A Customized System to Test Pelvic Floor Muscles Contraction: A Proof of Concept.

Studies show that there is a high prevalence of pelvic floor dysfunctions which negatively affect the quality of life of people who suffer from them. The few sensory mechanisms that pelvic floor muscles have to inform the brain of their situation can make it difficult to perform voluntary contractions or identify risk factors. Currently, there is no consensus to improve this proprioception. This work introduces the development of a novel intravaginal device that is connected to a mobile data acquisition system and able to discern the correct contraction of the pelvic floor muscles versus contraction of adjacent muscles or abdominal thrust efforts. A cross-sectional pilot clinical study has been carried out to validate this end with healthy adult nulliparous woman with good pelvic floor muscles contraction capability in supine position.Clinical relevance- The proposed system allows a personalized and real-time assessment of the contractile capability of the pelvic floor muscles (PFM), distinguishing between muscular plans (deep/superficial PFM), between sides (right/left PFM), and between pressures from the PFM and intra-abdominal muscles (IAP). The development of an intravaginal device which is able to simultaneously measure all these features is an important advancement in this field since it can provide information in real time on the contraction capability of all the PFM as well as on the influence of the IAP during different PFM exercises.

Measurement procedure to assess exposure to extremely low-frequency fields: a primary school case study.

How to correctly measure the exposure of general public to extremely low-frequency (ELF) radiation is a key issue for ELF epidemiological studies. This paper proposes a measurement procedure to accurately assess the exposure of people to electric and magnetic field in the frequency band from 5 Hz to 100 kHz in buildings and their premises. As ELF radiation could be particularly harmful to children, the measurement procedure is focused on exposure to ELF in schools. Thus, the students' exposure to ELF fields can be assessed by correlating the ELF measurements to the hours of school activity. In this paper, the measurement protocol was applied to study the ELF exposure on students from García Quintana primary school in Valladolid, Spain. The campaign of measurements for ELF exposure assessment in this primary school was of great interest for the Regional Council of Public Health because of the social alarm generated by the presence of a significant number cancer cases in children.

E-field assessment errors associated with RF dosemeters for different angles of arrival.

In this paper, an analysis of the surface electric field on a human body based on finite-difference time-domain simulations is presented. A statistical analysis of the dosemeter interaction with the human body has been made by means of the variations of the relative orientation of the human body from the RF source. Variations of the RF source frequency have also been made, by comparing three different services FM, GSM-900 and DCS-1800. Three different scenarios have been simulated where the angle of arrival of the main RF contribution impinges on the human body with a certain probability. Despite the differences between the scenarios, the variations in the electric field strength at each frequency are negligible where the dosemeter would be located.

Increased mRNA expression of cytochrome oxidase in dorsal raphe nucleus of depressive suicide victims.

Suicidal behavior is a problem with important social repercussions. Some groups of the population show a higher risk of suicide; for example, depression, alcoholism, psychosis or drug abuse frequently precedes suicidal behavior. However, the relationship between metabolic alterations in the brain and premorbid clinical symptoms of suicide remains uncertain. The serotonergic and noradrenergic systems have frequently been, implicated in suicidal behavior and the amount of serotonin in the brain and CSF of suicide victims has been found to be low compared with normal subjects. However, there are contradictory results regarding the role of noradrenergic neurons in the mediation of suicide attempts, possibly reflecting the heterogeneity of conditions that lead to a common outcome. In the present work we focus on the subgroup of suicide victims that share a common diagnosis of major depression. Based on post-mortem studies analyzing mRNA expression by in situ hybridization, serotonergic neurons from the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) from depressive suicide victims are seen to over-express cytochrome oxidase mRNA. However, no corresponding changes were found in the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) mRNA in the noradrenergic neurons of the Locus Coeruleus (LC). These results suggest that, despite of the low levels of serotonin described in suicide victims, the activity of DRN neurons could increase in the suicidally depressed, probably due to the over activation of serotonin re-uptake. No alteration was found in noradrenergic neurons, suggesting that they play no crucial role in the suicidal behavior of depressive patients.

Changes in vascularization in substantia nigra pars compacta of monkeys rendered parkinsonian.

