Monitoring Lower Back Activity in Daily Life Using Small Unintrusive Sensors and Wearable Electronics in the Context of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases

Due to a sedentary lifestyle, the amount of people suffering from musculoskeletal back diseases has increased over the last few decades. To monitor and cure these disabilities, sensors able to monitor the patient for long-term measurement during daily life and able to provide real-time feedback are required. There are only a few wearable systems that are capable to acquire muscle activity (sEMG) and posture at the same time. Moreover, previously reported systems do not target back sensor and typically comprise bulky uncomfortable solutions. In this paper, we present a new wearable sensor network that is designed to measure muscle activity and posture specialized for back measurement. Special care was taken to propose a discrete and comfortable solution. The prototype only measures 3.1 mm in thickness on the spine, making this sensor system the thinnest and lightest one in the literature to our best knowledge. After testing, it was shown that the sensor system is able to acquire two surface electromyography signals concurrently, to gather acceleration and rotation speed from the patient’s lower back, and to transmit data to a computer or a smartphone via serial communication or Bluetooth low energy for a few hours for later processing and analysis

Mineralogical and geochemical study of pseudocoticule from the Stavelot Massif, Ardennes (Belgium), and redefinition of coticule

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The Nicotiana tabacum ABC transporter NtPDR3 secretes O-methylated coumarins in response to iron deficiency

Although iron is present in large amounts in the soil, its poor solubility means that plants have to use various strategies to facilitate its uptake. In this study, we show that expression of NtPDR3/NtABCG3, a Nicotiana tabacum plasma-membrane ABC transporter in the pleiotropic drug resistance (PDR) subfamily, is strongly induced in the root epidermis under iron deficiency conditions. Prevention of NtPDR3 expression resulted in N. tabacum plants that were less tolerant to iron-deficient conditions, displaying stronger chlorosis and slower growth than those of the wildtype when not supplied with iron. Metabolic profiling of roots and root exudates revealed that, upon iron deficiency, secretion of catechol-bearing O-methylated coumarins such as fraxetin, hydroxyfraxetin, and methoxyfraxetin to the rhizosphere was compromised in NtPDR3-silenced plants. However, exudation of flavins such as riboflavin was not markedly affected by NtPDR3-silencing. Expression of NtPDR3 in N. tabacum Bright Yellow-2 (BY-2) cells resulted in altered intra- and extracellular coumarin pools, supporting coumarin transport by this transporter. The results demonstrate that N. tabacum secretes both coumarins and flavins in response to iron deficiency and that NtPDR3 plays an essential role in the plant response to iron deficiency by mediating secretion of O-methylated coumarins to the rhizosphere

A mass sensor based on 3-DOF mode localized coupled resonator under atmospheric pressure

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. In this paper, for the first time, the mass sensitivity of a 3-DoF mode localized electrostatically coupled resonator is investigated and characterized under atmospheric pressure. A reversible method is used in which nanoparticles are added on and removed from one resonator of the 3-DOF coupled resonator system. Furthermore, a comparison of three mass sensitivity characterization methods was carried out: resonance frequency shift, resonance vibration amplitude change and resonance vibration amplitude ratio. MATLAB/SIMULINK and COMSOL Multiphysics models for the 3-DoF coupled resonator system are presented. The simulation results and theoretical calculations are in good agreement with the experimental data. The results show that a 3-DOF mode localized coupled resonator has potential to be employed for biosensing applications.status: publishe

A possible new mineral species, "ferrogatehouseite" (Fe,Mn)5(PO4)2(OH)4 from Conţu Pegmatite, Romania.

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A Reversible Method to Characterize the Mass Sensitivity of a 3-Dof Mode Localized Coupled Resonator under Atmospheric Pressure

In this paper, for the first time, the mass sensitivity of a 3-DoF mode localized electrostatic coupled resonator was characterized under atmospheric pressure. A reversible method was used in which nanoparticles are added on and removed from one resonator of the 3-DOF coupled resonator system. Besides, a comparison of three mass sensitivity characterization methods was carried out: resonance frequency shift, amplitude change and resonance vibration amplitude ratio. The results show that a 3-DOF mode localized coupled resonator has potential to be employed for biosensing applications

Micromachined Accelerometers with Sub-mu g/root Hz Noise Floor: A Review

This paper reviews the research and development of micromachined accelerometers with a noise floor lower than 1 µg/√Hz. Firstly, the basic working principle of micromachined accelerometers is introduced. Then, different methods of reducing the noise floor of micromachined accelerometers are analyzed. Different types of micromachined accelerometers with a noise floor below 1 µg/√Hz are discussed. Such sensors can mainly be categorized into: (i) micromachined accelerometers with a low spring constant; (ii) with a large proof mass; (iii) with a high quality factor; (iv) with a low noise interface circuit; (v) with sensing schemes leading to a high scale factor. Finally, the characteristics of various micromachined accelerometers and their trends are discussed and investigated.status: publishe

Micromachined accelerometers with sub-µg/ Hz noise floor: A review

This paper reviews√ the research and development of micromachined accelerometers with a noise floor lower than 1 µg/ Hz. Firstly, the basic working principle of micromachined accelerometers is introduced. Then, different methods of reducing the noise floor of micromachined accelerometers√ are analyzed. Different types of micromachined accelerometers with a noise floor below 1 µg/ Hz are discussed. Such sensors can mainly be categorized into: (i) micromachined accelerometers with a low spring constant; (ii) with a large proof mass; (iii) with a high quality factor; (iv) with a low noise interface circuit; (v) with sensing schemes leading to a high scale factor. Finally, the characteristics of various micromachined accelerometers and their trends are discussed and investigated. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland