N. F. Mohd Nasir

Mechanical, thermal and morphological characterisation of 3D porous Pennisetum purpureum/PLA biocomposites scaffold

The mechanical, thermal, and morphological properties of a 3D porous Pennisetum purpureum (PP)/polylactic acid (PLA) based scaffold were investigated. In this study, a scaffold containing P. purpureum and PLA was produced using the solvent casting and particulate leaching method. P. purpureum fibre, also locally known as Napier grass, is composed of 46% cellulose, 34% hemicellulose, and 20% lignin. PLA composites with various P. purpureum contents (10%, 20%, and 30%) were prepared and subsequently characterised. The morphologies, structures and thermal behaviours of the prepared composite scaffolds were characterised using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The morphology was studied using FESEM; the scaffold possessed 70-200μm-sized pores with a high level of interconnectivity. The moisture content and mechanical properties of the developed porous scaffolds were further characterised. The P. purpureum/PLA scaffold had a greater porosity factor (99%) and compression modulus (5.25MPa) than those of the pure PLA scaffold (1.73MPa). From the results, it can be concluded that the properties of the highly porous P. purpureum/PLA scaffold developed in this study can be controlled and optimised. This can be used to facilitate the construction of implantable tissue-engineered cartilage.

Measuring of systolic blood pressure based on heart rate

In this paper, we describe the method of noninvasive blood pressure (BP) measurement using electrocardiography (ECG) signal to measure arterial blood pressure. Here, we propose a continuous blood pressure monitoring method based on heart rates which are more suitable to monitor continuous blood pressure compared to traditional method. This study examines the relationships between arterial blood pressure and heart rate from 10 subjects that are normal. The experiment involved three sessions, which is rest, exercise and recovery from exercise. The end of this studies is can measured blood pressure continuously based on heart rate.

Measuring Blood Pressure Using a Photoplethysmography Approach

Blood pressure is often measured using a device called a sphygmomanometer, a stethoscope, and a blood pressure cuff. All the existing manual or automatic measuring techniques of blood pressure are based on this principle, which is not convenient for continuous monitoring of blood pressure. In this paper, we proposed the regression model which could estimate unspecified people’s systolic blood pressure (SBP) conveniently and continuously and checked its accuracy with blood pressure cuff. The method for estimating each individual SBP by using only pulse wave transit time (PWTT) has been studied, but it is difficult to estimate unspecified people’s SBP with the method using only PWTT. This study examines the relationships between arterial blood pressure and certain features of the photoplethysmographic (PPG) signals from 10 healthy subjects. The experiment involved three sessions, which is the resting period, exercise period and recovery period.

A low cost solution for post-biopsy complications using available RFA generator and coaxial core biopsy needle

Percutaneous image-guided needle biopsy is typically performed in highly vascular organs or in tumours with rich macroscopic and microscopic blood supply. The main risks related to this procedure are haemorrhage and implantation of tumour cells in the needle tract after the biopsy needle is withdrawn. From numerous conducted studies, it was found that heating the needle tract using alternating current in radiofrequency (RF) range has a potential to minimize these effects. However, this solution requires the use of specially designed needles, which would make the procedure relatively expensive and complicated. Thus, we propose a simple solution by using readily available coaxial core biopsy needles connected to a radiofrequency ablation (RFA) generator. In order to do so, we have designed and developed an adapter to interface between these two devices. For evaluation purpose, we used a bovine liver as a sample tissue. The experimental procedure was done to study the effect of different parameter settings on the size of coagulation necrosis caused by the RF current heating on the subject. The delivery of the RF energy was varied by changing the values for delivered power, power delivery duration, and insertion depth. The results showed that the size of the coagulation necrosis is affected by all of the parameters tested. In general, the size of the region is enlarged with higher delivery of RF power, longer duration of power delivery, and shallower needle insertion and become relatively constant after a certain value. We also found that the solution proposed provides a low cost and practical way to minimizes unwanted post-biopsy effects.

Tissue engineering scaffold based on starch: A review

An ideal scaffold should has a good porosity, acceptable mechanical strength, and biocompatible. One of the way to achieved these criteria is to incorporate polymers in the scaffold fabrication. Starch is one of the most common natural polymers that have been used to fabricate tissue engineering scaffold. Previously, starch as a biomedical material has found wider application such as hydrogel and drug delivery system. Hence, by blending starch with other materials such as Hydroxyapatite (HA) might improve scaffolds properties. This paper reviews how the incorporation of starch is significant to the improvement of scaffold fabrication.

