Lisätyn todellisuuden tuotantovälineiden vertailu

Mikä lisätyn todellisuuden selain on helppokäyttöisin? Entä minkälaisia eroja on teknistä osaamista vaativien lisätyn todellisuuden tuotantovälineiden toiminnassa? Tampereen yliopiston informaatiotieteiden yksikkö sekä Koulutuskeskus Salpauksen kehitysyhtiö AduSal Oy ovat paneutuneet vuosina 2012−2013 Avoimuudesta voimaa oppimisverkostoihin (AVO2) -hankkeessa lisättyyn todellisuuteen ja sen hyödyntämiseen mm. oppimisen tukena. Osana hanketta toteutettiin kaksi erillistä lisätyn todellisuuden tuotantovälinevertailua, joiden tulokset on koottu tähän julkaisuun. Vertailujen tarkoitus on tarjota apua tuontantovälineen valintaan sekä sovelluskehittäjille että ei-teknisille sisällöntuottajille. Mikko Liukkosen (AduSal Oy) tutkimus tarjoaa teknisesti orientoituneille lisätyn todellisuuden kehittäjille tietoa lisätyn todellisuuden sovellusten toimivuuden tarkkuudesta markkerin tunnistamisen ja augmentoitavan sisällön kohdentamisen osalta. Vertailtavat sovellukset olivat Metaio SDK, In2AR ja Vuforia. Joanna Kalalahti (Tampereen yliopisto) on vertaillut sisällöntuotannon helppoutta lisätyn todellisuuden selainsovelluksiin (Layar, Aurasma, Wikitude, junaio). Vertailun kohteena olivat erilaiset tavat tuottaa sisältöä lisätyn todellisuuden selainsovelluksiin ilman teknistä osaamista

Robottiavusteinen työympäristöjen ilman laadun mittausjärjestelmä (RASEM)

Robottiavusteinen työympäristöjen ilmanlaadun mittausjärjestelmä (RASEM) -tutkimus oli Saf€ra-yhteistyöprojekti, johon osallistui Työterveyslaitoksen lisäksi tutkijoita Saksasta ja Ruotsista. Tutkimuksessa kehitettiin kohtuuhintainen sensoriverkko ilman epäpuhtauspitoisuuksien, lämpötilan ja kosteuden ajallisen ja paikallisen vaihtelun seurantaan. Sensoriverkkoa testattiin kolmessa eri työympäristössä. Sensoriverkolla saatuja tuloksia täydennettiin liikkuvilla mittausjärjestelmillä: robottiautolla ja droonilla. Tutkimustulokset osoittivat, että edullisia sensoreita voidaan hyödyntää sensoriverkkojen kokoonpanoissa ja niiden antamaa tietoa käyttää edelleen työpaikkakohtaisten pitoisuuskarttojen laadinnassa. Tarvitaan kuitenkin lisätutkimusta, jotta saadaan kehitettyä työpaikoille käyttökelpoinen menetelmä epäpuhtauspitoisuuksien ja työntekijöiden altistumisen pitkäaikaiseen seurantaan

Analysis of Flue Gas Emission Data from Fluidized Bed Combustion Using Self-Organizing Maps

Efficient combustion of fuels with lower emissions levels has become a demanding task in modern power plants, and new tools are needed to diagnose their energy production. The goals of the study were to find dependencies between process variables and the concentrations of gaseous emission components and to create multivariate nonlinear models describing their formation in the process. First, a generic process model was created by using a self-organizing map, which was clustered with the k-means algorithm to create subsets representing the different states of the process. Characteristically, these process states may include high- and low- load situations and transition states where the load is increased or decreased. Then emission models were constructed for both the entire process and for the process state of high boiler load. The main conclusion is that the methodology used is able to reveal such phenomena that occur within the process states and that could otherwise be difficult to observe

The incidence of musculoskeletal injuries : a systematic review and meta-analysis

