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Daijiro Haba,1,2 Mizuho Itabashi,1,3 Nao Tamai,2,4,5 Hiromi Tobe,2,6 Hiromi Sanada,1,2,6 Gojiro Nakagami1,2 1Department of Gerontological Nursing/Wound Care Management, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo, Japan; 2Global Nursing Research Center, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo, Japan; 3Department of Gerontological Nursing, Graduate School of Nursing Science, St. Luke’s International University, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 4Department of Imaging Nursing Science, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo, Japan; 5Department of Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan; 6Ishikawa Prefectural Nursing University, Kahoku, Ishikawa, JapanCorrespondence: Gojiro Nakagami, Department of Gerontological Nursing/Wound Care Management, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan, Tel/Fax +81-3-5841-341, Email gojiron@g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jpAbstract: Diminished peripheral blood flow at the wound site remains a key hindrance to effective wound healing. Hard-to-heal wounds are defined as wounds that fail to heal with standard therapy. Vibration therapy may help promote the healing of hard-to-heal wounds such as pressure injuries, diabetic foot ulcers, and venous leg ulcers by improving blood flow. However, evidence supporting its effectiveness on hard-to-heal wounds is inadequate. This scoping review focuses on studying the effectiveness of vibration therapy for healing hard-to-heal wounds by compiling all available research. The following databases were systematically reviewed from 1980 to 2023: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Ichu-shi-Web, IEEE, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, and PEDro. The search terms included “wound”, “ulcer”, “hard-to-heal”, “vibration therapy”, and “wound healing”. Two authors independently screened the articles based on inclusion criteria, and the lead author performed data extraction and analysis. A total of 1036 articles were identified, and five articles were eligible to be included in this review. The results suggested that low-frequency and low-intensity vibration therapies helped effectively treat wounds (including pressure injuries, diabetic foot ulcers, and venous leg ulcers) by improving blood flow, relieving pain, reducing exudate, removing necrotic tissue, and increasing the expression of nitric oxide associated with wound healing. This study will inform the treatment choices of clinicians who manage patients with hard-to-heal wounds and researchers who plan to conduct clinical trials using vibration therapy. Further studies on vibration therapy must be performed to gather evidence to support the clinical application of vibration therapy to improve healing time and outcomes in individuals with hard-to-heal wounds.Keywords: vibration, physical therapy, hard-to-heal wound, chronic wound, wound healing

Taichi Goto,1 Ayumi Naito,1,2 Nao Tamai,1 Gojiro Nakagami,1 Makoto Mo,3 Hiromi Sanada1 1Department of Gerontological Nursing/Wound Care Management, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan; 2Fujisawa City Hospital, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan; 3Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Yokohama Minami Kyosai Hospital, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan Purpose: We aimed to identify distinguishing characteristics in thermographic images of venous leg ulcer (VLU), for objective evaluation of VLU-related nociceptive pain. Patients and methods: Secondary analysis was performed, using existing data obtained from April to November 2010, for patients with VLU. Thermographic images of wounds and their surrounding area were classified according to the periwound temperature pattern as "normal temperature" or "high temperature". These results were compared with the self-reported pain intensity assessed by the short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire. Cohen's kappa coefficients were used to evaluate the interrater reliability for temperature assessment, and Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to compare pain intensities between the two groups. Results: Among 39 thermographic examinations in eight patients, 22 were classified into the high-temperature group and 17 into the normal-temperature group. Kappa coefficients for the temperature classification were 0.90 between the wound, ostomy, and continence nurse and a wound care specialist, and 0.90 between the wound, ostomy, and continence nurse and a graduate student. The pain rating index (Z=−2.981, P=0.003), sensory pain (Z=−3.083, P=0.002), affective pain (Z=−2.764, P=0.006), and present pain intensity (Z=−2.639, P=0.006) ratings were significantly higher in the high-temperature group than in the normal-temperature group, but the visual analog scale (Z=−0.632, P=0.527) was not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion: Thermographic pattern may reflect VLU-related nociceptive pain due to inflammation and has the possibility of being an easy and rapid tool for objective pain evaluation. Keywords: short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire, temperature, wound assessment

A two-dimensional depth averaged model is developed in a nonorthogonal curvilinear coordinate system. The ability of the model in handling complex mesh arrangements with high aspect ratios and skewness is investigated. It is shown that model formulation makes it able to handle large skewness in the grid lines. It is also shown that in predicting the water surface profile with a very distorted mesh, most of the errors arise from the large aspect ratio rather than the skewness of the grid lines. The model is then applied to three meandering channels (two simple and one compound), with specifications similar to those found in nature and the results are compared with experimental data. The comparison shows that the model predicted the water surface profile and velocity distribution well in simple channels. Predictions of the model in the main channel of the compound meandering channel were also in general agreement with the experimental results. CE Database subject headings: Mathematical models; Meandering streams; Simulation; Velocity distribution; Channel flow.

Objectives Complex actions are thought to be risk factors for pressure injuries (PIs) in wheelchair basketball athletes. However, no study has been conducted on the characteristics of dynamic pressure distributions during performance. This study aimed to identify the characteristics of dynamic pressure distributions and to determine the parameters that relate to PIs in wheelchair basketball athletes. Method This cross-sectional study was conducted in November 2017 at the training camp of the national team in Japan. The study participants were 14 elite wheelchair basketball athletes who had joined the training camp. A wound, ostomy and continence nurse (WOCN) and a sonographer evaluated the presence of PIs by inspection and ultrasonography. Pressure distributions under static and dynamic conditions were measured using sheet-type sensors. Results Sixteen PIs were found in five (35.7%) of the 14 participants. Participants with PIs showed distribution of high pressure in unilateral/bilateral ischium and belting regions. In three participants who had PIs on the buttocks, total high-pressure periods were 60.25, 68.33 and 155.16 seconds, respectively. Maximum high-pressure periods were 12.10, 2.53 and 23.53 seconds. The numbers of high-pressure periods were 242, 190 and 706 times. Under dynamic conditions, these parameters were higher than those of participants without PIs. Conclusions Our findings suggested that continuous and/or repetitive high-pressure loading was related to the occurrence of PIs during performance. Further prospective studies are required to establish the methods to predict and prevent PIs in wheelchair basketball athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the site-dependence of Angstrom correlation, this study developed a hybrid model to estimate global radiation H. Unlike Angstrom correlation H = ([Alpha] + [Beta]S/[S.sub.0])[H.sub.0], this model suggested that H = (a + b S/[S.sub.0])[H.sub.b] + (c + d S/[S.sub.0])[H.sub.d], [H.sub.b] and [H.sub.d] are effective beam radiation and effective diffuse radiation, which imply latitude, elevation and seasonal effect on radiation. [H.sub.b] and [H.sub.d] are calculated by an arithmetic model derived from spectral model. The hybrid model was designed for estimating monthly mean daily global radiation with hourly-recorded bright sunshine time, and its applicability was verified at observatories in Japan. [C] 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.