In this study, a finite element (FE) model of a below-knee prosthesis of patellar tendon-bearing (PTB) design, and several altered variations of the model have been constructed. A load of approximately 1.5 times normal body weight (984 N) was applied at the heel of the model to simulate heelstrike conditions. The "base" model was then analyzed and revised iteratively until a model which provide...

Fruit maturity, diphenylamine (DPA) treatment and controlled atmosphere (CA) storage regimes were evaluated as factors affecting development of ‘Fuji’ apple CO2 injury. The incidence and severity of CO2 injury (brown-heart) increased with advanced maturity and greater watercore severity at harvest. The development of CO2 injury during storage was prevented by DPA treatment. The severity of CO2 ...

BACKGROUND Nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) is useful in exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) complicated by ventilatory failure. The effects of NIPPV were compared with those of the respiratory stimulant doxapram on gas exchange in patients with COPD and acute ventilatory failure. METHODS Patients admitted with acute exacerbations of COPD and ...

Although it is an invasive and unpleasant procedure, esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) is still the gold standard for esophageal varices (EV) detection. The aim of this study was to investigate liver stiffness measurement (LSM) and spleen diameter as simple noninvasive tools for EV prediction in chronic hepatitis C patients (CHC).A total of 123 Egyptian patients with CHC have been included and w...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of controlled atmosphere (CA) on quality preservation of 'Laetitia' plums, mainly on internal breakdown, in order to determine the best CA storage conditions. Two experiments were carried out one in 2010, and another in 2011. In 2010, besides cold storage (CS; 21.0 kPa O2 + 0.03 kPa CO2), the fruits were stored under the following CA condit...

BACKGROUND We aimed to explore pressure pain sensitivity and the function of segmental and plurisegmental exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH) in persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared with healthy control subjects (HC). METHODS Forty-six participants with RA (43 female, 3 male) and 20 HC (16 female, 4 male) participated in the study. Pressure pain thresholds, suprathreshold pressure p...

PURPOSE To assess if higher-resolution magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is a technique that can measure the in vivo mechanical properties of brain tissue and is sensitive to early signatures of brain tissue degradation in patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS). MATERIALS AND METHODS Seventeen patients with CIS and 33 controls were investigated by MRE with a 3T MRI scanner. Full...

Pressure sensors are a key component in electronic skin (e-skin) sensing systems. Most reported resistive pressure sensors have a high sensitivity at low pressures (<5 kPa) to enable ultra-sensitive detection. However, the sensitivity drops significantly at high pressures (>5 kPa), which is inadequate for practical applications. For example, actions like a gentle touch and object manipulation h...

Modulation of the tumour microvasculature has been demonstrated to affect the effectiveness of radiation, stimulating the search for anti-angiogenic and vascular-disrupting treatment modalities. Microbubbles stimulated by ultrasound have recently been demonstrated as a radiation enhancer when used with different cancer models including PC3. Here, photoacoustics imaging technique was used to ass...

Background: Nocturnal non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is an effective treatment for hypercapnic respiratory failure in patients with restrictive thoracic disease. We hypothesised that NIV may reverse respiratory failure by increasing the ventilatory response to carbon dioxide, reducing inspiratory muscle fatigue, or enhancing pulmonary mechanics. Methods: Twenty patients with restrictive disease...