Postural Hand Synergies during Environmental Constraint Exploitation

Humans are able to intuitively exploit the shape of an object and environmental constraints to achieve stable grasps and perform dexterous manipulations. In doing that, a vast range of kinematic strategies can be observed. However, in this work we formulate the hypothesis that such ability can be described in terms of a synergistic behavior in the generation of hand postures, i.e., using a reduced set of commonly used kinematic patterns. This is in analogy with previous studies showing the presence of such behavior in different tasks, such as grasping. We investigated this hypothesis in experiments performed by six subjects, who were asked to grasp objects from a flat surface. We quantitatively characterized hand posture behavior from a kinematic perspective, i.e., the hand joint angles, in both pre-shaping and during the interaction with the environment. To determine the role of tactile feedback, we repeated the same experiments but with subjects wearing a rigid shell on the fingertips to reduce cutaneous afferent inputs. Results show the persistence of at least two postural synergies in all the considered experimental conditions and phases. Tactile impairment does not alter significantly the first two synergies, and contact with the environment generates a change only for higher order Principal Components. A good match also arises between the first synergy found in our analysis and the first synergy of grasping as quantified by previous work. The present study is motivated by the interest of learning from the human example, extracting lessons that can be applied in robot design and control. Thus, we conclude with a discussion on implications for robotics of our findings

Perfil epidemiológico dos pacientes amputados do Centro de Especialidade em Reabilitação CER/UNESC em uso de prótese

O presente estudo teve como objetivo identificar o perfil sociodemográfico e epidemiológicos dos pacientes amputados atendidos no Centro Especializado em Reabilitação (CER)/ Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense (UNESC) no período de 2014 a 2019. A presente pesquisa foi realizada no CER II da UNESC. O estudo trata-se de uma pesquisa quantitativa, descritiva e exploratória, documental. Foram utilizados 71 prontuários de pacientes atendidos no CER/UNESC de 2014-2019 com amputações. A coleta dos dados aconteceu nos prontuários conforme roteiro de registro com questões fechadas, sendo realizada após liberação do Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa (CEP)/UNESC. A análise dos dados foi realizada a partir da estatística e discussão a partir de referências teóricos. Os dados gerais mostraram a predominância de homens amputados, no nível transfemural, com idade entre 51 a 70 anos, tendo a Diabetes como a principal causa e comorbidade nos pacientes amputados

Perfil epidemiológico dos pacientes amputados do Centro de Especialidade em Reabilitação CER/UNESC em uso de prótese

O presente estudo teve como objetivo identificar o perfil sociodemográfico e epidemiológicos dos pacientes amputados atendidos no Centro Especializado em Reabilitação (CER)/ Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense (UNESC) no período de 2014 a 2019. A presente pesquisa foi realizada no CER II da UNESC. O estudo trata-se de uma pesquisa quantitativa, descritiva e exploratória, documental. Foram utilizados 71 prontuários de pacientes atendidos no CER/UNESC de 2014-2019 com amputações. A coleta dos dados aconteceu nos prontuários conforme roteiro de registro com questões fechadas, sendo realizada após liberação do Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa (CEP)/UNESC. A análise dos dados foi realizada a partir da estatística e discussão a partir de referências teóricos. Os dados gerais mostraram a predominância de homens amputados, no nível transfemural, com idade entre 51 a 70 anos, tendo a Diabetes como a principal causa e comorbidade nos pacientes amputados

Perfil do usuário do ambulatório de feridas da universidade do extremo Sul Catarinense – UNESC / User profile of the wound ambulatory of the university of extreme Southern Catarinese - UNESC

Introdução: Feridas são representadas ruptura da pele e do tecido celular subcutâneo, mas também, em alguns casos, por lesões em músculos, tendões e ossos. 0 cuidado com as lesões é um processo dinâmico, complexo e requer acompanhamento de profissionais capacitados. Objetivo: Identificar o perfil dos usuários do ambulatório de feridas da universidade. Método: Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualiquantitativa, exploratória, descritiva. Foi coletado os dados a partir de um roteiro com perguntas semiestruturada, no ambulatório de feridas localizado na clínica escola de enfermagem na Universidade do Extremo sul catarinense - Criciúma SC. A pesquisa foi realizada  com os pacientes cadastrados no serviço, sendo amostra de 40 pacientes. Resultados: A partir dos dados observados identificou-se que o perfil sociodemografico e epidemiológico dos pacientes atendidos no ambulatório de feridas  na clínica escola de enfermagem da Universidade do  extremo sul catarinense foram opredominantemete do sexo masculino (60%), com idade entre 50-69 anos (47,50%), brancos (67,50%), sendo as ulceras venosas predominantes (47,5%) e 40,91% tem como comorbidade a Diabetes Mellitus e 30,30% Hipertensão Arterial (HAS). Quanto as coberturas mais indicadas, observou-se a utilização com maior frequência de aquacel, e bota de unna nas lesões venosas e o hidrogel, em lesões traumáticas. No ambulatório de feridas além de receber orientações quanto aos cuidados com os curativos e coberturas, os usuários recebem através da SMS os insumos necessários para continuidade do tratamento. Conclusões: O conhecimento do perfil dos usuários do serviço permite planejamento das ações de Enfermagem e melhor qualidade de atendimento e resposta.Contribuições para a Enfermagem: Melhora da qualidade do atendimento do sujeito, da segurança do paciente e da visibilidade profissional. 

