Orion Industries, Ltd.

Infections and the Chain of Command

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00 CST

Infections and the chain of command

"You may leave sicker than when you came in."

Another case for anti-microbial coatings

A week after Leandra Wiese had surgery to remove a benign tumor, the high school senior felt well enough to host a sleepover. But later that weekend she was vomiting and running a fever. Thinking it was the flu, her parents took her back to the hospital. Wiese never came home. It wasn't the flu but a deadly surgical infection.
About 2 million people a year contract hospital-related infections, and about 90,000 die, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The recent increase in antibiotic-resistant bugs and the mounting cost of health care -- to which infections add about $4.5 billion annually -- have mobilized the medical community to implement processes designed to decrease infections. These include using clippers rather than a razor to shave surgical sites and administering antibiotics before surgery but stopping them soon after to prevent drug resistance.
For all of modern medicine's advances, the best way to minimize infection risk is low-tech: Make sure any hospital staffers who touch you have washed their hands. Tubes and catheters are also a source of bugs, and patients should ask daily if they are necessary.

Direct-bond bearings challenge inserts-Machine Design Magazine

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:00 CST

Machine Design Magazine Article
Coatings make more efficient use of bearing materials and eliminate secondary machining and installation.

Dry, unlubricated insert bearings excel in jobs where it's tough to maintain oil and grease lubrication. Applications for insert bearings include sliding and rotating rods in shock absorbers, air cylinders, gas springs, solenoids, valve shuttles, small pumps, servomotors, and hydraulic and mechanical actuators. Bearings made of glass and bronze-filled PTFE or nylon go in machined bores and housings and are held in place by press fits, snap rings, staking, or pins...

Improving the Surface Friction of Silicone Elastomer Parts

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00 CST

Medical Device Technology Magazine
The relatively high coefficient of friction of silicone elastomers can limit the range of applications of these materials. A liquid silicone rubber top coat can be used to improve surface friction of silicone elastomer parts. It can be applied using conventional coating methods. The performance benefits it offers and potential product applications are described.

INFECTION CONTROL TODAY MAGAZINE

Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00 CST

Study Indicates Silver-coated Catheters Reduce Urinary Tract Infections

Using silver-coated catheters for patients significantly reduced the most common hospital-acquired infection, according to a study published in the April issue of Urologic Nursing, the journal of the Society of Urological Nurses and Associates...

Silver-Coated Endotracheal Tubes Cut Down on Infections

Tue, 20 May 2008 00:00 CST

MONDAY, May 19 (Washington Post - HealthDay News) -- Endotracheal tubes coated with silver dramatically reduce infections from highly resistant bacteria, researchers report.
Patients on ventilators breathe through a tube placed through their trachea and into the lung, and they are at risk for developing what is called ventilator-associated pneumonia.
"Ventilator-associated pneumonia can be caused by a variety of pathogens," said lead researcher Dr. Andrew Shorr, from the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. "We are clearly worried about some pathogens more than others, such as MRSA."

Plastics Technology Magazine - August 2005

Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00 CST

Fiber-reinforced and mineral-filled compounds are not always compatible with use in dynamic applications, where parts slide, rotate, pivot, or move across each other. "When a glass-filled part rubs against a metal surface or even a similar glass-filled surface, rapid abrasion takes place," says George Osterhout, v.p. of Dimension Bond, a Chicago-based supplier of a specialized coating service that can address this problem. "The reason for the abrasion is minute ends of the fiber reinforcing materials protruding from the surface of the filled part," adds Osterhout. The sharp ends of the fiber can fracture and cut into the mating surfaces. This can restrict relative motion between the parts, and the part surfaces may instead "cling" to each other...

ZincGlide® Bonded Film

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00 CST

The near-net shape and complex configurations of die cast zinc parts make them cost effective for thousands of industrial, appliance, tool, and housewares applications. Their limitation, however, lies in dynamic conditions where mating surfaces rub together repeatedly, such as on cams, plungers and pushrods, slides and carriage guides, bearing surfaces, thrust surfaces, gears, valve and switch parts, wear or end plates, latches and pivots.
When zinc parts rub against other parts; particularly other zinc parts; galling (adhesive wear) occurs. The more rubbing that takes place and the greater the load, the worse galling becomes, and the surfaces tend to cling to each other. In the early symptoms, galling causes moving parts to hesitate, plungers to stick, levers to bind...

Nanotech Silver Fights Microbes in Medical Devices

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00 CST

The number of infections linked to medical devices has fueled an explosion of research in surface science. The goal is to find a way to prevent the conditions that trigger life-threatening bloodstream infections.
Nosocomial, or hospital-related bacterial infections, are estimated to be the fifth-leading cause of death in the United States, after heart disease, cancer, stroke, and pneumonia or flu.

Using Risk Analysis to Devleop Coated Medical Devices

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00 CST

The popularity of coated devices is at an all-time high. However, there are challenging technical and regulatory obstacles when adding a coating to a device...

Machine Design Magazine Article - THE BONDED ON BEARING

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:00 CST

They are good enough for NASCAR engines. Bonded bearing surfaces are coatings made from high-performance polymers reinforced with hard nanosized particles.

Most engineers would jump at the chance to replace bearing inserts with dry lubricants. In many cases, of course, this just hasn't been practical. PTFE and moly-filled coatings might work on light loads that move slowly with PV (pressure X velocity) levels of 5,000 to 10,000 lb/in.-sec. But this PV just isn't high enough to replace traditional bearings. Abrasion is another problem and erosion can literally wash the coatings away.