Planetary Gearbox Prototype Development and Manufacturing

Goal of this research was to develop and manufacture planetary gearbox prototype using rapid prototyping technology (additive manufacturing). Developed prototype was used to visually analyse the design of the planetary gearbox. Also, it was used to improve and innovate education of students on several courses at Mechanical Design study program at Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. It is shown that low cost rapid prototyping technology can be used to manufacture prototypes of complex machines and machine elements. Prototypes manufactured using this technology have same functionality like the real one. Main limitation is the fact that they cannot sustain real world loads and stresses. This paper shows opportunities which low cost rapid prototyping technology is offering in improvement and innovation of education process at engineering schools and faculties. All complex and heavy machines can be manufactured using this type of technology and on that way more precisely presented to the students

Single-cell sequencing of the human midbrain reveals glial activation and a neuronal state specific to Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) etiology is associated with genetic and environmental factors that lead to a loss of dopaminergic neurons. However, the functional interpretation of PD-associated risk variants and how other midbrain cells contribute to this neurodegenerative process are poorly understood. Here, we profiled >41,000 single-nuclei transcriptomes of postmortem midbrain tissue from 6 idiopathic PD (IPD) patients and 5 matched controls. We show that PD-risk variants are associated with glia- and neuron-specific gene expression patterns. Furthermore, Microglia and astrocytes presented IPD-specific cell proliferation and dysregulation of genes related to unfolded protein response and cytokine signalling. IPD-microglia revealed a specific pro-inflammatory trajectory. Finally, we discovered a neuronal cell cluster exclusively present in IPD midbrains characterized by CADPS2 overexpression and a high proportion of cycling cells. We conclude that elevated CADPS2 expression is specific to dysfunctional dopaminergic neurons, which have lost their dopaminergic identity and unsuccessful attempt to re-enter the cell cycle

Cost-effectiveness of implementing a digital psychosocial intervention for patients with psychotic spectrum disorders in low- and middle-income countries in Southeast Europe: Economic evaluation alongside a cluster randomised trial

BACKGROUND: DIALOG+ is a digital psychosocial intervention aimed at making routine meetings between patients and clinicians therapeutically effective. This study aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of implementing DIALOG+ treatment for patients with psychotic disorders in five low- and middle-income countries in Southeast Europe alongside a cluster randomised trial. METHODS: Resource use and quality of life data were collected alongside the multi-country cluster randomised trial of 468 participants with psychotic disorders. Due to COVID-19 interruptions of the trial’s original 12-month intervention period, adjusted costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were estimated at the participant level using a mixed-effects model over the first 6 months only. We estimated the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) with uncertainty presented using a cost-effectiveness plane and a cost-effectiveness acceptability curve. Seven sensitivity analyses were conducted to check the robustness of the findings. RESULTS: The average cost of delivering DIALOG+ was €91.11 per participant. DIALOG+ was associated with an incremental health gain of 0.0032 QALYs (95% CI –0.0015, 0.0079), incremental costs of €84.17 (95% CI –8.18, 176.52), and an estimated ICER of €26,347.61. The probability of DIALOG+ being cost-effective against three times the weighted gross domestic product (GDP) per capita for the five participating countries was 18.9%. CONCLUSION: Evidence from the cost-effectiveness analyses in this study suggested that DIALOG+ involved relatively low costs. However, it is not likely to be cost-effective in the five participating countries compared with standard care against a willingness-to-pay threshold of three times the weighted GDP per capita per QALY gained

Beating the confusion limit: The necessity of high angular resolution for probing the physics of Sagittarius A* and its environment: Opportunities for LINC-NIRVANA (LBT), GRAVITY (VLTI) and and METIS (E-ELT)

The super-massive 4 million solar mass black hole (SMBH) SgrA* shows variable emission from the millimeter to the X-ray domain. A detailed analysis of the infrared light curves allows us to address the accretion phenomenon in a statistical way. The analysis shows that the near-infrared flux density excursions are dominated by a single state power law, with the low states of SgrA* limited by confusion through the unresolved stellar background. We show that for 8-10m class telescopes blending effects along the line of sight will result in artificial compact star-like objects of 0.5-1 mJy that last for about 3-4 years. We discuss how the imaging capabilities of GRAVITY at the VLTI, LINC-NIRVANA at the LBT and METIS at the E-ELT will contribute to the investigation of the low variability states of SgrA*.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure, Conf. Proc. SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 1 - 6 July 2012. Amsterdam No. 8445-

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake