F.J. Rodríguez

Manual lymphatic drainage therapy in patients with breast cancer related lymphoedema

BackgroundLymphoedema is a common and troublesome condition that develops following breast cancer treatment. The aim of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of Manual Lymphatic Drainage in the treatment of postmastectomy lymphoedema in order to reduce the volume of lymphoedema and evaluate the improvement of the concomitant symptomatology.MethodsA randomized, controlled clinical trial in 58 women with post-mastectomy lymphoedema. The control group includes 29 patients with standard treatment (skin care, exercise and compression measures, bandages for one month and, subsequently, compression garnments). The experimental group includes 29 patients with standard treatment plus Manual Lymphatic Drainage. The therapy will be administered daily for four weeks and the patients condition will be assessed one, three and six months after treatment.The primary outcome parameter is volume reduction of the affected arm after treatment, expressed as a percentage. Secondary outcome parameters include: duration of lymphoedema reduction and improvement of the concomitant symptomatology (degree of pain, sensation of swelling and functional limitation in the affected extremity, subjective feeling of being physically less atractive and less feminine, difficulty looking at oneself naked and dissatisfaction with the corporal image).DiscussionThe results of this study will provide information on the effectiveness of Manual Lymphatic Drainage and its impact on the quality of life and physical limitations of these patients.Trial registrationClinicalTrials (NCT): NCT01152099

Oscillation and Chaos in Pitting Corrosion of Steel

The potential and current oscillations during pitting corrosion of steel in sodium chloride (NaCl) solution were studied. Detailed analyses using numerical diagnostics developed to characterize complex time series clearly showed that the irregularity in these time series corresponds to deterministic chaos rather than to random noise. The chaotic oscillations were characterized by power spectral densities, phase space, and Lyapunov exponents.

Evaluation of the protection against corrosion of a thick polyurethane film by electrochemical noise

This paper focuses on the study of protection against corrosion by means of a thick polyurethane film. Noise resistance, Rn, calculated from a series of potential and current noise measurements, shows that electrochemical noise (EN) technique was able to monitor corrosion under coated metals even when applied at high thicknesses. By using spectral analysis, the nature of the attack on the metallic surface was determined; indeed, the characteristics of the corrosion process were determined even from the beginning of the phenomenon when the surface was exposed in a Salt Fog Chamber. It was possible to determine both how the continuous protection was given by the polyurethane film as a barrier and when the corrosion process was controlled by the appearance of pores on the barrier film. This paper seeks to establish a methodology to study highly resistant coatings.

Corrosion study of industrial painting cycles for garden furniture

Abstract Different cycles of industrial painting of steel and galvanised steel for making garden furniture were studied in order to overcome problems in covering tips, edges, sharp corners, commonly found in practice. Painting cycles, including cataphoresis or a Brugal ® treatment, were used. The following characterisation was carried out: (a) measurement of the film thickness of the coating; (b) evaluation of the defects in the organic coating; (c) corrosion resistance in a salt fog chamber according to ASTM standard B 117 and (d) electrochemical impedance measurements. In general terms, test have yielded good results in assessing the best performance with different industrial cycles of painting. Good performance of every cycle has been shown in geometrically simple samples (tubes externally coated), while the corrosion behaviour of geometrically complex shapes (stretched net, round-drilled and stamped sheets) strictly depends on the selected painting cycle. The experimental results showed the effectiveness of the cataphoretic primer in increasing metal substrate coverage, so increasing corrosion resistance. The same was not obtained by using a Brugal ® pre-treatment. Galvanised steel performed better than not galvanised one in the salt fog chamber test, but this result was not confirmed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) data. This electrochemical technique confirmed to be really a useful tool to clarify the behaviour of protected samples under accelerated corrosion conditions.

Comparison of Electrochemical Noise and Wire-on-Screw Technique in Simulated Marine Atmospheres

This paper shows the application of the electrochemical noise (EN) technique in the corrosion study on carbon steel in a salt-spray test. Through this electrochemical technique the resulting corrosion process is analyzed by the characteristics of the EN signal. These results, achieved with a statistical analysis of the signal, which is related to the wire-on-screw test, show the electrochemical differences in uniform, pitting, and crevice processes.

Effect of heating on the performance of anticorrosive coatings

Purpose – When coatings are applied to industrial equipment, they have to be able to stand the heat produced by solar energy and/or by different conditions on the process. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to study the effect of temperature on the protective properties of coatings since this parameter degrades the polymer structure. In addition, the temperature effects on dry coating can also be specified.Design/methodology/approach – In order to know the behaviour of an organic coating at different temperatures, a drying aging cycle was performed by heating on substrate steel and free‐of‐substrate films during ten uninterrupted days at three and different temperatures: 65, 85 and 100°C. At the end of this period, the aged films were analyzed by means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements, thermal analysis (DSC and TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM).Findings – The most critical temperature for the aging was 85°C and “...

The effect of test conditions on the sensitivity and resolution of SRET signal response

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to study and analyse the advantages and limitations of the scanning reference electrode technique (SRET) to detect and assess localised electrochemical activity based on an evaluation of the influence of the principal test parameters on the sensitivity and resolution of the technique.Design/methodology/approach – Measurements of Ohmic potential gradients induced by ionic flux close to a point current source (PCS) were carried out using a scanning reference electrode technique (SRET) instrument, which comprised a vertical rotating working electrode and a scanning probe formed by a pair of platinum electrodes of approximately 200 μm of diameter. Ionic flux was induced by anodic polarisation applied to a gold micro‐disc electrode, which acted as the PCS. Measurements were conducted in electrolytes of ten different conductivities, using different scanning probe tips to sample surface distance and different working electrode rotation rates. The range of conductivities used in...

Multiple thermal immersion ageing of commercial epoxy coatings

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the degradation of two commercial epoxy coatings with different pigments recommended for marine immersion, in a proposed short time accelerated aging cycle, correlating the electrochemical, thermal and superficial characterization.Design/methodology/approach – An immersion accelerated ageing method in an aggressive environment with increasing temperature has been described: samples of two films applied on AISI 1010 steel and films free of substrate of two different pigment coatings were submerged in hot brine, maintaining them for 24 h at 25°C, then increasing daily in 20°C increments to 85°C; followed by cooling to 25°C. The applied samples were evaluated in situ electrochemically using electrochmical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) (while they were in the heated environment) and the free films were submitted to differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) at the beginning and end of each temperature stage.Findings – Resu...

Thermal ageing of barrier pigment paint films

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the behaviour of commercial organic coatings in two proposed short time accelerated ageing methods.Design/methodology/approach – Two cycles of accelerated ageing at different temperatures have been set out: dry heating and heating in immersion (humid). The dry ageing was carried out by warming up the film continuously over a 24 h period at three temperatures: 65, 85 and 100°C, until completion after ten days; the humid ageing was carried out by submerging some film samples in hot brine and maintaining them submerged for 24 h at 45, 65 and 85°C.Findings – DSC and FTIR techniques reported that the coating suffered an “over‐cured” process after being submitted to the dry cycle. The films submitted to wet ageing developed micro‐cracks. Both ageing cycles caused physical degradation and a little sign of chemical degradation as shown by SEM observations.Practical implications – The ageing cycles could be applied to organic coatings, maybe varying the temperatur...