Left cardiac vagotomy rapidly reduces contralateral cardiac vagal electrical activity in anesthetized Göttingen minipigs

Background: The impact of acute unilateral injury on spontaneous electrical activity in both vagus nerves at the heart level is poorly understood. We investigated the immediate neuroelectrical response after right or left cardiac vagal nerve transection (VNTx) by recording spiking activity of each heart vagus nerve (VN). Methods: Fourteen male Göttingen minipigs underwent sternotomy. Multi-electrode cuffs were implanted below the cut level to record vagal electroneurographic signals during electrocardiographic and hemodynamic monitoring, before and immediately after cardiac VNTx (left: L-cut, n = 6; right: R-cut, n = 8). Results: Left cardiac VNTx significantly reduced multi-unit electrical activity (MUA) firing rate in the vagal stump (-30.7% vs pre-cut) and intact right VN (-21.8% vs pre-cut) at the heart level, without affecting heart rate, heart rate variability, or hemodynamics. In contrast, right cardiac VNTx did not acutely alter MUA in either VN but slightly increased (p < 0.022) the root mean square of successive RR interval differences (rMSSD), an index of parasympathetic outflow, without affecting hemodynamics. Conclusions: Our study reveals an early left-lateralized pattern in vagal spiking activity following unilateral cardiac vagotomy. These findings enhance understanding of the neuroelectrical response to vagal injury and provide insights into preserving vagal outflow after unilateral cardiac vagotomy. Importantly, monitoring spiking activity of the cardiac right VN may predict onset of left vagal pathway injury, which is detrimental to cardiac patients and can occur as a complication of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation

Locust-inspired Jumping Mechanism Design and Improvement Based on Takeoff Stability

Locusts keep their bodies moving in a straight line during the takeoff and maintain the body stable during the whole jumping with small pitching motions, ensuring both kinematic and dynamic stability to reach their intended destinations. Inspired by locusts' jumping performance, the Stephenson II six-bar jumping mechanism is adopted to mimic the kinematic stability of locusts' takeoff and a dynamic model is developed to analyze the impacts of the torsional spring location, the spring stiffness and the location of the equivalent body bar centroid on the jumping performance. Furthermore, a revised eight-bar jumping mechanism is proposed to solve the difficulty in realizing dynamic stability using the six-bar mechanism, as the moments of momentum of each component around the overall centroid are positive and contribute together to the counterclockwise rotation of the jumping. The dynamic modelling shows that the mass of the equivalent tarsus bar plays an important role in realizing the dynamic stability for the eight-bar jumping mechanism. Finally, two kinds of jumping robots are designed, fabricated and tested with jumping performance recorded by high-speed cameras, which validates the impacts of the mass of the equivalent tarsus bar on the jumping stability in the eight-bar jumping mechanism

Toward the design of a tailored training course for birth assistance: an Ethiopian experience.

Simulation in healthcare has already demonstrated extraordinary potential in high-income countries. However, to date, few authors have explored the possibility of applying simulation-based training in African settings, highlighting the necessity of need-based training protocols capable of addressing economic, social, and cultural aspects. In this framework, this research investigates the main features a simulation training course on umbilical cord care and placenta management should have to be considered effective and sustainable in an African healthcare environment. Local facilitators were identified as the best resources for defining course contents and providing technical lectures to mitigate cultural, linguistic, and social issues. For the training program, the design of a new low-cost medium-fidelity simulator was explored and a preliminary evaluation was performed. Finally, the propensity of 25 students to attend a simulation training course was investigated using a questionnaire. The attitude of the enrolled students was positive, endorsing the future introduction of simulation training into the educational offers of Ethiopian colleges

Towards Innovation 5.0: The Role of Corporate Entrepreneurship

Recently, there has been a widespread recognition of Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE) as a means to facilitate innovation within firms. In this context, it is important to revisit the concept of innovation, through the lenses of Industry 5.0 and Society 5.0, in order to understand the role of innovation in this context. More specifically, Innovation 5.0 can be defined as an approach to support the development of resilient, human-centered, sustainable, and digitally driven businesses. Despite the interest in this topic, there is a lack of recent literature that examines the relationship between CE and innovation processes, resulting in a fragmented body of knowl- edge. The primary objective of this paper is to contribute to the existing literature on Corporate Entrepreneurship by bridging the gap and focusing on the role of CE in innovation processes. The aim is to gain a deeper understanding of how CE impacts business innovation activities and to highlight how CE can support companies in developing innovations that align with the Industry 5.0 paradigm. To achieve our goals, we conduct a Bibliometric Analysis employing and Bibliographic Coupling analysis to find linkages between the CE and Innovation literature. More specifi- cally, an ad hoc protocol has been developed for this BA. The selection of articles occurred in three steps, with Scopus being the chosen database due to its extensive coverage of indexed publications. Two tools were used in this study: VOSviewer soft- ware for constructing and visualizing bibliometric networks, with magazines, and researchers, based on common citations or paternity relationships and Bibliometrix, an R package for running extensive science mapping analysis which allows authors to perform analyses and graphs for sources, author, and document level and conceptual, intellectual, and social knowledge structures. The analysis highlights six discussion topics with theoretical e practical implications how CE activities can contribute to defining a new approach to innovation within firms, referred to as Innovation 5.0. These findings shed light on the ways in which CE can play a pivotal role in shaping innovative strategies and practices within organizations