Development of a smart-fit system for CPAP interface selection.

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) therapy is commonly prescribed for longstanding, acute cases of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) during which patients must wear a tight-fitting breathing mask overnight for the duration of the treatment. Because this condition frequently leads to the permanent use of CPAP masks, interface selection is a crucial factor influencing the treatment quality and effectiveness. Masks/interface selection is normally performed on a trial an error basis with clinicians informing their selection based on OSA-related factors with basic fitting feedback from patients.

Mask interface for continuous positive airway pressure therapy: selection and design considerations.

Introduction: Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is a clinical treatment for moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Commercial CPAP mask designs normally come in standard sizes and the configuration is not commonly tailored to the patients' characteristics such as face topology, skin sensitivity, and severity of OSA syndrome; however, an optimal mask/interface selection is a key factor influencing the compliance and effectiveness of CPAP treatment.

Areas Covered: This review investigates the conventional CPAP mask design, its effect on OSA treatment, and the related risk factors that can lead to skin damage after long-term repeated use.

A new thioredoxin reductase with additional glutathione reductase activity in Haemonchus contortus.

We report, herein, the purification to homogeneity and the biochemical and kinetic characterization of HcTrxR3, a new isoform of thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) from Haemonchus contortus. HcTrxR3 was found to have a relative molecular weight of 134,000, while the corresponding value per subunit obtained under denaturing conditions, was of 67,000. By peptide mass spectrophotometric analysis, HcTrxR3 was determined to have 99% identity with the H.

Personalized foot orthoses with embedded temperature sensing: Proof of concept and relationship with activity.

Plantar foot surface temperature has been identified as a clinically relevant physiological variable. Embedding sensors in foot orthoses (FOs) may allow long term monitoring of these temperatures, with compliance via the detection of periods of activity being a potential clinical utilization. This study aimed to test novel designs for FOs with embedded sensing that were produced via additive manufacturing and determine if foot temperature measurements could be used to detect periods of increased activity.

Embracing additive manufacture: implications for foot and ankle orthosis design.

Background: The design of foot and ankle orthoses is currently limited by the methods used to fabricate the devices, particularly in terms of geometric freedom and potential to include innovative new features. Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, where objects are constructed via a series of sub-millimetre layers of a substrate material, may present the opportunity to overcome these limitations and allow novel devices to be produced that are highly personalised for the individual, both in terms of fit and functionality.Two novel devices, a foot orthosis (FO) designed to include adjustable elements to relieve pressure at the metatarsal heads, and an ankle foot orthosis (AFO) designed to have adjustable stiffness levels in the sagittal plane, were developed and fabricated using AM.