Synergistic interactions between grafted hyaluronic acid and lubricin provide enhanced wear protection and lubrication

Normal (e.g., adhesion) and lateral (friction) forces were measured between physisorbed and chemically grafted layers of hyaluronic acid (HA), an anionic polyelectrolyte in the presence of lubricin (Lub), a mucinous glycoprotein, on mica surfaces using a surface forces apparatus (SFA). This work demonstrates that high friction coefficients between the surfaces do not necessarily correlate with surface damage and that chemically grafted HA acts synergistically with Lub to provide friction reduction and enhanced wear protection to the surfaces. Surface immobilization of HA by grafting is necessary for such wear protection. Increasing the concentration of Lub enhances the threshold load that a chemically grafted HA surface can be subjected to before the onset of wear. Addition of Lub does not have any beneficial effect if HA is physisorbed to the mica surfaces. Damage occurs at loads less than 1 mN regardless of the amount of Lub, indicating that the molecules in the bulk play little or no role in protecting the surfaces from damage. Lub penetrates into the chemically bound HA to form a visco-elastic gel that reduces the coefficient of friction as well as boosts the strength of the surface against abrasive wear (damage).

Private Health Insurance Status and Utilisation of Dental Services in Australia

This article focuses on the relationship between private insurance status and dental service utilisation in Australia using data between 1995 and 2001. This article employs joint maximum likelihood to estimate models of time since last dental visit treating private ancillary health insurance (PAHI) as endogenous. The sensitivity of results to the choice between two different but related types of instrumental variables is examined. We find robust evidence in both 1995 and 2001 that individuals with a PAHI policy make significantly more frequent dental consultations relative to those without such coverage. A comparison of the 1995 and 2001 results, however, suggests that there has been an increasing role of PAHI in terms of the frequency of dental consultations over time. This seems intuitive given the trends in the price of unsubsidised private dental consultations. In terms of policy, our results suggest that while government measures to increase private health insurance coverage in Australia have been successful to a significant degree, that success may have come at some cost in terms of socio-economic inequality as the privately insured are provided much better access to care and financial protection.

Determinants of the frequency of contact lens wear

To characterize and discover the determinants of the frequency of wear (FOW) of contact lenses. Survey forms were sent to contact lens fitters in up to 40 countries between January and March every year for 5 consecutive years (2007–2011). Practitioners were asked to record data relating to the first 10 contact lens fits or refits performed after receiving the survey form. Only data for daily wear lens fits were analyzed. Data were collected in relation to 74,510 and 9,014 soft and rigid lens fits, respectively. Overall, FOW was 5.9±1.7 days per week (DPW). When considering the proportion of lenses worn between one to seven DPW, the distribution for rigid lenses is skewed toward full-time wear (7 DPW), whereas the distribution for soft daily disposable lenses is perhaps bimodal, with large and small peaks at seven and two DPW, respectively. There is a significant variation in FOW among nations (P<0.0001), ranging from 6.8±1.0 DPW in Greece to 5.1±2.5 DPW in Kuwait. For soft lenses, FOW increases with decreasing age. Females (6.0±1.6 DPW) wear lenses more frequently than males (5.8±1.7 DPW) (P=0.0002). FOW is greater among those wearing presbyopic corrections (6.1±1.4 DPW) compared with spherical (5.9±1.7 DPW) and toric (5.9±1.6 DPW) designs (P<0.0001). FOW with hydrogel peroxide systems (6.4±1.1 DPW) was greater than that with multipurpose systems (6.2±1.3 DPW) (P<0.0001).