Prabhuraj Venkatraman | Manchester Metropolitan University (original) (raw)
Papers by Prabhuraj Venkatraman
Scientific reports, Jun 4, 2024
Materials Today: Proceedings
ECS sensors plus, Mar 19, 2024
Journal of Applied Microbiology, Jul 1, 2021
Aims: Surgical site, soft tissue and wound infections are some of the most prominent causes of he... more Aims: Surgical site, soft tissue and wound infections are some of the most prominent causes of healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs). Developing novel antimicrobial textiles and wound dressings may help alleviate the risk of developing HCAIs. We aimed to determine the antimicrobial efficacy of natural Ugandan bark cloth derived exclusively from the Ficus natalensis tree. Methods and Results: Antimicrobial contact and disc diffusion assays, coupled with time-kill kinetic assays, demonstrated that bark cloth inhibited the growth of a clinically relevant methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain and acted as a bactericidal agent causing a seven-log reduction in bacterial viability. Scanning electron microscopy was used to reveal morphological changes in the bacterial cell ultrastructure when exposed to bark cloth, which supported a proposed mechanism of antimicrobial activity. Conclusions: The observed antimicrobial properties, combined with the physical characteristics elicited by bark cloth, suggest this product is ideally suited for wound and other skin care applications. Significance and Impact of the Study: This is the first report where a whole bark cloth product made by traditional methods has been employed as an antimicrobial fabric against MRSA. Bark cloth is a highly sustainable and renewable product and this study presents a major advance in the search for natural fabrics which could be deployed for healthcare applications.
Journal of Wound Care, Apr 1, 2002
Clinical trials must be well designed in order to produce statistically and clinically significan... more Clinical trials must be well designed in order to produce statistically and clinically significant results. This article describes the randomisation techniques that can prevent bias, the importance of sample size and the concept of power analysis.
Journal of Wound Care, Mar 1, 2002
Los ensayos clínicos han de ser consistentes para que los médicos pongan en práctica sus recomend... more Los ensayos clínicos han de ser consistentes para que los médicos pongan en práctica sus recomendaciones. Este artículo describe los distintos diseños de investigación utilizados en el cuidado de la herida y los problemas que podrían afectar a la fiabilidad y validez de los resultados. PALABRAS CLAVE Enmascaramiento, ensayos clínicos, diseño, dispositivos médicos, análisis de potencia, aleatorización, tamaño muestral. SUMMARY Clinical trials need to be robust if practitioners are to apply their recommendations into practice. This article describes the various research designs used in wound care and the pitfalls that may compromise the reliability and validity of the results.
Phlebology, Mar 1, 2005
Objective: This study explores the feasibility and reliability of a modified ulcer-specific quali... more Objective: This study explores the feasibility and reliability of a modified ulcer-specific quality of life (QOL) questionnaire on patients suffering from venous leg ulcers. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on a cohort of patients suffering from venous leg ulcers who had been registered at Rochdale Infirmary to participate in a clinical trial. A self-administered six-page questionnaire – Freiburger Lebensqualitäts Questionnaire Assessment (FLQA) – on the QOL along with a checklist was used to collect data from March 2002 to June 2003. The feasibility and reliability of the venous leg ulcer specific questionnaire, the patient-reported QOL and their perspective on compression therapy were chosen as the main outcomes of the study. Results: A response rate of 94% was obtained, of which 56% were women and 44% were men with an average age of 63 years. Approximately 72% of respondents reported that the questionnaire was suitable to reflect their perspectives on QOL and compression therapy. The questionnaire took an average of 20 minutes to complete. The average QOL score was 45.27 in all the eight domains, where 0 reflected good QOL and 100 reflected poor QOL, indicating that the respondents' QOL had been adversely affected due to venous leg ulcers. Men had an average score of 52.0 in all the eight domains and women scored 39.0 in a 0–100 scale. Hence, comparatively, men had poorer QOL than women. Reliability was assessed using measures of internal consistency and test–retest analysis. Cronbach's alpha, α = 0.934 indicated that the survey items were highly inter-correlated. Test–retest analysis indicated that there was moderate-to-strong correlation in seven out of eight domains, which meant that the reproducibility of the FLQA questionnaire was consistent. Conclusions: The pilot survey conducted on a representative sample of patients indicated that the questionnaire is suitable and has the potential to reflect the perspective on compression therapy and overall QOL of patients suffering from venous leg ulcers. The survey tool demonstrated the clinical and research utility as a QOL outcome measure for clinical trials evaluating wound care products on patients suffering from venous leg ulcers.
