The Design of a Patient Transportation Robot's Lifting Arms Considering Comfort and Safety without the Presence of a Sheet

A transportation robot's lifting arms have an effect on the comfort and safety of patients. Improved arms have been designed through dynamic and static analyses to increase safety if a sheet not present on the lifting arms. To design the lifting arms, experimentation is very helpful, however, it is difficult and dangerous to experiment on patients; therefore, a simple human model was made and used for the dynamic analysis. Through the dynamic analysis results, a safe width and comfortable location for the lifting arms were determined. The thickness was then determined by static analysis and optimum design. In addition, tests have been conducted to confirm comfort and safety by deploying the designed lifting arms onto a transportation robot

Robust Control for Uncertain Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Systems with Time-Varying Input Delay

A control problem of Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy systems with a timevarying input delay and norm-bounded uncertainties is addressed. The input delay is well-known in making the closed-loop stabilization difficult. A sufficient condition for the robust fuzzy-modelbased stabilization is derived based on the Lyapunov-Razumikhin stability theorem, without the assumption of the variation rate on the delay. A constructive design scheme is presented in the form of the iterative convex optimization problem. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by a numerical simulation of a nonlinear mass-spring-damper system

Stress-induced Alterations in Mast Cell Numbers and Proteinase-activated Receptor-2 Expression of the Colon: Role of Corticotrophin-releasing Factor

This study was performed in order to assess whether acute stress can increase mast cell and enterochromaffin (EC) cell numbers, and proteinase-activated receptor-2 (PAR2) expression in the rat colon. In addition, we aimed to investigate the involvement of corticotrophin-releasing factor in these stress-related alterations. Eighteen adult rats were divided into 3 experimental groups: 1) a saline-pretreated non-stressed group, 2) a saline-pretreated stressed group, and 3) an astressin-pretreated stressed group. The numbers of mast cells, EC cells, and PAR2-positive cells were counted in 6 high power fields. In proximal colonic segments, mast cell numbers of stressed rats tended to be higher than those of non-stressed rats, and their PAR2-positive cell numbers were significantly higher than those of non-stressed rats. In distal colonic segments, mast cell numbers and PAR2-positive cell numbers of stressed rats were significantly higher than those of non-stressed rats. Mast cell and PAR2-positive cell numbers of astressin-pretreated stressed rats were significantly lower than those of saline-pretreated stressed rats. EC cell numbers did not differ among the three experimental groups. Acute stress in rats increases mast cell numbers and mucosal PAR2 expression in the colon. These stress-related alterations seem to be mediated by release of corticotrophin-releasing factor

Tunable colors of chiral liquid crystal displays

Abstract We report a method of the color variation in the reflective CLC displays depending on thermodynamically and the electric field switching. The reflective wavelength can be thermodynamically switched to reflect green from a cell initially reflecting a red color. Afterwards, the reflective wavelength can be electrically switched to reflect blue color. It is found that continuous decrease of the pitch is mainly originated from the dopant solubility below the critical temperature and stepwise decrease of the pitch is dominantly affected by the thermodynamic property above the critical temperature. The blue color change is a result of the compression to the helical pitches in planar layers in response to the applied voltage

A Novel Technique of Morcellation Using a Pneumovesicum After Holmium Laser Enucleation of the Prostate in Complicated Situations: Our Initial Experience and Tips

Purpose To describe our initial experience with a novel method of adenoma retrieval using a pneumovesicum (PNV) after Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP). Methods From January 2016 to April 2018, a total of 93 consecutive patients treated with HoLEP were enrolled in this study. For tissue morcellation, we used the PNV morcellation technique for an initial series of 21 patients and the conventional technique (Lumenis VersaCut) for a consecutive series of 72 patients. We compared efficiency and safety between the novel technique and the traditional technique. Subgroup analysis was performed to assess the effectiveness of the current technique in the large prostate (>70 mL). Results There were significant differences in mean age and prostate volume between the 2 groups. However, there were no significant differences in the baseline characteristics and preoperative parameters in the subgroup analysis of large prostates (>70 mL). The mean morcellation efficiency was higher (8.50±1.94 minutes vs. 1.76±0.45 minutes, P<0.05) and the time of morcellation (7.81±1.25 minutes vs. 34.04±11.14 minutes, P<0.05) was shorter in the PNV group. Moreover, there were no significant differences between groups in hospitalization period (2.62±1.10 days vs. 2.90±1.26 days, P=0.852) and any other postoperative events, including recatheterization, reoperation, clot retention, and urethral stricture (P-value range, 0.194–0.447). In the PNV group, there were some cases of procedure-related complications, including postoperative extravesical leakage (5th case), clot retention (8th case), and recatheterization (9th case). Conclusions This method has a higher tissue retrieval efficacy, with the advantage of excellent visibility compared to conventional morcellation. The current method can be applied when a transurethral morcellator is out of order or cannot be used