Abstract: The present invention provides a chemical ink comprises a solvent, a binder polymer, a colorant and optionally a crosslinker. The ink of the invention has one or more of the following characteristics: a viscosity lower than about 50 centipoises; a surface tension of from about 20 mN/m to about 60 mN/m; a particle size of less than about 5 ?m; prolonged stability; an appropriate color level (visible by eye); uniform drop formation; jet stability; good adhesion to contact lenses; good transfer from a mold to a lens made in the mold; and stability of ink in inkjet nozzles. The ink of the invention is useful for inkjet printing of a high-quality color image on a contact lens or a mold so as to produce a colored contact lens.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for preparing a medical device, preferably a contact lens, having an antimicrobial metal-containing LbL coating on a medical device, wherein the antimicrobial metal-containing LbL coating comprises at least one layer of a negatively charged polyionic material having —COOAg groups and/or silver nanoparticles formed by reducing Ag+ ions associated with the —COO? groups of the negatively charged polyionic material. In addition, the present invention provides a medical device prepared according to a method of the invention.

Abstract: The present invention provides a lens care kit for disinfecting and cleaning contact lenses. The lens care kit of the invention comprises a colored lens care solution including a colored protein and a proteolytic enzyme. The kit of the invention allows customers to visually identify when their lenses are disinfected, clean, and ready to wear. The invention relies upon a color change to indicate the completion of disinfection and cleaning of contact lenses.

Abstract: An expert system aids engineering personnel working in a manufacturing or other industrial environment by answering questions relating to machines, processes, systems or other elements of the environment. Users can interact with the system using kiosks in the relevant areas of the plant to enter queries and receive answers. A user can enter a query in a natural language format, which the system parses for keywords or keyterms. The system can use a backward chaining method to reach a solution, based upon the user's answer to further questions that the system asks the user.

Abstract: The present invention provides a medical device, preferably a contact lens, which comprises an antimicrobial LbL coating containing one or more antimicrobial pepetides. The antimicrobial coating of the invention can impart to the medical an increased surface hydrophilicity and a relatively high antimicrobial activity coupled with low cytotoxicity. The antimicrobial coating of the invention has a minimal adverse effects on the desirable bulk properties of a contact lens, such as oxygen permeability, ion permeability, and optical properties. An antimicrobial coating of the present invention may find particular use in extended-wear contact lenses. In addition, the invention provides a method for making a medical device, preferably a contact lens, having an antimicrobial LbL coating thereon.

Abstract: The invention relates to a process for the manufacture of a hydrophilic coating on a biomedical article, which comprises treating the biomedical article for a time period of ?5 minutes with a solution of an organic solvent comprising a polyanionic compound with a number average molecular weight Mn of >5000, wherein the solution comprises less than 10% by weight of water, and wherein the solution is devoid of a cationic polymer. The coated biomedical articles obtainable by the process of the invention have desirable characteristics regarding adherence to the substrate, durability, hydrophilicity, wettability, biocompatibility and permeability and are thus especially useful in the field of ophthalmic devices.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and a device for cleaning ophthalmic lenses, particularly contact lenses. The method and the device are suitable for integration into an automated production of ophthalmic lenses, particularly contact lenses.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for making colored silicone hydrogel contact lenses.

Abstract: A method for making an article comprising a core material and a coating thereon, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing the core material; (b) applying one or more layers of a crosslinkable polycationic material, wherein the polycationic material is a reaction product of: (i) an epoxide of formula (I) wherein X equals bromo, chloro, iodo, or cyano, and R1, R2, R3, R4, independently of one another, are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, linear or branched C1-C6-alkyl, and linear or branched C1-C6-alkyl which is substituted with halogen, and (ii) a polymer having repeating units comprising one or more secondary or tertiary amine group(s); (c) applying one or more layers of a polyanionic material; and (d) cross-linking the layers of polyelectrolytes formed by steps (b) and (c).

Abstract: The invention relates to a process for producing biomedical articles, in particular, silicone hydrogel contact lenses having durable hydrophilic chitosan coating. The chitosan coating is covalently attached to the medical device by performing a crosslinking reaction between chitosan and the carboxylic groups on the surface of a medical device directly in a sealed package during autoclave. The coated biomedical articles obtainable by the process of the invention have desirable characteristics regarding adherence to the substrate, durability, hydrophilicity, wettability, biocompatibility and permeability and are thus especially useful in the field of ophthalmic devices.

Abstract: The present invention provides a lens care kit for disinfecting and cleaning contact lenses. The lens care kit of the invention allows customers to visually identify when their lenses are disinfected, clean, and ready to wear. The invention is relied on color change, due to temporally photo-bleaching of a colored lens care solution, to indicate the readiness of disinfection and cleaning of contact lenses.

