The Reliability of a New Device for Measuring the Maximum Bite Force

Objective. To test the inter- and intraexaminer reliability of a recently developed instrument for measuring the maximum bite force (MBF). Material and Methods. Sixty patients who were clinically confirmed as having Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSMF) and 60 healthy controls were included in this study. For each subject, age, gender, weight, height, and body mass index (BMI) were recorded. The maximum bite force was recorded in alternate order with a bite force sensor (D1) and an occlusal force meter (D2). Bite force was measured in the first molar region. Pearson’s correlation coefficient and kappa statistic were applied to assess the reliability between D1 and D2 in the assessment of maximum bite force. The independent t -test was performed to find the statistical significance between the two study groups. The paired t -test was applied to find out the difference between the right and left disease in groups of two devices separately. The one-way analysis of covariance (ANOVA) was performed to find the significant difference between grades of OSMF. Results. The results of the kappa values were 0.8531 ± 0.0724 and 0.7336 ± 0.0737 for interdevice reliability in OSMF patients in right and left sides. Similar findings were obtained in right and left sides of healthy individuals ( 0.7549 ± 0.0816 and 0.9440 ± 0.0806 ) and in the total sample ( 0.8132 ± 0.0544 and 0.8303 ± 0.0538 ). Pearson’s correlation coefficient between two devices revealed a high and significant positive correlation between D1 and D2 separately and in the whole sample. Conclusion. The observations of the present study suggest that the bite force sensor can be used as a reliable device for measuring bite force.

A New Wearable System for Sensing Outdoor Environmental Conditions for Monitoring Hyper-Microclimate

The rapid urbanization process brings consequences to urban environments, such poor air quality and the urban heat island issues. Due to these effects, environmental monitoring is gaining attention with the aim of identifying local risks and improving cities’ liveability and resilience. However, these environments are very heterogeneous, and high-spatial-resolution data are needed to identify the intra-urban variations of physical parameters. Recently, wearable sensing techniques have been used to perform microscale monitoring, but they usually focus on one environmental physics domain. This paper presents a new wearable system developed to monitor key multidomain parameters related to the air quality, thermal, and visual domains, on a hyperlocal scale from a pedestrian’s perspective. The system consisted of a set of sensors connected to a control unit settled on a backpack and could be connected via Wi-Fi to any portable equipment. The device was prototyped to guarantee the easy sensors maintenance, and a user-friendly dashboard facilitated a real-time monitoring overview. Several tests were conducted to confirm the reliability of the sensors. The new device will allow comprehensive environmental monitoring and multidomain comfort investigations to be carried out, which can support urban planners to face the negative effects of urbanization and to crowd data sourcing in smart cities.

Comparing Two Approaches for Thyroidectomy: A Health Technology Assessment through DMAIC Cycle

Total thyroidectomy is very common in endocrine surgery and the haemostasis can be obtained in different ways across surgery; recently, some devices have been developed to support this surgical phase. In this paper, a health technology assessment is conducted through the define, measure, analyse, improve, and control cycle of the Six Sigma methodology to compare traditional total thyroidectomy with the surgical operation performed through a new device in an overall population of 104 patients. Length of hospital stay, drain output, and time for surgery were considered the critical to qualities in order to compare the surgical approaches which can be considered equal regarding the organizational, ethical, and security impact. Statistical tests (Kolmogorov–Smirnov, t test, ANOVA, Mann–Whitney, and Kruskal–Wallis tests) and visual management diagrams were employed to compare the approaches, but no statistically significant difference was found between them. Considering these results, this study shows that the introduction of the device to perform total thyroidectomy does not guarantee appreciable clinical advantages. A cost analysis to quantify the economic impact of the device into the practice could be a future development. Healthy policy leaders and clinicians who are requested to make decisions regarding the supply of biomedical technologies could benefit from this research.

