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We present a 10-17 Degrees of Freedom (DoF) sensory gloves for Smart Healthcare implementing an energy harvesting architecture, aimed at enhancing the battery lasting when powering the electronics of the two different types of gloves, used to sense fingers movements. In particular, we realized a comparison in terms of measurement repeatability and reliability, as well as power consumption and battery lasting, between two sensory gloves implemented by means of different technologies. The first is a 3D printed glove with 10 DoF, featuring low-cost, loweffort fabrication and low-power consumption. The second is a classical Lycra® glove with 14 DoF suitable for a more detailed assessment of the hand postures, featuring a relatively higher cost and power consumption. An electronic circuitry was designed to gather and elaborate data from both types of sensory gloves, equipped with flex sensors, differing for number of inputs only. Both gloves allow the control of hand virtual limbs or mechanical arts in surgical, military, space and civil applications. The proposed gloves were already individually evaluated in terms of repeatability, reproducibility and reliability, but in this work their performances are compared also in terms of power consumption, because a particular effort was devoted in this case to increase battery lasting for both systems, developing an Energy Harvesting (EH) system with the electronics relaying on Radio Frequency, Piezoelectric and Thermoelectric harvesters, and applying it to the gloves for the first time. The harvesting part was built and tested as a prototype discrete element board, that is interfaced with an external microcontroller and a radiofrequency transmitter board. Measurement results demonstrated a meaningful improvement in battery operation time up to 25%, considering different operating scenarios, for both glove systems, which exhibited not very different power consumption and therefore battery duration, in spite of different DoF measuring capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to quantify the metabolic equivalents (METs) of resistance exercise in obese patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and healthy young subjects and to evaluate whether there were differences between sessions executed at low- versus high-intensity resistance exercise. Twenty obese patients with T2DM (62.9±6.1 years) and 22 young subjects (22.6±1.9 years) performed two training sessions: one at vigorous intensity (80% of 1-repetition maximum (1RM)) and one at moderate intensity (60% of 1RM). Both groups carried out three strength exercises with a 2-day recovery between sessions. Oxygen consumption was continuously measured 15 min before, during and after each training session. Obese T2DM patients showed lower METs values compared with young healthy participants at the baseline phase (F= 2043.86; P<0.01), during training (F=1140.59; P<0.01) and in the post-exercise phase (F=1012.71; P<0.01). No effects were detected in the group x intensity analysis of covariance. In this study, at both light-moderate and vigorous resistance exercise intensities, the METs value that best represented both sessions was 3 METs for the obese elderly T2DM patients and 5 METs for young subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to quantify the metabolic equivalents (METs) of resistance exercise in obese patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and healthy young subjects and to evaluate whether there were differences between sessions executed at low- versus high-intensity resistance exercise. Twenty obese patients with T2DM (62.9±6.1 years) and 22 young subjects (22.6±1.9 years) performed two training sessions: one at vigorous intensity (80% of 1-repetition maximum (1RM)) and one at moderate intensity (60% of 1RM). Both groups carried out three strength exercises with a 2-day recovery between sessions. Oxygen consumption was continuously measured 15 min before, during and after each training session. Obese T2DM patients showed lower METs values compared with young healthy participants at the baseline phase (F= 2043.86; P<0.01), during training (F=1140.59; P<0.01) and in the post-exercise phase (F=1012.71; P<0.01). No effects were detected in the group x intensity analysis of covariance. In this study, at both light-moderate and vigorous resistance exercise intensities, the METs value that best represented both sessions was 3 METs for the obese elderly T2DM patients and 5 METs for young subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Screening for lung cancer with modern imaging technology may decrease lung cancer mortality, but encouraging results have only been obtained in uncontrolled studies. Objectives: To explore the effect of screening with low-dose spiral computed tomography (LDCT) on lung cancer mortality. Secondary endpoints are incidence, stage at diagnosis, and resectability. Methods: Male subjects, aged 60 to 75 years, smokers of 20 or more pack-years, were randomized to screening with LDCT or control groups. All participants underwent a baseline, once-only chest X-ray and sputum cytology examination. Screening-arm subjects had LDCT upon accrual to be repeated every year for 4 years, whereas controls had a yearly medical examination only. Measurements and Main Results: A total of 2,811 subjects were randomized and 2,472 were enrolled (LDCT, 1,276; control, 1,196). After a median follow-up of 33 months, lung cancer was detected in 60 (4.7%) patients receiving LDCT and 34 (2.8%) control subjects (P = 0.016). Resectability rates were similar in both groups. More patients with stage I disease were detected by LDCT (54 vs. 34%; P = 0.06) and fewer cases were detected in the screening arm due to intercurrent symptoms. However, the number of advanced lung cancer cases was the same as in the control arm. Twenty patients in the LDCT group (1.6%) and 20 controls (1.7%) died of lung cancer, whereas 26 and 25 died of other causes, respectively. Conclusions: The mortality benefit from lung cancer screening by LDCT might be far smaller than anticipated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study