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Biofilm Dec 2022The accumulation of protons in electro-active biofilms (EABfs) has been reported as a critical parameter determining produced currents at the anode since the very...
The accumulation of protons in electro-active biofilms (EABfs) has been reported as a critical parameter determining produced currents at the anode since the very beginning of the studies on Bio-electrochemical systems (BESs). Even though the knowledge gained on the influence of this parameter on the produced currents, its influence on EABfs growth is frequently overlooked. In this study, we quantified EABfs thicknesses in real-time and related them to the produced current at three buffer concentrations, two anode potentials and two acetate concentrations. The thickest EABfs (80 μm) and higher produced currents (2.5 A.m) were measured when a 50 mM buffer concentration was used. By combining the measured EABfs thicknesses with the pH in the anolyte, a simple model was developed to identify buffer limitations. Buffer limited EABfs with thicknesses of 15 and 42 μm were identified at -0.3 V vs Ag/AgCl when 10 and 50 mM buffer concentrations were used, respectively. At -0.2 V vs Ag/AgCl, the thicknesses of buffer limited EABfs decreased to 13 and 20 μm, respectively. The model also estimated buffer and acetate diffusion rates in EABfs and allowed to determine the boundary between a buffer and acetate limited EABfs. The diffusion rates reported in this study and the definition of the boundary between buffer and acetate limited EABfs provide a powerful tool to avoid limitations, leading to higher produced currents at the anode.
PubMed: 36425753
DOI: 10.1016/j.bioflm.2022.100092 -
Materials (Basel, Switzerland) Dec 2022P-type SbTe films with different thicknesses were deposited on polyimide substrates via heat treatment-assisted DC magnetron sputtering. The correlations between the...
P-type SbTe films with different thicknesses were deposited on polyimide substrates via heat treatment-assisted DC magnetron sputtering. The correlations between the thickness variance and the structure, dislocation density, surface morphology, thermoelectric properties and output power are investigated. As a result, it is clear that the film thickness and the heat treatment process during growth are related to the diffusion of deposited atoms on the substrate surface, leading to imperfection defects inside the films. The imperfections inside the films are affected by their properties. This work also presents the thermoelectric efficiency of a planar single leg of the deposited films with various thicknesses. The maximum power factor is 2.73 mW/mK obtained with a film thickness of 9.0 µm and an applied temperature of 100 °C. Planar SbTe produced a maximum output power of 0.032 µW for a temperature difference of 58 K.
PubMed: 36556656
DOI: 10.3390/ma15248850 -
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics May 2023To evaluate whether different measurements of endometrial thickness pre-IVF cycle and during the IVF cycles as measured by transvaginal ultrasound are associated with...
PURPOSE
To evaluate whether different measurements of endometrial thickness pre-IVF cycle and during the IVF cycles as measured by transvaginal ultrasound are associated with the absence or presence of endometrial polyps.
DESIGN
A retrospective cohort study was conducted in a university-affiliated fertility center. Patients were women who underwent two embryo transfer cycles and failed to conceive.
INTERVENTIONS
hysteroscopic evaluation and resection of any masses.
RESULTS
There was no difference on comparing the groups with and without polyps in the mean endometrial thicknesses at baseline scans pre-treatment or during IVF cycle. For women who failed two embryo transfer cycles, at any given endometrial thickness the probability of the presence of a polyp was 30-40%. ROC curves failed to detect an actionable relationship with different endometrial thicknesses and the relationship with an endometrial polyp, with most areas under the curve being just above 0.5. However, once the maximum stimulated endometrial thickness was ≥ 13 mm, there was a 70% chance of a polyp being noted at hysteroscopy. This was a statistical difference in the probability of a polyp being present as compared to the lesser thicknesses (p = 0.05).
CONCLUSION
Baseline or maximum stimulated endometrial thickness at IVF fails to predict with accuracy the presence of a polyp. However, if the maximum stimulated thickness was at least 13 mm, there was a higher probability of a uterine polyp being present. Such a cutoff would nevertheless miss most polyps. At any baseline thickness on CD 2-5, a polyp has a 30-40% probability of being present in women who failed two embryo transfers. ROC curves suggest that at baseline, or maximum stimulated endometrial thickness, the ability to predict a polyp is no better than flipping a coin. As such, endometrial cavity evaluation for polyps is legitimate in women with two embryo transfers irrelevant of the baseline or stimulated thickness.