Sports Engineering
A finite element model of an impact test on a soft tissue simulant, used as part of a shoulder su... more A finite element model of an impact test on a soft tissue simulant, used as part of a shoulder surrogate, was developed in Ansys© LS-DYNA®. The surrogate consisted of a metal hemicylindrical core, with a diameter of 75 mm, covered with a 15 mm thick relaxed muscle simulant. The muscle simulant consisted of a 14 mm thick layer of silicone covered with 1 mm thick chamois leather to represent skin. The material properties of the silicone were obtained via quasi-static compression testing (curve fit with hyperelastic models) and compressive stress relaxation testing (curve fit with a Prony series). Outputs of the finite element models were compared against experimental data from impact tests on the shoulder surrogate at energies of 4.9, 9.8 and 14.7 J. The accuracy of the finite element models was assessed using four parameters: peak impact force, maximum deformation, impact duration and impulse. A 5-parameter Mooney-Rivlin material model combined with a 2-term Prony series was found to...
Advance Research in Textile Engineering, 2022
Laser treatment of denim fabrics was demonstrated as one of the methods of producing distressed e... more Laser treatment of denim fabrics was demonstrated as one of the methods of producing distressed effects and is continuing to attract textile and fashion designers to develop bespoke designs that appeal to all age groups. Two dark shaded indigo-dyed 100% cotton twill fabric with varying weights representing various garment applications were laser treated using a commercially available pulsed CO2 laser of wavelength 10.62�m. Pulses per inch, which is the degree of closeness of laser irradiation, was maintained at 300 and 400 PPI. Treated denim fabrics were evaluated for tensile strength, colour measurements, including colour hue (H), saturation (S), brightness (B), reflectance, K/S (colour yield), CIE L* a* b*, fabric thickness and colourfastness after wash. Results indicated that colour contrast of denim fabric enhanced with the increase in grayscale (tone density) for both the LW (lightweight) and HW (heavyweight) fabrics, mainly at lower laser speed (80%) and higher laser power (40...
Over the past decade, there had been a surge in the use of wearable sensors to monitor health spe... more Over the past decade, there had been a surge in the use of wearable sensors to monitor health specially to determine the individual’s fitness level. It has been reported that lactic acid is a significant biomarker of anaerobic metabolism and higher concentrations of lactate in sweat can cause Ischemia and lead to hypoxia. Although, there had been an increase in the use of smart wearables such as heart rate, blood pressure, skin pH, and so forth, very little had been reported on the use of body fluids such as sweat. Therefore, a non-invasive monitoring of blood lactate becomes essential in determining individual’s health and fitness. In this research, the development, characterization and optimization of an electrochemical-based amperometric lactate biosensor screen-printed on to a knitted fabric is reported. The prototype screen-printed fabric lactate biosensor is composed of three electrodes that senses lactate concentration from the body sweat collected. A highly sensitive and sta...
Organic natural fibres have shown potential for women’s wear products. A recent research (Niinima... more Organic natural fibres have shown potential for women’s wear products. A recent research (Niinimaki, 2010) highlighted that performance; durability and longevity of products made from natural fibres were some of the concerns for eco-conscious consumers. Organic natural fibres have less impact on environment and ecosystem and garments made of such materials were expensive compared to synthetic fibres due to its eco credentials. However, consumers were aware that man-made fibres in comparison to natural fibres outperform in areas relating to care, maintenance and durability. According to Ticolau (2010) and Gam (2011) eco-conscious consumers evaluate the cost of any garment against its durability and performance and expect garments produced from natural fibres superior to man-made garments. Majumdar et al, (2010) explored the functional properties of natural fibres, where organic fibres were made into knitted fabrics and assessed both comfort and durability. The above study successfull...
