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The safeguarding of plant health is vital for optimizing crop growth practices, especially in the face of the biggest challenges of our generation, namely the environmental crisis and the dramatic changes in the climate. Among the many innovative tools developed to address these issues, wearable sensors have recently been proposed for monitoring plant growth and microclimates in a sustainable manner. These systems are composed of flexible matrices with embedded sensing elements, showing promise in revolutionizing plant monitoring without being intrusive. Despite their potential benefits, concerns arise regarding the effects of the long-term coexistence of these devices with the plant surface. Surprisingly, a systematic analysis of their influence on plant physiology is lacking. This study aims to investigate the effect of the color and geometric features of flexible matrices on two key plant physiological functions: photosynthesis and transpiration. Our findings indicate that the negative effects associated with colored substrates, as identified in recent research, can be minimized by holing the matrix surface with a percentage of voids of 15.7%. This approach mitigates interference with light absorption and reduces water loss to a negligible extent, making our work one of the first pioneering efforts in understanding the intricate relationship between plant wearables' features and plant health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately mapping the temperature during ablation is crucial for improving clinical outcomes. While various sensor configurations have been suggested in the literature, depending on the sensors' type, number, and size, a comprehensive understanding of optimizing these parameters for precise temperature reconstruction is still lacking. This study addresses this gap by introducing a tool based on a theoretical model to optimize the placement of fiber Bragg grating sensors (FBG) within the organ undergoing ablation. The theoretical model serves as a general framework, allowing for adaptation to various situations. In practical application, the model provides a foundational structure, with the flexibility to tailor specific optimal solutions by adjusting problem-specific data. We propose a nonlinear and nonconvex (and, thus, only solvable in an approximated manner) optimization formulation to determine the optimal distribution and three-dimensional placement of FBG arrays. The optimization aims to find a trade-off among two objectives: maximizing the variance of the expected temperatures measured by the sensors, which can be obtained from a predictive simulation that considers both the type of applicator used and the specific organ involved, and maximizing the squared sum of the distances between the sensor pairs. The proposed approach provides a trade-off between collecting diverse temperatures and not having all the sensors concentrated in a single area. We address the optimization problem through the utilization of approximation schemes in programming. We then substantiate the efficacy of this approach through simulations. This study tackles optimizing the FBGs' sensor placement for precise temperature monitoring during tumor ablation. Optimizing the FBG placement enhances temperature mapping, aiding in tumor cell eradication while minimizing damage to surrounding tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heart rate variability (HRV) indexes are becoming useful in various applications, from better diagnosis and prevention of diseases to predicting stress levels. Typically, HRV indexes are retrieved from the heart's electrical activity collected with an electrocardiographic signal (ECG). Heart-induced mechanical signals recorded from the body's surface can be utilized to record the mechanical activity of the heart and, in turn, extract HRV indexes from interbeat intervals (IBIs). Among others, accelerometers and gyroscopes can be used to register IBIs from precordial accelerations and chest wall angular velocities. However, unlike electrical signals, the morphology of mechanical ones is strongly affected by body posture. In this paper, we investigated the feasibility of estimating the most common linear and non-linear HRV indexes from accelerometer and gyroscope data collected with a wearable skin-interfaced Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) positioned at the xiphoid level. Data were collected from 21 healthy volunteers assuming two common postures (i.e., seated and lying). Results show that using the gyroscope signal in the lying posture allows accurate results in estimating IBIs, thus allowing extracting of linear and non-linear HRV parameters that are not statistically significantly different from those extracted from reference ECG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiber Bragg grating sensors (FBGs) are considered a valid sensing solution for a variety of medical applications. The last decade witnessed the exploitation of these sensors in applications ranging from minimally invasive surgery to biomechanics and monitoring physiological