RESUMO
Most people with diabetes suffer some deterioration of the feet. Diabetic foot syndrome causes ulceration in about 15% of cases and such deterioration leads to amputation in about 2.5% of diabetic patients, diminishing their quality of life and generating extraordinary costs for patients and public health systems. Currently, there is no objective method for the detection of diabetic foot syndrome in its early stages. We propose terahertz imaging as a method for the evaluation of such deterioration. This screening method could aid the prevention and medical treatment of this condition in the future.
Assuntos
Pé Diabético/diagnóstico por imagem , Interpretação de Imagem Assistida por Computador/métodos , Imagem Terahertz/métodos , Adulto , Amputação Cirúrgica/estatística & dados numéricos , Estudos de Casos e Controles , Pé Diabético/economia , Pé Diabético/psicologia , Pé Diabético/cirurgia , Feminino , Custos de Cuidados de Saúde , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Prognóstico , Qualidade de Vida/psicologia , Fatores de Risco , Síndrome , Imagem Terahertz/instrumentaçãoRESUMO
The declining water availability for agriculture is becoming problematic for many countries. Therefore the study of plants under water restriction is acquiring extraordinary importance. Botanists currently follow the dehydration of plants comparing the fresh and dry weight of excised organs, or measuring their osmotic or water potentials; these are destructive methods inappropriate for in-vivo determination of plants' hydration dynamics. Water is opaque in the terahertz band, while dehydrated biological tissues are partially transparent. We used terahertz spectroscopy to study the water dynamics of Arabidopsis thaliana by comparing the dehydration kinetics of leaves from plants under well-irrigated and water deficit conditions. We also present measurements of the effect of dark-light cycles and abscisic acid on its water dynamics. The measurements we present provide a new perspective on the water dynamics of plants under different external stimuli and confirm that terahertz can be an excellent non-contact probe of in-vivo tissue hydration.