Malaysia and Telecare — A Preliminary Study

Advancements in nutrition, sanitation, health practices and medical care has significantly reduced infant mortality rate improved the life expectancy of the population. With the increasing ageing population and chronic disease sufferers, this presents a challenge in the field of healthcare delivery. This gets worse with the decline of workforce in healthcare sector and increasing medical cost. Awareness of this situation has led several developed country to implement telecare in easing the problems faced. Malaysia as a developing nation will also face similar challenges in the future. Thus, this paper presents a preliminary study on several factors contributing to the need of telecare technology. Preliminary findings indicate an early sign that the country is also heading towards a similar development as those experienced by the European countries. In the future, it is worth to note that telecare can be an alternative option to counter the adverse effects of increasing ageing population.

Development of five port reflectometer for reflection based sensing system

Five-Port Reflectometer is a microwave passivedevice where it implements the six-port algorithm to measure the complex reflection coefficient of material under test (MUT) through reflection on interface between MUT and microwave sensor. Initially, the Six-Port Reflectometer (SPR) was introduced by Engen in 1977 and major component used insix-port technique was designed in many types. When Riblet and Hanssonproposed ring junction with 5 ports only on 1981. Six ports ring junction has been reduced to five ports. In this paper, a dual frequency five ports ring junction circuit was designed, simulated and fabricated for reflection based sensing system. The fabricated five port ring junction is operating at frequencies of 0.64 GHz and 2.42 GHz. The measured result had good agreement with the simulated results for dual frequencies in terms of magnitude and phase.

Preliminary characterization of nanoHA-Bubuk Wangi rice starch tissue scaffold

Scaffolds is an artificial bone implant to assist the regeneration of natural bone formation. Starch is a common polymer used to fabricate the scaffold. Generally, starch exhibits various properties corresponding to its botanical origin, granules size and structure. In Malaysia, different type and origin of soil may produce different properties of crops especially rice. Bubuk Wangi is a rice variant planted originally in Sarawak, Malaysia. This study is to fabricate the scaffold based on Bubuk Wangi rice starch and hydroxyapatite via solvent casting and salt leaching. From this research, the porosity, density, and morphology showed a good versatility in comparison with natural bone. As a conclusion, nanoHydroxyapatite combined with Bubuk Wangi rice starch has is a potential biomaterial to develop bone tissue scaffold.

The characterization of polylactic acid-Napier fibres as scaffolds for tissue engineering

The objective of this research is to develop a novel composite scaffold based on polylactic acid/Napier fillers (PLA-NF) with improved properties for use in cartilage tissue engineering applications. This composite scaffold was prepared via solvent casting and particulate leaching technique, using sodium chloride (NaCl) as the porogen material. The prepared composite scaffold was characterised using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques. The PLA/Napier composite scaffold was highly porous with the pore size of 70 to 200 μm. It was also shown that the porosity was approximately constant with increasing Napier content. Also, the Napier fillers were well distributed in the PLA based scaffolds caused to its improved interconnectivity and porosity character. From the results it can be concluded that introducing Napier fillers to PLA matrix can be considered beneficial for cartilage regeneration, cell attachment and extracellular matrix (ECM) production.

The study of EMG signals during sitting postures in Muslim prayer

Electromyography (EMG) signals at the lower limb muscles on static posture of sitting during solat had been studied based on the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (hadiths) about this particular posture. Gastrocnemius and Tibialis Anterior were the chosen muscles as both are the major muscles of the lower leg. A group of 10 subjects had participated in this study. The EMG data signal results were analyzed statistically using the Paired-Samples T Test. The statistical results showed that Sitting of Tawarruk has better EMG level on lower limb muscles than Sitting of Iftirasy while Paired-Samples T Test shows that there are no significant differences between both Sittings at the Right Gastrocnemius, Right Tibialis Anterior and Left Tibialis Anterior muscles during the postures. However, there is a significant different on Left Gastrocnemius muscles based on the EMG results for both postures. This significant different on the Left Gastrocnemius is due to the stabilization of the muscles activities for both sides of leg during the sitting postures. Thus, these postures showed by the Prophet Muhammad SAW during the solat should not have adverse effect to the lower muscles studied.