parameters. Recently, preliminary studies investigated the potential impact of FBGs in the management of epidural procedures by detecting when the needle reaches the epidural space with the loss of resistance (LOR) technique. In this article, we propose a soft and flexible FBG-based system capable of detecting the LOR, we optimized the solution by considering different designs and materials, and we assessed the feasibility of the optimized soft sensor (SS) in clinical settings. The proposed SS addresses some of the open challenges in the use of a sensing solution during epidural punctures: it has high sensitivity, it is non-invasive, the sensing element does not need to be inserted within the needle, and the clinician can follow the standard clinical practice. Our analysis highlights how the material and the design impact the system response, and thus its performance in this scenario. We also demonstrated the system's feasibility of detecting the LOR during epidural procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of a large blood vessel in the proximity of tumor masses during microwave ablation (MWA) can compromise the procedure success. Blood vessels cause convective heat dissipation (i.e., heat sink effect, HSE) in the tissue surrounding the vessel. In this scenario, cytotoxic temperatures may not be achieved within the target area, resulting in ineffective cancer removal. In this paper, we investigated HSE in hepatic tissue from both an experimental and numerical perspective. MWA was performed mimicking two clinical scenarios (i.e., with and without a blood vessel near the heat source). Fiber Bragg grating sensors measured tissue temperature during the procedure, whereas numerical simulations were carried out to evaluate temperature distribution theoretically. Temperature profiles obtained by simulations and experiments confirmed the influence of HSE with a significant cooling effect nearby the vessel. The proposed approach allowed to quantify the HSE impact on MWA outcomes, laying the foundations for optimizing the treatment parameters in terms of ablated volume and malignant cells destruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temperature monitoring inside tissue undergoing minimally invasive thermal ablation is a primary goal to improve the clinical outcomes. Existing techniques for temperature measurements, classified as invasive or contactless, have limited clinical practice applications due to several practical issues. Fiber Bragg grating sensors (FBG) can be a valid solution since they can perform accurate and multi-point temperature measurements by inserting a single and small fiber optic within the tissue. Notwithstanding, their cross-sensitivity to strain may cause measurement errors during thermal procedures. Indeed, several organs (e.g., lungs, liver, pancreas) can strain gratings due to movements caused by breathing. To date, only a few studies have specifically addressed this concern, despite the wide use of FBGs in this field. To overcome this lack, we estimated the artefact of the FBGs output in response to lungs’ movements induced by breathing. This investigation was carried out by inserting FBGs within a manually ventilated lung model (ex vivo swine lungs). We measured both the lungs’ movements during breathing by a Motion Capture system and the related fluctuations of the FBGs’ output. Moreover, we performed the same experiments during thermal ablation of lungs to assess the mentioned artefact’s influence. In this study, we demonstrated the relevance of the respiratory artefact on FBGs, and also the possibility to correct this error during thermal ablation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bone metastases and osteoid osteoma (OO) have a high incidence in patients facing primary lesions in many organs. Radiotherapy has long been the standard choice for these patients, performed as stand-alone or in conjunction with surgery. However, the needs of these patients have never been fully met, especially in the ones with low life expectancy, where treatments devoted to pain reduction are pivotal. New techniques as hyperthermia treatments (HTs) are emerging to reduce the associated pain of bone metastases and OO. Temperature monitoring during HTs may significantly improve the clinical outcomes since the amount of thermal injury depends on the tissue temperature and the exposure time. This is particularly relevant in bone tumors due to the adjacent vulnerable structures (e.g., spinal cord and nerve roots). In this Review, we focus on the potential of temperature monitoring on HT of bone cancer. Preclinical and clinical studies have been proposed and are underway to investigate the use of different thermometric techniques in this scenario. We review these studies, the principle of work of the thermometric techniques used in HTs, their strengths, weaknesses, and pitfalls, as well as the strategies and the potential of improving the HTs outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidural analgesia represents a clinical common practice aiming at pain mitigation. This loco-regional technique is widely used