Maria José Abreu

Designing surgical clothing and drapes according to the new technical standards

Hospitals will continue to be the largest consumers of disposables, because of the diverse range of procedures they provide. Favourable growth is forecast for non‐wovens. Increasing concern over contamination and nosocomial infections will boost the demand for consumable and disposable surgical gowns and drapes. But, until now neither the manufacturers nor the end users of surgical gowns and drapes could agree on standards. So, a mandatory European standard is being developed to establish basic requirements and test methods for disposable and reusable materials used for surgical gowns and drapes. Once this standard has been adopted, the continued use of cotton textiles and conventional cotton‐polyester mixed textiles will become questionable.

Integration and Embedding of Vital Signs Sensors and Other Devices into Textiles

The development of ubiquitous vital sign monitoring has become a very up-to-date research theme for many academics and industrial companies in the last years. With new materials and integration techniques, it is possible to implement vital sign monitoring in an economic manner, directly into textile products. This unobtrusive presence of sensors is especially important for the monitoring of children or elderly people. This paper focuses on two aspects of sensor integration: Integration of off-the-shelf electronic components, and the use of the textile material itself as sensor, or in general as an electrically active element presenting some exploratory work in the integration of electronic devices into textiles. The main objective was to reproduce and improve on previous work presented by other authors, and foster possibilities of developing garments for vital sign monitoring with immediate industrial and economic feasibility. The use of standard production techniques to produce textile-based sensors, easily integrated into garments and with mass-market potential, is one of the important motivations for this work.

Influence of the sterilisation process on the tactile feeling of surgical gowns

More and more disposable goods are available in surgical rooms. Rules and standards have been proposed in order to prevent infection from patient to surgical team and vice versa. A proposed mandatory European standard prEn 13795 “Surgical drapes, gowns and clear air suits used as medical devices, for patients, clinical staff and equipment”, is being developed by the Committee of European Normalisation and specifies the basic performance requirements and test methods for single‐use and reusable materials after sterilisation process. Therefore, the performances of the surgical gowns demand a balance between barrier and comfort properties. In comfort evaluation, tactile feeling is one of the most primary and important aspects with regard to the grading of the products. Therefore, the influence of the sterilisation process on the tactile perception is important to be evaluated. Subsequently, the final aim of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge of influence of sterilisation treatment on the tactile perception.

Simulating Human Physiological Response with a Thermal Manikin Testing Different Non Active Medical Devices

The thermal insulation of a clothing system represents a quantitative assessment of the way cloth provides thermal barrier to the user. One of this clothing systems, the surgical gown used in the operating theatre, is considered as a non-active medical device and obeys the Medical Device Directive 93/43/EEC. New materials and gowns are being developed, fitting the level of the barrier function with the comfort issues and therefore the selection of the most suitable gown is vital. During the last 60 years, thermal manikins have been used to measure clothing insulation and to assess the thermal environment regarding comfort issues. The main goal of the present study is the comparison of the thermal insulation values during the objective evaluation using the dry thermal manikin with the results obtained using an Infra-Red camera ThermaCAM, monitoring the temperature development of different surgical gowns at a constant skin temperature of 33 °C in neutral environmental conditions.

The influence of the sterilisation process on certain thermal properties

Surgical clothing and sheets have to meet all the requirements set in the health-care industry regarding body comfort, absorption capacity and general recognition of physiological safety and sterilisation capacity. The disposable surgical gown market is growing and the demand will increase in all product groups and market sectors, where the health care industry is the most dynamic growth area. The aim of this study was to analyse some of the thermal properties of disposable surgical gowns before and after different sterilisation methods, and therefore the influence of the sterilisation process on their thermal comfort. The apparatus used to measure heat transfer properties was the Thermo Labo device (KES FB7) which evaluates the cool/warm sensation, thermal conductivity and insulation properties of the test item. The results obtained highlight the influence of the sterilisation process on the thermal and comfort properties.

New performance and quality requirements in the field of operating room garments (non‐active medical devices)

In the area of technical textiles, the products depend mainly on advanced materials and these, on the other hand, depend on textile know‐how. Textile materials in the health‐care sector gradually have taken on more important roles. As more research has been completed, textiles have found their way into a variety of medical applications. Examines the medical and related health‐care sector, and more precisely the products used in the operating theatre and hospital ward for the hygiene, care and safety of staff and patients. These textiles are not very well‐known, but have great potential for development in the fields of application. Owing to recent advancements in medical procedures and textile engineering, the use of textile materials in the health‐care industry is growing. Subsequently, aims to contribute to the knowledge and clarification of single use materials used in the operating theatre according to the new technical standards.

Fast Fashion, Fashion Brands & Sustainable Consumption

The phenomenon of fast fashion chains is due to the way this business model manages its production chain and supplies. Combining the quick response to the agile, lean retailing and leagile processes, it is possible to deliver products to retail outlets in a few weeks, in response to growing consumer demand for new goods. The excessive consumption of fast fashion is also due to social media involves issues such as sustainability in fashion consumption and work practices within companies and their suppliers. On the other hand, the awareness of the concern with the consequences of this consumption gives rise to new ways of consuming and producing fashion causing less impact both environmental and social.

Social aspects in denim production

Abstract The popular market in Brazil, specially the denim market, has been showing great economic movement in several Brazilian regions, mainly in the northeast [13]. Taking that in consideration, this study offers a survey of the main aspects of the domestic production of denim in the Northeast of Brazil, specifically the region of Agreste in the state of Pernambuco. This research applied a combination of bibliographic research and field observation in popular denim markets in the city of Toritama in the region of Agreste, Pernambuco. The purpose was to collect information to characterize methods of producing denim. The collected data demonstrate that despite the unfavourable social aspects of the informal mode of producing denim, this segment of the popular denim enterprise has shown a positive economic income, growth in productivity and expansion in trade.

Development of innovative clean air suits to increase comfort and simultaneously decrease operating room infections

This work is financed by FEDER funds through the Competitivity Factors Operational Program - COMPETE and by national funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007136.

Subjective evaluation of the comfort of popular denim: elaboration and validation of the the data

This work is financed by FEDER funds through the Competitivity Factors Operational Programme COMPETE and by national funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007136.