TORONTO, May 28, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Innovations in health, medical, and safety tools—often made possible with plastics—help save countless lives, prevent diseases, and avoid injuries across the globe. Whether for children in sub-Sahara Africa or for suburban Canadian families, these advances help improve basic hygiene, contribute to safety, and enable lifesaving measures.
Some examples in the developing world:
- Plastic Package Delivers Lifesaving Medicine to African Children
- Plastic Nets Help Combat Malaria
- Wheelchairs Deliver Mobility in Developing Nations, with the Help of Plastics
- Solar Ear Relies on Plastics
- Plastic Pack Delivers Vaccines Around the World
- Plastics Help Deliver Clean Water When Disaster Strikes
Here's a look at another…
More than 9 million people living in the developing world have lost a leg above the knee and do not have access to prosthetics. And due to accidents, violence, disease, and natural disasters in these regions, hundreds of thousands more become amputees each year.
In 2008, one non-profit started doing something about it.
D-Rev designs and delivers products to people living in the developing world on less than $4 per day. The nonprofit worked with students at Stanford University who developed a knee joint using high strength plastics and stainless steel.
The joint "works with standard prosthetic leg systems," "withstands humid and wet climates, without rusting or swelling," and weighs less than a pound. The joint is durable—an oil-filled nylon polymer self-lubricates with use—and it provides a 165-degree range of motion "enabling kneeling, squatting and biking."
The first version was developed for production and fitting by the largest provider of prosthetics in the world. Version two was manufactured in Menlo Park, Calif., and distributed through a prosthetics foundation in Ecuador. The "v3 ReMotion Knee" is in field trials and is expected to be mass-produced for worldwide scale with a projected retail price of only $100 Cdn.
To deliver the knee joint, D-Rev partners with prosthetics providers worldwide and clinics around the world that are staffed with experts in prosthetics. D-Rev says the knee joint "gives patients a stable gait at a fraction of the cost and is designed with plastics" instead of more expensive materials found in traditional devices.
D-Rev reports that more than 6,000 amputees in 14 countries have been fitted with the ReMotion Knee.
Today's intelligent plastics are vital to the modern world. These materials enhance our lifestyles, our economy and the environment. For more information visit www.intelligentplastics.ca.
A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=33318