May Measure Month 2022 in Italy: A Focus on Fixed-dose Combination, Therapeutic Adherence, and Medical Inertia in a Nationwide Survey

Introduction Hypertension is the main risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Notably, only about half of hypertensive patients manage to achieve the recommended blood pressure (BP) control. Main reasons for the persistence of uncontrolled BP during treatment are lack of compliance on the patients' side, and therapeutic inertia on physicians' side.Methods During the global BP screening campaign "May Measure Month" (MMM) (May 1st to July 31st, 2022), a nationwide, cross-sectional, opportunistic study endorsed by the Italian Society of Hypertension was conducted on volunteer adults >= 18 years to raise awareness of the health issues surrounding high BP. A questionnaire on demographic/clinical features and questions on the use of fixed-dose single-pills for the treatment of hypertension was administered. BP was measured with standard procedures.Results A total of 1612 participants (mean age 60.0 +/- 15.41 years; 44.7% women) were enrolled. Their mean BP was 128.5 +/- 18.1/77.1 +/- 10.4 mmHg. About half of participants were sedentary, or overweight/obese, or hypertensive. 55.5% individuals with complete BP assessment had uncontrolled hypertension. Most were not on a fixed-dose combination of antihypertensive drugs and did not regularly measure BP at home. Self-reported adherence to BP medications was similar between individuals with controlled and uncontrolled BP (95% vs 95.5%).Conclusions This survey identified a remarkable degree of therapeutic inertia and poor patients' involvement in the therapeutic process and its monitoring in the examined population, underlining the importance of prevention campaigns to identify areas of unsatisfactory management of hypertension, to increase risk factors' awareness in the population with the final purpose of reducing cardiovascular risk

Residual peripheral blood CD26+leukemic stem cells in chronic myeloid leukemia patients during TKI therapy and during treatment-free remission

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients in sustained “deep molecular response” may stop TKI treatment without disease recurrence; however, half of them lose molecular response shortly after TKI withdrawing. Well-defined eligibility criteria to predict a safe discontinuation up-front are still missing. Relapse is probably due to residual quiescent TKI-resistant leukemic stem cells (LSCs) supposedly transcriptionally low/silent and not easily detectable by BCR-ABL1 qRT-PCR. Bone marrow Ph+ CML CD34+/CD38− LSCs were found to specifically co-express CD26 (dipeptidylpeptidase-IV). We explored feasibility of detecting and quantifying CD26+ LSCs by flow cytometry in peripheral blood (PB). Over 400 CML patients (at diagnosis and during/after therapy) entered this cross-sectional study in which CD26 expression was evaluated by a standardized multiparametric flow cytometry analysis on PB CD45+/CD34+/CD38− stem cell population. All 120 CP-CML patients at diagnosis showed measurable PB CD26+ LSCs (median 19.20/μL, range 0.27–698.6). PB CD26+ LSCs were also detectable in 169/236 (71.6%) CP-CML patients in first-line TKI treatment (median 0.014 cells/μL; range 0.0012–0.66) and in 74/112 (66%), additional patients studied on treatment-free remission (TFR) (median 0.015/μL; range 0.006–0.76). Notably, no correlation between BCR-ABL/ABLIS ratio and number of residual LSCs was found both in patients on or off TKIs. This is the first evidence that “circulating” CML LSCs persist in the majority of CML patients in molecular response while on TKI treatment and even after TKI discontinuation. Prospective studies evaluating the dynamics of PB CD26+ LSCs during TKI treatment and the role of a “stem cell response” threshold to achieve and maintain TFR are ongoing

