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posted by azrael on Monday August 11 2014, @08:03PM   Printer-friendly
from the no-protection-against-scathing-comments dept.

Wrapping wound dressings around fingers and toes can be tricky, but for burn victims, guarding them against infection is critical. Today, scientists are reporting the development of novel, ultra-thin coatings called nanosheets that can cling to the body's most difficult-to-protect contours and keep bacteria at bay.

The researchers are speaking about their materials, which they've tested on mice, at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Yosuke Okamura, Ph.D., explains that existing wound dressings work well when it comes to treating burns on relatively flat and broad areas. But the human body has curves, wrinkles and ridges that present problems for these dressings. So Okamura's team developed a novel biomaterial out of tiny pieces of nanosheets that are super-flexible and sticky.

"The nanosheets can adhere not only to flat surfaces, but also to uneven and irregular surfaces without adding any adhesives," he says.

That would make a big difference in the way burn victims are treated. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, someone is injured by fire every 30 minutes. Burn wounds are vulnerable to infection, and keeping them sealed off from bacteria is essential for a successful recovery.

Okamura's team at Tokai University makes the nanosheets out of a biodegradable polyester called poly(L-lactic acid), or PLLA. They put the material into a test tube with water and spin it, which breaks up the sheets into even smaller pieces. When they pour the liquid onto a flat surface, the tiny fragments overlap in a patchwork and dry as a single nanosheet. They tested out the nanosheets' ability to coat small and irregular shapes by dipping different things into the mixture, including a metal needle and a mouse's fingers. The nanosheet patchwork effectively covered even the smallest bumps and wrinkles on the mouse's digits, and after the material dried, it clung in place.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by AnonTechie on Monday August 11 2014, @08:43PM

    by AnonTechie (2275) on Monday August 11 2014, @08:43PM (#80222) Journal

    They can have bandage in a spray can.

    --
    Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by randmcnatt on Monday August 11 2014, @09:58PM

      by randmcnatt (671) on Monday August 11 2014, @09:58PM (#80247)
      You can buy spray-on bandage at WalMart [walmart.com] (among, well, just about any drugstore), so I'm not sure what is so special about this approach.
      --
      The Wright brothers were not the first to fly: they were the first to land.
      • (Score: 2) by AnonTechie on Tuesday August 12 2014, @07:30AM

        by AnonTechie (2275) on Tuesday August 12 2014, @07:30AM (#80365) Journal

        Thats exactly what I was wondering ! I thought this was available for quite some time now.

        --
        Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
    • (Score: 2) by Hawkwind on Tuesday August 12 2014, @03:38PM

      by Hawkwind (3531) on Tuesday August 12 2014, @03:38PM (#80488)
      I don't know the answer but a linked article refers to two problems with current options.
       
      ... current options fall short in one way or another. Hydrogels provide a damp environment to promote healing, but they don't allow a wound to "breathe." Dry films with tiny pores allow air to move in and out, but blood cells and bacteria can stick to the films and threaten the healing process. To solve these problems all at once, Chang's team looked to new materials.
       
      http://phys.org/news/2014-06-material-wound-bacteria.html#inlRlv [phys.org]
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 11 2014, @10:31PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 11 2014, @10:31PM (#80260)

    ..for the mention of "mouse's fingers".

  • (Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Tuesday August 12 2014, @01:46PM

    by Rivenaleem (3400) on Tuesday August 12 2014, @01:46PM (#80450)

    What's the difference between a burn wound, and a cauterised wound? One is susceptible to infection, the other is to prevent infection. How?