Understanding the human tactile system is the motivation for this research. The linear viscoelastic mechanical properties of the human fingerpad describe the stress-strain relationship within the fingerpad for any stimulus geometry and any time history of applied forces or displacements. The stress-strain relationships within the fingerpad tissue govern the stimuli to the mechanoreceptors which...

Interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IF/TA) is a common cause of kidney allograft loss. Several noninvasive techniques developed to assess tissue fibrosis are widely used to examine the liver. However, relatively few studies have investigated the use of elastographic methods to assess transplanted kidneys. The aim of this study was to explore the clinical implications of the acoustic radi...

AIM OF THE STUDY Since there have been only few works reporting the diagnosis of kidneys using Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse technique and those works do not provide consistent results of shear wave velocity measurements in renal tissue, we have decided to use kidney phantoms with known properties to examine the reliability of the method itself in a controlled setup similar to kidneys examin...

BACKGROUND Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI)-Imaging is an ultrasound-based elastography method enabling quantitative measurement of tissue stiffness. The aim of the present study was to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of ARFI-imaging for differentiation of thyroid nodules and to compare it to the well evaluated qualitative real-time elastography (RTE). METHODS ARFI-imaging involve...

Background/introduction MR-ARFI adds to the rich toolbox of MR imaging methods for guiding focused ultrasound. MRI has exquisite soft tissue contrast for targeting focused ultrasound and a variety of contrast mechanisms for assessing the effect of focused ultrasound. In addition, MR can provide temperature mapping in near-realtime. MR-ARFI is an imaging method that compliments these other capab...

The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the relation between cardioballistic impulse and the fluctuations in continuous isometric force production. Subjects produced isometric force via index finger flexion to constant force targets (0.5, 1 and 2 N) with and without visual feedback while beat to beat blood pressure of their middle finger was recorded. Force fluctuations were qua...

The purpose of this study was to compare the main kinematic, kinetic, and dynamic parameters of elite and well-trained sprinters during the starting block phase and the 2 subsequent steps. Six elite sprinters (10.06-10.43 s/100 m) and 6 well-trained sprinters (11.01-11.80 s/100 m) equipped with 63 passive reflective markers performed 4 maximal 10 m sprint starts on an indoor track. An opto-elec...

The double impulse is introduced as a substitute of the fling-step near-fault ground motion and a critical elastic–plastic response of a two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) building structure under the “critical double impulse” is evaluated. Since only the free-vibration appears under such double impulse, the energy balance approach plays an important and essential role in the derivation of the soluti...