Peaks and Troughs of Three-Dimensional Vestibulo-ocular Reflex in Humans

The three-dimensional vestibulo-ocular reflex (3D VOR) ideally generates compensatory ocular rotations not only with a magnitude equal and opposite to the head rotation but also about an axis that is collinear with the head rotation axis. Vestibulo-ocular responses only partially fulfill this ideal behavior. Because animal studies have shown that vestibular stimulation about particular axes may lead to suboptimal compensatory responses, we investigated in healthy subjects the peaks and troughs in 3D VOR stabilization in terms of gain and alignment of the 3D vestibulo-ocular response. Six healthy upright sitting subjects underwent whole body small amplitude sinusoidal and constant acceleration transients delivered by a six-degree-of-freedom motion platform. Subjects were oscillated about the vertical axis and about axes in the horizontal plane varying between roll and pitch at increments of 22.5° in azimuth. Transients were delivered in yaw, roll, and pitch and in the vertical canal planes. Eye movements were recorded in with 3D search coils. Eye coil signals were converted to rotation vectors, from which we calculated gain and misalignment. During horizontal axis stimulation, systematic deviations were found. In the light, misalignment of the 3D VOR had a maximum misalignment at about 45°. These deviations in misalignment can be explained by vector summation of the eye rotation components with a low gain for torsion and high gain for vertical. In the dark and in response to transients, gain of all components had lower values. Misalignment in darkness and for transients had different peaks and troughs than in the light: its minimum was during pitch axis stimulation and its maximum during roll axis stimulation. We show that the relatively large misalignment for roll in darkness is due to a horizontal eye movement component that is only present in darkness. In combination with the relatively low torsion gain, this horizontal component has a relative large effect on the alignment of the eye rotation axis with respect to the head rotation axis

Benchmarking whole exome sequencing in the German Network for Personalized Medicine

Introduction Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) has emerged as an efficient tool in clinical cancer diagnostics to broaden the scope from panel-based diagnostics to screening of all genes and enabling robust determination of complex biomarkers in a single analysis. Methods To assess concordance, six formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue specimens and four commercial reference standards were analyzed by WES as matched tumor-normal DNA at 21 NGS centers in Germany, each employing local wet-lab and bioinformatics investigating somatic and germline variants, copy-number alteration (CNA), and different complex biomarkers. Somatic variant calling was performed in 494 diagnostically relevant cancer genes. In addition, all raw data were re-analyzed with a central bioinformatic pipeline to separate wet- and dry-lab variability. Results The mean positive percentage agreement (PPA) of somatic variant calling was 76% and positive predictive value (PPV) 89% compared a consensus list of variants found by at least five centers. Variant filtering was identified as the main cause for divergent variant calls. Adjusting filter criteria and re-analysis increased the PPA to 88% for all and 97% for clinically relevant variants. CNA calls were concordant for 82% of genomic regions. Calls of homologous recombination deficiency (HRD), tumor mutational burden (TMB), and microsatellite instability (MSI) status were concordant for 94%, 93%, and 93% respectively. Variability of CNAs and complex biomarkers did not increase considerably using the central pipeline and was hence attributed to wet-lab differences. Conclusion Continuous optimization of bioinformatic workflows and participating in round robin tests are recommend

Cosmic ray oriented performance studies for the JEM-EUSO first level trigger

JEM-EUSO is a space mission designed to investigate Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays and Neutrinos (E > 5 ⋅ 1019 eV) from the International Space Station (ISS). Looking down from above its wide angle telescope is able to observe their air showers and collect such data from a very wide area. Highly specific trigger algorithms are needed to drastically reduce the data load in the presence of both atmospheric and human activity related background light, yet retain the rare cosmic ray events recorded in the telescope. We report the performance in offline testing of the first level trigger algorithm on data from JEM-EUSO prototypes and laboratory measurements observing different light sources: data taken during a high altitude balloon flight over Canada, laser pulses observed from the ground traversing the real atmosphere, and model landscapes reproducing realistic aspect ratios and light conditions as would be seen from the ISS itself. The first level trigger logic successfully kept the trigger rate within the permissible bounds when challenged with artificially produced as well as naturally encountered night sky background fluctuations and while retaining events with general air-shower characteristics

Differential Power Analysis Attacks to Precharged Busses: a General Analysis for Symmetric-Key Cryptographic Algorithms

In this paper, a general model of multi-bit Differential Power Analysis (DPA) attacks to precharged busses is discussed, with emphasis on symmetric-key cryptographic algorithms. Analysis provides a deeper insight into the dependence of the DPA effectiveness (i.e., the vulnerability of cryptographic chips) on the parameters that define the attack, the algorithm and the processor architecture in which the latter is implemented. To this aim, the main parameters that are of interest in practical DPA attacks are analytically derived under appropriate approximations, and a novel figure of merit to measure the DPA effectiveness of multi-bit attacks is proposed. This figure of merit allows for identifying conditions that maximize the effectiveness of DPA attacks, i.e. conditions under which a cryptographic chip should be tested to assess its robustness. Several interesting properties of DPA attacks are derived, and suggestions to design algorithms and circuits with higher robustness against DPA are given. The proposed model is validated in the case of DES and AES algorithms with both simulations on an MIPS32 architecture and measurements on an FPGA-based implementation of AES. The model accuracy is shown to be adequate, as the resulting error is always lower than 10%, and typically of a few percentage points