Topics: Pregnancy; Humans; Female; Male; Retrospective Studies; Uterine Neoplasms; Endometrium; Hysteroscopy; Embryo Transfer; Polyps; Fertilization in Vitro
PubMed: 35680687
DOI: 10.1007/s00404-022-06646-6 -
Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) Jan 2022All abdominal muscles, including the transverse abdominis (TrA), should be modulated to improve core stability. This study aimed to investigate easier and more effective...
All abdominal muscles, including the transverse abdominis (TrA), should be modulated to improve core stability. This study aimed to investigate easier and more effective core exercise methods by comparing thickness changes in the TrA, internal oblique (IO), external oblique (EO), and rectus abdominis (RA) muscles during the abdominal draw-in maneuver (ADIM) and maximum abdominal contraction maneuver (MACM). Thirty healthy subjects who participated in this study underwent ADIM and MACM three times in random order. We measured the abdominal muscle thickness during ADIM and MACM using ultrasonography and compared the changes in the thickness of TrA, IO, EO, and RA muscles using a paired -test. Significant differences were observed in the thicknesses of all the abdominal muscles between the ADIM and MACM groups ( < 0.05). The MACM immediately increased the thickness of the TrA ( < 0.001, effect size (ES) = 0.931), IO ( = 0.001, ES = 0.761), EO ( = 0.008, ES = 0.415), and RA ( < 0.001, ES = 0.767) muscles. These results suggest that MACM is useful for immediately increasing the thickness of TrA, IO, EO, and RA muscles and may contribute to the clinical effect of simultaneous contractions on the changes in abdominal muscle thickness.
PubMed: 35206865
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare10020251 -
Clinical Oral Investigations Aug 2023To evaluate the short-term effects of hard and soft splints of different thicknesses on maximum bite force (MBF) and sleep quality (SQ) in participants with sleep... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
Short-term effect of material type and thickness of occlusal splints on maximum bite force and sleep quality in patients with sleep bruxism: a randomized controlled clinical trial.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the short-term effects of hard and soft splints of different thicknesses on maximum bite force (MBF) and sleep quality (SQ) in participants with sleep bruxism (SB).
METHODS
One-hundred-fifteen patients were randomly allocated to five groups: Groups H2(Hard splint-2 mm), H3(Hard splint-3 mm), S2(Soft splint-2 mm), S3(Soft splint-3 mm), and C (control). Outcomes were MBF (assessed with a digital gnathodynamometer) and SQ (assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index). Measurements were performed at T0 (before the splints), T1 (1-month follow-up), and T2 (2-months follow-up). Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance(ANOVA), Tukey's HSD, and chi-square tests (alpha = 0.05).
RESULTS
At T1, the highest MBF values were observed in group H3 (658.01 ± 22.6 N), while the lowest in group S2 (585.45 ± 8.68 N). For T2, the highest values were obtained in H3 group (676.85 ± 21.9 N), and the lowest in group S2 (565.65 ± 10.9 N) (p < 0.05).For SQ, groups S2 and S3 revealed the lowest PSQI values at T1 (9.1; 9.6) and T2 (9; 9.5) (p < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
The short-term use of both 2 and 3-mm thick soft splints resulted in a decrease in MBF. Improvement in SQ in patients using soft splints was observed in the 1st month and was maintained in the 2nd month.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE
This study provides insights on short-term clinical effects as regards to increased sleep quality and regulated maximum bite force as a function of splint material type and the thickness of the splint.
Topics: Humans; Sleep Bruxism; Occlusal Splints; Bite Force; Sleep Quality; Splints; Bruxism
PubMed: 37127807
DOI: 10.1007/s00784-023-05049-4 -
Computer Methods and Programs in... Nov 2020To investigate the effect of the slab thickness in maximum intensity projections (MIPs) on the candidate detection performance of a deep learning-based computer-aided...
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effect of the slab thickness in maximum intensity projections (MIPs) on the candidate detection performance of a deep learning-based computer-aided detection (DL-CAD) system for pulmonary nodule detection in CT scans.
