A New Computed Torque Control System with an Uncertain RBF Neural Network Controller for a 7-DOF Robot

A novel percutaneous puncture robot system is proposed in the paper. Increasing the surgical equipment precision to reduce the patient\u27s pain and the doctor\u27s operation difficulty to treat smaller tumors can increase the success rate of surgery. To attain this goal, an optimized Computed Torque Law (CTL) using a radial basis function (RBF) neural network controller (RCTL) is proposed to improve the direction and position accuracy. BRF neural network with an uncertain term (URBF) which is able to compensate the system error caused by the imprecision of the model is added in the RCTL system. At first, a 7-DOF robotic system is established. It consists of robotic arm and actuator control channels. Now, the RBF compensator is added to the CTL to adjust the robot arm to reduce the position and direction errors. The angle and velocity errors of the robot arm are compensated using the RBF controller. According to the Lyapunov theory, the accuracy of torque control system depends on path tracking errors, inertia of robot, dynamic parameters and disturbance of each joint. Compared to general CTL approaches, the precision of a 7-DOF robot could be improved by adjusting the RBF parameters

Enhancement of transdermal delivery of ibuprofen using microemulsion vehicle

Objective(s):The objective of this study was to find a stable microemulsion vehicle for transdermal delivery of ibuprofen to improve the skin permeability. Materials and Methods: Microemulsion was prepared using different sorts of oils, surfactants and co-surfactants. Pseudo-ternary phase diagrams were used to evaluate the microemulsion domain. The effects of oleic acid and surfactant mixture on skin permeation of ibuprofen were evaluated with excised skins. Results: The optimum formulation F3 consisting of 6% oleic acid, 30% Cremophor RH40/Transcutol P (2:1, w/w) and 59% water phase, showed a high permeation rate of 42.98 μg/cm2/hr. The mean droplet size of microemulsion was about 43 nm and no skin irritation signs were observed on the skin of rabbits. Conclusion: These results indicated that this novel microemulsion is a useful formulation for the transdermal delivery of ibuprofen

Additional file 1: of Evaluation of High-Performance Curcumin Nanocrystals for Pulmonary Drug Delivery Both In Vitro and In Vivo

An additional file showing the particle size with different milling times in more detail. (XLSX 10 kb

Identification of Feline Interferon Regulatory Factor 1 as an Efficient Antiviral Factor against the Replication of Feline Calicivirus and Other Feline Viruses

Interferons (IFNs) can inhibit most, if not all, viral infections by eliciting the transcription of hundreds of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). Feline calicivirus (FCV) is a highly contagious pathogen of cats and a surrogate for Norwalk virus. Interferon efficiently inhibits the replication of FCV, but the mechanism of the antiviral activity is poorly understood. Here, we evaluated the anti-FCV activity of ten ISGs, whose antiviral activities were previously reported. The results showed that interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF1) can significantly inhibit the replication of FCV, whereas the other ISGs tested in this study failed. Further, we found that IRF1 was localized in the nucleus and efficiently activated IFN-β and the ISRE promoter. IRF1 can trigger the production of endogenous interferon and the expression of ISGs, suggesting that IRF1 can positively regulate IFN signalling. Importantly, the mRNA and protein levels of IRF1 were reduced upon FCV infection, which may be a new strategy for FCV to evade the innate immune system. Finally, the antiviral activity of IRF1 against feline panleukopenia virus, feline herpesvirus, and feline infectious peritonitis virus was demonstrated. These data indicate that feline IRF1 plays an important role in regulating the host type I IFN response and inhibiting feline viral infections

Specific recognition of polyphenols by molecularly imprinted polymers based on a ternary deep eutectic solvent

Typically, a target compound is selected as a template for a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP); however, some target compounds are not suitable as templates because of their poor solubility. Using the tailoring properties of a deep eutectic solvent (DES), the insoluble target compound caffeic acid was transformed into a ternary choline chloride-caffeic acid-ethylene glycol (ChCI-CA-EG) DES, which was then employed as a template to prepare MIPs. The ternary DES-based MIPs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The effects of time, temperature, ionic strength, and pH on the recognition processes for four polyphenols (caffeic acid, protocatechuic acid, catechin, and epicatechin) by 13 ChCI-CA-EG ternary DES based MIPs was investigated using high-performance liquid chromatography. The recognition specificity of the MIPs for CA was significantly better than that for the other polyphenols, and the MIPs exhibited obvious characteristics of chromatographic packing materials. In addition, the recognition processes mainly followed a second-order kinetics model and the Freundlich isotherm model, which together indicated that the MIPs mainly recognized the polyphenols by chemical interactions including ion exchange, electron exchange, and new bond formation. Furthermore, the specific recognition ability of the MIPs for polyphenols, which was better than those of C-18, C-8, or non-molecularly imprinted polymer adsorbents, was successfully applied to the recognition of polyphenols in a Radix asteris sample. The transformation of an insoluble target compound in a polymeric DES for MIP preparation and recognition is a novel and feasible strategy suitable for use in further MIP research developments. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.</p