Given the encouraging study results and the significant burden of DFU, use of this mat may result in significant reductions in morbidity, mortality, and resource utilization.

Violent edgewise blade vibrations have in recent years been a large problem for some stall-regulated wind turbines. Owing to the complexity of the phenomenon, it has been difficult to predict the risk of these vibrations with aeroelastic load prediction tools. One problem is the choice of parameters in the aeroelastic model, e.g. structural damping and aerodynamic aerofoil characteristics. In many cases a high degree of uncertainty in the predicted response exists and the need for experimental verification methods is obvious. In this work a new method to identify the effective damping for the edgewise blade mode shape for wind turbines has been developed. The method consists of an exciter mechanism which makes it possible to excite the edgewise blade mode shapes from the wind turbine nacelle. Furthermore, the method consists of an analysis method which enables a straightforward determination of the damping. The analysis method is based on a local blade whirl description of the edgewise blade vibrations. The method is verified on a Bonus wind turbine, and for this specific turbine the effective damping for edgewise blade vibrations has been determined. The results support the further development of aeroelastic models and show potential for fine-tuning of parameters of importance for the edgewise blade vibration problem. Furthermore, the method can be used for experimental investigation of the risk of edgewise blade vibrations for a specific turbine.

Background: The "cancer analogy" is powerful for communicating risk to and organizing care for patients with diabetic foot syndrome. One potentially underappreciated similarity between cancer and foot ulcers is that both can recur at anatomical locations distinct from the primary occurrence, albeit with different physiological mechanisms. Few studies have characterized the location of diabetic foot ulcer recurrence, and these have been limited by considering only the first recurrent wound following a recent-healed wound. We therefore characterized the anatomical locations at which diabetic foot ulcers are likely to recur considering multiple wounds during follow-up and the locations of all prior wounds documented in the participant's history. Methods: We completed a secondary analysis of existing data from a 129 participant multi-center study of participants in diabetic foot remission. The primary outcome was plantar foot ulceration, and each participant was followed for 34 weeks or until withdrawing consent, allowing characterization of all wounds occurring. We stratified the anatomical locations of wounds prior to the trial by the following outcome categories during the trial: no recurrence, recurrence to the same anatomical location, recurrence to a different anatomical location on the same foot, and recurrence to the contralateral foot. Results: A large percentage (48%) of wounds recurred to the contralateral foot, and the proportion of subsequent foot ulcer to the contralateral limb was largely unaffected by the anatomical location of foot ulcer prior to the study. Only 17% of prior diabetic foot ulcers were followed by recurrence to the same anatomical location. Rates of recurrence remained high during treatment of a wound (0.41 foot ulcer/ulcer-year). Participants had documented wounds to 2.2 distinct anatomical locations on average, and more than 60% of participants had wounds to more than one plantar location by the end of the study. Conclusions: Given the significant morbidity, mortality, and resource utilization associated with foot ulcer recidivism, quality and evidenced-based preventive care is essential. Our results better characterize the burden of recurrence and to what anatomy recurrence is most likely. These insights may benefit providers and patients alike for the provision of high-quality preventive care thereby resulting in reduced morbidity, mortality, and cost. Trial registration: The study providing the data for this secondary analysis was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02647346) on January 6, 2016. The study was retrospectively registered.

IntroductionWe assessed the impact of a diabetic foot ulcer prevention program incorporating once-daily foot temperature monitoring on hospitalizations, emergency department and outpatient visits, and rates of diabetic foot ulcer recurrence and lower extremity amputations for patients with recently healed foot ulcers.Research design and methodsIn this retrospective analysis of real-world data, we enrolled 80 participants with a healed diabetic foot ulcer in a year-long foot ulcer recurrence prevention program. Four outpatient centers within a large integrated healthcare system in the USA contributed to enrollment. We evaluated diabetic foot-related outcomes and associated resource utilization for participants during three periods: the 2 years before the program, the year during the program, and after the program ended. We reported unadjusted resource utilization rates during the program and the periods before and after it. We then adjusted rates of outcomes in each phase using an interrupted time series approach, explicitly controlling for overall trends in resource utilization and recurrence during the three periods.ResultsOur unadjusted data showed high initial rates of resource utilization and recurrence before enrollment in the program, followed by lower rates during the program, and higher rates of resource utilization and similar rates of recurrence in the period following the end of the program. The adjusted data showed lower rates of hospitalizations (relative risk reduction (RRR)=0.52; number needed to treat (NNT)=3.4), lower extremity amputations (RRR=0.71; NNT=6.4), and outpatient visits (RRR=0.26; absolute risk reduction (ARR)=3.5) during the program. We also found lower rates of foot ulcer recurrence during the program in the adjusted data, particularly for wounds with infection or greater than superficial depth (RRR=0.91; NNT=4.4).ConclusionsWe observed lower rates of healthcare resource utilization for high-risk participants during enrollment in a diabetic foot prevention program incorporating once-daily foot temperature monitoring.Trial registration numberNCT04345016.

ObjectiveDaily remote foot temperature monitoring is an evidence-based preventive practice for patients at risk for diabetic foot complications. Unfortunately, the conventional approach requires comparison of temperatures between contralaterally matched anatomy, limiting practice in high-risk cohorts such as patients with a wound to one foot and those with proximal lower extremity amputation (LEA). We developed and assessed a novel approach for monitoring of a single foot for the prevention and early detection of diabetic foot complications. The purpose of this study was to assess the sensitivity, specificity, and lead time associated with unilateral diabetic foot temperature monitoring.Research design and methodsWe used comparisons among ipsilateral foot temperatures and between foot temperatures and ambient temperature as a marker of inflammation. We analyzed data collected from a 129-participant longitudinal study to evaluate the predictive accuracy of our approach. To evaluate classification accuracy, we constructed a receiver operator characteristic curve and reported sensitivity, specificity, and lead time for four different monitoring settings.ResultsUsing this approach, monitoring a single foot was found to predict 91% of impending non-acute plantar foot ulcers on average 41 days before clinical presentation with a resultant mean 4.2 alerts per participant-year. By adjusting the threshold temperature setting, the specificity could be increased to 78% with corresponding reduced sensitivity of 53%, lead time of 33 days, and 2.2 alerts per participant-year.ConclusionsGiven the high incidence of subsequent diabetic foot complications to the sound foot in patients with a history of proximal LEA and patients being treated for a wound, practice of daily temperature monitoring of a single foot has the potential to significantly improve outcomes and reduce resource utilization in this challenging high-risk population.