Nonsurgical Strategies for the Treatment of Temporomandibular Joint Disorders

Temporomandibular disorders are common maxillofacial disturbs of different etiologies (traumatic, inflammatory, degenerative, or congenital) that course with pain and dysfunctions of the temporomandibular joint. The treatment of these disorders includes systematically administered drugs (especially nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs and corticoids), physical therapies, and minimally invasive therapies that require intraarticular injections. These techniques are directed to clean or drain the articular cavity, to deliver intraarticularly drugs, biologically active compounds (as platelet-rich plasma), or to enhance lubrication (hyaluronic acid). Moreover, minimally invasive strategies are used in regenerative medicine for to deliver cells and stem cells, and nano- or micro-biomaterials. Surgery of temporomandibular disorders is only used in grave diseases that require arthrodesis or remotion of the temporomandibular joint. This review updates the nonsurgical therapeutic strategies to treat temporomandibular disorders, focusing the attention in the articular delivery or hyaluronic acid and platelet-rich plasma, two minimally invasive widely used at present

Comparison of hierarchical temporal memories and artificial neural networks under noisy data

The ability of two different machine learning approaches to map non-linear problems from experimental data is evaluated under controlled experiments. A well-known machine learning algorithm (Artificial Neural Network) is compared against a new computing paradigm (Hierarchical Temporal Memory) under a controlled scenario. The chosen scenario is the detection of impacts in a cantilever beam under vibration instrumented with fiber Bragg gratings. The main characteristics of both of the machine learning approaches are analyzed while varying environmental parameters such as the number of sensing points and their location. From the achieved results some clues can be extracted regarding dealing with noisy or partial data using different machine learning approaches

Sampled Fiber Bragg Grating spectral synthesis

In this paper, a technique to estimate the deformation profile of a Sampled Fiber Bragg Grating (SFBG) is proposed and experimentally verified. From the SFBG intensity reflection spectrum, any arbitrary longitudinal axis deformation profile applied to a SFBG is estimated. The synthesis algorithm combines a custom defined error metric to compare the measured and the synthetic spectra and the Particle Swarm Optimization technique to get the deformation profile. Using controlled deformation profiles, the proposed method has been successfully checked by means of simulated and experimental tests. The results obtained under different controlled cases show a remarkable repetitiveness (< 50 με) and good spatial accuracy (< 1 mm).This work has been supported by the project TEC2010-20224-C02-02 and grant AP2009-1403

Experimental Measurements and CFD Results of Liquid Film Thickness in Vertical Downward Air-Water Annular Flow

[EN] Annular gas¿liquid flows have been extensively studied over the years. However, the nonlinear behavior of the interface is still currently the subject of study by multiple researchers worldwide. The appearance of a liquid layer on the wall and its turbulent behavior support the heat exchange of multiple systems in the industrial field. Research in this area allows the optimization of these installations as well as the analysis of possible safety problems if the liquid film disappears. This study first shows some of the most important findings obtained in the GEPELON experimental facility (GEneración de PElícula ONdulatoria or Wavy Film Generator). The facility was built in order to analyze the behavior of the liquid film in annular downward air¿water flow. The experimental range of the inlet conditions is 800¿8000 for the ReL and 0¿110,000 for the Reg. Measurements for the mean film thickness show a fairly good agreement with the empirical correlations and the measurements of other authors. One of the most demanded applications of this type of measurements is the validation of computational dynamics or CFD codes. Therefore, the experiment has been modeled using Ansys CFX software, and the simulation results have been compared with the experimental ones. This article outlines some of the reasons why two-phase flow simulations are currently challenging and how the codes are able to overcome them. Simulation predictions are fairly close to the experimental measurements, and the mean film thickness evolution when changing the boundary conditions also shows a good agreement.The authors are indebted to the plan of I+D support of the EXMOTRANSIN project ENE2016-79489-C2-1-P.Rivera-Durán, Y.; J. L. Muñoz-Cobo; A. Escrivá; C. Berna; Y. Córdova (2022). Experimental Measurements and CFD Results of Liquid Film Thickness in Vertical Downward Air-Water Annular Flow. International Journal of Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements. 10(2):93-103. https://doi.org/10.2495/CMEM-V10-N2-93-1039310310

The Cutaneous Biopsy for the Diagnosis of Peripheral Neuropathies: Meissner’s Corpuscles and Merkel’s Cells

