Design, Development and Preliminary Testing of a Passive Upper Extremity ExoNET in Post Stroke

Robot assistive devices and wearable exoskeletons are increasingly being employed as they showed to have great potential and are returning prominent results in post-stroke rehabilitation therapies. Among these, passive devices can support patients to initiate movements themselves and encourage active training at the same time. Here we investigate the abilities of an ExoNET robot composed of diagonal spring elements, configured to provide gravity compensation. We first present the development and testing of the device, and further test its ability to enhance therapy by providing anti-gravity torques to the patient’s joints. The resulting device is safe, light-weight, non-intimidating, and inexpensive. In addition, the ExoNET incorporated a novel shoulder mechanism that allows for all three degrees of freedom of the shoulder joint. This was tested on healthy young individuals in our lab, and then tested on an individual who previously had a stroke, in five therapy sessions where we collected kinematic and electromyography data. Here we present the preliminary analysis of range of motion across days of practice. In particular, we developed a coverage algorithm that uses statistical distributions to gauge a person’s range of motion. We found that the coverage of healthy and paretic wrist positions decreased after donning the ExoNET, which might be caused by the encumbrance that the device introduce. The ExoNET also reduced the coverage of velocities. Interestingly, by the end of 45 minutes of therapy while wearing the ExoNET, the coverage of velocity but not position increased

Copper-catalyzed efficient dithiocyanation of styrenes: Synthesis of dithiocyanates

<p>A novel Cu-catalyzed intermolecular chemoselectivity dithiocyanation of styrenes with ammonium thiocyanate has been developed under mild conditions. This reaction exhibits a wide range of functional-group tolerance in styrenes to afford various dithiocyanates. The reaction mechanism was primarily investigated and a radical process was proposed.</p

Effects of packaging treatments on acid values in peanuts during 24 months of storage.

<p>Acid values of the peanuts varied from month to month. Recorded levels of peanut acid values were highly variable from one time point to the next. The woven and PE bags showed a rapid increase, and the PA/PE and PET/AL/PA/PE bags showed a slow increase in acid values during the 24 months of storage.</p

Effects of packaging treatments on parameters of peanuts during 24 months of storage.

<p>Storing peanuts in bags of different materials had a significant effect on seed coat color over time. The seed coat color of peanuts stored in PET/AL/PA/PE bags remained relatively stable during the 24 month study period; however, the samples packaged in wove, PE, and PA/PE pouches showed changes in all three color parameters (L*, a*, and b*) during storage. The L values of peanuts stored in woven bags decreased by 44.6%, and the a and b values increased by 97.6 and 128.0%, respectively, after 24 months. The L value of peanuts stored in PE decreased by 25.0% and the a and b values increased by 60.6% and 73.2%, respectively. The changes of Lab values for peanuts stored in PET/AL/PA/PE bags, in contrast, were relatively small after 24 months; the L value decreased only 10.5%, the a value increased 23.0%, and the b value increased 28.3%.</p

Results of ANOVA analyses comparing the effects of packaging treatments on germination rates in peanuts during storage.

<p>Results of ANOVA analyses comparing the effects of packaging treatments on germination rates in peanuts during storage.</p

Image_1.TIF

<p>Seed expansion in peanut is a complex biological process involving many gene regulatory pathways. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important regulatory roles in plant growth and development, but little is known about their functions during seed expansion, or how they contribute to seed expansion in different peanut lines. We examined seed miRNA expression patterns at 15 and 35 days after flowering (DAF) in two peanut eighth-generation recombinant inbred lines (RIL8); 8106, a medium-pod variety, and 8107, a super-pod variety. Using high-throughput sequencing, we identified 1,082 miRNAs in developing peanut seeds including 434 novel miRNAs. We identified 316 differentially expressed miRNAs by comparing expression levels between the two peanut lines. Interestingly, 24 miRNAs showed contrasting patterns of expression in the two RILs, and 149 miRNAs were expressed predominantly in only one RIL at 35 DAF. Also, potential target genes for some conserved and novel miRNAs were identified by degradome sequencing; target genes were predicted to be involved in auxin mediated signaling pathways and cell division. We validated the expression patterns of some representative miRNAs and 12 target genes by qPCR, and found negative correlations between the expression level of miRNAs and their targets. miR156e, miR159b, miR160a, miR164a, miR166b, miR168a, miR171n, miR172c-5p, and miR319d and their corresponding target genes may play key roles in seed expansion in peanut. The results of our study also provide novel insights into the dynamic changes in miRNAs that occur during peanut seed development, and increase our understanding of miRNA function in seed expansion.</p

Image_2.TIF

<p>Seed expansion in peanut is a complex biological process involving many gene regulatory pathways. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important regulatory roles in plant growth and development, but little is known about their functions during seed expansion, or how they contribute to seed expansion in different peanut lines. We examined seed miRNA expression patterns at 15 and 35 days after flowering (DAF) in two peanut eighth-generation recombinant inbred lines (RIL8); 8106, a medium-pod variety, and 8107, a super-pod variety. Using high-throughput sequencing, we identified 1,082 miRNAs in developing peanut seeds including 434 novel miRNAs. We identified 316 differentially expressed miRNAs by comparing expression levels between the two peanut lines. Interestingly, 24 miRNAs showed contrasting patterns of expression in the two RILs, and 149 miRNAs were expressed predominantly in only one RIL at 35 DAF. Also, potential target genes for some conserved and novel miRNAs were identified by degradome sequencing; target genes were predicted to be involved in auxin mediated signaling pathways and cell division. We validated the expression patterns of some representative miRNAs and 12 target genes by qPCR, and found negative correlations between the expression level of miRNAs and their targets. miR156e, miR159b, miR160a, miR164a, miR166b, miR168a, miR171n, miR172c-5p, and miR319d and their corresponding target genes may play key roles in seed expansion in peanut. The results of our study also provide novel insights into the dynamic changes in miRNAs that occur during peanut seed development, and increase our understanding of miRNA function in seed expansion.</p

Image_3.TIF

<p>Seed expansion in peanut is a complex biological process involving many gene regulatory pathways. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important regulatory roles in plant growth and development, but little is known about their functions during seed expansion, or how they contribute to seed expansion in different peanut lines. We examined seed miRNA expression patterns at 15 and 35 days after flowering (DAF) in two peanut eighth-generation recombinant inbred lines (RIL8); 8106, a medium-pod variety, and 8107, a super-pod variety. Using high-throughput sequencing, we identified 1,082 miRNAs in developing peanut seeds including 434 novel miRNAs. We identified 316 differentially expressed miRNAs by comparing expression levels between the two peanut lines. Interestingly, 24 miRNAs showed contrasting patterns of expression in the two RILs, and 149 miRNAs were expressed predominantly in only one RIL at 35 DAF. Also, potential target genes for some conserved and novel miRNAs were identified by degradome sequencing; target genes were predicted to be involved in auxin mediated signaling pathways and cell division. We validated the expression patterns of some representative miRNAs and 12 target genes by qPCR, and found negative correlations between the expression level of miRNAs and their targets. miR156e, miR159b, miR160a, miR164a, miR166b, miR168a, miR171n, miR172c-5p, and miR319d and their corresponding target genes may play key roles in seed expansion in peanut. The results of our study also provide novel insights into the dynamic changes in miRNAs that occur during peanut seed development, and increase our understanding of miRNA function in seed expansion.</p

Table_1.XLSX

<p>Seed expansion in peanut is a complex biological process involving many gene regulatory pathways. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important regulatory roles in plant growth and development, but little is known about their functions during seed expansion, or how they contribute to seed expansion in different peanut lines. We examined seed miRNA expression patterns at 15 and 35 days after flowering (DAF) in two peanut eighth-generation recombinant inbred lines (RIL8); 8106, a medium-pod variety, and 8107, a super-pod variety. Using high-throughput sequencing, we identified 1,082 miRNAs in developing peanut seeds including 434 novel miRNAs. We identified 316 differentially expressed miRNAs by comparing expression levels between the two peanut lines. Interestingly, 24 miRNAs showed contrasting patterns of expression in the two RILs, and 149 miRNAs were expressed predominantly in only one RIL at 35 DAF. Also, potential target genes for some conserved and novel miRNAs were identified by degradome sequencing; target genes were predicted to be involved in auxin mediated signaling pathways and cell division. We validated the expression patterns of some representative miRNAs and 12 target genes by qPCR, and found negative correlations between the expression level of miRNAs and their targets. miR156e, miR159b, miR160a, miR164a, miR166b, miR168a, miR171n, miR172c-5p, and miR319d and their corresponding target genes may play key roles in seed expansion in peanut. The results of our study also provide novel insights into the dynamic changes in miRNAs that occur during peanut seed development, and increase our understanding of miRNA function in seed expansion.</p

Table_7.XLSX

<p>Seed expansion in peanut is a complex biological process involving many gene regulatory pathways. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important regulatory roles in plant growth and development, but little is known about their functions during seed expansion, or how they contribute to seed expansion in different peanut lines. We examined seed miRNA expression patterns at 15 and 35 days after flowering (DAF) in two peanut eighth-generation recombinant inbred lines (RIL8); 8106, a medium-pod variety, and 8107, a super-pod variety. Using high-throughput sequencing, we identified 1,082 miRNAs in developing peanut seeds including 434 novel miRNAs. We identified 316 differentially expressed miRNAs by comparing expression levels between the two peanut lines. Interestingly, 24 miRNAs showed contrasting patterns of expression in the two RILs, and 149 miRNAs were expressed predominantly in only one RIL at 35 DAF. Also, potential target genes for some conserved and novel miRNAs were identified by degradome sequencing; target genes were predicted to be involved in auxin mediated signaling pathways and cell division. We validated the expression patterns of some representative miRNAs and 12 target genes by qPCR, and found negative correlations between the expression level of miRNAs and their targets. miR156e, miR159b, miR160a, miR164a, miR166b, miR168a, miR171n, miR172c-5p, and miR319d and their corresponding target genes may play key roles in seed expansion in peanut. The results of our study also provide novel insights into the dynamic changes in miRNAs that occur during peanut seed development, and increase our understanding of miRNA function in seed expansion.</p