Highly insulating thermoplastic nanocomposites based on a polyolefin ternary blend for high-voltage direct current power cables.

Octyl-silane-coated AlO nanoparticles are found to be a promising conductivity-reducing additive for thermoplastic ternary blends comprising low-density polyethylene (LDPE), isotactic polypropylene and a styrenic copolymer. The ternary blend nanocomposites were prepared by compounding the blend components together with an LDPE-based masterbatch that contained the nanoparticles. The nanoparticles did not affect the superior stiffness of the ternary blends, compared to neat LDPE, between the melting temperatures of the two polyolefins.

Textile-Friendly Interconnection between Wearable Measurement Instrumentation and Sensorized Garments-Initial Performance Evaluation for Electrocardiogram Recordings.

The interconnection between hard electronics and soft textiles remains a noteworthy challenge in regard to the mass production of textile-electronic integrated products such as sensorized garments. The current solutions for this challenge usually have problems with size, flexibility, cost, or complexity of assembly. In this paper, we present a solution with a stretchable and conductive carbon nanotube (CNT)-based paste for screen printing on a textile substrate to produce interconnectors between electronic instrumentation and a sensorized garment.

Electrode placement in electrocardiography smart garments: A review.

Wearable Electrocardiography (ECG) sensing textiles have been widely used due to their high flexibility, comfort, reusability and the possibility to be used for home-based and real-time measurements. Textile electrodes are dry and non-adhesive, therefor unlike conventional gel electrodes, they don't cause skin irritation and are more user-friendly especially for long-term and continuous monitoring outside the hospital. However, the challenge with textile electrodes is that the quality and reliability of recorded ECG signals by smart garments are more sensitive to different factors such as electrode placement, skin humidity, user activities and contact pressure.

Antibiotic and bronchodilator prescribing for acute bronchitis in the emergency department.

Background: Although the overuse of antibiotics and underuse of bronchodilators for treatment of acute bronchitis is well known, few studies have analyzed these trends in the emergency department (ED).

Study Objectives: To characterize the antibiotic and bronchodilator prescribing practices of physicians at two academic EDs in the diagnosis of acute bronchitis, and to identify factors that may or may not be associated with these practices.

Methods: A computer database was searched retrospectively for all patients with an ED discharge diagnosis of acute bronchitis, and analyzed, looking at the frequency of antibiotic prescriptions, the class of antibiotic prescribed, and several other related factors including age, gender, chief complaint, duration of cough, and comorbid conditions.