AIMS: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to gather epidemiological information on selected musculoskeletal injuries and to provide pooled injury-specific incidence rates. METHODS: PubMed (National Library of Medicine) and Scopus (Elsevier) databases were searched. Articles were eligible for inclusion if they reported incidence rate (or count with population at risk), contained data on adult population, and were written in English language. The number of cases and population at risk were collected, and the pooled incidence rates (per 100,000 person-years) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by using either a fixed or random effects model. RESULTS: The screening of titles yielded 206 articles eligible for inclusion in the study. Of these, 173 (84%) articles provided sufficient information to be included in the pooled incidence rates. Incidences of fractures were investigated in 154 studies, and the most common fractures in the whole adult population based on the pooled incidence rates were distal radius fractures (212.0, 95% CI 178.1 to 252.4 per 100,000 person-years), finger fractures (117.1, 95% CI 105.3 to 130.2 per 100,000 person-years), and hip fractures (112.9, 95% CI 82.2 to 154.9 per 100,000 person-years). The most common sprains and dislocations were ankle sprains (429.4, 95% CI 243.0 to 759.0 per 100,000 person-years) and first-time patellar dislocations (32.8, 95% CI 21.6 to 49.7 per 100,000 person-years). The most common injuries were anterior cruciate ligament (17.5, 95% CI 6.0 to 50.2 per 100,000 person-years) and Achilles (13.7, 95% CI 9.6 to 19.5 per 100,000 person-years) ruptures. CONCLUSION: The presented pooled incidence estimates serve as important references in assessing the global economic and social burden of musculoskeletal injuries.Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2022;11(11):814-825.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Effectiveness of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Weight Loss in Patients with Obesity Undergoing Bariatric Surgery : A Randomized Clinical Trial

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Authors. All rights reserved.Importance: Severe obesity is a major health concern. However, a few patients remain resistant to bariatric surgery and other treatments. Animal studies suggest that weight may be altered by fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from a lean donor. Objective: To determine whether FMT from a lean donor reduces body weight and further improves the results of bariatric surgery. Design, Setting, and Participants: This double-blinded, placebo-controlled, multicenter, randomized clinical trial was conducted in 2018 to 2021 among adult individuals with severe obesity treated at 2 bariatric surgery centers in Finland and included 18 months of follow-up. Patients eligible for bariatric surgery were recruited for the study. Data were analyzed from March 2021 to May 2022. Interventions: FMT from a lean donor or from the patient (autologous placebo) was administered by gastroscopy into the duodenum. Bariatric surgery was performed 6 months after the baseline intervention using laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) or laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcome was weight reduction measured as the percentage of total weight loss (TWL). Results: Forty-one patients were recruited to participate in the study and were included in the final analysis (29 women [71.1%]; mean [SD] age, 48.7 [8.7] years; mean [SD] body mass index, 42.5 [6.0]). A total of 21 patients received FMT from a lean donor, and 20 received an autologous placebo. Six months after FMT, 34 patients underwent LRYGB and 4 underwent LSG. Thirty-four patients (82.9%) attended the last visit 18 months after the baseline visit. The percentage of TWL at 6 months was 4.8% (95% CI, 2.7% to 7.0%; P <.001) in the FMT group and 4.6% (95% CI, 1.5% to 7.6%; P =.006) in the placebo group, but no difference was observed between the groups. At 18 months from the baseline (ie, 12 months after surgery), the percentage of TWL was 25.3% (95% CI, 19.5 to 31.1; P <.001) in the FMT group and 25.2% (95% CI, 20.2 to 30.3; P <.001) in the placebo group; however, no difference was observed between the groups. Conclusions and Relevance: FMT did not affect presurgical and postsurgical weight loss. Further studies are needed to elucidate the possible role of FMT in obesity. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03391817.Peer reviewe

Randomized controlled trials reporting patient-reported outcomes with no significant differences between study groups are potentially susceptible to unjustified conclusions—a systematic review

Objectives: Ceiling effect may lead to misleading conclusions when using patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) scores as an outcome. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential source of ceiling effect–related errors in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reporting no differences in PROM scores between study groups. Study Design and Setting: A systematic review of RCTs published in the top 10 orthopedic journals according to their impact factors was conducted, focusing on studies that reported no significant differences in outcomes between two study groups. All studies published during 2012–2022 that reported no differences in PROM outcomes and used parametric statistical approach were included. The aim was to investigate the potential source of ceiling effect–related errors—that is, when the ceiling effect suppresses the possible difference between the groups. The proportions of patients exceeding the PROM scales were simulated using the observed dispersion parameters based on the assumed normal distribution, and the differences in the proportions between the study groups were subsequently analyzed. Results: After an initial screening of 2343 studies, 190 studies were included. The central 95% theoretical distribution of the scores exceeded the PROM scales in 140 (74%) of these studies. In 33 (17%) studies, the simulated patient proportions exceeding the scales indicated potential differences between the compared groups. Conclusion: It is common to have a mismatch between the chosen PROM instrument and the population being studied increasing the risk of an unjustified “no difference” conclusion due to a ceiling effect. Thus, a considerable ceiling effect should be considered a potential source of error.Peer reviewe

