The role of Pannexin 3 in forced exercise bone remodelling and its potential implications for osteoarthritis

Exercise such as running has been hypothesized to be a factor of osteoarthritis development. However, the relationship is unclear as differences in genetic backgrounds may influence the risk of osteoarthritis (OA). The gene Panx3 codes for the Pannexin 3 protein (PANX3), a mechanically sensitive channel that allows for the passage of various signalling molecules in both chondrocytes and osteoblasts (Boassa et al., 2007; Penuela et al., 2013; Zhang et al., 2021). We have previously shown PANX3 to be protective in traumatic osteoarthritis, however beneficial in age-induced osteoarthritis (Moon et al., 2021), suggesting that PANX3’s role in osteoarthritis development is context specific. As such, the present study aimed to investigate the role of PANX3 in an exercise model of osteoarthritis development. To study this objective, adult male and female WT and Panx3 KO mice were subjected to a daily running protocol for 6 weeks. Knee samples of the mice were then analyzed through the Osteomeasure software. Although no cartilage defects indicating osteoarthritis was observed in any of the groups, the female KO mice had significantly more subchondral bone after forced exercise than all other groups. This data suggests that PANX3 is important in exercise induced subchondral bone remodelling. Considering changes in subchondral bone may precede cartilage degradation in OA, Panx3 KO mice may be more susceptible to non-traumatic OA development due to abnormal subchondral bone remodellin

Optimization-based Framework for Stability and Robustness of Bipedal Walking Robots

As robots become more sophisticated and move out of the laboratory, they need to be able to reliably traverse difficult and rugged environments. Legged robots -- as inspired by nature -- are most suitable for navigating through terrain too rough or irregular for wheels. However, control design and stability analysis is inherently difficult since their dynamics are highly nonlinear, hybrid (mixing continuous dynamics with discrete impact events), and the target motion is a limit cycle (or more complex trajectory), rather than an equilibrium. For such walkers, stability and robustness analysis of even stable walking on flat ground is difficult. This thesis proposes new theoretical methods to analyse the stability and robustness of periodic walking motions. The methods are implemented as a series of pointwise linear matrix inequalities (LMI), enabling the use of convex optimization tools such as sum-of-squares programming in verifying the stability and robustness of the walker. To ensure computational tractability of the resulting optimization program, construction of a novel reduced coordinate system is proposed and implemented. To validate theoretic and algorithmic developments in this thesis, a custom-built “Compass gait” walking robot is used to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed methods. The hardware setup, system identification and walking controller are discussed. Using the proposed analysis tools, the stability property of the hardware walker was successfully verified, which corroborated with the computational results

The Re-Genesis of Dionysian Revelry: Where Art Is the Ecstatic Effulgence of the Body’s Mystical Quintessence

Norman O. Brown cites the following as a function of his separation from the invidious manacles of neurological ratiocination: “And to be not conformed to this world…but be transformed [metamorphose yourselves] by a renewing of your mind” (Brown, 1991). Shane 2015 writes that ecstatic liberation is engendered when the mind is extricated from the central nervous system’s tyranny (Shane, n.d.). Hamlet remarks “with thoughts beyond the reaches of the souls” (Shakespeare, 1982). Patricia Easterling states that Dionysian theater was a freedom from the immurement of self-consciousness or an artistry of the mystical mystique (Eastering, 1997). Dionysian theater, tantric ritualism, ecstatic shamanistic rites, and atavistic rapturous ceremonialism have been executed in most pre-modern societies (Shane, 2014). Norman O. Brown explicates this ubiquitous meta-phenomena in his work entitled Love’s Body (Brown, 1971). Social evolution or the pathogenesis of the modern phenotype depicts the desecration of the etheric body’s predilection towards ascendant apotheosis or Dionysian ritualism (Shane, 2012). Plato’s The Ion represents how the paramount powers of diminutive ratiocination denigrate the numinous body’s puissance towards Dionysian exhilaration (Adams, 1971). The mind delimiting manacles of peevish abstraction abnegates the numinous body’s proclivity for mystical revelry. Aristotle’s poetics represents this fragrant dismissal and annihilation of the body’s primordial exaltation (Adams, 1971, pp.48-67)

Multi-View Watch-Together Viewport

A system and method for simultaneously supporting watch-together experiences and content management on mobile devices is disclosed. Accordingly two multi-video viewports having independent playback/navigation controls and inverted audio controls are used. This system implements three key viewing experiences, one for watch-together viewing, and two others for independent viewing. The system avoids overlapping audio from simultaneously playing videos and to simultaneously control the playback in both the watch-together and the independent consumption viewports. This is achieved by inverted audio playback control in which one of the two video viewports is muted and the other is not. When the user taps on the muted viewport, the muting of windows is reversed. A user interface element provided for queue control enables moving the video viewport into a miniaturized watch-together viewport, and a special share icon to mark a video for watch-together. The system disclosed creates a unique social video consumption experience