Continuous Deformation Monitoring by Polymermatrix Carbon Fiber Sensitive Layer

Composite made of short-cut carbon fiber mat and vinyl ester resin was observed to be an effective sensor for tensile strain up to 6 000με. Based on its strain sensitivity, a skin-like sensitive layer which can continuously cover the structural surface to sense strain in large area was developed. The sensitive layer was applied to continuously monitor the deformation of a simply supported beam. The result indicates that the fractional change in electrical resistance of the sensitive layer reversibly reflects the beam deformation in each section and describes the distribution of the average strain of the beam. The effect of temperature change on the monitoring was studied by monitoring tests conducted at different temperatures ranging from 20 to 80 ℃, which reveals temperature sensitivity in the sensitive layer and the temperature dependence of the piezoresistive behavior when the temperature exceeds 50 ℃. By the application of differential conaection principle, a method for temperature compensation was established and the gauge factor for the monitoring was dramatically increased. This method was verified experimentally.

Macular thickness as a predictor of loss of visual sensitivity in ethambutol-induced optic neuropathy

Ethambutol is a common cause of drug-related optic neuropathy.Prediction of the onset of ethambutol-induced optic neuropathy and consequent drug withdrawal may be an effective method to stop visual loss.Previous studies have shown that structural injury to the optic nerve occurred earlier than the damage to visual function.Therefore,we decided to detect structural biomarkers marking visual field loss in early stage ethambutol-induced optic neuropathy.The thickness of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer,macular thickness and visual sensitivity loss would be observed in 11 ethambutol-induced optic neuropathy patients（22 eyes） using optical coherence tomography.Twenty-four healthy age-and sex-matched participants（48 eyes） were used as controls.Results demonstrated that the temporal peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and average macular thickness were thinner in patients with ethambutol-induced optic neuropathy compared with healthy controls.The average macular thickness was strongly positively correlated with central visual sensitivity loss（r2=0.878,P=0.000）.These findings suggest that optical coherence tomography can be used to efficiently screen patients.Macular thickness loss could be a potential factor for predicting the onset of ethambutol-induced optic neuropathy.