Cutaneous biopsy is a complementary method, alternative to peripheral nerve biopsy, for the analysis of nerve involvement in peripheral neuropathies, systemic diseases, and several pathologies of the central nervous system. Most of these neuropathological studies were focused on the intraepithelial nerve fibers (thin-myelinated Aδ fibers and unmyelinated C fibers), and few studies investigated the variations in dermal innervation, that is, large myelinated fibers, Merkel’s cell-neurite complexes, and Meissner’s corpuscles. Here, we updated and summarized the current data about the quantitative and qualitative changes that undergo MCs and MkCs in peripheral neuropathies. Moreover, we provide a comprehensive rationale to include MCs in the study of cutaneous biopsies when analyzing the peripheral neuropathies and aim to provide a protocol to study them

Experiments in free falling and downward cocurrent annular flows-Characterization of liquid films and interfacial waves

[EN] Falling liquid films and downward cocurrent flows in rounded shape pipes have been experimentally studied during the last decades, estimating the evolution of its major characteristics. The most important variables during the formation and growth of surface waves in falling downward flows have been measured using conductance probes. The main objective of the current research paper is to study the dependency of the characteristics of the thin liquid layer for downward cocurrent annular flows. The GEPELON experimental facility consists of a vertical pipe with 3.8 m of useful test length. Two pipe diameters have been analysed in this experimental study, 42 and 30 mm, in which the range covered by the liquid Reynolds number varies between 570 and 8500 and 800-7900 respectively, while the gas Reynolds numbers vary from 0 to 7.9.10(4) and from 0 to 1.1.10(5) respectively for the mentioned pipe diameters. Up to five conductance probes have been placed along the pipes test sections to capture the liquid film thickness fluctuations along time at different distances of the pipe entrance for both developing and fully developed regions. After the study and analysis of the experimental data, the central point of this paper has been the development of new correlations for the liquid film thicknesses and the two major properties of the interfacial waves. Their adjustment procedure has been carried out in terms of dimensionless numbers, aiming to provide more general relationships. In particular, the magnitudes that characterise the interface behavior have been measured, particularly film thicknesses, average disturbance wave amplitudes, and disturbance wave frequencies for each boundary condition. An additional part of the document contains an extensive comparison between the results obtained in this study and the data and expressions of other authors. It has been confirmed the significant dispersion existing among different researchers, especially when analysing variables related to the interfacial waves. This highlights the lack of knowledge in some aspects even today. The different correlations proposed have been calculated based on the best fit of the data from all the series of experiments carried out in this study. Comparisons of the behaviour of these correlations with data from other researchers have also been included.This research is supported by the EXMOTRANSIN project ENE2016-79489-C2-1-P included in the I + D Spanish plan. Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Politècnica de València.Rivera-Durán, Y.; Berna, C.; Muñoz-Cobo, JL.; Escrivá, A.; Córdova, Y. (2022). Experiments in free falling and downward cocurrent annular flows-Characterization of liquid films and interfacial waves. Nuclear Engineering and Design. 392:1-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2022.11176912339

HPLC-DAD-ESI-QTOF-MS and HPLC-FLD-MS as valuable tools for the determination of phenolic and other polar compounds in the edible part and by-products of avocado

Avocado is a tropical fruit increasingly cultivated around the world due to global interest and rising consumption. Thus, there is also a surge in avocado by-products that needs assessment. The aim of this work is to compare the phenolic profile of avocado pulp, peel and seed when the fruit is at optimal ripeness for consumption and when overripe. Two analytical techniques were used: (1) HPLC-DAD-ESI-QTOF-MS was used for the first time to determine phenolic and other polar compounds in avocado peel and seed. Phenolic compounds quantified with these methods were in higher concentration in overripe than in pulp and seed of optimally ripe fruit. (2) HPLC-FLD-MS was used to specifically determine flavan-3-ols. Procyanidins to degree of polymerization 13 have been quantified singularly here for the first time. In addition, A- and B-type procyanidins from the degree of polymerization 2 to 6 were differentiated and quantified. The procyanidin concentration increased after ripening probably due to the release of tannins linked to cell-wall structures. Because of this situation and the presence of A-type procyanidins, avocado peel and seed from overripe fruit, the main by-products of avocado processing, hold interest for developing functional foods, nutraceuticals and cosmetics