Portable Respiration Monitoring System with an Embroidered Capacitive Facemask Sensor.

Respiration monitoring is a very important indicator of health status. It can be used as a marker in the recognition of a variety of diseases, such as sleep apnea, asthma or cardiac arrest. The purpose of the present study is to overcome limitations of the current state of the art in the field of respiration monitoring systems. Our goal was the development of a lightweight handheld device with portable operation and low power consumption. The proposed approach includes a textile capacitive sensor with interdigitated electrodes embroidered into the facemask, integrated with readout electronics. Readout electronics is based on the direct interface of the capacitive sensor and a microcontroller through just one analog and one digital pin. The microcontroller board and sensor are powered by a smartphone or PC through a USB cable. The developed mobile application for the Android™ operating system offers reliable data acquisition and acts as a bridge for data transfer to the remote server. The embroidered sensor was initially tested in a humidity-controlled chamber connected to a commercial impedance analyzer. Finally, in situ testing with 10 volunteering subjects confirmed stable operation with reliable respiration monitoring.

Infrastructure as Software in Micro Clouds at the Edge.

Edge computing offers cloud services closer to data sources and end-users, making the foundation for novel applications. The infrastructure deployment is taking off, bringing new challenges: how to use geo-distribution properly, or harness the advantages of having resources at a specific location? New real-time applications require multi-tier infrastructure, preferably doing data preprocessing locally, but using the cloud for heavy workloads. We present a model, able to organize geo-distributed nodes into micro clouds dynamically, allowing resource reorganization to best serve population needs. Such elasticity is achieved by relying on cloud organization principles, adapted for a different environment. The desired state is specified descriptively, and the system handles the rest. As such, infrastructure is abstracted to the software level, thus enabling "infrastructure as software" at the edge. We argue about blending the proposed model into existing tools, allowing cloud providers to offer future micro clouds as a service.

Results of the first national indoor radon survey performed in Serbia.

The first step in every systematic approach to investigating population exposure to radon on a national level is to perform a comprehensive indoor radon survey. Based on general knowledge of the radon levels in Serbia and corresponding doses, the results obtained from a national indoor radon survey would allow policymakers to decide whether it is necessary to establish a national radon programme. For this reason, Serbia initiated work on a national radon action plan (RAP) in 2014 when it was decided to carry out the first national indoor radon survey. The responsibility for establishing the RAP in Serbia is that of the national regulatory body in the field of radiation protection-the Serbian Radiation and Nuclear Safety and Security Directorate (SRBATOM), formerly known as the Serbian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency. The first national indoor radon survey was supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) through a Technical Cooperation Programme. Thanks to the IAEA, we received 6000 passive radon devices based on track-etched detectors. In addition, in order to ensure technical support for the project, SRBATOM formed a task force made up of expert radon representatives from national research institutions. This paper presents a thorough description of the sampling design of the first Serbian indoor radon survey. It also presents the results of the national indoor radon survey, including descriptive statistics and testing of the distribution of the obtained results for log-normality. Based on GPS coordinates, indoor radon data were projected onto a map of 10 km × 10 km grid cells. Two values were calculated for each cell to create two distinct maps. One map shows the arithmetic mean value of indoor radon concentration per grid cell, and the other map shows the number of radon detectors per grid cell used for the calculation of mean values.

Validity and Reliability of a New Specific Parkour Test: Physiological and Performance Responses.

Main aim of this study was examining validity and reliability of using a new specific Parkour repeated sprint ability test (SPRSA) for assessing repeated sprint ability while facing obstacles and establishing between-day reliability and sensitivity of SPRSA related to its physiological and performance responses. Thirteen high-level traceurs (three females) performed in random order and twice eight tests for assessing a total of 23 variables: SPRSA (a typical maximal-speed shuttle run interspersed with four Parkour competition-common fundamentals) and seven established fitness tests, core stability, hand-grip, vertical-jump, long-jump, pull-up, 300-m shuttle run (as a field test for anaerobic capacity), and Leger test. Except for muscular elasticity index of vertical jump test (intra-class Correlation Coefficient model 3,1 [ICC3,1] = 0.54 [fair]), fitness tests' ICC3,1s resulted excellent (ICC3,1: 0.93-1.00). SPRSA total time and time of its fastest sprint (SPRSA peak time) were significantly correlated with the majority of core stability (r: -0.79 to 0.59; P < 0.01-0.05), jumping (r: -0.78 to 0.67; P < 0.01-0.05), pull-up tests (r: -0.86; P < 0.01), 300-m shuttle run test total time (r: 0.77-0.82; P < 0.01), and Leger test-estimated VO2 max (r: -0.78; P < 0.01). Principal component analysis (PCA) of the 23 variables led to extraction of four significant components (each due to different variables' combinations), which explained 90.2% of 23 variables' total variance. SPRSA (i.e., total and peak time) showed high reliability (ICC3,1: 0.991-0.998 and standard-error-of-measurement %: 0.07-0.32). Finally, SPRSA showed high sensitivity (smallest-worthwhile-change %: 0.29-0.68). Considering its excellent logical and strong ecological validity, SPRSA may serve as a valid specific field test for Parkour sport. In addition, thanks to its high reliability and sensitivity, this test is suitable for monitoring, evaluating, and programming training processes for Parkour practitioners in repeated sprint ability involving crossing obstacles.

