பயோ இன்ஜினியரிங் & பயோமெடிக்கல் சயின்ஸ் ஜர்னல்

The objective of this study was to determine a minimum data set of postural measures to characterize seated stability in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) by computing 39 Center-Of-Pressure (COP) measures routinely investigated in standing posture. Two short-sitting positions on an instrumented seat with the feet resting on force plates were compared between 14 individuals with SCI and 14 healthy controls: 1) with both hands on their thighs and 2) with both upper extremities flexed at 70o and abducted at 45o. The correlations between all COP measures for the resultant, anteroposterior and mediolateral components were also computed. Differences in seated stability were observed between individuals with SCI and healthy controls, irrespective of the tasks. More precisely, the bilateral hand support was confirmed to be an effective strategy to compensate for anterior instability in individuals with SCI. As anticipated, time domain distance and frequency domain measures revealed complementary information. Distance and area COP measures were highly correlated with each other (i.e., redundant information) but were not correlated with frequency and hybrid measures. For both groups (between-task comparisons), the most discriminative uncorrelated measures were related to frequency parameters (i.e., independent information). Overall, our analyses revealed that a minimal data set of postural measures should include mean distance, mean velocity, centroidal frequency, median power frequency and frequency dispersion. These measures should be reported for all directional components whenever applicable, as both anteroposterior and mediolateral activities independently contribute to the resultant COP outcome measures.

Seismocardiography (SCG) is the measurement of vibration of the precordium due to cardiac movement. SCG is considered to be of value when cost-effective cardiac and circulatory assessment is needed. SCG is normally recorded in the dorso-ventral axis from the sternum, while it has been shown that the superior-inferior axis also has consistent waveforms and might be usable in stroke volume evaluation. Thus, it seems that a system focusing on the superiorinferior axis could be very useful. In this article, a portable measurement system for the measurement of the superiorinferior axis of the SCG is described, and its functioning is demonstrated. Four subjects were measured in the sitting position to verify the system’s functioning. The measurements demonstrated the system’s capability to capture accurate cardiovascular data. Future work includes the validation of the measurement of the superior-inferior of the SCG signal against an established method such as echocardiography.

Background: The main objective of the study is to examine the determinants of High Blood Pressure Control among Hypertensive Diabetic Patients in Rajshahi district of Bangladesh.

Methods: Four hundred and six hypertensive diabetic patients (254 male and 152 female) were interviewed through a structured questionnaire from the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital and Rajshahi Diabetic Center who were receiving medication for hypertension (HTN) and diabetes. Bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques, such as, chi-square (χ²) test and logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate the effect of a select group of variables on the probability of controlling HTN.

Results: Among 406 respondents, 259 or 63.8% of the respondents can control HTN while 147 or 36.2% cannot control HTN. Among the patients who can controlled HTN almost 63% are males and 37.0% are females. The results of the χ² test and the regression analysis show that the variables selected for the analysis are generally important predictors of HTN control among the diabetic patients.

Conclusion: The prevalence of hypertensive diabetic is increasing rapidly in Bangladesh. It is a chronic disease which can be controlled by regular physical exercise, taking medicine on a regular basis and reducing occupational and mental stress. Educating patients about the effect of the disease will help to control HTN.

Now is the age of high-tech research and development. Different types of fibers have been produced in the last decades for the benefit of human needs. Core-shell nanofibers are a revolutionary development in the field of science and technology. Preparation of nanoscale fibers in a core-shell configuration, using two dissimilar materials, via a novel technique of electrospinning has presented unusual potential for use in many novel applications. The studies have addressed issues related to the technology involved and examined the suitability of the technique for producing unique nanoscale morphologies involving variety of materials. Numerous studies have been published on the preparation of core-shell nanofibers by electrospinning process for developing novel structures for new applications. No major review of the co-axial electrospinning process has appeared to the knowledge of the authors but is needed in order to develop a fuller understanding of the status of work in this field. After a brief introduction to the conventional electrospinning process, this paper focuses on the preparation and uses of core-shell fibers by electrospinning studies published to date. It attempts to categorize them in terms of the approaches adopted, and highlights the knowledge gained with respect to the material and process parameters that impact the size and the uniformity of the core-shell nanofibers obtained.

The main challenge of stem cell biology is to characterize proliferation and differentiation processes; since, very little is known regarding the molecular stimuli responsible for their regulatory mechanisms. On the other hand, comprehensive molecular analysis is yet too complex to perform intuitively. Therefore, computational models are essential for the optimization of clinical understanding in order to enhance the therapeutic process.

In this article, a discrete-time convergence model for stem cell growth process based on clinical observations and engineering predictions has been proposed. Typically, stem cell populations are in quiescent; but in response to molecular stimuli they become activated and proliferate, and undergo divisional cycle before experiencing the terminal differentiation or disappearance process. The objective of this paper is to present a computational analysis of stem cell proliferation process, and standardize a model which converges with the experimental hypothesis. More importantly, it has also been shown that, inherent homogeneous and heterogeneous properties of stem cell populations are also the necessary conditions for this convergent theory. In addition, Kalman filter has been used for estimating the unknowns as well as effciency of the proposed model. Simulation results based on synthetic data are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed technique.