in several applications such as labor, surgery and lower back pain. It involves the injections of anesthetics or analgesics into the epidural space (ES). The ES detection is still demanding and is usually performed by the techniques named loss of resistance (LOR). In this study, we propose a novel soft system (SS) based on one fiber Bragg grating sensor (FBG) embedded in a soft polymeric matrix for LOR detection during the epidural puncture. The SS was designed to allow instrumenting the syringe's plunger without relevant modifications of the anesthetist's sensations during the procedure. After the metrological characterization of the SS, we assessed the capability of this solution in detecting LOR by carrying it out in silico and in clinical settings. For both trials, results revealed the capability of the proposed solutions in detecting the LOR and then in recording the force exerted on the plunger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bones are a frequent site of metastases that cause intolerable cancer-related pain in 90% of patients, making their quality of life poor. In this scenario, being able to treat bone oncology patients by means of minimally invasive techniques can be crucial to avoid surgery-related risks and decrease hospitalization times. The use of microwave ablation (MWA) is gaining broad clinical acceptance to treat bone tumors. It is worth investigating temperature variations in bone tissue undergoing MWA because the clinical outcomes can be inferred from this parameter. Several feasibility studies have been performed, but an experimental analysis of the temperature trends reached into the bone during the MWA has not yet been assessed. In this work, a multi-point temperature study along the bone structure during such treatment is presented. The study has been carried out on ex vivo bovine femur and tibia, subjected to MWA. An overall of 40 measurement points covering a large sensing area was obtained for each configuration. Temperature monitoring was performed by using 40 fiber Bragg grating (FBGs) sensors (four arrays each housing 10 FBGs), inserted into the bones at specific distances to the microwave antenna. As result, the ability of this experimental multi-point monitoring approach in tracking temperature variations within bone tissue during MWA treatments was shown. This study lays the foundations for the design of a novel approach to study the effects of MWA on bone tumors. As consequence, the MWA treatment settings could be optimized in order to maximize the treatment effects of such a promising clinical application, but also customized for the specific tumor and patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Loss of resistance (LOR) is a widely accepted method for performing epidural punctures in clinical settings. However, the risk of failure associated with LOR is still high. Solutions based either on Fiber Bragg grating sensors (FBG) or on artificial intelligence (AI) are gaining ground for supporting clinicians during this kind of procedure. Here, for the first time, we combined the mentioned two technologies to perform an AI-driven LOR identification based on data collected by a custom FBG sensor., Methods: This study presented two contributions (i.e., automatic labeling and identification) based on machine learning to support epidural procedures by enhancing LOR detection. The methods were tested using data collected by a customized FBG-based flexible cap on 10 patients affected by chronic back pain., Results: The automatic labeling can retrospectively identify every LOR event for each subject under consideration. This serves as the labeling for the automatic identification task, which emulates the real-time application of LOR detection. A Support Vector Machine, trained using a Leave-One-Out strategy, demonstrates high accuracy in identifying all LOR events while maintaining a minimal rate of false positives., Conclusion: Our findings revealed the promising performance of the proposed AI-based approach for automatic LOR detection. Thus, their combination with FBG technology can potentially improve the level of support offered to clinicians in this application., Significance: The integration of AI and FBG technologies holds the promise of revolutionizing LOR detection, reducing the likelihood of unsuccessful epidural punctures and advancing pain management.

Low back pain represents a significant socioeconomic burden. Several nonsurgical medical treatments have been proposed for the treatment of this disabling condition. Epidural steroid injections (ESIs) are commonly used to treat lumbosacral radicular pain and to avoid surgery. Even though it is still not clear which type of conservative intervention is superior, several studies have proved that ESIs are able to increase patients' quality of life, relieve lumbosacral radicular pain and finally, reduce or delay more invasive interventions, such as spinal surgery. The aim of this narrative review is to analyze the mechanism of action of ESIs in patients affected by low back pain and investigate their current application in treating this widespread pathology.