Towards a holistic human perception system for close human-robot collaboration

When considering close human-robot collaboration, perception plays a central role in order to guarantee a safe and intuitive interaction. In this work, we present an AI-based perception system composed of different modules to understand human activities at multiple levels, namely: human pose estimation, body parts segmentation and human action recognition. Pose estimation and body parts segmentation allow to estimate important information about the worker position within the workcell and the volume occupied, while human action and intention recognition provides information on what the human is doing and how he/she is performing a certain action. The proposed system is demonstrated in a mockup scenario targeting the collaborative assembly of a wooden leg table, highlighting the potential of action recognition and body parts segmentation to enable a safe and natural close human-robot collaboration

Experimental evaluation of privacy-preserving aggregation schemes on planetlab

New pervasive technologies often reveal many sen- sitive information about users’ habits, seriously compromising the privacy and sometimes even the personal security of people. To cope with this problem, researchers have developed the idea of privacy-preserving data mining which refers to the possibility of releasing aggregate information about the data provided by multiple users, without any information leakage about individual data. These techniques have different privacy levels and communication costs, but all of them can suffer when some users’ data becomes inaccessible during the operation of the privacy preserving protocols. It is thus interesting to validate the applicability of such architectures in real-world scenarios. In this paper we experimentally evaluate two promising privacy- preserving techniques on PlanetLab, analyzing the execution time and the failure rate that each scheme exhibits

Chronic spontaneous urticaria: a low-grade disseminated intravascular coagulation only partially reversed by Omalizumab

Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is a disorder characterized by wheals and/or angioedema. The coagulation cascade and inflammation pathways are closely linked together. The aim of our study was first to investigate the dynamics of clot formation in plasma (Clot Waveform Analysis, CWA) in a group of 47 patients with CSU along with other coagulative parameters dedicated to the study of hypercoagulability, such as D-Dimer, F 1 + 2 peptide, Fibrinogen, Platelet count and Mean Platelet Volume (MPV). Secondly, 23 out of 47 patients were treated with Omalizumab at four administration intervals from T0 to T4. A statistically significant increase in Activated Partial Thromboplastin (aPTT) ratio, D-Dimer, F1 + 2, Platelet count and MPV was found when compared with 53 healthy controls (HC). In contrast, the 2nd Derivative of aPTT showed lower values than those of the HC. No differences were found between 1st derivative of aPTT and Fibrinogen. D-Dimer only showed a significant difference between T0 and T3. An activation of both coagulation and fibrinolysis along with a weaker clot acceleration may be in agreement with a low-grade DIC. The accelerated turnover of platelets expressed by both an increase in platelet count and MPV further supports this pathway in CSU. Omalizumab does not affect the relationship between the immune and the hemostatic systems

Health-related quality of life and functional changes in DMD:A 12-month longitudinal cohort study

Family caregivers of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) live stressful lives in which they spend most of their time caring for their loved ones and managing difficult situations, thereby reducing the time spent in taking care of themselves. This situation may last several years. Previous literature has widely highlighted that this situation reduces caregivers' quality of life and increases their psychological distress and risk of health problems, but there is a lack of studies that focus on psychological interventions for these situations. This qualitative study examined a pilot experience of two mutual support groups for family caregivers of people with ALS. The aim was to identify caregivers' needs, the prominent aspects of their experience, and to understand whether and how this intervention strategy might help them. Six partners (four men and two women) and six adult children (five women and one man) participated in the groups, which were conducted in northern Italy. After the support groups finished, participants underwent semi-structured interviews. The authors conducted a content analysis of the transcripts of the interviews and the 20 group sessions. The thematic areas identified were "caregiving," "being the son/daughter of a person with ALS," "being the partner of a person with ALS," "group experience" and "group evaluation." The caregiving experience was profoundly different depending on whether the caregiver was a son/daughter or a partner of a patient with ALS. Moreover, comparison with peers and mutual support helped participants to better cope with ALS and its consequences, to improve their care for their relatives and to overcome typical caregiver isolation. These results suggest the usefulness of involving communities in caregiver support in order to create new networks and activate personal and social resources for well-being

Visceral adiposity index is associated with significant fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Background: Metabolic factors have been associated with liver damage in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Aims To test a new marker of adipose dysfunction, the visceral adiposity index (VAI), in NAFLD patients to assess whether or not it is associated with host factors, and to investigate a potential correlation with histological findings. Methods One hundred and forty-two consecutive NAFLD patients were evaluated by liver biopsy, and clinical and metabolic measurements, including insulin resistance with the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA), and VAI by using waist circumference, body mass index, triglycerides and HDL. Serum levels of TNF\u3b1, IL-6, adiponectin and leptin were also assessed. All biopsies were scored for NAFLD activity score (NAS) and its components, and for staging (Kleiner). Results By multiple linear regression analysis, VAI was independently associated with higher HOMA (P = 0.04), and fibrosis (P = 0.04). In addition, an independent association was found between higher VAI and lower adiponectin levels (P = 0.002). Higher HOMA (OR 1.149, 95% CI 1.003-1.316, P = 0.04), higher VAI (OR 1.446, 95% CI 1.023-2.043, P = 0.03), lobular inflammation (OR 3.777, 95% CI 1.771-8.051, P = 0.001), and ballooning (OR 2.884, 95% CI 1.231-6.757, P = 0.01) were correlated with significant fibrosis (F2-F4) on multiple logistic regression analysis. In particular, the prevalence of significant fibrosis progressively increased from patients with a VAI 64 2.1 and HOMA 64 3.4 (26%) to those with a VAI > 2.1 and HOMA > 3.4 (83%). Conclusions In NAFLD patients, visceral adiposity index is an expression of both qualitative and quantitative adipose tissue dysfunction and, together with insulin resistance, is independently correlated with significant fibrosis. \ua9 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Live Wire - A Low-Complexity Body Channel Communication System for Landmark Identification

