A quantitative thermal analysis of cyclists’ thermo-active base layers

It is well known that clothes used in sporting activity are a barrier for heat exchange between the environment and athlete, which should help in thermoregulation improvement. However, it is difficult to evaluate which top is best for each athlete according to the characteristics of the sport. Researchers have tried to measure the athlete’s temperature distribution during exercise at the base layers of tops with different approaches. The aim of this case study was to investigate the use of thermography for thermo-active base layer evaluation. Six new base layers were measured on one cyclist volunteer during a progressive training on a cycloergometer. As a control condition, the skin temperature of the same volunteer was registered without any layer with the same training. A training protocol was selected approximate to cycling race, which started from the warm-up stage, next the progressive effort until the race finished and at the end “cool-down” stage was over. In order to show which layer provided the strongest and weakest barrier for heat exchange in comparison with environment, the temperature parameters were taken into consideration. The most important parameter in the studies was the temperature difference between the body and the layers, which was changing during the test time. The studies showed a correlation between the ergometer power parameter and the body temperature changes, which has a strong and significant value. Moreover, the mass of every layer was checked before and after the training to evaluate the mass of the sweat exuded during the test. From this data, the layer mass difference parameter was calculated and taken into consideration as a parameter, which may correspond with the mean heart rate value from each training. A high and positive correlation coefficient was obtained between the average heart rate and the mass difference for the base layers. Thermal analysis seems to have a new potential application in the objective assessment of sports clothing and may help in choosing the proper clothes, which could support heat transfer during exercising and protect the body from overheating.

     

May thermal imaging be useful in the assessment of dental anaesthesia? Preliminary study

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The main goal of this study was to find out if thermal imaging may be useful in the evaluation of two types of anaesthetic injections—with and...     

Does local cryotherapy improve thermal diagnosis similar to whole-body cryotherapy in spinal diseases?

Thermal imaging has been used for patients with spinal diseases who were qualified by their physicians for whole-body treatment or local cryotherapy. The experimental groups of patients consisted of 20 males aged 51.6 ± 9.0 (12 treated by whole-body cryotherapy and 8 by local cryotherapy). The distribution of the skin surface temperature was monitored by using a Thermovision Camera E60 before and immediately after body cooling. The chosen spinal region (Th5/Th6–L5/S1) was taken into consideration for all of the research groups. An essential drop in skin temperature and a better differentiation of the body surface temperatures (leading to an increase in the diagnostic value of thermography) was observed after both methods of cold impact. In order to estimate the usefulness of thermovision used after body cooling, the quantitative parameters including temperature contrast—the difference between the maximum and minimum temperatures before and after cold impact and relative contrast ratio (related to the average temperature of the selected area of interest, before and after cooling, respectively)—were compared for both kinds of medical treatment. The statistical analysis proved that significant differences between the parameters obtained before and after body cooling in the case that patients treated by local and whole-body cryotherapy are similar. However, local therapy is cheaper and easy for application while whole-body therapy can give more information about the state of soft tissues for the whole back.     

Thermal imaging and TC oximetry measurements of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) effects on trophic ulceration of the crura

We performed studies on the influence of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on the trophic ulceration of the crus using thermal imaging and TC oximetry. Thermograms for two groups of volunteers, one suffering from trophic ulceration of the crus (11 patients aged 63.6 ± 15.2) and one healthy (6 people aged 42 ± 8), were completed before and after hyperbaric oxygenation. In addition, the oxygen tension in each patient’s crus was measured. Hyperbaric oxygenation has an influence on biological as well as physiological processes that occur in the tissue. It is apparent that these processes may have an impact on the differentiation of tissue temperature. The studies showed some differences in skin temperature between research groups. A bigger differentiation of skin temperature was observed for patients who suffered from ulceration. It follows that there are statistically significant differences between the mean temperature for all chosen regions of interest obtained before (p = 0.0003) and after (p = 0.03) hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Moreover, the differences (ΔT = T _meanAR01 − T _meanAR04) between mean temperature characterization in chosen areas seem to be a little smaller. We observed that this difference changed from ΔT = 3.3 °C, estimated before hyperbaric oxygenation, to 2.5 °C, obtained after hyperbaric oxygenation, which may suggest improvement in the thermoregulation process. A similar situation was observed for the healthy group, but the temperature changes were smaller. The changes of the mean temperature may be correlated to some changes in wound cellular metabolism and the increase of microcirculation due to neoangiogenesis as well as the improvement of thermoregulation in the ulceration due to a rebuilding of the right cellular matrix. In addition, we observed that the mean values of oxygen pressure in the tissues (TCPO2) increased from 22 to 39 mmHg after hyperbaric oxygenation for patients with ulceration in their lower extremities. We also detected that oxygen pressure measurements and infrared imaging seem to be useful in the qualitative analysis of hyperbaric oxygenation treatment, and may offer some useful information about the hyperbaric oxygen therapy effects in trophic ulceration.     

