*Edited by Alejandro Rafael Garcia-Ramirez*

This book covers a wide range of subject areas, including assisted living, social robots, augmentative and alternative communication, connectivity, artificial intelligence, and robot design. Each chapter is authored by experts in their respective fields and offers readers theoretical and applied scientific papers that can serve as original research or review papers. This valuable volume is essential for researchers, practitioners, and anyone interested in developments in assistive technology. It explores trends and innovations in the field, demonstrating how assistive technology is enhancing the lives of people with disabilities or reduced mobility, and the elderly. The book is a comprehensive overview of the latest research and advancements in assistive technology, making it an essential addition to any library for both seasoned researchers and those just starting to explore the field. We are grateful to the authors for their invaluable contributions to this book, which would not have been possible without their generosity in sharing their knowledge and experiences.

*Robert Koprowski, Biomedical Engineering Series Editor*

ISBN 978-1-83768-517-2

Trends in Assistive Technologies

ISSN 2631-5343

Published in London, UK © 2023 IntechOpen © blackdovfx / iStock

## IntechOpen Series Biomedical Engineering, Volume 19


**Author details**

Zdenka Persin, Tina Maver and Karin Stana Kleinschek\* *Laboratory for Characterisation and Processing of Polymers, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia*

Zdenka Persin, Alenka Vesel, Tina Maver, Uros Maver and Karin Stana Kleinschek *Centre of Excellence for Polymer Materials and Technologies, Ljubljana, Slovenia*

Alenka Vesel *Jozef Stefan International Postgraduate School, Ljubljana, Slovenia*

Miran Mozetic *Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia*

\* Corresponding Author

## **Acknowledgement**

This work was supported by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia [Grant number 3211-10-000057].

## **4. References**

188 Cellulose – Medical, Pharmaceutical and Electronic Applications

Oxygen plasma treatment is a suitable method to improve the quality of cellulose materials. The drastically improvement in sorption capacity far outweigh the minor changes in mechanical properties; while no changes in morphology was observed. Ageing of plasma activation effect was insignificant present within a few days concerning hydrophilicity and tensile properties. Since oxygen plasma contains a variety of different reactive particles, the proper choice of plasma parameters is the key issue. Plasma containing rather large concentration of charged particles is better to be avoided since it usually leads to excessive thermal effects and thus degradation of the material. The available energy dissipated on the cellulose surface at the interaction between charged particles and solid material is simply too large to assure for modification of cellulose material at low temperature. Instead of moderately ionised plasma it is better to use extremely weekly ionised plasma with a large density of neutral reactive particles. The best species in term of reasonable chemical reactivity and low thermal load are neutral oxygen atoms in the ground state. Plasma rich with these particles, but poor in charged particles, is created using an electrodeless high frequency discharge. The absence of electrodes in such discharges is favourable since it prevents substantial drain of neutral oxygen atoms by heterogeneous surface recombination. Best materials for construction of a suitable plasma reactor are different glasses and some ceramics. The plasma facing components should be smooth and should not allow for chemisorption of neutral oxygen atoms. If this requirements are fulfilled the dissociation fraction of oxygen molecules in gaseous plasma at pressures up to several mbar, exceeds the ionisation fraction for at least five orders of magnitudes. Such plasma is therefore safe to use since it does not lead to excessive exothermic reactions and thus thermal degradation of treated materials. Based on that, plasma treatment is advantage surface activation procedure in order to obtain super-hydrophilic matric, used as a potential

**3. Conclusion**

layer in wound dressings.

*University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia*

*Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia*

Zdenka Persin, Tina Maver and Karin Stana Kleinschek\*

*Jozef Stefan International Postgraduate School, Ljubljana, Slovenia*

*Laboratory for Characterisation and Processing of Polymers, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,*

Zdenka Persin, Alenka Vesel, Tina Maver, Uros Maver and Karin Stana Kleinschek

*Centre of Excellence for Polymer Materials and Technologies, Ljubljana, Slovenia*

**Author details**

Alenka Vesel

Miran Mozetic

Corresponding Author

 \*

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Plasma Induced Hydrophilic Cellulose Wound Dressing 191

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**Chapter 10**

© 2013 Wang and Yu, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2013 Wang and Yu, licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**Bioactive Bead Type Cellulosic Adsorbent for**

Cellulose, a natural polymer, has been widely used in blood purification due to its good biocompatibility, and excellent processing which can be easily formulated into beads, membranes and hollow fibers. Sorbent-perfusion is a novel approach of blood purification which can specifically remove endogenous and exogenous pathogenic toxins from the blood of patients [1]. The technique involves passing whole blood or plasma of the patient through a cartridge filled with an adsorbent which can easily adsorb the toxin molecules, see **Figure 1 a,b**. According to selectivity, generally adsorbents can be classified as broad spectrum, affinity adsorbents and immuno-adsorbents, of which the latter has the highest selectivity [2-5]. Materials, most commonly used are activated charcoal [6], porous resins and fibers. The pathogenic substances in the blood of patients are adsorbed by the adsorbent via hydrophilic (electro-static forces) or hydrophobic interactions. Macroporous resins usually show high adsorption capacities especially for the removal of high molecular weight or

**Blood Purification**

Shenqi Wang and Yaoting Yu

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/56223

"middle molecules" toxins [7-9].

