Design of a robot-assisted exoskeleton for passive wrist and forearm rehabilitation

This paper presents a new exoskeleton design for wrist and forearm rehabilitation. The contribution of this study is to offer a methodology which shows how to adapt a serial manipulator that reduces the number of actuators used on exoskeleton design for the rehabilitation. The system offered is a combination of end-effector- and exoskeleton-based devices. The passive exoskeleton is attached to the end effector of the manipulator, which provides motion for the purpose of rehabilitation process. The Denso VP 6-Axis Articulated Robot is used to control motion of the exoskeleton during the rehabilitation process. The exoskeleton is designed to be used for both wrist and forearm motions. The desired moving capabilities of the exoskeleton are flexion–extension (FE) and adduction–abduction (AA) motions for the wrist and pronation–supination (PS) motion for the forearm. The anatomical structure of a human limb is taken as a constraint during the design. The joints on the exoskeleton can be locked or unlocked manually in order to restrict or enable the movements. The parts of the exoskeleton include mechanical stoppers to prevent the excessive motion. One passive degree of freedom (DOF) is added in order to prevent misalignment problems between the axes of FE and AA motions. Kinematic feedback of the experiments is performed by using a wireless motion tracker assembled on the exoskeleton. The results proved that motion transmission from robot to exoskeleton is satisfactorily achieved. Instead of different exoskeletons in which each axis is driven and controlled separately, one serial robot with adaptable passive exoskeletons is adequate to facilitate rehabilitation exercises.</p

Care needs and satisfaction with nursing care quality of cancer patients

Objective: This study aims to determine the relationships between care needs and satisfaction with nursing care quality of chemotherapy-treated cancer patients. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between November and December 2021 in an Outpatient Chemotherapy Unit in Istanbul. The interview form consists of sociodemographic and treatment-related questions, cancer needs of patients, the satisfaction with the quality of nursing care. Results: Most of the participants were 55 years of age and older (61%), women (57.8%), had comorbid diseases (52.4%), and 48% were diagnosed with stage II cancer (48%). The care needs to be reported frequently by patients were mostly psychological and interpersonal communication. It was determined that the most important variables that increased the health care needs were perception by patients of their health status, age, stage of cancer, and the level of satisfaction they perceive together with the quality of nursing care. Conclusions: This study determined that patient care should be planned based on the factors affecting patient care needs and that care needs could decrease with increasing satisfaction with nursing care

CYP2C19 pharmacogenetics in advanced cancer: compromised function independent of genotype

CYP2C19 is a drug-metabolising enzyme involved in the metabolism of a number of chemotherapeutic agents including cyclophosphamide. Variants of the CYP2C19 gene result in a loss of function polymorphism, which affects approximately 3% of the Caucasian population. These individuals are poor metabolisers (PM) of a wide range of medications including omeprazole (OMP). In healthy subjects PM can be identified through homozygous variant genotype. However, a discordance between CYP2C19 genotype and phenotype has been reported previously in a small study of cancer patients. To investigate whether CYP2C19 activity was decreased in patients with advanced cancer, CYP2C19 genotype was determined in 33 advanced cancer patients using PCR-RFLP analysis for the two important allelic variants (*2,681G>A and *3,636G>A) and the activity of the enzyme was evaluated using the CYP2C19 probe drug OMP. The activity of the drug-metabolising enzyme CYP2C19 was severely compromised in advanced cancer patients, resulting in a PM status in 37% of the patients who had normal genotype. This is significantly (P<0.0005) higher than that would be predicted from the genotypic status of these patients. There was no evidence of a correlation between compromised CYP2C19 activity and any of the proinflammatory cytokines or acute phase response proteins studied. However, there was preliminary evidence of an association between PM status and low body mass (P=0.03). There is increasing interest in using pharmacogenetics to ‘individualise medicine', however, the results of this study indicate that in a cancer population genotyping for CYP2C19 would significantly underestimate the number of phenotypic PM of drugs, such as cyclophosphamide, which may be metabolised by this enzyme

TFOS European Ambassador meeting: Unmet needs and future scientific and clinical solutions for ocular surface diseases

The mission of the Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) is to advance the research, literacy, and educational aspects of the scientific field of the tear film and ocular surface. Fundamental to fulfilling this mission is the TFOS Global Ambassador program. TFOS Ambassadors are dynamic and proactive experts, who help promote TFOS initiatives, such as presenting the conclusions and recommendations of the recent TFOS DEWS II™, throughout the world. They also identify unmet needs, and propose future clinical and scientific solutions, for management of ocular surface diseases in their countries. This meeting report addresses such needs and solutions for 25 European countries, as detailed in the TFOS European Ambassador meeting in Rome, Italy, in September 2019

Very preterm birth is a risk factor for increased systolic blood pressure at a young adult age

Children born very prematurely who show intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) are suggested to be at risk of developing high blood pressure as adults. Renal function may already be impaired by young adult age. To study whether very preterm birth affects blood pressure in young adults, we measured 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (Spacelabs™ 90207 device) and renin concentration in 50 very premature individuals (<32 weeks of gestation), either small (SGA) or appropriate (AGA) for gestational age (21 SGA, 29 AGA), and 30 full-term controls who all were aged 20 years at time of measurement. The mean (standard deviation) daytime systolic blood pressure in SGA and AGA prematurely born individuals, respectively, was 122.7 (8.7) and 123.1 (8.5) mmHg. These values were, respectively, 3.6 mmHg [95% confidence interval (CI) −0.9 to 8.0] and 4.2 mmHg (95% CI 0.4−8.0) higher than in controls [119.6 (7.6)]. Daytime diastolic blood pressure and nighttime blood pressure did not differ between groups. We conclude that individuals born very preterm have higher daytime systolic blood pressure and higher risk of hypertension at a young adult age

