Configuration design of wearable robotic arms used in installation and maintenance tasks

[EN] Physical injuries are frequently caused by industrial installation and maintenance tasks such as handling heavy loads, repetitive movements or working in awkward positions. Passive exoskeletons are often used to address this issue. However, the use of supernumerary robotic systems is another approach. This article presents the supernumerary robotic device developed in the SecondArmS project. The results of the initial study of the workspace of the robotic device and the results of the manipulability and singularity analysis of the robotic device are presented. Based on these results, the choice of the wrist of the device between the two alternatives is justified.[ES] En este artículo, se presenta el sistema robótico supernumerario desarrollado dentro del proyecto SecondArmS y se recogen los resultados del estudio inicial del espacio de trabajo y del estudio de manipulabilidad del dispositivo. En base a estos resultados, se justifica la selección de la muñeca del dispositivo entre dos planteamientos diferentes.Este estudio ha sido subvencionado por el Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI) perteneciente al Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, a través del proyecto IDI-20190764 (Cofinanciado por el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional. FEDER, una manera de hacer Europa); por el Ministerio de Universidades a través de la beca de Formación de Profesorado Universitario FPU20/05137; y por el Ministerio de Universidades de España y la Unión Europea ”financiado por la Unión Europea - Next Generation EU. a través de la beca post-doctoral Margarita Salas para la formacion de jóvenes doctores.Álvarez-Pastor, J.; Martínez-Pascual, D.; Blanco, A.; Catalán, JM.; García-Aracil, N.; López-Labrador, F. (2023). Diseño de la configuración de brazos robóticos vestibles para tareas de instalación y mantenimiento. Revista Iberoamericana de Automática e Informática industrial. 21(1):62-68. https://doi.org/10.4995/riai.2023.18746626821

Incidence, risk factors, and outcomes of second neoplasms in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia:the PETHEMA-PALG experience

The most important challenges in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is preventing early death and reducing long-term events, such as second neoplasms (s-NPLs). We performed a retrospective analysis of 2670 unselected APL patients, treated with PETHEMA “chemotherapy based” and “chemotherapy free” protocols. Only de novo APL patients who achieved complete remission (CR) and completed the three consolidation cycles were enrolled into the analysis. Out of 2670 APL patients, there were 118 (4.4%) who developed s-NPLs with the median latency period (between first CR and diagnosis of s-NPL) of 48.0 months (range 2.8–231.1): 43.3 (range: 2.8–113.9) for s-MDS/AML and 61.7 (range: 7.1–231.1) for solid tumour. The 5-year CI of all s-NPLs was of 4.43% and 10 years of 7.92%. Among s-NPLs, there were 58 cases of s-MDS/AML, 3 cases of other hematological neoplasms, 57 solid tumours and 1 non-identified neoplasm. The most frequent solid tumour was colorectal, lung and breast cancer. Overall, the 2-year OS from diagnosis of s-NPLs was 40.6%, with a median OS of 11.1 months. Multivariate analysis identified age of 35 years (hazard ratio = 0.2584; p &lt; 0.0001) as an independent prognostic factor for s-NPLs. There were no significant differences in CI of s-NPLs at 5 years between chemotherapy-based vs chemotherapy-free regimens (hazard ratio = 1.09; p = 0.932). Larger series with longer follow-up are required to confirm the potential impact of ATO+ATRA regimens to reduce the incidence of s-NPLs after front-line therapy for APL.</p

Cuestiones epistemológicas y estudios de caso

En un país -Francia- donde el campo del teatro está estructurado culturalmente durante décadas, el Teatro Aplicado es una noción que a menudo aparece como ancillar, frente a un arte institucionali-zado, incluso mirificado. Por un lado, estaría el Teatro, puro, noble, auténtico y por otro, estarían sus avatares: el teatro de empresa, el teatro para el desarrollo personal, el teatro para patologías, etc. Si tienen la misma fuente, su consanguinidad no deja de asustar. ¿cómo pueden unos artistas que crean alejados de cualquier coacción exterior pertenecer a la misma familia del teatro que unos actores o directores que "obedecen" a un encargo, en un contexto específico, con un público muchas veces participantes de talleres ... y que son por tanto prisioneros, en cierto modo, de un arte instru-mental izado? A este problema ético, este libro intenta responder, a través de ejemplos concretos, para una mayor comprensión inrerculrural Francia/ Colombia.In a country -France- where the field of theater has been culturally structured for decades, Applied Theater is a notion that often appears as an ancillary, in the face of an institutionalized, even mirified, art. On the one hand, there would be the Theater, pure, noble, authentic and on the other, there would be its ups and downs: company theater, theater for personal development, theater for pathologies, etc. If they have the same source, their consanguinity does not stop frightening. How can some artists who create far from any external coercion belong to the same theater family as some actors or directors who "obey" a commission, in a specific context, with an audience that is often workshop participants... are they therefore prisoners, in a certain way, of an instrumented art? To this ethical problem, this book tries to respond, through concrete examples, for a greater intercultural understanding France/ Colombia.Bogot

Multiancestry analysis of the HLA locus in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases uncovers a shared adaptive immune response mediated by HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes

Across multiancestry groups, we analyzed Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) associations in over 176,000 individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) versus controls. We demonstrate that the two diseases share the same protective association at the HLA locus. HLA-specific fine-mapping showed that hierarchical protective effects of HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes best accounted for the association, strongest with HLA-DRB1*04:04 and HLA-DRB1*04:07, and intermediary with HLA-DRB1*04:01 and HLA-DRB1*04:03. The same signal was associated with decreased neurofibrillary tangles in postmortem brains and was associated with reduced tau levels in cerebrospinal fluid and to a lower extent with increased Aβ42. Protective HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes strongly bound the aggregation-prone tau PHF6 sequence, however only when acetylated at a lysine (K311), a common posttranslational modification central to tau aggregation. An HLA-DRB1*04-mediated adaptive immune response decreases PD and AD risks, potentially by acting against tau, offering the possibility of therapeutic avenues

Path planners analysis to avoid human user in supernumerary systems

[Resumen] Con objeto de disminuir los trastornos musculoesqueléticos en el ámbito laboral, se plantea la posibilidad de emplear dispositivos robóticos de tipo supernumerario que permitan apoyar diversos tipos de tareas durante la realización de trabajos de mantenimiento. Además, se pretende que este tipo de dispositivos sea capaz de actuar de forma cooperativa con el usuario de forma autónoma o semi-autónoma. Para ello, se precisa desarrollar un sistema capaz de evitar la colisión con el usuario. En este trabajo se analiza el uso de planificadores de trayectorias para la evasión de los brazos humanos durante tareas de mantenimiento mediante un modelo simulado.[Abstract] To decrease musculoskeletal disorder in the workplace, a supernumerary robot can be used to assist the human operator during maintenance tasks. Moreover, the supernumerary device is intended to move cooperatively with the human user in an autonomous or semi-autonomous way. For this reason, a system able to avoid collision with the user is needed. In this work, path planners are analyzed to avoid human arms during maintenance tasks with a simulated model.Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial; IDI-2019076

Subcutaneous anti-COVID-19 hyperimmune immunoglobulin for prevention of disease in asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised clinical trialResearch in context

Summary: Background: Anti-COVID-19 hyperimmune immunoglobulin (hIG) can provide standardized and controlled antibody content. Data from controlled clinical trials using hIG for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 outpatients have not been reported. We assessed the safety and efficacy of subcutaneous anti-COVID-19 hyperimmune immunoglobulin 20% (C19-IG20%) compared to placebo in preventing development of symptomatic COVID-19 in asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: We did a multicentre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, in asymptomatic unvaccinated adults (≥18 years of age) with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection within 5 days between April 28 and December 27, 2021. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to receive a blinded subcutaneous infusion of 10 mL with 1 g or 2 g of C19-IG20%, or an equivalent volume of saline as placebo. The primary endpoint was the proportion of participants who remained asymptomatic through day 14 after infusion. Secondary endpoints included the proportion of individuals who required oxygen supplementation, any medically attended visit, hospitalisation, or ICU, and viral load reduction and viral clearance in nasopharyngeal swabs. Safety was assessed as the proportion of patients with adverse events. The trial was terminated early due to a lack of potential benefit in the target population in a planned interim analysis conducted in December 2021. ClinicalTrials.gov registry: NCT04847141. Findings: 461 individuals (mean age 39.6 years [SD 12.8]) were randomized and received the intervention within a mean of 3.1 (SD 1.27) days from a positive SARS-CoV-2 test. In the prespecified modified intention-to-treat analysis that included only participants who received a subcutaneous infusion, the primary outcome occurred in 59.9% (91/152) of participants receiving 1 g C19-IG20%, 64.7% (99/153) receiving 2 g, and 63.5% (99/156) receiving placebo (difference in proportions 1 g C19-IG20% vs. placebo, −3.6%; 95% CI -14.6% to 7.3%, p = 0.53; 2 g C19-IG20% vs placebo, 1.1%; −9.6% to 11.9%, p = 0.85). None of the secondary clinical efficacy endpoints or virological endpoints were significantly different between study groups. Adverse event rate was similar between groups, and no severe or life-threatening adverse events related to investigational product infusion were reported. Interpretation: Our findings suggested that administration of subcutaneous human hyperimmune immunoglobulin C19-IG20% to asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection was safe but did not prevent development of symptomatic COVID-19. Funding: Grifols

Common variants in Alzheimer’s disease and risk stratification by polygenic risk scores

Genetic discoveries of Alzheimer’s disease are the drivers of our understanding, and together with polygenetic risk stratification can contribute towards planning of feasible and efficient preventive and curative clinical trials. We first perform a large genetic association study by merging all available case-control datasets and by-proxy study results (discovery n = 409,435 and validation size n = 58,190). Here, we add six variants associated with Alzheimer’s disease risk (near APP, CHRNE, PRKD3/NDUFAF7, PLCG2 and two exonic variants in the SHARPIN gene). Assessment of the polygenic risk score and stratifying by APOE reveal a 4 to 5.5 years difference in median age at onset of Alzheimer’s disease patients in APOE ɛ4 carriers. Because of this study, the underlying mechanisms of APP can be studied to refine the amyloid cascade and the polygenic risk score provides a tool to select individuals at high risk of Alzheimer’s disease

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/‘proxy’ AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele