Most patients gain weight in the 2 years after total knee arthroplasty: comparison to a healthy control group

SummaryObjectiveWhile joint arthroplasty improves the functional ability of persons with severe knee osteoarthritis (OA), the long-term effects of surgical intervention on body mass have not been evaluated. The objective of this study was to determine if a reduction in body mass index (BMI) was present following unilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA) compared to an age-matched healthy control group who did not have surgery.MethodOne hundred and six adults with unilateral, end-stage knee OA and thirty-one persons without knee pain participated in the prospective longitudinal study. Subjects with OA underwent primary unilateral TKA and received post-operative out-patient physical therapy. Height, weight, quadriceps strength and self-perceived functional ability were measured at baseline and at a 2-year follow-up.ResultsThere was a significant interaction effect between body mass over time and subject group (P=0.017). BMI showed a significant increase over 2 years for the surgical group (P<0.001), but not for the control group (P=0.842). Sixty-six percent of the persons in the surgical group gained weight over the 2 years with an average weight gain of 6.4kg, or 14 pounds, 2 years after their initial physical therapy visit. Educational level, marital status, income level and activity level prior to surgery were not related to post-surgical weight gain.ConclusionThe majority of subjects gain weight after surgery and this cannot be attributed to the effects of aging. Weight gain after TKA should be treated as an independent concern and management of orthopedic impairments will not result in weight loss. Post-operative care should include access to nutrition or weight management professionals in addition to medical and physical therapy services

Caracterização por microscopia óptica e eletrônica de varredura de amostras da madeira de pínus submetidas à compressão axial.

EVINCI. Resumo 048

Brillouin optical time-domain analysis for geotechnical monitoring

AbstractIn this paper, we show some recent experimental applications of Brillouin optical time-domain analysis (BOTDA) based sensors for geotechnical monitoring. In particular, how these sensors can be applied to detecting early movements of soil slopes by the direct embedding of suitable fiber cables in the ground is presented. Furthermore, the same technology can be used to realize innovative inclinometers, as well as smart foundation anchors

Brillouin scattering for refractive index sensing in non-adiabatic tapers

We demonstrate the use of non-adiabatic tapers for refractive index sensing in optical fibers based on Brillouin scattering. By exciting higher order optical modes along the taper, the Brillouin gain spectrum becomes multipeaked, where each peak exhibits a different sensitivity to the refractive index of the surrounding medium. By this method, we demonstrate a sensitivity enhancement of the Brillouin frequency shift to refractive index changes by a factor of ≈ 4, compared to an adiabatic taper with the same waist diameter. Furthermore, the use of the spectral difference between two Brillouin gain peaks provides a temperature-independent measurement of the external refractive index

Towards the development of cascaded surface plasmon resonance POF sensors exploiting gold films and synthetic recognition elements for detection of contaminants in transformer oil

The possibility of developing a multichannel optical chemical sensor, based on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) in a D-shaped multimode plastic optical fiber (POF), is presented by two cascaded SPR-POF-MIP sensors with different thicknesses of the gold layer. The low cost, the high selectivity and sensitivity of the SPR-POF-MIP platforms and the simple and modular scheme of the optical interrogation layout make this system a potentially suitable on-line multi-diagnostic tool. As a proof of principle, the possibility of simultaneous determination of two important analytes, dibenzyl disulfide (DBDS) and furfural (2-FAL), in power transformer oil was investigated. Their presence gives useful indication of underway corrosive or ageing processes in power transformers, respectively. Preliminarily, the dependence of the performance of the D-shaped optical platform on the gold film thickness has been studied, comparing two platforms with 30 nm and 60 nm thick gold layers. It has been found that the resonance wavelengths are different on platforms with gold layer of different thickness, furthermore when MIPs are present on the gold as receptors, the performances of the platforms are similar in the two considered sensors. Keywords: Cascaded multianalyte detection, Surface plasmon resonance, Dibenzyl disulfide, Furfural (furan-2-carbaldehyde), Molecularly imprinted polymers, Plastic optical fiber

Precision agriculture to improve the monitoring and management of tomato insect pests

Human-based monitoring of arthropod pests of agricultural importance is usually a time-consuming and costly activity. The advent of technologies such as automatic traps opens new opportunities for remote monitoring. In this article, we present a novel Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based approach aimed to developing a smart trap for monitoring two major pests of greenhouse tomatoes, namely whiteflies, i.e., Bemisia tabaci and Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), and leaf miner flies, Liriomyza spp. (Diptera: Agromyzidae)

Novel Optical Chemical Sensor Based on Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Inside a Trench Micro-machined in Double Plastic Optical Fiber☆

Abstract For the detection of chemical agents in different environments, the combination of plastic optical fibers (POFs) and molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) layers has been tested as a way to obtain a low cost, highly selective and sensitive surface plasmon resonance (SPR) chemical sensor. A novel type of optical chemical sensor based on POF-MIP has been designed and fabricated, and in this work it has been applied for the selective detection of dibenzyl disulfide (DBDS) in transformer oil. This analyte is important in the control of transformer oil, since it is responsible for the corrosive properties of the oil. The new optical sensor platform is based on two plastic optical fibers coupled through a polymer molecularly imprinted for DBDS. The new sensor has been found to be useful for the determination of DBDS in transformer oil

Resistência natural das espécies Eucalyptus cloeziana, Eucalyptus mycrocoris, Eucalyptus umbra, Corymbia citriodora e Corymbia maculata à degradação provocada pelo fungo Agrocybe perfecta, causador da podridão branca na madeira, in vitro.

Estudos práticos para a avaliação da resistência natural da madeira de eucalipto, têm recebido considerável atenção dos pesquisadores, em virtude das orientações que fornecem sobre o uso final do produto, evitando perdas econômicas. O apodrecimento da madeira pode ser causado por fungos decompositores. Alguns apresentam alta capacidade de degradação da lignina, cuja degradação é denominada podridão-branca. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar, em laboratório, a resistência natural da madeira de cinco espécies de eucalipto, a degradação provocada pelo fungo Agrocybe perfecta na madeira em diferentes posições ao longo do fuste.EBRAMEM