Labview 6

The Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW VI, manufacturer National Instruments, Austin, TX, USA) is used as a system-design platform and development environment to display the collected data in a numerical and graphical representation (Figure 2d). The application of LabVIEW VI software v.2015 is primarily dedicated to monitoring the real-time signals from sensors via Bluetooth communication. Figure 2a shows testing socks and three SF sensors with CNF piezoelectric material. Testing socks are coupled with an electronic controller (ESP 32, manufacturer Espressif Systems, Shanghai, China) that is the low-power system on a chip microcontroller (Figure 2b,c) used to sense the foot pressure through the analog to digital conversion (ADC) port. The sensors were stitched on socks in 3 locations shown in Figure 2a (the toe, midsection and heel), using stainless steel conductive thread. The conductive thread helps to transfer the current and does not affect the human skin. Figure 2c,d shows that the microcontroller was covered up with the 3D-printed case for safety purposes. The volunteer testing with the developed sensors and sensing data collection through Lab view software is presented in Figure 2e [Video S1: movement analyses].

The assessment of maximal voluntary and explosive strength was carried out on both legs separately in the leg-press position using a customized apparatus featuring a force plate. The knee angle was fixed at an angle of 100°. Signals were amplified by a DMCplus device (HBM, Darmstadt, Germany) and recorded with LabVIEW 6.1 software (National Instruments, Austin, USA). Maximum voluntary strength (F_max) was determined as the maximum value of force distribution and explosive strength (F_expl) as maximum force increase.

The exposure system was kindly loaned to us by Prof. Laura Calzà (University of Bologna). The exposure system and the dosimetry were previously described in great detail [75 (link),76 (link)]. Briefly, the system is composed of two twin “Transverse Electro Magnetic (TEM) cells” with two independent power supply chains (two GSM signal generators and two EMF amplifiers) to obtain sham and exposed samples at the same time, and it was positioned inside a Heraeus incubator (B-5060, Heraeus, Hanau, Germany) (37 °C, 5% CO₂). Each TEM cell has a squared cross-section (14 cm wide) and can contain 6 4-multiwell plates (66 mm × 66 mm external size). The RF-EMF (900 MHz; GSM basic with pulsed modulation at 217 Hz) is uniformly absorbed in the two wells of the two symmetric plates closer to the inner copper septum of the TEM cell, resulting in a SAR of 1 W/Kg. Therefore, only the septum-adjacent wells were used in the experiments in accordance with Del Vecchio et al. [75 (link),76 (link)]. The system was controlled by LabVIEW 6.1 software (National Instruments, Austin, TX, USA). Experiments were conducted in blind modality. In each assay, cells were plated and allowed to adhere overnight and then exposed to 900 MHz GSM-modulated RF-EMF at SAR of 1 W/kg or to sham. After 48 h of exposure, DNA was extracted from each sample.

Telemetric measurement of core temperature was accomplished using a commercial system from Data Sciences International (Saint Paul, MN) that consists of a Data-Exchange Matrix, Physio-Tel Receiver (Model RPC-1), Dataquest ART 4.2 software, and an implantable battery-powered temperature sensor (model TA-F40) implanted in the rat’s peritoneal cavity. The antenna system used in each direct calorimeter consists of two radio ferrite coils oriented perpendicularly to each other and epoxied underneath a Plexiglas platform that holds them 2 mm above the floor of the direct calorimeter. The antennae wires exited the calorimeter through a gas-tight port and were connected to the RPC-1 receiver base. The antenna wires located in the thermal gradient are exteriorized through a sealed port in the copper shell and are connected to the RPC-1 receiver base by adding second wire wrappings to the receiver base’s two ferrite coils so that the external wire antenna can conduct its radio signal to the receiver. All other instrument control and data acquisition were performed using custom programs written in LabVIEW 6.8 (National Instruments, Austin, Texas).