Effects of combined resistance and aerobic training program on myoelectric activity of Vastus Lateralis in patients with breast cancer during adjuvant chemotherapy period.

OBJECTIVE: Chemotherapy and/or radiation are normally the predominant therapies administered to cancer patients. Commonly, patients express complaints of fatigue during adjuvant treatment. Furthermore, regular practice of physical exercise during adjuvant treatment seems to have positive effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of combined muscle strength, and a supervised aerobic training program on myoelectric activity of Vastus Lateralis during isometric test in patients with breast cancer undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-two women with breast cancer (20 patients in the training group and 12 patients as controls) undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy participated in the study. They took part in a 6-week training period. A muscle-strength program included isometric contraction and electrical muscle stimulation (EMS). Aerobic training program consisted of supervised intermittent cycling exercise and home-based walking exercise. The outcome measures were Root Mean Square (RMS), Mean Power Frequency (MPF), Maximal Voluntary isometric Contraction (MViC), and Endurance Time (ET) of Vastus Lateralis, before and after the training period in the two groups. RESULTS: Compared to controls, a significant increase in MViC (p=0.001) and ET (p=0.005) in quadriceps accompanied by a significant decrease in RMS (p=0.007) and a significant increase in MPF (p=0.002) has been obtained in the training group. CONCLUSIONS: Supervised muscle strength and supervised aerobic training programs enhanced muscle activity and muscular performance in women with breast cancer during adjuvant chemotherapy treatment and optimized the decrease of muscular fatigue.

Towards a biosensor based on anti resonant reflecting optical waveguide fabricated from porous silicon.

Recently, we demonstrated that Anti Resonant Reflecting Optical Waveguide (ARROW) based on porous silicon (PS) material can be used as a transducer for the development of a new optical biosensor. Compared to a conventional biosensor waveguide based on evanescent waves, the ARROW structure is designed to allow a better overlap between the propagated optical field and the molecules infiltrated in the porous core layer and so to provide better molecular interactions sensitivity. The aim of this work is to investigate the operating mode of an optical biosensor using the ARROW structure. We reported here an extensive study where the antiresonance conditions were adjusted just before the grafting of the studied molecules for a given refractive index range. The interesting feature of the studied ARROW structure is that it is elaborated from the same material which is the porous silicon obtained via a single electrochemical anodization process. After oxidation and preparation of the inner surface of porous silicon by a chemical functionalization process, bovine serum albumin (BSA) molecules, were attached essentially in the upper layer. Simulation study indicates that the proposed sensor works at the refractive index values ranging from 1.3560 to 1.3655. The experimental optical detection of the biomolecules was obtained through the modification of the propagated optical field and losses. The results indicated that the optical attenuation decreases after biomolecules attachment, corresponding to a refractive index change Δn(c) of the core. This reduction was of about 2 dB/cm and 3 dB/cm for Transverse Electric (TE) and Transverse Magnetic (TM) polarizations respectively. Moreover, at the detection step, the optical field was almost located inside the core layer. This result was in good agreement with the simulated near field profiles.