Validation of the Spanish Version of the ICECAP-O for Nursing Home Residents with Dementia

Background Measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is important for a chronic disease, such as dementia, which impairs the quality of life of affected patients in addition to their length of life. This is important in the context of economic evaluations when interventions do not (only) affect HRQoL and these other factors also affect overall quality of life. Objective To validate the Spanish translation of the ICECAP-O's capability to measure Health-related quality of life in elderly with dementia who live in nursing homes. Method Cross-sectional study. For 217 residents living in 8 Spanish nursing homes, questionnaires were completed by nursing professionals serving as proxy respondents. We analyzed the internal consistency and other psychometric properties. We investigated the convergent validity of the ICECAP-O with other HRQoL instruments, the EQ-5D extended with a cognitive dimension (EQ-5D+C), the Alzheimer's Disease Related Quality of Life (ADRQL) measures, and the Barthel Index measure of activities of daily living (ADL). Results The ICECAP-O presents satisfactory internal consistency (alpha 0.820). The factorial analysis indicated a structure of five principal dimensions that explain 66.57% of the total variance. Convergent validity between the ICECAP-O, EQ-5D+C, ADRQL, and Barthel Index scores was moderate to good (with correlations of 0.62, 0.61, and 0.68, respectively), but differed between dimensions of the instruments. Discriminant validity was confirmed by finding differences in ICECAP-O scores between subgroups based on ADL scores (0.70 low, 0.59 medium, and 0.39 high level care), dementia severity (0.72 mild, 0.63 medium, and 0.50 severe), and ages (0.59 below 75 years and 0.84 above 75 years). Conclusions This study presented the first use of a Spanish version of the ICECAP-O. The results indicate that the ICECAP-O appears to be a reliable Health-related quality of life measurement instrument showing good convergent and discriminant validity for people with dementia

Tribological properties study of lubricants for possible nanoclays reinforced biomedical applications

This research focuses on the use of nanoparticles halloysite nanotube (HNTs) and montmorillonite (MONT) to improve lubricating properties of polyethylene glycol (PEG) for total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Tribological tests nanofluids under Tribotester T-02U were performed using the ASTM D4172 standard changing the test temperature at 36 ° C-37 ° C, the analysis was made from the coefficient of friction (COF) and diameter worn (WSD) provided by the inspection worn mark on the optical microscope Alicona. There was a clear reduction of COF by 27% at 0.05% HNTs and WSD by 10% at 0.1% HNTs. However in MONT implementation COF is reduced by 6% at 0.05% concentration and WSD 2% at 0.01% concentration. In conclusion we obtained that nanoparticles HNTs improve the properties of PEG in greater proportion than nanoparticles MONT, although emphasis on further studies in tribological applications in bioengineering industry with both materials, due to their biological and physicochemical properties, is made. Cytotoxicity tests that ensured the biocompatibility of the nanoparticles with C6 rat glioma cells were performed

Characterization of Tribological Properties of Greases for Industrial Circuit Breakers

Proper grease selection is essential for the electrical industry to minimize friction and wear between the components of circuit breakers under mechanical contact. In this investigation, the tribological properties of commercially available greases for industrial circuit breakers were evaluated. Three tribological tests were performed: the ITeE-PIB Polish Method for testing lubricants under scuffing conditions (extreme pressure, EP), a four-ball test under ASTM D 2266 (anti-wear, AW), and a ball-on-disk test based on ASTM G-99. The worn materials were characterized with an optical 3D profilometer measurement system and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Additionally, selected greases with the best tribological performance were tested on a testing bench intended for circuit breakers, according to electrical safety standards, which validated the results obtained in the laboratory

Zastosowanie obróbki kriogenicznej i powłok PVD do zwiększenia odporności na ścieranie stali narzędziowych

The influence of deep cryogenic treatment and PVD coatings on the wear resistance and toughness of D2, S7, H13 and M4 tool steels were studied. Three different PVD coatings were applied after heat treatment: AlCrN, TiAlN, TiCrN. In order to research the wear resistance, the ball-on-disk tribological test was used per ASTM G-99; material toughness was evaluated through the Charpy-V test. Wear scars were examined through optical microscopy to calculate the volume loss. It is found that cryogenic treatment improved wear resistance and toughness up to 63% and 12% respectively. The material with the best combination of wear resistance properties and toughness was S7 with cryogenic treatment and TiAlN coating.W pracy przedstawiono wyniki badań wpływu obróbki kriogenicznej i powłok PVD na odporność na ścieranie oraz udarność stali narzędziowych D2, S7, H13 i M4. Zastosowano trzy różne powłoki PVD: AlCrN, TiAlN, TiCrN, które wcześniej poddano obróbce cieplnej. W celu zbadania odporności na zużycie przeprowadzono badania z użyciem testera kula-tarcza zgodnie z wymogami normy ASTM G-99. Udarność została oceniona z wykorzystaniem młota Charpy’ego. Zużycie objętościowe zostało zmierzone za pomocą mikroskopu optycznego. Stwierdzono, że obróbka kriogeniczna polepszyła odporność na ścieranie o 63%, a udarność o 12%. W wyniku przeprowadzonych badań stwierdzono, że materiałem o najlepszych właściwościach na ścieranie i udarność jest stal narzędziowa S7 poddana obróbce kriogenicznej i pokryta powłoką TiAlN