detailed lens.”

Portable OCT Platforms for Disease Detection

• Xingchen Ji, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
  Developing low-cost, portable, integrated OCT systems using low-loss silicon nitride platform
  Research Executive Summary Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive imaging modality that provides high-resolution images of tissue for more than 30 million scans each year. However, due to the complexity of system elements, prohibitive costs for purchase and maintenance, and its generous size, the product’s accessibility is limited. But new efforts from Xingchen Ji, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, promise to develop an alternative OCT system that is both portable and low cost.

  “My proposal is about developing a portable, low-loss OCT system prototype, based on silicon photonics, and more specifically, silicon nitride,” shared Ji. “This way, all of the elements of a traditional OCT system could be covered by a single platform, a whole system rather than single parts. If this idea succeeds, we will be able to reduce both the size and cost of OCT systems by orders of magnitude.”

  Ji explained that his first step is to optimize the fabrication process, and then design the light source, interferometer and spectrometer components of the system. In three months, he hopes that they will demonstrate the low-loss platform that supports the system’s design, and by six months, they will be able to acquire OCT images. At the end of a year, Ji aspires to have a working prototype.

  “What we are trying to do here is make OCT widely accessible. Once we have a miniaturized system, we can reduce costs to $1,000 or below per device. I can even imagine a day when you would have one at home, and you could transfer the images to the cloud so the doctor could review them, without having to go to the hospital, office, or clinic,” Ji said.

Precise Imaging through Living Tissue with Standard Camera Technology

• Florian Willomitzer, University of Arizona, USA
  Noninvasive high-resolution imaging through living tissue with single-shot synthetic wavelength holography
  Research Executive Summary Over the last decades, the field of medical imaging has spawned several seminal inventions, including Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), Computed Tomography (CT), ultrasound, and Magnet Resonance Imaging (MRI). exact years have seen a growing interest in medical imaging techniques which enable a look inside the human body with high precision but are non-invasive and can be facilitated in a small form factor, i.e., possibly even operated in a hand-guided fashion. Now, work from Florian Willomitzer at the University of Arizona, USA, seeks to demonstrate an important step towards this new breed of medical imaging devices: single-shot Synthetic Wavelength Holography (SWH).

  “Our previously demonstrated method of Synthetic Wavelength Holography shows great potential for a multitude of medical imaging applications, but currently still requires a temporal sequence of images to ‘see’ through scattering media like tissue. If something moves during the acquisition of this temporal image sequence, the measurement fails. This makes the current method unfeasible for real-world medical applications, as living tissue is in constant movement,” said Willomitzer. “This new work addresses this problem by introducing an approach that enables precise SWH measurements with only one single camera image. The vision is to create an efficient and cost-effective imaging system which uses standard, off-the-shelf camera technology – theoretically even mobile phone cameras.”

  Willomitzer will start by building on exact research that demonstrated the success of multi-shot SWH, refining the approach to function in a single-shot environment. In six months, he intends to have developed baseline criteria for his hypothesized one-shot approach, and then will evaluate its potential for real-world medical imaging applications, i.e., the imaging of small structures, such as capillaries, lesions, tumors, etc., through scattering media, such as tissue and bone.

  “The proposed technique could have profound effects on future industries that go far beyond potential applications in medical imaging. Possible examples include applications in autonomous vehicles, virtual reality, industrial inspection, and many more,” Willomitzer concluded.

All three imaging research efforts are the result of grants awarded through the Optica Foundation’s 20^th Anniversary Challenge. This challenge was designed to engage early-career professionals in out-of-the-box thinking and provide seed money to investigate hypotheses in the areas of environment, health and information. Each of the recipients received $100,000 USD to explore their ideas and take steps toward addressing critical global issues. Recipients have begun work on these projects and expect to report initial results by the second quarter of 2023. For more information and to follow their journeys, visit optica.org/foundationchallenge.

About Optica

Optica (formerly OSA), Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, is the society dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving and dissemination of knowledge in the field. Founded in 1916, it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students and others interested in the science of light. Optica’s renowned publications, meetings, online resources and in-person activities fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate scientific, technical and educational achievement. Discover more at: Optica.org

About Optica Foundation

Established in 2002, the Optica Foundation carries out charitable activities in support of the society’s student and early career communities. We cultivate the next generation of leaders and innovators as they navigate advanced degree programs and become active members of research, engineering and business worldwide. The foundation also works to secure the endowments for Optica’s awards and honors programs. The foundation is registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. For more information, visit optica.org/foundation.

King Solomon may have gained some of his famed wisdom from an unlikely source—ants.

According to a Jewish legend, Solomon conversed with a clever ant queen that confronted his pride, making quite an impression on the Israelite king. In the biblical book of Proverbs (6:6-8), Solomon shares this advice with his son: "Look to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise. Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest."

