Printing Bone Parts: A News Technological Advancement

In the University of Maastricht in Netherlands comes an innovation that could change the phase of Medical Advancement in the whole world. A new machine is being studied upon by the Faculty of Medicine that can precisely copy a human skull which can also be further developed for printing out a whole body skeletal system.

This machine was said to be as big as an enormous refrigerator that can print out human skeletons in just overnight by using information that are fed into a rapid prototyping machine.

There are two main methods for building up a skeletal model – sintering and extrusion. Sintering is when the plastic threads are made which is like baking using powdered materials and then the extrusion method is done by the machine.

The plastic is fed into the machine like a thread fed into a loom. It is heated with a precise temperature and pressure so that it will melt at a right point. Enough to be deposited by the printer but not as much that it does not retain its shape.

Implants are normally made from titanium, which is currently the least reactive thing you can put in your body.

So this means an extra step from plastic model to titanium implant because the plastics have yet to prove themselves as biocompatible, but eventually, as more body-tolerated materials are developed, surgeons will be able to print out and stick in these synthetic implants.

And rapid prototyping means the surgeon is much better prepared before an operation begins. There is less time spent trying to customize the implant to the patient's skeleton and so operations takes a fraction of the time.

More of this story can be found at: http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/science/060717rf

PAF named George Ryan as CEO and President

The Printing Association of Florida announced today that Mr. Ryan has accepted the position of being the President and CEO of PAF. The position was first handled by Michael Streibig who had announced his retirements plan last March 2006.

Ryan will be closely working with Streibig for the remaining months of the year to ensure a smooth flowing transaction of the association’s previous business agreements.

George Ryan was also the most recent executive vice president and chief operation officer of the Printing Industries of America and Graphic Arts Technical Foundation and President of GATF from 1994 until it was merged with PIA in 2003.

He also held a number of high positions in Rochester Institute of Technology, including director of operations and director of the school for printing management.

During his reign, he implemented state of the art technology and the training programs for faculty officers and also led the development of the curriculum to a much more technologically adapt learning.

The search for a new CEO and President was spearheaded by Bill Maguire, current chairman of the PAF board and Leader of Bindery of Jacksonville and Mr. Larry Kudeviz, PAF Board Member and CEO of The Genesis Group of Miami, Florida.

“Our decision comes after an exhaustive search, review and interview process," echoed Maguire and Kudeviz. “While we reviewed a number of exceptional candidates, George Ryan’s track record, industry knowledge and nationwide network makes him an outstanding choice.”

More of this story can be found at: http://members.whattheythink.com/news/newslink.cfm?id=23668

Preparing Digital Pictures for Printing

I was going through my daily routine of surfing the internet and finding things that would help me know more things about printing when i suddenly bumped into this article which deals with proper way to arrange your files for printing. This is a very informative article specially to those photographers out there.

Heres the link: How To Prepare Digital Camera Files for Print