an unconventional kind of quasi-three-dimensional (3-D) photonic crystal (PhC) with circular lattice pattern: it consists of air holes in a GaAs material (n=3.408) along circular concentric lines. This particular PhC geometry has peculiar behavior if compared with the traditional square and triangular lattices, but it is difficult to model by using conventional numerical approaches such as wave expansion method. The resonance and the radiation aspects are analyzed by the 3-D finite-element method (FEM). The model, based on a scattering matrix approach, considers the cavity resonance frequency and evaluates the input-output relationship by enclosing the photonic crystal slab (PhCS) in a black box in order to define the responses at different input-output ports. The scattering matrix method gives important information about the frequency responses of the passive 3-D crystal in the 3-D spatial domain. A high sensitivity of the scattering parameters to the variation of the geometrical imperfection is also observed. The model is completed by the quality factor (Q-factor) estimation. We fabricated the designed circular photonic crystal over a slab membrane waveguide embedding InAs/GaAs quantum dots emitting around 1.28 mum. Good agreement between numerical and experimental results was found, thus validating the 3-D FEM full-wave investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Focused ultrasound are recently introduced as alternative therapy for pain palliation caused by bone metastases. The heat absorption and propagation in the soft tissues and in the bones strongly depends on the correct focalization of the ultrasonic beam through the interfaces. The real-time thermal map provided by the MRI gives to the interventional radiologist the feedback for the online treatment planning. The present work is focused on the verification of planning therapy system of a MRgFUs system giving a verification of the propagation and the accumulation of the temperature in bones in particular for the pelvic bone. In this work it has been studied the Philips Sonalleve HIFU installed on Ingenia 3T. The thermal maps has been studied on a multi-interface phantom with albumin-agarose gel volumetric detector. The planned volume ablation temperature has been compared with the T2 imaging modification on the phantom. A dedicated software has been developed for the extraction of the thermal image maps from the system and for the evaluation of the cumulative thermal dose. A first approach has been proposed for the evaluation of the plan in term of DVH (dose/volume histogram). High impedance interfaces create local depositions of energy along the sonicated surfaces. The plan cumulative dose verification gives constraints to the physicians on sonication cells positioning. The MRgFUs feedback planning gives partial information of the heat deposition. The bone phantom is used to evaluate the real cells volume. The de-focalization created by bones demonstrate the needs of preplanning system dedicated to bones treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a large body of evidence asbestos minerals have been classified as carcinogens. Despite the Italian ban on asbestos in 1992 and the subsequent remediation activities, latent sources of contamination may still represent a hazard where asbestos were particularly used. Using wild rats as sentinel animals, this study aimed at uncovering sites with the greatest potential for non-occupational exposure to asbestos in the city of Casale Monferrato (Piedmont Region, Italy), where the largest Italian manufacturing plant of asbestos-cement had been active. During the study period (2013–2015) a total of 40 wild rats were captured from 16 sampling capture points. The lungs of wild rats have been investigated by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The SEM-EDS detected the presence of asbestos fibers (tremolite/actinolite, amosite, and chrysotile) in rats' lungs from 11 sampling points. The hypothetical rats' home-range and the observed site-specific concentration of asbestos fibers per gram of dry lung tissue were used to identify areas to be targeted by additional search of latent sources of asbestos. In conclusion, our results showed that the use of wild rats as sentinel animals may effectively integrate the strategies currently in use to reduce the exposure to asbestos. Unlabeled Image • Wild rats were used as sentinels of asbestos latent sources contamination. • Measurement of the lung asbestos fiber burden was conducted by SEM-EDS. • Different asbestos fibers species were found in rats' lungs living in an Italian city. • The concentration of fibers was spatially associated with the rats' capture points. • Based on the home-range of rats, we suggest a hot-spot of latent sources of asbestos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radionuclides handled in nuclear medicine departments are often characterized by high volatility and short half-life. It is generally difficult to monitor directly the intake of these short-lived radionuclides in hospital staff: this makes measuring air contamination of utmost interest. The aim of the present work is to provide a method for the evaluation of internal doses to workers in nuclear medicine, by means of an air activity sampling detector, to ensure that the limits prescribed by the relevant legislation are respected. A continuous air sampling system measures isotope concentration with a Nal(TI) detector. Energy efficiency of the system was assessed with GEANT4 and with known activities of 18 F. Air is sampled in a number of areas of the nuclear medicine department of the IRST-IRCCS hospital (Meldola- Italy). To evaluate committed doses to hospital staff involved (doctors, technicians, nurses) different exposure situations (rooms, times, radionuclides etc) were considered. After estimating the intake, the committed effective dose has been evaluated, for the different radionuclides, using the dose coefficients mandated by the Italian legislation. Error propagation for the estimated intake and personal dose has been evaluated, starting from measurement statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]