While I can't claim any familial connection to King Solomon, despite sharing his name, I've long admired the wisdom of ants and have spent over 20 years studying their ecology, evolution and behaviors. While the notion that ants may offer lessons for humans has certainly been around for a while, there may be new wisdom to gain from what scientists have learned about their biology.

Lessons from ant agriculture

As a researcher, I'm especially intrigued by fungus-growing ants, a group of 248 species that cultivate fungi as their main source of food. They include 79 species of leafcutter ants, which grow their fungal gardens with freshly cut leaves they carry into their enormous underground nests. I've excavated hundreds of leafcutter ant nests from Texas to Argentina as part of the scientific effort to understand how these ants coevolved with their fungal crops.

Much like human farmers, each species of fungus-growing ant is very particular about the type of crops they cultivate. Most varieties descend from a type of fungus that the ancestors of fungus-growing ants began growing some 55 million to 65 million years ago. Some of these fungi became domesticated and are now unable to survive on their own without their insect farmers, much like some human crops such as maize.

Ant farmers face many of the same challenges human farmers do, including the threat of pests. A parasite called Escovopsis can devastate ant gardens, causing the ants to starve. Likewise in human agriculture, pest outbreaks have contributed to disasters like the Irish Potato Famine, the 1970 corn blight and the current threat to bananas.

Since the 1950s, human agriculture has become industrialized and relies on monoculture, or growing large amounts of the same variety of crop in a single place. Yet monoculture makes crops more vulnerable to pests because it is easier to destroy an entire field of genetically identical plants than a more diverse one.

Industrial agriculture has looked to chemical pesticides as a partial solution, turning agricultural pest management into a billion-dollar industry. The trouble with this approach is that pests can evolve new ways to get around pesticides faster than researchers can develop more effective chemicals. It's an arms race—and the pests have the upper hand.

Ants also grow their crops in monoculture and at a similar scale—after all, a leafcutter ant nest can be home to 5 million ants, all of which feed on the fungi in their underground gardens. They, too, use a pesticide to control Escovopsis and other pests.

Yet, their approach to pesticide use differs from humans' in one important way. Ant pesticides are produced by bacteria they allow to grow in their nests, and in some cases even on their bodies. Keeping bacteria as a living culture allows the microbes to adapt in real time to evolutionary changes in the pests. In the arms race between pests and farmers, farming ants have discovered that live bacteria can serve as pharmaceutical factories that can keep up with ever-changing pests.

Whereas exact developments in agricultural pest management have focused on genetically engineering crop plants to produce their own pesticides, the lesson from 55 million years of ant agriculture is to leverage living microorganisms to make useful products. Researchers are currently experimenting with applying live bacteria to crop plants to determine if they are effective at producing pesticides that can evolve in real time along with pests.

Improving transportation

Ants can also offer practical lessons in the realm of transportation.

Ants are notoriously good at quickly locating food, whether it's a dead insect on a forest floor or some crumbs in your kitchen. They do this by leaving a trail of pheromones—chemicals with a distinctive smell ants use to guide their nest mates to food. The shortest route to a destination will accumulate the most pheromone because more ants will have traveled back and forth along it in a given amount of time.

In the 1990s, computer scientists developed a class of algorithms modeled after ant behavior that are very effective at finding the shortest path between two or more locations. Like with real ants, the shortest route to a destination will accumulate the most virtual pheromone because more virtual ants will have traveled along it in a given amount of time. Engineers have used this simple but effective approach to design telecommunication networks and map delivery routes.

Not only are ants good at finding the shortest route from their nests to a source of food, thousands of ants are capable of traveling along these routes without causing traffic jams. I recently began collaborating with physicist Oscar Andrey Herrera-Sancho to study how leafcutter ants maintain such a steady flow along their foraging paths without the slowdowns typical of crowded human sidewalks and highways.

We are using cameras to track how each individual ant responds to artificial obstacles placed on their foraging trails. Our hope is that by getting a better understanding of the rules ants use to respond to both obstacles and the movement of other ants, we can develop algorithms that can eventually help program self-driving cars that never get stuck in traffic.

Look to the ant

To be fair, there are plenty of ways ants are far from perfect role models. After all, some ant species are known for indiscriminate killing, and others for enslaving babies.

But the fact is that ants remind us of ourselves—or the way we might like to imagine ourselves—in many ways. They live in complex societies with division of labor. They cooperate to raise their young. And they accomplish remarkable engineering feats—like building structures with air funnels that can house millions—all without blueprints or a leader. Did I mention their societies are run entirely by females?

There is still a lot to learn about ants. For example, researchers still don't fully understand how an ant larva develops into either a queen—a female with wings that can live for 20 years and lay millions of eggs—or a worker—a wingless, often sterile female that lives for less than a year and performs all the other jobs in the colony. What's more, scientists are constantly discovering new species—167 new ant species were described in 2021 alone, bringing the total to more than 15,980.

By considering ants and their many fascinating ways, there's plenty of wisdom to be gained.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.