42 research outputs found
Guiding the surgical gesture using an electro-tactile stimulus array on the tongue: A feasibility study
Under conventional "open-" surgery, the physician has to take care of the
patient, interact with other clinicians and check several monitoring devices.
Nowadays, the Computer Assisted Surgery proposes to integrate 3D cameras in the
operating theatre in order to assist the surgeon in performing minimal-invasive
surgical punctures. The cameras localize the needle and the computer guides the
surgeon towards an intracorporeal clinically-defined target. A visualization
system (screen) is employed to provide the surgeon with indirect visual spatial
information about the intracorporeal positions of the needle. The present work
proposes to use another sensory modality to guide the surgeon thus keeping the
visual modality fully dedicated to the surgical gesture. For this, the sensory
substitution paradigm using the Bach-y-Rita's "Tongue Display Unit" (TDU) is
exploited to provide to the surgeon information of the position tool. The TDU
device is composed of a 6x6 matrix of electrodes transmitting electrotactile
information on the tongue surface. The underlying idea consists in transmitting
information about the deviation of the needle movement with regard to a
pre-planned "optimal" trajectory. We present an experiment assessing the
guidance effectiveness of an intracorporeal puncture under TDU guidance with
respect to the performance evidenced under a usual visual guidance system
Automatic motor activation in the executive control of action
Although executive control and automatic behavior have often been considered separate and distinct processes, there is strong emerging and convergent evidence that they may in fact be intricately interlinked. In this review, we draw together evidence showing that visual stimuli cause automatic and unconscious motor activation, and how this in turn has implications for executive control. We discuss object affordances, alien limb syndrome, the visual grasp reflex, subliminal priming, and subliminal triggering of attentional orienting. Consideration of these findings suggests automatic motor activation might form an intrinsic part of all behavior, rather than being categorically different from voluntary actions
Control of Surgical Gesture under Lingual Electro-Tactile Stimulation
Performing minimal-invasive surgical punctures require guiding a needle
toward an intracorporeal clinically-defined target. As this technique does not
involve cutting the body open, a visualization system is employed to provide
the surgeon with indirect visual spatial information about the intracorporeal
positions of the tool. One may consider that such systems reduce the ergonomics
of the situation as they generate a decorrelation between the actual movement
of the needle and the displayed information about this movement. The present
study aims at assessing the guidance of an intracorporeal puncture under a
lingual electrotactile sensory substitution device - the Tongue Display Unit
(TDU) - with respect to the performance evidenced under a computer-rendered
visualization system. The TDU device provides information about the deviation
of the needle movement with regard to a pre-planned "optimal" trajectory.
Experimental results show that - (1) the stimulations furnished by the TDU are
efficient enough to guide accurately one's puncture, - and (2) that previous
training using the visualization system does not improve performances obtained
under subsequent TDU guidance. Finally, results are discussed in terms of
efficiency and usability of the TDU in the context of guiding
minimally-invasive surgical gesture
Physical modelling to remove hydrological effects at local and regional scale: application to the 100-m hydrostatic inclinometer in Sainte-Croix-aux-Mines (France)
International audienceNew inclinometers devoted to hydrological studies were set up in the Vosges Mountains (France). Two orthogonal 100-meter base hydrostatic inclinometers were installed in December 2004 as well as a hydrometeorological monitoring system for the 100-kmÂČ hydrological unit around the inclinometer. As inclinometers are very sensitive to environmental influences, this observatory is a test site to confront hydrological modelling and geodetic observations. Physical modelling to remove hydrological effects without calibrating on geodetic data is tested on these instruments. Specifically, two deformation processes are most important: fluid pressure variations in nearby hydraulically active fractures and surface loading at regional scale
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Presentation of Dogmatis, An Inter and Multidisciplinary Programme for the Assessment of the Impacts of Genetically Modified Fish, and Results About Risk of fortuitous Import on French Market
DOGMATIS is a research project funded by the French Research Agency (ANR, programme ANR-OGM 2007-2010). The transgenic technologies have been applied to fish since more than 20 years now and some strains are at the premarket or market stage in countries outside Europe. In Europe the main risk is a fortuitous import. Any rumour of uncontrolled arrival of GM fish on the European market may have strong impacts on the market chain, the research and innovation system and the trust in public regulation. The aim of DOGMATIS is to anticipate the answers. It associates specialists of fish transgenesis, GMO detection and regulation, fish market chain economy, consumer sociology and contemporary science philosophy and epistemology. To tackle this multifactorial subject, we developed original methodologies including assumptions based on the quantitative and qualitative knowledge from the different experts of DOGMATIS. We propose to present the programme and the results of our investigation concerning an assessments of the risk of fortuitous presence of GM Fish on the French market, which has been done by crossing the data from scientific literature gathered in a data bank and an expert analysis of filtered statistics of international trade, for the two farmed species concerned by transgenesis techniques and imported on the French market, salmon and tilapia.Keywords: Posters, Markets and Trade, Fisheries Economic