METHODS
The public LUNA16 dataset includes 888 CT scans with 1186 nodules annotated by four radiologists. From those scans, MIP images were reconstructed with slab thicknesses of 5 to 50 mm (at 5 mm intervals) and 3 to 13 mm (at 2 mm intervals). The architecture in the nodule candidate detection part of the DL-CAD system was trained separately using MIP images with various slab thicknesses. Based on ten-fold cross-validation, the sensitivity and the F score were determined to evaluate the performance of using each slab thickness at the nodule candidate detection stage. The free-response receiver operating characteristic (FROC) curve was used to assess the performance of the whole DL-CAD system that took the results combined from 16 MIP slab thickness settings.
RESULTS
At the nodule candidate detection stage, the combination of results from 16 MIP slab thickness settings showed a high sensitivity of 98.0% with 46 false positives (FPs) per scan. Regarding a single MIP slab thickness of 10 mm, the highest sensitivity of 90.0% with 8 FPs/scan was reached before false positive reduction. The sensitivity increased (82.8% to 90.0%) for slab thickness of 1 to 10 mm and decreased (88.7% to 76.6%) for slab thickness of 15-50 mm. The number of FPs was decreasing with increasing slab thickness, but was stable at 5 FPs/scan at a slab thickness of 30 mm or more. After false positive reduction, the DL-CAD system, utilizing 16 MIP slab thickness settings, had the sensitivity of 94.4% with 1 FP/scan.
CONCLUSIONS
The utilization of multi-MIP images could improve the performance at the nodule candidate detection stage, even for the whole DL-CAD system. For a single slab thickness of 10 mm, the highest sensitivity for pulmonary nodule detection was reached at the nodule candidate detection stage, similar to the slab thickness usually applied by radiologists.
Topics: Deep Learning; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; Sensitivity and Specificity; Solitary Pulmonary Nodule
PubMed: 32615493
DOI: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2020.105620 -
Journal of Physical Therapy Science Jun 2020[Purpose] Whole-body electromyostimulation (WB-EMS) is an extension of the EMS application known in physical therapy. In WB-EMS, body composition and skinfold thickness...
[Purpose] Whole-body electromyostimulation (WB-EMS) is an extension of the EMS application known in physical therapy. In WB-EMS, body composition and skinfold thickness seem to play a decisive role in influencing the Ohmic resistance and therefore the maximum intensity tolerance. That is why the therapeutic success of (WB-)EMS may depend on individual anatomical parameters. The aim of the study was to find out whether gender, skinfold thickness and parameters of body composition have an influence on the maximum intensity tolerance in WB-EMS. [Participants and Methods] Fifty-two participants were included in the study. Body composition (body impedance, body fat, fat mass, fat-free mass) and skinfold thicknesses were measured and set into relation to the maximum intensity tolerance. [Results] No relationship between the different anthropometric parameters and the maximum intensity tolerance was detected for both genders. Considering the individual muscle groups, no similarities were found in the results. [Conclusion] Body composition or skinfold thickness do not seem to have any influence on the maximum intensity tolerance in WB-EMS training. For the application in physiotherapy this means that a dosage of the electrical voltage within the scope of a (WB-) EMS application is only possible via the subjective feedback (BORG Scale).
PubMed: 32581432
DOI: 10.1589/jpts.32.395 -
Journal of Physical Therapy Science Oct 2020[Purpose] One-repetition maximum is an essential statistic for physical therapists and coaches in rehabilitation and athletic settings. In a previous study, we showed... (Review)
Review
[Purpose] One-repetition maximum is an essential statistic for physical therapists and coaches in rehabilitation and athletic settings. In a previous study, we showed that one-repetition maximum of the knee extensor could be predicted more accurately with the combination of maximal voluntary isometric contraction strength, as measured by a handheld dynamometer, muscle thickness, and thigh circumference, in young adults. However, there has been no study in older adults investigating the relationship between one-repetition maximum and maximal voluntary isometric contraction strength, or muscle thickness, and thigh circumference. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between one-repetition maximum and maximal voluntary isometric contraction strength, or muscle thickness, and thigh circumference in older adults. [Participants and Methods] Twenty-eight older community-dwelling adults (18 males and 10 females) participated in this study. Muscle strength of the knee extensor was measured using one-repetition maximum and maximal voluntary isometric contraction strength. In addition, muscle thicknesses of the refutes femoris and the vastus intermedius, and thigh circumference were measured using ultrasonography and measuring tape, respectively. [Results] Stepwise regression analysis revealed that body mass, gender, thigh circumference at 15 cm above the patella, and maximal voluntary isometric contraction strength were significant and independent determinants (R=0.868). [Conclusion] One-repetition maximum could be predicted more accurately using a combination of maximal voluntary isometric contraction strength, as measured with a handheld dynamometer, and thigh circumference in older adults.