Using the Casper Stent in Carotid Angioplasty: A Single Center Experience

Objectives To establish the success rate in endovascular internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis recanalization using the double-layer stent Casper-RX (Microvention, Inc 35 Enterprise, Aliso Viejo, California, United States of America) and to identify the main comorbidities in individuals with ICA stenosis, morphological characteristics of the stenosis, diagnostic methods, intraoperative complications, as well as morbidity and mortality within 30 days of the surgical procedure. Materials and Methods Retrospective analysis of 116 patients undergoing ICA angioplasty with a degree of stenosis ≥ 70% using Casper-RX stenting who underwent this procedure from April 2015 to December 2019. Results Technical success was achieved in 99.1% of the patients. Three of them had postprocedural complications: one transient ischemic attack (TIA) and two puncture site hematomas. A cerebral protection filter was not used in only two procedures, as these consisted of dissection of the carotid. There was satisfactory recanalization and adequate accommodation of the stents in the previously stenosed arteries, with no restenosis in 99.4% of the cases. Conclusion The endovascular treatment of extracranial carotid stenoses using the Casper-RX stent showed good applicability and efficacy. Although only two cases of thromboembolic complications occurred during the procedure, further investigation and studies on the effectiveness of this new device are needed.

Clinical Application of a Modified Bone Cement Pusher in Percutaneous Vertebroplasty Combined with Multi-Target Negative Pressure Rotary-Cutting Technique in Puncture Biopsy for Bone Tumors

Purpose To assess the efficiency and safety of a modified bone cement pusher in percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) combined with a multi-target negative pressure rotary-cutting technique in puncture biopsy of bone tumors. Methods The biopsy performed with the modified bone cement pusher commonly used in PVP, and a multi-target negative pressure rotary-cutting technique. A total of 120 patients with spinal and pelvic tumors undergoing needle biopsy in our department were recruited and assigned to new biopsy device group (group A, n=60) or and conventional biopsy device group (group B, n=60). The puncture time, positive rate, consistency rate, and dependence rate between group A and B were compared to assess the efficiency and safety of the new device. Results No biopsy-related complications were reported in both groups. The puncture time (39.44±8.885 min vs. 61.61±9.880 min), positive rate (96.67% vs. 61.67%), consistency rate (96.55% vs. 81.8%), and dependence rate (100% vs. 83.33%) were significantly superb in group A compared with those in group B (all P<0.05). Patients in group A did not require repeated biopsies, and sufficient samples were obtained through the needle trajectory in PVP. All patients with a definite diagnosis were managed with appropriate treatments. Conclusions Featuring high safety, positive rate and consistency rate, the new device can be performed to collect sufficient pathological samples from multiple angles. Wide clinical replication can be expected considering its evident diagnostic efficiency for bone tumor.

A differential operation principle of the automatic bus transfer system pickup unit as a way of decreasing the emergency clearing time.a

A proper choice of the design and operation algorithm of emergency control devices like high-speed bus transfer (HSBT) is only possible proceeding from a study and analysis of steady-state and transient processes in emergency modes of operation (short-circuit faults, power supply disconnection, or phase open-circuit fault). The numerical experiments for studying such modes that were carried out, using the Matlab Simulink software package, on the mathematical models of an industrial power supply system involving synchronous motors connected to it made it possible to synthesize a new differential HSBT pickup unit featuring a high-speed response to emergency events. In doing so, special attention was paid to an analysis of transient operation modes with the aim of minimizing the probability of false actuations. The obtained study results have found practical application in the HSBT devices installed at the facilities of PJSC MOSENERGO. The experience gained from the operation of a new device jointly with high-speed circuit breakers produced by the Tavrida-Elektrik state-owned corporation has demonstrated essential advantages in comparison with the conventional HSBT designs.

A Major Challenges Advanced Underground Drainage Monitoring and Automatic Rescue System using Internet of Things

In this project, An Advanced Underground Drainage Monitoring And Automatic Rescue System using Internet of Things is proposed to protect the sanitation workers form health issues. In India sewage can be cleaned from manholes and drains are a difficult and risky task for anyone, but these people/workers are forced to do these jobs just to earn for their family economy. In order to overcome this issues, a new device is proposed to monitor the human health while entering into the sewage and provide the health parameters in the real time to the officials outside or the control room. Particularly, blood pressure of sanitation workers and toxic gas level of drainage is monitored using this new proposed rescue system. The main component of this system is Arduino controller. There are three types of sensors such as Toxic gas sensor, Methane gas sensor and Ultrasonic sensor used for the proposed system. Water level indicator is used when drainage is full to find from ultrasonic sensor, SMS will be send through GSM technology. Methane Gas and Toxic gas sensor level is high, Buzzer will be ON at the same time location will be share automatically with the help of GPS. The received sensor details display on LCD at receiver with help of GSM. The performance of proposed system is compared with other existing system and shown to be more effective in terms of protect the sanitation workers from health issues.