Passive Components for Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) Applications

UWB technology brings the convenience and mobility of wireless communications to very high-speed interconnects in the home and office due to the precision capabilities combined with the low power. This makes it ideal for certain radio frequency sensitive environments such as hospitals and healthcare as well as radars. UWB intrusion-detection radar is used for detecting through the wall and also used for security with fuse avoidance radar, precision locating and tracking (using distance measurements between radios), and precision time-of-arrival-based localization approaches. The FCC issued a ruling in 2002 that allowed intentional UWB emissions in the frequency range between 3.1 and 10.6 GHz, subject to certain restrictions for the emission power spectrum. Other definitions for ultra-wideband range of frequency are also used such as any device that has 500 MHz bandwidth or fractional bandwidth greater than 25% is considered an UWB enable high data rate to be transferred with a very low power that does not exceed −41.3 dBm

Non-Invasive Electromagnetic Biological Microwave Testing

Blood glucose monitoring is a primary tool for the care of diabetic patients. At present, there is no noninvasive monitoring technique of blood glucose concentration that is widely accepted in the medical industry. New noninvasive measurement techniques are being investigated. This work focuses on the possibility of a monitor that noninvasively measures blood glucose levels using electromagnetic waves. The technique is based on relating a monitoring antenna’s resonant frequency to the permittivity, and conductivity of skin, which in turn, is related to the glucose levels. This becomes a hot researched field in recent years. Different types of antennas (wideband and narrowband) have been designed, constructed, and tested in free space. An analytical model for the antenna has been developed, which has been validated with simulations. Microstrip antenna is one of the most common planar antenna structures used. Extensive research development aimed at exploiting its advantages such as lightweight, low cost, conformal configurations, and compatibility with integrated circuits have been carried out. Rectangular and circular patches are the basic shapes that are the most commonly used in microstrip antennas. Ideally, the dielectric constant εr, however, and other performance requirements may dictate the use of substrate whose dielectric constant can be greater. As in our prototype blood sensor, the miniaturized size is one of the main challenges

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

Background Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide.Methods A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study-a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital.Findings Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.85 [95% CI 2.58-5.75]; p<0.0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63.0% vs 82.7%; OR 0.35 [0.23-0.53]; p<0.0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer.Interpretation Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Ultrawideband Vivaldi Antenna for DVB-T, WLAN, and WiMAX Applications

Compact Vivaldi patch antenna with a parasitic meander line is presented in this paper. A PIN diode switch is used to connect and disconnect ultrahigh frequency band (UHF) with ultrawide bandwidth (UWB). The operating frequencies can be switched among different services, depending on the switching states (ON/OFF) to add the lower band when required. This antenna is suitable for portable DVB-T which extended from 450 MHz to 850 MHz receiver applications and the WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) IEEE 802.11b,g (5.1–5.8) GHz frequency bands and WiMAX band (3.3–3.8) GHz. The measured reflection coefficient of the proposed antenna is compared with the simulated one; good agreement is observed. Also, simulated radiation pattern of the antenna is presented. All simulations are carried out using the EM commercial simulator, high frequency structure simulator (HFSS) ver.13