Inhibition of prolyl oligopeptidase : A promising pathway to prevent the progression of age-related macular degeneration

Dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a currently untreatable vision threatening disease. Impaired proteasomal clearance and autophagy in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and subsequent photoreceptor damage are connected with dry AMD, but detailed pathophysiology is still unclear. In this paper, we discover inhibition of cytosolic protease, prolyl oligopeptidase (PREP), as a potential pathway to treat dry AMD. We showed that PREP inhibitor exposure induced autophagy in the RPE cells, shown by increased LC3-II levels and decreased p62 levels. PREP inhibitor treatment increased total levels of autophagic vacuoles in the RPE cells. Global proteomics was used to examine the phenotype of a commonly used cell model displaying AMD characteristics, oxidative stress and altered protein metabolism, in vitro. These RPE cells displayed induced protein aggregation and clear alterations in macromolecule metabolism, confirming the relevance of the cell model. Differences in intracellular target engagement of PREP inhibitors were observed with cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA). These differences were explained by intracellular drug exposure (the unbound cellular partition coefficient, Kpuu). Importantly, our data is in line with previous observations regarding the discrepancy between PREP's cleaving activity and outcomes in autophagy. This highlights the need to further explore PREP's role in autophagy so that more effective compounds can be designed to battle diseases in which autophagy induction is needed. The present work is the first report investigating the PREP pathway in the RPE and we predict that the PREP inhibitors can be further optimized for treatment of dry AMD.Peer reviewe

Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Senescence in the Retinal Pigment Epithelium of NFE2L2/PGC-1 alpha Double Knock-Out Mice

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most prevalent form of irreversible blindness worldwide in the elderly population. In our previous studies, we found that deficiencies in the nuclear factor, erythroid 2 like 2 (NFE2L2) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1 alpha) genes caused AMD-like pathological phenotypes in mice. In the present work, we show hijacked epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) due to the common loss of PGC-1 alpha and NFE2L2 (double knock-out, dKO) genes in aged animals. The implanted area was assessed by histology, immunohistochemistry and transmission electron microscopy. Confocal microscopy revealed altered regions in the filamentous actin ring. This contrasted with hexagonal RPE morphology in wild-type mice. The ultrastructural RPE features here illustrated loss of apical microvilli, alteration of cell-cell contact, loss of basal in-folding with deposits on Bruch's membrane, and excessive lipofuscin deposition in dKO samples. We also found the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition transcription factors, such as Snail, Slug, collagen 1, vimentin and OB-cadherin, to be significantly different in dKO RPEs. An increased immunoreactivity of senescence markers p16, DEC1 and HMGB1 was also noted. These findings suggest that EMT and senescence pathways may intersect in the retinas of dKO mice. Both processes can be activated by damage to the RPE, which may be caused by increased oxidative stress resulting from the absence of NFE2L2 and PGC-1 alpha genes, important for antioxidant defense. This dKO model may provide useful tools for studying AMD pathogenesis and evaluating novel therapies for this disease

Common Variant Burden Contributes to the Familial Aggregation of Migraine in 1,589 Families

Complex traits, including migraine, often aggregate in families, but the underlying genetic architecture behind this is not well understood. The aggregation could be explained by rare, penetrant variants that segregate according to Mendelian inheritance or by the sufficient polygenic accumulation of common variants, each with an individually small effect, or a combination of the two hypotheses. In 8,319 individuals across 1,589 migraine families, we calculated migraine polygenic risk scores (PRS) and found a significantly higher common variant burden in familial cases (n = 5,317, OR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.71-1.81, p = 1.7 × 10-109) compared to population cases from the FINRISK cohort (n = 1,101, OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.25-1.38, p = 7.2 × 10-17). The PRS explained 1.6% of the phenotypic variance in the population cases and 3.5% in the familial cases (including 2.9% for migraine without aura, 5.5% for migraine with typical aura, and 8.2% for hemiplegic migraine). The results demonstrate a significant contribution of common polygenic variation to the familial aggregation of migraine