Evaluating antimicrobial and antioxidant capacity of endemic Phlomis russeliana from Turkey and its antiproliferative effect on Human Caco-2 Cell Lines

Dulger, Basaran/0000-0002-3184-2652WOS: 000493504800001PubMed: 31365649In this study, the antimicrobial, antioxidant and antitumor activity of ethanol extracts obtained from Phlomis russeliana (Sims.) Lag. ex Benth. (Lamiaceae) were evaluated. Disc diffusion and microdilution methods were used to test the extracts for antimicrobial activity against seven bacteria strains (Bacillus cereus ATCC 7064, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538P, Escherichia coli ATCC 10538, Proteus vulgaris ATCC 6899, Salmonella typhimurium CCM 5445 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853) and four yeast strains (Kluyveromyces fragilis ATCC 8608, Rhodotorula rubra ATCC 70403, Debaryomyces hansenii DSM 70238 and Candida albicans ATCC 10239). Notably, they were more effective against the yeast strains than the bacterial strains. Of the yeast cultures, D. hanseii was among the most susceptible, having an inhibition zone of 16.2 mm with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and minimum fungicidal concentrations (MFCs) of 64(128)mu g/ml, respectively. For cytotoxic determination, Caco-2 cells were cultured as per ATCC protocol, and were treated with log concentrations (5-80 mg/ml) of P. russeliana. The potency of cell growth inhibition for each extract was expressed as an IC50 value. Moreover, oxidant capacity was evaluated via TOC assay. This product induced antiproliferative activity of 31.33% at 40 mg/nil and 20.96% at 80 mg/ml, without toxic effects on cells, although the oxidant capacity was decreased to 27.06 +/- 0.7 nm in the 80 mg/nilapplied group compared to 47.9 +/- 1.8 mn in the untreated one. Advanced pharmacological studies are needed to further evaluate P. russeliana for distinctive features

Evaluation of cardiovascular and inflammatory factors in age-related macular degeneration [Yaa Baglí Maküla Dejeneresansínda Kardiyovasküler ve Enflamatuvar Risk Faktörlerinin Degerlendirilmesi]

Purpose: To evaluate cardiovascular and inflammatory risk factors in Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). Materials and Methods: Thirty-nine patient with dry-type AMD and 37 control were included in the study. Smoking history, body mass index (BMI), serum fibrinogen CRP, IL-6, Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), Apolipoprotein B, Lipoprotein A, HDL, LDL and total cholesterol values were analyzed. Cardiologic examination was performed to all participants. Results: In dry-type AMD patients, the mean BMI (33.1±5.13) were statistically significantly higher than in the control group (24.9±5.63), (p=0.045). The mean TNF-alfa levels for dry-type AMD and controls were 15.6±52.29 pg/ml and 15.5±41.37 pg/ml, respectively and statistical significant difference was observed (p=0.035). There was statistical significant difference in terms of mean IL-6 levels which were 31.9±114.6 and 1.2±1.5 pg/ml, (p<0.05), respectively. There were no significiant differences between cases and controls in terms of serum fibrinogen, HDL, LDL, total cholesterol, trigliserid, CRP, Lip (a), Apo-B, smoking. Conclusion: In the study there was no relationship between serum cardiac risk factors and AMD. In addition, there was high rate of obesity in the patient group. In the patient group, TNF alpha and IL-6 levels were higher than the control group. These results suggest that inflammatory factors may have a role in the pathogenesis of AMD

Synthesis and Characterization of Disulfide-Schiff Base Derivatives and in vitro Investigation of Their Antibacterial Activity Against Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Isolates: A New Study

WOS: 000427630200018In this study two different methods without a catalyst and with a CeO2 nano catalyst were used for the synthesis of dimeric disulfide-Schiff bases. The dimeric disulfide-Schiff base derivatives were characterized by FT-IR, NMR, and MS spectra, and elemental analysis. The disulfide-Schiff bases and their derivatives 2-5c were screened for in vitro antibacterial activity against 40 multidrug-resistant strains of Acinetobacter baumannii, and their minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined. Most of products exhibited high antibacterial activity against Acinetobacter baumannii.Duzce University Scientific Research Fund (BAP) [2014-05-03-259, 2015-05-03-354]This work was supported by the Duzce University Scientific Research Fund (BAP) (projects nos. 2014-05-03-259 and 2015-05-03-354)

Matlab’s GA and Optimization Toolbox: A Fourbar Mechanism Application

Abstract: This study presents an optimization approach for synthesis of planar mechanisms. A four bar mechanism is chosen for an application example. This mechanism is studied with the constraints assigned. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is applied during optimization study. GA in Optimization Toolbox is then compared with nonlinear constrained numerical optimization command; fmincon in Matlab©. Different case studies are performed by considering different target points. These mechanisms are drawn using Excel © spread sheet to see their animations. An optimization example is presented here. Performances of both algorithms are then compared in terms of coupler curves precision points. Their use in designing a four bar mechanism is explored for its further use