Thermal imaging application in chronic venous disease

Thermal imaging was used for the estimation of lower-limb primary chronic venous diseases connected with an insufficiency of superficial veins. The current study was performed by means of a Thermovision A40 camera. The curves of the chosen regions of interest were performed in a research room with a stabilized temperature. Curves of the lower extremities showed that the patients suffered from a venous insufficiency characterized by a higher skin temperature connected with pathological changes in the veins. Changes seen in the lower extremities skin thermal map may be associated with blood stasis, inflammatory states and swelling. The differences in temperature distribution are due to a correlation between the medical diagnosis and the parameters obtained from duplex scanning. The results of the thermal imaging showed differences between patients’ health may suggest that a thermovision of lower extremities venous diseases can be very useful in medical diagnosis. The correlation was obtained from temperature parameters and duplex scanning. The parameters may suggest that thermovision diagnostics may be useful as a complementary method in the diagnosis of chronic venous diseases in the lower extremities.     

Evaluation of Effectiveness of a Toothpaste Containing Tea Tree Oil and Ethanolic Extract of Propolis on the Improvement of Oral Health in Patients Using Removable Partial Dentures

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of toothpaste containing natural tea tree essential oil (TTO) and ethanolic extract of propolis (EEP), on microflora and selected indicators of oral health in patients using removable acrylic partial dentures. Fifty patients with varying conditions of hygiene were divided into two groups. The study group received the toothpaste with TTO and EEP, while the control group received the same toothpaste but without TTO and EEP. At the first visit, oral hygiene and hygiene of the prostheses were carried out. Control visits took place 7 and 28 days later and compared to baseline. Indexes like API (Approximal Plaque Index), mSBI (modified Sulcus Bleeding Index), OHI-s (simplified Oral Hygiene Index), and DPI (Denture Plaque Index) were assessed in three subsequent stages, and swabs were collected from floor of the mouth area to assess the microbiota. After 7 and 28 days of using the toothpaste with TTO and EEP, a statistically significant decrease of the examined indicator values were observed in the study group as compared to the values upon the initial visit. The number of isolated strains of microorganisms in the study group was decreased or maintained at the same level, whereas in the control group an increase in the number of isolated strains was observed. The observed stabilization of oral microbiota in patients from the study group confirms the beneficial activity of toothpaste containing EEP and TTO compared to the control group.     

May thermal imaging be useful in cyclist endurance tests?

Thermovision is a completely non-invasive and easy-to-perform method of imaging, and it is becoming useful not only in different modalities of clinical medicine, but also in sports medicine. However, it seems that thermal imaging may also find some use in training. That is why the aim of these studies is to compare temperature parameters with data obtained from specialist equipment, which uses monitoring to choose organism parameters during the endurance test and also to determine the efficiency level. In this study, we also try to estimate body metabolism, using a modified formula of Kleiber’s law. We describe how metabolism changes during efficiency tests and compare these changes with parameters checked by an ergospirometer. All studies were performed by thermovision camera (Flir Systems E60). Results of the study showed that thermal imaging may be useful in sports medicine as a helpful method in efficiency evaluation. We obtained a high correlation between the standard parameters used in efficiency tests and the parameters derived from thermal imaging, which may suggest the possibility of using thermovision as an additional method in the planning of training cycles, and its effects.     

The applications of infrared thermography in surgical removal of retained teeth effects assessment

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Coal has played a significant role in daily life. However, the highly effective combustion and reducing combustion-caused hazards of the coal still...     

How to use thermal imaging in venous insufficiency?

This paper is intended to provide studies performed on usefulness of thermal imaging for the insufficiency of superficial veins in the lower limbs. The results are a continuation of the previous research and show a new way of analysis and better correlation between standard methods of parameters like duplex ultrasonography and parameters derived from thermal imaging. In particular promised seems to be using the mean whole limb temperature of healthy volunteers at a proper age as a threshold to count the isotherm area, and in isotherm analysis should be taken for the whole lower limb—the sum of thermal images from anterior and posterior views (Method II). The study was performed by the use of a Thermovision E60 camera by Flir Systems. All studies (duplex ultrasonography as well as thermal imaging) were performed in a research room with a stabilized temperature on two groups of patients, a group of healthy people and patients suffering from chronic venous disease. During the study, the correlation parameters were obtained with ultrasound and thermal parameters. The results showed that temperature changes observed in the lower extremities of the thermal skin map are associated with a healthy state of blood supply which might be connected with blood stasis, inflammatory states and swelling that occurs in the soft tissues. We found the mean and higher correlations between thermal and ultrasound parameters, for example, a good positive correlation (r = 0.63) between the thermal range to the total limb length radio and the range of reflux was obtained. The correlation between thermal imaging parameters and duplex ultrasound parameters may show that thermovision is an extremely promising method, and it can be useful in the screening of diagnosis of superficial vein insufficiency.     

Thermovision diagnostics in chosen spine diseases treated by whole body cryotherapy

The non-invasive infrared technique was used in case of the thermal imaging of patients suffering from spine diseases. Measurements were performed for the group of 50 patients during whole body cryotherapy at the second, fifth and tenth day of the rehabilitation cycle. An enhancement of the profile of skin temperature due to body cooling caused an increase in the diagnostic sensitivity of thermovision. The temperature parameters such as temperature contrast (ΔT = T _max ? T _min) and relative change of contrast ratio defined as (ΔT)/(T _mean) in the region of interest (ROI’s) were used to point out differences between the healthy patients and patients suffering from ankylosing spondylitis, sciatica and spondyloarthrosis. The value of the thermovision diagnostic in the case of spine diseases was confirmed by statistical analysis.