MRI versus ¹³¹I whole-body scintigraphy for the detection of lymph node recurrences in differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the clinical usefulness of MRI and radioiodine (¹³¹I) whole-body scintigraphy for the detection of lymph node metastases in differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: After surgery and ¹³¹I therapy, 40 patients with DTC underwent ¹³¹I whole-body scintigraphy and MRI. Each patient was clinically suspected of having or already had evidence of nodal recurrences (confirmed by laboratory studies, cytologic analysis, or whole-body scintigraphy). Planar whole-body scintigraphy was done after administration of 111 MBq of ¹³¹I, and MRI was done using spin-echo T1- and T2-weighted imaging, T1-weighted spin-echo imaging with fat suppression, and STIR sequences. RESULTS: MRI detected nodal metastases as partly or entirely cystic and as heterogeneously enhanced on contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images. Hyperintense cystic areas appeared on T1- and T2-weighted images and STIR sequences in 57% of cases. Nodal metastases showed extracapsular spread in 24% of patients. MRI results were true-positive in 76%, true-negative in 90%, false-negative in 24%, and false-positive in 11% of cases, whereas ¹³¹I whole-body scintigraphy results were true-positive in 71%, true-negative in 91%, and false-negative in 29% of cases. There were no false-positive results of ¹³¹I whole-body scintigraphy. False-negative whole-body scintigraphy was induced by tumor dedifferentiation. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of MRI were 76.2%, 89.5%, 82.5%, 88.9%, and 77.3%, respectively, and the corresponding values for ¹³¹I whole-body scintigraphy were 71.4%, 100%, 85%, 100%, and 76%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Whole-body scintigraphy is more specific than MRI in the detection of nodal metastases in patients with DTC. The principal value of MRI is in non-iodine-avid recurrences and in evaluation of mediastinal foci.

The importance of age over radioiodine avidity as a prognostic factor in differentiated thyroid carcinoma with distant metastases.

BACKGROUND: Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) usually has a good prognosis and rarely develops distant metastases. Although it might be expected that avid radioiodine uptake in distant metastases would be associated with a favorable outcome, there are few long-term studies regarding this. The present study was performed to evaluate the influence of radioiodine uptake in distant metastases on the disease-specific survival (DSS) in DTC patients. METHODS: This retrospective study included 77 DTC patients with distant metastases (M1) who were treated with (131)I therapy from 1977 to the end of 2000 in our institution. The median follow-up of patients was 6.1 years. Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed using the Kaplan-Meier method and log rank test, and Cox Regression model, respectively. RESULTS: Seventy-seven patients with M1 included 51 (66.2%) women and 26 (33.8%) men; 32 (41.6%) patients were <45 years old and 45 (58.4%) patients were >or=45 years old (range: 8-70 years; mean age: 45.4 years); histologically, there were 54 (70.1%) papillary carcinomas, 22 (28.6%) follicular carcinomas, and one case (1.3%) with an inconclusive histological report. The probability of DSS after appearance of M1 was 57.95% after 5 years, 48.31% after 10 years, and 39.46% after 15 and 20 years. In patients with iodine-avid distant metastases the 5-year DSS was 66.54%, the 10-year DSS was 55.09%, and the 15- and 20-year DSS were 44.99%. In contrast, patients with non-iodine-avid lesions had a 5- and 10-year DSS of 18.33%. This difference relating to the relationship between (131)I uptake in distant metastases and survival was significant (p = 0.0006). The proportion of patients with non-iodine-avid distant metastases that were >or=45 years old was significantly greater than the proportion of patients with non-iodine-avid distant metastases that were <45 years old (p < 0.01). If patients were matched for age, iodine non-avidity significantly shortened the survival in patients <45 years old (p < 0.001). According to multivariate analysis age had significantly greater influence on survival compared with iodine avidity (p < 0.001, p = 0.078, respectively). CONCLUSION: Patients with distant metastases have a long-term survival that depends, in addition to other factors, on age and the degree of radioiodine uptake in distant metastases.