The application of strength and power related field tests in older adults:criteria, current status and a future perspective

Leg muscle strength (LMS) and leg muscle power (LMP) are determinants of aspects of functional status and important parameters for measuring intervention effects in older adults. Field tests are often used for the evaluation of LMS and LMP in older persons. However, criteria important for the application of strength and power related field tests in older adults have not been systematically taken into account and are not yet fully listed and described in a single publication. Therefore, this paper describes criteria important for the application of strength and power related field tests in older adults. In addition, strength and power related field tests commonly used in older adults are evaluated by using the described criteria. Based on this evaluation, this paper provides a perspective on the further development of field tests. Criteria important for strength and power related field tests are: adequate accuracy, precision, concurrent validity, clinical validity, practical feasibility and pure strength or power outcomes. Commonly used strength and power related field tests do not meet all the aforementioned criteria. Therefore, further development of field tests is necessary. Mobile sensing systems are potentially useful for the evaluation of LMS and LMP in older adults. Mobile sensing systems do not have the limitations of commonly used field tests and provide important additional advantages. In particular, mobile sensing systems offer the opportunity of continuous monitoring during free-movement in the home-environment, thereby reducing the need of standardized assessments by health-care professionals. Future studies should examine the clinical validity of mobile sensing systems and evaluate the application of sensor technology in exercise-based interventions

Electrical characterization of single nanometer-wide Si fins in dense arrays

This paper demonstrates the development of a methodology using the micro four-point probe (μ4PP) technique to electrically characterize single nanometer-wide fins arranged in dense arrays. We show that through the concept of carefully controlling the electrical contact formation process, the electrical measurement can be confined to one individual fin although the used measurement electrodes physically contact more than one fin. We demonstrate that we can precisely measure the resistance of individual ca. 20 nm wide fins and that we can correlate the measured variations in fin resistance with variations in their nanometric width. Due to the demonstrated high precision of the technique, this opens the prospect for the use of μ4PP in electrical critical dimension metrology

Surgical morbidity and mortality of pediatric brain tumors: a single center audit

OBJECTIVES: The primary aim of this study is to perform an internal quality control of pediatric brain tumor surgery in the neurosurgical department of the VU University Medical Center Amsterdam (The Netherlands). Secondly, this study aims to contribute to the accumulating data concerning outcome in pediatric neurosurgery, in order to establish institutional practice benchmarks. METHODS: We report the surgical mortality and morbidity of 121 patients (0–18 years) surgically treated for a brain tumor from January 1999 to August 2007. Patients, in whom only a brain tumor biopsy was performed, were excluded. RESULTS: Mean age at first surgery was 8.2 years. Of the 121 patients, 14 had a second surgery, and two underwent a third surgery (for a total of 137 operations). Of all 121 primary surgeries, 66% were total resections, 26% subtotal resections, and 8% partial resections. The overall surgical morbidity rate in this study was 69% after first surgery, 50% after second surgery, and one out of two after third surgery. CONCLUSION: These overall morbidity rates are comparable to other published mixed case series. The surgical mortality rate was 0.8%; this is comparable to the lowest rates reported for high-volume neurosurgical centers. We encourage other neurosurgical centers to collect, analyze, and publish their data. These data can then serve as a basis for comparison with other pediatric neurosurgical centers and will eventually lead to an improvement of pediatric neurosurgical practice and patient care

ANALISIS BANJIR RANCANGAN DENGAN METODE HSS NAKAYASU PADA BENDUNGAN GINTUNG

Jebolnya Situ Gintung merupakan akibat dari perubahan debit banjir yang terus bertambah. Hal tersebut perlu diana/isis terhadap debit banjir rancangan yang selanjutnya dapat digunakan untuk merencanakan Bendungan Gintung yang baru. Berdasarkan permasalahan di atas, maka perlu dikembangkan perhitungan banjir rancangan dengan metode HSS Nakayasu. Perhitungan dengan menggunaan data hujan. Pada penelitian ini digunakan 18 Pos stasiun penangkar hujan yang diseleksi menurut kelayakan data menjadi 9 pos stasiun hujan dengan memasukan nilai hujan harian maksimum tahunan. Data curah hujan yang disaring memilki tingkat kepercayaan yang rendah, namun masih masuk ke dalam data aman. Dalam penentuan debit banjir rencana terlebih dahulu dilakukan ana/isa frekuensi dan penetapan sebaran data curah hujan kemudian diuji dengan chi-kuadrat. Distribusi yang sesuai adalah distribusi Log Pearson Type III. Dari hasil ana/isa debit banjir rancangan, untuk merencanakan bendungan digunakan debit banjir kala ulang Ql000 = 289,348 m3/dt

Immediate, but Not Delayed, Microsurgical Skull Reconstruction Exacerbates Brain Damage in Experimental Traumatic Brain Injury Model

Moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) often results in malformations to the skull. Aesthetic surgical maneuvers may offer normalized skull structure, but inconsistent surgical closure of the skull area accompanies TBI. We examined whether wound closure by replacement of skull flap and bone wax would allow aesthetic reconstruction of the TBI-induced skull damage without causing any detrimental effects to the cortical tissue. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to TBI using the controlled cortical impact (CCI) injury model. Immediately after the TBI surgery, animals were randomly assigned to skull flap replacement with or without bone wax or no bone reconstruction, then were euthanized at five days post-TBI for pathological analyses. The skull reconstruction provided normalized gross bone architecture, but 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride and hematoxylin and eosin staining results revealed larger cortical damage in these animals compared to those that underwent no surgical maneuver at all. Brain swelling accompanied TBI, especially the severe model, that could have relieved the intracranial pressure in those animals with no skull reconstruction. In contrast, the immediate skull reconstruction produced an upregulation of the edema marker aquaporin-4 staining, which likely prevented the therapeutic benefits of brain swelling and resulted in larger cortical infarcts. Interestingly, TBI animals introduced to a delay in skull reconstruction (i.e., 2 days post-TBI) showed significantly reduced edema and infarcts compared to those exposed to immediate skull reconstruction. That immediate, but not delayed, skull reconstruction may exacerbate TBI-induced cortical tissue damage warrants a careful consideration of aesthetic repair of the skull in TBI