The book Amber Road: Towards the Future of Latvia in the World by dr. sc. ing. I. Liashenko’s has been published.

On January 26, 2015, a book by an RTU scientist, Inga Lyashenko, Amber Road: Towards the Future of Latvia in the World, which was published within the framework of the programme Riga 2014 – European Capital of Culture.

The book by Inga Lyashenko is a multidisciplinary study of amber that reveals to its readers the extensive use of this material in medicine, for example, in vascular surgery, as well as in cosmetics and in the manufacture of textiles.
The book describes the processing of succinite and the process of amber integration with polymers. The composite material manufacturing algorithm developed by the researcher may serve to other scientists as a methodical tool for development of innovative materials based on polymers. In this publication, one can also learn about the author’s patent technological production process of amber composite fibers.
Inga Lyashenko’s amber studies served as a source of inspiration for thematic line “Amber vein” of “Riga 2014 - European Capital of Culture”, in the framework of which Latvian scientific and cultural achievements were presented throughout the year.

“Amber as standard of perfection is inextricably linked to the Baltic cultural development and, regardless of the course of the history, has always been its precious heritage. It is a creation of nature, and natural greater wisdom is present in it, always developing and improving”. Inga Liashenko

“The main idea of creation of amber composite fibers is simplicity as the highest level of the intellectual value of art that is focused on the final result”. Inga Liashenko
The objective of this book is to give insight into the research work regarding the development of a new biomedical textile – composite amber fibers. The research deals with the biomedical textile, which includes bio-textile and medical textile materials. One of the latest trends in this area is composite materials, including fabrics made of composite fibers.

Biomedical textiles are textile products and constructions for medical and biological applications. They are used for first aid, clinical or hygienic purposes. It is one of the most rapidly and successfully developing areas of biomaterials. Biomedical textiles have often referred to bio-textile, but today the word bio-textile stands for two most important and different trends: bio-textile and medical textile. Bio-textiles are structures composed of textile fibers designed for use in specific biological environments where their performance depends on biocompability and biostability with cells and biological fluids. Bio-textiles include implantable devices such as surgical sutures, hernia repair fabrics, arterial grafts, artificial skin and parts of artificial hearts. Medical textiles are a broader group which also includes bandages, wound dressings, hospital linen, preventive clothing etc. Antiseptic bio-textiles are textiles used in fighting cutaneous bacterial proliferation. At present, zeolite and triclosan are molecules most often used for this purpose. Nevertheless, the use of silver nanoparticles and other chemical compounds that can disrupt the normal function of bacteria, viruses, and fungi are becoming increasingly popular in various market niches. This original property allows inhibiting the development of odors or bacterial proliferation in the diabetic foot.

Over the past decades, applications of various fabrics and textiles for medicine have been extremely rapidly increased, to a great extent, due to development of new and innovative fibers, fabrics and methods of therapy. Scientific and technical progress, related to technological development of fabric and fiber production and application of composite materials, has contributed to innumerable quantity of ideas for creation of products and types of therapy, and many of these ideas are still being developed or studied at the clinical research stage.
An important feature of the Baltic amber is related to the fact that it contains amber acid or succinic acid in the pure form (3-8%), which is known for its biological activity. Succinic acid is a dicarboxylic acid with four carbon atoms, which occurs naturally in plant and animal tissues and plays a significant role in intermediary metabolism (Krebs cycle) in the body. Krebs cycle (also known as citric acid cycle and tricarboxylic acid cycle) is a sequential process of enzymatic reaction in which a two-carbon acetyl unit is oxidized to carbon dioxide and water to provide energy in the form of high-energy phosphate bonds. Succinic acid also takes part in the intramithohondrial hemoglobin synthesis (heme formation). In medicine, succinic acid and its derivatives are used as anxiolytic (sedative), antispasmer, antiphlegm, antiphlogistic and antitumor agent. Amber has a lot of other active components (terpene), which have a strong antibacterial and antifungal effect. At the same time, in vivo experiments have proved that succinite does not cause organism sensitization, as well as allergic reactions. A method was invented at the laboratory that enables the obtaining of pure amber powder without crystalline inorganic impurities, maintaining, at the same time, invariable amber structure and chemical composition. Currently, work on the isolation from amber its components and study of its chemical and biological properties are in progress. Considering all these facts, one can conclude that combination of physical and mechanical properties of biocompatible synthetic polymer – polyamide – with biologically active properties of amber particles (with particles size of 800-3000 nm) would make it possible to manufacture a new type of biotextile material of composite fibers, which could be used not only for the fabrication of medical (preventive) fabrics, but also for biotextiles (for example, surgical threads and nets). The production of biotextile amber fibers involves the use of synthetic surface-active matters, which correlate with active substances in natural amber composition.
A new type of product has been developed – amber composite fibers, which is characterised by a substantial advantage, compared with known polymer composite fibers. Such fibers with smooth surface do not cause allergic reactions, but stimulate epidermal activity, induce normal regeneration of skin area, reflect ultraviolet rays, prevent from thrombus formation in contact with platelets and possess biocompatibility with living tissue; besides, activity of technologically processed succinite lasts over one year. 

Grāmata ir pieejama: izmaksas € 20 + PVN

Lūdzu zvaniet: +371 29436384