Development of Wireless embedded system using ZigBEE protocol to avoid white Gaussian noise and 50 Hz Power line noise in ECG and Pressure Blood signals

Electrocardiogram (ECG) and Pressure blood is a main source for doctors to diagnose the health condition and pathology of heart. The magnitudes of ECG signals are usually approximate 1mV. The Electrocardiogram signals are affected by environment noises. The mostly sources of these errors are the power line of 50HZ. In this paper we present an advance develop of Wireless pads using embedded system and ZigBEE protocol to avoid white Gaussian noise and 50 Hz Power line noise from ECG and Pressure Blood measurements signals. The user-doctor can acquire from the internet in real time the electrocardiograph and the pressure blood of patient. On system can be connected Bio-instrumentations via RS 232 protocol. Finally all information can be imported in BioBench Software. © 2008 IEEE

Prevalence of dementia in elderly patients with hip fracture

Hip fractures occur commonly and are a cause of disability for older adults and lead to increased dependence and requirements for social support. Dementia is one of the possible risk factors for falling and hip fracture, a potential source for complications during surgery and during the postoperative period, difficulties in rehabilitation and a risk factor for hip fracture reccurence. However, in previous studies of hip fracture patients, cognitive status has not been formally assessed during the inpatient stay and diagnosis was based only on previous history. Additionally, no previous studies have compared prevalence of dementia between elderly patients with hip fracture and patients with other surgical pathology. Our aim was to define whether dementia was more prevalent in older subjects with hip fracture than in other elderly patients undergoing surgery. In this study, we prospectively assessed all patients aged 68 and older admitted to our hospital for hip fracture surgery during a one year period and compared them with age and gender matched patients attending other surgical departments. 80 hip fracture patients and 80 controls were assessed for dementia. Dementia was common in both groups, presumably reflecting the advanced mean age of both groups and cognitive deterioration due to hospitalization-status. Dementia was significantly higher in the hip fracture group (85%) compared to the control group (61.5%; p=0.002). Dementia is very common in older patients admitted for surgery to a general hospital and extremely common in those with hip fracture. It seems that dementia is under diagnosed in elderly hospitalised patients. Our data confirm that dementia is a major risk factor for hip fracture in the elderly

Prevalence of Parkinsonism in older patients with hip fracture

Parkinsonism in hip fracture (HF) patients is a potential source for complications during surgery, postoperative period and rehabilitation and a risk factor of second HF. We investigated whether parkinsonism was more prevalent in older subjects with HF than in other older patient groups undergoing surgery. We prospectively assessed patients who had suffered HF and controls. We assigned all patients aged 68 and older admitted in our hospital for HF surgery during last year and compared them with age- and gender matched patients attending other surgical departments. 80 HF patients and 80 controls were assessed for parkinsonism. Parkinsonism was common in both groups, presumably reflecting the mean ages of approximately 80 years, plus hospitalization-status. However, parkinsonism was much higher in the hip fracture group (76.25%) compared to the control hospitalised subjects (37.5%; p < 0.001). The majority of HF patients with parkinsonism were undiagnosed for their parkinsonism symptoms prior to HF and the same was observed in the control group (91.8% and 86.7% respectively, p = 0.471). Among those with parkinsonism, pre-hospitalization drug therapy may have been contributory in 24.5% of HF patients and 30% of controls (p = 0.589). Parkinsonism is very common in older patients admitted for surgery to a general hospital and extremely common in those with HF. It seems that parkinsonism, is heavily under recognised in the elderly. Our data seem to confirm that Parkinsonism is a major risk factor of HF in the elderly

Effect of implantation of Sm+ ions into RF sputtered ZnO thin film

The effects of implantation of Samarium ions (Sm+), a rare earth ion (RE) on the properties of ZnO films grown on Si (001) substrate by RF sputtering system are presented. The structural properties of the virgin and Sm–implanted ZnO thin films were investigated by Atomic force microscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Local lattice softening caused by the incorporation of highly mismatched Sm+ (ionic radii 0.096 nm and 0.113 nm for Sm3+ and Sm2+ respectively) into Zn antisites was detected as a red shift in E2 (high) mode likely caused by reduction in the crystallinity of the ZnO film. Photoluminescence on the pristine ZnO film showed a strong near band gap (NBE) emission and an intrinsic defect related blue, green-orange emission. The NBE is suppressed after implantation of Sm+ while the blue, green – orange emission intensities are enhanced as a result of increased structural defects with mismatched charge states. Moreover the effect of varying the concentration of Sm+ ions is presented and compared with predictions made from Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter (SRIM) calculation.The University of the Witwatersrand, Material Physics Research Institute, School of Physics; the XRD and MMU facilities at Wits, NRF and Material Energy Research Group (MERG).https://aip.scitation.org/journal/advam2020Physic

Performance simulation, realization and evaluation of capacitive sensor arrays for the real time detection of volatile organic compounds

Capacitive-type gas sensors rely on changes in the dielectric properties of the sensing polymeric layer due to absorption of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) or moisture. They are promising devices in terms of ease and low cost of fabrication, reversibility and the wide range of sensing material choice. In the present work, the aim is to explore the fabrication issues of the InterDigitated Electrodes (IDE) through a generic simulation model for the prediction of the capacitance of various IDE structures. Based on the simulation results, an IDE layout was selected for the realization and evaluation of chemcapacitor arrays in the presence of different humidity levels and low concentrations of VOCs with dielectric constant close to those of polymers. The extracted results will be further exploited for the fabrication optimization of an InterDigitated Capacitor (IDC) layout with increased selectivity and sensitivity in specific applications. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Ultra miniaturized InterDigitated electrodes platform for sensing applications

InterDigitated Electrodes (IDEs) is a generic platform for a wide range of diverse applications with their implementation in sensing modules being a major one. We propose the use of IDCs with deep sub-micron critical dimension; equally spaced electrodes of 200 nm width for enhanced sensing performance and also the method of fabrication thereof. The transducer configuration was studied theoretically with a finite element method simulation by using COMSOL Multiphysics. The miniaturization of the IDEs up to 200 nm critical dimension with an adequate sensing area for the deposition of the polymeric materials is considered beneficial in terms of sensitivity gain. The IDCs were designed to deliver capacitance values of few pF in order to be compatible with already developed miniaturized low-power readout electronics. The transducers fabrication is performed with conventional microelectronic/micromachining processing and then coated with several semi-selective polymeric films. Besides the fabrication of multiple sensor arrays (chips) on the same silicon wafer, the miniaturization offers the integration with the readout electronics on the same chip. The evaluation of the sensing performance of the semi-selective polymer coated sensors is performed upon exposure to vapours of pure and binary mixtures of VOCs and humidity in various concentrations. The sensors demonstrate high sensitivity to the examined analytes as a result of the miniaturization, while their semi-selectivity is a key for applications in complex vapour environment discrimination. © 2020 Elsevier B.V