Highly focalised thermotherapy using a ferrimagnetic cement in the treatment of a melanoma mouse model by low temperature hyperthermia.

PURPOSE: Evaluation of the effectiveness of highly focalised thermotherapy (HFT) in a melanoma mouse model, using a ferrimagnetic cement (FC) and repeated low hyperthermia treatments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A melanoma mouse model was induced with B16F10 cells in C57BL6 mice. The FC, injected into the tumour, was used as the magnetic vehicle for HFT. FC location within the tumour was assessed by radiography and its capability to generate heat, when exposed to an external high frequency magnetic field (HFMF), monitored by thermal camera. The HFT treatment consisted of three HFMF exposures, with 48-h intervals, each one lasting 30 min, with a 5-6°C tumour temperature increase. At the end of the experiment, FC samples were characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS). The presence of iron contents was analysed in the tumour, lungs, liver and spleen. Histological evaluation and immunohistochemical staining for caspase-3 were performed. Tumour growth was monitored during the experiment. RESULTS: Surface analysis showed FC stabilisation within the tumour, and iron was absent. The thermal camera confirmed the localised temperature increase in the tumour. HFT treatments inhibited the tumour growth by ∼70% compared to controls. This was due to cell destruction by necrosis and apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: The HFT, using the FC, proved to be a minimally invasive technique that statistically inhibited tumour growth. Results suggested that this methodology seems to be a promising technique for the treatment of solid tumours, allowing repeated low hyperthermia treatments, which can be easier and less traumatic than other hyperthermia techniques.

Virtual reality exercise on a home-based phase III cardiac rehabilitation program, effect on executive function, quality of life and depression, anxiety and stress: a randomized controlled trial.

PURPOSE: To analyse the effect of a six-month home-based phase III cardiac rehabilitation (CR) specific exercise program, performed in a virtual reality (Kinect) or conventional (booklet) environment, on executive function, quality of life and depression, anxiety and stress of subjects with coronary artery disease. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial was conducted with subjects, who had completed phase II, randomly assigned to intervention group 1 (IG1), whose program encompassed the use of Kinect (n = 11); or intervention group 2 (IG2), a paper booklet (n = 11); or a control group (CG), only subjected to the usual care (n = 11). The three groups received education on cardiovascular risk factors. The assessed parameters, at baseline (M0), 3 (M1) and 6 months (M2), were executive function, control and integration in the implementation of an adequate behaviour in relation to a certain objective, specifically the ability to switch information (Trail Making Test), working memory (Verbal Digit Span test), and selective attention and conflict resolution ability (Stroop test), quality of life (MacNew questionnaire) and depression, anxiety and stress (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale 21). Descriptive and inferential statistical measures were used, significance level was set at .05. RESULTS: The IG1 revealed significant improvements, in the selective attention and conflict resolution ability, in comparison with the CG in the variable difference M0 - M2 (p = .021) and in comparison with the IG2 in the variable difference M1 - M2 and M0 - M2 (p = .001 and p = .002, respectively). No significant differences were found in the quality of life, and depression, anxiety and stress. CONCLUSIONS: The virtual reality format had improved selective attention and conflict resolution ability, revealing the potential of CR, specifically with virtual reality exercise, on executive function. Implications for Rehabilitation In cardiac rehabilitation, especially in phase III, it is important to develop and to present alternative strategies, as virtual reality using the Kinect in a home context. Taking into account the relationship between the improvement of the executive function with physical exercise, it is relevant to access the impact of a cardiac rehabilitation program on the executive function. Enhancing the value of the phase III of cardiac rehabilitation.

Kinect system in home-based cardiovascular rehabilitation.

Cardiovascular diseases lead to a high consumption of financial resources. An important part of the recovery process is the cardiovascular rehabilitation. This study aimed to present a new cardiovascular rehabilitation system to 11 outpatients with coronary artery disease from a Hospital in Porto, Portugal, later collecting their opinions. This system is based on a virtual reality game system, using the Kinect sensor while performing an exercise protocol which is integrated in a home-based cardiovascular rehabilitation programme, with a duration of 6 months and at the maintenance phase. The participants responded to a questionnaire asking for their opinion about the system. The results demonstrated that 91% of the participants (n = 10) enjoyed the artwork, while 100% (n = 11) agreed on the importance and usefulness of the automatic counting of the number of repetitions, moreover 64% (n = 7) reported motivation to continue performing the programme after the end of the study, and 100% (n = 11) recognized Kinect as an instrument with potential to be an asset in cardiovascular rehabilitation. Criticisms included limitations in motion capture and gesture recognition, 91% (n = 10), and the lack of home space, 27% (n = 3). According to the participants' opinions, the Kinect has the potential to be used in cardiovascular rehabilitation; however, several technical details require improvement, particularly regarding the motion capture and gesture recognition.