The 12th Conference of the International Sports Engineering Association, 2018
Current research of auxetic materials highlights its potential as personal protective equipment f... more Current research of auxetic materials highlights its potential as personal protective equipment for sports apparel with enhanced properties such as conformability, superior energy absorption and reduced thickness. In contrast, commercially available protective materials have proven to be problematic in that they inhibit movement, breathability, wicking and that molded pads are prone to saddling. Foam components are embedded within personal protective equipment for sports apparel, where protective material is positioned at regions of the body frequently exposed to injury of the soft tissue through collision, falls or hard impact. At present, the impact resistance of auxetic open cell polyurethane foam and some additively manufactured auxetic structures have been established, and processes for manufacturing curved auxetic materials as well as molding methods have been developed. Despite this, auxetic materials have not yet been applied as personal protective equipment for sports apparel in current research. This paper argues that there is scope to investigate auxetic materials potential for enhanced wearer functionality through properties of synclastic curvature and biaxial expansion.
Sustainable Materials and Technologies, 2019
Environmentally friendly and sustainable bark cloth for garment applications: Evaluation of fabri... more Environmentally friendly and sustainable bark cloth for garment applications: Evaluation of fabric properties and apparel development. Sustainable Materials and Technologies, 23. e00136-e00136.
Coatings, 2021
The development of textile finishing with improved functional properties has been a growing inter... more The development of textile finishing with improved functional properties has been a growing interest among industry and scientists worldwide. The recent global pandemic also enhanced the awareness amongst many toward improved hygiene and the use of antimicrobial textiles. Generally, natural herbal components are known to possess antimicrobial properties which are green and eco-friendly. This research reports a novel and innovative method of developing and optimising nano-emulsions using two combinations of herbal extracts produced from Moringa Oleifera, curry leaf, coconut oil (nano-emulsion 1) and other using Aegle marmelos with curry leaf and coconut oil (nano-emulsion 2). Nano-emulsions were optimised for their pH, thermal stability, and particle size, and percentage add-on. Organic cotton fabrics (20 and 60 gsm) were finished with nano-emulsions using continuous and batch processes and characterised for their surface morphology using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersi...
Scientific reports, Jun 4, 2024
Materials Today: Proceedings
ECS sensors plus, Mar 19, 2024
Journal of Applied Microbiology, Jul 1, 2021
Aims: Surgical site, soft tissue and wound infections are some of the most prominent causes of he... more Aims: Surgical site, soft tissue and wound infections are some of the most prominent causes of healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs). Developing novel antimicrobial textiles and wound dressings may help alleviate the risk of developing HCAIs. We aimed to determine the antimicrobial efficacy of natural Ugandan bark cloth derived exclusively from the Ficus natalensis tree. Methods and Results: Antimicrobial contact and disc diffusion assays, coupled with time-kill kinetic assays, demonstrated that bark cloth inhibited the growth of a clinically relevant methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain and acted as a bactericidal agent causing a seven-log reduction in bacterial viability. Scanning electron microscopy was used to reveal morphological changes in the bacterial cell ultrastructure when exposed to bark cloth, which supported a proposed mechanism of antimicrobial activity. Conclusions: The observed antimicrobial properties, combined with the physical characteristics elicited by bark cloth, suggest this product is ideally suited for wound and other skin care applications. Significance and Impact of the Study: This is the first report where a whole bark cloth product made by traditional methods has been employed as an antimicrobial fabric against MRSA. Bark cloth is a highly sustainable and renewable product and this study presents a major advance in the search for natural fabrics which could be deployed for healthcare applications.
Journal of Wound Care, Apr 1, 2002
Clinical trials must be well designed in order to produce statistically and clinically significan... more Clinical trials must be well designed in order to produce statistically and clinically significant results. This article describes the randomisation techniques that can prevent bias, the importance of sample size and the concept of power analysis.