Acute and repetitive fronto-cerebellar tDCS stimulation improves mood in non-depressed participants
Parasitic, bacterial, viral, immune-mediated, metabolic, and nutritional factors associated with Nodding syndrome
Nodding syndrome is a neglected, disabling and potentially fatal epileptic disorder of unknown aetiology affecting thousands of individuals mostly confined to Eastern sub-Saharan Africa. Previous studies have identified multiple associations â including O. volvulus, antileiomodin-1 antibodies, vitamin B6 deficiency, and measles virus infection â yet none is proven causal. We conducted a case-control study of children with early-stage Nodding syndrome (symptom onset <1 year). Cases and controls were identified through a household survey in the Greater Mundri area in South Sudan. A wide range of parasitic, bacterial, viral, immune-mediated, metabolic, and nutritional risk factors was investigated using conventional and state-of-the-art untargeted assays. Associations were examined by multiple logistic regression analysis and a hypothetical causal model was constructed using structural equation modelling. From 607 children with Nodding syndrome, 72 with early-stage disease were included as cases and matched to 65 household- and 44 community controls. Mansonella perstans infection (odds ratio [OR] 7.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.28-21.7), Necator americanus infection (OR 2.33, 95% CI 1.02-5.3), higher antimalarial seroreactivity (OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.20-2.57), higher vitamin E concentration (OR 1.53 per standard deviation [SD] increase, 95% CI 1.07-2.19) and lower vitamin B12 concentration (OR 0.56 per SD increase, 95% CI 0.36-0.87) were associated with higher odds of NS. In a structural equation model, we hypothesized that M. perstans infection, higher vitamin E concentration and fewer viral exposures increased the risk of Nodding syndrome while lower vitamin B12 concentration, N. americanus and malaria infections resulted from having Nodding syndrome. We found no evidence that O. volvulus, antileiomodin-1 antibodies, vitamin B6 and other factors were associated with Nodding syndrome. Our results argue against several previous causal hypotheses including O. volvulus. Instead, Nodding syndrome may be caused by a complex interplay between multiple pathogens and nutrient levels. Further studies need to confirm these associations and determine the direction of effect
Parasitic, bacterial, viral, immune-mediated, metabolic and nutritional factors associated with nodding syndrome
Nodding syndrome is a neglected, disabling and potentially fatal epileptic disorder of unknown aetiology affecting thousands of individuals mostly confined to Eastern sub-Saharan Africa. Previous studies have identified multiple associations-including Onchocerca volvulus, antileiomodin-1 antibodies, vitamin B 6 deficiency and measles virus infection-yet, none is proven causal. We conducted a case-control study of children with early-stage nodding syndrome (symptom onset <1 year). Cases and controls were identified through a household survey in the Greater Mundri area in South Sudan. A wide range of parasitic, bacterial, viral, immune-mediated, metabolic and nutritional risk factors was investigated using conventional and state-of-the-art untargeted assays. Associations were examined by multiple logistic regression analysis, and a hypothetical causal model was constructed using structural equation modelling. Of 607 children with nodding syndrome, 72 with early-stage disease were included as cases and matched to 65 household- and 44 community controls. Mansonella perstans infection (odds ratio 7.04, 95% confidence interval 2.28-21.7), Necator americanus infection (odds ratio 2.33, 95% confidence interval 1.02-5.3), higher antimalarial seroreactivity (odds ratio 1.75, 95% confidence interval 1.20-2.57), higher vitamin E concentration (odds ratio 1.53 per standard deviation increase, 95% confidence interval 1.07-2.19) and lower vitamin B 12 concentration (odds ratio 0.56 per standard deviation increase, 95% confidence interval 0.36-0.87) were associated with higher odds of nodding syndrome. In a structural equation model, we hypothesized that Mansonella perstans infection, higher vitamin E concentration and fewer viral exposures increased the risk of nodding syndrome while lower vitamin B 12 concentration, Necator americanus and malaria infections resulted from having nodding syndrome. We found no evidence that Onchocerca volvulus, antileiomodin-1 antibodies, vitamin B 6 and other factors were associated with nodding syndrome. Our results argue against several previous causal hypotheses including Onchocerca volvulus. Instead, nodding syndrome may be caused by a complex interplay between multiple pathogens and nutrient levels. Further studies need to confirm these associations and determine the direction of effect
Altimetry for the future: Building on 25 years of progress
In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the ââGreenâ Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instrumentsâ development and satellite missionsâ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion
Altimetry for the future: building on 25 years of progress
In 2018 we celebrated 25âŻyears of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology.
The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the âGreenâ Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instrumentsâ development and satellite missionsâ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion