The present invention provides a bio-electrode composition including a polymer compound having both an ionic repeating unit A and a (meth)acrylate repeating unit B, wherein the ionic repeating unit A is a repeating unit selected from the group consisting of sodium salt, potassium salt, and ammonium salt having either or both partial structures shown by the following general formulae (1-1) and (1-2), and the (meth)acrylate repeating unit B is a repeating unit shown by the following general formula (2). ##STR00001##
This can form a living body contact layer for a bio-electrode with excellent electric conductivity, biocompatibility, and light weight, which can be manufactured at low cost and does not cause large lowering of the electric conductivity even when it is wetted with water or dried.

The present invention provides a bio-electrode composition including: a resin having a urethane bond and a silicone chain in the main chain; and an electro-conductive material, wherein the electro-conductive material is a polymer compound having one or more repeating units selected from fluorosulfonic acid salts shown by the following formula (1)-1, fluorosulfonic acid salts shown by the following formula (1)-2, sulfonimide salts shown by the following formula (1)-3, and sulfonamide salts shown by the following formula (1)-4. This can form a living body contact layer for a bio-electrode that is excellent in electric conductivity and biocompatibility, light in weight, manufacturable at low cost, and free from large lowering of the electric conductivity even when it is wetted with water or dried. The present invention also provides a bio-electrode in which the living body contact layer is formed from the bio-electrode composition, and a method for manufacturing the bio-electrode ##STR00001##

The invention concerns a method of forming a medical device, the method comprising: forming a graphene film (100) over a substrate (204); depositing, by gas phase deposition, a polymer material covering a surface of the graphene film (100); and removing the substrate (204) from the graphene film (100), wherein the polymer material forms a support (102) for the graphene film (100).

An antibacterial device is disclosed that includes a substrate and an antibacterial coating or antibacterial surface being provided on at least a part of the substrate's surface. The antibacterial coating or surface includes Angstrom scale flakes, where the Angstrom scale flakes are arranged in a standing position on the substrate surface and are attached to the substrate surface via edge sides thereof. The Angstrom scale flakes can, for example, be graphene flakes, or graphite flakes having a thickness of a few atom layers. It has been found that such standing flakes are efficient in killing prokaryotic cells but do not harm eukaryotic cells.

The present disclosure is directed to mechanical parts including a brace member. The brace member includes a first carbon fullerene and a second carbon fullerene. The first carbon fullerene forms a substantially spherical structure and is pyrolyzed. The second carbon fullerene is contained within the substantially spherical structure of the first carbon fullerene. In some examples, the mechanical parts define a stent. The stent includes an outer tube, an inner tube, and a brace member. The inner tube is coaxially aligned with the outer tube and contained within the outer tube. The brace member of the stent is disposed between the inner tube and the outer tube and is comprised of pyrolytic carbon.

There is disclosed a substrate with an electron donating surface, characterized in having metal particles on said surface, said metal particles comprising palladium and at least one metal selected from the group consisting of gold, ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, iridium, and platinum, wherein the amount of said metal particles is from about 0.001 to about 8 μg/cm.sup.2. Examples of coated objects include contact lenses, pacemakers, pacemaker electrodes, stents, dental implants, rupture nets, rupture mesh, blood centrifuge equipment, surgical instruments, gloves, blood bags, artificial heart valves, central venous catheters, peripheral venous catheters, vascular ports, haemodialysis equipment, peritoneal dialysis equipment, plasmapheresis devices, inhalation drug delivery devices, vascular grafts, arterial grafts, cardiac assist devices, wound dressings, intermittent catheters, ECG electrodes, peripheral stents, bone replacing implants, orthopaedic implants, orthopaedic devices, tissue replacing implants, intraocular lenses, sutures, needles, drug delivery devices, endotracheal tubes, shunts, drains, suction devices, hearing aid devices, urethral medical devices, and artificial blood vessels.

Provided is a dry electrode for detecting a bio-signal, comprising a body part; a protrusion part formed on one surface of the body part; and a coating part formed on an end surface of the protrusion part, wherein the body part and the protrusion part comprise a conductive silicone, and the coating part comprises Ag, AgCl, and, optionally, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane.

An in-vivo implantable electronic device includes a housing, a power reception coil, and an electronic circuit. The housing is formed of a biocompatible material and forms an internal space sealed. The power reception coil is disposed in the internal space of the housing and receives power by interacting with an electromagnetic field formed by an external electric field or magnetic field, or transmits an electromagnetic wave to the outside. The electronic circuit is disposed in the internal space, is connected to the power reception coil, and performs at least processing of an electric signal. The housing includes a first member in a box shape formed of a biocompatible metal material and having an opening, a second member formed of a biocompatible nonmetal material and having a shape that closes the opening, a packing in an annular shape disposed between the first member and the second member.

An in-vivo implantable medical device includes a housing, an electronic circuit component, a power reception coil, and a magnetic material. The housing is formed of a biocompatible material and forms an internal space. The electronic circuit component is disposed in the internal space. The power reception coil is disposed in the internal space, interacts with an external electromagnetic field to form an electromagnetic resonance field to receive power. At least part of a region of the housing in which the electromagnetic resonance field is formed is formed of a biocompatible nonmetal material.

There are disclosed implantable medical devices and apparatus for treating implantable medical devices during production, so as to cause the implantable medical devices to have abluminal surfaces and luminal surfaces with different functional characteristics and in particular surface energies. The luminal surfaces of the medical device are preferably coated with carbon, so as to have a low surface energy, which reduces the risk of thrombi forming when implanted into a patient's vessels. The abluminal surfaces are treated so as to have a high surface energy, such that a therapeutic, preferably bioactive, material, such as a drug, can adhere to the abluminal surfaces and preferably without any need for a containment layer such as polymer or other matrix material. Once the therapeutic material has been delivered into the tissue wall, the stent can remain within the patient's vessel without leaving any delivery artefacts, as occurs with some prior art drug eluting medical devices.