Journal of Wound Care, Mar 1, 2002
Los ensayos clínicos han de ser consistentes para que los médicos pongan en práctica sus recomend... more Los ensayos clínicos han de ser consistentes para que los médicos pongan en práctica sus recomendaciones. Este artículo describe los distintos diseños de investigación utilizados en el cuidado de la herida y los problemas que podrían afectar a la fiabilidad y validez de los resultados. PALABRAS CLAVE Enmascaramiento, ensayos clínicos, diseño, dispositivos médicos, análisis de potencia, aleatorización, tamaño muestral. SUMMARY Clinical trials need to be robust if practitioners are to apply their recommendations into practice. This article describes the various research designs used in wound care and the pitfalls that may compromise the reliability and validity of the results.
Phlebology, Mar 1, 2005
Objective: This study explores the feasibility and reliability of a modified ulcer-specific quali... more Objective: This study explores the feasibility and reliability of a modified ulcer-specific quality of life (QOL) questionnaire on patients suffering from venous leg ulcers. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on a cohort of patients suffering from venous leg ulcers who had been registered at Rochdale Infirmary to participate in a clinical trial. A self-administered six-page questionnaire – Freiburger Lebensqualitäts Questionnaire Assessment (FLQA) – on the QOL along with a checklist was used to collect data from March 2002 to June 2003. The feasibility and reliability of the venous leg ulcer specific questionnaire, the patient-reported QOL and their perspective on compression therapy were chosen as the main outcomes of the study. Results: A response rate of 94% was obtained, of which 56% were women and 44% were men with an average age of 63 years. Approximately 72% of respondents reported that the questionnaire was suitable to reflect their perspectives on QOL and compression therapy. The questionnaire took an average of 20 minutes to complete. The average QOL score was 45.27 in all the eight domains, where 0 reflected good QOL and 100 reflected poor QOL, indicating that the respondents' QOL had been adversely affected due to venous leg ulcers. Men had an average score of 52.0 in all the eight domains and women scored 39.0 in a 0–100 scale. Hence, comparatively, men had poorer QOL than women. Reliability was assessed using measures of internal consistency and test–retest analysis. Cronbach's alpha, α = 0.934 indicated that the survey items were highly inter-correlated. Test–retest analysis indicated that there was moderate-to-strong correlation in seven out of eight domains, which meant that the reproducibility of the FLQA questionnaire was consistent. Conclusions: The pilot survey conducted on a representative sample of patients indicated that the questionnaire is suitable and has the potential to reflect the perspective on compression therapy and overall QOL of patients suffering from venous leg ulcers. The survey tool demonstrated the clinical and research utility as a QOL outcome measure for clinical trials evaluating wound care products on patients suffering from venous leg ulcers.
Sports Engineering
A finite element model of an impact test on a soft tissue simulant, used as part of a shoulder su... more A finite element model of an impact test on a soft tissue simulant, used as part of a shoulder surrogate, was developed in Ansys© LS-DYNA®. The surrogate consisted of a metal hemicylindrical core, with a diameter of 75 mm, covered with a 15 mm thick relaxed muscle simulant. The muscle simulant consisted of a 14 mm thick layer of silicone covered with 1 mm thick chamois leather to represent skin. The material properties of the silicone were obtained via quasi-static compression testing (curve fit with hyperelastic models) and compressive stress relaxation testing (curve fit with a Prony series). Outputs of the finite element models were compared against experimental data from impact tests on the shoulder surrogate at energies of 4.9, 9.8 and 14.7 J. The accuracy of the finite element models was assessed using four parameters: peak impact force, maximum deformation, impact duration and impulse. A 5-parameter Mooney-Rivlin material model combined with a 2-term Prony series was found to...
Advance Research in Textile Engineering, 2022
Laser treatment of denim fabrics was demonstrated as one of the methods of producing distressed e... more Laser treatment of denim fabrics was demonstrated as one of the methods of producing distressed effects and is continuing to attract textile and fashion designers to develop bespoke designs that appeal to all age groups. Two dark shaded indigo-dyed 100% cotton twill fabric with varying weights representing various garment applications were laser treated using a commercially available pulsed CO2 laser of wavelength 10.62�m. Pulses per inch, which is the degree of closeness of laser irradiation, was maintained at 300 and 400 PPI. Treated denim fabrics were evaluated for tensile strength, colour measurements, including colour hue (H), saturation (S), brightness (B), reflectance, K/S (colour yield), CIE L* a* b*, fabric thickness and colourfastness after wash. Results indicated that colour contrast of denim fabric enhanced with the increase in grayscale (tone density) for both the LW (lightweight) and HW (heavyweight) fabrics, mainly at lower laser speed (80%) and higher laser power (40...