This paper presents a robust simplex Body Channel Communication (BCC) system aimed at providing an interactive infrastructure solution for visually impaired people. Compared to existing BCC solutions, it provides high versatility, weara- bility and installability in an environment in a low complexity hardware-software solution. It operates with a ground referred transmitter (TX) and it is based on an asynchronous thresh- old receiver (RX) architecture. Synchronization, demodulation and packetizing and threshold control are completely software defined and implemented using MicroPython. The RX includes Bluetooth® (BT) radio connectivity and a cell-phone application provides push text-to-speech notifications to a smartphone. The hardware achieves a Packet Error Rate (PER) of ∼0.1 at 550 kHz pulse center frequency, Synchronized-On Off Keying (S- OOK) modulation and 1 kbps data rate, for an average current consumption of 44mA

Bioactive in situ crosslinkable polymer-peptide hydrogel for cell delivery to the intervertebral disc in a rat model

Degeneration of the intervertebral disc (IVD) is associated with significant biochemical and morphological changes that include a loss of disc height, decreased water content and decreased cellularity. Cell delivery has been widely explored as a strategy to supplement the nucleus pulposus (NP) region of the degenerated IVD in both pre-clinical and clinical trials, using progenitor or primary cell sources. We previously demonstrated an ability for a polymer-peptide hydrogel, serving as a culture substrate, to promote adult NP cells to undergo a shift from a degenerative fibroblast-like state to a juvenile-like NP phenotype. In the current study, we evaluate the ability for this peptide-functionalized hydrogel to serve as a bioactive system for cell delivery, retention and preservation of a biosynthetic phenotype for primary IVD cells delivered to the rat caudal disc in an anular puncture degeneration model. Our data suggest that encapsulation of adult degenerative human NP cells in a stiff formulation of the hydrogel functionalized with laminin-mimetic peptides IKVAV and AG73 can promote cell viability and increased biosynthetic activity for this population in 3D culture in vitro. Delivery of the peptide-functionalized biomaterial with primary rat cells to the degenerated IVD supported NP cell retention and NP-specific protein expression in vivo, and promoted improved disc height index (DHI) values and endplate organization compared to untreated degenerated controls. The results of this study suggest the physical cues of this peptide-functionalized hydrogel can serve as a supportive carrier for cell delivery to the IVD. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Cell delivery into the degenerative intervertebral disc has been widely explored as a strategy to supplement the nucleus pulposus. The current work seeks to employ a biomaterial functionalized with laminin-mimetic peptides as a cell delivery scaffold in order to improve cell retention rates within the intradiscal space, while providing the delivered cells with biomimetic cues in order to promote phenotypic expression and increase biosynthetic activity. The use of the in situ crosslinkable material integrated with the native IVD, presenting a system with adequate physical properties to support a degenerative disc

Position paper on the safety/efficacy profile of Direct Oral Anticoagulants in patients with Chronic Kidney Disease: Consensus document of Società Italiana di Nefrologia (SIN), Federazione Centri per la diagnosi della trombosi e la Sorveglianza delle terapie Antitrombotiche (FCSA) and Società Italiana per lo Studio dell’Emostasi e della Trombosi (SISET)

Direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) are mostly prescribed to prevent cardioembolic stroke in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF). An increasing number of guidelines recommend DOAC in AF patients with preserved renal function for the prevention of thromboembolism and an increased use of DOAC in daily practice is recorded also in elderly patients. Aging is associated with a reduction of glomerular filtration rate and impaired renal function, regardless of the cause, increases the risk of bleeding. Multiple medication use (polypharmacy) for treating superimposed co-morbidities is common in both elderly and chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients and drug-drug interaction may cause accumulation of DOAC, thereby increasing the risk of bleeding. There is uncertainty on the safety profile of DOAC in patients with CKD, particularly in those with severely impaired renal function or end stage renal disease, due to the heterogeneity of studies and the relative paucity of data. This document reports the position of three Italian scientific societies engaged in the management of patients with atrial fibrillation who are treated with DOAC and present with CKD

Development of a library of laminin-mimetic peptide hydrogels for control of nucleus pulposus cell behaviors

The nucleus pulposus (NP) of the intervertebral disc plays a critical role in distributing mechanical loads to the axial skeleton. Alterations in NP cells and, consequently, NP matrix are some of the earliest changes in the development of disc degeneration. Previous studies demonstrated a role for laminin-presenting biomaterials in promoting a healthy phenotype for human NP cells from degenerated tissue. Here we investigate the use of laminin-mimetic peptides presented individually or in combination on a poly(ethylene) glycol hydrogel as a platform to modulate the behaviors of degenerative human NP cells. Data confirm that NP cells attach to select laminin-mimetic peptides that results in cell signaling downstream of integrin and syndecan binding. Furthermore, the peptide-functionalized hydrogels demonstrate an ability to promote cell behaviors that mimic that of full-length laminins. These results identify a set of peptides that can be used to regulate NP cell behaviors toward a regenerative engineering strategy