ASSESSMENT OF THE UNCERTAINTY BUDGET FOR AN INTEGRATED SYSTEM IN CLAY PIGEON SHOOTING DISCIPLINE

The purpose of this study was a part of a wider project to characterize the athletic gesture in the Olympic shooting disciplines, expanding the scientific knowledge in clay pigeon shooting. This project aimed to design and develop an integrated measurement system able to acquire and analyse the shooters‘ physical parameters. An uncertainty budget was assessed, identifying the main sources of uncertainty for their measurement, being a preparatory step for the validation of a measurement system, which should be able to identify the most relevant parameters affecting the shooting performance

“Does isometric exercise improve leg stiffness and hop pain in subjects with Achilles tendinopathy? A feasibility study"

Background In Achilles tendinopathy (AT) the ability to store and recycle elastic energy during ground contact phase is often altered. A measure of this function is represented by leg stiffness (LS). Immediate responses in LS following therapeutic intervention have not been examined. Objective The aim of this paper was to examine the feasibility of the protocol in participants with AT. Design Single cohort feasibility study. Participants Adults with persistent AT pain, symptoms on palpation and less than 80 points on the Visa-A questionnaire. Intervention heavy isometric exercise sequence in plantarflexion Outcome Measures Feasibility was assessed by evaluating: the willingness of participants to enroll into the study, the number of eligible participants, the recruitment rate, adherence to the intervention, the drop-out rate, the tolerability of the protocol. LS, reactive strength index, pain and rate of perceived effort were secondary outcomes. Results 22 AT were eligible for data collection and 19 entered the statistical analysis. The intervention was well tolerated, no withdrawals. Pain scores were low during both the intervention and the assessment. Immediate improvements in LS and pain were recorded. Conclusions The isometric exercise protocol was feasible. Future research should investigate its effectiveness

Wireless Point-of-Care Platform With Screen-Printed Sensors for Biomarkers Detection

Measurement systems for early and reliable detection of degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), are extremely important in clinical diagnosis. Among these, biochemical assays represent a commonly used method to distinguish patients from healthy population thanks to the sensitive recognition of specific biomarkers in biological fluids. In order to overcome actual limitations of these techniques in term of cost, standardization, and sensitivity, this study aimed to realize a low-cost highly sensitive portable point-of-care (PoC) testing system based on screen-printed electrochemical sensors. The development of the platform specifically included both the design of the sensing probe and the electronic circuit devoted to condition and acquires the transduced electric signal. The designed circuit was implemented in a printed circuit board and interfaced to a wireless system based on bluetooth data transmission in order to improve the portability of the proposed solution. Preliminary results were obtained by using controlled concentrations of electrolytic solutions and calibrating the sensors for antibodies and for a well-known protein (i.e., interleukin 8) quantified by anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). Findings from ASV measurements showed a sensitivity of 38 μA/(ng/ml) with a tested range from 1.25 to 20 ng/ml, with a limit of detection of 2 ng/ml. Further investigation will include the validation of this PoC device by testing the concentration of a specific p53 protein isoform, which was recently identified to early correlate to AD development

METODO PER LA PRODUZIONE DI IMPIANTI ORTOPEDICI ANTI-USURA

La presente invenzione si riferisce ad un metodo per produrre componenti di un impianto ortopedico resistenti all\u2019usura ed alla corrosione, detto metodo comprendente una fase di deposizione in vuoto di un materiale ceramico anti-usura sulla superficie di dette componenti. In particolare, le componenti a cui la presente invenzione fa riferimento sono le componenti di una protesi articolare, per esempio la protesi del ginocchio, dell\u2019anca, del polso, del gomito, della spalla, della caviglia, delle dita o della colonna vertebrale