Recent developments in automation and technology have revolutionized the way products are made. It is directly seen in the evolution of part miniaturization in the sectors such as aerospace, electronics, biomedicine and medical implants. Micromachining is a promising technology to fulfill the need of miniaturization. A review has been done on the micromachining processes such as micro electric discharge machining (micro-EDM) and wire EDM (WEDM), micro electrochemical machining (micro-ECM). Recent literature were studied and categorized in terms of materials, process parameters, performances, product manufactured, and miniature product generation. Starting with brief introduction to micromachining, classifications and applications, technical aspects of discussions from the literature have been presented on key factors such as parameters and the response variables. Important aspects of recast layer, heat effected zone, micro-hardness, micro cracks, residual stress, etc., have been given. A special focus is given to the status of the research on microgear manufacturing. Comparison has been made between other conventional process suitable for micro-gear manufacturing and WEDM. The miniature gear machined by WEDM shows the defect-free microstructure, better surface finish, thin recast layer and improved gear quality parameters such as profile and pitch. Finally, the research gaps and future research directions have been presented.
Introduction: Uterine leiomyoma is the most widespread benign tumor affecting women of childbearing age. There are still gaps in the understanding of its pathogenesiss. Telocytes are unique cells described in greater than 50 different locations inside the human body. The functional relationship of cells could clarify the pathogenesis of leiomyomata. In the current study, we focused on the identification of telocytes in all regions of the human uterus to explain their involvement in leiomyoma development.
Materials and Methods: Tissue samples from a healthy and myomatous uterus were stained for c-kit, tryptase, CD34 and PDGFRα to identify telocytes. Routine histology was performed to analyze tissue morphology and collagen deposits.
Results: Telocytes were detected in the cervix, corpus of the uterus and leiomyoma. The density of telocytes in fibroid foci was reduced compared with normal myometrium.
Conclusions: Our results demonstrated the existence of telocytes in all parts of the human body affected and unaff ected by leiomyoma of the uterus. In addition, telocytes were also present in leiomyoma foci. Our results suggest that the reduced density of telocytes is important for the pathomechanisms of myometrial growth, demonstrating its value as a main component of the myomatous architecture.