PubMed: 33132528
DOI: 10.1589/jpts.32.669 -
Scientific Reports Aug 2023To explore how the thickness of the femoral lateral wall influences the effectiveness of internal fixation systems used to treat intertrochanteric fractures. CT images...
To explore how the thickness of the femoral lateral wall influences the effectiveness of internal fixation systems used to treat intertrochanteric fractures. CT images of the pelvis and femur of a male adult were used to construct an intertrochanteric fracture model (AO/OTA 31-A2) with various thicknesses of the femoral lateral wall (FLW). Four finite element (FE) models were created with the lateral femoral walls being 10 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm, and 40 mm thick. The fracture models were fixed with a dynamic hip screw (DHS), a proximal femoral nail anti-rotation (PFNA), and a proximal femoral locking compression plate (P-FLCP). A simulated vertical load was applied to the femoral head. The stress and displacement of the implant and femur in each model were recorded for comparison. The FE analysis of the intertrochanteric fracture models showed that the PFNA system could provide better stability than the DHS and P-FLCP with the same thickness of FLW. The FLW provided buttress support to the femoral head and neck when using a DHS and PFNA, and the buttress strength was proportional to the thickness of FLW. The maximum stress in the DHS model was recorded on the DHS plate which accommodated the lag screw. For the PFNA model, the maximum stress appeared at the connection between the nail and blade. In the P-FLCP model, the maximum stresses were highly concentrated at the connection between the cephalic nails and the proximal plate. The thickness of the femoral lateral wall should be considered an important factor when selecting a suitable internal fixation system for intertrochanteric fractures. Based on the FE analysis, intramedullary fixation, such as PFNA, experiences lower stress levels and a moderate displacement in comparison to DHS and P-FCLP when used to treat intertrochanteric fractures.
Topics: Male; Humans; Treatment Outcome; Finite Element Analysis; Bone Nails; Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary; Hip Fractures; Femur; Retrospective Studies
PubMed: 37542169
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39879-9 -
International Journal of Sports Medicine Jun 1989The purpose of this investigation was to identify physiologic differences between elite high school-age wrestlers and nonelite wrestlers of comparable age, weight, and... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
The purpose of this investigation was to identify physiologic differences between elite high school-age wrestlers and nonelite wrestlers of comparable age, weight, and training experience. Two groups of junior wrestler, elite (n = 18) and nonelite (n = 18) were measured for maximum aerobic power (treadmill run), maximum anaerobic power of the arms and legs (Wingate test), and skinfold thickness. On the average (+/- SE) elite juniors had a VO2max of 52.6 +/- 2.0 ml/kg.min-1, 376 +/- 20 W for arm power, and 540 +/- 25 W for leg power. The nonelite group had a VO2max of 51.5 +/- 1.4 ml/kg.min-1 and 331 +/- 22 W and 467 +/- 29 W for arm and leg power, respectively. Ttests were computed to identify differences between the groups. The results revealed significant differences in four skinfold thicknesses, absolute anaerobic leg power, and relative anaerobic power of arms and legs. It was concluded that relative maximum anaerobic power is distinctly greater in elite high school wrestlers than less successful peers. In light of the results, it may be of benefit for wrestlers of lower caliber to decrease body fat, increase fat-free weight, and increase total body power through training.
Topics: Adolescent; Anthropometry; Body Weight; Humans; Male; Muscles; Physical Education and Training; Physical Fitness; Skinfold Thickness; Sports; Wrestling
PubMed: 2777435
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-1024894