**Figure 1.** Schematic diagram of sorbent-perfusion

**1. Introduction**

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter


**1. Introduction**

Rate of force development scaling factor (RFD-SF) has been used to quantify the ability to generate force rapidly, which is described as neuromuscular quickness [1]. A large number of studies have reported the RFD-SF as a reliable method for a number of muscle groups such as index finger abductors [1,2], elbow extensors [1,3], knee extensors [1,4] and various hip muscles [5]. However, the relationship between RFD-SF and performance in functional or sports-related tasks has not been yet investigated. It is known that muscle quickness decreases with age [2] or disease [6], while the influence of the specific training history on this ability is still, to a great extent, unknown.

Explosive and quick release during basketball shot is important to avoid the defender reaction. One of the studies showed positive effects of explosive strength training on the shot percentage level. However, explosive strength training was performed for upper and lower limb; therefore, it is unknown if upper limb strength capacities play important role in basketball shooting performance [7]. We speculate that upper limb strength capacities may be important for accurate shooting performance because it has been reported that an increase in maximum strength of elbow extensors positively affected the shoot accurately in the three-point shot [8].

Basketball shot is among the sports-specific movements in which rapid production of submaximal force by muscles that act across multiple arm joints is considered important. During a basketball throw, the players manipulate their shoulder, elbow, and wrist to generate the optimal ball speed and angular velocity of the joint at the time of the release [9], depending on the distance and the position from the basket. The angular velocity of the upper arm joints and the speed of ball release increase with the shooting distance [10], which suggests that higher submaximal involvement of the major muscle groups is required as the distance increases. The elbow extensors have been suggested as major contributors to release speed in basketball shooting [11,12] as they extend the elbow joint before release, while the activation of the volar flexors is an important component of shooting that optimises impulse applied to the ball at release [13]. Previous studies have reported that the angular velocity of the elbow joint of the shooting arm at release increases with distance from the basket, while the opposite is observed for the wrist [11], suggesting that the roles of the two joints vary with the shooting distance. Some earlier studies reported that players with more training experience had better shooting performance [12,14] and lower average duration of arm muscle activation [15,16]. Based on this, we assumed that junior and senior players might also di ffer in the neuromuscular quickness of the major shooting muscles (i.e., elbow extensors and volar flexors). Furthermore, the relationship between neuromuscular quickness and performance of sport-specific tasks has not yet been investigated. Filling these missing gaps could contribute to better understanding of RFD-SF and its use during routine testing of the athletes and possibly, based on these assessments, to individualized guidance of training programmes (e.g., more emphasis on speed-power training for individuals with lower RTD or RTD-SF).

To contribute our part in clarification of the functional role of the RTD-SF in sport-specific performance, we conducted a study to investigate strength capacities of elbow extensors and volar flexors in two groups of basketball players (juniors and seniors) and their relationship to shooting performance, put into the sport-specific training history. Specifically, the first aim of our study was to investigate the di fferences in the strength capacities (RTD-SF slope (kRTD-SF), maximum torque (TMVC), and peak rate of torque development (RTDPEAK) of elbow extensors (EE) and volar flexors (VF) and the shooting performance between junior and senior basketball players. We hypothesised that senior players, based on their longer training history and complete physical development, have significantly higher strength capacities of elbow extensors and volar flexors and better shooting performance compared to junior players. The second aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between the strength capacities (kRTD-SF, TMVC, and RTDPEAK) and shooting performance. We hypothesised that in both groups, shooting performance would be significantly positively associated with kRTD-SF, TMVC, and RTDPEAK of elbow extensors and volar flexors, at least from the long shooting distance. The third aim of the study was to investigate associations of elbow extensors and volar flexors as previous studies showed positive associations of kRTD-SF ability for di fferent muscle groups, while this association between elbow extensors and volar flexors has not yet been confirmed. We hypothesised that there will be a large and statistically significant association in kRTD-SF between elbow extensors and volar flexors in both groups of players, which might support the idea of a central regulation and upper extremity (not a single joint, i.e., muscle group) related characteristics of RTD-SF ability.

