Standardized loads acting in knee implants

The loads acting in knee joints must be known for improving joint replacement, surgical procedures, physiotherapy, biomechanical computer simulations, and to advise patients with osteoarthritis or fractures about what activities to avoid. Such data would also allow verification of test standards for knee implants. This work analyzes data from 8 subjects with instrumented knee implants, which allowed measuring the contact forces and moments acting in the joint. The implants were powered inductively and the loads transmitted at radio frequency. The time courses of forces and moments during walking, stair climbing, and 6 more activities were averaged for subjects with I) average body weight and average load levels and II) high body weight and high load levels. During all investigated activities except jogging, the high force levels reached 3,372–4,218N. During slow jogging, they were up to 5,165N. The peak torque around the implant stem during walking was 10.5 Nm, which was higher than during all other activities including jogging. The transverse forces and the moments varied greatly between the subjects, especially during non-cyclic activities. The high load levels measured were mostly above those defined in the wear test ISO 14243. The loads defined in the ISO test standard should be adapted to the levels reported here. The new data will allow realistic investigations and improvements of joint replacement, surgical procedures for tendon repair, treatment of fractures, and others. Computer models of the load conditions in the lower extremities will become more realistic if the new data is used as a gold standard. However, due to the extreme individual variations of some load components, even the reported average load profiles can most likely not explain every failure of an implant or a surgical procedure

Kajian Manajemen Lingkungan terhadap Kejadian Malaria di Daerah Endemis, Kecamatan Kakuluk Mesak, Kabupaten Belu

Background : Malaria is still endemic disease in Indonesia, especially in Belu district. Many measures had been implemented to reduce malaria cases , but its rate is still quite high in any areas . The fluctuation of malaria cases were influenced by epidemiological and environmental factors. Prevention of malaria had been conducted simultaneously through clinical and environmental intervention. However, such intervention had no more impact, especially the environmental intervention. Such failure may be associated with the location of this area closed to the highest malaria rate (AMI) area in Belu District for four years later, namely : AMI 416/1000 population for year 2000, 527/1000 population for year 2001, 418/1000 population for year 2002, 468/1000 population for year 2003, and it rose tobe 493/1000 population for the year of 2004. Based on this fact, this study was conducted to study the environmental management related to the occurrence of malaria in endemic areas in working area of Atapupu Health Centre, Belu District. Furthermore, the study would also analyze the impact of vector and its larva. Method : This was a qualitative research using secondary data of the environmental management measure. The subject of this research was the malaria programmer and health worker who responsible for malaria program. They were the Head of Public Health Centre, laboratory technician, Co-assistant of entomologist. The program measures would be studied in this research focusing on planning of malaria program, the malaria control measure, collecting and reporting of data, and monitoring evaluation. Result : Measures had been conducted for reducing malaria cases in Atapupu Health Center through fogging, mosquito netting by medical officials without involving related sector. Monitoring and evaluating have been conducted just through data collection and reporting the rate of cases which was found in Passive Case Detection activities, while monitoring and evaluation for the change of environmental condition that caused the growth of vector density had not been conducted yet. In implementing malaria program, the health center had not organized in integrated way yet, not so focus and systematic. Conclusion: Environmental management in malaria control program has not implemented well yet. So that malaria cases is still increase in the working area of Atapupu Health Center, Belu District. Key Words : Environmental management, malaria incidence, malaria program

Manfaat Seleksi Dalam Pengembangan Bahan Pustaka Di Upt Perpustakaan Unsrat Untuk Memenuhi Kebutuhan Informasi Bagi Mahasiswa

Salah satu sumber belajar yang amat penting adalah perpustakaan yang harus memungkinkan tenaga pendidik dan para peserta didik memperoleh kesempatan untuk memperluas dan memperdalam pengetahuan dengan membaca bahan pustaka.Perpustakaan dinyatakan kualitas baik, jika perpustkaan memenuhi beberapa persyaratan diantaranya adalah koleksi relevan dengan kebutuhan pengguna, akurat dan actual, sumber daya manusia yang profesional sistem layanan yang cepat dan didukung oleh sarana temu kembali serta sarana dan prasarana yang memadai.Pengembangan bahan pustaka merupakan proses memastikan bahwa kebutuhan informasi dari para pemakai akan terpenuhi secara tepat waktu dan tepat guna dengan memanfaatkan sumber-sumber informasi yang dihimpun oleh perpustakaan, pengetahuan dan kemampuan pustakawan dalam melakukan seleksi sangat kurang tidak tersedianya alat bantu seleksi seperti catalog penerbit, tidak adanya komunikasi antara pihak perpustakaan dan pengguna perpustakaan termasuk mahasiswa.Menurut basuki (1991:3) perpustakaan adalah sebuah ruangan atau bagian sebuah ruangan yang digunakan untuk menyimpan buku terbitan lainnya yang biasanya disimpan menurut tata susunan tertentu untuk digunakan pembaca,bukan untuk dijual. Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode deskriptif.Penelitian dilakukan terhadap 40 responden di UPT Perpustakaan Unsrat. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa dalam pengembangan koleksi, kegiatan seleksi sangat bermanfaat untuk memenuhi kebutuhan informasi bagi pemustaka khususnya mahasiswa.Melalui penelitian ini juga disarankan bahwa sebaiknya UPT Perpustakaan Unsrat setiap tahun menyisihkan anggaran yang memadai untuk pengembangan koleksi atau untuk pengadaan koleksi supaya bahan pustaka yang tersedia selalu ada yang terbaru atau termutakhir