Towards a detailed anthropometric body characterization using the Microsoft Kinect.

Anthropometry has been widely used in different fields, providing relevant information for medicine, ergonomics and biometric applications. However, the existent solutions present marked disadvantages, reducing the employment of this type of evaluation. Studies have been conducted in order to easily determine anthropometric measures considering data provided by low-cost sensors, such as the Microsoft Kinect. In this work, a methodology is proposed and implemented for estimating anthropometric measures considering the information acquired with this sensor. The measures obtained with this method were compared with the ones from a validation system, Qualisys. Comparing the relative errors determined with state-of-art references, for some of the estimated measures, lower errors were verified and a more complete characterization of the whole body structure was achieved.

Qigong as a Traditional Vegetative Biofeedback Therapy: Long-Term Conditioning of Physiological Mind-Body Effects.

A contemporary understanding of Chinese Medicine (CM) regards CM diagnosis as a functional vegetative state that may be treated by vegetative reflex therapies such as acupuncture. Within this context, traditional mind-body exercises such as Qigong can be understood as an attempt to enhance physiological proprioception, by combining a special state of "awareness" with posture, movement, and breath control. We have formerly trained young auditing flutists in "White Ball" Qigong to minimize anxiety-induced cold hands and lower anxiety-induced heart rate. Functional changes occurred 2-5 min after training and were observed over the whole training program, allowing the children to control their symptoms. In our current work, we report that warm fingers and calm hearts could be induced by the children even without Qigong exercises. Thus, these positive changes once induced and "conditioned" vegetatively were stable after weeks of training. This may show the mechanism by which Qigong acts as a therapeutic measure in disease: positive vegetative pathways may be activated instead of dysfunctional functional patterns. The positive vegetative patterns then may be available in critical stressful situations. Qigong exercise programs may therefore be understood as an ancient vegetative biofeedback exercise inducing positive vegetative functions which are added to the individual reactive repertoire.

A procedure for a mechanical evaluation of an undefined osteo-protective material.

Falls represent a major care and cost problem to health and social services world-widely, since 50% of falls result in an injury. In this work, is proposed a methodology to evaluate protective pads materials and geometry performance, in order to reduce impact results in a fall event. Since the material properties and the pad geometry are the key factors to make the protection possible when a fall event occurs, our approach relies on the use of mechanical tests to evaluate the properties of the material and in the study of the pad response during a fall. For this, were used compression, tensile and instrumented falling weight tests, that allow a fully characterization of the materials that can be employed in the protective pads. Likewise, to gather precise information on falls events, in order to study the pad response during a fall, a set of laboratory fall trials were created using a camera-less inertial motion capture (mocap) system. This allow the acquisition of dynamic information of falls, namely acceleration and velocity that can be used to create a finite element analysis (FEA) model, where different segments from the human body can be evaluated when the protective pad is associated to it. Through the proposed methodology, different materials and pad geometries can be studied towards maximizing the performance of protection pads for falls. The mocap system allows the acquisition of fall data, and also the creation of a human body geometrical model, representative of the fall. From the mechanical trials, was showed that the spacer fabric embedded with silicone has the higher ability to reduce the peak force in case of impact when compared with all the other specimens. The compression and the tensile tests allow the mechanical definition of the material, and with this the material definition on the FEA model.

Cardio-respiratory and daily activity monitor based on FMCW Doppler radar embedded in a wheelchair.

Unobtrusive monitoring of the cardio-respiratory and daily activity for wheelchair users became nowadays an important challenge, considering population aging phenomena and the increasing of the elderly with chronic diseases that affect their motion capabilities. This work reports the utilization of FMCW (frequency modulated continuous wave) Doppler radar sensors embedded in a manual wheelchair to measure the cardiac and respiratory activities and the physical activity of the wheelchair user. Another radar sensor is included in the system in order to quantify the motor activity through the wheelchair traveled distance, when the user performs the manual operation of the wheelchair. A conditioning circuit including active filters and a microcontroller based primary processing module was designed and implemented to deliver the information through Bluetooth communication protocol to an Android OS tablet computer. The main capabilities of the software developed using Android SDK and Java were the signal processing of Doppler radar measurement channel signals, graphical user interface, data storage and Wi-Fi data synchronization with remote physiological and physical activity database.