Lower limb exoskeleton robot and its cooperative control: A review, trends, and challenges for future research

Effective control of an exoskeleton robot (ER) using a human-robot interface is crucial for assessing the robot's movements and the force they produce to generate efficient control signals. Interestingly, certain surveys were done to show off cutting-edge exoskeleton robots. The review papers that were previously published have not thoroughly examined the control strategy, which is a crucial component of automating exoskeleton systems. As a result, this review focuses on examining the most recent developments and problems associated with exoskeleton control systems, particularly during the last few years (2017–2022). In addition, the trends and challenges of cooperative control, particularly multi-information fusion, are discussed

Y chromosome evidence of earliest modern human settlement in East Asia and multiple origins of Tibetan and Japanese populations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The phylogeography of the Y chromosome in Asia previously suggested that modern humans of African origin initially settled in mainland southern East Asia, and about 25,000–30,000 years ago, migrated northward, spreading throughout East Asia. However, the fragmented distribution of one East Asian specific Y chromosome lineage (D-M174), which is found at high frequencies only in Tibet, Japan and the Andaman Islands, is inconsistent with this scenario.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we collected more than 5,000 male samples from 73 East Asian populations and reconstructed the phylogeography of the D-M174 lineage. Our results suggest that D-M174 represents an extremely ancient lineage of modern humans in East Asia, and a deep divergence was observed between northern and southern populations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We proposed that D-M174 has a southern origin and its northward expansion occurred about 60,000 years ago, predating the northward migration of other major East Asian lineages. The Neolithic expansion of Han culture and the last glacial maximum are likely the key factors leading to the current relic distribution of D-M174 in East Asia. The Tibetan and Japanese populations are the admixture of two ancient populations represented by two major East Asian specific Y chromosome lineages, the O and D haplogroups.</p

SHON expression predicts response and relapse risk of breast cancer patients after anthracycline-based combination chemotherapy or tamoxifen treatment

BACKGROUND: SHON nuclear expression (SHON-Nuc+) was previously reported to predict clinical outcomes to tamoxifen therapy in ERα+ breast cancer (BC). Herein we determined if SHON expression detected by specific monoclonal antibodies could provide a more accurate prediction and serve as a biomarker for anthracycline-based combination chemotherapy (ACT).METHODS: SHON expression was determined by immunohistochemistry in the Nottingham early-stage-BC cohort (n=1,650) who, if eligible, received adjuvant tamoxifen; the Nottingham ERα- early-stage-BC (n=697) patients who received adjuvant ACT; and the Nottingham locally advanced-BC cohort who received pre- operative ACT with/without taxanes (Neo-ACT, n=120) and if eligible, 5-year adjuvant tamoxifen treatment. Prognostic significance of SHON and its relationship with the clinical outcome of treatments were analysed.RESULTS: As previously reported, SHON-Nuc+ in high risk/ERα+ patients was significantly associated with a 48% death risk reduction after exclusive adjuvant tamoxifen treatment compared with SHON-Nuc- [HR(95%CI)=0.52(0.34-0.78), p=0.002]. Meanwhile, in ERα- patients treated with adjuvant ACT, SHON cytoplasmic expression (SHON-Cyto+) was significantly associated with a 50% death risk reduction compared with SHON-Cyto- [HR(95%CI)=0.50(0.34-0.73), p=0.0003]. Moreover, in patients received Neo-ACT, SHON-Nuc- or SHON-Cyto+ was associated with an increased pathological complete response (pCR) compared with SHON-Nuc+ [21% vs 4%; OR(95%CI)=5.88(1.28-27.03), p=0.012], or SHON-Cyto- [20.5% vs 4.5%; OR(95%CI)=5.43(1.18-25.03), p=0.017], respectively. After receiving Neo-ACT, patients with SHON-Nuc+ had a significantly lower distant relapse risk compared to those with SHON-Nuc- [HR(95%CI)=0.41(0.19-0.87), p=0.038], whereas SHON-Cyto+ patients had a significantly higher distant relapse risk compared to SHON-Cyto- patients [HR(95%CI)=4.63(1.05-20.39), p=0.043]. Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analyses revealed that SHON-Cyto+ was independently associated with a higher risk of distant relapse after Neo-ACT and 5- year tamoxifen treatment [HR(95%CI)=5.08(1.13-44.52), p=0.037]. The interaction term between ERα status and SHON-Nuc+ (p=0.005), and between SHON-Nuc+ and tamoxifen therapy (p=0.007), were both statistically significant.CONCLUSION: SHON-Nuc+ in tumours predicts response to tamoxifen in ERα+ BC while SHON-Cyto+ predicts response to ACT

Circular RNA circ‐CMPK1 contributes to cell proliferation of non‐small cell lung cancer by elevating cyclin D1 via sponging miR‐302e

Abstract Background It is well recognized that competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) regulatory network is linked to the development and progression of cancer, including non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Herein, we aimed to explore the functional role of circ‐CMPK1/miR‐302e/cyclin D1 ceRNA signaling in NSCLC. Methods GEO database (GSE102287) was utilized to screen differentially expressed miRNAs in NSCLC. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT‐PCR) and western blotting assays were used to determine gene expression. Cell proliferation analysis was performed with Cell Counting Kit‐8 (CCK‐8) and cell cycle assays. Luciferase reporter and RNA pull‐down assays were conducted to identify the interaction among circ‐CMPK1, miR‐302e, and cyclin D1. Xenograft tumor model was established to evaluate the role of circ‐CMPK1/miR‐302e/cyclin D1 axis in vivo. Results miR‐302e expression was significantly down‐regulated in NSCLC cell lines and tissues and its decrease was closely associated with aggressive clinicopathological features and unfavorable outcome. Overexpression and knockdown of miR‐302e obviously retarded and enhanced the growth of NSCLC, respectively. Furthermore, we found that miR‐302 was sponged by circular RNA CMPK1 (circ‐CMPK1, hsa_circ_0012384), which was remarkably up‐regulated in NSCLC and predicted poor prognosis. Circ‐CMPK1 was capable to promote NSCLC cells proliferation by increasing the expression of cyclin D1 via inhibiting miR‐302 activity. Moreover the miR‐302e‐mediated tumor inhibition could be effectively counteracted by ectopic expression of circ‐CMPK1 or cyclin D1 both in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion Our data demonstrate for the first time that circ‐CMPK1/miR‐302e/cyclin D1 signaling plays an essential regulatory role in NSCLC and targeting this axis may be an efficacious avenue for treatment of NSCLC patients

Hierarchical Amplitude-Aware Permutation Entropy-Based Fault Feature Extraction Method for Rolling Bearings

In order to detect the incipient fault of rolling bearings and to effectively identify fault characteristics, based on amplitude-aware permutation entropy (AAPE), an enhanced method named hierarchical amplitude-aware permutation entropy (HAAPE) is proposed in this paper to solve complex time series in a new dynamic change analysis. Firstly, hierarchical analysis and AAPE are combined to excavate multilevel fault information, both low-frequency and high-frequency components of the abnormal bearing vibration signal. Secondly, from the experimental analysis, it is found that HAAPE is sensitive to the early failure of rolling bearings, which makes it suitable to evaluate the performance degradation of a bearing in its run-to-failure life cycle. Finally, a fault feature selection strategy based on HAAPE is put forward to select the bearing fault characteristics after the application of the least common multiple in singular value decomposition (LCM-SVD) method to the fault vibration signal. Moreover, several other entropy-based methods are also introduced for a comparative analysis of the experimental data, and the results demonstrate that HAAPE can extract fault features more effectively and with a higher accuracy

Microbial erosion assessment on waterlogged archaeological woods (WAWs) from a Chinese ancient shipwreck, Nanhai No. 1

Abstract This article aims at identifying the timber species of Nanhai No. 1, an ancient shipwreck (Song Dynasty, 800 years ago) sunk in the South China Sea, finding out the types of bacteria that corrode the wood components of the shipwreck and analyzing the erosion level. The changes of the internal structure of wood under different erosion degrees are described as well. With light microscope and electron microscope technology, the microscopic and submicroscopic structures of 20 wooden components from the shipwreck were investigated. The shipwreck was built of 6 timber species, including Pinus massoniana, Fokienia hodginsii, Terminalia hainanensis, Mischocarpus oppositifolius, Alnus trabeculosa and Mussaendopsis beccariana. Based on analyzing the traces left after bacterial erosion, it was determined that the erosive microbes in the sunken ship were mainly erosion bacteria and tunneling bacteria. According to the criteria from relevant literature, the analysis on the bacterial erosion degree of each wood sample shows that most of the wood components present weak to moderate erosion, except a few samples which are totally degraded. Comparison with the bacterial erosion on the wooden components of different ancient shipwrecks, sunk in different years in the southeast China, it is noticed that due to the different seabed environments (sunk conditions), the wood structure of the Nanhai No. 1 sunken ship is the best preserved although its sunken time is longer than the others. The silt-covered anaerobic environment could be one of the protective measures which preserves the ancient sunken ships

