Biomechanically tunable nano-silica/p-hema structural hydrogels for bone scaffolding

Innovative tissue engineering biomimetic hydrogels based on hydrophilic polymers have been investigated for their physical and mechanical properties. 5% to 25% by volume loading PHEMA-nanosilica glassy hybrid samples were equilibrated at 37◦C in aqueous physiological isotonic and hypotonic saline solutions (0.15 and 0.05 M NaCl) simulating two limiting possible compositions of physiological extracellular fluids. The glassy and hydrated hybrid materials were characterized by both dynamo-mechanical properties and equilibrium absorptions in the two physiological-like aqueous solutions. The mechanical and morphological modifications occurring in the samples have been described. The 5% volume nanosilica loading hybrid nanocomposite composition showed mechanical characteristics in the dry and hydrated states that were comparable to those of cortical bone and articular cartilage, respectively, and then chosen for further sorption kinetics characterization. Sorption and swelling kinetics were monitored up to equilibrium. Changes in water activities and osmotic pressures in the water-hybrid systems equilibrated at the two limiting solute molarities of the physiological solutions have been related to the observed anomalous sorption modes using the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter approach. The bulk modulus of the dry and glassy PHEMA-5% nanosilica hybrid at 37◦C has been observed to be comparable with the values of the osmotic pressures generated from the sorption of isotonic and hypotonic solutions. The anomalous sorption modes and swelling rates are coherent with the difference between osmotic swelling pressures and hybrid glassy nano-composite bulk modulus: the lower the differences the higher the swelling rate and equilibrium solution uptakes. Bone tissue engineering benefits of the use of tuneable biomimetic scaffold biomaterials that can be “designed” to act as biocompatible and biomechanically active hybrid interfaces are discussed

Visual Affordance Prediction of Hand-Occluded Objects

The prediction of affordances i.e., the potential actions an agent can perform on objects in the scene, is fundamental for human-robot collaboration and wearable robotics scenarios in which objects may be on a tabletop or held by a person. Perceiving affordances from an image is challenging due to the variety of object geometric and physical properties, as well as occlusions caused by clutter or by a person's hand holding the object. In this thesis, we propose a framework for visual affordance prediction that estimates object properties such as position and mass, and identifies graspable regions of objects, supporting the agent to perform the intended actions. As previous methods focused on predicting the filling mass of a container manipulated by a human, the complementary estimation of container mass regardless of the content was underexplored. Moreover, during a human manipulation more than one object could be in the scene, so a selection phase is necessary to focus only on the object of interest. We propose a strategy to select the object manipulated by a human from a fixed frontal RGB-D camera and we design a model to predict its mass. The model learns how to combine color and geometric information to predict the (empty) container mass. The integration of our pipeline with already existing filling mass predictors allows to obtain the complete container mass (object plus content). Object detection methods identify objects in a scene, however in wearable robotic applications the human knows objects location and category. We investigate a transfer learning procedure to locate objects in the scene regardless of their category (`objectness'). We target lightweight object detection models that could be used in a wearable application, where the trade-off between accuracy and computational cost is relevant and was previously not investigated. In case of human manipulations, the identification of the object regions an agent can interact with is more challenging due to occlusions and the poses object may take. We design an affordance segmentation model that learns affordance features under hand-occlusion by weighting the feature map through arm and object segmentation. Due to a lack of datasets to tackle this scenario, we complement an existing dataset, annotating the visual affordances of mixed-reality images of hand-held containers in third-person view. Experiments show that the strategy to select objects and predict their mass outperforms most baselines on previously unseen manipulated containers; the transfer learning procedure improves the performance of lightweight object detection methods in a wearable application; and the affordance segmentation model achieves better affordance segmentation and generalisation than existing models

CONTAINER LOCALISATION AND MASS ESTIMATION WITH AN RGB-D CAMERA

In the research area of human-robot interactions, the automatic estimation of the mass of a container manipulated by a person leveraging only visual information is a challenging task. The main challenges consist of occlusions, different filling materials and lighting conditions. The mass of an object constitutes key information for the robot to correctly regulate the force required to grasp the container. We propose a single RGB-D camera-based method to locate a manipulated container and estimate its empty mass i.e., independently of the presence of the content. The method first automatically selects a number of candidate containers based on the distance with the fixed frontal view, then averages the mass predictions of a lightweight model to provide the final estimation. Results on the CORSMAL Containers Manipulation dataset show that the proposed method estimates empty container mass obtaining a score of 71.08% under different lighting or filling conditions

Hunter-Gatherer Color Naming Provides New Insight into the Evolution of Color Terms

SummaryMost people name the myriad colors in the environment using between two and about a dozen color terms [1], with great variation within and between languages [2]. Investigators generally agree that color lexicons evolve from fewer terms to more terms, as technology advances and color communication becomes increasingly important [3]. However, little is understood about the color naming systems at the least technologically advanced end of the continuum. The Hadza people of Tanzania are nomadic hunter-gatherers who live a subsistence lifestyle that was common before the advent of agriculture (see Supplemental Experimental Procedures, section I; [4]), suggesting that the Hadzane language should be at an early stage of color lexicon evolution. When Hadza, Somali, and US informants named 23 color samples, Hadza informants named only the black, white, and red samples with perfect consensus. Otherwise, they used low-consensus terms or responded “don’t know.” However, even low-consensus color terms grouped test colors into lexical categories that aligned with those found in other world languages [5]. Furthermore, information-theoretic analysis showed that color communication efficiency within the Hadza, Somali, and US language communities falls on the same continuum as other world languages. Thus, the structure of color categories is in place in Hadzane, even though words for many of the categories are not in general use. These results suggest that even very simple color lexicons include precursors of many color categories but that these categories are initially represented in a diverse and distributed fashion

Mitochondria are naturally micro robots - A review

The mitochondrion is a natural robot (cell) with a length of about one micron. Between organisms (plant, animal or human) with its organs and the atomic and molecular components are positioned based cells, which are building all the necessary organs body. Years ago, medical specialists who are studying organ disease have considered that is caused by impaired organ or related to other organs. For example, it was considered that all nerve diseases have started from stress due to disorder of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (adrenal glands). Today one knows that psychological stress triggers some metabolic, inflammatory and transcriptional perturbations that ultimately dispose to malady in cellular energetics, involving mitochondrial energy production respiratory stress. Future research on mitochondrial can lead to the elucidation of great issues of life (including the generation of illness, aging and death bodies). The main idea of this paper is that mitochondria are independent cells, flexible, essential for complex life

Future medicine services robotics

It is an entry technique in use recently, albeit in selected centers and represents a further step in the field of minimally invasive surgery. Basically it has the same indications but, at present, is reserved for selected patients. Compared to traditional video-assisted surgery presents some important differences. The surgeon is physically distant from the operative field and sits at a console, equipped with a monitor, from which, through a complex system, controls the movement of the robotic arms. These are fixed the various surgical instruments, tweezers, scissors, dissectors, that team shall present to the operating table to introduce into the cavity operative site. The use of mechanical arms has the advantage of allowing a three dimensional view an image with more stops and to make the most delicate maneuvers purposes and also because the tools are articulated to the distal end. The disadvantage is related to the times longer operative and the difficulty of determining the strength (as can happen in giving the right tension to a surgeon's knot). In the future it can be assumed that robotic surgery will allow, with the development of the experience, the spread of the equipment and improvement of telecommunication systems and data, to operate at ever greater distances. If you think that today, the space centers, you can operate the robots sent to the moon or farther away, it is not hard to believe that it will become usual to operate from side to side of the area, providing you with all the best and specific skills. The first surgical robot called da Vinci, in honor of Leonardo da Vinci, was developed in Silicon Valley by Intuitive Surgical and in 2000 he obtained the authorization of the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in laparoscopic surgery. The present paper wishes to show briefly several models of the main robots placed in the service of human medicine

Some aspects of the human body's hydraulics

This paper presents some aspects related to the human body's hydraulics in the desire to make readers aware of how to maintain all the blood vessels of the human body in order to maintain the entire healthy, functional, young, vigorous circulatory system for a while the longest possible. The problem is complex because it has to be viewed from all points of view and not only as an isolated system in the body, having aspects of feedback on the whole physiopathology belonging to the human body. The highly circulating system needs permanent maintenance. Self-maintenance is done through various physiological mechanisms tightly linked to each other, including the lymphatic, digestive, renal, lung, nervous, glandular system… It is not possible to completely separate the physiology of a system from the other adjacent systems because they all work synergistically, being permanently controlled by the central and peripheral nervous system

Assortative human pair-bonding for partner ancestry and allelic variation of the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene

The 7R allele of the dopamine receptor D4 gene has been associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and risk taking. On the cross-population scale, 7R allele frequencies have been shown to be higher in populations with more of a history of long-term migrations. It has also been shown that the 7R allele is associated with individuals having multiple-ancestries. Here we conduct a replication of this latter finding with two independent samples. Measures of subjects’ ancestry are used to examine past reproductive bonds. The individuals’ history of inter-racial/ancestral dating and their feelings about this are also assessed. Tentative support for an association between multiple ancestries and the 7R allele were found. These results are dependent upon the method of questioning subjects about their ancestries. Inter-racial dating and feelings about inter-racial pairing were not related to the presence of the 7R allele. This might be accounted for by secular trends that might have substantively altered the decision-making process employed when considering relationships with individuals from different groups. This study provides continued support for the 7R allele playing a role in migration and/or mate choice patterns. However, replications and extensions of this study are needed and must carefully consider how ancestry/race is assessed

From structural colors to super-hydrophobicity and achromatic transparent protective coatings: Ion plating plasma assisted TiO2 and SiO2 nano-film deposition

The implementation of the Ion Plating Plasma Assisted technology in the area of surface functionalization for structural color and relic preservation applications is presented. Interferometric structural colors on irregular bumped Titanium surfaces and transparent and achromatic nano films on ancient ceramic artifact have been investigated. Titanium metal and ceramic supports have been utilized for the surface functionalization tests: A metallic electron beam additive manufactured Titanium component and an ancient tile of the XIX century, which was characterized by strong chromatic valence and by a mixed porous and glazed surfaces, have been considered. A reactive magnetron sputtering Ion Plating Plasma Assisted apparatus operating in Argon or Oxygen atmospheres for TiO2 and SiO2 deposition has been utilized. Preliminary tests with two plasma treatments were carried out for optimal processing conditions definition. TiO2 nano-film deposition on irregular Ti surfaces has generated light direction depending color-changing surfaces while good achromatic and transparent coatings were obtained by using SiO2 coating. The high processing flexibility of the Ion plating technology is discussed. The SiO2 IPPA surfaces treatment resulted more convenient for restorative and preservation ancient historical tile was used to finally test the optimized process with Ion Beam Electron Microscopy, which was carried out on the tile porous structure, confirmed the high flexibility and efficiency of the innovative IPPA technology

Prone versus supine position for adjuvant breast radiotherapy: a prospective study in patients with pendulous breasts.

Purpose: To analyze dosimetric parameters of patients receiving adjuvant breast radiotherapy (RT) in the prone versus supine position. Methods and materials: Forty-one out of 55 patients with pendulous breasts and candidates for adjuvant RT were enrolled in the study after informed consent. They underwent computed tomography (CT)-simulation in both prone and supine position. Target and non target volumes were outlined on CT images. Prescribed dose was 50 Gy delivered by two tangential photon fields followed by 10 Gy electron boost. Target coverage and dose homogeneity to clinical target volume (CTV) and planning target volume (PTV) were assessed by V95, V105 and V107 and dose to lung, heart and left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) by V5, V10, V20, and mean and maximum dose. Data were analyzed by Student\u2019s t-test. Results: CTV and PTV coverage was significantly better in supine than in prone position. Lung V5, V10, and V20 were significantly lower in prone than in supine position. Heart V5, V10, V20, and LAD mean and maximum dose, in the 17 patients with left breast tumor, were lower in prone than in supine position, but without statistical significance. Based on treatment planning data and on treatment feasibility, 29/41 patients (70.7%) were treated in prone position. Acute and late toxicities of patients treated in prone and in supine position were not statistically different. Conclusion: Prone position is a favorable alternative for irradiation of mammary gland in patients with pendulous breasts and in our series was adopted in 71% of the cases