United kingdom Daily news: Great news for clumsy kids: A plaster that doesn't hurt when you peel it off

Rabu, 02 Mei 2012

Great news for clumsy kids: A plaster that doesn't hurt when you peel it off

Great news for clumsy kids: A plaster that doesn't hurt when you peel it off

By Eddie Wrenn

PUBLISHED: 10:37 EST, 2 May 2012 | UPDATED: 10:50 EST, 2 May 2012

Removing plasters from wounds has always had an 'ouch' factor.

But a new scientific breakthrough revealed today could take the sting out of peeling off bandages.

Researchers in the U.S. have developed a process that makes bandages and plasters degradable, meaning they never have to be removed from cuts and wounds.

The process not only helps those of us with cuts and scrapes, but may also lead to cheaper and more environmentally-friendly toilet paper, napkins and other products.

We all know that feeling... Luckily a new plaster may come to market which alleviates the pain of a peeled plaster

Experts at Penn State University in Pennsylvania developed the process, which spins starch into fine strands.

These strands or fibres can be combined into paper-like mats similar to napkins, tissues and other paper products.

Once the process is scaled to industrial size, companies could make bandages and other medical dressings using starch fibres.

Unlike plasters and bandages currently on the market that must be painfully removed, starch ones would degrade into glucose, a substance the body safely absorbs.

Co-author Lingyan Kong, a food science graduate, said: 'There are many applications for starch fibres.

'Starch is the most abundant and also the least expensive of natural polymers.

'Starch is easily biodegradable, so bandages made from it would, over time, be absorbed by the body. So, you wouldn't have to remove them.'

Penn Uni have patented the peeling plaster process - hopefully meaning scenes like this will becomes thing of the past

Penn State Uni has patented the peeling plaster breakthrough - hopefully meaning scenes like this will becomes thing of the past

Starch does not completely dissolve in water but instead becomes a gel - or, starch paste - that is too thick to make fibres.

To solve the problem, the researchers added a solvent to help the solution dissolve the starch, but not destroy its molecular structure.

The researchers used an electrospinning device that, in addition to the solvent, helped stretch the starch solution into fibres.

The device uses a high voltage electrical charge to create a charge repulsion to overcome surface tension, which stretches the droplets of starch into long strands.

Kong noted that because starch is so abundant, it is less expensive than other materials currently used to form fibres.

The researchers, supported by the US Department of Agriculture, have filed a patent on their breakthrough.