The degeneration of nigral dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson's disease is believed to be associated with a glial reaction and inflammatory changes. In turn, local factors may induce changes in vascularization and contribute to neuronal vulnerability. Among these factors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) is released in adults under pathological conditions and is thought to induce angiogenesis. In order to determine whether changes in brain vasculature are observed in the affected brain regions in parkinsonism, we quantitatively analysed the VEGF-expressing cells and blood vessels in the substantia nigra of monkeys rendered parkinsonian by MPTP injection and compared the results with those obtained in control monkeys. Using stereological methods, we observed an increase in the number of VEGF-expressing neurons and an increase of the number of blood vessels and their volume occupying the substantia nigra pars compacta of monkeys rendered parkinsonian by chronic MPTP intoxication. These changes in vascularization may therefore modify the neuronal availability of blood nutrients, blood cells or toxic substances and neuronal susceptibility to parkinsonism.

Thermal valorization of footwear leather wastes in bubbling fluidized bed combustion.

Transformation of hide (animal skins) into leather is a complicated process during which significant amounts of wastes are generated. Footwear is the sector that consumes the major part of leather (60%). Logically, this industry is producing the largest quantity of leather wastes. The objective of this work was to demonstrate the technical feasibility of fluidized bed technology to recover the energy from burning footwear leather wastes. Considering the characteristics of leather waste, especially the heating value (12.5-21 MJ/kg), it can be considered a fairly good fuel. Moreover, leather waste has suitable characteristics for combustion, e.g., high volatile matter (76.5%) and low ash content (5.2%). Two factors deserve special attention: N3O and NOx emissions as a consequence of its unusual high nitrogen content (14.1%) and the chromium speciation because chromium is the main element of ash (3.2%) due to its use in leather tanning. A series of experiments has been carried out in a 0.1 MWt bubbling fluidized bed pilot plant. The combustion efficiency, flue gas composition and chromium speciation were investigated. Despite having high nitrogen content, a low conversion rate of fuel-N to NOx and N2O was attained. Chromium was concentrated in the solid streams and it was consistently found as Cr(III+); no presence of Cr(VI+) was detected.

Measurement of motor disability in MPTP-treated macaques using a telemetry system for estimating circadian motor activity.

The parkinsonian symptoms of primates after MPTP exposure can be measured by several visual methods (classical motor scores). However, these methods have a subjective bias, especially as regards the evaluation of the motor activity. Computerized monitoring systems represent an unbiased method for measuring the motor disability of monkeys after MPTP administration. In this work the motor activity of monkeys before and after MPTP administration is measured and compared with the activity of a control intact group by means of a telemetry system. A pronounced decrease in motor activity was observed after MPTP administration. These results suggest the monitoring method used is suited for characterizing the motor incapacity and possible improvements following treatments to test different therapies to control Parkinson's disease in MPTP models involving primates.

Ultradian and circadian body temperature and activity rhythms in chronic MPTP treated monkeys.

The body temperature and locomotor activity rhythms of seven 1-Methyl, 4-phenyl, 1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-treated cynomolgous monkeys were registered over a week on two separate occasions over an interval of 2 months. Motor disability was absent in two animals and present in five: it was mild in one, moderate in two and severe in two. Both temperature and motor activity were recorded every minute using a radio telemetry system. Analysis of circadian rhythms revealed less robustness of the 24-hour circadian components of body temperature and locomotor activity with increasing motor impairment, and a fragmentation of the body temperature rhythm into 8 hour-period components. Both total activity and daytime activity correlated inversely with the degree of motor impairment. On the contrary, the monkeys did not show differences in night time activity. The proportions of variance accounted for by the body temperature and locomotor activity of 24 h + 12 h + 8 h components were correlated. Also, the average levels at which the circadian rhythm varies between body temperature and locomotor activity were correlated. The results were almost identical in the two 1-week recording sessions. The present study confirms individual differences in the vulnerability to MPTP of the nigrostriatal system of monkeys, suggesting that if a cumulative dose does not provoke stable motor alterations, this cumulative dose will not produce circadian body temperature and locomotor activity rhythm alterations either. Similarly, if a dose is able to produce motor impairment, this dose will also be able to produce circadian rhythm alterations.