Usefulness of infrared thermography in diagnosing and evaluating severity of carpal tunnel syndrome

Background: Pain and autonomic dysfunction are prominent symptoms in some patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Infrared thermography (IRT) has been used to evaluate CTS by measuring the cutaneous temperature and sympathetic vasomotor function.Methods: This study enrolled the 66 hands of 33 subjects, some of which had clinical CTS and the others were healthy. The enrolled patients completed the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ) and Historical-Objective scale, and underwent nerve conduction studies (NCSs) and IRT. Skin temperature was measured at the fingertips and the thenar and hypothenar regions in each hand. We analyzed (1) the correlations between self-reported severity, physician-assessed severity, and test results, and (2) the sensitivity and specificity of IRT in diagnosing CTS.Results: No significant correlation was observed between the results of the BCTQ, NCS, and IRT. IRT had a low sensitivity and high specificity in diagnosing CTS.Conclusions: IRT cannot replace NCS in diagnosing CTS, nor did it provide an advantage in combination with NCS. However, lower temperatures at the median nerve in some hands with moderate-to-severe CTS suggested the involvement of sympathetic nerve fiber function. Follow-up studies with a larger-scale and complementary design are required to elucidate the relationships.

Kulturowy wymiar designu – między estetyzacją a odpowiedzialnością

When it comes to design, are aesthetic and ethical values oppositional to each other as they have been considered to be, or are they compatible and complementary? Design theorists and critics often distance themselves from aesthetic assumptions, focusing on ethical foundations and values based on duties towards another person (designer for the user) or responsibility. Alicja Głutkowska-Polniak However, aesthetic values are clearly inscribed in the field of design. Firstly, because design is related to the appearance (aestheticization of reality) – form, harmony, and proportion between elements – but also to manipulation or simulation (aestheticization of design). In design as a cultural area, values interpenetrate and, at the same time, are ethical, social and aesthetic in their form and contexts; the aesthetic values especially permeate everything. They are not isolated in any separate order but rather they combine with other types of values.

Design and comparison of two kinds of primary wound field flux-switching linear motors

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose the complementary design rules, give a quantitative comparison and analyze the force production mechanism of two kinds of primary wound field flux-switching linear (PWFFSL) motors. Design/methodology/approach PWFFSL motors have the merits of no use of rare-earth magnet, low cost and a wide operation range in which the armature windings and the field windings are all located at the short primary mover and the secondary is very robust. Hence, the PWFFSL motor is ideal for rail transportation systems which need a long stator and a wide speed range. To overcome the disadvantages of the existing PWFFSL motors, new complementary design rules will be proposed. Also, to offer a better PWFFSL motor for the rail transportation systems, it is necessary to investigate different structures of PWFFSL motors and give a comprehensive comparison. To predict the force performance of two kinds of PWFFSL motors with different secondary types, their flux density analysis and force production mechanism will be presented and compared. Findings The comparison result shows that the PWFFSL motor with toothed secondary can offer larger thrust force, higher force density and higher efficiency, whereas the PWFFSL motor with segmented secondary has the merits of lower force ripple, less use of stator iron, higher power factor and less critical saturation. Research limitations/implications Many PWFFSL motors with different primary/secondary pole pitches based on the proposed design principle have not been considered in this paper. Originality/value This paper has presented the air-gap flux analysis, proposed the complementary design rules for two kinds of PWFFSL motors with different secondary types and compared the electromagnetic performance of the two motors.