Browsing by Author "Abraham, EK"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Natural rubber latex products: Concerns in health care
    (JOURNAL OF MACROMOLECULAR SCIENCE-POLYMER REVIEWS, 2002) Abraham, EK; Ramesh, P
    In the last decade, there has been a tremendous increase in the reports on adverse allergic reactions from natural rubber latex products used in the health care field. One of the reasons for the widely reported latex allergy is attributed to the increased use of natural rubber latex products, mainly gloves, since the emergence of deadly diseases such as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), hepatitis, etc. This review presents the latest reported clinical manifestations from contact with natural rubber latex products, at the same time exploring the reasons behind these allergies, which are mainly attributed to the protein and rubber additives present in these latex products. The wish for better safety and health has led to the rise of synthetic rubber as an alternative to natural rubber products, the only advantage being the absence of proteins in them, while the toxicity from the chemicals remains the same. The synthetic elastomers, along with other alternatives like radiation and peroxide prevulcanized latices, hydrophilic coatings, glove liners, etc., are also dealt with in detail. The review also discusses the diagnostic methods available for latex allergy, methods of protein determination, organizations dealing with latex allergy, FDA ruling on gloves, etc.
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    Release of dithiocarbamates into artificial sweat from latex vulcanizates: Effects of the accelerator type and storage time
    (JOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE, 2006) Abraham, EK; Ramesh, P; Joseph, R
    The release of commonly used dithiocarbamate accelerators, namely, zinc diethyldithiocarbamate (ZDEC), zinc dibutyldithiocarbamate (ZDBC), zinc dibenzyldithiocarbamate, zinc isobutyldithiocarbamate, and zinc diisononyldithiocarbamate, into artificial sweat from natural rubber latex vulcanizates was studied. The extent of release of ZDEC was much higher than that of ZDBC or other higher homologues, as indicated by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. The effect of the storage time on the extent of release of ZDEC into artificial sweat from vulcanizates prepared with various amounts of ZDEC was studied. The result showed that ZDEC migrated significantly to the surface of the vulcanizates upon storage, and the amount that migrated increased with an increase in the shelf time. Moreover, the amount of ZDEC that migrated increased with an increase in the amount of ZDEC added to the latex formulations. The rate of migration, as determined from the slopes of the migration curves, was dependent on the residual ZDEC content, which in turn depended on the initial level of ZDEC incorporated during latex compounding. The analysis of the migration data showed that the migration followed a Fickian behavior, and the diffusion coefficient of ZDEC was slightly dependent on the concentration. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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    Release of dithiocarbamates into sweat from natural rubber latex surgical gloves
    (RUBBER CHEMISTRY AND TECHNOLOGY, 2005) Abraham, EK; Ramesh, P; Joseph, R; Mohanan, PV; Remakumari, VM
    The release of zinc dialkyldithiocarbamates from a batch of surgical gloves into the sweat of human subjects was studied. Healthy volunteers from both sexes were asked to don the gloves on both hands for I It. The identification and estimation of dithiocarbamate residues released into the sweat were carried out using thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The thin layer chromatogram showed that zinc diethyldithiocarbamate (ZDEC) accelerator residues were released into the sweat of volunteers. The estimation by high performance liquid chromatography revealed that the amount of ZDEC released varied among the human subjects despite using the same brand of glove. The effect of sweat rate and pH on the amount of ZDEC released into hand sweat was investigated. The results indicated that it may not be possible to derive a relationship between the sweat-extractable ZDEC and sweat rate or pH of hand sweat. The dithiocarbamate release was studied in the laboratory using a physiologically simulated medium, namely, artificial sweat at different pH levels. The glove was filled with artificial sweat and extracted for I hat 37 degrees C. It was found that amount of artificial sweat-extractable ZDEC varied with changes in pH of artificial sweat. Lack of a clear relationship between the sweat-extractable ZDEC and sweat rate or pH of hand sweat indicated that factors such as hand exercise, glove-fit, etc., may also be considered when simulating actual use conditions in vitro.
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    Synthesis of calcium-containing methacrylate resin
    (JOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE, 2001) Abraham, EK; Francis, A; Ramesh, P; Joseph, R
    The calcium salt of p-aminobenzoic acid [p-ABA(Ca)] was reacted with epichlorohydrin to yield the multifunctional epoxy resin. The epoxy resin was characterized by IR spectroscopy, epoxy equivalent, calcium estimation, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and refractive index. The epoxy resin was further reacted with methacrylic acid to yield the calcium containing methacrylate resin, which was characterized by IR, hydroxyl value, iodine value, HPLC and refractive index. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.