Symmetric evaluation of multimodal human-robot interaction with gaze and standard control

© 2018 by the authors. Control of robot arms is often required in engineering and can be performed by using different methods. This study examined and symmetrically compared the use of a controller, eye gaze tracker and a combination thereof in a multimodal setup for control of a robot arm. Tasks of different complexities were defined and twenty participants completed an experiment using these interaction modalities to solve the tasks. More specifically, there were three tasks: the first was to navigate a chess piece from a square to another pre-specified square; the second was the same as the first task, but required more moves to complete; and the third task was to move multiple pieces to reach a solution to a pre-defined arrangement of the pieces. Further, while gaze control has the potential to be more intuitive than a hand controller, it suffers from limitations with regard to spatial accuracy and target selection. The multimodal setup aimed to mitigate the weaknesses of the eye gaze tracker, creating a superior system without simply relying on the controller. The experiment shows that the multimodal setup improves performance over the eye gaze tracker alone (p 0.05)

Pharmacotherapy review: a proposal to improve medication adherence among hypertensive patients

Abstract Pharmacotherapy review is a structured assessment of medicines, which aims to obtain a partnership with patients to achieve drug treatment goals and agreement about drug dosage, as well as when and how the drugs should be administered. The objective was to analyze the influence of pharmacotherapy review, by scheduling drug administration to improve medication adherence among antihypertensive patients. This study was an uncontrolled intervention developed in three distinct stages. The first stage included data collection on the profile of patients and their medications, and a preliminary assessment of medication adherence. In the second stage, the review report was delivered to patients. In the third stage, the results of blood pressure and medication adherence were assessed. The influence of the revision was measured through statistical tests (p<0.05). The study included 40 patients with a mean age of 58.0 (SD:11.3) years; 72.5% were women. Thirty-three (82.5 %) patients required some intervention, after when there was a significant increase in the number of daily doses (p=0.039) and drug intakes (p=0.025). There was a significant increase in the adherence rate, according to both the Morisky-Green test (p<0.001) and self-reported assessment (p=0.004). There was also an improvement in the levels of systolic (p<0.001) and diastolic (p=0.002) blood pressure and in the number of patients with controlled hypertension (p=0.006). The pharmaceutical service enhanced medication adherence and control of systemic blood pressure; however, it increased the complexity of treatment

Porin threading drives receptor disengagement and establishes active colicin transport through Escherichia coli OmpF

Bacteria deploy weapons to kill their neighbours during competition for resources and to aid survival within microbiomes. Colicins were the first such antibacterial system identified, yet how these bacteriocins cross the outer membrane (OM) of Escherichia coli is unknown. Here, by solving the structures of translocation intermediates via cryo-EM and by imaging toxin import, we uncover the mechanism by which the Tol-dependent nuclease colicin E9 (ColE9) crosses the bacterial OM. We show that threading of ColE9's disordered N-terminal domain through two pores of the trimeric porin OmpF causes the colicin to disengage from its primary receptor, BtuB, and reorganises the translocon either side of the membrane. Subsequent import of ColE9 through the lumen of a single OmpF subunit is driven by the proton-motive force, which is delivered by the TolQ-TolR-TolA-TolB assembly. Our study answers longstanding questions, such as why OmpF is a better translocator than OmpC, and reconciles the mechanisms by which both Tol- and Ton-dependent bacteriocins cross the bacterial outer membrane

Analgesic use and risk of recurrent falls in participants with or at risk of knee osteoarthritis: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative

12 month embargo; available online 4 April 2017.Objective: Few studies have compared the risk of recurrent falls across different types of analgesic use, and with limited adjustment for potential confounders (e.g., pain/depression severity). We assessed analgesic use and the subsequent risk of recurrent falls, among participants with or at risk of knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods: A longitudinal analysis included 4231 participants aged 45-79 years at baseline with 4-year follow-up from the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) cohort study. We grouped participants into six mutually exclusive subgroups based on annually assessed analgesic use in the following hierarchical order of analgesic/central nervous system (CNS) potency: use of (1) opioids, (2) antidepressants, (3) other prescription pain medications, (4) over-the-counter (OTC) pain medications, (5) nutraceuticals, and (6) no analgesics. We used multivariable modified Poisson regression models with a robust error variance to estimate the effect of analgesic use on the risk of recurrent falls (>= 2) in the following year, adjusted for demographics and health status/behavior factors. Results: Opioid use increased from 2.7% at baseline to 3.6% at the 36-month visit (>80% using other analgesics/nutraceuticals), while other prescription pain medication use decreased from 16.7% to 11.9% over this time period. Approximately 15% of participants reported recurrent falls. Compared to those not using analgesics, participants who used opioids and/or antidepressants had a 22-25% increased risk of recurrent falls (opioids: RRadjusted = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.04-1.45; antidepressants: RRadjusted = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.10-1.41). Conclusion: Participants with or at risk of knee OA who used opioids and antidepressants with/without other analgesics/nutraceuticals may have an increased risk of recurrent falls after adjusting for potential confounders. Use of opioids and antidepressants warrants caution. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Osteoarthritis Research Society International.University of Arizona Health Sciences Career Development Award; National Institutes of Health, a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services [N01-AR-2-2258, N01-AR-2-2259, N01-AR-2-2260, N01-AR-2-2261, N01-AR-2-2262]; Merck Research Laboratories; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; GlaxoSmithKline; Pfizer, Inc.; Foundation for the National Institutes of HealthThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Supporting Training of Expertise with Wearable Technologies: The WEKIT Reference Framework

In this chapter, we present a conceptual reference framework for designing augmented reality ap-plications for supporting training. The framework leverages the capabilities of modern augmented reality and wearable technology for capturing the expert’s performance in order to train expertise. It has been designed in the context of WEKIT project which intends to deliver a novel technological platform for industrial training. The framework identifies the state-of-art augmented reality training methods which we term as “transfer mechanism” from an extensive literature review. Transfer mechanisms exploit the educational affordances of augmented reality and wearable technology to capture the expert performance and train the novice. The framework itself is based upon Merrienboer’s 4CID model which is suitable for training complex skills. The 4CID model encapsulates major elements of apprenticeship models which is a primary method of training in industries. The framework itself complements the 4CID model with expert performance data captured with help of wearable technology which is then, exploited in the model to provide a novel training approach for efficiently and effectively master the skills required. In this chapter, we will give a brief overview of our cur-rent progress in developing this framework