Abstract: The instant invention pertains to a method and a fluid composition for producing contact lenses with improved lens quality and with increased product yield. The method of the invention involves adding a phospholipid into a fluid composition including a lens-forming material in an amount sufficient to reduce an averaged mold separation force by at least about 40% in comparison with that without the phospholipids.

Abstract: The present invention provides a lens care kit for disinfecting and cleaning contact lenses. The lens care kit of the invention allows customers to visually identify when their lenses are disinfected, clean, and ready to wear. The invention is relied on color change to indicate the readiness of disinfection and cleaning of contact lenses.

Abstract: The present invention provides a water-soluble crosslinkable polyurea prepolymer. The crosslinkable polyurea prepolymer of the invention is prepared by reacting an amine- or isocyanate-capped polyurea with a multifunctional compound having at least one one ethylenically unsaturated group and a function group coreactive with the capping amine or isocyanate groups of the amine- or isocyanate-capped polyurea. The amine- or isocyanate-capped polyurea is a copolymerization production of: (a) at least one poly(oxyalkylene)diamine, (b) optionally at least one organic di- or poly-amine, (c) optionally at least one diisocyanate, and (d) at least one polyisocyanate. The crosslinkable polyurea prepolymer of the invention can find use in economically producing contact lenses which have durable, highly elastic soft contact lenses with desired physical properties. In addition, the present invention provides method for making a medical device, preferably an ophthalmic device, more preferably a contact lens.

Abstract: A method for providing a flexible molding, in particular an ophthalmic lens such as a contact lens, in a predetermined orientation, comprises the steps of determining the actual orientation of the molding, and in case the molding has been determined as not having the predetermined orientation, inverting the flexible molding to the predetermined orientation.

Abstract: The present invention provides an aqueous solution for sterilizing and storing ophthalmic devices, preferably a contact lens, made of a hydrogel material, preferably a poly(oxyalkylene)-containing hydrogel material. The solution comprises one or more organic buffer agents, such as a Good buffer or a bis-aminopolyols; an organic tonicity-adjusting agent with multiple hydroxyl groups in an amount sufficient to provide an osmolarity of from about 200 to about 450 mosm/l, wherein the aqueous solution has a pH of from about 5.5 to about 8.5, provided that the aqueous solution include phosphate buffer at a concentration of about 15 mM or less and about 5000 ppm sodium chloride. The present invention also provides a method for sterilizing and storing an ophthalmic device using an aqueous solution of the invention.

Abstract: The present invention provides a composite material, preferably an ophthalmic device, more preferably a contact lens, which comprises a vesicle-containing coating including at least one layer of a vesicle and one layer of a polyionic material having charges opposite the charges of the vesicle. Such composite material can find use in biomedical applications, for example, a device for localized drug delivery and an in vivo analyte sensor such as glucose sensing contact lens. By lifting off the vesicle-containing coating from a substrate, a self-standing membrane (film) capable of encapsulating a wide variety of guest materials can be prepared. In addition, the invention provides methods for making vesicle-containing composite and film materials of the present invention.

Abstract: The present invention provides a polymerizable material for making a polymeric article, the polymerizable material comprising: a water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol having crosslinkable groups; and a modifier in an amount sufficient to improve one or more physical properties of a polymeric article made from the polymerizable material, wherein the one or more physical properties are selected from the group consisting of stress at break (N/mm2), percentage of elongation at break, toughness or energy to break (N·mm), and susceptibility to fracture. The modifier is selected from the group consisting of nanoparticles having a hydrophilic surface, a copolymer having hydrophobic groups or units for imparting at least one desired physical property to said ophthalmic device and hydrophilic groups or units in an amount sufficient to render the copolymer miscible with the polyvinyl alcohol, and mixtures thereof.

Abstract: The invention provides a contact lens gripper comprising a tweezers gripper having first and second gripper arms hingedly connected to an actuation support for moving the free ends of the arms towards and away from each other so as to grasp and release a soft contact lens. The invention also provides a contact lens gripping unit comprising a mounting bar to which a plurality of individual contact lens grippers are mounted at a predetermined distance from each other, wherein each of the individual grippers is a contact lens gripper according to any one of the preceding claims.

Abstract: Biomedical devices, such as ophthalmic lenses, and methods of making such devices having a surface coating including at least one polyionic layer. A preferred method involves spray coating a polycationic material onto a core lens, rinsing and drying the lens, followed by spray coating a polyanionic material, rinsing and drying. The coating process may be applied a plurality of times to achieve a multi-layer coating on the lens surface. A particularly preferred embodiment is a contact lens comprising a highly oxygen permeable hydrophobic core coated with a 5 to 20 bilayers of hydrophilic polyionic materials.