A design of lower limb rehabilitation robot and its control for passive training

Artificial intelligence-based rehabilitation robots can be applied for peoples with lower limb motor dysfunction usually caused by accident, war, sports, spinal cord injury, paralysis, and vascular diseases to enhance the motion ability of their lower limbs. A design of lower limb rehabilitation robot as well as its trajectory tracking which is suitable for passive training of patient with paralyzed or weak limbs have been presented in this paper. The contents were well organized and presented. Also, the experimental procedural setup of the lower limb rehabilitation robot is well described and conducted. Initially, AC servo motor was chosen as the actuator for controlling the robot due to good stability, fast response, low noise, wide speed range, low cost, high efficiency, and low maintenance. The corresponding simulation analysis of the actuator shows that it is good and can meet the design requirements. Secondly, the motion control of the robot was investigated using the kinematics model of the hip and knee transmission subsystem, the human hip and knee trajectory curves, the motion control data generation process, the planning target track, and the required servo motor drive pulse control instruction. Finally, the control experiments were conducted such that the pulse signal of the servo shaft rotational angle is received by the servo drive for pitch control in position control mode. By default, a complete rotation of 0.072 degrees corresponds to 500 pulses of the motor rotation time control. The experimental results show that by using PID controller, the actual trajectory is closer to the desired trajectory closely follows the actual trajectory and hence, demonstrated a promising patient's recovery

Gene Expression Profiles of Main Olfactory Epithelium in Adenylyl Cyclase 3 Knockout Mice

Adenylyl Cyclase 3 (AC3) plays an important role in the olfactory sensation-signaling pathway in mice. AC3 deficiency leads to defects in olfaction. However, it is still unknown whether AC3 deficiency affects gene expression or olfactory signal transduction pathways within the main olfactory epithelium (MOE). In this study, gene microarrays were used to screen differentially expressed genes in MOE from AC3 knockout (AC3−/−) and wild-type (AC3+/+) mice. The differentially expressed genes identified were subjected to bioinformatic analysis and verified by qRT-PCR. Gene expression in the MOE from AC3−/− mice was significantly altered, compared to AC3+/+ mice. Of the 41266 gene probes, 3379 had greater than 2-fold fold change in expression levels between AC3−/− and AC3+/+ mice, accounting for 8% of the total gene probes. Of these genes, 1391 were up regulated, and 1988 were down regulated, including 425 olfactory receptor genes, 99 genes that are specifically expressed in the immature olfactory neurons, 305 genes that are specifically expressed in the mature olfactory neurons, and 155 genes that are involved in epigenetic regulation. Quantitative RT-PCR verification of the differentially expressed epigenetic regulation related genes, olfactory receptors, ion transporter related genes, neuron development and differentiation related genes, lipid metabolism and membrane protein transport etc. related genes showed that P75NTR, Hinfp, Gadd45b, and Tet3 were significantly up-regulated, while Olfr370, Olfr1414, Olfr1208, Golf, Faim2, Tsg101, Mapk10, Actl6b, H2BE, ATF5, Kirrrel2, OMP, Drd2 etc. were significantly down-regulated. In summary, AC3 may play a role in proximal olfactory signaling and play a role in the regulation of differentially expressed genes in mouse MOE

Effects of the stress hyperglycemia ratio on long-term mortality in patients with triple-vessel disease and acute coronary syndrome

Abstract Aims Risk assessment for triple-vessel disease (TVD) remain challenging. Stress hyperglycemia represents the regulation of glucose metabolism in response to stress, and stress hyperglycemia ratio (SHR) is recently found to reflect true acute hyperglycemic status. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of SHR and its role in risk stratification in TVD patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Methods A total of 3812 TVD patients with ACS with available baseline SHR measurement were enrolled from two independent centers. The endpoint was cardiovascular mortality. Cox regression was used to evaluate the association between SHR and cardiovascular mortality. The SYNTAX (Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery) II (SSII) was used as the reference model in the model improvement analysis. Results During a median follow-up of 5.1 years, 219 (5.8%) TVD patients with ACS suffered cardiovascular mortality. TVD patients with ACS with high SHR had an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality after robust adjustment for confounding (high vs. median SHR: adjusted hazard ratio 1.809, 95% confidence interval 1.160–2.822, P = 0.009), which was fitted as a J-shaped pattern. The prognostic value of the SHR was found exclusively among patients with diabetes instead of those without diabetes. Moreover, addition of SHR improved the reclassification abilities of the SSII model for predicting cardiovascular mortality in TVD patients with ACS. Conclusions The high level of SHR is associated with the long-term risk of cardiovascular mortality in TVD patients with ACS, and is confirmed to have incremental prediction value beyond standard SSII. Assessment of SHR may help to improve the risk stratification strategy in TVD patients who are under acute stress