#### **2. Materials and Methods**


**5. Conclusions**

EC is a water-insoluble cellulose derivative with attractive features such as biocompatibility, gastroresistance, and degradation to non-toxic and readily excreted products. It is extensively utilized in pharmaceutical technology. It is generally recognized as safe to use, even in pediatric therapy. EC is easy to process alone or with the addition of other excipients (e.g., plasticizers or other polymers). Considering its multifunctional properties, EC is being widely exploited in oral and topical drug dosage forms. EC's main advantage is its ability to modify the release of the drug, which allows for the creation of controlled delivery systems—the unique tailored carriers for many pharmaceuticals. EC-based materials are widely utilized as matrices for designing novel drug delivery systems with a wide range of applications.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, K.W. (Katarzyna Wasilewska) and K.W. (Katarzyna Winnicka); Formal Analysis, K.W. (Katarzyna Winnicka); Resources, K.W. (Katarzyna Wasilewska); Data Curation, K.W. (Katarzyna Wasilewska); Writing—Original Draft Preparation, K.W. (Katarzyna Wasilewska); Writing—Review and Editing, K.W. (Katarzyna Wasilewska) and K.W. (Katarzyna Winnicka); Visualization, K.W. (Katarzyna Wasilewska); Supervision, K.W. (Katarzyna Winnicka); Project Administration, K.W. (Katarzyna Wasilewska); Funding Acquisition, K.W. (Katarzyna Wasilewska) and K.W. (Katarzyna Winnicka).

**Funding:** This research was funded by Medical University of Bialystok grant numbers N/ST/MN/18/002/2215 and SUB/2/DN/19/004/2215.

**Acknowledgments:** We are grateful to the Editors for the permission to reprint selected figures from our previous publication (Reference number 15): Trofimiuk, M.; Wasilewska, K.; Winnicka, K. How to modify drug release in paediatric dosage forms? Novel technologies and modern approaches with regard to children's population. *Int. J. Mol. Sci.* **2019**, 29. We are thankful to Anna Basa (Institute of Chemistry, University of Białystok, Poland) for preparing SEM pictures (Inspect ™S50, FEI Company, Hillsboro, OR, USA).

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflicts of interest.


**Acknowledgements**

single cell motility [261, 263]; cell proliferation [264]; cell cycle and cell lineage analysis [107]; changes in mitotic and interphase duration [141]; cell-cell contacts [52]; studying specific cells and tissues [265] and specific intracellular processes such as transcription [99] or morphogenesis [266]; colocalization of cells and intracellular markers [184]; tracking cellular organelles [258]; highlighting the certain cell type within tissues or mixed cell cultures [267]; clustered, overlapping or dying cells [268]; *in toto* imaging of developing organisms, tissues and organs [241] and assessing development and selection of embryos for *in vitro* fertilization [269, 270].

**2.3. TLM for assisted reproductive technology and its promise for clinical medicine**

motility analysis [283].

50 Cell Culture

**3. Conclusion**

TLM is emerging as a promising clinical technique for selecting embryos for transplantation, although the discussion is still under way whether TLM may become an alternative to preimplantation genetic screening [271, 272]. The so-called morphokinetic analysis [273] by TLM is aimed to assess the number, development and quality (viability) of embryos by monitoring cleavage anomalies, multinucleation [274] or specific cell cycle kinetics [274, 275] and cleavage divisions [276], aneuploidy [277, 278], which is considered as a key causal factor of delays in embryonic development toward a blastocyte [278], and even chromosomal abnormalities [279]. Although more clinical research is required to finally prove that TLM can identify the best embryo for transfer and has an advantage over the conventional incubation of embryos [280], TLM is under consideration for patenting as a method for selecting embryos for implantation [281, 282]. TLM can also be used for sperm

One of the potential medical applications of TLM is the assessment of *ex vivo* engineered cells for cell therapy of degenerative and inherited disorders and other human pathologies like cancer [284–288]. TLM can also be used for diagnostics, for example, for detecting abnormalities in cell behavior in human dystrophic muscle cultures [289] or estimating tumor malignancy [290] in drug discovery [291], for testing gene therapeutic agents [292] and for evaluating side effects of antibiotics [293] and efficacy of chemotherapeutics [294, 295]. TLM is a valuable tool for understanding the pathogenesis of certain disorders, such as dysplastic erythroblast formation of erythroblasts from the patient with congenital dyserythropoietic anemia [296], thrombus formation [224], IgE-mediated mast cell degranulation and recovery [297], imaging of disease progression in deep brain areas using fluorescence microendoscopy

TLM is a powerful and versatile tool in modern biological research, with the immense potential for future clinical applications. One of the probably underexplored features of TLM is its promise to further characterize heterogeneity of cells within tissues [144], in particular, stem/progenitor cells and differentiating cells [299] as well as cancer cells [300]. Some of the above-mentioned methods are associated with unavoidable costs (expensive equipment, such as lenses, filters and sensors, and their damage due to high humidity

[298], reprogramming in induced pluripotent cells [110] and other applications.

We thank Mr. Joffry Maltha (CytoSMART Technologies) for assistance with preparation of this manuscript. The work was partially supported by the National Cancer Institute, USA, Award Number R37CA229417.