Biocompatible Nano Rare Earth Oxide Upconverters for Imaging and Therapeutics

Methods and systems for doping cerium oxide and other therapeutically valuable nanoparticles with rare earth ions either singly or in combinations so that infrared light is absorbed and visible light is emitted through the process of up conversion. A novel type of therapeutic nanoparticle with rare earth doping to provide for up conversion emission is invented that makes possible identification, tracking and evaluating the functionality of the nanoparticles and further elucidation of ROS scavenging mechanism. The present invention may be applied to a wide variety of therapeutic agents under investigation

A McKibben muscle arm learning equilibrium postures

In designing artificial systems for studying motor control in humans and other organisms a key point to consider is the complexity reached by brain and body in their developmental stages. An artificial system whose brain and body complexity is shaped according to developmental stages might allow understanding weather, for example, newborn infants, infants, and adults use different neural mechanisms to cope with the same motor control problems. This article proposes an artificial system which aims at becoming a tool to study this type of problems. The system has a brain and body endowed with a set of minimal bio-mimetic features: (a) neural maps activated by receptive fields; (b) connections plasticity changed by Hebbian rule; (c) robotic arm actuated by a McKibben muscle. The arm autonomously learns to reach specific positions in space under the effect of gravity and for different load conditions. The results suggest that a fast and incremental goalaction mapping formation could constitute the computational mechanism underlying the neural growth and plasticity of an early developed brain at the onset of reaching. The same mechanism also allows a first approximate solution for load compensation avoiding the use of more sophisticated internal models (developed in further brain and body developmental stages). This paper aims to be a preliminary study on the feasibility of this approach

Design and stigma: the relation between mobility aid and stigmatization of older people

Walking aids are part of the material culture of older adults. If, on the one hand, they bring security to this population, on the other, they trigger a stigmatization process that generates negative emotions. This research reflects on the power of design and its ability to stigmatize aging through product categories (canes, crutches, and walkers). The discussion is divided into three parts: I) Things and their meanings, II) The biomedical device and III) The stigma of design. In this way, we present how design knowledge is organized by the biomedical device (medical-hospital aesthetics) and how it stigmatizes mobility aids and the aged body. Finally, from an interdisciplinary perspective, this article has contributed to understanding the stigmatization process through the meanings attributed to materiality (product-body-prejudice-emotions-product).Walking aids are part of the material culture of older adults. If, on the one hand, they bring security to this population, on the other, they trigger a stigmatization process that generates negative emotions. This research reflects on the power of design and its ability to stigmatize aging through product categories (canes, crutches, and walkers). The discussion is divided into three parts: I) Things and their meanings, II) The biomedical device and III) The stigma of design. In this way, we present how design knowledge is organized by the biomedical device (medical-hospital aesthetics) and how it stigmatizes mobility aids and the aged body. Finally, from an interdisciplinary perspective, this article has contributed to understanding the stigmatization process through the meanings attributed to materiality (product-body-prejudice-emotions-product). )