Kajian Awal Fitoremediasi Merkuri Pada Caulerpa Serrulata Dan Halimeda Macroloba Dari Perairan Teluk Totok

Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan tujuan untuk mengetahui kemampuan alga spesies Caulerpa serrulata dan Halimeda macroloba sebagai agen fitoremediator merkuri di perairan laut. Analisis merkuri pada sedimen dan jaringan alga berdasarkan metode standar United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) yang dilakukan di Water Laboratory Nusantara (WLN) dengan menggunakan Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) instrument. Hasil penelitian memperlihatkan bahwa Caulerpa serrulata mampu mengabsorbsi merkuri sebanyak 0,20 ppm dan Halimeda macroloba mampu mengabsorbsi sebanyak 0,11 ppm dari perairan Teluk Totok. Selain itu kemampuan Caulerpa serrulata dan Halimeda macroloba mentoleransi kadar merkuri yang tinggi di sedimen tempat alga tersebut tumbuh bisa menjadi pertimbangan bahwa alga tersebut memiliki potensi untuk dapat digunakan sebagai salah satu organisme fitoremediaotor merkuri di perairan laut

Synthesis of Biokerosene Through Electrochemical Hydrogenation of Terpene Hydrocarbons From Turpentine Oil

Indonesia possesses great potential for developing renewable resources as alternative fuels. For example, turpentine oil obtained from Pinus merkusii, which contains mostly monoterpene hydrocarbons (C10H16). The oil is highly suitable to be processed for biokerosene or even jet biofuel. It consists of hydrocarbons within the range of C10 to C15. However, it contains insufficient H and thus needs to be upgraded. In the present work, electrochemical hydrogenation was used for upgrading. In the electrochemical cell, stainless steel, silver, and carbon were used alternately for the anode, while copper and silver Raschig rings were used for the cathode. An electrolyte solution of cuprous ammonium formate was utilized not only as a source of H but also to draw the unsaturated hydrocarbons into the aqueous phase. The electrolyte : oil ratio (up to 2:1), electrolyte concentration (between 0.4 and 2 M) and reaction time were varied throughout the experiments. The bromine number (unsaturation level) of the turpentine oil, which was initially 1,86 (mole Br2/mole), was lowered significantly to 0.69-0.90. Promising increase of smoke point values were observed from 11 mm to 16-24 mm, indicating a higher H content of the processed oil, thus making it suitable as a substitute for petroleum kerosene

Time-Resolved Thickness and Shape-Change Quantification using a Dual-Band Nanoplasmonic Ruler with Sub-Nanometer Resolution

Time-resolved measurements of changes in the size and shape of nanobiological objects and layers are crucial to understand their properties and optimize their performance. Optical sensing is particularly attractive with high throughput and sensitivity, and label-free operation. However, most state-of-the-art solutions require intricate modeling or multiparameter measurements to disentangle conformational or thickness changes of biomolecular layers from complex interfacial refractive index variations. Here, we present a dual-band nanoplasmonic ruler comprising mixed arrays of plasmonic nanoparticles with spectrally separated resonance peaks. As electrodynamic simulations and model experiments show, the ruler enables real-time simultaneous measurements of thickness and refractive index variations in uniform and heterogeneous layers with sub-nanometer resolution. Additionally, nanostructure shape changes can be tracked, as demonstrated by quantifying the degree of lipid vesicle deformation at the critical coverage prior to rupture and supported lipid bilayer formation. In a broader context, the presented nanofabrication approach constitutes a generic route for multimodal nanoplasmonic optical sensing

A diet rich in unsaturated fatty acids prevents progression toward heart failure in a rabbit model of pressure and volume overload

Background-During heart failure (HF), cardiac metabolic substrate preference changes from fatty acid (FA) toward glucose oxidation. This change may cause progression toward heart failure. We hypothesize that a diet rich in FAs may prevent this process, and that dietary 3-FAs have an added antiarrhythmic effect based on action potential (AP) shortening in animals with HF. Methods and Results-Rabbits were fed a diet containing 1.25% (w/w) high oleic sunflower oil (HF-9, N 11), 1.25% fish oil (HF-3, N11), or no supplement (HF-control, N8). Subsequently, HF was induced by volume and pressure overload. After 4 months, HF-parameters were assessed, electrocardiograms were recorded, and blood and ventricular tissue were collected. Myocytes were isolated for patch clamp or intracellular Ca2-recordings to study electrophysiologic remodeling and arrhythmogenesis. Both the HF-9 and the HF-3 groups had larger myocardial FA oxidation capacity than HF control. The HF-3 group had significantly lower mean ( SEM) relative heart and lung weight (3.3-0.13 and 3.2-0.12 g kg 1, respectively) than HF control (4.8-0.30 and 4.5-0.23), and shorter QTc intervals (167-2.6 versus 182-6.4). The HF-9 also displayed a significantly reduced relative heart weight (3.6-0.26), but had similar QTc (179-4.3) compared with HF control. AP duration in the HF-3 group was 20% shorter due to increased Ito1 and IK1 and triggered activity, and Ca2-aftertransients were less than in the HF-9 group. Conclusions-Dietary unsaturated FAs started prior to induction of HF prevent hypertrophy and HF. In addition, fish oil FAs prevent HF-induced electrophysiologic remodeling and arrhythmias. © 2012 American Heart Association, Inc