Over the past decade, there had been a surge in the use of wearable sensors to monitor health spe... more Over the past decade, there had been a surge in the use of wearable sensors to monitor health specially to determine the individual’s fitness level. It has been reported that lactic acid is a significant biomarker of anaerobic metabolism and higher concentrations of lactate in sweat can cause Ischemia and lead to hypoxia. Although, there had been an increase in the use of smart wearables such as heart rate, blood pressure, skin pH, and so forth, very little had been reported on the use of body fluids such as sweat. Therefore, a non-invasive monitoring of blood lactate becomes essential in determining individual’s health and fitness. In this research, the development, characterization and optimization of an electrochemical-based amperometric lactate biosensor screen-printed on to a knitted fabric is reported. The prototype screen-printed fabric lactate biosensor is composed of three electrodes that senses lactate concentration from the body sweat collected. A highly sensitive and sta...
Organic natural fibres have shown potential for women’s wear products. A recent research (Niinima... more Organic natural fibres have shown potential for women’s wear products. A recent research (Niinimaki, 2010) highlighted that performance; durability and longevity of products made from natural fibres were some of the concerns for eco-conscious consumers. Organic natural fibres have less impact on environment and ecosystem and garments made of such materials were expensive compared to synthetic fibres due to its eco credentials. However, consumers were aware that man-made fibres in comparison to natural fibres outperform in areas relating to care, maintenance and durability. According to Ticolau (2010) and Gam (2011) eco-conscious consumers evaluate the cost of any garment against its durability and performance and expect garments produced from natural fibres superior to man-made garments. Majumdar et al, (2010) explored the functional properties of natural fibres, where organic fibres were made into knitted fabrics and assessed both comfort and durability. The above study successfull...
The 12th Conference of the International Sports Engineering Association, 2018
Current research of auxetic materials highlights its potential as personal protective equipment f... more Current research of auxetic materials highlights its potential as personal protective equipment for sports apparel with enhanced properties such as conformability, superior energy absorption and reduced thickness. In contrast, commercially available protective materials have proven to be problematic in that they inhibit movement, breathability, wicking and that molded pads are prone to saddling. Foam components are embedded within personal protective equipment for sports apparel, where protective material is positioned at regions of the body frequently exposed to injury of the soft tissue through collision, falls or hard impact. At present, the impact resistance of auxetic open cell polyurethane foam and some additively manufactured auxetic structures have been established, and processes for manufacturing curved auxetic materials as well as molding methods have been developed. Despite this, auxetic materials have not yet been applied as personal protective equipment for sports apparel in current research. This paper argues that there is scope to investigate auxetic materials potential for enhanced wearer functionality through properties of synclastic curvature and biaxial expansion.
Sustainable Materials and Technologies, 2019
Environmentally friendly and sustainable bark cloth for garment applications: Evaluation of fabri... more Environmentally friendly and sustainable bark cloth for garment applications: Evaluation of fabric properties and apparel development. Sustainable Materials and Technologies, 23. e00136-e00136.
Coatings, 2021
The development of textile finishing with improved functional properties has been a growing inter... more The development of textile finishing with improved functional properties has been a growing interest among industry and scientists worldwide. The recent global pandemic also enhanced the awareness amongst many toward improved hygiene and the use of antimicrobial textiles. Generally, natural herbal components are known to possess antimicrobial properties which are green and eco-friendly. This research reports a novel and innovative method of developing and optimising nano-emulsions using two combinations of herbal extracts produced from Moringa Oleifera, curry leaf, coconut oil (nano-emulsion 1) and other using Aegle marmelos with curry leaf and coconut oil (nano-emulsion 2). Nano-emulsions were optimised for their pH, thermal stability, and particle size, and percentage add-on. Organic cotton fabrics (20 and 60 gsm) were finished with nano-emulsions using continuous and batch processes and characterised for their surface morphology using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersi...