Development of Artificial Hand Gripper by using Microcontroller

This paper focuses on the development of a measurement hand gripper to help handicap patient due to accident and diseases. Basically, when the patient needed to perform exercises they must get an appointment with a doctor. Normally this will take few weeks or months. This is because the rehabilitation devices at Physiotherapy Department in hospital are very limited. From this problem, we suggest to develop a reasonably cheap home-based rehabilitation measurement devices which can perform the task of assisting paralyze patient at home. The basic movement of the patient was limited from a wrist, elbow and shoulder. The development of this project involves the designing of a sensors equipped Smart Glove and a measurement hand gripper device. The hand gripper device will move based on a human operator’s finger movement using the Smart Glove. The purpose of our project is to design and develop a master-slave system robotic hand which can be a substitution for the paralyzed hand in therapy to aid in recovery process of patients upper limb function. The project involves an Arduino microcontroller for the instrumentation, communication and controlling applications. A series of flex sensors are fitted in a master glove to get readings from the movement of human fingers. Microcontroller will further use this information to control multiple servos that controls the movement of slave robotic hand

The burden of diabetes mellitus during pregnancy in low- and middle-income countries : a systematic review

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Glutamine addiction promotes glucose oxidation in triple-negative breast cancer

Glutamine is a conditionally essential nutrient for many cancer cells, but it remains unclear how consuming glutamine in excess of growth requirements confers greater fitness to glutamine-addicted cancers. By contrasting two breast cancer subtypes with distinct glutamine dependencies, we show that glutamine-indispensable triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells rely on a non-canonical glutamine-to-glutamate overflow, with glutamine carbon routed once through the TCA cycle. Importantly, this single-pass glutaminolysis increases TCA cycle fluxes and replenishes TCA cycle intermediates in TNBC cells, a process that achieves net oxidation of glucose but not glutamine. The coupling of glucose and glutamine catabolism appears hard-wired via a distinct TNBC gene expression profile biased to strip and then sequester glutamine nitrogen, but hampers the ability of TNBC cells to oxidise glucose when glutamine is limiting. Our results provide a new understanding of how metabolically rigid TNBC cells are sensitive to glutamine deprivation and a way to select vulnerable TNBC subtypes that may be responsive to metabolic-targeted therapies

Bifurcation and chaos in zero Prandtl number convection

We present the detailed bifurcation structure and associated flow patterns near the onset of zero Prandtl number Rayleigh B\'enard convection. We employ both direct numerical simulation and a low-dimensional model ensuring qualitative agreement between the two. Various flow patterns originate from a stationary square observed at a higher Rayleigh number through a series of bifurcations starting from a pitchfork followed by a Hopf and finally a homoclinic bifurcation as the Rayleigh number is reduced to the critical value. Global chaos, intermittency, and crises are observed near the onset.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Preliminary analysis of immune activation in early onset type 2 diabetes

Introduction. First Nations and other Aboriginal children are disproportionately affected by cardiometabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes (T2D). In T2D, the disruption of insulin signalling can be driven by pro-inflammatory immunity. Pro-inflammatory responses can be fueled by toll-like receptors (TLR) on immune cells such as peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC, a white blood cell population). TLR4 can bind to lipids from bacteria and food sources activating PBMC to produce cytokines tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-1β. These cytokines can interfere with insulin signalling. Here, we seek to understand how TLR4 activation may be involved in early onset T2D. We hypothesized that immune cells from youth with T2D (n=8) would be more reactive upon TLR4 stimulation relative to cells from age and body mass index (BMI)-matched controls without T2D (n=8). Methods. Serum samples were assayed for adipokines (adiponectin and leptin), as well as cytokines. Freshly isolated PBMC were examined for immune reactivity upon culture with TLR4 ligands bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 2 and 0.2 ng/ml) and the fatty acid palmitate (200 µM). Culture supernatants were evaluated for the amount of TNF-α and IL-1β produced by PBMC. Results. Youth with T2D displayed lower median serum adiponectin levels compared to controls (395 vs. 904 ng/ml, p<0.05). PBMC isolated from youth with and without T2D produced similar levels of TNF-α and IL-1β after exposure to the higher LPS concentration. However, at the low LPS dose the T2D cohort exhibited enhanced IL-1β synthesis relative to the control cohort. Additionally, exposure to palmitate resulted in greater IL-1β synthesis in PBMCs isolated from youth with T2D versus controls (p<0.05). These differences in cytokine production corresponded to greater monocyte activation in the T2D cohort. Conclusion. These preliminary results suggest that cellular immune responses are exaggerated in T2D, particularly with respect to IL-1β activity. These studies aim to improve the understanding of the biology behind early onset T2D and its vascular complications that burden First Nations people

UK pneumonectomy outcome study (UKPOS): a prospective observational study of pneumonectomy outcome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In order to assess the short term risks of pneumonectomy for lung cancer in contemporary practice a one year prospective observational study of pneumonectomy outcome was made. Current UK practice for pneumonectomy was observed to note patient and treatment factors associated with major complications.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A multicentre, prospective, observational cohort study was performed. All 35 UK thoracic surgical centres were invited to submit data to the study. All adult patients undergoing pneumonectomy for lung cancer between 1 January and 31 December 2005 were included. Patients undergoing pleuropneumonectomy, extended pneumonectomy, completion pneumonectomy following previous lobectomy and pneumonectomy for benign disease, were excluded from the study.</p> <p>The main outcome measure was suffering a major complication. Major complications were defined as: death within 30 days of surgery; treated cardiac arrhythmia or hypotension; unplanned intensive care admission; further surgery or inotrope usage.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>312 pneumonectomies from 28 participating centres were entered. The major complication incidence was: 30-day mortality 5.4%; treated cardiac arrhythmia 19.9%; unplanned intensive care unit admission 9.3%; further surgery 4.8%; inotrope usage 3.5%. Age, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status ≥ P3, pre-operative diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) and epidural analgesia were collectively the strongest risk factors for major complications. Major complications prolonged median hospital stay by 2 days.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The 30 day mortality rate was less than 8%, in agreement with the British Thoracic Society guidelines. Pneumonectomy was associated with a high rate of major complications. Age, ASA physical status, DLCO and epidural analgesia appeared collectively most associated with major complications.</p

Global burden of disease due to smokeless tobacco consumption in adults : analysis of data from 113 countries

BACKGROUND: Smokeless tobacco is consumed in most countries in the world. In view of its widespread use and increasing awareness of the associated risks, there is a need for a detailed assessment of its impact on health. We present the first global estimates of the burden of disease due to consumption of smokeless tobacco by adults. METHODS: The burden attributable to smokeless tobacco use in adults was estimated as a proportion of the disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) lost and deaths reported in the 2010 Global Burden of Disease study. We used the comparative risk assessment method, which evaluates changes in population health that result from modifying a population's exposure to a risk factor. Population exposure was extrapolated from country-specific prevalence of smokeless tobacco consumption, and changes in population health were estimated using disease-specific risk estimates (relative risks/odds ratios) associated with it. Country-specific prevalence estimates were obtained through systematically searching for all relevant studies. Disease-specific risks were estimated by conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses based on epidemiological studies. RESULTS: We found adult smokeless tobacco consumption figures for 115 countries and estimated burden of disease figures for 113 of these countries. Our estimates indicate that in 2010, smokeless tobacco use led to 1.7 million DALYs lost and 62,283 deaths due to cancers of mouth, pharynx and oesophagus and, based on data from the benchmark 52 country INTERHEART study, 4.7 million DALYs lost and 204,309 deaths from ischaemic heart disease. Over 85 % of this burden was in South-East Asia. CONCLUSIONS: Smokeless tobacco results in considerable, potentially preventable, global morbidity and mortality from cancer; estimates in relation to ischaemic heart disease need to be interpreted with more caution, but nonetheless suggest that the likely burden of disease is also substantial. The World Health Organization needs to consider incorporating regulation of smokeless tobacco into its Framework Convention for Tobacco Control

Non-solvolytic synthesis of aqueous soluble TiO2 nanoparticles and real-time dynamic measurements of the nanoparticle formation.

Highly aqueously dispersible (soluble) TiO2 nanoparticles are usually synthesized by a solution-based sol-gel (solvolysis/condensation) process, and no direct precipitation of titania has been reported. This paper proposes a new approach to synthesize stable TiO2 nanoparticles by a non-solvolytic method - direct liquid phase precipitation at room temperature. Ligand-capped TiO2 nanoparticles are more readily solubilized compared to uncapped TiO2 nanoparticles, and these capped materials show distinct optical absorbance/emission behaviors. The influence of ligands, way of reactant feeding, and post-treatment on the shape, size, crystalline structure, and surface chemistry of the TiO2 nanoparticles has been thoroughly investigated by the combined use of X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, UV-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, and photoluminescence (PL). It is found that all above variables have significant effects on the size, shape, and dispersivity of the final TiO2 nanoparticles. For the first time, real-time UV-vis spectroscopy and PL are used to dynamically detect the formation and growth of TiO2 nanoparticles in solution. These real-time measurements show that the precipitation process begins to nucleate after an initial inhibition period of about 1 h, thereafter a particle growth occurs and reaches the maximum point after 2 h. The synthesis reaction is essentially completed after 4 h.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are